3 Months Old

November 17, 2010

Our usual schedule give or take an hour here or there:

7:00 Kylie Jo is my alarm to get up and when she goes off I feed her for about an hour

8:00-11:00 Nap time for Kylie....Breakfast, house cleaning, getting dressed for me OR sometimes going back to bed if we had a late night

11:00-12:00 Bathe and feed Kylie Jo

12:00-3:00 Tummy, toys, standing, rocking, laughing, crying time

3:00-3:30 Feeding

3:30-4:30 HOPEFULLY another nap time for Kylie...usually only if I rock her the entire time though

4:30-5:30 Feeding Kylie Jo, cooking dinner, and waiting for dad to get home....usually starting to get a little fussy (both of us haha)

5:30-6:00 Jake and I take turns eating dinner

6:00-11:00 Trying to keep Kylie Jo happy, fed, and dry.  

11:00-12:00 Praying that Kylie Jo will go to bed if she is not already asleep 

11:00 ish -7:00 a.m SLEEPING ahhhh we are so lucky that she usually sleeps so well through the night

As you can see we sort of are on a schedule and to be honest this was Kylie Jo's doing.  I quickly realized that it would be pretty hard to get her on a schedule that I planned at this age so I just decided that I would follow her lead.  Honestly I pretty much love the routine that she picked for us haha!  I only wish that she would go to bed every night at 11 instead of stretching it until midnight or even one some nights.

Parenthood is going really well.  We finally have started venturing out of the house more with her now and she loves it.  I think Walmart and Lowes are her favorite places in the world.  She is so mesmerized by all of the things and the people around her.  

She has been going to church since she was four or five weeks old and lets just say that in the beginning it was pretty stressful.  We would sit outside of the sanctuary, because our church has glass so you can see and speakers so that you can hear the sermon.  It is like the new parent seating I guess you could say.  Well it seemed like the other babies would just fuss a little or they would sleep through the entire service.  Nope not our Kylie Jo.  She would always be right on the verge of whaling so it was a stressful job to just keep her quiet.  Jake and I both would be jealous of all the parents with the quiet babies and we wondered why God gave us this whaler....BUT this past Sunday WE had the "good" baby.  Kylie Jo slept through the entire service and she even slept through another baby fussing.  This was like a milestone! :)

Not only are we now able to leave the house and have an enjoyable experience but Kylie Jo is really beginning to show interest in her surroundings.  She now has a real interest in some of her toys.  Her favorites are her frog that plays music on her bouncy seat, and a duck that has all sorts of crazy things to spin, squeeze, and make sounds with.  She actually can sort of keep herself entertained for a little while, which is AWESOME.  

She also really enjoys her tummy time if she is in the mood for it and if she isn't she lets you know.  But I think her all time favorite thing to do right now is to stand up and try to walk while you hold her hands.  She will actually pick up her right foot and then put it down and pick up her left.  Sometimes she sort of "walks" backwards and sometimes she just marches in place but she gets so excited.  Sometimes I wonder if she will skip crawling all together and just go straight to walking.  Personally, I want to ease into her mobility so I hope she crawls first!  :)

I actually babysat a neighbors one and a half year old the other day and WOW was I pooped.  It was only from 9-4 but I was left wondering how the heck people have multiple children under 3.  I was sort of left feeling torn with which child to give the attention too and I was also left feeling like I am really glad that for now Kylie Jo can't get around on her own....haha!  I guess I realized that it for sure doesn't get any easier and that my new favorite word will most likely be NO!  This babysitting pretty much solidified that Jake and I are waiting a few years before we have another one.  I want to enjoy this time right now with just our sweet little Kylie Jo and if we are meant to have more children, then we will, DOWN THE ROAD haha! 

I would say that now that we are at the 3 month mark I am really starting to think a lot about the whole stay at home parent thing.  I am so glad that I have decided to stay at home.  I wish that more women did too when their children were young.  I sort of strongly feel like so many woman go back to work to quickly because they "have to", but that a lot of them don't really HAVE to. 

Most instead go back to work because they want to more or less without knowing it, maintain an extravagant style of living.  Ya know the whole if I don't work then I won't be able to afford my fake nails, dying my hair, or my shopping spree for the newest fashions.  Or my kids won't have the newest I-phone, car, name brand accessories, or won't be able to be in dance, volleyball, AND swimming lessons.  

Seriously, I am realizing that none of that matters.  It is more important to be there spending time with your children.  I saw it with teaching.  The students who had a parent at home were so much further along academically, emotionally, and socially.  They also had far less behavior problems and they seemed to be much more happy.  

I'm of course not judging those women who choose to work, but I just wish that more would consider staying at home with their children instead of working so that they can obtain more stuff.  All this stuff that we are working for doesn't go with us when we die so why do we spend our life pining after all of it.  

My goal is for my children to grow up not being obsessed with things but to be obsessed with spending quality time together and also spending time helping others who are in need.  I know it won't always be easy but I hope that if there is one thing that I do right as a parent that it is that......that I raise my children to love relationships over stuff.  That they can sit down and strike up a meaningful conversation with someone instead of being awkward because the only interactions that they have with people is through texting, e-mailing, and whatever the new technology fad is.  It is a goal that I will cling to with everything that I am.........on a total side note....Chance is outside crazily chasing after a Walmart bag that is blowing around in the Chicago style winds that we are having right now.  It is pretty much the funniest thing that I have almost ever seen......gotta go watch this!  :)