Monthly Archives: February 2012

Nineteen Weeks :: back on track

Posted in Family by

Since our last weekly update it definitely got worse before it got better.
Kenley was home sick on Wednesday and Thursday, but back to school on Friday.
However, over the weekend, we were completely off our game.
Saturday she refused to nap, was up late, and up often throughout the night.
Sunday we all slept late, missed church, and didn’t get as much done as we would have liked.

Luckily, since then, we’ve gotten back on track, for the most part.
We only have a couple more days of antibiotics (woo hoo) and she has been sleeping better at night.
:: knocking on wood as I type this ::

She is getting back to her normal activities.
Eating, sleeping, pooping, grabbing at things, immediately putting them in her mouth, and smiling.
Oh, and let’s not forget drooling.

Forget cute outfits, we are now in the market for cute bibs!
It is her newest staple accessory. She goes through several throughout the day.

The weather has been great here, so we’ve been taking long walks.
Kenley loves them! And so do we!
If she’s getting fussy in the evening, we stick her in the stroller, get out, and get some fresh air.
By the time we get back home, it’s usually time to start our bedtime routine.
It’s a great way for all of us to spend time together
and a great way to get back into an exercise routine (which I’ll be posting an update on next week…hopefully!).

Oh, and I’ve been asked a few times what happened with switching schools.
When we were visiting daycare facilities, we fell in love with Kenley’s current school
but were placed on the waiting list, like forever ago. We knew that we would eventually end up there,
but thought it wouldn’t be until the summer since they are on the normal school schedule.
To our surprise, we got the call last month saying there was an opening and we were next on the list!
We were sad to leave the first place, but couldn’t be happier where we are now!
Thankfully, there were no incidents that led to us changing, which I should have mentioned!

Eighteen Weeks :: battling sickness

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I’ve decided to add more to our weekly update post titles,
you know, give it a little more pizzazz.

I am home today with our sick little girl. We are battling an ear infection we discovered today.
We all have been sick here and there over the past few months,
whether it’s been coughing, sneezing, runny noses,
but I did not expect her to have an ear infection for the sole reason that she seemed fine!

I picked her up today from school and she was happy as a clam
(that’s a saying right?)
until of course, she started getting poked and prodded at the doctor,
then she definitely acted sick. Whining and cuddling.
Seriously, broke my heart.

I, of course, had nothing in my car for her besides the diapers I grabbed from school.
No burp clothes, pacifiers, blankets, toys, nothing.
So guess what I’ll be doing. Packing up some things to keep in my car at all times!
We always take Greg’s car everywhere and of course you don’t plan on things like this.
So new mommies take note. You can thank me later 😉

Other than that, she is just changing every day.
Smiling, laughing, drooling, talking away.

Here is a small glimpse…

I did snap her weekly pic after her marathon nap.

Poor baby.

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by

it was a crazy weekend in our household. 

friday night, greg worked, so i hung out with little miss.

saturday, i worked, so greg hung out with little miss.

saturday night, we celebrated ryan’s birthday. kenley hanging out with her bud amy.

we ate some steamed oysters… yum!

kenley was down to party. she slept for a few hours.

then was awake for another hour or so, smiling away.
we thought it was going to be a disaster night, sleeping wise, but she slept great when we got home!

i failed at life and forgot my good camera, so i didn’t even get a pic of the birthday boy.
sorry bud.

sunday i crafted…

because we celebrated 4 months!

had ourselves some delicious lunch

walked 4.3 miles in the beautiful weather we had.

got to dry the diapers outside today…i get overly excited when i get do to this.

how was your weekend? did you get a long weekend?
happy president’s day!

Four Months!

Posted in Family by

I don’t know how it’s possible, but we have a four month old.
I swear it was just yesterday that I was pregnant.
And of course, of all days, three different people stopped us in Target & Publix,
to tell us how much we need to enjoy our time now and how fast it all goes.
kthanks.

We had her four month check up and shots last week.
I must be really good at scheduling her appointments…right during what should be meal time
because we had another delightful visit at the doctor.
Despite the hunger cries, she did very well with her shots.

She weighed in at 13 lbs. 14 oz. which puts her in the 60th percentile
and is 25 1/8 in. tall in the 85th percentile.
She’s healthy, and not starving, by any means.

She is in all 3-6 months and 6 months clothes now.

She has been quite the happy baby recently and it’s been so fun.
Greg has got her to laugh a couple of times this past week so we are looking forward to more of that soon.

She drools all the time and has been blowing spit bubbles like crazy!

Everything goes straight to her mouth.
No signs of any teeth yet.

She loves grabbing things, especially when she is tired.
She holds her blankets and animals and rubs them against her face, while she sucks on her tootie.

 We’ve been practicing sitting up in the Bumbo daily
and she can sit up if she’s leaning against something for a short time.
She is getting so big and is changing every single day.
It’s so fun watching her learn new things!

Seventeen Weeks!

Posted in Family by

Our little valentine is getting so big!

We started at a new school this week!
It’s going really well and Kenley is enjoying it,
but her sleep schedule is a little off this week.

We are hoping that it’s just an adjustment period,
but I’m afraid we may be regressing.
Only time will tell!

I will do a much longer update this weekend for her 4 month birthday!

In the meantime, here’s the happy little nugget.

Hope all you lovers had a great Valentine’s Day!

my weekend in photos

Posted in Random by

mani/pedi with the girls. my new fave color for the spring.
turquoise & caicos.

nap time.

ready to mash some food when the time comes.

‘stay in your jammies all day’ saturday.

staying warm and awake at our lax game on saturday evening.

woke up to [near] freezing winter weather today.

nom nom nom.

not a very eventful weekend in the gilbertson household.
and that’s ok.

what did you do? 

DIY Ribbon Wreath

Posted in Projects Around the House by

I was drawn to this pin by the pink and green (obviously) and have been eyeing for a while.
When it came time to actually commit to doing a Pinterest project, I searched for the original link.
I could not find it anywhere, so I really didn’t know where to begin with this.

Updated: The original link is from Etsy!

[via Etsy]

I decided to wing it.
I started by getting one spool of ribbon in six different patterns.
Plus a wire wreath.
I got all of this at JoAnn’s.

I cut the ribbon in strips about 5-6 inches long.
The thicker ribbon needed to be a little longer to tie easier.
Then, I just tied the ribbon onto the wreath.

Those six spools of ribbon got me, oh…this far.

So, I went out and got some more ribbon.
Of course, they were out of some of the patterns I had already purchased, but I made do.

I got back to work, cutting, and tying.
I quickly learned that I could spread the ribbon out a little more than I had done initially.
So I ended up moving some of the ribbon from the first go around.

diy ribbon wreath

The thicker ribbon does take up more room, which is nice.
I had a couple spools left over, so I ended up using about 20 spools. Yikes!
I probably could have still spread it out even more in order to use less.

I already had a white “K” but I thought it’d be fun to spice it up a bit.

I spaced the tape out the width of a ruler, but you could do the stripes however you’d like.
I had the grand idea of doing chevron stripes, but that was a battle I knew I couldn’t win.
So straight stripes won out.

The pink spray paint is from Lowe’s.
And I’m already on the hunt for more things to spray paint. I love the color!

I hung the finished “K” with dental floss after Target didn’t have fishing line.
It worked perfectly!

diy ribbon wreath

This whole project took me about two weeks.
I would sit and tie ribbon whenever I had some free time.
However, it was not as cheap as I would have liked.
I would recommend stocking up on ribbon in advance that you find on sale
and/or use lots of coupons!

I did look on Etsy for similar wreaths and they were more than what I spent, even before shipping.
In my eyes, that’s a win!

diy ribbon wreath

Overall, I’m very pleased with how it turned out!

Our Must Have List

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Baby gear.
I spent a ton of time researching, reading, and looking online for all the must haves for moms.
I don’t even want to think about the amount of time spent just searching for strollers.
So silly, but I was obsessed and determined to find the perfect combo of out and about and jogging strollers.

Well, here is our list of  mommy must haves up until this point. Basically from birth to around three months.
I’m sure our must haves will change as Kenley gets older
as we’re already starting to retire some items and move on to new ones.

In no particular order.

Chicco Cortina KeyFit 30 Travel System, Midori

One of my first purchases was the BOB jogging stroller I found on Craigslist, which is why I became obsessed
with finding the perfect daytime stroller. Like I said, I have no idea why I searched for so long
because these travel system strollers are probably the most purchased strollers out there. I see them everywhere!
The great thing about the car seat is you can just pop it out and take it anywhere when there is a sleeping baby.
The stroller folds up so easily and it’s pretty lightweight so getting it in and out of the car is a breeze.
I have a feeling that we won’t be using the carrier function of the car seat much longer
because Kenley is already starting to get heavy and lugging that thing around doesn’t sound like fun.
** Update: We quickly realized how bulky the Chicco stroller is by itself.
Once we had graduated from the infant car seat, the stroller got old very quickly.
I recently sold the stroller portion of the travel system in a consignment sale. **

Boppy Pillow with Slipcover

I seriously could not live without this thing. It helps so much with feeding her.
So much so that the first time we were out and I actually had to hold her to feed,
my arm got extremely tired and we ended up buying an inflatable one in a different brand
so we could take it when we travel overnight. Needless to stay, I love it.
It’s also great because Kenley sits in it and also can do tummy time on it.

Fisher-Price Cradle ‘N Swing

We don’t have this exact one, ours is nature-esque and has bees instead of lambs,
but we scored it for 20 bucks at a yard sale four days before Kenley was born!
I had heard and read that you don’t need a bouncy seat and a swing, so we went with the seat,
but thank goodness we got the swing. Kenley lived in this thing for the first three months.
She would sleep for hours in it if we would let her… which we did most days.
She hasn’t been in it much since we started napping in the crib
and I think we will start using the bouncy seat more now, but I’m so glad we had this!

Infantino Twist and Fold Activity Gym

Kenley loves her play mat. Yes, we got the boy version, but I think it’s adorable.
The girl version was a little too pink for my liking.
She plays on this thing majority of the time she’s awake. She bats and pulls at the toys and just kicks around.
This is wonderful right now because we can get things done around the house
while she is playing on this. When she starts to become more mobile, I don’t see that being the case.
We did fold this up and take it with us on a road trip, which was so convenient.

.Medela Pump in Style Advanced Breast Pump

My cousin Abbi told me from the very beginning not to go the cheap route on your breast pump
or you would hate it and not want to ever pump. Well, I believe her.
This thing was not cheap (and I even got it on sale plus used a coupon!), but it is worth every penny.
I especially like how it’s not obvious that I’m carrying my pump to and from work every day.
If you are planning to pump, I definitely recommend this one!
Also, if you like to multitask, I highly recommend getting the Easy Expression Bustier.
I didn’t have it for the first month or so because I refused to spend $35 on it,
but now that I have it, I don’t know how I ever lived without it, especially at work!

Aden By aden + anais Muslin Swaddle Blanket 4 Pack

We were really big on swaddling Kenley. She didn’t hate it and we actually just stopped a few weeks ago.
When she was really little, we liked using these blankets because they are huge, light, and airy.
Later on, we moved to the Miracle Blanket and ultimately the Halo Sleep Sacks for swaddling,
but we use the aden + anais blankets all the time! Especially since it’s so hot here, they are perfect.

***

What are some of your must have items? I’m anxious to hear what other mommies can’t live without!