Por fin!

I decided to use a little Spanish in my title as I feel like anything said in Spanish has more emphasis. For those of you who have forgotten your high school/college Spanish or those who never had the opportunity--"por fin"= finally.

Today MK finally turned over from her tummy to her back...twice and without help. I know that you may be thinking, "she's five months, shouldn't she have been doing for a while now". Well, it seems that we aren't in a big hurry to beat anyone in developmental milestones (other than maybe size). BUT nonetheless, I am just as proud now than I would have been a month or so ago. We are definitely not doing it regularly, but she did prove today that she can and she is on her way. Maybe she'll be crawling tomorrow???? ha,ha

I had to post the pictures above because I had her looking so cute today. We went to see a college friend and her 1 year old who has never met MK. You know how it is when your college friends meet your baby for the first time. You definitely want her to be looking at her best. You don't want her leaving thinking, "oh, poor child..." As you can see, MK didn't fail. She was all "doll-ed" up. (not sure how to spell that word)

Regarding the picture on the bottom...have you ever seen such cute cankles! It looks like her foot was shoved into the shoes. It really wasn't that tight. Her feet are just really puffy on top.

Check this out!

I found this website on my friend Cari's blog. It is awesome! Please go and look at it. All of them that I saw were good, but I do have a few recommendations....

For all you American Idol fans, go to Jason Castro's testimony--very good. I knew there was something about him that I liked from the beginning.

The one that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time was Chris Plekenpol's Iraq testimony.

I also thought it interesting to see Stephen Baldwin's as I didn't know this about him.

Okay, here's the website --- http://www.iamsecond.com/

Well, I must go as MK's 30 minute nap has expired. Hope you enjoy this and pass it on. Let me know what you think--which ones you enjoyed most.

5 Months

Today marks Mary Katherine's 5 month birthday. I thought this collage pretty much sums up how we have changed over the month--we are on the move. Okay, we don't really get anywhere but we are no longer content just sitting. I am now always buckling her into chairs and swings-- as you can see she squirms out. We are getting better with tummy time, but still not quite rolling over. She will rock her body, we just don't have it figured out how to get the whole body turned. This is a fun age for me, as she is developing a personality and easily tickled. She is constantly jibber-jabbering, grunting, or shreiking. If she isn't doing this, it's probably because she is sucking her thumb. She really likes attention, people to talk to her, and constant variety of activities. She eats rice cereal, but not very heartily. At times I am trying to force it down her in hopes that she won't want to be fed at night. Naps are still very short and night sleeping is that as well. The past few days she wakes up at 4:30 and won't go back to sleep. In addition, she wakes up several other times throughout the night. FUN! I really look forward to the day when I can sleep again. Her hair is still blonde-ish and eyes dark blue. We haven't weighed in for a while (as I know it's a sensitive subject for all the women in our family) but I believe she is now getting closer to the 19 lbs. marker.

Happy 5 months Mary Katherine. We love you!

Farm Chick Eats Cereal

Success with the Jumper

We are beginning to get the hang of the Johnny Jumper. She sits in it for longer periods now and will move around in it--although she's not bouncing her feet yet. I love some of these pictures as I was able to capture some laughs and smiles she was making while her dad was dancing like a fool to entertain her. (I know you are probably not able to picture Roger dancing around like a silly man--The things a dad will do to get a laugh from his baby.) Maybe next time I can get a picture of that to go with it. He'd love that--ha,ha.

On another note, thanks to my sister (well...and her friend) MK is now taking a bottle fairly well. She will only drink about 3-4 ounces at a time, but I am still claiming the victory. I had tried about three different bottles with several different nipples and couldn't get her to suck much. The trick has been a Similac nipple that they give out at some hosiptals. I am very happy about this.

TV Watching

Anytime the TV is on, this girl's eyes are glued to it. It doesn't matter the show, she is a serious watcher. I better be careful, it could be the beginning of an addiction.

Kitchen Update

This post is really not about Mary Katherine but I wanted to post pictures of my new countertops in the kitchen and bathrooms. In addition, I "glazed" over my cabinets that I had previously painted white and painted the island black. Roger said the cabinets looked "dirty" and looked like they needed cleaning. I have to admit, it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for with the glaze treatment. I can't decide what to do to help it. Any ideas?

Exersaucer Time!

Dad dresses his daughter???

This morning Roger was helping me get MK's things ready to go to Buffalo. As we were getting ready to leave I was feeding her and realized I needed to pack her something to wear for the day. Here was our conversation...

Me: Roger, can you grab the pink, flowery, one piece from the laundry room? You will need to grab a pair of socks also because it doesn't have feet in it.

Roger: Where is it?

Me: (Didn't I already tell him this?) It's in the middle of the table in the laundry room.

Roger: Okay...(a little time passes) Does it have a heart on it?

Me: Yeah, actually it does. (along with being the one piece with flowers all over it like I mentioned earlier)

This is the outfit--or shall I say shirt--that I found upon arriving at Buffalo. Never mind the fact that it's supposed to drop to below 30 degrees today. But we did remember the socks. Gotta keep those feet warm.

I should have known better as the last time Roger packed her bag we found a sweater dress and jeans??? When I asked him about it, he said he thought it looked warm. Hmmm...I guess warmth wasn't what he was concerned about this time around.

Roger does a lot to help out with Mary Katherine and he always has great intentions, but I guess we'll just leave the dressing up to mom in the future.

Advances in Technology

As some of you may know, we've done everything we can think of to try to help Mary Katherine sleep better--both naps and nighttime. About two or three months ago someone had suggested to me "white noise". Well it just so happened we had an obnoxiously loud fan in the garage. This fan had traveled with Roger from Tennessee about ten years ago to Stillwater. While in Stillwater the switch broke. So Roger--being the handy-man that he is--replaced the switch with a two way. So the fan now has two speeds-low and very high. I acquired joint ownership of this fan when we married. This fan was used in Stillwater to cool off our dog Montana in the garage. In Georgia, it sat unused and up until now the same here. After about 3 years of sitting in the garage, we have worn the tar out of this fan. It has traveled to several hotels, other houses, and anywhere we venture. We did get looks and comments, but I didn't care.

A week ago, I decided I was tired of lugging the thing around and more importantly I started to worry a little about the high air movement in the room as poor MK was waking up in the night with a stuffed nose. So I went to Wal-Mart in search of a cheap sound machine--and I found it. $19.99 and so far it has worked great. It's very small, blocks out noise, and can run on battery as well. You may wonder about the gray tape?? That is to block out the large green light.

Yes, the Teal family is moving up in the world with this advancement in technology. And best of all, if we come visit you, you don't have to see/hear the big ugly fan as well.

Thumb Sucker

Isn't this the cutest thing you've ever seen!

New Year's Resolution--Baby Boot Camp

At Christmas time we were able to see Mary Katherine's cousin who is one day older. Boy, he made MK look like a lump. After seeing all he was able to do, I decided it was time to get home and begin Baby Boot Camp. BBC includes extra tummy time, sit-ups, Johnny Jumper, excersaucer...

Just wait Hadden. Next time we see you we'll be running circles around you. (ha,ha) Here is MK posing during tummy time. She doesn't seem as excited about this New Year's Resolution as mom. I think mom needs to do some Boot Camp as well!

Fun Pictures

Future Friends

Last night we ate supper with friends that have babies the same age as Mary Katherine. When I say the same age I mean all within two weeks. The one of the right is Cate--two weeks and two days older than MK. She lives next door and is our preacher's daughter. (I'm not sure we want MK hanging around her--ha,ha). Kinsly, the one in the center, is two weeks older than MKand lives just about a block away and also goes to our church as well. I look forward to Mary Katherine having these friends as she gets older.

4 Months!

Well...the four month birthday came on the 27th and was almost skipped over with Christmas celebrations. Mary Katherine is changing constantly and developing more of a personality with each month. She definitely keeps her eyes on the action wherever it may be. She knows her mommy's voice and looks for it when she hears it. About two weeks ago we heard her laugh out loud for the first time. It was great! Roger and I had been hearing quite a few shrieks before then with her smile, but now she has a voice with her laugh. It absolutely melts us when we hear it. Mary Katherine has now found her thumb and enjoys sucking on it. She still will get a few fingers and fists as well, but it's so cute when she gets ahold of her thumb and sucks away. (I know some people are not fond of thumb suckers, but I think it's adorable--I'll deal with breaking the habit later when I have to.) I occasionally will try to give her a pacifier and she doesn't really care for it much. She gave up the bottle about three weeks ago and decided she only wanted to nurse. This was very frustrating for me as it meant I could not longer leave for more than 2 or three hours at a time. (For anyone who knows where we live it takes a good 45 minutes just to get to the nearest Wal-mart). We have been working--a little--on this bottle taking and I think we can get back on it hopefully within the month. We started a little bit of rice cereal last week as the doctor suggested maybe it would help her stretch to a 5 or 6 hour period at the night. It hasn't been the answer, but she does seem to enjoy it and does pretty well with the spoon. We serve it more as a rice "soup" then as a "pudding". We will go to the doctor for a four month checkup next week as well as more shots--yuck! The last we were weighed we were almost 18 lbs and about 27 inches. She's a "healthy" baby.

We are thankful for our little baby girl and look forward to what the new month has in store.

Johnny Jumper Time...or maybe not yet!

Today we tried out our Johnny Jumper. The package read 4 months plus and MK is 4 months now so I thought we would give it a shot. It's a bit too early. She set and observed for a while and then she decided she'd had enough fairly quickly. Oh well...I guess we'll give it a shot another day.