Monday, December 27, 2010

5 Months, Thanksgiving & already 6 Months Old!

I am kidding myself if I think I can update this blog as often as I would like. So instead of saying that I'm going to update more, I'm just going to keep my mouth shut.

Since my last post, which was on Veteran's day... over a month and a half ago... wow... Kerrigan turned 5 months old (11/15/10), we celebrated Thanksgiving, Kerrigan turned 6 months old (12/15/10) and we celebrated Christmas. Sure, there were other things in between, but those were the big milestones. I will do another post on Christmas. Hopefully it will be soon!! I have to get all the pictures and videos we made put on the computer.

We tried cereal again. She still wasn't a fan of eating it with a spoon, so we just put it in her morning and evening bottles. That seems to work out better.





Kerrigan turned 5 months old back on November 15. We did our monthly photos on her rocking chair with the pink bear. She was really into these pictures. But she was also really into watching Marley so we had to take several so that we could get some with her looking at the camera. She also took her monthly tumble onto the bear. :)

5 month pictures:













Kerrigan still loves hanging out with her big brother Marley. He always likes to get around her whenever he can. They were hanging out on Mommy and Daddy's bed one day.





We went to a birthday party for our friend Wyatt. It was at a park and Kerrigan got to hang out with her cousins at the party!







After the party, Bebe, Kerrigan and I went shopping to see if we could find something to wear for our Christmas picture shoot with Carson and Parker at Portrait Innovations. My mom had seen a rabbit coat at The Market a few weeks before and she wanted to see if she could find it at a store, but they didn't have Kerrigan's size. We ended up finding a pink dog coat at a different store and we just had to have it. Kerrigan enjoyed modeling it!





We tried out carrots with Kerrigan to see how she did with "real" baby food. At first, she was not really sure about it but as she continued eating, I think she started to like it. The texture wasn't as thick as the cereal and it was for sure something that tasted better!







The Tuesday before Thanksgiving, my mom, Megan and I took Kerrigan and the boys to Portrait Innovations to get some Christmas pictures taken. We were really impressed with how well they did. Kerrigan was starting to get fussy towards the end (after the wardrobe change and a little waiting), but all in all, the pictures turned out well!































Kerrigan has gone to every home UAB basketball game so far this season. She is undefeated! Daddy needs to start taking her with him on the road. Although, we can't complain because we've only lost 2 road games (one by 2 points and one by 3 points).





Speaking of basketball, UAB played Arkansas in Little Rock the day after Thanksgiving, so Aaron spent Thanksgiving day traveling. So the family decided to eat Wednesday night so that everyone could spend time together before everyone (Aaron; Brad, Megan, Carson & Parker) left town. So on Thanksgiving Day, Kerrigan and I went over to my parents' house to stay while Aaron was gone. We just hung out, watched TV, ate and napped. I made Kerrigan a turkey hat. We had made some at school, so I just scaled the pieces down to fit the baby girl's head. She didn't mind wearing it! I'm sure it will be different next year. :)















We spent the night with my parents Thanksgiving night and just lounged around most of the day Friday. There is just no sale that is good enough to get me out of bed at 3 a.m. We watched the Iron Bowl, then went to eat Mexican and then decided to test out Brookwood Mall that evening. It really wasn't that crowded.

Kerrigan really seemed to enjoy sweet potatoes.







While Aaron is out of town for basketball, Kerrigan, Marley and I usually head over to my parents' house to stay. Mom had bought her a doll and here is Kerrigan holding her. :)



In a 7 day span (November 29-December 5), UAB had 4 basketball games. Much deserved, Aaron got a 2 week break from December 5-19. Since his parents weren't coming down for Christmas, he wanted to try and go visit them in Cincinnati during that time. At first, he was going to take Kerrigan and fly up there by himself. But then we decided that I would go and we would just drive. I took off Friday, the 10th and we left Thursday evening after I got home from work. We were going to try and make it up that night, but we decided to stop in Kentucky and spend the night and just get up the next morning and finish off the drive. It was definitely a quick trip, but I know that Aaron was glad he got to see his parents and some friends.

We had to bathe Kerrigan in the sink while we were up there:




Kerrigan got her first official Christmas present from Aaron's cousin while we were in Cincinnati. She didn't quite know what to think:






Procrastination is key in the Jordan household, so it's not surprising that I waited until around the 14th of December to actually begin taking pictures for our 2010 Christmas card. After over 100 pictures were shot, we finally settled on three to use plus one from Portrait Innovations. Here are some of the pictures I took. We had some trouble keeping Kerrigan's hand out of her mouth so that's one of the reasons why I had to take so many!











The final product:


Kerrigan really loves Fahj, the kitty! She always tries to pet him and pull his fur whenever he comes around. He doesn't mind much...until Marley comes around!



Here are some pictures from Kerrigan's 6 month birthday. I can't believe she is already half a year old! She was going to town on her fist!! Teething, teething, teething...







Instead of Kerrigan tumbling over, it was now the bear's turn...


Look at that mischievous grin...


Aww, the poor bear!


Then, she got interested in her Charlie Brown Christmas globe...


Everything in her hands...goes in her mouth...


We went to the doctor for Kerrigan's 6 month checkup and Dr. Brian was very impressed. He noticed how well she was sitting up and said that she was advanced and that we would have an "early crawler." Oh boy!! Look out! He also said that she had "ears of steel" because she had been battling congestion and a cough for a few weeks and she did not develop an ear infection. She got a flu shot and a few other shots. We have to go back in January for her 2nd round of the flu shot and also to get her Hepatitis B shot. He also told us that we could go ahead and do baby food three times a day (breakfast, lunch and dinner). So we have been trying that out and it's definitely been messy. :)

Peaches and cereal... and putting her fist in her mouth (of course):


Yummy!


At least she knows what the bib is used for... :)


We definitely have been bundling Kerrigan up during this cold weather!


Daddy finally set up her Jenny Jump Up and she LOVES it!




Somehow Kerrigan can manage to sleep during basketball games. I don't know how, but she does.


But the last home game we went to against VCU on the 21st, she woke up soon after this picture. After being down 12 points with five minutes left, we rallied back and came back to win by three points!! It was definitely an exciting game and Mommy and Laurie could not hide their excitement! GO BLAZERS!!


Some things to remember from the past month and a half...definitely not in any chronological order:

1. Kerrigan can now sit up on her own. :) She tumbles over every now and then but she is doing really well and has great posture!

2. Kerrigan loves watching her daddy play guitar. Her favorite songs are "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" and "You Are My Sunshine."

3. At her 6 month doctor checkup (12/20/10), Kerrigan weighed 16.2 pounds (still in the 50th percentile for weight), was 26 1/4" long (about 80th percentile for height) and had a head circumference of 16 3/4" (I think she has moved up into the 50th percentile for head circumference now!).

4. All of a sudden, it seemed Kerrigan's hair just started growing nonstop. She has several "long" pieces of hair now. :)

5. Kerrigan has been in the teething process for quite some time now--drooling up a storm and gnawing on any and everything. My dad noticed that she had cut a tooth last week. You can see (and feel) a tiny little piece poking through... on the top!

6. Kerrigan was not doing very well napping during the day in her bed. But she got a CD player and CDs for Christmas. I put her down yesterday for a nap in her bed with the CD player on and she napped for over 2 hours. She is napping right now in her bed and I haven't heard much from her in about an hour and a half. :) Angie will be happy when she comes back to keep her on Monday. :)

7. Kerrigan is still babbling up a storm and she gets REALLY excited when Mommy or Daddy get home and she sees us and hears our voices. So sweet...

8. Mommy cleaned out Kerrigan's closet and got teary-eyed when she saw her newborn clothes. Our little baby girl is growing up so fast!!!

9. In Cincinnati, we were eating at a restaurant called La Rosa's. Kerrigan had pooped and Daddy offered to change her. Little did he know it would be a HUGE mess! He took her into the men's bathroom to change her and of course, there were only a few wipes left in the container and we had forgotten a change of clothes. Daddy was in the restroom for about 20 minutes. :) Luckily a man in the bathroom offered to watch Kerrigan while Aaron came out to find me and get more wipes that we had in the bag. We are definitely still learning as we go........

10. Kerrigan experienced her first snowfall in Cincinnati and most of our way home!

11. And finally, this next note was definitely purely an accident and will be funny to look back on in a couple of years. While we were at the doctor, Kerrigan had been drooling so Aaron grabbed a wipe without realizing that it was a Clorox wipe. Kerrigan ended up breaking out into a horrible rash on her face. He felt AWFUL!!! After a few days of it getting worse, we decided it was time to call the doctor. They told us to put 1% Hydrocortisone Cream on it and give her some Children's Zyrtec. It has gotten better, but it definitely took a while to heal. Once again, still learning...........




Hoping to post pictures and videos from Christmas soon, but until next time...

lj