Dogs, Old Birthdays, Smoke Alarms & Big Girls.

Well I'm back! I was gone all weekend to Austin, left early Friday morning and came back yesterday afternoon around 4 o'clock. The purpose of the trip was actually for work. I took one of my clients and their dog down there to see my mentor trainer (Lee Mannix) that can fix just about any dog problem and I had hit a wall with these people and the training. Anyway, that was quite successful and I've got a neat little program that we are going to be on (my client, the dog and the help of me and my assistants!).

By coincidence it was Don's 80th birthday on Saturday (that's my step-grandpa) and my Mom and David had a huge party lined up. So on Saturday after my training I met up with everyone at Don's house for his big bash. There were probably 100 people there. It was really fun. Food, drinks, and good times. I got a couple of pictures of the folks in his backyard. It was set up like a wedding reception with about 5 round tables, long tables for food and a table for cake! It was really nice and lots of fun. I was completely exhausted after it all! Ryan and Sam, and of course Kaitlyn, were in town for the event. (For those unaware that is my stepbrother, wife and 2-year old). I crashed at around 11pm and mom had given me her room. She and David slept on the couch--they love sleeping on their couch! Anyway Kaitlyn had gotten sick at the end of the party. She threw up everywhere and after that we all headed back home. I slept so soundly. On Sunday morning mom cooked a nice big breakfast for everyone and apparently I slept through quite a night and had no idea! My mom says, "Well did you sleep? I'm so sorry for all the chaos." I was confused. I said, "What chaos?" She proceeds to inform me that Kaitlyn was sick most of the night and so she and Sam were up with her. Then the smoke detector went off screeching loudly to wake everyone . . . well everyone but me! I didn't hear one thing! I couldn't believe I slept that soundly. I'm not a heavy sleeper and I slept while the whole house was all over the place! . . .

Oh man did I miss my little girl! Daddy stayed with her and she had her second sleep-over at Grandma's on Saturday night. Grandma said she was perfect once again! She slept from 6:45pm until 6:00 am! This morning was her 4-month check up. It went super! Dr. Shori said that she is "right on target if not a little ahead" on her milestones and development! She said she was doing great! She is a big girl. Dr. Shori said she's quite tall, or rather at this stage long. She was 25.25" long (3 inches since January) and in the 75-90th percentile for height! I guess she got her Daddy's height! At 15 she'll be taller than me! She weighs 13.6 lbs--50th percentile for weight and 3 pounds since January! Whoa! She's a little chunk of love. I was also relieved to hear that she wasn't super worried about tummy time. I said, "I'm so sorry but we don't do it as much as we should because she's not a fan. . . " She said that was common and not to worry but we do still need to do it as much as we can. She's actually doing better and David got this cute picture of her being all happy on her tummy. He did say it was quite short-lived . . .

It's amazing what she's doing differently by the day. I was only gone for 3 days and she now grabs her foot and holds it. Very cute. She also grabs my shirt while I'm changing her diaper. She didn't do that before I left! She is very intrigued with her own hands and feet. It's quite cute. Daddy sent these pics from his phone to me over the weekend.

Today after the doctor's she's not so happy. She hasn't slept but one hour since 9 o'clock this morning. She's over-tired and I think the vaccinations have made her a little sore and not feeling too well. I gave her some Children's Tylenol and we'll see if that will help her snooze a little. Poor thing. She's been crying a lot and her little face looks so pitiful. She wouldn't let me put her down so I took this pic while she was in my lap. I finally gave her a little to eat and she fell alseep while eating. She's now napping . . . she should do that until 5:30pm then we get her up for an hour and then bedtime is 6:30pm.

Here is a sweet picture of her from last night. She has her cute little giraffe PJs on that Grandma got her. She sucks her thumb really only when she's tired or while she sleeps. She doesn't really suck it when she's awake unless she's cueing that she's tired.