This week flew by!

I'm not really sure why but this week seemed to go by very fast. Maybe it was because our nights were filled with so many new tv shows starting! Caitlin has been doing great. This week she was smiling at us a lot and even started sleeping over 8 hours straight throughout the night! Most of the week we actually got 8 hours of sleep a night so it seems like she's starting to get used to her routine. She's also continued being very photogenic. We are both very happy that we bought our new camera. We've taken almost 800 pictures so far and the battery is still 75% charged! The pictures are turning out great as well. We've printed out a few 8x10's and have been very pleased. The camera is the Nikon D60 DSLR. It's 10 megapixels and the quality is incredible.

We haven't weighed Caitlin since her 2 month checkup but she feels like she's gained more weight. Getting her in and out of the cars is getting more difficult every day. This week we continued pulling clothes out of Caitlin's closet that no longer fit. For her 3 month birthday on October 13th, we plan on dressing Caitlin in her Halloween outfit and taking some good quality pictures of her. We're both looking forward to the holidays with her this year. :)

Another busy week

This week Caitlin continued maturing. She now is making a lot more noises like she's trying to talk and thankfully the colic has cleared up so our nights are no longer marathons of crying. :) She definitely seems like she's becoming more aware of her surroundings and she seems like she's trying to communicate with us which has been amazing to see. She still is spitting up a little from time to time but it's a lot better than it was so we're very happy about that. Toni bought a jogging stroller at the end of the week and we've taken Caitlin out in it a few times and she really seems to enjoy it. It's made by Jeep and it has everything from an iPod holder and speaker to a battery powered dashboard that makes noises that Caitlin will be able to play with when she gets a little older. I'm hoping the weather will stay nice so I can start running again. Caitlin also seems to be enjoying her baths more as well. Initially she would cry pretty much from start to finish but lately she's been very well behaved. She's been wearing all of her bath robes and the picture of her above is her wearing one of them after a bath. :) We're already having to retire some of her clothes as well. She's getting so big that most of her newborn stuff doesn't fit anymore and even some of her 0-3 month old clothes aren't fitting anymore either. It has been amazing to watch her change before our eyes.

Today we went out so Toni could satisfy her craving for doughnuts from Shipley's and afterwards, we stopped to see what I had been planning to for my mid-life crisis before Caitlin was born - the 2009 Dodge Challenger. I can describe the car in 1 word -SWEET. Surprisingly it actually has enough room in the back seat for Caitlin but I don't think I'll be buying one anytime soon. We also looked at the new 2009 Dodge Ram which also was very nice but I think I'll keep my 2002 Ram for a while. It's paid for and still runs fine and at this point, I'd rather not have to deal with a car payment than have a new vehicle. Maybe in a couple of years I'll look at the Challenger again... :)

2 months old!

This week Caitlin turned 2 months old! To mark the occasion, she had a visit with the Pediatrician. Everything looks great and Caitlin is in the upper percentile when it comes to height, weight and head size. She's gone from 20.5 inches when she was born to 23.5 now, and increased from 8lbs, 11ounces to 11 lbs, 5ounces. All of her growth looks great and the Doctor was very happy. Caitlin also got 4 shots which she didn't enjoy at all but she did very well. :) Her spitting up seems to have good days and bad. The Doctor said that's to be expected. The marathon crying sessions have also slowed somewhat but like the spitting up, still has its good and bad days. Caitlin continues to change before our eyes. She has started smiling more and is starting to use her hands to grab and stuff even more than in previous weeks.

This week we also went and got a new digital camera so we can get really good pics of Caitlin. We got some professional pictures taken on Caitlin's first month birthday but the quality left a lot to be desired so we decided to get a good camera and do them ourselves. The picture above is one of my first attempts with it. I think Caitlin will probably end up being one of the most photographed babies in America. :) If you would like access to Caitlin's pictures that we have put on Walmart.com please let me know and I'll give you access. We've been ordering our pictures online through them and so far have been pleased with the results.

As for my job situation..... This Tuesday is "the day". Tuesday we will find out who has a job and who doesn't and when our last day will be if we're leaving. I still don't think it looks good. We're hearing that as high as 98% of the people we support in some states have been let go so it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that they won't need us. Who knows, maybe I'll be surprised... I'd hate to have to add another bank to my list of companies I no longer do business with.... Anyway, I'll let everyone know on Tuesday how things work out. Hope everyone has a great week!

Week #8

This week went by pretty fast. With last weekend being a long weekend it was nice to have a 4 day workweek. We managed to get some nice pictures of Caitlin and I've posted them on picture link on the upper left hand part of this page or you can click on it at the bottom of this post. This week Caitlin did a lot better with spitting up and crying. The Prevacid may actually be helping. We still had a couple nights of an hour or so of crying but anything is easier to take than the 3 hour marathons Caitlin had been putting us through in the weeks before. :)

Caitlin continues to change before our eyes. This week she has started using her hands more and trying to hold on to things like her bottle. I also think her eyes are getting bigger by the day. Today Caitlin and I spent part of the afternoon watching the Pittsburgh Steelers shred the Houston Texans 38-17! :) Actually I watched and Caitlin slept but I'm trying to get her started out on the right path now. Heaven forbid she grows up to be a Dallas Cowboys fan! :)

Other than that, things are pretty quiet for us. We didn't get any definite news about the job situation but in my opinion, it doesn't look good. The Vice President came around on Friday to talk to us all and tell us what our severance package would be (zero for me) and that if we are laid off, we will be told within the next 2 weeks and then given at least 2 months before our last day. It still looks like all of the management will be going down with the ship in my area if we are let go so it's hard to get mad at them if it happens. If they were letting everyone go to save themselves or were going to be rewarded with a bonus or raise at the end of the year after letting their people go I might feel different. So it looks like sometime within the next 2 weeks I'll find out if I'll be looking for another job in 2008. I have a feeling we'll know sometime this week but no one really knows at this point.

This week Caitlin has her 2 month checkup on Friday morning. She will be getting a shot and getting checked out to make sure everything looks good. I'm going to be going to work late on Friday so that I can go to the appointment with Toni.

I've posted a new album of pictures of Caitlin here. Enjoy! http://picasaweb.google.com/vargas11055/CaitlinSeptember#

Week #7

Caitlin and her Nana Bev last week for her 60th birthday!


Colic... Even though it's 5 letters, it should really be categorized as a 4 letter word... The very word can send chills down the spine of even the most seasoned parent. I can definitely say that having now dealt with colic, my father makes a lot more sense to me. I now understand why his favorite word while I was growing up was, "huh?". :) Any of you unlucky enough to have dealt with it know all too well what our week #7 was like. Colic, for those of you who don't know is when a baby cries continuously for no reason. And I do mean continuously... Colic is like the Terminator - It can't be bargained with, it can't be reasoned with, it doesn't feel pity or remorse and it absolutely will not stop no matter what you do. Every night from 7-10 like clockwork, the crying commences. Worst thing is, nothing seems to help. Feeding, walking around with her, rocking her, rubbing her stomach, bouncy chairs, swings, chamomile tea, anti-gas medicine, hypo-allergenic formula, you name it, we've tried it. For about 3 hours every night we're subjected to an assault on our eardrums that I can only describe like an ice pick jabbing into your skull. Every night, I go to bed with my ears ringing, my shoulders filled with tension and a throbbing headache. I now feel like I can deal with anything and not be phased. Sit me next to a car alarm for hours on end, put me next to that annoying person on the plane who won't shut up. I say HAAA!! Child's play compared to colic! Unfortunately, no one is really sure why some babies develop colic and others don't. It seems to be related to excess gas hurting her stomach but nothing seems to be able to help it. All of the info I can find on the internet say that it usually clears up by the time the baby turns 3 months old but I hope Caitlin doesn't take that long! :)
Other than the colic every night, Caitlin is still spitting up quite a bit. Friday it was so bad that Toni took her to the Pediatrician. We now have Caitlin on Prevacid and Maalox but neither seems to be helping. We've tried everything from frequently burping her, to letting her fully eat before burping, medicine, watering down the formula, keeping her upright and even switching to a different hypo-allergenic formula with no improvement. I'm starting to think that we need to try a different formula completely because the hypo-allergenic stuff isn't helping at all. Toni is going to call the Pediatrician back tomorrow to give her an update on how the Prevacid and Maalox are doing so we'll see what she says then. One good thing though is that Caitlin is getting enough nutrition at least. On Friday she was tipping the scales at 11 pounds! :)

Toni's first week back to work went pretty well even though she left work early on Monday because she was so anxious to get home to Caitlin. The rest of the week she spent fighting traffic and now Toni officially hates her commute to work. :) The schedule seemed to work out ok with me taking Caitlin to her Grandparent's house in the mornings and Toni picking her up at night. Supposedly there are going to be big changes announced sometime this week in my department and a lot of people think that layoffs are coming. The interesting thing though is that for my area, if there are layoffs it doesn't sound like it will be Management throwing their people overboard to save their own jobs. It looks like if we go, they'll be going as well. Either way, I'm not really worried. If I lose this job, I'll just start looking for something else. No big deal. The rumor is that my group will probably be one of the few safe groups so we'll see. Either way, this week should be interesting.

Hopefully Caitlin will start feeling better soon too. We should have her 2 month checkup coming up very soon and as always, I'll keep everyone updated as to how everything goes.

For all of you who refuse to believe that colic could be that bad, here's a video clip. To get the full effect, play this clip at maximum volume repeatedly for 3 hours straight! :)

WARNING - THIS IS LOUD!!! DO NOT PLAY IF YOU ARE AROUND OTHER PEOPLE OR IN A WORK ENVIRONMENT!!!!!!