Playtime & Naptime

Today my Katy played in her exersaucer for the first time! We have placed her in it for just a minute or two previously, but she still wasn't quite big enough. So today I placed a couple of sheets on the bottom so her feet could touch a little better, and she had some extended play time in it, and she seemed to love it! She caught on to how some of the toys worked immediately... such a smart girl! We also went for a walk, using just the stroller for the first time, without the carseat in it. Noticed at the airport when I had her in a little umbrella stroller she loved facing outwards and being upright and taking everything in, so today we put her in her big stroller like a big girl. My baby is growing up fast! And then I just had to include some pictures from last night when she fell asleep on me. She curled up like this all the time as a newborn, but doesn't do it too much anymore. So precious... so while I kept thinking, "I should just put her down for the night", I just loved watching her like this.

Last night in Moose Jaw...

Katy and I arrived safely back in San Jose yesterday evening. Once again she was such a good girl on all of our flights. Always a hit with the other passengers and flight attendants! Right before we went to MooseJaw I was coming down with a bug, so spent most of the week without much of a voice, and feeling somewhat under the weather. But thankfully, I was beginning to feel signicantly better by my last full day there. Hate to fly when I'm sick, so I'm so glad I felt relatively healthy for our trip back yesterday... no painful ears for either of us on the descents!

Here are a few pics from our "Last Supper", at Boston Pizza, Tuesday night in MJ. Unfortunately my dad had to leave Tuesday morning for a couple days away working, so he wasn't able to be there. (But Katy always seemed to be mesmorized by him... Grandad got HUGE smiles from her all the time!) In spite of my being sick, I'm very glad we had the chance to visit everyone again. My mom will be here in San Jose in 3 wks, and hopefullly other Perryman family members will be able to make it down here in the next few months as well.

Katy with Auntie Lauren

Katy with Auntie Samantha & Uncle Brad
Katy with her cousin Jackson
The whole clan (minus Grandad and me, the photographer!)

Still up North...

Katy has recently discovered her toes are yummy!
Loving bathtime with Nanna
Laughing at Nanna playing peek-a-boo
Sound asleep during breakfast at Smittys
Just thought I'd quickly post a few more pics... we are going out for dinner tonight, so hopefully I'll get a few more there of all the family as it is our last night here in Moose Jaw. Tomorrow we head home to San Jose. Cross your fingers that Katy will once again be a good girl for her Mommy on all the flights! We can't wait to see Daddy!

Katy is 5 mnths old!

Hello from Moose Jaw! Katy and I are up here in the "frozen North" visiting everyone for a second time. All 3 of us came back in October for her first introduction, but this time we had to leave Benji behind working. :( She was a perfect little girl for her mommy on all 3 of the flights it took to get here! We arrived two days ago, on Tuesday. Today she turned 5 mnths old! To celebrate we first went out to lunch with her Nanna, and a good family friend, Leslie Somerville (but unfortunately I left my camera at home). Then Auntie Samantha & Uncle Brad had us over for dinner, along with friends Becky and her son. I managed to get some pics there, and a few more back at Nanna's house afterwards. Katy played with her Nanna for a bit more, but by then it was getting late, and the last pic will show her coming undone. I know.. mean Mommy, to let her cry while getting her picture! Had some difficulty from this computer with uploading the pics, so it looks strange, but at least some are there, finally. Her 5mnth stats... approx 13 1/2 lbs, and over 26 inches long. Once again she had been a big hit up here! We love you Daddy and miss you!!

All dressed up!

It's quite late, but I thought I'd quickly post a couple of pics of Benji and I all dressed up. I know it may seem a little late for a holiday party, but Benji's company, Applied Signal Technology, always does their's in mid-January. We forgot our camera at home, so we only have pics at our house, but it takes place at the Decathlon Club, which is quite fancy. We enjoyed champagne, yummy appetizers, and a huge buffet (although I must say I prefer the years it has been a sit-down plated affair), and then of course lots of desserts. As Benji insists he can't dance (he really *can*... he's just too self-conscious about it being perfect!), we left when the swing got going. Katy's Abuelita (Benji's mom) and Titi (Auntie) Lisa were good enough to babysit so we could have a night out on the town! She apparently did very well, and was sound asleep when we arrived home around 10pm. It was a fun night!

Very sad news...

I write this post with a heavy heart, having just received some very sad news. My sister Samantha called to tell me that our Greataunt Dorothy just passed away. She was my mother's Aunt (my mom's father's younger sister). She was only around 72 yrs old, and still lived in Barnsley, England, where my mom is from. Since she was divorced and never had her own children, my mom was the contact named in her will. We have no details yet - apparently my mom was just contacted by a stranger with the news of her death, and so my mom replied and is waiting to know more.

I did not know my Greataunt Dorothy in person. However, she never forgot to send us a birthday card, and I'm thankful I kept in touch just a little with the occasional note or card. Of course, I now wish I had done more. I am very glad she should have received our Christmas letter and photo of her only great-great-grandniece, Katy, before she passed away. During our visit to Florida in Dec to see Katy's Greataunt Karalee and Greatuncle Dick on Benji's side of the family, we had been looking at the Tittle family tree, which Karalee has spent alot of time and effort on to pull together. It reminded me that I would love to do and have the same for my side of the family, to be able to pass on to Katy one day. So I had mentioned that I really should try to contact my Greataunt Dorothy, because she was the only person I know of that might be able to fill in some of the blanks on my mom's side of our family. Regrettably, I now will not get that chance. It is amazing how sad one can feel about somebody I never got the pleasure of meeting, but was family.

I wish I had a picture of her to post. I will be in Canada next week, so if I'm able to find any, I'll have to scan one so I can put it up here in memory of a very kind & thoughtful woman. Looking forward to the day that we will finally get to meet her in person.

My long, lean little girl...

Well I partially just needed an excuse to post some more cute photos! :) Katy and I went to the Mommy's group again this morning, which always has a scale... so I weigh her just for fun. Today she was 13lbs, 3oz - up 3oz from last week. I looked back over her measurements, and while she gained approx a 1/2lb per week from birth to 2mnths, since then she has slowly but steadily gained at a pace of 3 oz per week. So while she started out right on the 50th percentile for weight, since 3 mnths she has dropped one percentile and now seems to be right on the 25th. Which is actually very common for exclusively breast-fed babies... to slow their weight-gain right around 3 mnths and therefore appear to drop a percentile. Growth charts include data from more formula fed babies than breastfed, and formula fed babies keep a sharper curve, rather than levelling out after 3mos. In any case, while she is only 25th percentile for weight, she is at the 95th for length!! (26" at 4mos) So just like her cousin Jackson, she is long and lean... going to be a challenge finding pants that stay on her. Thank goodness for bulky cloth diapers (isn't that pink one above SO cute?!?), as they help keep up her pants.

On an side note, Katy now just LOVES our cats, Mowgli and Simba. Mowgli especially is pretty tolerant with her reaching out and trying to grab his fur... Katy now gets so excited when she sees them!

My nephew is now a school-boy!

Jackson Perryman
April 'o4 - 7mnths old, visiting us in San Jose August '04 - 11mths old, my visit to Moose Jaw to help with mom's broken leg!
Nov '04 - 14mnths, Jackson's 1st visit to Puerto Vallarta
October '06 - Meeting baby cousin Katy in Moose Jaw... he's SO good with her!
November '06 - Helping out with Katy in Puerto Vallarta... she loves him.
As you can now see, adorable kids run in our family. :) This is a BIG day for my nephew, as he is off to school for the first time! Today he started Montessori in Moose Jaw - he'll be going 5 mornings a week. He turned 3 this past September - he is growing up so fast, and he is a great little boy. Katy and I can't wait to see him again next week, when we go back for another visit! Hopefully we can go see you at your new school Jackson! We love you!

Katy - World Traveller

In case some of you had not heard, as of Jan.23rd, '07, EVERYONE has to have a passport when flying between Canada, the US, and Mexico. So even Katy has to have her very own passport, which we applied for on Dec. 18th. So the cute pic in it is on her 4mnth bday! As most of you already know, Katy has become quite the little traveller already, having been up to Canada in Oct, then to Puerto Vallarta in Nov, and then to Florida in Dec. Now just Katy and I are heading back up to Moose Jaw to see everyone again... we'll be there from Jan.16-24th. So we had to have her passport for this trip. It arrived last Friday, but unfortunately I had to overnight it back to LA because of an error. Just how observant are you?? Let's see who is the first to point out what's wrong with Katy's passport!!

Sleepy baby

Couldn't resist snapping a few pics of Katy the last two evenings. We think she may be in the early stages of teething, which is somewhat disrupting her typical sleeping patterns. She gets upset, and I'm finding a cold washcloth or a teether or my finger rubbing her gums will often immediately soothe her. However, the short cat naps during the day (which I'm beginning to think sore gums may be playing into), leads to an overtired baby at night. She has finally konked out in my arms feeding, and she splays her arms out. I just love her sleeping face... her features are so perfect... she looks like a little angel. Also had to take the picture of all three of our childing taking a nap together last week... so cute!

Congratulations Lisa!!

From left to right... Benji, me (& Katy 2mnths before birth!), Ken (Daddy Tittle), Lisa (the graduate), Daniel, Diana (Mommy Tittle), and David

I just heard from Lisa (my sister-in-law)... she just finished her master's thesis, and it's official... her master's degree in Linguistics from Stanford was just conferred on her. She finished all her classes last June, and we (her parents, brothers, and a very pregnant me) attended her graduation ceremony for both her bachelor's and master's degrees. But she still had one final step of completing her master's thesis, which was due today. And she did it! We are all very proud of you - I know it hasn't been easy. Katy, Benji and I are looking forward to a late New Year's celebration with you once you have caught up on your sleep! :)

Maybe the carseat is just shrinking...

I realized after looking through all our pictures that I had Katy in her carseat exactly every 2mnths, which I think is fun to see how much she's grown (or how much the seat has shrunk!!) The first pic of Katy is at 2days old, coming home from the hospital. The 2nd was taken in Canada on Oct 18th (2mnths old), and the last one is Katy posing for her passport photo on Dec 18th (4mnths old). We had to drape a white towel over the carseat as they needed a white background... does it not seem strange that when Katy is 5 yrs old this will still be the photo in her passport?? As I mentioned in an earlier post, this carseat is not going to contain her for much longer!!

Stay-at-home mom

I am so appreciative of this time I have staying home with Katy. I now know I won't be returning to my old position. My boss had brought in a new doctor to cover for me while I was away on disability to have Katy, which here in California gives you 4 wks before birth and 6 wks afterwards. Then you can take an additional 6 wks using what's called Family Leave. However, very small businesses, such as the chiropractic office I was at, who only have a couple of employees, do not have to hold your job while you are taking this leave. So... the new doc wants to continue FT, rather than job share, so that leaves me out of a position there. Which we are OK with, as I love having this time with my baby girl. I have been able to cover for Dr. Peter Fysh when he has been on vacation. I just see a few people here and there who need care while he is out of town. And another doctor in Los Altos, where I worked previously, also has some days where she'll need coverage. So that gives me an opportunity to see adults and keep up my skills, but still have alot of time at home with Katy. I'm also in the process of applying for unemployment, so hopefully if I'm approved that will help out a little until I find something more regular.

Yesterday, Katy and I went to the movies! Twice a month a local theatre has a "mommy-and-me" showing at 12:30pm (at the Pruneyard for those of you who are local). They keep some lights on, and there is parking for strollers... lol. So you can take your baby in, and noone glares at you if she fusses or you need to feed her, etc. They showed "Dreamgirls" yesterday, which was good!

Bathtime!

Katy has always enjoyed her bathtime, since she was a newborn! We just got her the blue sponge, which I now wish we had had from the beginning. She was always way too squished in the little infant tub we had, but this allows her to move freely while keeping her pretty much in place, so our arms don't get exhausted reaching over the tub holding her! I also take her in with me from time to time in our whirlpool tub, which she also loves, but it's nice to be able to quickly give her a bath on her own this way. Just a couple of days ago she was grabbing on to her feet, which is a new thing. And she goes CRAZY for any washcloth, as you can see! I also wish we had this blue thing from the beginning, so we could easily see how much she has grown... I know it would have cradled her before, whereas now her legs hang way over it - which is great for splashing! If anyone is having a baby soon, I would skip all the various infant tubs and just go with this - it works for all stages, whether in the sink or in the big tub, and easily hangs to dry. These pics are from her bathtime last night.

And how she grows!

At birth 8-18-06 7 lb 9oz 20 1/2" long
At one month 9 lb 8oz 22 1/2" long
At two months 10lbs 14oz 24" long
At three months 11lbs 11oz 25" long
At four months 12lbs 10oz 26" long
So I thought I'd post some of Katy's stats, along with a picture at each size. It is truly amazing how fast she grows. When we brought her home, I did not have any clothes that fit... all the 0-3 mnth ones were WAY too big! And she looked so incredibly tiny in her infant carseat. But now, she is in 3-6 mnth clothes because she is so very long, and Benji and I were just discussing yesterday that we soon need to buy her the next carseat, because her feet will soon be dangling over the edge! When I took her to the breastfeeding support group yesterday afternoon, at Good Sam, where she was born, she weighed in at exactly 13 lbs.

My first tattle!

I decided to follow in my sister's footsteps and start a blog for our family! I had been thinking about it for awhile, now that we have a beautiful baby girl. Her name is Katy (Kathryn Faith), born on Aug. 18th '06. I thought a blog would be fun for multiple reasons, but most importantly, I want to be able to tell family & friends who don't get to see her on a regular basis about all the little things that happen on a day-to-day basis. Also, I love that one day when Katy is old enough, she can read back through all the archives and hopefully realize just how much her mommy & daddy loved her, and how much joy she brought to us each day! This seems a great way to keep a record which others can also enjoy, so I will try my best to continually post little tidbits about the next generation of the Tittle family! Benji may also add his two cents from time to time, although he also keeps busy with our family website... http://www.tittle.net/ . That has a full gallery of photos of Katy, as well as our family newsletter, so be sure to check it out as well from time to time. But since that website is for all the Tittles, and not just our immediate family, I thought this would be an easy way to keep all of you up-to-date with our daily going-ons! And perhaps one day, Katy herself will be posting here too!

So anyways... HAPPY NEW YEAR! Wow, how life has changed in one year. A year ago I was fighting daily morning sickness and terrible heartburn, and August, when our baby was due to arrive, seemed SOOO far away. But now our tiny little miracle is already 4 1/2 mnths old, and growing so fast. Too fast! I sometimes want to slow time down, to enjoy this precious period, before she is a teenager and wants nothing to do with us. :)

We spent New Year's Eve with our friends, Jason & Kari. They have two adorable children - Cosette who is 4, and Henry who turns 7mths old today! We enjoyed dinner together, and then spent the evening chatting and trying to convince our babies to sleep. It was a fun night with great friends. (And guys... we now have the exact same exersaucer as you, seeing as Katy seemed to approve of your selection!) :) Inspite of my efforts, although Katy took a little cat nap here and there, she managed to keep herself awake until midnight! That's our girl... when there are people around, she doesn't want to miss out on a thing! Here is a pic of her at midnight - incredibly sleepy but still managing to keep those beautiful blue eyes open.

Last night was a big one... Katy spent her first night in her crib! She has been sleeping in our room, in a cosleeper next to me or even right in with us. It's made breastfeeding so easy, to not have to get up if she is hungry at 3 or 4 am or whenever it may be. But last night I layed her down in her crib in the nursery when she konked out while nursing around 8:30pm. Since she was sound asleep when Benji and I were heading to bed a few hours later, I decided to leave her there. I think it was hard for mommy but no big deal for Katy! I checked on her around 4am, and she was still sound asleep. But I couldn't sleep, so close to 5 I finally got up again thinking maybe I would start blogging. I peeked in again and noticed she was lying there quietly but wide awake. When she saw me I got one of her huge smiles! So at that point I brought her back in to our room and nursed her, and she fell back asleep until after 8am.

Well, speaking of Katy and sleeping... she has just awoken from a nap and is calling out, so I had better run! Thanks for checking out our new Blog!