The Alsmans

Grandpa Dalton thought it would be funny to buy Caitlin some Cubs gear.  I think we already “lost” it somewhere in our condo!!!!

  Caitlin had lots of fun this summer playing with her friend, Sophia!  Unfortunately, I had to go back to work so we won’t be able to have as many play dates.  They are so cute together! 

   We had a fun visit with Blake, Joey, Laney and Hadley at the end of August!  The daddies took the girls to Lincoln Park Zoo while the mommies went shopping on Armitage!  Fun Day for all!  That night we thought it would be fun to go out to dinner with 3 kids who were nap-deprived.  Let’s just say it was an interesting dinner!!  At least the food was good.  Actually, the girls did an amazing job at dinner considering they were all tired!

 

Caitlin is such a happy girl!  She loves almost everything.  The swing at the park is her favorite.  She also LOVES her bath, especially now that she can take a bath like a big girl.  She laughs like crazy when Grant squirts her with her bath toys.  It is too funny.  She is willing to try almost any type of food we give her.  Some of the new ones are:  toast, black beans, crackers, pumpkin, yogurt melts, bread.  She actually didn’t like asparagus and hard boiled egg yolks!  We’ll keep trying with those.  Caitlin has gained lots of weight since starting formula and solids.  She weighs 16 lbs. 4 oz. as of Sept. 11.  We are very happy because she was so small for such a long time!!

 

It has been a rough transition to daycare (more for me than for her).  Caitlin LOVES playing with the other kids and has a huge smile on her face when I leave her there in the morning.  The only problem is that she doesn’t want to take her morning nap there.  This makes for a crabby baby when I pick her up.  At least she is getting one good nap there (an hour and 45 minutes).  I really hope she starts taking both naps.  She is such a good sleeper at home.  She usually takes two 1 1/2 to 2 hour naps a day and sometimes a third nap.  Then, she sleeps about 11 hours at night.  I am just so happy that she is still sleeping through the night!

Posted by Grant, Jennie & Caitlin Alsman at 9:14 PM 0 comments

We have a totally different baby on our hands these days!  Caitlin is now able to sit on her own, do the army crawl, say “dada” (and lots of other sounds) and eat new things.  She is also getting her two bottom teeth in the middle. 

We started giving her “table food” this week.  Well, our version of table food anyway.  She has tried pieces of bananas, avocados and sweet potatoes.  I still make sure they are pretty mashed before I give them to her.  I am so afraid she will choke.  She definitely makes the chewing motion now when she gets food, so at least she knows what to do.  She also really likes the teething biscuits and frozen bananas in the food nets.  She isn’t a fan of the Gerber puffs.  She knows what to do with them but just makes a horrible face when we give them to her.  She also really likes the YoBaby yogurt, which I think smells so nasty.

We started baby proofing the house this week because Caitlin is on the move!  She is too lazy to get up on the fours, so for now she does the army crawl.  She is talking all the time now and loves to say “dadadadada” and “lalalalala.”  She just started saying “num, num, num” when eating, which I think is her imitating “yum, yum”  She is just so much fun these days.  I am going to be very sad going back to work in two weeks.

Caitlin gave us a scare last week.  She has been having these involuntary arm movements (like getting a chill or shiver) for the last few weeks.  We videotaped one of the episodes and took her to the doctor.  They want us to monitor her until her 9 month appointment and then we will see what happens.  So for now we have to videotape her when we can and keep a log of every time it happens.  That hasn’t been too fun.  It’s weird though because it only seems to happen when she is sitting up in the highchair during mealtime.  So, we are praying that it turns out to just be a faze or something.  If it continues, we will probably take her to a neurologist.  Anyone know a good one for kids???

She has been having fun going to her playgroup on Wednesdays, going for walks with Colleen and Andy and playing with Sophia.  She also had fun at the beach with Tracy, Billy and Madeline!  Caitlin went to her first Mendota Sweet Corn Festival this month with mommy, Grandmo and Grandpa.  Grandpa can’t wait to tell her all his stories of growing up in Mendota!!

On August 1st, she went to Saugatuck for the first time for her cousin, Olivia’s, first birthday party!  She loved playing with her cousin and all her toys!  It was a very fun and relaxing weekend.

Posted by Grant, Jennie & Caitlin Alsman at 5:14 PM 0 comments

Caitlin was very busy in July (so were mommy and daddy, which is why we are so behind on the blog!!)!  She went to Brookfield Zoo for the second time with mommy and “Auntie” Katy Dubina.  She also had fun with mommy, Grandmo, Grandpa and Uncle Books in Michigan City, IN.  She wasn’t a fan of the cold Lake Michigan water though (see pic above).  Of course, she also went to a few Sox games and really enjoyed all the sights and sounds.

She enjoyed playing with “big girl” toys (shapes, rings, musical toys, etc).  She had lots of “firsts” this month.  She took a FULL bottle of formula and could hold the bottle all by herself (in fact, we discovered this when Grandpa gave her the bottle while she was laying on the floor.  She just held it and drank it-see pic above).  She also sat in her stroller like a big girl for the first time.  She started sitting and was pushing up on all fours. I even saw her go from her belly to sitting all by herself!  She also learned to scoot backwards.

She continues to entertain us, especially with her silly faces and fun sounds.  She LOVES to have her tongue out and it is out most of the time.  She likes to make a cute “cheese” face and show us her gums (it’s too cute).  She loves talking and is such a happy girl.

She loves her solid food and eats two meals a day, in addition to her milk.  She likes everything we have given her.  If I had to pick her least favorite food, it would be green beans.  But, she will eat them.

Posted by Grant, Jennie & Caitlin Alsman at 4:51 PM 0 comments

We went to Michigan from July 3-July 8.  We started in Glen Arbor for Laurie and Drew’s wedding.  It was at the Homestead Resort and was just beautiful.  The weather was perfect and the wedding was a blast.  Caitlin had fun with all of her grandparents that weekend.  Mom and Dad were busy with wedding festivities so her grandparents helped out ALOT!!!  From Glen Arbor, we traveled to Mackinac Island.  Caitlin liked the ferry ride and the carriage ride.  It was pretty cold there. After that, we went to Ludington for a night and stayed at a Bed and Breakfast.  Caitlin enjoyed swinging in the baby swing at the park there.  She was excellent in all the car rides.  We got pretty lucky, just a few fussy times!

She got a new nickname during this week, Curious Caitlin. She is always looking around at everyone and everything.  She never wants to miss any of the action.  She also started reaching her arms out to mommy and others when wanting to go to them.  It is so cute!!

She learned to roll to belly during diaper changes now, which really frustrates mommy and daddy.  She is such a wiggleworm.  She really enjoyed the fireworks in EP on July 2nd.  She just sat in mommy’s arms, drank her bottle and stared at them. 

Posted by Grant, Jennie & Caitlin Alsman at 6:24 PM 0 comments

We went to Evansville on June 12th to visit our family!  It was our niece Hadley’s first Birthday and we celebrated on Saturday at Blake and Joey’s house.  It was a lot of fun and Hadley LOVED her cake!  Grant had to come home on Sunday, the 14th, but Caitlin and I stayed until Thursday to spend more time with Caitlin’s Mimi, Pops, Gigi, Aunties, Uncle and Cousins!!  We had a lot of fun with everyone.  Caitlin loves her cousins and loved having other kids around.  She would just stare at them and want to play like a big girl.  Laney kept calling Caitlin her baby sister, which was so cute!  When we left, Laney wondered where her baby sister, Caitlin, went (so adorable)!!  She also loved Mimi’s dog, Bella and Auntie Bee’s dog, Moose.  She would just watch them run around and liked to pet Bella’s curly hair!

 

Caitlin had a few firsts while we were in Evansville.  She went “swimming” in a pool for the first time, she went in a swing for the first time and down a slide (with help from daddy).  She also did a great job sitting in a booster seat to eat.  We didn’t think she would be able to do it but she is almost sitting, so it was pretty easy for her.

She also learned a new “trick” to let us know she wants more food.  She sticks her tongue out just about as far as she can (see the pics above).  It was too funny!  She continues to enjoy oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and applesauce.  We will keep adding new food!

 

She was a little stubborn while we were in Evansville.  She wouldn’t take a bottle for two days, she only wanted mommy.  It was a bit frustrating but now we have learned to just hold the bottle in front of her and she grabs it when she is ready.  I have a feeling we have an independent little girl on our hands!

 

We had some professional pictures taken of the whole family and of the cousins while we were there.  We will have to add some when we get them in the mail.  They turned out great!

Posted by Grant, Jennie & Caitlin Alsman at 1:46 PM 0 comments