Be Mine!

Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! Thanks for taking the time to stop by and visit as we share with you the fun things going on in Irelyn's life. Lot's of love from Casey, Emily, and Irelyn!

Four Month Check-Up

Last Wednesday Irelyn had her 4 month check up. First, I cannot believe that it was her 4 month check-up! I remember scheduling her 2 month appointment and thinking that, that was a long ways away. And now we are at 4 months. Crazy... I know, I know what you're thinking "It goes soooo fast..." but you never really comprehend it until you're experiencing it first hand.

The doctor's visit was great and Irelyn is healthy and developing wonderfully. She is 25 3/4 inches long and in the 94th percentile for height... 15lbs 3oz. and in the 83rd percentile for weight... and her head is 16 3/8 inches and in the 69th percentile. Her rates of growth in all three areas are consistent, which is great. It is interesting to me that she is so long. I know that my parents are relatively tall (and my sister thinks she is tall, although we are the same ;) but all of the methods to figure children's height tend to take into account the parents height, not necessarily grandparents or other family members height. Like this one for instance: http://www.kidsgrowth.com/hc/height.cfm, which in utilizing 2 methods says she is estimated to be 5'4". Of course it doesn't really matter, just interesting and fun to try and figure out. I guess we shall see.

Bummer about doctor's visits is that they always end in shots =(. She is a super tough baby though. Poor thing... you watch as she gets the first shot and she never cries until it's out and she's given a minute to think about it. You can just see it processing in her eyes, and then all of a sudden it registers, "That hurt!" and the sad face takes over and the crying begins. The 2nd two pokes went fast and then even before I was able to swoop her up she stopped crying for a minute on her own... But then she remembered the ordeal she had just endured and started up again. Once I had her though she settled down very quickly.

In the car after her appointment. It seems like she is looking at me and saying, "gee thanks mom."

Poor little legs!

Chewing on fingers does help though!

Cyclones and Jayhawks and Spit-up, Oh my!

We were a house divided on January 11, 2011… It was a gloomy day when Casey donned the red and gold and Emily and Irelyn cheered for the crimson and blue. It was the day the Iowa State Cyclones took on the Kansas Jayhawks… and it was Irelyn’s first college basketball game. The three of us went to the game with my dad, and about half way up to Ames I realized that Casey wasn’t dressed as a Jayhawk, but as a cyclone fan. I was shocked that he wasn’t cheering for my team, but he had to remain loyal to his boyhood team… I guess. We recovered though, and although I am happy we introduced Irelyn to the exciting world of college basketball and things went very smoothly, I don’t know how frequently I will be taking an infant to more basketball games… It was probably my own paranoia, but you know that part in Sweet Home Alabama, where Reese Witherspoon goes to the bar to meet up with her high school friends, and she walks up to her old best friend with a baby and says "You have a baby... in a bar." Well, for some reason I kept feeling like people were thinking "You have a baby... at a college basketball game." =) I'm sure it's much more common than I think, but still...

Here we are getting ready to head to the game. Irelyn is already cheering.

It’s amazing the things you never noticed at games before having a baby. For instance, I never realized that they were so LOUD. I mean, I knew it was loud, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the outlandish decibels were causing ear drum damage (I really don’t think they were, but crazy mom thoughts happen a lot these days) I do believe that about half of my time there I was holding a blanket around Irelyn’s ears. I needed the earphones that Drew Brees’s son wore after the super bowl….

This was my make-shift ear plugs... I don't know if it actually muffled much of the sound.

Waiting for the game to start...

It was a very stimulating environment... she loved watching all of the action!

Another thing that I never realized… this isn’t like profound… but you can definitely predict when the noise is going to erupt, so every time ISU positioned themselves to drain a 3 or make a fast break play, I braced myself for the overwhelming thunder of cheering (of course, this loud cheering is like 10 times louder against a superstar team like Kansas!) And then it was nice because when the team I wanted to win would score, it was quiet, so it was like a double plus!

I also never knew that you can’t just stand to watch the game at the top of the stairs where everyone walks. A nice, older event staff lady helped me get a chair and set me up so I could bounce Irelyn to sleep away from our seats, amidst all of the noise, cheering, and music. And, she did sleep amazingly enough. If any of those thunderous plays happened I would have to start all over again getting her back to sleep, but I was impressed at her sleeping abilities. I also made lot’s of friends. I think people are nicer to you when you have a baby and there were plenty walking by to comment and look.

Irelyn and Opa... Who was also dressed as a Cyclone for diplomatic purposes...

Did you know that in the bathrooms of Hilton Coliseum there are these amazing benches and despite the fact that they are right inside the door, it offers a wonderful alternative to nursing a baby in the bathroom stall. And once again, I made lot’s of friends. One lady as she walked out of the bathroom, told me how much she wished she could turn back time and nurse her own babies, and how special it is, and then she capped it off by telling me that she could tell I was a good mom. That was so nice! It was a pretty deep conversation that took place in the 45 seconds that she was walking past me and out the door. But very friendly! I need to keep that in mind and be friendlier to my other “mom friends” that I encounter…

I also never knew that Iowa State fans will still be friendly to an openly Jayhawk mom and daughter combo. Irelyn was dressed in her Jayhawk cheerleading outfit, and although people told me she was in the wrong colors, they still commented on her cuteness. And… here’s the big one… people are still friendly when they get spit up on… yes… it happened… we were making our way back from our nice bathroom feeding experience, shimmying back to our chair, and I sit down only to see the gentleman in front of us with a snazzy ISU pullover (my dad says it was the expensive kind) has a big splat of Irelyn’s spit up running down his back! What is a mother to do?!? “Excuse me, sir, my baby just threw up on you and it’s running down your back…” or “Woops! Sorry, I just ran into your back with my burp cloth. No problems here…” Once we got over our “What do we do?” shock, my fabulous husband took charge and politely leaned over and told him for me and wiped it off. It dried ok, and everyone forgives a baby, even one dressed as a Jayhawk.

Irelyn munchin' away at the snacks

It was a really good game, and although I did want Kansas to win, I was happy that ISU put up a good fight. Kansas did end up winning, yay, and we successfully made it through the whole game with a three month old.

The almost final score... we left so I couldn't get the final final score... but you get the picture.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk!!!