5 Weeks

Sadly, I have no pictures this week. The camera ran out of juice and the batteries are still charging, so I'll do my best to paint vivid "word pictures" for you...just kidding. I think that would take longer than you want to spend reading this.



This week Kerrigan turned 1 month old (on Tuesday). What a big girl! Her cheeks are getting chubby and she is lifting her head more and more. She's also making more sounds -- cooing and grunting and such. She has been sleeping at night in 4 hour blocks, so we've been able to get some good quality sleep. Also, we think we've caught her smiling here and there.


On Wednesday, Grandma and I went out and about. We visited a store in old town Littleton called Sweet Beginnings and got a Moby Wrap (extremely long piece of stretchy fabric used to hold the baby against your body for hands free convenience while maintaining a close bond with your child) and some trays to freeze mama's milk for when I go back to work. Great store -- I highly recommend it to any CO moms.


We also went to Babies R Us and picked up a mirror for the car so we can see her while we're driving. Haven't installed it yet, hope it works better than the last one we got at Target which we couldn't figure out how to attach to the seat.


We were able to return the Target mirror that day also, and with our store credit we got a Britta refrigerator jug since the water in Englewood is HORRIBLE!! Didn't want to continue to buy bottled water. Yes, the Britta marketing campaign is aimed straight at my liberal guilt.


After Target, little Kerri was getting pretty fussy and the cold bottle we had with us wasn't cutting it, so we raced home so she could nurse.


She had a pediatrician appointment on Thursday where they weighed her and measured her again. She is now 9 lbs, 1 oz and 20 inches long. The doc said she is right on track with her growth and everything was normal.


Before the pediatrician, we tried to go to Swedish Hospital for a hearing screening, but after Grandma dropped us off in the front of the hospital and left to park the car, I ended up finding out that the person who does the hearing screens is only there on Wednesday, so we weren't able to do it.



On the way back down the elevator to the lobby, I lost a grip on the papers I was holding and they slid right down the tiny slot on the floor of the elevator door and into the elevator shaft. Luckily, they weren't irreplaceable documents--just directions to the hearing screen room and an article on vaccinations. I couldn't have done it again if I tried, I'm sure.


Grandma had to go back & get the car and we waited for her to pick us up again. Then, we had some time to kill before the pediatrician appointment so we decided to drive down Broadway to find a place to have a snack. As we were trying to find a place, the car started puttering and Gma realized we were out of gas. We rolled into a Burger King parking lot and Gma got out and headed for the 7-11 down the road to get a gas receptacle and fill it up. Unfortunately, the 7-11 had no such receptacle for loan or for purchase. Luckily, she spotted a few tow trucks with guys hanging around them in the Burger King parking lot and she asked one of them if they had a gas can she could borrow. They did, and she made her way back to the 7-11 to fill it up. Kerri and I waited in the car while Gma traipsed up and down the block trying to solve the problem. Poor woman.


We finally got back on the road and we didn't think we had much time left before the next appt, so we just headed there, but when we got there, we still had about 20 min, so we left and found a Good Times and got some burgers. When we arrived back at the pediatrician's parking lot, we scarfed down our burgers in the car. What a mess.



After we got home from the pediatrician, we were exhausted. Gma hung out with us a little while to recuperate before she had to make the hour-long drive back to Longmont.


On Friday, Kerri and I finally got our act together (teeth brushed, fed, showered, dressed, car loaded with all possible baby gear) about 2 o'clock. We went to Broadway to find a shop for birthday gifts for Denise and Ryder. I tried out the Moby wrap (worked pretty well and Kerrigan didn't fuss about it, but I found out later I was doing it wrong). We found a gift for Denise, but I decided we needed to go to a mall for Ryder's gift.


We got back in the car and drove to Cherry Creek Mall, but on the way, I took Speer Blvd, and they had closed one of the lanes and traffic was backed up for way longer than usual. Kerri was getting hungry and was therefore screaming in the backseat, but I couldn't pull over because there was no where to go. After about 20 min of sitting on Speer, listening to my poor baby's hunger cries, we finally got to the mall parking lot, where I parked immediately and got in the backseat to nurse her.

After that tradgedy was over, I drove in closer to the doors of the mall and proceeded to get the stroller out to complete the assembly (see "2 1/2 weeks" post) and loaded little Kerrigan in the stroller. She didn't mind it at all and didn't cry at all as we looked for a present for Ryder.

When I got home, I unloaded everything from the car and rested until Keith got home.