m.j. video

Here you go!
Also available for larger viewing and downloading to your Mac or PC by clicking here.

morgan julianne

Sarah and I were able to brave the weather last night to meet our newest niece. Sarah gave you most of the stats, but we got one more, she is 19 inches long!
Of course we got some pictures and they are already available in Our Gallery (you can download full size versions to your PC!).
I've posted a few here for your immediate viewing pleasure, but stay tuned to Whitmans' Sampler this morning as I will be adding a video too!
Congrats Hulme Family!
We love you Morgan!!!

we have a baby!

Morgan Julianne was born this evening via c-section! She's 7 pounds, 3 ounces—only a half pound bigger than little Libby was when she was born. We're not sure how long she is yet. Mom went to the hospital to see her, while Pam is watching Casey. Mom is going to relieve Pam soon and watch Libby so the rest of us can go to the hospital. Here's the picture Matt sent via text message, I will take more photos and hopefully post them tonight or in the morning. Katie and Morgan are both doing fine. I can't wait to hold her!

ready for summer

Although it's not very seasonal, I wanted to take Libby's chair photo this week in this little outfit that was mine as a baby, now that it finally fits her. My mom gave it to me as a baby shower gift, and it's totally from Sears, circa 1975, with plastic-lined pants and all. Of course, the shoes wouldn't stay on her feet, so she decided to chew on them (has any pair of baby booties ever stayed on any baby's feet?).

Unfortunately, Mommy took the photo shoot a little too far: When Libby flipped onto her side and exposed the darling ruffles on her bum, I wanted to get one last shot. Libby kept on flipping, though, and fell about 12 inches and landed on the back of her head on the hardwood floor. I called the doctor and the nurse told me what signs of concussion to look for today, but she said she thought she'd be fine. And I talked to Gran, who of course felt sorry for Libby but reassured me that this would be the first of many bumps. Libby is napping now (the nurse said that was OK), and I'm keeping a close eye on her. Lesson learned.

snow day

For the second day, we're all snowed in. Yesterday, Kevin and I both worked from home. Today, my office is closed because the power is out, and Kevin is working from home again. (I'm learning that he's king of conference calls!)

We got about 5 inches of snow yesterday, followed by 15 hours of freezing rain/sleet, then another few inches of snow. It's insane how much ice is covering everything and weighing it down. I feel thankful about every 15 minutes that we haven't had a power outage and that Katie hasn't gone into labor! Kevin is going to try to snowblow later this afternoon when he's done with all his calls, but I have a feeling I may be housebound again tomorrow.

At least we've been able to keep a close eye on Kenzie, who isn't doing much better. He's been getting around, eating, using the litterbox, cuddling with us. But he's really wobbly and unstable. I'm taking him to see his specialist Monday, so hopefully we'll get more answers and some good news then. Please keep sending good kitty vibes his way!

poor little kitty

I just wanted to let everyone know that Mackenzie had a stroke on Friday but he's doing fine now. I came home early with a stomach bug and realized he wasn't walking very well. We took him to the vet and they confirmed that it was a stroke after looking at his heart and ruling out kidney problems. Because he has an enlarged heart (we've known that for years; he sees a specialist every 6 months and takes a daily pill), blood doesn't flow through correctly and he likely developed a clot that traveled to his brain. Dr. Cron said animals recover from strokes remarkably well. He said he's likely to have another one, though, but I'm not sure if he means in the short term or long run. Dr. Cron is going to talk to Dr. Bruner, Kenzie's heart specialist, today and call me with an update. Kenzie is still wobbly and seems to feel a little bad, but all in all he's doing well. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

three new videos

Today was a big day for our little lady.
First the big news...
SHE'S ROLLING OVER!!!!
Aunt Katie was the first to witness the feat and we were lucky enough to capture it on film a few times tonight.



Next, Libby has a new talent for impressions. So far the only one she's really mastered is Chewbacca the Wookie. Not my first choice, but it's pretty cute.



Finally, Libby has also displayed an early talent for modeling. This week I put her in place for her weekly "watch me grow" photo shoot and she was posing like crazy. This is actually the original order I took these pictures in and it was all in the span of about two minutes!



Our little girl is growing up!
Are we ready for it???

(By the way, all of these videos are also available on Our Gallery for review or downloading)

weekend update

It's a three-day weekend for everyone here, and we're making the most of it by staying home and out of the bitter cold. Kevin ventured out on Saturday to pick up dinner and a new coffee pot (ours blew up on Friday), but otherwise we've been snuggled up at home. Libby has been an angel this weekend. She's such a happy girl and seems to enjoy just hanging out and playing, napping, eating and watching TV—just like us. Her new skills include blowing raspberries, shrieking and coughing for fun, and spinning things. She has toys that spin on both her crib activity center and her exersaucer, which she's really been loving this weekend. She LOVES to stand up, so the exersaucer is perfect for her now (thank you Auntie Susan). She's partial to just a few toys on it, but she seems to be figuring out more and more each day. She's also started dropping lots of toys on the ground, but I don't think she's doing this on purpose yet. Remarkably, Gilmore understands which toys are hers and which are his, and he leaves hers alone—with one exception: Sophie the Giraffe. Sophie is a teething toy made of soft, natural rubber, and she squeeks. Gilmore wants her bad!

We tried rice cereal with Libby last week, as you probably saw in video and photos. After 3 nights, we decided to hang up the spoon and wait a week or so before another attempt. She didn't resist it, but she didn't seem to understand the concept of swallowing yet, either. To update you on previous concerns, her diaper rash is much better, and she doesn't seem to have eczema as I feared. We've been staving off the diaper rash by using white diaper rash cream at every changing. We were using Aquaphor, but it didn't do the trick. So A&D it is. We've just been limiting baths to every three days and keeping lots of lotion on her dry skin, and it seems to be fine. She's also growing like a weed, although she doesn't seem to outgrow all of her clothes at once. She's now wearing 6-month sleepers, 3-to-6-month tops and 3-month pants. It doesn't help that every brand is sized differently, so you just have to try things on to see if they fit, although I seem to constantly underestimate her size in tops. We've been giving Katie such random assortments of clothes for her baby. I've become a big fan of Carter's brand because it's so consistenly sized. Speaking of clothes, Libby was home with Kevin on Friday and it was the coldest day of the year. I came home to find her in quite a cute assortment of garments, including leg warmers and a Winnie the Pooh hat. I called her Flashdance Pooh. Check out the photo of the little ragamuffin I've posted here.

On a final, random note, Kevin installed a door at the bottom of the stairs to the second floor to help reduce the noise travelling up to Libby's room from the kitchen and to keep the cats downstairs at night (they kept coming into Libby's room and making all kinds of noise, just as we were getting her to sleep). It's also provided the unexpected benefit of keeping the cold air from travelling upstairs from the back door. It's original to the house, so we figured it would be a better way to keep Libby from climbing up the stairs once she's mobile than using a gate, although we'll still need to install a gate at the top of the stairs (we got a nice one for Christmas from Keith and Kathy!).

video summary

As I mentioned in a post this weekend, I've been working over the past few days to update and load several videos into Our Gallery. Below is a list of current videos with links and a brief synopsis of each. I'm going to try to get new ones loaded more frequently, so I'll post something whenever I do.
I hope you enjoy these, let me know what you think!
(listed chronologically, newest first)

raspberry delight
This week Libby has taken to making an entirely new noise. Often.

libby's first solid food
Our attempt to feed Libby her first serving of rice cereal.

adventures in babysitting
While everyone else was at Katie's Sprinkle, Casey, Libby & I were having fun!

libby's first christmas
From visiting Santa to Christmas wishes from Great Grandmas, here's how Libby celebrated her first holiday season.

twist & shout
The whole family got in on a little serenade to Libby.

halZOOween
Libby's first trip to the zoo with Mommy, Daddy, Aunt Katie, & Casey.

the first three months of libby
A look back at some highlights that we caught on tape of Libby's first three months of life.

And I have a few others that I posted a while ago, all "Pre-Libby" but still possibly worth a look when you have time.
Of course, all of these and all of our photo galleries can always be found on Our Gallery.

baby shower

We had a "sprinkle" for Baby Girl Hulme yesterday at TGI Friday's. I hosted a small group of Katie and Matt's friends to help them celebrate and prepare for their new baby. We had a group of 9 people, and everyone seemed to have a great time. Katie and Matt's generous friends got them lots of practical stuff, including some adorable clothes. Although this little one will be inheriting all of Libby's clothes, it will be nice for her to have some things of her own. I'm sure Katie and Matt will post about the shower, too. I just wanted to get some pictures posted.

new movies!

Check out the "Movies" section at the bottom of Our Gallery (link on the right).
I've added several new ones with Libby and the gang.
Keep checking over the next few days as I'll be adding a few more.
I'll post again when I have them all updated with a list of new movies and a brief description of each.
Enjoy!

christmas pics and a giggle girl

Well, I finally found time to caption and upload our pictures from Libby's fourth month and Christmas to Our Gallery.

I've still got a lot of work to do on all of our video footage, but wanted to share this quick clip of our little giggler. Enjoy!

libby milestone

Libby rolled over today, from back to front! Katie said she was laying on her playmat, craning her neck to watch "Sesame Street," then Casey walked by and she just flipped over. She seemed so close to rolling over last night. I was laying on the floor with her, saying, "You can do it!" Too bad we missed it, but it's very exciting news.

finally, a diagnosis

Well, I'm STILL sick. I went to the doctor today, and he said it looks like a cold that turned into a sinus infection. He gave me a new antibiotic, since the one I've been taking for the past 5 days wasn't working. He said he didn't think I had bronchitis, which is what I had suspected, but that the treatment was the same either way. I stayed home from work today but took Libby to Katie's so I could sleep all afternoon. I'm planning to go back to work tomorrow.

Libby seems to feel fine. She still has a runny nose and is cranky on and off, but no other symptoms. I'm hoping we had the same thing and that there's no way she'll catch this now. The doctor said I shouldn't be contagious anymore, but I just feel so germy!

sick of being sick

My little cold turned out to be the plague, and I've been in bed all week. We canceled our New Year's Eve plans with Matt and Amanda, and I called the doctor New Year's Day and got an antibiotic. Luckily Kevin and I both had the week off, so I didn't have to worry about taking unplanned time off, and Kevin was able to take care of both me and Libby. I barely had the will to live, so I'm not sure how I would have made it through the past few days without him. Basically, I ate, slept and nursed, while Kevin made food for us and cared for Libby. She's been an angel, though. I think she really likes her daddy time! I feel bad that my illness ruined what would have been a week filled with fun and projects, though. In addition to Nurse Kevin, I've also enjoyed the attentions of Nurse Kenzie. My little cat has relished the fact that I've spent 24/7 in bed upstairs and hasn't left my side. He even got up to yell at me and coax me back to bed when I was nursing Libby at 4 a.m. He's such a sweet little guy. I think he misses all the attention he used to get from me. Libby seems to be feeling fine, but her little nose is still very runny. She and Kevin went to run some errands today. It's pretty warm here, and I think they both needed to get out of this germ-infested house. We did make it to IKEA on Monday, before I got really sick, and bought a new rug for the living room (thanks for the gift card, Dad and Candy!). We also got a new, smaller coffee table, with storage inside. We realized we needed to maximize our usable floor space as Libby gets more interactive and closer to crawling.

On a brighter note, we did have a wonderful Christmas. Christmas Eve we stayed home, ate snacks, watched movies and made cookies. We had so much fun opening presents on Christmas morning (Kevin and I each bought gifts for Libby and traded them for opening), and Gran made a very nice Christmas dinner. Friday we traveled to Edgerton and celebrated with Kevin's family. We all got so many nice things, especially Miss Olivia. The only thing that would have made it better was if we could have seen Dad and Candy. So thank you for helping to make Libby's first Christmas so lovely.

We're still working on getting all of our pictures and videos uploaded with captions. It was on our project list for this week, but obviously, all of our plans were derailed. Until then, enjoy the chair photo of Baby New Year.