Playtime

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The King

While in Memphis for work we squeezed in a quick trip to Graceland home of Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll. My friend Kelly got us complimentary tickets. We did the tour in less than an hour. My mom begged for me to go with her years ago. I said no. I am sure if did go with her I would have been there for at least 8 hours. But it took courage for me to go. I have memories of my mom taking us to St. Pete to see Elvis inpersonators and them singing to an audience of 9, three of those people were my mom, brother and me. I probably should see a therapist to help for those memories. My co-worker and I took the, "I have been there" tour, not the "Elvis #1 Fan tour." Elvis bought Graceland for $100,000. I asked one of the workers if you see his ghost since he died upstairs from a drug overdose. They denied it. I also asked if the estate buys the memorial flowers. They said no. Get this-- fan clubs everyday of the week, year round, send flowers, signs and memorials to Graceland. It is insanity.

Duckmaster

My dear friend Kelly Earnest is the PR Director for THE PEABODY- Memphis. When I was up there for work, we (My co-worker) and I stayed at her hotel. The next day we went up to the skywalk and met the ducks and saw a beautiful view of Memphis. She arranged for us to be a DUCKMASTER for the daily march. It was so much fun!

The Weather Channel

Went to Memphis and was in the middle of a severe weather situation. Tornadoes. Wind gusts were up to 40 mph, sirens were screaming for about an hour warning people about the weather event. Where do I go? To the park in Memphis where Jim Cantore is broadcasting live for THE WEATHER CHANNEL. Come on people, I survived hurricanes in Florida and bigger "weather events" - Tornadoes in Kansas.

Then and Now...

Just a refresher on how much our little bug has grown...
Left is at a few days old. Right is at 4.5 months.

Cya later Cashins

Our dear friends Patty, Jason and Brock are heading west to Phoenix, AZ. We had one last party for them to send them off in style. We are not saying bye forever, just cya later.

Maggie likes Tony's glasses!

Meet Jameson, Dawn & Stephen

Today we also went to Weeki Wachee and celebrated Uncle Raymond's birthday. Mike's first cousin Dawn, Stephen and Jameson were in town from Baton Rouge, LA. It was the first time the cousins: Brady, Belle, Maggie and Jameson were all together!

Lindsey Hartwig 2nd Birthday

Today we celebrated Lindsey's 2nd Birthday. It was a year ago this weekend we got the postive pregnancy test. We knew that morning and didn't say a word at her birthday party. Crazy how a year went so fast.

Mr. Hartwig was holding Maggie up:



Mandi 8 months pregnant with Baby #2

Pap Pap Birthday

Today my dad and mom came over to celebrate my Dad's birthday. It started off with Dad feeding Maggie dinner. Then we celebrated dinner and cupcakes, but Maggie had already went to bed- she was there via computer. Then Buster filled in with lots of licks!

Love from Valentine's Day

Maggie is so loved! She got packages from both Grand Ma's. She received lovely outfits and socks too! Check out the photos below.

Grand Ma Kutsch helps her open her present!



Love from Nana in Vero Beach via UPS ;)

My Valentine.

Happy Valentine's Day!

4 months

Maggie is four months today!

Babies love to check themselves out in a mirror. In fact, faces are your baby's favorite things to see right now. Hold your baby in front of a mirror and watch his delight. He won't understand that it's his own reflection until he's about 7 or 8 months old, but he'll enjoy the view. And the motion of his hands in the mirror will capture his attention. Researchers believe that your baby can now understand all the basic sounds that make up his native language. Between this time and 6 months of age, he'll develop the ability to make some of these sounds, which means you may hear the words you've been dreaming about, namely "mama" and "dada." While child development experts say it's too early for your baby to connect those sounds with you, that won't make hearing them any less exciting.

You can encourage your baby's attempts at communication by mirroring or imitating his expressions and sounds. He may try to imitate you, too. Say "ba" and he may try to say it back.

Reacting when your baby makes noises or tries to say something will help him learn the importance of language and better understand cause and effect. It's great for his self-esteem, too: He'll begin to realize that what he says makes a difference.

Baby's hands and feet are big sources of entertainment for her, as is putting anything and everything into her mouth. She's learning to discern different textures and flavors, and she's utterly fascinated by the sights and sounds around her. If you notice lots of drool coming out of baby's mouth and lots of toys going in, she may be teething. Babies find comfort in chewing on things when new teeth are sprouting, so make sure you have lots of mouth-appropriate stuff handy.


She celebrated by first going to church. She did ok, but was very active! She woke up at 8 am, then decided to take an early nap and wanted to check everything out at church. We didn't bring her car seat into church, so we held her through mass. Because she had the early feeding, we thought she would make it through mass without a bottle. Well, she did, but was sucking the life out of her pacifier. When she got home at noon, she chugged 8 ounces!

Maggie and I went to lunch with Grandma, Mrs. Janke and Donna. They sang to her at Olive Garden!

We then went home for a photo shoot and another nap. She then hung out for a while and played with her toys. What a day!








Maggie Milestones

* During feedings she moves her free hand and rubs my shirt right above the bottle.

* She grips on to shirts

* She is sitting up in her bumpo. Head control is pretty good.

* Eats 6 ounces of formula: twice in the morning, twice in the afternoon and once before bed.

* Makes contact on her playmat rings and holds onto them tightly.

* Loves her bouncy seat with her lady bug and butterfly rattles are located.

* She is wears mostly 6 months clothes.

* The bath towels that we used when she was a "newborn" barely dry her one side.

* She responds to "Happy Girl"-- especially when she awakes in the morning.

* Pacifiers are still being used especially right before bed.

* She often puts her hands in her mouth and chews on them.

* She had her first ear infection.

* Maggie wore her first pair of jeans which I bought for her at Target, $7.

* Had her first cough.

* Began sleeping through the night at 3.5 weeks.

Noles Basketball

Mike and Maggie in their Noles best about to watch the game.

Playtime

This week we have been going through her toys that she got from all her showers. She loves the book that crunches when she grabs it and some of her rattles. She also is experimenting with her lovies, but hasn't settled on one yet.

Ear Infection

Runny nose for the last two weeks turned into a cough on Friday. Over the weekend it sounded horrible at night, so we wanted to get it checked out. Doc confirmed that it was an ear infection in the Right ear. Here is maggie with her precriptions. The anti-biotic was free at Publix.

Smirk