Kivrin loves books! Thursday mornings the library offers Baby Bookworms storytime with Elaine.
Of course, we read to her at home as well. She likes to look at the pictures, touch the pages, and hear mommy or daddy’s voice reading the story.
And even better than swinging, playing and talking with mommy WHILE swinging!
This bathtime photo turned out artsy with the drops of water.
Getting out the door in the morning now requires a lot more stuff – a day care bag, a pump, mom’s lunch (with Kivrin’s bottles for the day in it), mom’s purse, plus the car seat. On Wednesday is was even worse because we had plans after work, so we added the regular diaper bag plus a bag of supplies for the meeting we were attending. So far, with careful double-checking, we re doing pretty good about not forgetting anything.
Kivrin just started making the cutest little baby talking sounds. I edited out the boring parts so this video is mostly just clips of her talking — she’s more adorable than ever!
Kivrin is doing great at her child care center, and Dan and I are surviving this transition as well. Everything went smoothly on my first day back to work (okay, we left the pump on the living room floor, but I realized I didn’t have it and Dan brought it in for me). Kivrin is adjusting to taking a bottle at daycare and I’m able to go over my lunch hour to nurse her, which is a nice break for me. The first day, Dan had the day off, so he picked her up early. When I came home, they were snuggling at his computer. 
Both days so far Kivrin has taken a LONG nap after she gets home– I think the excitement of new people, including 5 babies her own age, is keeping her excited all day. So many people to smile at and talk to!!
But she still wakes up for a few hours of playtime before bed. I’m sure we will all continue to adjust to this change over the next few weeks…
Dan took off work on Thursday and we went back to the Sears Portrait Studio for Kivrin’s 3 month pictures (yes, technically she is 12 weeks old tomorrow, but we figured we better get these done before I went back to work and the winter holidays began, or they might not get done at all.)
The pictures turned out AWESOME — I posted them on flickr, but we will get the prints back around Thanksgiving and get them out to family then, so don’t go printing your own quite yet!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lysistratagirl/sets/72157609088711759/
My favorite part is that she actually looks good in color in these photos, so I didn’t have to make everything black and white to make it look okay! Dan was very sad that she didn’t get to wear her orange outfit, but when we changed her into it, she immediately drooled all over the front and it would have messed up the pictures too much.
Originally uploaded by lysistratagirl
Since Dan took Thursday off work, Kivrin got some good daddy-time!
Here she is climbing “Mt. Daddy” — either that or they are wrestling, it’s hard to tell.
Kivrin likes to try to put things up to her mouth, or lick them with her tongue, and it doesn’t seem to matter to her whether they might fit inside of her mouth or not.
Snuggling with Daddy is the perfect end to any day — (I taught her that!)
Dan took these pictures while we were waiting our turn at the Sears Portrait Studio. He was experimenting with the color accent features on our new camera while Kivrin rested up so she could smile in her real photos later. I edited the pictures together to make this collage:
The trick is to make work time look like play time.
Carrying laundry and a baby at the same time is a challenge. I’ve tried this option several times, but Kivrin is getting too wiggly for it to work anymore.
Once we get to her room, I put her on her surf board for some belly time while I fold and put away her clothes and blankets. 
I got the surf board on clearance for like $10, because it’s not like Kivrin actually needs a special surfboard on which to practice holding up her head — but sometimes Mommy needs a reminder to play with the baby this way, and the surfboard is more attractive than a post-it-note that says “Belly Time!” which is what I was considering before…
Once she’s tired of being on her belly, she gets fussy, so I flipped her over so she could chill out for a bit while I finished the chores in her room.
As we try to do more work and fun at the computer (like keeping this blog up to date!) we discover new ways to hold a sleeping baby while using the keyboard. In fact, at this very moment, several days after this photo was taken, Kivrin is asleep in my lap taking her afternoon nap while I type.
To finish up the projects I started during maternity leave, I made Kivrin some burp cloths and flannel blankets this week, and then I made some extras to give as gifts and sell at the work craft fair next week. To make a tag for the craft fair ones, I had Dan and Kivrin model the burp cloth and then I took a bunch of pictures, hoping I would get one that was cute. Of course, I got many that were cute! [Note: In the spirit of photorealism, she spit up all over this cloth during the photo session, so we kept an extra one for ourselves!]
Kivrin and I began our last week home together before I go back to work. Of course, I started the week by heading in to work for the afternoon for my favorite book group. (and bringing Kivrin with me for the social time before, to visit with everyone!)
While I don’t like most of the clothes that are designed and marketed for little girls, I am a sucker for putting our daughter in cute outfits that promote things we believe in. So far, these things have been limited to concepts like “peace” and “Illinois” and “reading.” I remember a few year ago when my nephew Colin had an infant shirt that said “I already know more than the President.” I’m glad that Kivrin can opt for something more along the lines of “Change we can believe in”! (although I just checked and the Obama website isn’t even offering their “Change Can Happen” tshirts in a 9-mos size…probably because Kivrin can’t vote until the 2028 presidential elections.)
Kivrin is really getting strong, lifting her head and giving her neck muscles a real workout in her efforts to not miss out on anything going in around her.
Kivrin’s cousin Thomas was baptized at Gloria Dei Lutheran church on Sunday. Dan is one of Thomas’s baptismal sponsors. We enjoyed a nice soup and sandwich luncheon afterwards and there was even some cake!
Kivrin was happy to see her Fogt family in Kansas City, and Grandma Sandy was glad to be able to show off both of her grandchildren to her church and choir friends!
Kivrin Anne 
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