All about Kate

Kate is 3 months old!
I can't believe how fast she is growing. Oh how I wish I could freeze her in time. She is so precious.

My favorite thing about Kate is her smile. It just lights up the room. She is very content being alone, but when someone comes up and smiles she just starts beaming. She always returns a smile, even if it means she has to take a break from fussing or is nodding off and barely has her eyes cracked open. I never get sick of it.

Here are some pictures of her awesome smile





And here she is doing the what she does best, hanging out in the bouncy seat



I love kids in pajamas!


We sure do love her

Tall Kate

I know Kate is almost 2 1/2 months, but I finally took her in for her 2 month check up and yep, she's a tall drink of water. She's even taller than Paul was at 2 months. Here are the stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 5oz (97th percentile)
Height: 24 1/2 inches (above 97th percentile)



Poor Kate was not happy about the vaccines. When she was awake she was crying, but luckily she slept far more than she was awake. I put her down for a nap at 5:30pm and she slept until 4:30am! Too bad Paul still woke me up at 1am and 4am. He usually sleeps better than that.

Summer Time

"Yea Summer" as Paul would say

Between visiting family and spend as much time outdoors as possible, we've sure been enjoying summer.

We had a great time having lots of family around for our summer vacation. Paul especially loved all of the attention from his cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. I wish I had more pictures! Maybe we'll just have to visit more often.



Paul came home with a special treat - the love of water! Since our trip we've tried to spend more time at the lake, in the pool or at least enjoying some of the splash pads near the parks in our area.









Kate is so good to just come along for the ride! I'm sure glad she likes carriers because I don't how else I'd keep up with Paul.





While we were home with family we got to have Kate's Baby Blessing. What a great day.









Since we've been home Kate hasn't taken a break from growing up. I can't believe how big she is already getting.




She finally graduated from a port-a-crib into a big girl crib. I was going to take back Paul's crib and move him to a bed, but I gave up before trying when I found this crib on Craig's List for a great deal. I can't believe we are a two crib family, but my back is already thanking me for it.





Here's a little clip of Paul playing baseball. When my aim is on, his batting average gets up in the .500 range. He loves it.

Smile

We had so much fun visiting family the last week and a half!
Pictures will be coming soon as I get back in the swing of things.
But in the mean time I just couldn't resist a few pictures of Kate trying out her new smile.

Thinking about it...


Trying oh so hard...


Almost...


There it is!

Paul and Kate

I love pictures of Paul and Kate together




But even more than pictures, I love watching Paul interact with Kate. He is getting better ever day, but he still does some crazy things sometime:



The picture above got me thinking that they really don't look all that much alike. I think they look like family, but definitely not clones. Here are pictures taken of each around 5 weeks.



Maybe Kate just needs to lose a little weight and work on holding that head up better. It will be fun to watch the similarities and differences as she grows.

Anyway, here are two more pics for good measure

Picture Perfect

I'll start with pictures since they are more fun!

Day 2
Just home from the hospital:


Day 3
First time Paul wants to "hold it"


Day 4
First bath


Happy again


Day 6


Enjoying time with Grandma and Grandpa while Mom takes a break


Day 11
First big outdoor adventure - to the park with Paul







Week 2


I love her spunky hair


Bonding with Dad



Almost 3 Weeks
First time going to church



I know pictures are much more fun, but what mom doesn't want to gush about her new little one, so here come the boring words.

Kate's timing couldn't have been better. All I wanted was to not be in labor all night long, and Kate gave me that and then some. I woke up Tuesday morning after a normal nights rest and noticed that my still painless contractions were quite regular. I was hopeful, but not convinced, that Kate would be born soon. By 8:30am I figured I should call my mom and at least see if she could fly out just in case it was the big day. I had a scheduled appointment at the clinic for 10:30, but the hospital triage desk said I might as well go there instead of to the appointment just in case I got admitted. I'm glad I took their advice! At 10:45 I was admitted and Kate was born just 3 hours later.

Kate is a wonderful baby! We are still working on the whole burping thing, but she seems to be doing great with all that eating and sleeping that newborns do. She is definitely not as demanding as Paul was and that is a relief. I can't wait for her to wake up a little more and start showing us her little personality.

As for Paul's side of the story, well...
He is actually doing better than I hoped. He gives "baby sister" many more hugs and kisses than he does kicks and hits. He doesn't want to get in the car and go anywhere unless she is coming too. And he always wants to see her when he wakes up, especially if that means waking her up.

Between Dad taking paternity leave and Grandma and Grandpa coming to visit, Paul had a lot of attention that first week Kate was home. I think it helped a lot with the transition.

Grandpa spent hours with Paul outside playing baseball and basketball. Paul was in heaven. He is actually a pretty good little t-ball player, but I get a kick out of the backhand swing Paul occasionally shows off. Maybe we'll put the kid in tennis someday.


Paul also spent those first two weeks bonding with Daddy. They have become quite good buddies and I love watching them play.




And here is the big boy himself showing off his new haircut. I can't believe how much he seemed to grow during those two days I was in the hospital. He is a good big brother.

She's Here!

We're happy to announce the birth of our baby girl, Katherine. She was born at 6/1 at 1:45 pm, 8 lbs 4 ounces, 22 in. long. Toria and Kate are doing great. We'll post more pics soon.