Kate: 3 Months...and 4 Months

3 Months

James enjoys the various opportunities which come as a result of being a big brother like holding his little sister.

He is rather proud to be Kate's big brother.

He's always looking out for her/keeping her from falling over.

4 Months

My oh-so-talented friend Amanda made this adorable skirt for Kate. She also made her another one that I will post a picture of soon. I love them both. She makes cute stuff. She was rather concerned after I posted that Kate would be wearing James' clothes and a headband (to set her off as a girl), so she made her some skirts that I could use with white onesies. :) Love it.

As I've mentioned before...James just loves his sister. And she is rather fond of him as well.

The bunny we use to gauge Kate's growth every month is the same one we used for James (so we can also compare kid-to-kid). The only problem is that the bunny is James' bunny. The bunny that he sleeps with. The bunny that he is rather attached to. (Alli, you may recognize this as the bunny you gave him when you visited us at the hospital when he was born--he loves it.) You can clearly see his love for his bunny in this picture.

Lots of pictures for the 4 month photo shoot. She's just too cute!

Stats for her 4 Month well check up:
Height: 24.5 inches (I think 30th percentile)
Weight: 12.6 lbs. (16th percentile)

James was a rather lean baby, so when we saw some rolls on Kate we thought we were going to have a little chunk on our hands. I was rather surprised to learn that she was in the 16th percentile for weight. I guess it's all relative to what you are used to. Now that I look at her I realize she really doesn't have much chunk, just a couple baby rolls. I sure love those rolls.

Kate is a sweetheart. She is a very happy little girl who loves to cuddle. She began rolling from back to front on July 5 (her Uncle Scott's birthday). For a month this drove her crazy. She was honestly a compulsive roller. She would roll onto her belly and yell to be relieved by being rolled back to her back. I'd roll her over and she'd immediately roll back onto her tummy and yell for relief. Rather amusing...until naptime. Thankfully this isn't an issue anymore. :) We love having this sweet girl around!

HELP!!!

HELP WANTED

Mother in serious need of advice regarding sleeping children in the same room. Has received advice previously (for which she is very grateful), but is interested in all possible advice from all possible parties interested in providing it. Children began sleeping in same room tonight at 7:30...it is now 9:00...and just...got...quiet...

This is how tonight went (strike that...should read "is going"). Kate fell asleep nursing. Jordan brought James in to lay him down. I was still holding Kate. James began crying that Kate was in his room (prior to this moment, he was so excited to have Kate sleeping in his room). And when I say crying...I mean he was trying to make it loud. Kate, of course, woke up. I burp her and nurse her a little more. She's done. So, I sing to her and rock her, because now she is totally wide-eyed from the recent drama. James is in his crib and standing up. Every now and then he jumps down to his crib mattress. Whether standing or kneeling or lying, he's talking...asking me questions, making observations, recounting the woes of sharing a room. I'm trying to be as quiet as I can to keep from rewarding his talking (we had told him to be quiet and go right to sleep--no talking) and to keep from completely arousing Kate into a playful mood. Occasionally I respond to questions, remind him to lay down and close his eyes (and mouth), and replace his blanket.

Eventually, I see that the effort is futile. Kate will just have to lay down wide-eyed and ready to play. So, I lay Kate down. Then I replace the blanket James has thrown to the other end of his crib, but insists must be replaced before he can sleep. I leave as Kate rolls onto her belly, pushes up with her arms to watch me walk from the room. As the door closes, she begins to cry.

James is quiet at first. Eventually, he begins to imitate her cry...he even gives her a sharp "no, no." We even hear a couple barks and some high-pitched yelps. All of this occurs intermittently over the course of an hour and a half. We think they're asleep...then one of them makes a loud noise (cry--Kate-- or chatter--James) waking or alerting the other. Eventually they get quiet only to repeat the process. It has now been 12 minutes with no sound...wait...James is knocking into his crib...ah yes....the Elmo's World theme song ("That's Elmo's World..."). And now he is giggling. Well, we can just hope it doesn't wake Kate.

Seriously, if anyone has any advice for how to motivate your toddler to just go to sleep and to be quiet, I would appreciate it. I know it may just come down to them learning to ignore the other, but if there is anything that can help in the meantime (James now has the hiccups and he apparently needs to talk to himself about it--9:20), I'd be happy to hear.

An Ode to Motherhood

I recently watched this Mormon Messages video clip about motherhood. It was amazing. I think I may watch it every day.


"...may I say to mothers collectively, in the name of the Lord, you are magnificent. You are doing terrifically well."

The message was taken from this talk given by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. I just read the talk and was uplifted and provided a hopeful boost.

"If you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do."

Kate's Baby Blessing

We traveled to Utah for a two week vacation to visit family and friends. While we were there, Kate received her baby blessing along with her cousin Lily who was also in town. It's so fun to have two little ones so close in age. I'm excited to see them grow up together...as together as you can grow up with one living in Alaska...

I learned something at Kate's baby blessing: Ask someone to care for your other children during your child's blessing or you probably won't hear any of it. James was very interested in what was going on during the baby blessing, so interested that he wanted to talk to me about it while the blessing was being said. So, as I was silently trying to keep him quiet in such a way that would keep him from getting upset, my listening skills failed me. Thankfully, Jordan remembered the blessing he gave and wrote it down for me.

I'm grateful for a wonderful husband and two wonderful kids. Here are some pictures of Kate on her blessing day.

Kate: 2 Months Old

Our Sweet Baby Kate is now 2 months old! We love having this little girl around! She is so smiley. If you so much as look in her direction she'll break into a big 'ol grin. Then if you hold eye contact, she'll give you all sorts of coos and squeals and maybe even a little giggle if you talk to her. At her 2 month check up she measured 22 inches and weighed in at 9 lbs. 15 oz. She's growing well. She's also sleeping well. I am very grateful for that. Her longest sleep stretch at night was 13 hours, but she usually sleeps 8-10 hours a night. Without further ado, here are pictures of Sweet Baby Kate at 2 months old.

Our Two Cute Kids

Our friend took pictures of James and Kate on a couple of occasions. She does a great job. She took all of the pictures below except for Kate's 1 month picture. All of these pictures were basically spur-of-the-moment. Let me tell you, it's hard to coordinate the hands of a toddler and newborn. The hand picture is a little fuzzy, since we weren't using the flash, but I still love it.

Kate at 1 month old.
We sure think she's cute!

James at 2 years old.
We sure think he's cute too!

Definitely Related

Here are some pictures of James and Kate from their 1st week of life. Every now and then, Jordan and I find ourselves calling Kate James. Although, they are obviously not identical, there is definitely a resemblance.