Katherine is 7-no-8 months!

2013 came and went without a hitch, except for posting my sweet little daughter's memorable milestones at 7 months.  It's a good thing there are no rules to blogging because as soon as I make a decision in  my head about posting more, seasons like the holidays come and go and I essentially stop blogging for several weeks. Enough on that though and onto the subject of today's post.

Miss Katherine Beth has recently gone through a growth spurt and while I don't know her actual weight and length statistics, she seems to be growing longer and longer.  She is still one of the sweetest, most laid back babies I have ever known and I love watching HB dote on her.  She finds her big brother absolutely hilarious and now giggles and snorts and growls at him across the dinner table and often when she is in the swing.  He loves to run around in front of her which just tickles Miss K to no end.

She is finally able to hold herself up sitting and really enjoys the exer-saucer (pictured above).  She is just now starting to push herself in circles - well, no circles yet, but little pushes nonetheless.  She is eating Cheerios in this picture, thanks to HB.  He just gave them to her like it was no big deal.  Sometimes I wonder what other snacks he might have passed along to her when I wasn't noticing.  She has her two center bottom teeth and overall she is a great eater; she loves most all purees and is cute as a button when she smacks her lips like she is actually chewing.  I provide plenty of "real" food in addition to the purees so she can practice feeding herself and experience different textures.  She really loves chewing on a piece of steak, she loves avocado and really enjoys noodles and veggies from the various soups she has tried.

When we take Katherine outside she growls like crazy with excitement.  She loves when the leaves rustle and is absolutely mesmerized by any type of animal - you can see my dog is also quite infatuated with her (or the snack in her hand) in the picture above.  My dog would love to lick her face all day long but thankfully I run interference on that.  Just the other day Katherine got an awesome hold on Johnnie Reb's ear and was ready to put it in her mouth to investigate this object a little further when I promptly removed it.  Johnnie Reb didn't seem to notice or mind one bit.

She can't believe she is 8-months either!

Katherine sleeps like a champ at night but leaves a little to be desired during daytime napping.  She goes to bed at 6:30pm or a little after and wakes around 6am, give or take.  She has been known to sleep in until 7am a time or two!  She takes a short morning nap and then a nice afternoon nap at the same time as HB.  This afternoon nap time with both of them going down at the same time is my favorite time of day, lol!

I am already getting a little sentimental about her first birthday coming up although we still have another four months.  I am really, really enjoying this stage with both of my kids and am grateful for new chances each day to snuggle my children and show them how much I love them.

Happy half birthday, Katherine

Wow, my little girl is six months old.  Where does the time go?  Having two children has certainly made time seem to slip through my fingers even quicker.  Katherine is becoming more and more fun the older she gets.  She still seems rather serious at times but her personality is coming out more and more with each passing day.  Here are a few of her milestones at six months...

• She has rolled to her tummy once or twice but she is much more inclined to stay on her back.
• Whether she is in the tub, on the changing table or playing on the floor, she loves to chew on her feet.
• Baby purees and solid foods are now making an appearance in her daily diet.  She has an oatmeal cereal concoction in the morning that includes milk and prune juice.  Doesn't that just sound delightful? She has only tried green beans so far but seems to really like them.
• Girlfriend loves to grab at your cheeks and pull your face close to hers.  If she isn't able to grab your face she will gladly pull your hair, or ears, or whatever she can get her hands on.  She loves to nuzzle your face though and with an open mouth, ha!
• Her sleeping habits are improving all the time (thankfully).  She goes to bed at 6pm or a little after and wakes sometime mid-morning for a bottle - if it's before 4am I give her the pacifier, if it's after 4am I oblige and then she will typically sleep in until around 7am.
• Although her weight is average, she has the most delightful chunky thigh rolls.  She weighed 16 pounds 1 ounce (50th percentile) and measured 27 inches long (90th percentile) at her 6-month well check.  
• She has found her voice and I think we may have a screamer on our hands!  She actually sounds like a pterodactyl, or at least what I think one would sound like.  
• Bath time is prime play time.  Her favorite toy is a plastic bath book.  She howls in despair when I remove it from her death grip to dry her off.  She actually rolled her head to the side this past week and put part of her face in the water.  

Prepare yourself for a picture overload.  I.can't.get.enough.of.her.  

Clockwise, from top left.
1-Playing with Grandma while visiting Grandpa at the hospital.
2-Just chilling with the Baby-ators on.
3-Sitting in her big girl high chair preparing for some actual chow.
4-Daddy helping with the monthly "chair photo."
5-Smiling at Daddy instead of at me while I took her six month photo.
6-A girls picture after church.

What was big brother HB like at six months?  Check him out here.

Katherine's Birth Story

It was Monday, May 20 and I woke up with a laundry list of errands I wanted to accomplish in town since I had an OB appointment that morning.  Kelly was on the second day of his shift so HB and I had the day to ourselves; running errands would surely make it pass quicker and I had plenty to do before Katherine came.  At my OB appointment Dr. Fernandez asked if I wanted her to strip my membrane.  I had requested this in my first pregnancy with HB and after experiencing the discomfort and pain once, I immediately told her no.  I also used Kelly being on shift partially as my excuse.  She would tell me the next morning in the hospital that she had a feeling today was the day since my husband was on shift and it “always seems to happen that way when someone’s spouse is working a shift.”  She checked my cervix and I was dilated to 3 centimeters which was a definite improvement after not being dilated at all the week prior.  Dr. Fernandez left and I was expecting a call with my induction date sometime later that day. 

HB and I loaded back up and headed to Chick-fil-A to refuel before scooting around town.  I loved when the lady who took our order asked when I was due and I replied “In four days…”  She smiled and wished me luck.  HB and I love us some Chick-fil-A and had come to make lunch here after my OB appointments somewhat of an irregular tradition.  After we both finished eating I let him explore the play room and then we left much to his disappointment.  I’m sure he would have loved to play for another hourJ  We headed to Saba’s to buy Kelly’s birthday present, picked up our pictures from Costco and returned a few items at Hobby Lobby.  I was preparing to start and finish a small craft project for Katherine’s room the next day so I need to exchange a few things.  Little did I know that this same project would still be incomplete a month after her birth.  I guess I should have started much sooner!

After finally arriving home and getting HB down for an afternoon nap, I putzed around the house putting things away and trying to tidy up in general.  I was mentally going over all the things I wanted to accomplish on Tuesday (May 21) because a good friend of mine, Sarah Geiger, had offered to keep HB for the day.  I was really looking forward to the day because Kelly would be home, HB would be busy playing and I was planning on making one last productive push to get stuff done around the house before Miss Katherine came.  After dinner, finishing up chores outside and getting HB to bed, I sat down in the recliner to rest and call Kelly.  I told him that I was pretty tired that night and my body felt a little weird but I just thought that it was the toll of running errands and that I was having some cramps after having my cervix checked.  I went to bed shortly after our phone call ended.

It was 12:50 am and I woke up to go to the bathroom, or so I thought.  I had a huge gush of liquid come out as soon as I sat down.  As groggy as I was, I thought wow, that was weird, and almost instantly I realized that my water just broke.  I changed my jammies and as soon as I sat down to call Kelly I had another gush of liquid come out.  I was totally ignorant when it came to being prepared for having my water break.  Before I changed a second time I texted Kelly, “I don’t think we will mop the floor after all tomorrow because my water just broke.”  After getting situated, I was planning on sitting in the recliner with the heating pad on my lower back because I was a little uncomfortable and planned on monitoring contractions for a bit before alerting the troops.  Contractions started rolling in.  Seven minutes apart.  Six. Five. Four.  And that’s where they hung out.  I immediately got scared about having my baby at home, by myself, so I started calling people.  Kelly hadn’t texted back yet so I called him and he didn’t answer.  I called my mom so she could make plans to get on the road in the morning.  She commented that I sounded scared.  I said, why yes, I am a bit.  And I called my friend Emily Rovey who was going to pick up HB and keep him until my mom got into town.  Emily was on her way over when Kelly called back.  He mistook the sound of my phone call for the tones at work and thought they were for someone else.  He assured me that he would be home in an hour (that’s how long it takes to drive home for him).

Emily arrived and I was still rushing around trying to get HB’s food together.  I had all his clothes set out but for some reason I still hadn’t packed them in a bag.  I packed his clothes and shoes and started pulling out food, bottles and snacks.  Note to self for next pregnancy: pack much sooner than the week you are due.  Painful contractions every four minutes make it much harder to focus and be efficient.  We went and woke up HB; at first he was kind of like “this party at 1am is fun mommy” but this soon escalated into tears of grogginess and confusion as we loaded him into the car seat in Emily’s car.  This scene right here raised my emotional level about 10 times higher than it was.  I was sad to see my oldest baby (he was only 13 months!) go and on top of that cry while leaving.  I also realized this was the last time it would just be him and I and I got sad about that too.  Emily offered to drive me to the hospital if Kelly didn’t arrive home soon and to call her if I needed.

Kelly pulled in the driveway about 15 minutes later.  My hospital bag was in the same condition HB’s bag was – empty.  Thankfully I managed to get everything packed before Kelly arrived because he was more wired than I was.  He came in the house and said “Let’s go babe” – I quickly asked him if he could load the hospital bag and car seat, you know, in case we needed a car seat to leave the hospital with Katherine.  J  All saracasm aside, hubby did great through this unexpected surprise in the middle of the night even after working a 48-hour shift and being up straight both nights.  I probably would have been a bit disorganized too if I were him.  We locked the house, loaded up in his truck and were off!  Okay, well, we were off to make a quick stop at Circle K so hubby could get some tobacco for his fix.  Now we were really off!  We were about 10 minutes away from the hospital when I asked Kelly if he could “just slow down a bit because he was scaring me.”  He informed me that he was just trying to get us to the hospital because he did not want to have this baby on the side of the road. 

As we pull up next to the Women and Infant Services entrance at Banner Estrella, my hubby notices a nurse preparing to enter the building.  This is a good thing because she could let us in this entrance! (Between midnight and 6am this entrance is locked and you have to enter the hospital at the Emergency Room…which is a bad thing because then you have a really long hallway between you and the maternity ward.)  He hollers out his window, “Miss!”  She does not hear him.  He hollers a second time.  Still no response from the nurse.  He puts his truck in park, part way has his head and upper body through his window and yells, “My wife is having a baby!” She turns and notices us – a couple of hillbilly’s trying to take the shortest route in the building.  I am a little embarrassed at this point and as he is yelling I was trying to gracefully exit the truck while mid-contraction.  Due to the contraction I was unable to ask him to refrain from yelling any more.  In retrospect though I loved my husband for getting me as close to possible as the building with as little walking as necessary.  The nurse, who was a labor and delivery nurse at that, not only let me in the building but walked me into triage and then went to let Kelly in the same entrance after parking so he didn’t have to go through the Emergency entrance.

After getting checked into triage, the nurse checked my cervix (I was a 4) and then tested the fluid to make sure it was amniotic fluid to confirm that my water had in fact actually broke.  I wish I could remember her name because she was totally cool.  And I feel totally like a 7^th grader saying totally cool but she was.  She made me feel comfortable and at ease even though the contractions were already kicking my tail.  We were officially checked into the hospital at 3:15am.  My super cool triage nurse moved us into a delivery room where my delivery nurse Jaime (nope, this is not a spelling mistake) immediately got me hooked up to some fluids so we could do my epidural ASAP.  Sitting still for this epidural was more difficult than with HB’s because my contractions were already rolling in every two minutes at this point.  Yep folks, I said two minutes.  In the two hours since my water had broke my contractions had sped up immensely.  It seemed very fast at this point because I had contractions for almost 48 hours with HB before delivering him.  After my epidural, I settled in for a short nap.  I think Kelly would have appreciated an epidural too so his hospital couch/bed would have seemed more comfortable.  At a little after 5am Kelly started sending a few text messages out to family to give them an update.  My sister told Kelly that she woke up thinking that I was having my baby – she was right!  I sent a mass text a little after 6am and made sure to tell Miss Sarah that we would have to take a rain check for HB’s little play dateJ  Dr. Fernandez was on call overnight so she stopped by at 6:45 to see how things were progressing.  I was dilated to an 8 but still not ready.  She had a c-section scheduled for 7 so she was gonna have to go.  Boo.  Two babies in a row I have had a different doctor deliver them.  Jaime said good-bye (the shift change happened at 7am) and Christina my new delivery nurse said hello.  She checked me and informed me that I should press the call button should I feel any more pressure in my bottom.  It wasn’t but five minutes later that I told Kelly I was thinking I should call Christina.  I’m glad I did because after she checked me she told me I was ready to push!  She called the doctor and she started prepping for his arrival.

The shift change had just happened so it was a bit chaotic preparing to push.  I felt like I had every nurse from Labor and Delivery in my room although there were only five extra people aside from Kelly and I – Dr. Johnson, who would deliver Katherine, Christina, a student nurse, and two sweet nurses who would care for Katherine once she arrived.  The room felt a bit small at that point.  But I was focused, and ready to push.  At this point I kind of lost track of time because I could almost taste the victory of having my new daughter in my arms but start to finish I don’t think I was in active labor for very long.  I guess in thinking about it, the shift changed happened at 7:00am and I delivered at 7:12am, so nope, I wasn’t pushing for very long at all!  I so appreciated this at the time because I was in active labor with HB for almost two hours.  The process of pushing this time was also much more relaxed to me, I felt more calm, more like I knew what to expect.  I guess I did since this was round number two.  Before I knew it Katherine was out wailing in Dr. Johnson’s arms and I was elated.  She was more blue than I remembered HB being but she was certainly breathing just fine on her own.  My daughter.  My daughter was here.  It felt so sweet to whisper that to her – daughter. 

Katherine Beth Wright was born on Tuesday, May 21 at 7:12am.  She weighed seven pounds four ounces and measured 19 inches long.  And she had a head full of beautiful black hair, just like her brother, dad and myself. 

After she was cleaned up a bit and wrapped up like a burrito, I could focus on the next most important task of the morning: ordering breakfast.  Both times I’ve checked into the hospital to have my babies I have thought “Crap, I should have stopped and ate something because they’re not gonna feed me until I have this baby.”  I was hungry BEFORE I really got deep into labor so I certainly felt famished after.  Kelly and I were glad our baby was here safe, and were eager to get some rest and finish up the rigamaroo involved in hospital requirements.  We had stayed two nights in the hospital when we delivered HB and we really only wanted to stay one night this time.

Gosh as I sit here typing this almost five months later I am wondering how to wrap this birth story up.  In general, I felt more relaxed about the whole delivery process and I think I enjoyed it more with Katherine.  I was also not experiencing near as much back and hip pain this time around so that naturally made it easier to enjoy.  I was so grateful for having a positive experience though and was so looking forward to going home.  My mom and dad took HB for four days so I can adjust to life with a newborn again and try to start learning the breastfeeding process all over.  I actually experienced some sadness when my parents brought HB home to us because he was no longer my “baby” and he seemed so big in comparison to his sister.  I also experienced some guilt towards him because I wasn’t able to take care of his needs as quickly.  Despite the craziness of it all, and the fluctuation of my emotions, life quickly adjusted.  With Katherine at about six weeks I felt like a new normal was coming and now at four months we have definitely hit our stride having two children.  I am in love with both of them and so grateful to be their mom and wife to their daddy.

3-and-4 month milestones

Who would have thought that my precious baby doll is four months old already?  Where has the time gone friends?  I now understand the absence of some of my blogger bodies after having an additional child - I am lucky to get the dishes done, most toys put away  and possibly a load of laundry at night before succumbing to sleep much less writing a blog entry.  Ah, but I found time for this one!  Finally!!

Katherine is rather serious in her 3-month photo but don't let her fool you folks.  She is a smiler, more and more everyday in fact.  She has the cutest chuckle - I wouldn't call it a laugh yet - and is very ticklish under her arms, over her ribs and under her chin.  Here is a small list of her achievements at four months old:

• She weighed 13 pounds 12 ounces at her 4-month old well check (50th percentile) and measured 25 inches in length (75th percentile). 
• She has just started grabbing items and bringing them to her mouth.  It was just this past weekend that she managed to get a set of plastic keys far enough in her mouth that she was gagging herself, repeatedly.  If that's not a milestone, I don't know what is.
• She also loves to grab her pacifier and try to re-insert it in her mouth.  She is not very successful at this yet but she has a mighty strong grip.
• I am still pumping four times a day so she can eat a hearty 3 1/2 ounces of milk roughly every 3 hours.
• Praise the Lord, she is sleeping through the night!  She hits the rack early though - 6pm - and wakes mid-morningish for a quick snack before sleeping in until 6am or so.
• She holds her head up rather well although she despises tummy time.  She loves to sit on my lap and watch her brother roving about as he lovingly destroys any semblance of order in our living room.



I almost captured a smile this time around.  Maybe next month.

HB continues to dote on his little sister bringing her toys and continually wiping her face and re-inserting her pacifier even if she does not want it.  He has brought new meaning to the phrase "temper tantrum" as of recent and is truly challenging my patience.  He continues to sleep great at night and eats almost anything I place in front of him.  He is a bit nosy and loves to watch everything going on around him.  And he is a lover of all things outside - dirt, sticks, livestock troughs, mommy's dog and all our livestock.  I take him outside each morning when Katherine goes down for her first nap.  We can be outside for an hour though and he still throws a fit when we come in.  Boys will be boys, right?  All in all though, he is a good natured, charming little guy that has stolen mommy's heart.

Loving on his sister in the swing.  He loves to lean in for a "hug"!

Two Month Chair Photos

 I attempted our classic chair photo on the actual date but I learned, yet again, that timing is everything with infants.  Katherine had already been up for about an hour and I was hustling to fit one more thing in before putting her down for a nap.  Well, she wasn't going to have any of that!

I love the little mini Keds she is wearing.   Makes her look so adult like!

Take two happened two days later.  I actually managed to get a bow put on her without any crying ensuing.  And her hair looks semi taken care of.  Girlfriend has some crazy hair. 

15 and 2

That's months, not yards and downs.  Although college football is right around the corner.  My babies are 15 months (on Sunday) and 2 months (on Monday).  It's hard to believe that I've survived eight weeks with two bambinos.  There were definitely points that I thought I might not make it, or maybe my one year old wouldn't make it hehe, but here we are.  Alive. Healthy. And joyful.  I can't post milestones for baby girl without mentioning a few outstanding things (and some not so outstanding) that my lil man has completed either.

Baby Girl, aka Katherine
Girlfriend has captured my heart.  She started smiling about two weeks ago which has made many a sleepless nights worth it.  She now likes to coo as you talk to her, as if we were really having a conversation.  She did not like the bath at first, but now might even slightly enjoy it.  Many baths ended in tears.  Just like the tears I encounter as I dress her each morning - Katherine does not like to have stuff pulled over her head.  I reassure her that I will not suffocate her so she should just calm down.  She ignores those admonitions though and continues to scream.  She has curly hair like her brother did as an infant but it seems like her curls will be bigger.  She has crazy hair on a daily basis (like her momma) that I typically only put bows in long enough to take a picture.  She eats every 2 1/2 hours and sleeps a nice long six hour stretch most nights.  I am sooo grateful for the improved sleep habits - removing dairy from my diet and starting a reflux medication have alleviated most of her tummy troubles.  She measured 23 inches long and weigh 11 pounds 2 ounces at her 2 month check up.

Her 2-month chair photo will be posted at a later date...when she is not madder than a wet hen and screaming at me.

HB is very sweet with Miss Katherine- he has quickly picked up on ways to take care of her.  He puts her pacifier in her mouth, even if she doesn't want it.  Thankfully she apparently thinks this is funny; most often she just smiles when he jams it in her toothless mouth.  He also thinks she needs his sippy cup - he doesn't have as good of aim with this though and it is often jammed into her neck.  Finally, he wipes her face down often with her burp rag.  If wiping her mouth is good, why isn't wiping her entire face even better?

Lil Man, aka HB
Our first born is testing the limits of my patience each day as he has recently learned to scale the dining room chairs and crawl across the table.  Each time I sit down to pump or feed Baby Girl a bottle, something must instantaneously go off in his brain that urges him to climb on the table.  So far he has drawn on papers that didn't need to be drawn on, torn up napkins, dumped the entire salt shaker out and only fallen off once.  He is becoming well acquainted with the confines of his room behind our new baby gate.

He continues to be a great eater although he has picked up a few poor habits that drive me C.R.A.Z.Y. He now throws his food or sippy cup as soon as he is ready to be taken out of his high chair.  I love having a clean floor so this is driving me batty.  He does have some redeeming mealtime qualities though - he started lifting his plate to his mouth to lick any remaining food off of it.  Kelly and I do NOT do this.  I repeat do NOT. So I'm not sure who modeled this behavior for him.  Maybe his Aunt Banana when he had his first sleepover with his cousin?  Hehe. He also loves to blow on his food - he blows on everything like it is piping hot.  He measured 32 and 1/2 inches long and 25 pounds 5 ounces at his 15 month checkup.  He also has almost 13 teeth - he just cut three molars on top, hence the almost.

HB enjoying our hillbilly pool aka livestock trough.  My Queensland was also enjoying our pool this day.  He thought it was the greatest thing to have my dog jumping in and out and trying to get him to throw her stick.

 
He runs around the house, stands on his tip toes and attempts the Irish jig. I joke about the last part.  I pretend to run and chase him so he now pretends to run too.  It is seriously the cutest thing he does.  He tries running in place but it's like his little baby legs are in slow motion.  I could just eat him up when he does this. He likes to close the bedroom doors but cannot open them yet so he is learning to be content for a few minutes after he closes himself in a room.  He has started trying to sort shapes with some of his toys and is working feverishly to rearrange all of the belongings of my lower cupboards.

Mothering two children has proven to be a blessing times two but has also revealed even more about my need for Christ.  I tire of dealing with the sin of selfishness over, and over and over as I struggle to be selfless with my children and husband.  I am reminded though that it is a blessing to know I need Christ.  I often feel like there are many big failures and only small victories to my days.  Motherhood has blown my mind.  I didn't know it would be so hard.  Or so good.  Through it all though I am beyond grateful for the grace of God which carries me through it all.

She's here!!!!

Miss Katherine Beth Wright made her entrance into the world on Tuesday, May 21 at 7:12am.  She weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and measured 19 inches long.  We are ecstatic that she is here.  And I am completely. In. Love.

(Birth story to come...)

HB loves her too!  He is making his first attempt to hold her hand in the car.  Total sweetness.

Our sweet angel baby.