2 months!

kate is 2 months already! we had her first set of shots yesterday and the actual shots were not as bad as i thought they would be. bj was tied up at work and couldn't go, so i was by myself and was a little nervous because i have heard the experience can be harder for the parents than the baby. she cried pretty hard during the shots and for a minute or two after but then she was fine. the side effects have been my least favorite part of it and even those have been mild. she had a little fever yesterday and today and is more sleepy and cuddly than normal, but i'm not one to complain about extra cuddle time. i can tell she doesn't feel well but all around she is handling it like a champ.

2 month stats:
weight: 11lbs -- 48th %
head: 14 inches --- 27th%
height: 24 1/4 inches --- 94%

kate "talks" and smiles more everyday. i just die over her little coos and her smiles make my day. she is hard to get smiles out of and most of the time we have to work for it. unless you're a ceiling fan. in that case she will give them to you freely. little stinker. the lactation specialist i saw dubbed her a "lazy eater", but she is getting a lot better.. sometimes i am the only one who can get her to eat, which actually makes me feel kinda special sometimes, haha. she is such a happy, content baby. most of the time she is okay just hangin' out. she loves to be held and talked to but sometimes she will get fussy if you don't put her down and let her have her space. loud noises and strange sounds make her jump and her eyes open so wide. her eyelashes seem like they get longer everyday. she loves time with daddy and will just sit contently on his lap while he works or does whatever, it's pretty cute. she definitely has him wrapped around her finger already. case and point: i had him do tummy time with her the other day and she started fussing during it. even if she gets fussy about tummy time, since it is good for her, i usually continue with it anyway. bj put her on her tummy and she started crying after .2 seconds. bj quickly picked her up and started comforting her, which was fine. a few seconds later in a soft voice i hear him say to her "ooh i'm sorry kate, your mom made me do it. i didn't want to do that mean tummy time but she made me do it"...hahah.

she has found her hands and loves to suck on them when her binky isn't handy. she is a great sleeper and takes 3 or 4 naps during the day and sleeps from 8pm-8am. sort of. but not really. she does go down for the first time around 8pm. then i wake her up to eat at 10pm and she goes right back to sleep. she wakes me up around 5am to eat and goes back down until 8am. as long as i go to bed early it works out great.

a few other tid bits:
-"sleeping through the night" is technically (in babywise at least) sleeping from 12am-5am. UMMM that is NOT sleeping through the night. that is a long nap at an inconvenient hour. false advertisement! the whole time i was pregnant and until a few weeks ago when i heard the term "sleeping through the night", i thought they meant actually sleeping THROUGH. THE. NIGHT. don't misunderstand, i really am grateful she for how much she is sleeping right now. it is a step in the right direction...buuuuuutt. i look forward to when she actually sleeps through the night. from like 8pm-8am. the real night. with no snack breaks.
- i feel like i always smell baby pee. even right after i give kate a bath. im so paranoid of everything smelling like a wet diaper, that i actually smell it all the time. and i know its in my head. not pleasant.
-i never noticed that most of the concrete outside of shopping centers is very textured. don't the architects, engineers and contractors know that my baby is usually trying to sleep when i run errands and their textured concrete wakes her the freak up! so annoying.

and of course some pics of the little pea around 2 months

utah

convo via text:

kat: you should fly ashley out here for her birthday
lance:...or i could just fly you out here
kat:that would work too
lance: find the ticket and ill get it tonight
kat:....okay!

done and done. this was a few weeks prior to ashleys birthday and the plan was to surprise her. ashley can be pretty snoopy sometimes so i was positive she would find out. somehow we kept it from her though and i am so happy it worked out like that! heather planned a surprise party for her the night of her birthday, the same night i flew in. ashley walked in and everyone yelled surprise! after it got quiet again heather announced that there was still one more surprise and as she was talking i walked out holding kate. ashley was so excited and i am pretty positive she really had no idea. she started crying and it was so fun to get such a reaction out of her.

spending almost a WHOLE week up there was SO FREAKIN FUN. ashley and heather are like sisters to me and it was just like being with family while i was with them. heather kept me laughing the whole time, as usual. i forced bj to join us thursday and a great time was had by all. we ate at ashley's new waffle shop in provo -YUM-, hiked the y -much harder than i remember-, layed around, ran errands with ashosmash, got bossed around by heather, rode the scooter, watched the show "i survived" (don't be tempted...it will ruin your life), had foil dinners up the canyon, spent time with mandy and zealand, ate some stupid cherry vanilla ice cream, stayed up way too late, laughed till my stomach hurt and had lots of quality time with my bffs.

surprise!

jerry, kim and celeste were starting their trip in utah just as ours was ending. before we caught our flight out we ate a yummy sunday dinner with them and had VIP dessert at the waffle shop together.celeste is just adorable and is going to love living in utah by her 2 sisters. jealous!

mandy and zealand! i was able to see them three times while i was in utah. i love this sweet picture of zealand kissing kate on the nose. he is 18 months and says the most hilarious things right now. him constantly trying to steal kates binky and saying "oooh yea!!!!" were my favorite.

fun at the canyon

...and some of this little one just cause i can :-)

obsessed

bows, bows and more bows. lets be honest, i'm not much of a crafter. i usually prefer to just buy the overpriced item rather than take the time to try and make it. i know, shame on me. i bought these adorable itty bitty newborn bows for kate before she was born. to. die. for. they are so stinkin cute and tiny. once i used them them and saw how amazing they were, i planned to buy them in every color. even at $3.50 a pop. i know i know, shame on me again. then my damn dog (that's not his name? weird) decided to eat the pink and purple one. what! you just ate $7 dollars worth of felt cuteness! stupid dog! seeing that the turnover rate for these bows may add up quickly, i decided to try and make them. i bought felt in every color and with some tips from my crafty friends, i succeeded.

so you too don't succumb to overpriced yet exceptionally cute felt bows, i bring you my first (and last? ) crafting tutorial.

1. take felt of choice
2. cut out a piece about 2 inches long and 1/2 inch thick
3. put a dab of hot glue in the middle and cinch the felt together, let glue dry completely
4. fold each side back and secure with hot glue

4. after both sides are glued back, cut the back piece of each side to the shape of your liking
5. cut out a thin piece of felt about an inch long and a quarter of an inch wide

6. glue thin strip on back of bow. once it is dry, wrap around bow and glue other side down.
7. cut out two pieces of felt about 1/2 inch in length and width. cut to angle sides and ends.
8. glue angled pieces on each side of the back of the bow.

9. ta-da, cute bow.
10. make in any freakin' color you want, for basically free! 15 cents per sheet of felt is basically free. eat up, toby.

with the exception of the red one, i made all of the bows in the picture and i think they turned out pretty similar. the felt she used seems to be a little better quality and not quite as fluffy as mine, so next time time i'll try a denser felt.

tips: dried hot glue is ugly so be careful to use only on areas that will be covered up or your bow will be crusty. don't do a tan bow, it looks like a ball of tan poop on babies head. the website says to attach bows with a dab of karo syrup or ky; karo syrup worked a lot better for me.

7.10.11

kate was blessed at home on sunday july 10th, 2011. bj gave a beautiful blessing and the spirit was strong during the blessing. i love the personal nature of blessings and that it gives us a little insight to what our heavenly father has in store for us. all of bjs brothers were able to be there for the blessing, including nick who is leaving on his mission soon. my mom came in town for the weekend, which i loved. she brought the blessing dress that her and my grandmother made together and that all of my sisters and i were blessed in. the dress is beautiful and i love that kate was able to be blessed in it too.

our little family

the kiddos

the men and kates pretty dress

grandparents

family

baby kate is the perfect addition to our little family and i am so glad she is ours forever.

days like this

days when i forgo my to-do list, a shower, errands and the outside world. i forget kate's schedule and the baby rules that are usually followed. i hold her while she sleeps and study all of her tiny, ever changing features. i breathe in her yummy baby smell and kiss her chubby little cheeks over and over again. i try to nap with her little body curled next to mine, even though her little sleepy grunts make it impossible for me to get any rest.

life goes by so quickly but days like this seem to slow time down just a little. as hard as i try there seems to be no way to take her all in, even on days like this.

i'm positive these are going to be some of my best "good ol' days". so while the days keep passing and kate keeps growing, i'm going make them mine and try to soak it all in. because to me, right now, these are the days.

weekend visitors

a few weeks ago bjs mission buddies, aaron and greg, came into town to hang out with bj and meet baby kate. the same weekend cortney and beth came to visit beau. partayyyyy. we played mario brothers, vacuumed toby (in attempt to reduce the amount of shedding he does), went to joes farm grill and neilsons, the boys went to the lake and we took kate to her first movie (where beth stood with kate the whole time...you're a saint woman!).

it was fun to have so many visitors at once. i love aaron and greg and am keeping my fingers crossed that one of them is still single when virg gets home. seriously. how many boys would drive 11 hours each way to visit their friends new baby, just for the weekend?? AND send the new baby a pink michael jorden onesie, hat and pair of socks bc they love sports so much? so thoughtful and cute.

it was great to see cortney again and get to know beth a little better. they were both adorable with kate and i am glad they were able to meet her.

come back soon you guys!!