Weight: 14 lbs (97th percentile)
Height: 23.25" (75th percentile)
Head Circumference: 15.25" (50th percentile)
New Styles at Anthropologie
1 day ago
Katelyn's 1st swim!
Katelyn enjoyed her first dip in the pool this morning! Brady loved having her join him as well. It doesn't get much cuter than this :). (See Paul, babies DO need bathing suits!)
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| New pool floats! (Brady was a little afraid of the turtle.) |
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| All ready! |
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| Adorable Beaufort Bonnet!! |
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| Chillin'! |
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| He loved swimming with his sister! |
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| Momma's girl :). |
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| My two little loves! |
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| Seriously? Cutest baby ever! |
Going from 1 to 2
I stressed out about this, like a lot. I always knew that I wanted my kids to be close in age so that they would grow up to be close and hopefully, very best friends. That was very important to me, and I am so thankful that God blessed me with a second child so soon. But, I knew it would be hard. I love Brady to pieces, but he is a handful! He requires constant attention, and he goes 100 mph from the time he wakes up to the time he goes to bed. He also LOVES momma and loves to have me all to himself. I calmed myself when I thought about him going to school from 9-12 in the mornings. But, after him getting sick constantly every other week I just couldn't risk him going to school and bringing something home to get Katelyn sick. Plus, he just needed a break. Poor boy has been to the doctor this past year WAY too much. So, here I was transitioning from working mom of 1 to stay at home mom of a newborn and toddler. Whoa, talk about a change!
But, I am here to say it is not as bad as I imagined. Not that I imagined it would be BAD, but I just pictured myself unshowered, sleep deprived, and driven to insanity each day by bed time. Don't get me wrong, some days I am unshowered, sleep deprived, and driven to insanity :). But, most days are good. Thankfully, Katelyn is a pretty easy baby and allows me to devote most of my time to her needy brother. I squeeze in feedings by giving Brady a snack (high chairs are great!), or locking him in the room with us with Elmo on TV. I am so happy that Brady really loves his baby sister. MOST of the time he is very sweet to her. He loves to kiss her and bring her toys.
I am a lot more laid back this time around. With Brady I was so worried about everything. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. This time, I am comfortable with being a mom. I feel like for the most part I know what Katelyn wants. I don't stress out about every fussy time she has, babies fuss. That is just a fact. With Brady I would go sit in the nursery in the rocker pretty much every time I fed him. Now, I will be nursing Katelyn in one arm and feeding Brady yogurt in the other. Oh how things have changed.
We survive day by day, hour by hour, and we are all adjusting to life with 2 kids. Although it is hard at times, I am so thankful for this time to be home with my children. I will be going back to work soon, and I will always cherish this summer that I had to devote to just the two of them. They are my whole world and more special than I could have ever imagined.
So, for those of you wondering what it's like to have 2 under 2, YES it is hard, but it is so worth it. I can't wait to see these two grow up and for their bond as brother and sister to grow. I wouldn't have it any other way.
But, I am here to say it is not as bad as I imagined. Not that I imagined it would be BAD, but I just pictured myself unshowered, sleep deprived, and driven to insanity each day by bed time. Don't get me wrong, some days I am unshowered, sleep deprived, and driven to insanity :). But, most days are good. Thankfully, Katelyn is a pretty easy baby and allows me to devote most of my time to her needy brother. I squeeze in feedings by giving Brady a snack (high chairs are great!), or locking him in the room with us with Elmo on TV. I am so happy that Brady really loves his baby sister. MOST of the time he is very sweet to her. He loves to kiss her and bring her toys.
I am a lot more laid back this time around. With Brady I was so worried about everything. I felt like I had no idea what I was doing. This time, I am comfortable with being a mom. I feel like for the most part I know what Katelyn wants. I don't stress out about every fussy time she has, babies fuss. That is just a fact. With Brady I would go sit in the nursery in the rocker pretty much every time I fed him. Now, I will be nursing Katelyn in one arm and feeding Brady yogurt in the other. Oh how things have changed.
We survive day by day, hour by hour, and we are all adjusting to life with 2 kids. Although it is hard at times, I am so thankful for this time to be home with my children. I will be going back to work soon, and I will always cherish this summer that I had to devote to just the two of them. They are my whole world and more special than I could have ever imagined.
So, for those of you wondering what it's like to have 2 under 2, YES it is hard, but it is so worth it. I can't wait to see these two grow up and for their bond as brother and sister to grow. I wouldn't have it any other way.
KVD 2 months old
Katelyn is 2 months old! She is still a super baby, and I fall more in love with her everyday. She has the most infectious grin, and she has started making those sweet baby coos. She really studies your face when you talk to her, and she is very aware of her surroundings. She will be just chillin' in her bouncey chair when I lean down close to talk to her she just lights up! She will give me the biggest smile and start "talking" to me. It melts my heart every time. I think she likes her momma a little bit.
She still eats every 2-3 hours during the day. She has not been doing as well at night in the sleep department. She was sleeping 6-7 hours at a time which was fabulous, but she is back to waking up every 3-4. But, as I learned the first time around, this too shall pass. I am not going to stress out about it, because I know she will be back to sleeping longer periods soon. For now I will just soak up the middle of the night snuggle time (even if I can barely keep my eyes open).
She is a growing girl! She has the most pinchable chubby cheeks, and she is already out growing 3 month outfits. She is wearing 6 month comfortably now and can still wear some 3 month outfits snuggly. She wears a size 2 diaper. I don't have an update on height and weight yet, because her well check is next week.
She still won't take to the pacifier, but she does like to suck on her fists. She hasn't found her thumb yet, but she may be like Brady and never do either. That is fine by me, because it makes it a lot easier in the long run to not have to break these habits. I swaddle her in her miracle blanket for naps and at bedtime, and most of the time when I go get her she has managed to squeeze a little fist up by her mouth.
Her favorite things are bath time, her bouncey chair, and cuddling with mommy of course :).
She still eats every 2-3 hours during the day. She has not been doing as well at night in the sleep department. She was sleeping 6-7 hours at a time which was fabulous, but she is back to waking up every 3-4. But, as I learned the first time around, this too shall pass. I am not going to stress out about it, because I know she will be back to sleeping longer periods soon. For now I will just soak up the middle of the night snuggle time (even if I can barely keep my eyes open).
She is a growing girl! She has the most pinchable chubby cheeks, and she is already out growing 3 month outfits. She is wearing 6 month comfortably now and can still wear some 3 month outfits snuggly. She wears a size 2 diaper. I don't have an update on height and weight yet, because her well check is next week.
She still won't take to the pacifier, but she does like to suck on her fists. She hasn't found her thumb yet, but she may be like Brady and never do either. That is fine by me, because it makes it a lot easier in the long run to not have to break these habits. I swaddle her in her miracle blanket for naps and at bedtime, and most of the time when I go get her she has managed to squeeze a little fist up by her mouth.
Her favorite things are bath time, her bouncey chair, and cuddling with mommy of course :).
Playing catch up
I realize I have not blogged in a while, but I have lots of good excuses. Not only do I have a newborn and a toddler to care for everyday, but we just moved out of our house and into my dad and step mom's house for the time being. We are in the process of building a new house, and my realtor husband said we needed to go ahead and move out of our current home to have some repairs done before we put it on the market. There was just no way to have the work done and show our home in a moments notice with me and two babies there. So, pretty much without warning we were completely moved out.
Paul and I had a slight sob fest the other night about it. While I am so excited about our new house, we have made lots of memories in that little house. It was our first home together. It is the house we came home to after our honeymoon, brought both of our children home from the hospital, celebrated Brady's first and second Christmas, watched Brady learn to crawl and then walk. There have just been a lot of good times in that little house that I will cherish forever. But, we are moving on to bigger and better things, and because of that I am excited and grateful.
This will really be like my first house that is ALL mine. While I loved our house, Paul bought it before we were married. So, I really had no say in the matter. I can't wait to make memories in the new house.
Thankfully Unfortunately I missed out on most of the packing of our house, because I had to take care of the two kiddos. Katelyn can't really be away from me for too long at this point.
There are lots of perks to living with my parents, one of them being that they have a pool. This is perfect for us, because I have a video monitor. So while Katelyn is sleeping, Brady and I can go swimming. His favorite pool toys are the hose and the Folgers can. Cheap entertainment over here.
Katelyn's room here has two rocking chairs, so while I am feeding Katelyn sometimes I will lock us all in there, and Brady sits in one seat watching Elmo while I nurse her. He actually does very well and usually lasts until we are finished.
While Waldo's house just got a WHOLE lot wild and crazier, I think he really likes waking up to these two little faces (even if it is to a rambunctious almost 2 year old at 6am :).
In the midst of all the chaos going on with us, we have celebrated some firsts with Katelyn. She has started giving us those first sweet little gummy grins!
She also celebrated her first 4th of July which unfortunately was spent packing. But, she didn't seem to mind!
It has been so rainy here lately! There was a week or 2 straight that it just seemed to rain everyday. I was starting to go insane being stuck inside all day with two kids. Love them, but Brady definitely needs to get out and do stuff or he gets seriously cranky. He did look pretty cute in his rain coat though :).
And, just because she looks so cute I had to add this picture. My sweet girl in her smocked ruffle bubble. So sweet!
We have so much on our plates right now, but I am looking forward to everything to come.
Paul and I had a slight sob fest the other night about it. While I am so excited about our new house, we have made lots of memories in that little house. It was our first home together. It is the house we came home to after our honeymoon, brought both of our children home from the hospital, celebrated Brady's first and second Christmas, watched Brady learn to crawl and then walk. There have just been a lot of good times in that little house that I will cherish forever. But, we are moving on to bigger and better things, and because of that I am excited and grateful.
This will really be like my first house that is ALL mine. While I loved our house, Paul bought it before we were married. So, I really had no say in the matter. I can't wait to make memories in the new house.
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| The beginning! |
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| Making progress.. |
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| Getting closer... |
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| Great room |
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| Master bedroom |
Katelyn's room here has two rocking chairs, so while I am feeding Katelyn sometimes I will lock us all in there, and Brady sits in one seat watching Elmo while I nurse her. He actually does very well and usually lasts until we are finished.
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| Daddy and Riley even join us for a pool break sometimes. |
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| Playing together, so sweet! |
In the midst of all the chaos going on with us, we have celebrated some firsts with Katelyn. She has started giving us those first sweet little gummy grins!
She also celebrated her first 4th of July which unfortunately was spent packing. But, she didn't seem to mind!
It has been so rainy here lately! There was a week or 2 straight that it just seemed to rain everyday. I was starting to go insane being stuck inside all day with two kids. Love them, but Brady definitely needs to get out and do stuff or he gets seriously cranky. He did look pretty cute in his rain coat though :).
And, just because she looks so cute I had to add this picture. My sweet girl in her smocked ruffle bubble. So sweet!
We have so much on our plates right now, but I am looking forward to everything to come.
Our first trip as a family of 4
I get serious cabin fever, so being stuck at home all day with a toddler and newborn is very hard for me. Paul was in a wedding on June 15th in Pawley's Island, and my dad said we could go stay at the beach house the week prior if we wanted, because it wasn't rented. This sounded like the perfect opportunity to get out of the house for a while! Although I knew I wouldn't be doing too much relaxing on the beach, it is still much nicer to be inside with an ocean view. Something about the beach just instantly makes me happy. So, first up we did some light packing.
I thought it was bad packing for one child...holy moly. After we took all day quickly got the car packed, we headed to my favorite place on earth, Charleston. You better believe I was able to check off a southern mommy dream come true off my list; my babies in adorable matching outfits!
We made it by to see my grandmother, because she had not had a chance to meet Miss Katelyn yet. Although our trip was short lived, because after dragging Brady to look at granite and driving what seems like forever (why does it take so long to get anywhere in Charleston??), he was very tired and quickly deteriorating.
But, let me just tell you about the FIRST time we attempted to look at granite and see my grandmother. We finally left the house about 4:00pm, because I thought it would be easier to go in the afternoon after nap, etc. WRONG. Forget about just normal Charleston traffic, we waited in a huge line of traffic to get over the connector to Mt. Pleasant just to discover that it was completely blocked off by fire trucks and police officers due to a wreck. So, we turn around and attempt to go through Sullivan's Island. Well, so did EVERYONE else who couldn't get across the bridge in rush hour traffic. Well, on our way through Sullivan's Brady starts throwing up in the car. So, we pull over on the side of the road. I take him out of his car seat, and he seems ok, so I load him back in. However, Brady thought we were pulling over to let him drive the car, so he starts screaming. We keep going on our journey listening to him scream the whole way. Thank goodness I decided to feed Katelyn before we left, so she slept like an angel the whole time. We finally make the executive decision to turn around, because by this point the granite place would be closed, and it would take us 2 hours to get to James Island. On our way back to the house Brady throws up AGAIN. So, we pull over in front of someone's house on Sullivan's Island and let Brady finish throwing up. I walk him a little ways down the road just to be sure he was ok. Well, then he spots a golf cart. So, he starts chanting "golf cart, golf cart", and another tantrum begins. We take all his clothes off and load him back in the car to listen to him scream the whole way home. I have never been so happy to get back to the house and out of that car! Needless to say, the next day we decided to run our errands in the morning, and it was a much more pleasant ride.
At the house, we spent some time just lounging. Brady liked to sit in this window and pretend it was his "car". (Do you see a theme here? He's still obsessed with cars.)
I had my first glass of vino since Labor Day weekend last year! It was delicious! I figured what better place to indulge than at the beach.
In the morning, Paul would get up with Brady and go get us breakfast. We ate Bagel Nation every day we were there, because it is just THAT good.
And, of course there was a lot of golf cart driving. This boy was in heaven.
I really wanted to take Katelyn out to the beach at least for a little while. I chose the absolute hottest day we were there which wasn't too smart. There was absolutely no breeze, and we lasted for maybe 5 minutes before I had to take her in. Poor Paul spent probably 30 minutes setting up all of the gear for a whole 20 minutes of beach time. Brady was even too hot to stay out there.
After a morning at the beach, they took some good naps!
Brady was too funny. At home, he always has to tell his dog, "night dog" before he goes to bed. He found this broken 3 legged toy dog at the beach house, and every night before bed he would tell him, "night dog". And, before we would leave the house he would tell him, "bye dog". He has also started saying, "bye y'all!" which is hilarious.
Wild Dunes just opened a new pool this year, and it is fabulous. It is like a giant kiddy pool. It is a zero entry, so Brady had so much fun playing in it. It was much easier to go there than to the beach. Coco met us at the pool one day to play!
Friday my dad came down and took Brady back to Columbia with him, and we made our way to Pawley's for Chris and Amanda's wedding. Paul's parents were nice enough to come take care of Katelyn, so I could go to the wedding and reception for a little while. I had enough time to watch the ceremony, eat some food, chat with friends, drink a glass of wine, and dance with my husband a couple of times before we got the call that Katelyn really wanted her mommy. That's ok, because mommy really wanted her Katelyn by then too :).
Our final stop on our trip was to see Paul's grandmother in Manning, SC who also had not met Katelyn yet.
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| The baby is back there too I promise... |
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| Tell me this isn't the most precious picture ever?? My heart melts every time I look at it! |
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| LOVE! |
But, let me just tell you about the FIRST time we attempted to look at granite and see my grandmother. We finally left the house about 4:00pm, because I thought it would be easier to go in the afternoon after nap, etc. WRONG. Forget about just normal Charleston traffic, we waited in a huge line of traffic to get over the connector to Mt. Pleasant just to discover that it was completely blocked off by fire trucks and police officers due to a wreck. So, we turn around and attempt to go through Sullivan's Island. Well, so did EVERYONE else who couldn't get across the bridge in rush hour traffic. Well, on our way through Sullivan's Brady starts throwing up in the car. So, we pull over on the side of the road. I take him out of his car seat, and he seems ok, so I load him back in. However, Brady thought we were pulling over to let him drive the car, so he starts screaming. We keep going on our journey listening to him scream the whole way. Thank goodness I decided to feed Katelyn before we left, so she slept like an angel the whole time. We finally make the executive decision to turn around, because by this point the granite place would be closed, and it would take us 2 hours to get to James Island. On our way back to the house Brady throws up AGAIN. So, we pull over in front of someone's house on Sullivan's Island and let Brady finish throwing up. I walk him a little ways down the road just to be sure he was ok. Well, then he spots a golf cart. So, he starts chanting "golf cart, golf cart", and another tantrum begins. We take all his clothes off and load him back in the car to listen to him scream the whole way home. I have never been so happy to get back to the house and out of that car! Needless to say, the next day we decided to run our errands in the morning, and it was a much more pleasant ride.
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| Yes, this pretty much sums up his mood... |
I had my first glass of vino since Labor Day weekend last year! It was delicious! I figured what better place to indulge than at the beach.
In the morning, Paul would get up with Brady and go get us breakfast. We ate Bagel Nation every day we were there, because it is just THAT good.
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| Sausage, egg, and cheese egglewich deluxe. So yummy! |
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| Trying on daddy's boots. He loves to put on everyone's shoes! |
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| 1st trip to the beach! |
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| He really didn't like getting in the water too much (must get that from me). |
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| Playing in the sand was much better. |
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| Cat naps on mommy are the best. |
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| She is a trooper to tag along wherever we go! |
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| Our cool dude. |
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| My bestie, Jennifer! |
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| I will lose this weight...(I hope!) |
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| With one of my favorite couples, Jennifer and Davis. |
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| The gorgeous bride and me. |
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| The happy couple! |
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| Katelyn and cousin Kristen who was also Brady's nanny when I first went back to work. We love her! |
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| Katelyn and her "Ma-ma" |
