Fingers and Thumbs

Kate has always had a very strong suck.  She was born ready to eat!  Lately, she has been sucking on anything she can get into her mouth.  At first, it was her fist, but in the past couple of days she has found her fingers, like this picture...

and her thumb, like this one...

Anytime she loses her binky, the fingers or thumb quickly find their way to her mouth.  This is good and bad - it's nice at night time, since that darn binky often falls right out of her mouth.  When she gets restless, her thumb makes it way into her mouth and she is soon back to resting soundly.  This makes me hopeful that when I move her to her own room, she won't have much trouble with soothing herself back to sleep (since I've been popping that binky back into her mouth any time she's gotten restless at night).  It's bad, because I don't want to have to worry about chapped fingers or bad teeth from sucking her thumb - but she's only three months old - I'll worry about that when she's 3, if I have too.

In the meantime - enjoy this last picture of my smiley girl!  She is so close to really letting out a giggle!  I can't wait to hear it!!

Kate at 3 months

Kate was 3 months old this past Saturday, February 18th.  She has become such a fun little girl!  She smiles all the time, and that smile lights up her whole face.  It's one of our favorite things to do around here - see who can get the biggest smile from her.  Adam is really good at it!  She is the highlight of church - everyone wants to hold her so she will smile at them!  I haven't taken many pictures this past month (poor third child), but I did get some pictures before church on Sunday.  She still hardly has any hair, so it's a good thing my friend made me these cute headbands!  (Funny story - Scott and I went to an Eagle court of honor Saturday night.  There were a couple of older gentlemen there from the local VA to recognize the scout.  One of them came over to see Kate, and he was so excited talking to me about how my baby boy would one day be a scout!  Reminded me to always put a bow or flower headband on her head - even though she was dressed in pink!!)

This picture doesn't even come close to catching her great smile! 

 She is getting so strong! 

 She has definatley found her hands.  She constantly has one of her fists in her mouth.  She sometimes sucks on them so hard she has red welts on her knuckles.

 Jackson loves to give Kate shoulder rides!

We all just adore our cute little Kate.  She continues to grow so fast!  She is sleeping really great at night - usually only getting up once to eat.  She is still in our room in the cradle that my Granpa Conrad made.  By 3 months the boys were too big for the cradle!  I need to start transistioning her into her own room - it's just so easy to roll over at night when she starts fussing and feed her in my room! She is napping in her crib during the day - although, she's only taking about 45 minutes naps lately, for some reason.  It's so fun to watch her grow and to see how much her brothers adore her!  They both love to lay on the floor or bed and talk to her. Jackson calls her girl, and Adam calls her princess.  She sure is adorable!

Adam's first report card

Adam brought home his first report card this week.  I want to record the comments his teacher made about him:
"Adam is such a sweetheard and I'm so happy to have him in my class this year.  He is one of the kindest and most calm boys I have ever had and sets a good example for other studens.  Even though Adam is on the shy side, he is making friends and plays with boys and girls.  I want to make sure he is feeling comfortable and safe at school.  He is often timid when asking questions and making decisions throughout the day.  When there is free choide time, most kids will quickly choose their favorite activity and begin playing.  I often see Adam wandering the room looking confused or unsure of what to do.  I wonder if he just has a hard time making a decision??  Academically, Adam is making some progress.  It's slow but steady.  He frequently gets 'E' and 'F' mixed up as well as 'b' and 'd'.  (very common) He is learning many of the sight words we have worked on, but still needs some extra practice.  I think a lot of Adam's problem to move forward so to speak is his confidence in himself.  He seems so unsure even when he know the answer.  I think the lack of confidence holds him back a little.  He knows most of the sounds and can usually figure out how to spell something (phonetically) if an adult helps him one on one.  If I walk away he often has a much harder time and often doesn't push himself.  Adam seems to enjoy coming up and reading in his guided reading group.  We are working on sight word recognition and decoding words. 
Adam is a great kid!  I look forward to watching him progress throughout the remainder of the school year."

I really love Adam's teacher, and have enjoyed being able to volunteer in the classroom again.  I can't believe his Kindergarten year is half way over!

What we've been doing...

Life has been moving along here at our house.  Nothing too exciting going on, but I thought I would do a little update.  Mostly, we've been working on getting Kate into a routine.  She has started sleeping so good at night! Some nights she still gets up to eat twice, but most of the time, it's just once, and I am enjoying the longer stretches of sleep!  Newborns always make me realize how much I really need my sleep to function properly!!  The next step is to move her into her own room.  She sleeps really great in the cradle that my grandpa Conrad made that is in our room.  She's starting to get better at sleeping in the crib in her room, but she can't seem to soothe herself when she's in the crib.  I don't know if it's because it's so much bigger and she doesn't feel as secure, or what.  But, she's been taking her daytime naps in the crib, and it's getting better and better.  A pattern to her naps is starting to emerge, so I feel like we are finally getting into that routine.  It only took 3 months!!

 Adam has been enjoying getting to feed Kate her bottle.  Some nights I pump and let the boys take turns feeding her.  They both really love it.  Adam is such a good helper with her, and he loves holding her.  I can't wait to see their relationship as she gets bigger and more interactive (although, I really don't want her to get bigger - she is growing way too fast!)

 The boys also love to play with her on the floor.  This is one of Kate's favorite things to do - lay on the floor under her little thing.  The star at the top plays music and little lights blink on and off.  She will lay there for a good 45 minutes just kicking her legs and smiling at the lights!  Once in awhile, the boys will crowd in and smile and coo at her as well!

 I had to include this picture, because Jackson's head just makes me laugh.  He likes to talk to Kate in a really high pitched voice, and he moves his head a million miles a minute.  He's a blur!!

Speaking of Jackson - we're working hard on keeping him happy.  This kid has mood swings like a teenage girl!  This is usually his mood when he gets up from his nap!  Grumpy!  He is such a fun little guy - but he is also very much two!  I have so much fun with him during the day! 

 And, last - a cute pic of the little miss!  She has discovered her tongue and loves to sit and smile and coo and chew on her tongue!  This is often what happens when I'm trying to feed her.  She is so bright eyed and tries so hard to talk to me! 

So, life moves on!  We're loving it!

I'm Melting!

The snow is officially melting around here.  It warmed up and started raining yesterday morning, and there is wetness everywhere.  This morning, I looked out my bedroom window and saw our poor snowman.  We all got a good chuckle!

 Yesterday morning, Scott took the boys sledding for one last time.  Who knows when we'll have sled-worthy snow again, so it was kind of a last hurrah.  Jackson came home looking like this...

 Apparently, he wanted to go down on Adam's sled, which was a bit faster than the one he had been using and didn't tip over quite as easily.  Scott said, he started down the hill, and instead of turning, like he was doing on his own sled, he shot straight like an arrow.  Scott ran after him, and screamed for Adam to try and catch him, but neither of them could get to him in time.  He went under a tree, which is what scrapped his face up, and finally flew off the sled, flipping head over hills, heading straight for the creek.  Luckily, he stopped before falling into the water, but he's got a nice goose egg on his forhead.  Just to show how tough he is, he went down the hill 3 or 4 more times before Scott could convince him that he needed to come home and get cleaned up.  The pictures don't really do his face justice.  He looked pretty nasty when he came walking in. Scott said he's never been more scared than he was as he ran after him, trying to stop him.  But, all is well.  He'll have a bit of a bruise on his forhead for a few days and he's still got the goose egg, but he hasn't complained much, unless he bangs his forehead into something (which he happens to do quite often!)

He wasn't in too much pain - this is what he was doing while I tried to get a good picture of his injuries!  Always a clown, this kid!

We will miss the snow, but it will also be nice to get life back to some sort of normal.  Get Adam back into school and try to get everyone else on a schedule.  I may even be able to start excercising and do better at watching what I'm eating.  To try and keep Adam entertained during the week, we made cookies or treats every day.  Not so good for losing the left over baby fat!  But, it was fun while the snow was here!

Another Snow Day!

Today was supposed to be the day when the snow turned to rain.  Well, it's 4:00 in the afternoon, and it's been snowing or ice raining all day long!  We woke up to ice pellets and a totally frozen car which took forever to defrost so I could take Kate to her two month checkup.  By the time we got home, the ice had changed to snow, and it's been snowing ever since.  Adam went outside to play with his friends, and only lasted about 45 minutes because they got so cold out there!  I'm guessing that there won't be any school tomorrow - three snow days to make up at the end of the year.

Here are a couple pictures I took a few hours ago of our back yard. 

Mr snowman really can't see now!  Poor guy is getting more and more buried! 

 And here's most of the yard.  It's gotten windy today, so the snow is starting to pile in drifts.  It sure is beautiful, so long as you don't have to venture too far in all this!

Here's one picture from yesterday I forgot to include.  After our sledding adventure, we came home and had hot chocolate to warm up.  Jackson really enjoyed it!

Miss Kate - Two Months old

It's hard for me to believe that Miss Kate is already two months old!  I actually ventured out to her two month check up this morning, even with all the ice and snow on the ground.  It was the fastest appointment I've ever been too!  I'm glad I don't have to reschedule like all the other million people. 

Here are her stats at two months:

Length - 23.5 inches (85th percentile)

Weight - 12 pounds, 6 ounces (80th percentile)

Head Circumference - 15 and 5/8 inches (90th percentile)

She's an inch shorter than her brothers were at two months, and weighs a pound less than Adam and two pounds less than Jackson did. 

Poor third child - there haven't been a lot of pictures taken of her.  We did take several pictures last night, trying to capture her beautiful smile.  She was being a bit grumpy, but here are some of them...

 A bit later, Scott got some good smiles when he was talking to her...

Kate, has certainly been my most challenging baby, but she is also such a joy!  She is a cuddler, and I am learning to just sit down and enjoy it!  I feel like we are finally getting into a night time schedule and she has slept great the past 3 nights - so I'm hoping that continues.  We haven't established much of a daytime routine yet.  She kind of eats and sleeps whenever and where ever we are.  It's during the day that she want's to be held and cuddled while she sleeps.  She has started being awake more often during the day, and has started making cute little cooing noises and she works really hard to talk!  I love to sit and watch her try to talk.  Her eyes are a beautful blue(it's hard to tell from the pictures), and every day I wonder what color her hair is going to be. 
It is so fun to watch her grow!  Her brothers are head over heels for her as well.  Adam wants to hold her all the time, and he is so good at it!  Jackson can be found smothering her (literally) with hugs and kisses.  I have to be careful when I leave her in her swing or laying on the couch.  We are all so thrilled to have little Kate as part of our family!