Life with Kat

Life with Kat has been one of the most enjoyable times of our life. Every time a new baby comes into your home things get turned upside down and some adjusting must occur, but there is also the joy of having such a special spirit so newly come from our Heavenly Father's presence.

August 18, 2011 1 Day Old

Kathleen has probably been our fussiest baby so far. That is not to say that she is a bad baby, she just requires a little bit more time and patience. She takes quite a bit of work to get to sleep but once she is asleep, she usually will give you a good nap. One of her biggest challenges is a gassy belly. She doesn't have colic, she just really doesn't like gas in her belly. She gets quite angry and will let you hear about it. With all of those complaints out of the way, I should probably also tell you what a joy and good baby she really is.

August 20, 2011 3 days old

Kathleen is well loved by all of her siblings and she accepts it graciously. (Meaning, she puts up with the abuse that comes from having older siblings that want to over-love a baby.) They each like taking turns holding her and giving her a Binky. We have been discussing the importance of a bubble for Kat and we are making some progress, but mostly Kat just has to let us know when she is being smothered by squawking. Once back in the arms of Mommy or Daddy she will calm right down and be ready to play some more.

August 20, 2011 3 days old

Kat has very expressive eyes, more specifically eyebrows. She will raise them when she finds something interesting and her eyes get all big. My favorite is when she is playing with you and knows she is being cute she will raise one eyebrow as if to say, don't you just love me! Kat has had good control of her head for quite some time, but when she gets really excited and those eyebrows get going her head will start bobbing as well as if to show that she is in agreement with her eyes that what she is witnessing is truly amazing.

August 21, 2011 4 days old

Kat loves to be snuggled by her mommy and daddy. She is a bit of a Mama's girl, but not to the extent that Levi was. It took a little bit of warming up to, but Daddy is surging strong now that she can play a little more. (Daddy makes the funnest faces.) Mommy was really excited this time around with a newborn because Daddy doesn't go to work in the middle of the night. I thought that I would finally have some help sometimes when baby wouldn't sleep, but Kat quickly squashed those ideas. She will scream at Daddy for half an hour and be incredibly worked up but when she hears Mama's voice she will calm right down. We have learned that only Mama will do in the middle of the night, although Daddy is a great bedtime pal and usually puts her to bed.

August 23, 2011 1 week old

Kat started out really pretty small and took a while to really start putting on any significant weight (very different from her siblings.) She has really started making a comeback in the weight area and is adding a little bit of a layer of chunk to her, although she would not be considered a fat baby.

August 30, 2011

She does have a remarkable double chin though. It seems that she packs away her fat in her face. Uncle Jason thought it was so funny/cute looking that he started calling her Edgar (like Men in Black with the bug "wearing the Edgar suit") because she looks like her skin is hanging off her bones.

September 24, 2011 1 month old

As I mentioned earlier, Kathleen has no problem letting you know when she is unhappy. Sometimes it is hard to really take her seriously. She has a very dainty, girly cry. She also gets these pathetic faces that make you feel so sad for her but at the same time you just want to kiss those little cheeks until she crys some more.

October 2011 6 weeks old

Kat hated her car seat for about the first 6 weeks of her life. Most newborns I have known would fall fast asleep once you strapped them in and put them in the car. Not my baby! She could be dead asleep and if you wanted a sure fire way to wake her up just strap her in and try to go for a drive. Her first trip to Pocatello was a little rough and ended up with her out of her car seat for about the last hour of the drive. This also posed a big problem for us since her sister goes to charter school clear across town and has to be driven and picked up. It takes us anywhere between half an hour and 1 hour depending on if we are just dropping Ellen off or picking her up. This was not a very enjoyable period of time for any of us in the car. Luckily after about 6 weeks Kat decided that being in the car seat wasn't complete torture. It still isn't her favorite place to be, but she will tolerate it. At about that time she also was able to start focusing on things more so we put some toys on the handle of her seat. I am certain that these friends have helped her to accept the seat a little more.

October 2011 About 2 months old

She also really likes her friends on the bouncer. When she is talking with these friends, and yes she talks to them, is when you can see those eyebrows of hers really going to work.

October 7, 2011 About 6 weeks old

October 23, 2011 2 months old

One of Kat's favorite people has to be her big sissy Ellen. Ellen is such a good big sister to her and loves to help out by holding her and playing with her. While Kat would still prefer to be held by Mom or Dad she has also learned that Ellen can help her out too. Ella does a good job of bouncing her and calming her down and has been a huge help to Mama. Kat likes to play with Ella and tell her stories, especially while we are eating. Kat will sit in her Bumbo on the table next to Ellen and Ellen will tell her all about her meal while she is eating it. Kat finds this very entertaining. Ellen is about jumping out of her skin for when Kat can join her in her bedroom, and we are not too far away from that happening.

Our little Kathleen Michelle has become one of the brightest lights in our lives. She makes all of our hearts happy and we are so glad that she chose us to be her family. We love you little one!

October 2011 7 weeks old