12 Weeks Old!!!

In 54 minutes, Baby Kate will be 13 weeks or 3 Months old... time continues to FLY by... As sad as I am that Baby Kate is getting older, I am equally happy to watch her cheery personality and skills develop... she smiles and coos and "gees" all the time... she is content to check out her hands... she watches the computer monitor as I feed her a bottle and watch a video... she loves watching her siblings play around her... she also smiles at her Daddy and siblings while trying to catch their attention... I could listen to her "chat" all day long... frequently she becomes very animated with her facial expressions and arches back a bit... it seems like she is trying so hard to speak... sometimes coos come out other times nothing...

This week, Baby Kate's five older siblings were home for Spring Break... add in the twins and we had one busy week... no afternoon naps for Baby Kate and me this week... instead lots of interactions with her seven older siblings... Baby Kate and I did sneak out on Thursday for an hour to run errands, then on Sunday, she crashed Mommy and William's date night to Chevy's Mexican Restaurant- during which she insisted on being held once the food arrived...

I'm still trying to find a bottle that works as well as the disposable bottles from the hospital with the slow flow nipples...  We're on our 3rd type of bottle... I don't think I mentioned #2, which was the Parent's Choice Bottles from Walmart... the slow flow nipple was WAY too slow... I thought the Avent Bottle #2 nipple which is slow flow was too fast and causing extra gas and spit up, so I bought the #1 nipple... seems to be better, but Baby Kate still has a lot of spit up... less than with the BreastFlo bottles and Avent #2 nipples, but more than with the hospital bottles...


Today, she took one long nap- maybe three hours in the afternoon... perhaps a cat nap in the morning and a short nap in the car going to and from swimming lessons for the middles... she is still awake at 11:15 pm... for the most part, she is content in her bouncy seat or swing...


Based on Baby Kate's sighs, I think she is FINALLY asleep... I'm going to move her from the swing to our bed and get some sleep myself!!!

Baby Kate's 1st Big Girl Bath

In The Kitchen Sink...


I always bathe my kids in the kitchen sink until they out grow it... so much easier on my back...  Baby Kate enjoyed it without any tears!!!

Big Sister Mary Christine is keeping watchful eyes on Baby Kate...

Mommy loves those curls on top of Baby Kate's head...

 Baby Kate has been wearing her cloth diapers for several days now...

11 Wonderful Weeks of Baby Kate!!!

Oh how I love this Sweet Princess!!!  I just love waking up to her smiling face and hearing her coos and squeals!!!  She does the cutest stretch when she wakes... up and out go both arms... Baby Kate has been using her legs so much this week to push off of me when sleeping and to move her around when she is laying on the bed... by the end of the week, she is able to almost roll over on her side...

I have upped her bottles to six ounces, which seems to satisfy her... Baby Kate continued to collapse the outer nipple of the BreastFlo nipple, so I have decided to return to the Avent Bottles which I used for Lizzy, Mary C. and the twins... This week, I FINALLY ordered new bottles for Baby Kate... they were a bit more expensive than the plain clear ones, but Pat told me to spend the extra... they are the pink Avent bottles- tinted a light pink color... I really like them, but wish they were tinted a bit darker...

We started this week with Baby Kate's first walk... Queeny, the twins, Baby Kate (in her Baby B Jorn) and I walked to Kirkwood Park to see Mitt Romney, as we think he will be the Republican Candidate for president...

We also celebrated St. Patrick's Day on Saturday...

And visited Kirkwood Park as a family on Sunday for a picnic, which Baby Kate slept through most of it...

Right before we left, she woke up in her usual, happy self...

I truly cannot get enough of her sweet, smiling face!!!

She's Got LEGS!!!

Baby Kate's first outfit where her legs are exposed!!!

Now, if I could get the ZZ Top song out of my head, I'd be happy!!!

Double Digits... 10 Weeks

I can't believe how quickly time is flying by!!!

Baby Kate is such an amazingly easy baby... as long as her tummy is full... 5 ounces of formula does the trick... and she is held or occasionally in her swing or bouncy seat she is happy, happy, happy!!!  And so is her Momma!!!

I still can't listen to her cry... I pick her up as soon as she makes a peep...

She also will lay in our bed (Baby Kate and I still sleep together and I LOVE IT!!!) or in her bassinet and check out her hands, stretch or just look around... sometimes she falls back asleep, other times she decides enough alone time and makes a peep... and back into my arms she goes...

We still take our afternoon naps most days... they usually start with her nursing and she is asleep in no time...

Around 10:00 - 10:30 pm, I usually feed her a bottle, then she stretches and falls asleep next to me... she has stopped breastfeeding to fall asleep most nights... usually she sleeps until @ 6 am, when she is breast fed, but this weeks she seems to have woken up @ 3 for a breastfeed snack several nights...

Our conversations have become longer and more frequent... she also smiles a lot and tries to get her siblings to interact with her by smiling and looking at them intently... it really seems like she has a lot she wants to share with us...

After sharing the following photo of my Mom and me this weekend, my Mom finally admitted that Baby Kate looks more like me than my brother Peter... although she still says Baby Kate looked like Peter after she was born... but now looks like me...

Queeny and me when I'm almost 2 months old...

Queeny and me when I'm exactly 4 months old...

Shots...

I have always felt that 3 shots and a drink as my pediatrician refers to the 2nd month's shots to be too much for a baby... so I divide them into 2 visits a week apart... so last week Baby Kate received her Rotovirus "drink" and 1 shot... she drank the drink quickly and didn't even cry when she received her shot...

Today Baby Kate received 2 shots and cried... then she slept most of the day...

9 Week Photos

Baby Kate's "Official 9 Week Chair Photo"...

 the first time she's holding her head up in the photo...

 

Mommy and Baby Kate before Queeny's Birthday Party on March 3... I left Baby Kate home with Daddy and her 7 siblings... we were apart for our longest time yet... just over 5 hours... I REALLY missed her!!!

Smiling Kate... hanging out in her cradle swing...

Kate wearing a headband and bow for the first time... Daddy and I thought she looked too cute...

Two Months Old!!!

Baby Kate is officially 9 weeks and 1 day old on her TWO month birthday...

I can't believe how quickly time has flown by!!!

Schedule Today (2-29-12):
2:30 am woke up and nursed on the left side (it has been weeks since she has woken up for this feeding)
6:30 am woke up and nursed on the right side
9:00 am woke up and had a 5 ounce bottle of regular formula- burped every ounce or 1.5 ounces
10:45 am nap time in her swing- put in swing asleep- woke up and watched her mobile until @ 11:15 when she fell back asleep, then woke @ 11:35 am
11:45 am: off to run errands with Mommy
1:00 pm 5 ounce bottle of regular formula dozed and drank...
2:15 pm fell asleep with Mommy
3:30 pm Big Brothers get home from school... Mommy sneaks off...
5:00 pm wake up
5:15 pm 5 ounce regular formula
6:30 pm nap on Mommy's lap
7:45 pm awake
8:15 pm 5 ounce bottle

On the day after her official two month birthday (2-28-12) we went to see Dr. Diehl for her two month well child check up... once again she was declared "perfect"!!!

Baby Kate's statistics are:
Weight: 11 pounds; 55%
Length:  23.5 inches; 88%
Head Circumference: 15.25 inches (49%)

I'm not sure where the length is coming from... must be a repressed gene from way back when...

This week Baby Kate has been squealing with delight... and smiling more and more... we just love interacting with her and trying to get her to smile and squeal!!!  She has almost outgrown her 3 month clothes in length...  I continue to love holding her, nursing her, and just being with her...  She is such a blessing!!!