Two months

Happy two months Kate!  This last month has felt about like a week, and our lives feel like they are in overdrive.  I'm sure these monthly updates will fly by, and she'll be a year old in no time.

Kate continues to have more time alert, and you can tell she gets bored if no one is interacting with her.  Her sleeping is kind of manic these days, one day sleeping almost all day, and the next almost nothing.  She's got some issues with reflux, so we're hoping when she grows out of that she'll be more comfortable and will ease into a calmer sleeping schedule.  But for now, we are all very grateful for any sleep we can get.  When she's awake, Kate loves to look around and take in her world.  We had a date night for my birthday, and Kate came along with us, and it was nice to have some time with just her so we could really watch her and see how much she's grown and how she interacts.  She's starting to coo a little from time to time and we've seen a few smiles, though they are hard to get right now.  We can't quite tell if she's a more serious girl, or if she just hasn't grown into her smiles yet.  But when you get one, they are glorious, I can't wait to get a picture for you all.  

Here are some photos of Katie Sue at two months!

 And here's her growing photo series.  She's getting big!

 One week, 6 lbs 8 oz, 20 inches long (birth weight of 6 lbs 14 oz)

One month, 9 lbs 9 oz, 21 inches long

Two months, 10 lbs 14 oz, 22.5 inches long

Whirlwind weekend

Last weekend was a whirlwind weekend for me and baby Kate.  My dear friend, Mary, got married!  Wes didn't have any vacation time left after taking time off for paternity leave, so we couldn't make a trip up all for of us, so I flew up with Kate for just the weekend.  We stayed with my dad, went to the wedding, and had a few hours to visit with Wes' family before we hopped on another flight back home.  We had a wonderful time at the wedding, and Katie Sue got to meet her Grandma Chris, Great Grandma Betty, and Auntie Jenn for the first time!  Here are some photos:

Mommy and Kate all ready for the wedding.

Waiting for the ceremony with Adam and Renata.  They got to come to the wedding sans their 3 boys!

Mary walking down the aisle with mom and dad to meet Garret.

Yay Mary and Garret!

At the reception...gorgeous dress, and gorgeous location!

I get to see Mary, and Mary gets to meet Kate!

Renata gets to hold Kate too.  With a sweet 3.5 year old boy and twin 1 year old boys at home, she loves to hold baby girls :)  

Trying to stay out of the sun.

Me and my Kates.

My girls!  I had so much fun celebrating with Mary catching up with my girl friends.  And so much fun to dance too!  Here's Mary Ann, Jess, Katie, Mary, Renata, and me with Kate.

The next day, we got to have some family time with Wes' family.  Grandma Chris is happy to meet her newest granddaughter.

Time with Auntie Jenn.

Being sweet with Great Grandma Betty.

It was a whirlwind weekend, but great time with friends and family.

And one last picture...Kate finding her thumb in the moby wrap in the airport heading home. What a sweet girl!

Baking

As I adjust to having two little ones to take care of during the day, we are spending much more time at home.  Emeline has preschool a couple mornings a week, and on other mornings we try to get out for other play time, but in the afternoon we tend to stay home.  Sometimes friends come over to play with us, and other times baby Kate will take a nice long nap, so mommy and Emeline get time together.  When that happens we've been having some fun in the kitchen.  I was inspired by Emeline's buddy Jackson, whose mommy introduced him to some baking a while back.  She posted a kid friendly recipe for a cake, which uses yogurt as an ingredient, and then uses the cups to measure the other ingredients.  I thought this would be fun to try one afternoon when Kate blessed us with a good nap.  Emeline had a really great time.  Here are some pictures.  

The ingredients all ready to go.

Emeline all ready to go...in an apron I made in a sewing class in middle school.  

Mixing! 

Some videos during.  Emeline was so funny, always calling it a birthday cake, and talking about wanting to blow out the candles afterward.

Waiting for it to come out of the oven.

 

Yum!  Looking at her masterpiece.

 

I admit, I did more of the measuring than I should have.  Emeline could have had a lot more fun measuring out the ingredients, but I let her dump them and stir them in.  She loves putting things in the bowl, and then measuring them out again, so I was a little worried about having her do all the measuring.  But she had so much fun, on most afternoons we are home, she pulls out the big stool and asks to make something...even if I haven't got anything prepared to make.  Since then we've made popsicles...doesn't sound like much to make, but we mixed up the juice, put in some fruit and flavoring, then poured them into the molds.  We also made biscuits, and she did a lot of pouring, mixing, kneading the bread, and cutting the biscuits.  It's been a lot of fun for both of us, and it can even help dinner get started!  Thanks to Jessie and Jack for the inspiration.  I hope she continues a love for baking and cooking because we can have a lot more fun in the kitchen!

Changing table faces

Newborns often poop before, after, and during diaper changes. And anytime in between of course. So it's no surprise to see a lot of interesting faces on the changing table.

I call this one Kate's poop face.

Pooping is serious business. If Kate has to go, she won't eat or sleep til she's done, she's a stubborn girl. I'm sure she'll love reading this as a teenager.

The changing table is also a great place to relax and look out the window.

Dressed for the day

Here are the girls all dressed for the day in the outfits Emeline picked out. The strawberry outfit Kate is wearing was one of my favorites when Emeline was her age. Ahh the memories!

Uncle John's Birthday in Monterrey

My dad's siblings started a tradition quite a few years ago now, that on any major birthday, all their siblings, and as many spouses and kids that can make it, get together to have a weekend celebration.  All four of the siblings live spread apart, so it is no small feat to get them together.  At the beginning of August we got together in Monterrey to celebrate my dad's brother John's 60th birthday.  

We started the weekend at one of our favorite restaurants, Passionfish.  You may recall us going here for our babymoon, my 30th birthday, and another birthday.  We do love Passionfish :).  This time was special to go with the family, and also Emeline came for the first time.  Kate too for that matter, but she didn't partake in the delicious food.

Here we all are.

And here's Emeline with her very own Passionfish children's portion. We sampled it too, it was amazing!

 

Emeline very excited about the bumble bee present from Aunt Susan and Uncle John.

The birthday boy and his younger brother.

Aunt Susan gets to hold Kate.

And with Uncle Rick.

And of course asleep on Aunt Diane.

The rest of the family enjoyed a full weekend including a trip to the aquarium, whale watching, bike riding, and more delicious food.  We were kind of restricted by the whole not sleeping business, and nap time, so we made it to the aquarium, out to dinner once more, and then to the beach before heading home.  Between feeding Kate and chasing Emeline at the aquarium (literally) we didn't take any pictures.  We were there not long ago in December, so we didn't worry about that too much.  

But we did get some nice pictures at the beach.  I think it was Kate's first time at the beach on the outside.  She mostly slept.

Emeline was oddly afraid of the water, so she played in the sand at a distance.

 

 

And I had to keep walking to keep little miss Kate asleep, so I took some pretty beach pictures.

 

 

 

Happy Birthday Uncle John, and thanks for the reason to celebrate!