Comic

The other day my sister sent me this comic in the mail, it made me laugh because this is totally how I feel some (well, probably most) days! I showed it to Tim and he said "that's totally us!" I thought I'd post it here b/c I'm sure most other moms out there can relate!

6 months and almost 3 years old

Katie turned 6 months old last Wednesday. We had her 6 month check up that day, she weighed in at 14lbs. 2oz. which puts her in the 16th percentile for weight and measured 26 1/2 in. long which put her in the 75th percentile for height. We started her on solid food a week before she turned 6 months. The first food that we introduced to her was avocados. Since then she's also had sweet potatoes, pears and bananas. So far she's really enjoyed eating solid foods.
She's also quite an active girl (just like her sister!). About 2 weeks before she turned 6 months when she was on her belly she started to pull her legs under her and getting up on all 4's! She isn't quite crawling yet, but she does manage to move all around the floor by rolling and spinning on her belly. Most of the time when she's up on all 4's she pushes with her legs and does a face plant on the floor. I've seen her crawling backwards a few times actually.
She doesn't quite sit up by herself yet. When I try to sit her down she tends to lean forward so she can get up on all 4's.
She has the ability to sleep through the night, giving me a few days of sleeping through the night at a time, but she doesn't always do that. I think traveling so much this summer got her off her schedule. This little girl has traveled quite a bit in her short 6 month life! Since she's been born we've been to Harrisburg for Easter; Nunda, NY for Aunt Nancy's shower; Wildwood, NJ for vacation (with a stop at Harrisburg on the way there and stop at Mimi and PopPop's on the way back); a cabin near Ligioner, PA and then another week in Harrisburg and Mimi and PopPop's!
Rachel has been enjoying having her sister be more interactive. For some reason, she's started to call her "K-dubs"....I have no idea where that came from! Rachel keeps us on our toes every day. We've been working on potty training this summer and she's been doing well with #1 and we're working on #2.
Our church gives the children memorization booklets that have age appropriate things to memorize such as Scripture verses, songs and cathecism. In the time before Sunday School, when we are all gathered, the children stand up and recite what they have been memorizing. Rachel has been working on her memorization this summer. Yesterday was Rachel's first time "reciting", she stood up and sang the first verse of "Jesus Loves Me". This Sunday she will start going to Sunday School and she's VERY excited about that.

4 1/2 months

At the urging of my dad, I'm updating our blog. The main reason I haven't updated in awhile is because I don't get a chance to type with both hands very often. Most of the time I'm on the computer is while I'm feeding Katie (with the laptop sitting next to me on the couch), so I can only type with one hand, so that's kinda limiting to how much I can type. :)
I had a few spare minutes while Katie is napping and Rachel is watching Sesame Street, so I thought I'd write a quick update.
Katie is now 20 weeks old, almost 5 months! She has been developing so quickly! She starting rolling from her back to her belly at 15 1/2 weeks. Now whenever I put her down on her back she almost immediately rolls to her belly. She doesn't roll from her belly to her back too often which is kinda funny b/c I thought that was the easier thing to do. Also, in the past week when she's on her belly she tries to push with her feet. The past two day she's started to get her bottom up in the air a bit. Oh boy, before I know it she'll be crawling!
Last Saturday, I put her in the exersaucer for the first time and she really liked it! I thought she might be a little too young for it, but I just have to put a blanket behind her and she's fine. She likes playing with all the toys on it, especially when her big sister comes and plays with her too. It's really fun to watch them interact.
I really love this age, we're starting to see Katie's little personality start to emerge. Overall, she's a very content, happy baby, she really only cries when she's hungry or tired, which is usually easy to remedy. :) She's been starting to "chat" a lot and gives some giggles when we tickle her.
A few weeks ago we went on vacation with Tim's family to Wildwood, NJ and Katie went to the beach for the first time. I was a little nervous about having a 4 month old on the beach, but she did really well. I was able to feed her while we were on the beach and she took many naps in Grandma's arms on the beach. Rachel had a great time at the beach too, she loved spending time with her cousins, grandparents & aunts and uncles. She really enjoyed playing in the sand (and was usually covered in it from head to toe in it!) It took her a few days to warm up to going in the ocean, but once she did she liked going in and jumping the waves. Also, this year we let her go on rides at the boardwalk. She absolutely loved the carousel and also enjoyed other rides like the pink elephants, boats, trucks and balloons.
A week after we got home from vacation Katie had her 4 month check up at the doctor. She weighed 12 lb. 12 oz. (28th %), and was 25 in. long (74th %) and the doctor was pleased with everything.
Well, that's all for now, if I'm being realistic...I'll probably be back in another month!

More conversations with Rachel

This week we've been really working on potty training with Rachel, so we haven't really gone anywhere this week (except one trip to the pool). She's been doing really well with the potty training for which I'm really proud of her. But I think she's starting to get a little stir crazy, each morning and sometimes throughout the day she'll ask me "Mama, where we go today?" :) Maybe next week I'll start to feel more comfortable taking her out in public in the midst of potty training.

Yesterday at lunch Rachel and I were talking about how after her nap we could play outside. She was talking about the things she could do while she was outside and she asked me if I would watch her on the slide. Then she told me "Mimi doesn't go on the slide...Mimi's old"!!! I nearly choked on my food! I couldn't believe she said that! Then I asked her if Mimi told her that and she said "yes", so that made me feel a bit better, at least she was just repeating something that she heard and not coming out with an insult on her own! Later on that day I talked to my mom (Mimi) and told her what Rachel had said (which made my mom crack up laughing) and my mom said that she did tell Rachel that the last time they were out here.

You have to watch what you say around that little girl b/c it may get repeated someday!!! :)

Logic of a 2 year old

Since Katie has been born I've told Rachel things like "Katie doesn't have words yet, but she will one day", or "Katie doesn't have that much hair yet, but she will one day". So, one day while Rachel was eating breakfast and I was putting her hair in pig tails she told me "PopPop no have hair yet" and I explained to her that PopPop used to have hair and he shaves what is left, we discussed this a little bit further and she decided that she wanted to help PopPop shave his head, so that weekend when my parents were here for Katie's baptism, she helped PopPop shave his head by putting the shaving cream on his head. Also, later on in the conversation she said "Mimi has hair"

The next morning at breakfast out of nowhere Rachel told me that puppies don't go on the potty, they go outside.

Speaking of potty, we've been starting to TRY to potty train Rachel. We have a seat that goes on the potty, the cushie tushie. She's been using that the past few weeks when she uses the potty. The other day she decided that she wanted to go on the potty without the cushie tushie, she stood on her stepstool and she looked at me and said, "I go like people". The she started to lift the toliet seat and said "when I'm a boy I go like this" I then had to explain to her that she will never be a boy, that God made her a girl. Thankfully she was content w/ that explaination!

The other day I was nursing Katie and Rachel was playing with her tea set. She was pretending to drink tea right form the teapot and then gave me some. She was trying to give Katie some and I told her that Katie just drinks milk from mama. Rachel said "I no have milk...I have milk when I'm older" and I explained that when she gets older and has a baby then she'll have milk, so she says "then I feed Katie" :)

Lately one thing that Rachel likes to do is look out her window from her bed. The bottom foot of her bed overlaps a window to our front yard, when she wakes up from her nap she stays in her bed, but lifts the shade and looks out the window and watches the world go by. The last time my parents were here and it was time for them to go home, they said goodbye to her before her nap and told her that they were going to be going home then. But when Rachel woke up from her nap she looked out the window and realized that their car wasn't here and cried for them...I didn't hear her at first and when I went upstairs I realized that she was crying for Mimi and PopPop, it broke my heart. Then a few weeks after that one morning I heard Rachel crying in her room again, I went into her room and she was crying for Daddy. Apparently, she was looking out her window when Tim pulled out of the driveway for work, Tim didn't see her looking out the window so he didn't wave to her. So, now it's starting to become a habit that when Rachel hears Tim close the front door (you kinda have to slam it to make sure it closes fully), she pokes her head under the shade and waves to him and they usually make a silly face for each other. So, what started out as an upsetting thing for her has turned into a fun tradition with her daddy. :)

3 months old

Tuesday was Katie's 3 month birthday. As one of my friends said to me today, I'm "out of the pit". Or, I've also heard it (the first three months) referred to as the 4th trimester. Thankfully, the first three months of Katie's life weren't as difficult as the first three months of Rachel's life. Overall she's been a great baby. Right from the beginning she did fairly well sleeping at night, I was never up for hours with her crying. We had to see the lactation consultant to get some things squared away with nursing, but since then she's been doing well with nursing and is getting a lot faster at eating. Lately at night I feed her around 9 or 9:30pm and then she doesn't get up to eat until 4 or 5am, then again at 7 or 8am, so that's been wonderful! I keep feeling like I shouldn't be quite so tired since Katie has been letting me get so much sleep, but I also have to remind myself that I'm still adjusting to keeping up with TWO little ones. As Tim said, Rachel takes my mental and emotional energy and Katie takes my physical energy. I do feel like I'm starting to get the hang of two kiddos, it's definitely a juggling act sometimes! Some days it just feels like I can't please anyone. Sometimes I feel if I'm giving too much attention to Katie then I'm not giving enough to Rachel and vice versa.
It's been fun to see Katie's little personality emerging the past few weeks. She has been spending more time awake and is smiling a lot more as well as cooing. It just melts my heart when she looks up at me with her wide open blue eyes and gives me a big smile and coos. When she smiles her dimples on both cheeks emerge and she's just so cute! She's been starting to become interested in toys and follows them when I move them back and forth. She enjoys sitting in her bouncy seat that has a bar across it with toys on top and lights, when she kicks her legs music plays and the lights on the bar light up. She is also starting to like laying on her activity mat, although she's not a huge fan of "tummy time". The other day I put her in the Bumbo seat for the first time, she looked like such a big girl!

Mother's Day

My mom sent me this poem, and I thought it was sweet -

Before I was a Mom,

I never tripped over toys

or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not

my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.



Before I was a Mom,

I had never been puked on.

Pooped on.

Chewed on.

Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind

and my thoughts.

I slept all night.



Before I was a Mom,

I never held down a screaming child

so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night

watching a baby sleep.



Before I was a Mom,

I never held a sleeping baby just because

I didn't want to put her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces

when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small

could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.



Before I was a Mom,

I didn't know the feeling of

having my heart outside my body..

I didn't know how special it could feel

to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond

between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small

could make me feel so important and happy.



Before I was a Mom,

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night

every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth,

the joy,

the love,

the heartache,

the wonderment

or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much,

before I was a Mom .


I know I'm a day late, but I wanted to wish my mom a Happy Mother's Day! I also wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all my friends who are mothers. You all have been great example to me as well as a great encouragement. Sometimes it's just nice to know that others have "been there, done that" and have lived through it :)
I got a nice Mother's Day gift from Katie because I put her down to sleep at 9pm on Saturday night and she didn't wake up to eat until 4:30am! Then she went back down around 5:15am and slept until 7:30am.
Tim got me a very thoughtful gift from the girls. He framed and matted two pictures of the girls when they were both just days old. In the two pictures it's hard to tell which girl is which! Then he got white decorative letters that say "Our girls". I can't wait to find a place to hang all of that on a wall.
Tim also endured 40 minutes of Katie crying so I could take a longer nap yesterday...what a guy!
Over the past 2 1/2 years that I've been a mother I have learned that motherhood is definitely one of the hardest jobs in the world, but yet one of the most rewarding, as well as one of the most sanctifying! I love being a mother and am so thankful to the Lord for the two girls that He has blessed me with.