Kathryn Kaye

She is here and she is perfect!!!! Kate arrived at 10:33am on 12/12/11. She weighed 6lbs. 6oz. and was 19 inches long. I have to admit, she was much smaller than I was expecting. However, she is a champion eater so I think she will put on weight in no time.

Blake and Jack absolutely adore their baby sister. They stayed with Garrett's folks while we were at the hospital and when they came to visit, they couldn't wait to hold and kiss Kate. It melts my heart to see how sweet they are to her and that they actually like her being here. Last night, I went to kiss Blake goodnight and he wanted to hold Kate. So after a minute or so and about a million kisses I told him that Kate had to go night-night and I picked her up. He then proceeded to scream, "no, my baby!!" and wanted her back in his lap. He cried like that for probably 10 minutes before falling asleep. It was really sweet.

Kate is eating every 3 hours during the day and every 3 1/2-4 hours at night. She seems to only cry if she is hungry or dirty. Knock on wood, but I think we may have landed another 'easy' baby.

We are such a happy family of five and I hope things continue to get even better as we continue to settle in. Now, here is some picture overload.

She came out looking exactly like Blake.


Having a c-section stinks because it takes so long to see your baby. But, the wait was worth it.


The first of many kisses.


Very proud parents.


I think Linda was just a little excited to meet her granddaughter. :)


My dad was smitten from the moment he laid eyes on her.


Garrett's dad is pretty smitten too.


This guy takes the cake though. I think his little girl could tell him to jump and he would ask how high. :)


The hospital volunteers made stockings for the newborns.


Once we were up in our room and I was finally feeling better, I had to get Little Bit changed and accessorized.


Dad and Margie came back up that night.


My precious baby girl. She looks like a little baby doll.

My dad brought up my old baby doll from when I was a little girl. Margie hand-washed the doll and her clothes. Her name is 'Bebe' because I couldn't say 'baby'. Not the cutest or snuggliest thing, but I loved her and hopefully Kate will too.

I promise that Blake loves his sister. He is angry in this picture because we took away his truck.

When the boys came up to meet Kate I was sitting on the couch awaiting their arrival. Kate was in her bassinet. They came in asking to see her, so I got up and picked her up. I walked over and had Blake give her a kiss, which he did. Then I leaned her into Jack so he could do the same. He said, "No, I hold that baby." Apparently just giving her a kiss wasn't good enough.

Blake just kept leaning down and kissing her. He wasn't prompted to do so he just kept doing it on his own.

Garrett loves to snuggle with his baby girl.

Here is Dr. Rawson. He is such an amazing man and doctor. I am so grateful that he delivered all three of my kiddos.

Going home. I am very swollen here, yuck!

Linda brought the boys up in our car to pick us up. They were zonked out the whole way home.

And again, I promise Blake likes Kate. He was just really tired and not in the mood to say 'cheese.'

Thank you for all of the prayers and well wishes. We are doing great and I can't wait for Christmas morning with my 3 angels.

Pushing cars

Yes, it has been over a month since my last post. To be perfectly honest the last thing I have wanted to do is post a blog, hence the lack of posts. The mood still hasn't really struck me, but it has finally just been too long.

We have all been doing really well over the last month. We celebrated Garrett's 30th birthday on 11/11/11 and had a party with all of our friends. I am not posting pictures to protect the innocent guilty. :) I was told that pictures were not allowed to be posted. Let me just say that a great time was had by all and I was vacuuming and mopping my kitchen floor at 1:30 that morning. :)

We had our family over for Thanksgiving again this year. I was looking forward to it and excited to host until that morning. I was SO tired. I regretted my decision to do it but everything turned out great and I think a good time was had by all. A quick word of advise, don't host Thanksgiving while 37 weeks pregnant.

I am now into my 38th week and counting down the days. Just 8 more to go!!! Since I am such a planner and maybe a little OCD, I really don't want Kate to make her appearance any earlier than her scheduled 12/12/11 birthday. I had an ultrasound last week and she is perfect and looking a lot like Blake. Her cheeks are so chubby and I can't wait to squeeze and kiss them. Her bag is packed for the hospital, mine is semi-packed but I have done nothing to get the boys ready to be at their Grandparents' house. I am not planning on doing that until one week from today, so she really needs to marinade for just 7 more days.

Blake and Jack are doing so great! They are growing like weeds. Oh, did I mention that they are potty trained!!!! I haven't jumped this hurdle sooner due to my own laziness but about a month or so ago I decided to give it a go and they have done great!!! They are still wearing diapers during nap and night time (one hurdle at a time) but in 'big boy' underwear during the days. Of course, we still have accidents, but all in all doing really well with it. They are such boys because I don't have to offer them a bribe to pee or poop in the toilet, their reward is flushing the toilet. However, they are rewarded for having dry underwear. This was initiated to help prevent accidents.

The boys have been obsessed with cars/trucks/trains/anything with wheels for quite some time now. And, they have liked pushing cars for a while as well. However, this 'liking' of pushing cars has turned into a true obsession. They wake up saying "push cars Mommy," they sit down to eat saying "push cars Mommy," they go to bed saying "push cars Mommy." I think you get the point. Over the last couple of weeks I have had the boys go upstairs to push cars or just play while I stay downstairs. I am trying to ween us from having to play together at all times since Miss Kate will take some of my attention. The boys have done great since apparently pushing cars really only is a two man game. I am having a harder time than them. I just want to go and play with them and soak up the time of it just being us. Needless to say, I don't stay downstairs for too long. However, one day I walked upstairs to play with them and I found this:


Yes, that is Kate's bed. Yes, that is just about every car we own. They thought it would be fun to push cars in Kate's room. After running downstairs to get the camera, I explained that this was not a good idea and we don't play in Kate's bed.

Here is a typical game of pushing cars, sitting on the treadmill or anywhere else in the playroom. The cars start next to one of the boys, they push them to their brother who piles them all up before pushing them back. They say "set, go!" before every car is pushed. It really is so cute. They have even started using their toy barn as part of the game. They open the barn doors and push the cars through the barn. I love listening to their converstions with each other while they play together. They are very sweet to each other (most of the time) and love being together.



All in all everyone is doing great. The house is decorated and all the presents are under the tree. Here are the boys before church last Sunday. They are just getting more and more handsome if I do say so myself.


In preparation for Kate, we have gotten out our swing, bouncy seat and elevated seat. The boys have loved having them out and think it is fun to sit in them. It just makes me so sad to see how big they are now compared to how they looked in them 2 1/2 years ago.



We are all awaiting Kate's arrival and then a visit from Santa Claus. This will be a busy, exciting and blessed month.

Happy Halloween

We started our Halloween off yesterday by carving some pumpkins. This was the boys first experience with this and they were very excited.

Here they are with Garrett ready to carve.


They had all eyes on their daddy as he started the process.


They liked it when Garrett pulled the 'guts' out of the pumpkin and wanted to help.


Getting slimy and yucky.


And that lasted all of 5 minutes. Poor Garrett had to finish the pumpkins all by himself, well I helped.


We fed the boys an early dinner tonight so we could get them dressed up. Both boys are obsessed with Mickey Mouse. Since there isn't any other character that they are lovin' this much at the moment I decided to make both of them Mickey for Halloween. They were very excited to look like Mickey.
I mean really, could they be any cuter?


After last year's Mario and Luigi, I was very nervous about living up to those expectations. I think we put together a pretty cute costume.

Jack was the most excited about looking like Mickey. He kept running into our room to look at himself in the full sized mirror.


Blake wasn't quite as excited but once he was dressed he was thrilled.


Here is our crew. Hayden (superman), Lexi (Rapunzel), Macie (Ariel), Kennedy (ladybug), Blake, Jake (Buzz Lightyear), Jack and Drew (Woody). We had run out of 'big' kids to hold babies so I said that Jack could do it. He loves holding Drew and Kennedy and asks to do it all the time. He held on tight to Drew. What a great big brother he will be!


My dad and Margie came to see our handsome boys and walked around with us to trick or treat. The boys were so happy to see them!


And off they go!


Apparently my boys thought they were supposed to just go into every one's house. This is what they did at the very first house. Just walked right on in. After establishing some ground rules, they figured out the routine pretty quickly.


After hitting up our street, we hopped in the car and headed to our old street to see Mason and Lauren. I love this picture so much. The boys just love Lauren.


"Come on Jack, let's go this way!"


Jack, Lauren (Wonder Woman), Mason (Captain America) and Blake. We miss these two so much. We love our new house and our new neighbors but we miss the Browns so much. I got a little emotional seeing the old house with new people and not seeing Mason and Lauren all the time.

We had a great night! The boys did such a great job and looked so cute. They kept their costumes on the entire night and had so much fun with all their little friends. We hope everyone else had a great night as well!

Celebrating Kate

This past Saturday three of my dearest friends threw a sprinkle in honor of Kate. A sprinkle is what we call a shower for a second or third child. These girls did an amazing job and everything was beautiful!!

Here is the food table that was covered in deliciousness!!


The adorable cake table and the big ole mama-to-be.


My girls, Georgia, Mary and Kedra. I love these girls so much!!!


Some of my guests oohing and aahing over the cute little girl things.


Something as simple as a boppy cover is so exciting because it is PINK!


Kate can't have too many tutus.


She got so many precious clothes. They are all washed and hanging in her closet.


Check out the bling on the bottom of these tiny shoes. It doesn't get any cuter!


Georgia made some beautiful burp cloths for Kate.


The hostesses got me a new stroller that all three kids will be able to ride on/in.

I couldn't have asked for a better day. Georgia, Mary and Kedra went over and beyond with all of the decor, everything was just perfect. I am so blessed to have them and all of my friends that came to help celebrate Kate. Thank you girls, I love you all!!!