Hi Mom!!! Hi Dad!!!

I think it is normal that when I visit at home, I never like to leave.  At the same time, the thought of living with my parents all the time isn't appealing.  It's funny how it works out like that.
Here's a video of Katelyn having a good talk with Grandma.  She's just too cute so I am putting the whole video up.

I love that we live close enough to visit, and this visit was great too.  I was able to sneak away a bit early to catch my sister and her husband, and their beastly dog Gus.  It's been too long since I've seen them!  They know so many card games. . . endless possibilities with them and card games, no joke. 
I was able to make it in time to watch Luke's football game.  He did awesome!  He is one of the linemen and you have to try so hard to focus on him to see him play because he isn't ever the one with the ball running or catching.  He sets up blocks and protects the quarterback.  He's so stinkin' strong and he "pancaked" a couple of guys. . . meaning he knocked them over flat on their backs!  He's not the usual chubby linemen, but he's one of the strongest and definitely the fastest, so the coaches like him up there on the line.  Apparently the coaches have told him not to touch the ball as he has "stone hands" so he just knocks people out of the way instead :)  Their team is doing really well and is two games away from the state champoinship game.  Football is ok to watch, but when there is somebody you know, it is so much more fun and he plays almost the whole game too!

A boy in the ward here is doing a service project to collect food for people in need.  He made up a list of what a family would need for a good Christmas dinner and then handed those out to those that wanted to help and fill a box.  So we decided to do two boxes and we went out all together to the store.  Dad turned it into a competition as we parked and he and Luke jumped out of the car and took off running into the store saying, "You snooze you lose!"  or something to that effect.  Us ladies were not about to be beat.  We are the real shoppers and we wouldn't go without a fight.  We got going and we had found so much of the list on the entrance aisle since it is the holiday season.  Dad and Luke didn't notice that aisle and they were walking in and out of all the aisles frantically because our cart had more in it so quick.  I know that some people would have a hard time believing this, but mom really does have a fast shopping mode!  Though some may have already guessed, the ladies creamed the men.  They had no chance.  Dad tried to make excuses, but they really didn't have a chance, even though they ran off and got a head start.

We finished off the night with brownie "surprise" and icecream.  Mom and Abby got a nasty surprise in theirs and nobody knows how it got inthere. . . I'm guessing the men had something to do with it. .. .sore losers ;)
I had pictures taken of Katelyn in her blessing dress.  I was pretty dissappointed how they turned out.  This dress has amazing little details and I think the lighting was too bright or something with the camera, but the dress was completely washed out.  It looks like she's wearing a plain white dress.  But the dress has beads and hand woven ribbon and little bows and they are all whited out!  Katelyn's face is cute of course, but there were even cuter faces that were caught.  The cuter faced shots didn't show the whole dress, so I chose the one that showed the whole thing to be printed, but it came out as a white blob.  I am bummed about it, but I will just have to do more pictures somewhere else or on my own.  I will post pictures of it once I get some good ones that do it justice.
The last time I went home I was going to take the dress with me since mom was finished with it.  Dad packed my car up and David unpacked the car and I never really thought about the dress.  When I came back, I mentioned that I hadn't seen the dress and we all got kind of nervous that it got lost.  I had David look around our apartment, and I looked all over the house.  I was backtracking in my head to the last time I saw it . . .. ta-daaaa!!!  I found it!  I was so relieved.  Before I found it I was joking around with Dad and we decided that Mom probably had it framed down in her craft room with spotlights shining on her beautiful work and she was pretending she didn't know where it was.  I better double check to make sure I still have it :)
I am too lucky to be so close to family.  I know my parents don't mind it one bit either.

I'm at Mom School

While I was pregnant with Katelyn I thought I was ready for all this mom stuff.  I was tired of being pregnant, so I was ready to be done being pregnant.  But I had no idea that there would be so much that I would learn.  A lot of this stuff, you just learn as you go, so maybe I was as ready as I could be. . . oh well, it's too late to worry about that now, she's here.

• Rocking chairs are heavenly!  In our house, if you are holding the baby, you get the rocking chair if you want it.
• Babies, girls, ladies, women of all kind (even the crazy ones) like to see babies.  They will peek over your shoulder as you are standing in line at a grocery store.  They will stare at your baby as you pass by them in the aisle and smile when they realize you've noticed them and they seem to wonder how long they've been staring.  Little girls and babies usually point and if they can talk they blurt out something like "Look mom, she has a baby!"  The mom's either apologize for their child's loud mouth or take a moment to ooh and aah about how tiny theirs used to be.
• Boys and men don't really seem to notice the babies, but the old grandpa's do and have often complimented me like I am a hero of some sort for being a mom and wish me luck. . . very sweet.
• David loves having his time with Katelyn once he gets home.  He hasn't even gone to play ping pong since she's been born because it would cut out some of his time with his girls.  He must really love us!
• It is a million times harder to get out the door.  It is all about timing when Katelyn wakes up, when she'll be hungry, when I get to eat, and when I get to shower and get ready.  Then I have to make sure I have everything she might need while we're out along with whatever I need to bring with me for whatever I am leaving the house to do.
• She is finally sleeping all the way through the night and I feel like I am human again.  No longer am I hoping that she takes a long nap so that I can get some sleep too.  It is a lot easier to get up with her at first, but the no sleep thing set in about 3 weeks after she was born which was a few days after mom left and I was worn out.
• The cute little burp cloths get un-cute really fast.
• Diapers have a terrible job.  I would rather be a mom any day.
• One time at a grocery store, my cart and I were blocking the whole aisle.  I didn't realize this until a lady was just standing and waiting patiently.  I apologized and moved my cart more to the side, but she told me the apology wasn't accepted and that she owed me an apology for "bothering the new mom and her baby."  I never thought we would get such special treatment but I still try to stay out of the whole aisle.
• "Talking" with Katelyn is the funniest thing ever.  She moves her eyes and eyebrows so much like she is telling me something SO important, but all I hear is super cute "coos" and "goos" and "doos".  She looks like she is always really proud of what she said.  She makes us laugh and we always enjoy our conversations with her.  She doesn't really like it when we laugh when she's talking.  We are just rude I guess.
• Our spacious one bedroom apartment isn't so spacious anymore.  Our bed has made it's way into the corner of the room so we can fit all of Katelyn's stuff in there.  I'm definitely ready for a two bedroom. . . or three so we have room for guests too!
• A day can go by with nothing getting done very easily.
• Wearing pink and having a pink bow on your head doesn't mean that everyone will notice you are a girl.  I think some people don't even try and just take the 50/50 chance and go for it.
• Play-dates are for moms. . . and a little bit for the kids.
• Katelyn doesn't have rubber bands around her thighs, arms, and wrists.  Just some extra food storage for winter.
• Baby belly fat is unlike any other which I hope doesn't mean it is harder to work off.
• Katelyn tries so hard to stay awake sometimes.  She tries really hard to be happy, but a little sad cry comes out instead. . . frown and all.  She just wants to stay up and play.
• Letting her cry herself to sleep didn't work for either of us.  We came up with our own method.  Her night time routine is great.  We make sure we keep her awake for 2-3 hours before she goes down.  She seems to like it when dad reads stories to her.  She loves bath in the sink time and kicks so much I have to put more water in the sink.  She doesn't like getting out of the warm water where it is so cold.  Her little chin shivvers and she seems so sad to not be splashing around.  We finish off the night with one last feeding and she is out!  She's now been sleeping for forever. . . 10-11 hours a night!  No waking up to eat or anything!  I am enjoying it while I can until teething starts or something else.  I can't even sleep that long, but it's nice that she does so I can get up and do something before she's up.
• I think baby's have nightmares.  I finally caught one on video.  She will just start doing this really sad cry and then go back to sleep. If you can tell, she even sticks out her bottom lip. . . so sad!  I think my voice woke her up, but then she went back to her nightmare or tried to fake it, then back to sleep.  
• I love that Katelyn loves her bouncer and her swing.  We can now eat dinner together, or clean or shower or do something while she's awake.  Not that we don't love snuggling up with her, but sometimes we have to get something done.
• I can throw a diaper across the room and make it in the trash. . . every time.  I have had lots of practice.  Don't worry though, the really full diapers aren't thrown, just in case I miss and they explode.  Gross I know.
• I have learned to say "thank you" when someone compliments me for my beautiful baby in some way. . . instead of saying, "I know."  I do know she is beautiful in every way, but I don't know when I started being snobby.  I think I have fixed that.  I hope.
We are loving our little family!  

David and I made it out on our own for the first time last week for dinner and a movie.  It was rough on me since I left the phone in the diaper bag with the babysitter. . . whoops!  Better luck next time :)

What A Chunk. . . A Cute Chunk!

Katelyn weighed in and was measured up for her 2 month check-up.  I cannot believe this little girl! She has gained so much weight for being so little.
At birth: 8 pounds 10 ounces
1 month: 10 pounds 9 ounces
2 months: 13 pounds 8 ounces!
Some babies don't even weigh that much at 6 months old.  We had been noticing her legs getting a LOT chubbier, and she is growing out of her 0-3 month clothes now.  She is growing longer too.  She has grown 3 inches since birth.  Not as crazy, but normal, so that was good to know.
I had a few questions about starting a regular sleep routine and eating routines because I usually just feed her whenever and don't keep track of time too much.  If she wakes up any time during the night, I feed her.  If she cries and it seems like it has been a while since she last ate, she gets fed.  I didn't mind.  She sometimes sleeps through the night.  About half of the time.  Otherwise she'll sleep 4-5 hours and then wake up, eat, and be asleep for 4-5 more hours.  I didn't mind this.  The doctor mentioned several times about how she's not going to starve anytime soon.  Somehow he also knew that she was eating very well and when he saw how much she weighed, he shrugged his shoulders and said, "That number looks right.  About what I would have guessed."
So if there was any worry in my mind that she wasn't eating enough, I can let that go :)

Our chunky baby sure is fun!  Here you can see her chubby legs, but lately she has liked hanging out upside down almost.  I just play with her feet and she lounges.  Weird, but she'll lay back for so long.  She is all smiles after she eats and we love that!  She lets us know when she's not happy which isn't always as cute.  She sure can snuggle though and then be kicking and squirming really quick.  She's wiggly, snuggly, cranky, smiley, and who knows what else will come out of her :)  We sure do love our baby, chubby overlapping layers and all!