Kate's First Birthday

A few hours after Kate was born, it was the middle of the night and the nurses and staff had finally left the room.  (Well, for a few minutes anyway).  :-)  Michael was trying to get what little sleep he could on an uncomfortable couch at the foot of my hospital bed and I was holding a sleeping Kate.  It was dark and quiet but I was totally wired.  The exhaustion would definitely come, (and oh man, does it ever come during those newborn days!) but I had some very special time with my new daughter.  I remember thinking, "I'd better enjoy this because I know that in absolutely no time, she'll be turning one."  And as clichè as it is, UGH, I was right about how dang fast it happens. 

one year later.....

I've said it before, but Kate is such a little sweetheart.  In the last couple months she has developed a bit of spunk and sass, ;-) but it is probably a good thing... especially when you have an older brother that likes to pick on you sometimes.  Ha!

She was born an average-ish height and weight, but is now small for her age.  For a brief time I worried that she maybe wasn't eating enough, but I don't worry anymore.  She's got the cutest baby rolls and definitely doesn't look unhealthy!  :-)  She doesn't walk on her own yet but walks along furniture really well and is getting sturdier and braver.  She still only has two bottom teeth.  Her hair is coming in and growing but it is kinda hard to tell because it is super thin and light.  So thin, in fact, that I still have to use headbands instead of just clipping it back with a bow.  Her hair won't stay in a clip.

Her very favorite word to say is, "Dada!"  It's one of the only things she will say on command, along with a couple animal sounds.  That's okay- it's pretty fitting actually.  Though she loves her mama, she gets completely giddy when Michael is around.  And Michael is already fiercely protective of her.  I worry about her dating life when she's older.  :-)

She has been a nightmarish napper pretty much from the beginning.  However, just a little after she turned 6 months old, she went from waking up twice every single night to waking up ZERO times in the night.  It was glorious.... and ever since the first time she slept through the night, I think I can count on one hand the amount of times she has woken up in the night.  (Though sometimes she struggles to fall asleep).  She has absolutely refused to take more than one (short) nap during the day since she was about 10 months old, so she has a very early bedtime.  And then she usually ends up sleeping about 13 hours straight.  It's a beautiful thing, and it totally makes up for her stinker pants nap habits.  :-)

Kate loves being tickled, playing Peek-a-boo, and reading books.  She has very little, if any, interest in any sort of TV.  She went straight from nursing to the sippy cup.  If she doesn't like her food, she'll immediately start throwing it on the floor.  She enjoys bath time and crawling around at the park.  She thinks Matthew is hilarious and loves following him around and playing with him.  She also loves sugar.  (Duh -what kid doesn't?)

Kate and Matthew are only 17 months apart, and while there are plenty of people who have kids even closer together, there were a lot of people who were surprised by our decision to have kids so close in age.  But let me tell you - both me and Michael knew when it was time to have a second baby.  I was so completely certain that this was what Heavenly Father wanted for our family that I never once doubted our decision.  I am so, so grateful that we were blessed with this girl.  She has brought us so much joy.

There are a million more things I could say about Kate, but for now, I will just say that I love her.  I am so thankful for her patience... especially during her early months when I basically had two babies.  She is sweet and fun and smart and I adore her.

For her birthday, we kept things relatively simple.  She was getting over a cold but still managed to be happy and have a pretty good day.  Michael took the day off work and we visited Butterfly Wonderland.  We all had a blast and loved seeing so many gorgeous butterflies.

After naps we made a quick trip to the park and then had dinner and CAKE!  She was hesitant about her cake at first but after I stuck some in her mouth she caught on.  :-)

 It was a great day.  So excited for her second year of life!