Birthday Princess

That's right, it happened!  Our baby girl turned ONE!  It was rough.  REALLY, REALLY Rough.  There's nothing like kissing your little girl goodnight knowing it was the last night she was going to be an "infant".  She seems to know something happened, because all of a sudden she's in a hurry to walk where she has cared less to this point.  She's also suddenly super bossy.  Sorry princess, but it's true.  You want what you want, and you want it NOW.  

We'll be working on that...

We are packing up the house this week, and moving THIS weekend, but I wanted to still get a birthday post up for our beautiful girl!!

Here are some of her 1st Birthday Pictures!  

and we'll be back soon to show you our new house!

Wordless Wednesday (11 month old edition)

Comparison

 

Today our little princess turns FIVE months, and before I show you all her beautiful new photos, I thought I would show you just how much she does look like her big sister!!

 

This is Mag at 5 1/2 months, and yes this hat WILL be making an appearance soon!  I thought it would be cruel to pull it out when it's almost 90 degrees outside!

2 months

I'm not sure how it's happened, but our little princess is TWO months old already!!  So here are the details from her trip to the pediatrician yesterday...

Cate is up to a WHOPPING 9 pounds 13 oz. and is 21 inches long.  She went from the 3rd percentile to the 25th in weight, now that's GOOD growing!!  

She's up to eating 4-6 oz. every 4-6 hours and is doing really well holding up her head and is starting to smile at us more often.  We love everyday with her, and her big brother and sister adore her 

(not nearly as much as mom and dad do though)

So here's a peek at our 2 month old!

I got this great baby hammock off of Etsy, and promised the maker pictures for her to use in her listing.  This is what I got today of Cate for her.  Cate had slept all morning, and was grumpy when we finally had time to take these.  I fed her, but she wanted more...therefore, she was NOT happy.  We only had a small window of time where we had daddy home to help, as this is a two man shoot to make sure she stayed safe.
I think the ones we got turned out well....what do you think?

Newborn Cate Portraits...sneek peek

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Home

Just a quick update on Cate..

(since it's 6am and she has BOTH Greg and I up tending to her)

We came home yesterday(to MUCH fanfare) and spent the day trying to figure out how to be a family of FIVE!  Mema and Pop-pop had to quickly head for home after we got here, so we spent the majority of the evening just trying to get everyone used to having Cate here...

Fionn was fine all weekend in the hospital, and he was THRILLED to see her in the truck yesterday, but had a hard first couple of hours with her here.  By last night he was okay, but it was a tough day on my heart, as I can't just run over and scoop him up and love him.  

The little princess however was not fazed by anything.  She did give Zilla an odd look, but he just laid there and stared at her lovingly.  I swear he even barked less once he realized she was here.  And that itself is a miracle.  Just now he didn't even bark at the garbage men when they came!  

We were having fun with Cate last night.  This was an impromptu shoot in our upstairs hallway.  Daddy had a black shirt on, Cate was naked since we were changing her, so I just grabbed her bow and told daddy to hold her for a minute.  Her hair BLOWS me away!!  The other two had hair, but NOTHING like this!  

We have lots more to share, but this post alone took me hours to finish, lol, so i'll post more again later!! Enjoy our princess!!

Catherine Jeanne

Catherine Jeanne...

was born on Friday, April 23rd at 2:32pm.  She is not nearly as large as they thought she would be, and only tipped the scales at 6 pounds 8 oz.  She is TEENEY tiny, my smallest baby after all.  She is only 19 1/4 inches long, so we have quite the little peanut on our hands...

 Big Brother sneaking his first peek at hie Cate-Eeeeee(as he calls her)

Proud Big Sister Maggie put Mema and Pop-pop on high alert that SHE was third in line to hold Cate, after that everyone else could "fight it out" after her before she left for school.  We had to promise her that no one would hold Cate(besides mom and dad) before her.  She IS, after all. the Big Sister...lol

 

Mema waited patiently for her turn in the recovery room, and this is their first meeting.  Cate was sweet and let everyone love up on her.  This is Pop-Pop with her once we got out of recovery and into our room.  

Big Sister was stalking her with my phone camera( her eyes were open finally) while Aunt Shell and Uncle Bill got some snuggle time in.  She made sure though that she got turns in between everyone else to hold her again.  She just sat and talked to her and stared.  It was beautiful to see.  Cate was comfy just listening to her big sister's voice!

THIS is Maggie giving Cate her lovie, and in return, Cate gave Maggie these awesome matching hats. Cate's ribbon was a little snug though, so she'll get a new one when we get home.  I'll post a better picture of Cate with her lovie later.  

All too soon it was time for the kiddos to head back home with Mema and Pop-pop so they took turns giving her good-bye kisses...even Fionn.  He wasn't so sure on Friday about it all, but by Saturday he seemed to understand.  Every little cry he has to check on, and Greg had to pull up a chair so he could watch him change her diaper. 

Greg had to leave Saturday morning to go take Mag and Fionn to swim lessons, and I'm not sure who was more sad about that, Cate or daddy.  Yes, she's THAT tiny!  Her sweet big sister picked out this outfit so we had it on her waiting for Maggie to come in after swim.  

Aunt Shell and Uncle Bill came back with Pop-pop for a visit while the kiddos were in swim as they had to head back home last night.  Uncle Bill made sure to help Cate style her hair, which she has SOOOOOOoo much of!  Much more than my other two babies combined!  Look at those cheeks, just like Fionn's!  It blows me away how much she looks JUST like him...only girlie, lol.

 Once Aunt Shell and Uncle Bill got done fighting over her, Pop-pop got a little more snuggle time in.  Look how big his hand is in comparison to her little head! 

It was a FULL day Saturday, but at least Cate and I got a good nap in while Greg was gone taking the kids to swim. Friday night was tricky as she was trying to figure out this whole nursing thing, but we seem to be getting the hang of it now and she's having great sleep and alert patterns.  She seems to understand to sleep when it's just her and I, so that when everyone comes to visit she wakes up and lets everyone fuss over her.  LOL, smart girl already!   

We are truly lucky, and she is PERFECT in every sense of the word!  Her size shocked us, and has us scrambling on a few fronts, but nothing is wrong health wise and that's ALL that matters.  She is with us in our room, and we are LOVING every second of our snuggling time together.  Right now she and daddy are zonked out in the chair, but I'm sure in just a little bit I'm going to hear a little squeak for breakfast!  

I'm going to try to sneak another little nap in since daddy has her, but we'll share more of Cate soon!! 

Prayers for Cate

This fabulous picture is compliments of my wonderful hubby!!

This is it folks, it's FINALLY here, the week we welcome our new little girl to our family.  It's been QUITE the ride, and I don't remember a time that I've been this tired honestly.  As we count down our final days I ask that you PLEASE say a prayer for our sweet Cate.  Please pray for Lung Maturity as we head in for our Amnio on Thursday.  I have been in REAL active labor for over a week now, and although the contractions are slowly coming faster and harder, I am not progressing.  I already had a C-section planned for NEXT Friday (the 29th) but because of the labor, they have bumped me up to this week. 
We know that girls lungs mature faster than boys, but there is still a chance because of the Gestational Diabetes that she's not going to be ready.  IF she's not ready, then we wait another week...we don't want to put Cate in ANY danger, but I'm not sure my body can handle another week of this.
So please if you could keep Cate in your prayers this week, we would greatly appreciate it.  IF she's ready to go on Thursday, we'll be showing her off this weekend for sure!!

2010- The year of Cate

So Greg likes to joke that we all knew this was a girl from the get-go.  Let's just say my hormone level has been ever-so slightly agitated.  Maggie once again got another one right, and we'd love to introduce you all to Cate.  She is due ON Fionn's 2nd Birthday (May 16th)  I guess you could say we like to keep things close.

When we had Fionn I told Greg that I couldn't imagine having another baby before Fionn was two, but there was no way I wanted to have another baby AFTER he turned two.  I guess I left the time frame OF turning two open though, and well, here's Cate!

Everything about this pregnancy has us excited.  Fionn is already practicing saying "CaTee" and baby(even though today he said "ho-ho" when he pointed to my tummy) but since last week was Christmas, we'll let that one slide.  Maggie is beside herself with excitement, because boys as you know, "steal your stuff"  lol, just WAIT Mags, you'll see.  Fionn has a habit of waving hi to Cate every time we have an ultrasound, and sure enough Cate obliges him and waves back.(To be fair Cate waved first in October, and Fionn waved back and said "hi baby") and no I'm not making that up.  He loves to watch the DVD we have of Cate, and smiles from ear to ear as he watches it.  Cate also seems to be a bit like her big brother and it seems as though she also likes her thumb.

If you know my kids, you know they have BIG feet, and it looks like baby Sister is following right in their tracks.  Yes, we counted 10 fingers, 10 toes, everything's perfect on her!

SO

in honor of the year of 2010, the year of Cate, we are doing our first ever give-away!! 

Excited now??

I love Briar Claire, and have already made quite a few purchases from there in the last month.  This week however, I made one special purchase.  A newborn hat(girls or course) that one lucky reader is going to win.   Just follow that link and let me know which item is your favorite at Briar Claire, and you'll be entered to win!

Good luck!