KATES BLESSING DAY

Today our sweet little Kate Lydia was given her blessing at church.
Jake gave a beautiful blessing, and we were glad to have some of our close friends stand in with him.

 Kates little friend Scarlett, who was born just 3 days before Kate, was also blessed today.
Here are the 2 sweet little girls :)

Me and Kate, and Amber and Scarlett

 They're going to be great friends :)

We're so lucky to have some a beautiful daughter of God in our family.
We love you Kate :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

Halloween morning arrived, and sleep deprived, scatterbrained me, still didn't have a costume for Luke. We had plans to go trick or treating with Luke's little buddy Brent last night, so he definitely needed a costume. He'd never been trick or treating before, and Jake was pretty excited about taking him.
So, off to Walmart I went, and came home with a piece of red fabric, and a few pieces of felt.
Nap time was then spent making a 'no-sew' super hero cape with scissors and a hot glue gun.
The rest of his costume was put together with clothing we already had... a red 'super hero' shirt, a pair of blue pj pants, some white underwear over them (the superhero look just wouldn't be complete without the underwear on the outside of his pants. lol) and then of course the look was completed with the new cape :)
I think he turned out to be a pretty cute little super hero, and his costume required little effort and cost under $5... yup, my kind of Halloween. lol

I wasn't sure how Luke was going to do Trick or Treating. He'd never been, and is going through a very unpredictable phase right now, so we really had no idea.
BUT, he had a blast. He caught on REALLY fast.
His buddy Brent showed him the ropes at the first house... ring the bell, look all cute in your costume, get a large handful of candy, say thank you in your sweetest 2yr old voice, and then move on to the next house. lol
By house #2, Luke had it... so much so that he rang the door bell, and then proceeded to open the door and just let himself in. haha.

The weather was TERRIBLE.. it POURED with rain the entire time we were out, and it was cold, so we had umbrella's and warm coats (I put thermal pj's under Luke's clothes in lieu of a coat that would cover his costume), but despite the rain, the boys had fun, and got LOTS of candy.
It was fun watching Luke go up to each door so confidently, and get his share of candy. lol.
After we got back, we warmed up with hot chocolate, and changed Luke out of his wet clothes into dry pj's :)
It was a fun night, despite the yucky weather.

Even super heroes still kiss their mommy's :)

Luke's personalised super hero cape

 

LOTS of rain

Letting himself in. lol
"I know you've got candy in there, and I'm coming in to get it" hehe

FALL FUN... VOLLMER FARM

Every fall in North Carolina, the pumpkin farms open up and have fun activities and play areas for kids to enjoy.
This year we decided to try a different farm... Vollmer Farm in Bunn, NC!
It turned out to be a great choice. They have so much for kids to do. We didn't realise how much time we would need to do everything at the farm, so we just planned on a morning trip (Jake needed to get back home after lunch to work on his car with a friend who was coming around)... so unfortunately we didn't get to do everything, and will definitely have to go back again next year, and make a day of it :)
Luke had a blast, and I think it turned into a great morning out for all of us. The weather for once was lovely... blue skies, comfortable temperature, and not a lot of humidity, so we all enjoyed some fresh air.

Pics are in no particular order (it took me all day just to finish loading them between mommy duty as is... so I wasn't still gonna sort them. LOL)

Luke Loved the zip line.. went over and over and over again :)

Playing in the sunflower field with Gogga

The Udder Run, barrel train...

Such a tourist :p

I really wanted a family picture with the pretty blue sky, sunflower backdrop, but Luke would have nothing to do with it

So this is what our first 'family or four' picture looks like. LOL

Or there is this one. LOL...  originally I was annoyed that I couldn't get a good picture, and then I realised afterwards, that these pictures just as they are, are a very accurate depiction of our family. LOL

The Hay Ride

I think her name is 'Penny'.. she is only 2 weeks old :)

Little Miss Kate spent most of the day hanging out in my sling

THING 1 and THING 2

Growing up, I didn't always get along with my siblings. We often fought and clashed, just like any siblings do. But despite our differences, I was always really glad to not be an only child... I enjoyed the company of a play mate when I was little, and I've loved the memories and friendships that we've created with each other as we've gotten older.
Each of my siblings brings something unique to my family, and to my life, and we just wouldn't be the same family without each one of us.

I'm excited to watch over the coming years how Luke and Kate play and grow together.
Right now, Luke is still learning to adjust to life with Kate. He's needing to learn how to share our attention with her, and how to be 'gentle' with her. I'm sure at many times in the coming months and years, they'll drive each other crazy, but I hope that just like me and my siblings, they will grow up with a special bond, that makes our family stronger.

2 WEEKS OLD

Little Miss Kate is already 2 weeks old.
It feels like it was barely a few days ago that I was in the delivery room.

Today was her 2 week check up and it looks like we're going to have another little chunky monkey on our hands, lol.
Kate has already gained 14oz (396g) since birth and grown 3/4 of an inch.

Her 2 week stats are:

Weight: 7lb 4oz (3.29kg) ~ 25th percentile
Length: 19 3/4 inches (50.16cm) ~ 25th percentile

It's been a hard 2 weeks. Kate is such a GOOD baby... so easy going, and she really gives me no reason to complain, however we have had other challenges that made settling in with her difficult. I had a cold by the time I got home from the hospital only 24hrs after her birth, so I felt rotten on top of recovering from labor and delivery, and trying to adjust to life with a newborn again. I then had trouble with breastfeeding, resulting in some painful blisters. Then my mom got sick, and Kate caught a cold... a congested newborn is no fun. Poor thing didn't have a very happy welcome into the world with her instant germ attack :(
Just when it seemed that we were all getting better, I developed a case of Mastitis...I couldn't believe that something could hit so fast and so hard, and make you feel soooo ill. I went from feeling a little 'off' in the afternoon, to having a fever, full on flu like symptoms, nausea, vomiting and the most awful body aches by that night. I spent the night drenched in sweat, that my sheets were soaked, and shivering so violently that my body hurt. Fortunately a trip to my OBGYN, and a dose of antibiotics and I am feeling MUCH better already.

Little Kate is such a sweet baby. She is usually pretty calm, and she doesn't cry very often... she complains for a while when she wants to let us know she is hungry, or needs something, and only really cries for a minute or 2 if we don't see to her needs soon enough. I tried breast feeding her until about 2 days ago, and she wasn't too bad at latching on, but she was the laziest, slowest eater, and never finished a full feed before falling asleep, and becoming impossible to wake up enough to carry on. This resulted in me spending 45 minutes to an hour trying to feed her, only for her to wake up an hour later hungry again. It was making for some very long days and nights, and Luke was having quite a hard time with Kate constantly being attached to me, meaning his needs weren't always being taken care of. When the mastitis hit, it just became easier to pump and bottle feed her like I did with Luke. It was less painful for me, and allowed me to rest while I felt ill, and my mom and Jake could help feed her. She is still a fairly slow eater, but she gets a full feed, and sleeps about 3hrs between feeds, which is MUCH easier on everyone.

We're really loving our new family of four, and are enjoying getting to know sweet little Kate.
I am ready to start the new week fresh, with everyone back in good health, so we can really start to have a little fun :)