2 Months

Katelyn is 2 months already! My, is this time zooming by!

Highlights of the past month:

-Giggles in her sleep (see video below)

-Smiles in response to seeing mommy or daddy and when anyone gives her full attention and plays with her

-Growing like a weed!  She is in size 2 diapers and in 3-6 months clothes

-Reflux- we figured out that she has it and are deciding whether to medicate and with what (poor girl!)

-Sleeping SO well!  this month she learned how to self-soothe and can often be put down to sleep without any fussing/crying.  (not always, but often).  She's also consistently sleeping a 5 hour stint at night!  (Once in a while a little more)

-Thanksgiving- had her first Thanksgiving and spent most of it in Uncle Tim's arms

-Daddy time- loving every minute of it!

-Family- Katelyn has spent some time with her Great Grandma Norma

-Youth Events- Katelyn attended her first youth convention (not overnight- my high school girls would not have thanked me for the constant waking, nor would Katelyn have thanked me for the same)

-Pouty Face- (as seen below in collage) Katelyn gives us a warning before she begins crying.  She starts talking and cooing in an upset tone, followed by her famous pouty face.  That little face has us wrapped around her little fingers...

Oh do we love our little Bright Eyes!  

1 Month!

Katelyn is 1 month already!

We'll be posting monthly updates, photos, and videos- specifically to keep our out-of-town family & friends in the loop as Katelyn develops and grows

Some facts about Katelyn:

-Flails in her sleep- often both arms going straight up in the air (a combo of jazz hands/praise Jesus) and they remain in the air until she flails again
-Sleeping about 2.5 hours between feedings at night- sometimes 3-4 hours.
-Waking Katelyn is like... well, waking Tyler.  It takes a Loooong time to wake her and she'll move and open her eyes almost to say, "I'm up, I'm up..." only to fall right back asleep no matter what position she's in.  This is a fun time to watch her flail as with each tummy rub, her arms and legs go everywhere
-Cooing when excited
-Neck Strength is great!  See video below
-Snuggles into people's chests
-Sneezes in the cutest way!  She'll sneeze several times in a row and often in anticipation of another sneeze, she lets out a coosigh in place of a sneeze.  "A-cho, A-cho, A-ahhhh"


Videos Below: #1- a little cooing
                      #2- gaining arm control
                          #3- Gaining neck strength    

Above:  I was able to be a part of a centering pregnancy class- basically meeting with other ladies due around the same time, nurses, and doctors and learning from each other.  The picture of all the babies was at our reunion after we had all had the babies.  Ava is the oldes (left jean dress 8 weeks) and Katelyn was the youngest at 3 weeks in the picture.  I LOVED getting to know these ladies and plan to stay in contact as our children develop and grow older.

Katelyn Grace's Birth Story

It's amazing how God prepares you for what you need exactly when you need it.  For the past few months, Ty and I were really hoping that Katelyn came late so I could get to a certain date with teaching and so that we could take a little get-away to Pierre for a minister/spouses retreat.  Up until the due date, I kept thinking "please Lord, let it not be today" yet when the due date came?  We were raring to go!  Ready for our little one to make an appearance.

We had an awesome weekend celebrating Krystle's birthday and mine.  We had made no real plans as we were hoping baby would come during the weekend so we just were able to relax and enjoy being a family of two for one last bit.

Monday night, I woke up at midnight feeling a little crampy but not thinking much of it.  I then woke up at 3am and my immediate thought was, "Well this is different.  We're going to have a baby today!!"  I had had a contraction and it was pretty painful from the get-go.  I assumed it was way early labor and I would have lots of time before the next one hit and assuming we wouldn't go to the hospital until daytime.  Well, as I closed my eyes to fall back asleep, 3 minutes later, another one hit.  I realized I should probably time them just to be sure how close they are together and sure enough, they kept coming back to back with 3-4 minutes in between and lasting longer than a minute.  They tell you to go to the hospital when your contractions hit 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute long... well we were past that!  So I woke up the hubby and shared with him that I'm pretty sure I'm in labor and that I was going to take a shower and put the last minute things in my bag.  I didn't realize how difficult these little tasks were going to be when contractions were hitting so close together but eventually we were both ready for the hospital.  We headed to the gas station for a little caffeine for the hubby and got to the hospital around 6am.  By this time, contractions were about 2 minutes apart.  We were admitted and found that I was at a 3.5-4.  And let me tell you... Tyler was an absolute rockstar!  He was incredibly helpful and an amazing coach.  At some point, I was at the peak of the pain and very frustrated as I felt like I was fighting my body and Ty was right there helping me and was constantly encouraging me in what I was doing.  I really have no sense of time as I would look at the clock but not really think about what it means or how long it had been.  It's amazing how focused you get on what's at hand and nothing else matters.  Toward the end, I was ready to push but the dr. wasn't there.  Evidently I was not listening to the doctors because I learned later that they had told me I could stop fighting it and go with my body but I was under the impression that since we were waiting on the doctor to get there that I was still supposed to fight it- so I did (as much as I possibly could anyway).  Finally the doctor got there.  After about an hour and a vacuum later, Katelyn Grace was born into the world!  The picture below is Ty and my reactions.  What Tyler was thinking/saying?  "That's our baby girl!!" What came out of my mouth?  "Holy COW she's HUGE!"  

Labor was by far the hardest thing I've done in my life but it was so well worth it!  Tyler's been making a point to brag on me by sharing that I went natural with no drugs, and although I am proud that we did it, the reason I did it was that I had heard that it helps nursing go a lot easier and that recovery for mom is a lot shorter and easier. Both proved to be completely true for us so I'm glad it worked.  (We are totally not against epidurals and know that that's certainly a great option for many!) And because we had mentioned natural when we first went in, the nurses never brought up pain meds and were incredibly encouraging to us to help us acheive our goal.  And truth be told?  I was so focused on each contraction that pain meds never even came across my mind.  Although I'm not looking forward to doing it all over again someday, I know that I would for the joy that comes with our baby girl.

Katelyn Grace born on October 2nd at 11:11am.  7 lbs 15 oz, 20.5inches long, and as sweet as a bug!  We fall in love with her more every day and just love her little quirks and personality already!  

Thank you, Jesus for an efficient and quick labor and even more for a healthy baby girl!  Now we're just settling in as a family at home!

I seriously have THE best husband in the world!  We're looking at about 4 1/2 weeks until D-day and he has been working overtime to make my life more comfortable in every way.

-He encourages me to drop my to-do list and put my feet up to get rid of my cankles/inflated feet
-He is KEEPING the house clean!  Constantly putting his stuff away and finding places for everything!
-He has not only vacuumed, but SHAMPOO'd the carpets!
-He encourages me to go to bed when I need to and when I fall asleep on the couch and am snoring like a chainsaw (who knew THAT would be a pregnancy thing?!), he doesn't wake me, even though I'm sure I'm interrupting the tv he's watching.

And my favorite of all?  Today's addition to the list.  Let me first set the scene.

     I'm teaching in my sauna of a classroom and I'm a little warm, as normal.  Somehow, something happened in Tyler's brain that must have told him that not only would I be warm at that moment, but that the air conditioner for the school was about to break down, making the sauna heat up even faster than normal.  Here I am teaching and in walks in my sweet husband (which is great...) with a Blizzard for me in his hands (can it get any better?!)  When I asked what this was for, his response was, "you're pregnant."  But in truth?  He's brought me special treats randomly before I was pregnant.  He's just looking for excuses to bless me.

I LOVE when Ty comes into my classroom for any reason- SOULed Out, JA in a day, teaching in the science classes about NASA and space, or just surprising me.  I realized that the reason isn't just to see him during the day (certainly a plus), but I love when teenagers get to see that there are truly good guys out there and I so want our girls to see and know that they are fully worth waiting for!  I truly believe the part of the reason God has blessed our marriage so much and made us so happy in it is for our persistence to stay pure for marriage- even before we knew each other existed.  I am so glad that God helped us both stay strong and not compromise values.

Single ladies out there- know that if a man can be stubborn enough to keep his "pants zipped" before marriage, that that same persistence will go into him being a good man of God and an amazing husband later on.

Thank you Jesus for the man that is my husband.  And someday?  I have no doubt I'll be writing a post like this telling about what a great father he'll be.  Why am I so confident in that?  Because he is constantly looking to Christ and finding ways to be a better man for me, our family, our church, and our community.

Love you Tyler.  You truly are THE BEST!

Signs you may be pregnant

Signs you might be pregnant:

A quick caveat, I in no way take offense to any of the following

I actually find it all amusing and fun to be a part of

1.  At camp, you are always offered double portions of fruit and desserts

2.  People greet your tummy before they greet you

3.  You are intensely aware of the lack of personal space people give in public pools and are constantly doing whatever it takes to get away from people in case someone were to accidentally kick you while swimming

4.  You can always tell what type of shoes you wore last by the indentations on your swollen feet/ankles.

5.  You sleep with more pillows than covers since it feels that each body part needs it's own pillow

6.  When waiting in line in a public restroom, strangers take one look at you and immediately give you permission to precede them in line.

7.  You find people staring at your tummy, just waiting for it to move

8.  You find yourself staring at your tummy, just waiting for it to move

9.  The comment "You're Huge!" can actually be taken as a compliment

10.  If you're crying and someone asks you, "What wrong?" and you reply with "nothing", they actually believe you (and it's most likely true!)

On another note, I played my first game with baby girl tonight!  We played tag of sorts!  I pushed on my belly and she would kick in response.  Then I would push on different spots on my belly and she would turn or flip so that a body part was pushing against the spot I just touched.  I thought I was making it up or perhaps just looking for responses, but I tried all over my belly and she continued to respond in the same manner!  I cannot explain how much fun it is to feel her constant movements!  She does kick here and there, but she's much more of a flipper.  She loves to do whole turns where you can see it move my whole belly!  I guess the ultrasound tech was right... we have a bit of a gymnast on our hands!  

See videos for said games 

(it's my tummy and of course I'm breathing so don't mistake that for movement)

Team Tufte turns 3

In several ways!

1- We're closing in on Ty and my 3rd anniversary meaning we've been together for 5 years.  That sure zooms by!

2- We're going from a team of 2 to a team of 3!  Tiny Tufte will be making an appearance the end of September.  Tyler has always wanted a family blog and I'm thinking that perhaps this is just the time to start one- especially for my mom and dad living so far away.  

Life certainly isn't perfect and I don't want a blog to be something others look at and are jealous of (because of course we're only going to post the good stuff!) but we are aware of the many blessings God has and is giving us daily and we'd like to share these with those curious enough to look.  So there you have it- a new blog for a new chapter in life as God directs our family's path.  Feel free to read in as a new journey in life unfolds!

P.S. Tyler will spruce this up with time... he's good with that stuff ;)