-Rolling: She can roll front to back and has done so several times, but doesn't tend to do it often. I also am 100% sure she can roll back to front but doesn't. When I "help" her, she does it herself but I always initiate it.
-Bottles!: She is finally taking bottles! The secret was the bottle warmer. So glad she's not starving hungry the whole time I'm at work anymore! And the freedom this gives me as her mama is wonderful, too! I'm not done nursing but it is peace of mind!
-Chokes: She was pretty sick this month and trying to get her to take medicine (or even the oral vaccine) was rough. She choked on anything we gave her with a syringe and sometimes would have such a strong gag reflex that she'd end up throwing up. This virus took about 10 days to go away and it was a looooong 10 days. Actually, it was closer to 20 as right as Kate was starting to feel better, Luke and Abigail came down with it. -Reaches/grabs: She now has good aim and is starting to play with toys.
-Big gasps: When she is happy, she loves to take a big almost surprise sounding gasp.
-Sleep training: We just started some "sleep training" to get her to not need a pacifier to go to sleep. I'm thinking she just doesn't get a full feeding in the middle of the night as she falls asleep and I've just let her. Now we're working on unswaddling to eat, then back into the swaddle and back to the crib to fall asleep on her own. She protests but for no more than 5 minutes at a time. So thankful. Hoping that this will help her sleep longer spurts at night to get back to the way it was even when we first got home from the hospital was 3 times more sleep at a time than we've been averaging lately! Solids: We started sweet potatoes yesterday. She wasn't sure on first bite but after that, she opens her mouth wide and gets mad if it's not getting to her mouth fast enough! I'm glad we started a little earlier than 6 months for her- she was certainly ready!
Lucas
-"Me gucas" has now turned to "I gucas"
-Big fits where his emotion takes over and nothing else matters
-Words: have exploded. The other day, out of the blue, he leans over to Abigail and says "I wuv you ab'gaaail"This boy sure is full of love!
Katelyn
-Relationship restored: After these past 3 years of constant pregnancy and newborns I've really struggled to connect with Katelyn lately as so many other things have taken the forefront- especially with how independent she naturally is. So these past 2 months especially, Tyler has helped me find times to have special times with Kate. Recently, during nap time we went to the grocery store and she brought her shopping cart with and dressed herself up and even got to wear high heels. I'm sure we looked
ridiculous in the store but we both so enjoyed it and she was a big
helper choosing things from the shelves and putting them in her cart. I
also have plans on a special puzzles and hot chocolate date where we'll
head to a coffee shop with a few new puzzles and get some specialty hot
chocolate.
Tyler and I
Speaking of relationships restored, Tyler and I have been so so busy lately and looking for every opportunity we can find to spend time just him and I. We had a special surprise date day the other day where grandma came to pick up the kids and we woke him up to say goodbye to share with him that it was a surprise date day! So wonderful to just hang out with him. So blessed to have him in my life!
-Must be hitting the 4 month sleep regression a little early. She gets out of swaddles easily no matter how tight I have it. Realizing I need to probably teach her how to sleep without being swaddled
-Pacifier- she now takes one! It's been nice for car trips but I've gotten a bit lazy and started using it so I can juts lay her down for naps and attend to whatever/whomever else needs me in that moment. It's a season. I just always take it out of her mouth after she's asleep for a little bit so she doesn't rely on it to go back to sleep.
-LOUD- I think we have a little Lucas! She must feel the need to compete in the house to be heard. I personally love the sound but when she wakes up talking before the other kids are up, I can't just let her be for a bit as she and Kate share a room. Luckily this doesn't happen often- she usually sleeps longer than the toddlers.
-Drool- Holy cow can this girl drool! If you wipe her mouth, you have approximately 60 seconds before you need to wipe it again until there's so much dripping that it goes on to her shirt. Bibs become soaked quickly. Everyone says teething but I'm not convinced.
-Laughing!- Oh is her laughter just the sweetest sound! (2nd to her purring of course- which she still does). Just today we had one of my favorite memories. I put a blanket on the floor and we had a dance party. I held Abigail at toddler height ( I was on my knees) and she just giggled and laughed. She loved joining in with her siblings and feeling like them for once.
-Rolls to her side and gets really close to rolling to her tummy but since she can't roll from tummy to back yet I'm hoping she doesn't quite learn to roll yet! -Eating: Has refused bottles of milk at grandma's house all month for daycare. She now is sometimes using a syringe just to get 1/2 an ounce to an ounce in her just so she doesn't dehydrate. We've tried formula, bottle boot camp, taken her to the doctor, different ways of storing the milk... nothing is working so far. I'm thinking it may be smart just to get her on to formula somehow so she will eat at grandma's and I can just sell or donate what I pump while I'm working.
Lucas
-"I make a joke"- he is his father's son already- always trying to entertain! Last month we were at a hotel and we put him and Kate in a pull-out bed and had the monitor in the next room. It was time to go to sleep and we let them mess around a little but they had to stay in bed. Well Katelyn is getting tired and she's getting frustrated with Lucas talking so she keeps telling him to be quiet so I talk to him over the monitor to be quiet and go to sleep. They are both quiet for about a minute and then Lucas says something we can't understand, he's leaning right over Katelyn and then starts cracking up and saying "I made a joooooooke! Me funny!" -Because he had a diaper rash we tried a day of no diaper and tried a little potty training while we were at it. I think I could've kept at it if I really wanted to but I valued my time with the kids more and figured it'll be better later on when he's a bit more ready. I don't think he's quite ready yet.
-More words: "Look at dis, mommy"
-Lots of stuttering when he gets excited, loves to get our attention and then figure out what to say, "daddy" "what bud?" "uuuuuuuuuuum"
Katelyn
-Plays hospital and volcano are her favorite things to play lately. Lots of "we're hiding mommy!" which both are convinced if they can't see us, we can't see them. See picture in the car. Luke: "Me hiding mommy. Me hiding!"
-Words: She still says "I'm forgotting" -Nurturer: LOVES baby Abigail. In fact she can get Abigail smiling and laughing more than anyone else can. She also helps Lucas with his coat and shoes when he needs it- always looking for ways to help! This month I've really spent a big focus on Katelyn. I realized that she's always taken the back burner since she's been 12 months old since she had a new baby brother at that point, then a year later, once he was a little more independent, mommy got pregnant again and horribly sick that I really think caused a rift n our relationship. I've really really enjoyed spending special intentional time with her! This has included "spa" days (baths, curling hair, nails), special movie night in mommy and daddy's bed when daddy was gone for a night, and just specific attention to her and playing with her.
Tummy Time: Back on track and lifting her head just fine now. Actually, Luke and Kate like to play "tummy time" where they lay on their tummies and lift their heads and I cheer them on. This is a requested game every time Abigail is on tummy time. Purring: Music to my heart is little Abigail purring in her sleep. It is just the sweetest for me for some reason and I LOVE hearing her do it! (video at the end). Less easy: In general, this one has gotten a little more difficult. She needs bouncing to sleep now and actually does nurse to sleep at times. She's given grandma and the aunties a rough time during daycare while I'm at work. She has started to refuse eating while with them- enough that they brought her to school so I could nurse her partway through the day. Poor baby girl! (AND poor grandma and aunties!) Sounds like we're going to have to do Bottle boot camp later this week :/ (where I pump and that's all she's offered is a bottle until she takes to a bottle better).
Luke
Ach-na: is his way to say no these days. "Lucas, come here..." "no-ach-na" he says giggling and running away. Super Jammas: is what Luke has named his batman and superman pajamas that my sister-in-law passed on to us. He LOVES those pajamas and loves to "fly" to bed and puts out his arms straight ahead while we carry him in the air on his tummy to bed.
Katelyn
Listens when we don't realize it: The other day, I said "it is what it is" and she says "it is what it's not" (Tyler and I make jokes about the phrase and say "it's not what it's not"). She also sings songs to Jesus from her heart. It is precious to listen to!
Strict bedtime:
We've never been strict schedule people when it comes to our kids. We
certainly like having a similar bedtime for the nights we're home and
definitely have a routine/schedule when it works out, but we don't
adhere to it crazily because life doesn't work that way. Well... Miss
Abigail is SUPER easygoing all of the time except for after 8pm if she's
not getting to bed immediately. When she gets tired for bedtime,
that's it and she'll cry hard ready to go to bed. Normally that's no
issue and we put her right in bed whenever she needs it (sometimes as
early as 7:30). However... that doesn't work with Wednesday nights at
youth group. I've tried many different things and really the only thing
that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out coming home with three
cranky exhausted kids all needing different things at exactly the same
time is coming home early. With two, it's been pretty easy as you just do an assembly line
by doing all the diapers at the same time, then jammies, teeth brushing,
pray all together, say goodnight... but since Abigail needs swaddled
and nursed and Luke needs special diapers (big ones for night), and Kate
needs wiped from potty and the list goes on of different needs they have, I've
decided that the only option is to go home a little early every
Wednesday night now. Tyler actually is more than supportive- he's
always told me to stay home if I need to or even if it's easier. But I
DO want to be there. I want to hang out with the girls at youth. I
want to hear how their weeks were and be of help to Tyler so we try to
go even earlier than before and eat supper there before church, then we
do leave a little early and kids are happy (which also equals one happy
mama!) Tummy time:
finally making some headway there. Sometimes she can hold it up for
quite a while. Other times she can't get it off the blanket. Sleep:
She still sleeps from about 8pm-4ish. Wakes to eat, then back down
until 7:30am-ish. I love it! It's a beautiful schedule she leads! And
she still "purrs" in her sleep. I'd call it snoring, but it's not
breath making the noise, it's her humming when she breathes out Luke
did it but maybe for the first month if that. Abigail just keeps it
going! Huge smiles: She sure is expressive! She'll
have a whole conversation with you with her eyebrows and eyes and head
movements before she even starts babbling. And then she'll babble your
ear off. Tyler calls her Babigail and Babs for short. No all out
giggles yet except for twice in her sleep. (We were skyping Jason & Patience for one of those!) She does kind of do a "hm"
type of "laugh" every once in a while but I'm still waiting for the good
stuff :) There is a video below of her happy babbles
Katelyn
Much happier girl!- I
think we're out of the whining for EVERYthing phase! She does still
whine at times, but not nearly as bad and doesn't default into a bad
mood. Part of the issue was me thinking she needed a longer nap than
she did. Part of it is just maturity. And part of it is singing "This
is the day that the Lord has made" when we're grumpy gills. Big imagination- She has a great imagination- makes up little situations in her head as she plays all the time. Very creative gal! Kisses game-
A new favorite game in the house is the kisses game. It's a game that
daddy made up that we all enjoy! As the kids run circles around the
couch, when they pass daddy, they have to stop and give him a kiss.
Mommy requests hugs when she does it. (Lucas has been giving THE best
snuggle hugs lately!)
Luke
-TiggeryLou- A new nickname Luke has acquired for all his hop-hop-hopping around. If given the choice to walk or run, he chooses to hop! Still wandering-
we still have to put him in the stroller and/or hold his hand for
everything these days as he loves to wander and/or run off when you call
for him. I've decided to ban the game chase in our house until he
learns. If anyone has tips to this, let me know! I'm terrified the kid will run out in traffic some day. He ALWAYS has
to hold on to my hand in parking lots/streets and Katelyn holds on to
his other hand. There are times when he tries to pull away and run and I
have a DEATH grip on his wrist. Luckily that happens rarely but it
still scares this mamas heart! If I could pick him up I would! I need
extra hands! Katelyn will stop in her tracks if we yell her name. She
understands it's for safety reasons so that's why I always have her on
the end. And boy does she throw a fit if Lucas doesn't hold her hand!
-SUCH an easy baby! This girl sleeps well, eats well, and is hugely content most of the time.
-Sleep-
she started out sleeping 6 hours at a time (beautifully easy nights for
mama!) and now sleeps spurts of anywhere from 2.5-8 hours at a time.
I'm not complaining! She tends to get the long stints if she cat naps in the evenings which is usually because supper time is so busy that i don't hold her long and the abrupt lack of warmth probably wakes her. What's funny is those longer stints also happen only if she goes down somewhere between 7:30 and 9. Much later than that and she will wake earlier. She also can self-soothe? Several times I've put her down while drowsy but either not asleep or not deep sleep yet and she snorts, wakes up, looks around, and goes back to sleep. The first time she did fuss for about 5 minutes but never cried! -Noisy:
This girl loves to coo and make noises! She purrs to stay asleep,
snorts as she's waking, and is quite a noisy eater! (GULP GULP)
Between our chatterbox Katelyn and our LOUD singing Lucas and now miss
Abigail, we are going to have a noisy household! Even now when Tyler
and I are trying to have a conversation at supper or any time other than
after kids are in bed, it's just not possible to hear each other. We
often have to resort to wait to talking about our days or really
anything until kids are conked out! Add that up with a mama who goes to
bed pretty early (usually an hour or hour and a half after kids are
down), and Tyler and I don't get much time to connect and find out
what's going on in each other's life. Can anyone say date night?!
(Cooing video at the very bottom of post) -Doesn't nurse to sleep?
Nursing is always my fixer for everything with newborns as it calms
them, helps them sleep, feeds them, basically any need they have,
nursing fixes. However, this little lady has naturally fallen into a
sleep, eat, "awake time" schedule without me even trying! To sleep, she
loves having her arms tucked in (swaddled) and she'll lose it within
minutes. Sometimes she needs something in her mouth for a minute which
nursing can help, but often I stick my pinky knuckle in her mouth and
she doesn't necessarily suck, she just likes something to be there as
she drifts to sleep.
-snuggles: I guess I call it
snuggling because she so easily falls asleep in your arms but those
moments when she's just looking up at you before her eyes start to lose
it... it's this magical moment where all is right in the world.
-Car Seat:
She seems to not so much like her car seat. She cries often in it. It
often is as she's tired and you'd think the drive would knock her out,
but it doesn't and I wonder if she's looking for human warmth to fall
asleep? I certainly bundle her up so it's not that she's cold but maybe
not as warm from someone else as much as she wants.
Mama:I
have to say that I am sleeping and feeling better than I did all
pregnancy! I am SOO SOOO happy to no longer be pregnant! I rarely need
naps (although given the opportunity I'll certainly take it!), feel
energized, and truly am enjoying this newborn stage! I had the
easiest/quickest recovery out of all the births (how is that so with a
10 1/4 pounder? I don't know!) I've always said I hate the first 3
months because I'm in a "fog" of being unable to have normal cognitive
function in pure exhaustion and babies aren't interactive yet. However,
this time I'm loving every minute and SO VERY aware of how fast this is
going to go! AND this very well could be our last one. Add it all
together and I am one happy woman! Going from 2 to 3 kids:
People ask me what was harder, going from 1-2 or 2-3 kids. For me, it
was definitely the 1-2 transition. I had some serious learning to do
about expectations. Also, because of our busy lives and Tyler being in
ministry, that whole "outnumbered" thing people talk about with 3 kids
happened to me with 2 as we're often at ministry events and Tyler helps
with kiddos during those times when he can, but at the same time, he's
working and has commitments to hold to so I learned how to be
outnumbered with 2. (To clarify- I could ask Tyler to do more than he does- and he would drop everything to help us, but he has a heart for people, passion for ministry, and a work ethic of excellence and there isn't an inkling of doubt in my mind he has been called to the life of ministry. I see it as my taking care of the kids IS my ministry by freeing up Tyler to do his ministry. We are a team and for now, this is how it works for us and the kids still get daddy time when he is home. So I think because of our lifestyle in ministry, the transition from 1 to 2 was harder for me). It definitely takes forever to get everyone ready
and out the door, but toddlers take a looooooong time to do things so I
kinda make that work in my benefit and ask them to start doing the
things that will take a while while I'm nursing Abigail. It's really
only stressful when we're in a rush which I'm learning to start way
early to avoid the rush so I have patience with the kids and I won't
snap at them out of frustration.
Katelyn
-School:
Has started "preschool" (daycare at the church is called preschool) two
days a week. We did that to help out grandma for when I got back to
work, but I know Kate will also enjoy it and it'll be good for her as
well. I enjoyed some extra special time with Luke on Monday when she
was gone. -Tremendous Threes....:
She's hit what I certainly hope is rock bottom in behavior lately BUT I
have noticed that I think some of it is me not having patience and
snapping too quickly. I really listened to myself the other day since a
friend of mine (Maria) and I are becoming accountability partners in
patience with our kiddos lately (our kids are all within months of each
other and she just had her third) and it made me realize that when I get
frustrated with her, I no longer escalate, I just jump to level 10 of
frustration. Yesterday and today I've been asking God for more patience
and it's amazing how Kate is responding! It's not all perfect and in
fact she threw a huge screaming fit over naps today but finally for once
I was able to stay calm through the discipline and it made it not so
stressful on my end and makes it easier for her to settle down
eventually too. -Nurturing:
Although we've hit times like above, she also can be that sweetheart
that she's always been and honestly, most of the time she is. She loves
taking care of her brother and helps out with sister. When I ask for
favors, she does them as she loves to help others. She certainly has
her daddy's servant heart!
-Goofy: This girl has a new phrase- Stinky stonka. Not sure where it came from but she thinks it's hillarious?
-sensitive nose: We often hear her say "I smell something" and its hard for her to get off it. Sometimes its Luke or Abigail's diaper but often it's someone's breath or even just me in general since nursing mamas tend to have a new scent to them...
Lucas
-Talking: In full sentences. Something we hear often: "me turn, me turn" -Counting:
Sometimes he counts (2, 3, 5, 7) when he's counting off to sing
(instead of a-one, a-two, a one two three four...). But when he counts
for hide and seek, the kid can count from 1 all the way to 13 without
missing numbers (usually. Sometimes he skips 4). -Sleep:
Still wakes up at the buttcrack of dawn (6:30ish) but he turns on the
light in his room and plays until we all get up a quarter after 7. But
then he CRASHES come nap times (and anytime you are in the car from
9:00am-1:00pm, he'll be out in minutes)
For quite a while ahead of time, we knew this was one big baby. As we got closer, dr was at first worried about it, then one week felt my belly and said she was more confident baby would be in the 9lb range instead of 10- thus no need for induction (yay!). As we got closer and got another scan, the ultrasound showed anywhere from 9lb8oz to 11lbs something but the tech was pretty confident with the 10lb1oz guess. The problem was that the shoulders were measuring bigger than the head, which means that the shoulders could get stuck, which could cause severe issues, worst case scenario would be needing to break the baby's clavical bone to get her out (as she's too far out to push back in for csection) and you won't know if it'll get stuck until we're there... That meant Tyler and I had some big decisions to make. Wait it out and risk it? Try to induce the earlier the better? Go for an elective csection? After some prayer, we decided to give this to God. He knows this baby better than any of us so we prayed that if she wouldn't get stuck, for her to come on her own. If she Would get stuck, for labor NOT to start at all on it's own and we would do an elective csection on that Monday. A song that really came to mind was "Joy" by Rend Collective:
Choosing celebration - not allowing fear to come over this joyous event
We're dancing to the rhythym of your heart - allowing God's timing to reign
The whole song stood out to me, but especially the lyrics above. Trust. Complete trust.
Sure enough, that night, I awoke to much pressure and painless contractions throughout the night. At 6am as I woke up, they were about 10 minutes apart and starting to hurt a little. I wasn't convinced but called in as I'd rather not go into labor at work! I called for coverage and once that was sorted out, contractions had changed to 4 minutes apart. BUT here's what was getting me, every tine I had a contraction, I was convinced I was in labor- no doubt. But then between contractions, I felt 100% normal- no pain, no pressure, nothing. So then I'd doubt I was in labor. Still not sure how fast this was going to kick into gear we called for childcare for the toddlers and got ready to go. Headed into the hospital and it was SO weird! I could talk between contractions, I felt like I was just waiting around for the next one and got bored! Ended up taking a shower at the hospital, still more waiting. I would go from REALLY intense contractions to almost nothing in between and more waiting. By the time I was a 7, I felt the need to lay down between contractions. Then it hit me, I was about to be in active labor. Dr wanted to break my water to help things get moving, but fear set in. I suddenly was terrified that baby girl would get stuck. So scared that my perfectly healthy baby girl was about to go into distress and have issues. Tyler prayed over me and I listened to "joy" again and God filled me with peace again. Called the dr in, let's do this. I don't know how long it was from breaking water to pushing but it wasn't too long. From there it was only 10 minutes total until she was out completely but her shoulders did get a little stuck. With a little change in position and maneuvering by the dr, we got her out safe and sound. All 10 lbs 4 oz of her! And amazingly, the recovery has been the fastest because she did no damage to my body during delivery whereas the others... weren't horrible but it wasn't as pleasant as Abigail.
I cannot tell you the incredible joy I felt to have her in my arms in
that moment! Obviously the normal "she's here" but even more so of
thanking Jesus for His help and providence through the labor and really
the entire pregnancy. And a little bit of "it's over!" too. This labor
also made me realize how easy my other labors were. Honestly, I understand the
epidural thing after that labor. No, I didn't use it because by the
time I would've gotten it, it was practically over but gosh, if you just got
the epidural early and laid around watching TV or something... Let's
just say I will never judge a woman for choosing that path. Not that I
would have judged before, but now I'm almost jealous of it;) My body was completely shot- abs especially- after she was born. Tyler had to push me up/out of bed the first day every time I tried to get up.
Stats: 10 lbs. 4 oz. 21" long. Head and Shoulders both 14"
Will post more pictures on facebook when I get them all together.
Name: Abigail Marie Abigail means "Father's Joy" and although I had been set on another name for quite a while, after a dream one night, I had no doubt in my mind that Abigail (a name we both liked, but I found another I liked more) was it. I felt like she wasn't to have a name that made her have to feel like she had to live up to anything specific, but instead just know how much she's treasured and loved. And boy is she ever! Marie is a family name on the Vanderpan side that many have so we thought it would be nice to keep it going.
Some things we've learned about Abigail:
-She needs to be burped. They always tell me nursing babies don't need burped, she does though. If you hold her upright about 15-20 min after she eats, the reflux doesn't wake her up. She doesn't actually spit up but it gets caught in her throat
-she is a snugglebug. There have been several times where I think she needs to sleep so I wrap her up and hold her and she just snuggles in and looks up with those big blue eyes, content.
-she sometimes sleeps 4 hrs at a time in the rock n play!! Trying to decide how important it is to me to have her in her crib.... I've never had to deal with transition to the crib but man... 4 hrs is nice! And I don't have to worry about her choking on reflux.
-The car doesn't put her to sleep unless she would normally fall asleep. EVEN freeways! She'll stay wide awake just looking at the world around her
-She sometimes purrs like Luke used to
-She often snorts!
Siblings:
Katelyn: loves her sister. "She's so cuuuute" and asks many questions. When she was asking about "mommy's milk" she asked me what color it is. I asked her what she thought. "Brown". So according to Katelyn, mommy's make chocolate milk! Kate loves to admire her sister and keeps calling her her "newborn baby sister"
Lucas: protective older brother already "where baby go?" And will go check on her every so often.
The way Lucas says her name kills me it's so cute. Video attached
Both have gotten a bit out of hand in the days since we brought her home. Partially because we're holed up inside, partially because it's hard to stay consistent on discipline. Partially, I'm sure, just because it's an adjustment.
Kate's birthday
We celebrated with a last minute combined party that Tyler and Grandma and Krystle did ALL the planning and decorating for in September. (Mommy was still struggling with sickness in pregnancy at the time and wasn't sure what each day would bring and what she'd be up for). We had a bouncy slide, a playground, cakes, and pizza. Lots of fun!
Then on Kate's actual birthday we woke up to decorations and balloons and waffle cereal (her favorite). We had pancakes for supper (Minnie Mouse pancakes. Note to self, don't use chocolate cake icing on pancakes... nasty!) Katelyn opened presents including an Ariel shirt, princess high heels, and some dollar store frozen puzzles (which I think so far are her favorite!)
Kate: LOVES puzzles and is becoming increasingly fast at them! loves to "delegate" how people should play with her.... aka finding her inner older sibling
Favorite color: pink
Favorite food: pb&j
Favorite toy: Ariel
Favorite tv show: Dora the Explorer
Luke's birthday
Is TODAY! We're celebrating with presents (a small train set!) and probably pizza and cupcakes tonight! Grammy and Pop pop are coming today, too which will be a huge celebration as is!
Luke: Loves anything his sister does
Why walk/run when you can hop wherever you need to go?
Still wakes up at 6am playing in his room until we let him out an hour later
Plays chase anytime we ask him to "come here"
Loves to be tickled! get some good harty laughs when he does that!
-Rolling: She can roll front to back and has done so several times, but doesn't tend to do it often. I also am 100% sure she can roll back to front but doesn't. When I "help" her, she does it herself but I always initiate it.
-Reaches/grabs: She now has good aim and is starting to play with toys.
-"Me gucas" has now turned to "I gucas"
-Relationship restored: After these past 3 years of constant pregnancy and newborns I've really struggled to connect with Katelyn lately as so many other things have taken the forefront- especially with how independent she naturally is. So these past 2 months especially, Tyler has helped me find times to have special times with Kate. Recently, during nap time we went to the grocery store and she brought her shopping cart with and dressed herself up and even got to wear high heels. I'm sure we looked
ridiculous in the store but we both so enjoyed it and she was a big
helper choosing things from the shelves and putting them in her cart. I
also have plans on a special puzzles and hot chocolate date where we'll
head to a coffee shop with a few new puzzles and get some specialty hot
chocolate. 
Speaking of relationships restored, Tyler and I have been so so busy lately and looking for every opportunity we can find to spend time just him and I. We had a special surprise date day the other day where grandma came to pick up the kids and we woke him up to say goodbye to share with him that it was a surprise date day! So wonderful to just hang out with him. So blessed to have him in my life!
