Fall is always full of family fun activities. We haven't let having a newborn slow us down in enjoying all the fun activities. Okay, maybe she's slowed us down a little :)
When Katherine was 12 days old, we all went to the fair. I had to capture our new normal- navigating four kids across the parking lot.
They had a little kids area set up in the Expo Center full of fun activities. Our kids all loved it. We spent a long time there playing. It was one of my favorite parts of the day.
Samuel was fascinated with this marble run.
Legos make this boy happy!
Elisabeth had a great time playing with the rocks.
After we left the kids' area, we walked around upstairs for a bit and then were ready to eat lunch. We always let the kids choose one fair food for lunch and one treat. Nathan chose nachos, and Samuel and Elisabeth wanted corn dogs.
Then we headed outside to ride some rides. That's always tainted with the sting of how overpriced everything is, but we still had fun, ha!
Elisabeth asked over and over to ride a ferris wheel at the fair.
These little cars were their favorite rides. They jerked quickly around corners and threw the kids all around. They loved it, ha!
Time for treats after the rides!
This little girl was a doll. She was a great tag along.
It ended up being a really fun day, but we were all exhausted when we got home.
Elisabeth had her Fall ballet program/cookie party. She was so excited about another cookie party (and cried the next week about how long before she got another cookie party). She loves ballet so much and has the sweetest little dance friends. I can't get enough of watching her joy while she dances.
Life has been feeling very full and very busy lately, so I soak up any days we have when we can just stay at home and play.
The weekend after the fair, we headed to pumpkin town. We usually go to Livesay Orchards in Porter, but we decided with a newborn we needed to find something that was closer. Pumpkin Town was pricier, but much more convenient and WAY more fun. I think it's going to end up being our go to pumpkin fun place each year.
Katherine was ready for the fun!
We had a pretty successful attempt at a picture of all four kids :)
The kids had so much fun with all the activities. We could have stayed way longer if it hadn't been so hot and a certain baby needed to eat.
Samuel got to see a fire truck at school. He was thrilled!
We managed to make it to church with all four of our Loves- on time
(mostly) and with time to take a picture. Matt and I high fived each
other on the way to church, proud of our achievement, ha!
Samuel had his first Pre-K field trip to Livesay Orchards. Katherine and I tagged along. It's fun to have some special time with just him. He was so excited about going to the pumpkin patch. He's been having a great year in Pre-K!
Sweet Katherine,
You are already one month old. The newborn stage is always fascinating to me in that the time flies by and lasts forever all at the same time. You are the joy of our family and our little celebrity. Someone always wants to hug you, hold you, and play with you. We just can not get enough of you and are so very grateful that you are in our family.
All in all, I'd describe you as a good baby with difficult moments. There are times where you are just a dream baby- you'll happily be awake and looking around for a long time, you'll put yourself to sleep, you'll snooze through busy times, etc. At the same time though you'll have difficult moments- evenings when you won't let us put you down at all without screaming, middle of the night feedings when you don't want to go to sleep, pooping right in the middle of church. I will say that most of the time, you're a great baby which makes our adjustment to four kids a little easier.
You are such a great nurser, and I'm so thankful that we haven't had any of that added stress this time around. We are having to supplement with some formula, but I'm so used to that now that it hasn't been a big deal. Since pretty much the moment you were born, you just knew how to nurse, and we've have zero issues or times when you've refused or struggled to latch. You're always happy to eat and you love to suck on anything- bottle, pacifier, fingers, you're not picky at all and go back and forth with nursing and bottle feeding with no issues at all. Good job, Baby Girl!
You nurse 8-9 times per day and we're supplementing with about five oz of formula a day (an ounce after most of your feedings) to make sure you're getting your belly full. You nurse every 2.5-3 hours during the day. You're an efficient eater and nurse for about 20 minutes per feeding
At night you'll usually have a four hour stretch between feedings and then want to eat every 2.5-3 hours after that first long stretch. I usually feed you between 9-10 at night and then you wake up wanting to eat again around 1-1:30 and then again at about 4:30. Then you're ready to eat again around 7ish. Most of the time you'll fall asleep easily after your middle of the night feedings. You have nights where you want to stay awake and party in the middle of the night too. We're working on it.
At your one month check up you weighed 7lbs, 2.5 oz and were 20 inches long (Daddy jokes that you shrunk since you were born). You are still wearing newborn clothes and diapers, but they no longer swallow you up like they did when you were first born. Now they're fitting normally, ha! You're a tiny little peanut and your head is still too small for a lot of your hats and headbands.
You don't spit up very much, but you poop ALL the time- like 6-10 times a day usually. I know that's not uncommon in newborns, but you definitely poop way more often than any of your siblings did as newborns. There have also been multiple times when you've pooped while I'm changing your dirty diaper and plenty more when you've just been waiting for a clean diaper to do your business again.
I swaddle you at night. I don't really know if it helps you sleep better or not, but you don't seem to mind, so I'll keep it up. I don't usually swaddle you during the day for any of your naps, maybe because you're not on any sort of consistent nap schedule right now- Fourth child problems. You are pretty good at taking a long nap in the afternoons when your sister naps.
You tend to have long wake periods and long sleep periods. You can stay awake for a couple of hours at a time, but you can also sleep for hours during the day too (only waking up long enough to eat and then you're right back asleep).
You are usually happy and awake in the mornings after your 7:00 feeding. I love that you are happy then because it's usually a mad house around here from about 7:30-9:00 trying to get everyone (including you), fed, dressed, lunches and backpacks packed and ready for school. You're just chill though to hang out on your play mat or in your swing. You do usually have someone in your face wanting to play with you, so I think that helps, but I'm always impressed with how content you are to be alone in the mornings.
The evenings are a complete opposite story though. You are much more needy in the evenings especially after your big siblings are in bed. You're hungrier and usually won't tolerate not being held. Maybe you just know that your daddy is home so you can get away with being so clingy. You eat around 9:00 and then a lot of nights you want to stay awake and play for another hour or so before you fall asleep. A lot of times I end up nursing you again to help you fall asleep. I think you just know that you have us both to yourself during that time and want to take advantage of it, ha!
I feel like you live in your car seat a lot of days between school drop off, pick up, ballet, gymnastics, appointments, errands, etc. Thankfully you sleep great in your car seat, although there are times that you show off your strong lungs while we're driving.
The perk of being the fourth child is that you are SO very loved by your big siblings. I've seen the sweetest moments when your big siblings just genuinely want to show you how much they love you. You're the first person anyone wants to see in the mornings. They are such great helpers too- bringing you toys, singing you songs, putting your pacifier back in your mouth, holding you, throwing your diapers in the trash, helping bathe you, someone is always wanting to help take care of you.
We catch you smiling a lot in your sleep and you're starting to focus more on our faces when we're talking to you.
I'm soaking up all the sweet moments with you, all the while dreaming of the night when I'll get more than two or three hour stretches of sleep. You are a joy. I'm so glad God gave us you. You are loved more than any baby I know, and we can't imagine life without you.
We had a special first week at home with our newest Little Love. We got home from the hospital Thursday early afternoon and had a chance to settle in, unpack, eat lunch and rest for a bit.
Then when the kids got out of school, they came to visit and spend some time with their sister. That time with them has been one of my favorite memories with Katherine. They were SO excited to spend time with her. They all wanted to hold her, help her with her pacifier and take care of her.
The second she made any sort of noise, they jumped at trying to soothe her. They showed her all of her toys, sang songs to her, read her books and fought over who got to hold her.
It was adorable to watch how much they love her and how excited they were that their baby was FINALLY here!
We spent a couple of hours together as a family and then thankfully my parents took them back to their house for the night so we could rest and focus on Katherine. I also noticed how weak I was from the loss of blood Thursday evening since it was the first time I really had done anything but stay in bed since her birth. I was especially grateful that night to have a little break from our big kids and to not have to do baths and bedtime routines with them when I was feeling so tired.
The weekend after she was born we had more visitors. It's always fun to show off our Little Princess.
Outside of our visitors we spent the rest of the weekend resting, cuddling, napping and watching TV shows together in bed while nursing a baby.
My parents kept the kids for most of the weekend. We had the boys on
Saturday when Granny and Grandaddy were here. They were adorable showing
off their sister. Elisabeth ended up getting sick that weekend, so she
had to stay away. It was super hard on my mommy heart to not be able to
take care of her while she was sick, but we didn't want her to expose
her sister to any of her germs. Thankfully by Sunday night she was much
better.
While I was holding and feeding a baby, Matt lovingly cleaned the grout in our kitchen. He was so sweet to work on his to do list even in his sleep deprived state. My kitchen floor looks awesome by the way.
That weekend Matt and I also took Katherine on her first walk. We didn't go far before I puttered out, but we all enjoyed being outside.
Sunday evening the big kids moved back in with us and reality really set in that we had four kids that we were supposed to take care of. I enjoyed the time alone with Matt and Katherine, but I was definitely ready to have my whole family together again.
Monday morning meant packing lunches and backpacks, feeding four kids breakfast, getting everyone dressed and out the door before 9:00am for school drop off, ballet, and a newborn doctor visit. Whew, I was worn out, but so proud we made it out the door on time that morning!
Samuel was cute and asked to take Katherine to school to show her off to her teachers. Of course we agreed. He's the sweetest big brother. (and we emailed a picture to Nathan's teacher too, at his request).
Matt worked part time that week (and the following week), and was able to do all drop off and pick ups for me and ran any other errand I needed. That meant, I got some one on one time with my girls while the boys were at school.
Monday night we had our first family walk. Walks to the playground or pond are a pretty consistent part of our evening routine, so it was special to take our first walk as a family of six.
We had plenty of help pushing the stroller :)
We also gave Katherine her first bath that night. She wasn't a fan, but the big kids enjoyed washing her.
Later that week, Samuel and Elisabeth were complaining that they couldn't ever feed Katherine a bottle, so I gave them a chance to feed her. They were in heaven. They are such good helpers.
I really enjoyed the slow pace of life we had those first days at home and the quality time we all had as a family of six adjusting to our new normal. Matt was such a help those first couple of weeks. I was so grateful for his flexible work schedule that allowed me to ease in to a new routine with four kids. Katherine has been the sweetest addition to our family. She forces us to slow down and stay at home more. She has brought out a tenderness in all of our children and taught us all how to love and work together in a new way. We've certainly had plenty of moments of chaos, stress, and frustration, but the joy of a new family member outweighs all the crazy moments.
