Kate's First Thanksgiving

We spent Kate's first Thanksgiving in Hawesville/Tell City with family. This was a big deal because it was Kate's first big trip in the car. She slept the entire way there and the entire way back! Before this, the farthest she had been from home was to Louisville on day trips to Nick's sister's home. So happy our Thanksgiving trip was a success! She did a great job!

On Thanksgiving day, we were at my parents. They were so thrilled to finally have Kate visit. My mom (Kate's Grammy) had our room all ready for us, complete with a crib for Kate and A LOT of toys and baby gear. Kate actually slept through the Thanksgiving meal!

My mom and I have an annual tradition of going Black Friday shopping. I knew this would be a little difficult with breastfeeding, so we went shopping on Thanksgiving night after putting Kate to bed. We had a great time and Kate slept the entire time we were gone... I think her first trip wore her out!

On Friday and Saturday we spent time with Nick's family at his grandma's house, as well as some of my relatives who came to my parents to visit. Everyone loved spending time with Kate and it was so precious to see her meet so many family members! We returned home on Saturday so that we could have Sunday at home before I had to return to work on Monday, something I was completely dreading. But we so enjoyed Kate's first Thanksgiving and were ready to count down to Kate's first Christmas!

3 Months Old

It's official... I stink at keeping up with a blog. I have lots of things that I have been meaning to document on here, so bear with me as I get caught up. I didn't make a New Year's resolution, but I think writing on our blog more should be it. Yes... That's my resolution now. Starting 21 days late, but better late than never.

As Kate was turning 3 months old, I was a couple of weeks from returning to work. With each day that passed I grew a little more sad to think that my time on maternity leave with Kate was coming to an end. At this age, Kate was smiling more and more and Nick and I would do (and still do) anything to see that smile. She was becoming a little more interested in toys and in her surroundings. She was still getting fussy some in the evenings and whenever she would get tired, making it difficult and unpredictable when taking her out and about (thank goodness that phase has passed now!). We could never believe how quickly the time goes and how fast she grows. She is such a good baby and we can't imagine life without her. She is an absolute blessing! Here are some of our favorite photos from that time.

❄️ Kate's First Snow! ❄️

It wasn't much, but it still counts! Looking forward to lots of Snow Days with this girl!

3 Month Old Pictures

On November 1st, we headed over to Union with Brooke for Kate's 3-month photos. We were a few weeks before her 3-month birthday, but we wanted to have them taken while the trees were changed and were so beautiful. Here are some of our favorites, though we loved them all!

Who Needs Sleep?

I knew it was coming. I knew that with the arrival of a baby came also the disappearance of sleep. I just had no idea how much I would miss sleep. But I also had no idea how little sleep a person truly needs to function... Turns out, you don't really need that much to get through the day!

So last week we decided to start the process of moving Kate to her crib. Up until this point, she had been sleeping in her bassinet in our room. I liked it this way. I could have left things this way forever. But, she had to inevitably start sleeping in her crib eventually and I knew I'd rather start that sleepless transition before I go back to work in a few weeks.

Kate has never been a great sleeper. She fights sleep to the end. It's almost like she's afraid she's going to miss something (she gets that from her dad). In her bassinet, she was sleeping 3-4 hours at a time. Then we moved her to her crib... She'd start the night sleeping in there for 3 hours at first... Then 2 hours... Then 1... Then even less than one hour at a time. Eek. I was exhausted. We then started her out in her crib each night, but if she was fighting it too much we would just move her back to her bassinet. I couldn't survive on that amount of sleep... Well, I could but it would not have been pretty.

We were beginning to get desperate so we trekked over to Babies 'R' Us in search of a missing link. We bought a mobile and a Halo swaddler (recommended by our dear friend, Alisa). Turns out, the Halo swaddler WAS the missing link! Before, we would swaddle Kate's arms every night in a blanket, but she would always break free, her hands would hit her face and she would wake herself up over and over again. But this swaddler is genius! It gives her legs plenty of room to kick but also keeps her arms nice and snug. And she (usually) cannot break her arms out so she sleeps peacefully for longer periods now. Thank goodness! Last night she still woke up every few hours to eat, but she slept in her crib until 7 am! So proud of my sweet girl!

Smiles All Around

A few weeks ago (first on October 9th) Kate started smiling on purpose and there is just no sight more precious. It is out goal all day, every day to get that beautiful smile to appear. However in my opinion, Kate has been smiling since the very beginning. People can say it was gas, but I don't buy it. :)

Here are some of our favorite smiles so far.

Only a few days old.

9 days old

Less than two weeks old

After she discovered how awesome it is to smile.

11 weeks old

Kate's First Halloween