Katie: 8 Months

Eight whole months with our sweet Katie. Oh what a joy this month has been with her!

Katie enjoyed her first New Year's with a sleepover at my and dad's house.

She took her first big trip-an overnight stay in St. Louis! We had planned on visiting Katie and Jaycen over the summer, but we got Covid and had to cancel. When a free weekend popped up this month, we hopped on the chance to go visit our friends. Katie was pretty clingy the entire time we were there, but did finally warm up by the time we left. Enjoy this awful quality picture-luckily the fun made up for it!

Katie's really taken a liking to food this month. We started doing purees at the beginning of the month to just get her more used to the taste of real food, and I think that really helped. If you put some on a spoon, she will grab the spoon right out of your hand and bring it right to her mouth. 

She still gets actual food too, and has really shown an interest in eating those more than the purees. She's really enjoyed noodles and pulled pork, and has also munched on carrots, corn, bananas, and bread. We've tried peanut butter and eggs with her and are allergy free. 

We introduced Katie to a straw cup this month and it took one time of me squeezing the bottle to get water in the straw for her to know that she needed to suck to keep getting more water. She really enjoys drinking from her cup!

We've mastered sitting up this month and can sit for very long periods of time. Sit her up and give her her ring stacker or carrot toy and she will be a happy camper for a long time.

When she isn't sitting on the floor, she does still like being in the bouncer, but I'm sure that will end soon as she definitely wants to see what the twins are doing and be where they are. If you lay her on the floor, she will almost instantly roll over to her tummy. She spins around in circles so she can see where the action is or to reach her preferred toy. I've just recently noticed that she is really pushing up with her arms and is starting to get her belly off the floor. If you put your hand behind her feet, she will push off of them to move herself forward. It won't be long before she is on the move!

Katie's favorite things this month are her brother and sister, chewing on everything, and being where the action is.

She is not a fan of waiting to eat or being put somewhere where she can't see what is going on.

She is grabbing her toes and chewing on them and can hold her own bottle (when she wants to). 

She is still in 6 month clothes, size 2 diapers, and is drinking five 6 ounce bottles a day. But I will say I'm probably bumping her up in clothing size soon, and just today we upped her bottles to five 7 ounce bottles because she is acting hungry still after finishing a bottle. We've been stretching her wake window to 2.5-3 hours between naps.

Katie is measuring 26 and 1/8 inches long and is weighing 16.6 pounds at home. 

Katie likes sleeping on her tummy now instead of her back. And we almost have our first tooth! I saw the white circle ring in her gum that lets me know its on its way soon. While I love a good gummy smile, I can't wait to see her toothy grin.

 

Here's to all that the next month has in store for her!

Christmas 2022

Since it's now officially the end of the first week of January, a short and sweet Christmas recap is way overdue!

We started our official Christmas celebrations on Christmas Eve at my parents house. Brayden was a typical two year old and didn't cooperate for a photo with my parents, so enjoy this gem of him sitting as far away from them as he could haha.

The kids were spoiled and were really into opening presents, at least at the beginning. By the end, Brayden was definitely over it and didn't even unwrap the small presents that were in his stocking. 

Here are a few photos from our celebration there- and the only ones I think I took of Katie opening any presents. She is the true "second child" when it comes to documenting everything. But hey, I guess I can say I'm living more in the moment now and not so obsessed getting the perfect photo (at least not all of the time). 

That evening we travelled to Altamont to visit with my Grandma Wolf and attempted a "good" Christmas photo.

We kept our tradition of driving through the Effingham light display with the kids, then it was home to put the kids to sleep before we went to mass that evening at St. Thomas. 

After the kids were down, I set up the presents under the tree and had to snap a photo of how peaceful it all looked.

The kids actually let us sleep in a bit Christmas morning. I was so excited because I thought that this would be the year that Brayden and Ashley would be so excited about Christmas and opening their presents, but about the first words out of Brayden's mouth were that he was hungry and wanted to eat breakfast. Absolutely no excitement over the presents under the tree. There's always next year I guess.

We all had a good time opening up our presents, and Brayden and Ashley really wanted to get out and play with each present they opened as they opened them. 

 

Katie had a pretty laid back first Christmas, which I'm hoping is the way that each of our Christmases continue to go. 

We spent the rest of the day in our jammies, playing with our toys, and enjoying quality family time.

We finally had Christmas with Eric's parents on New Years Day, where the kids were once again spoiled. I think I took one photo while we were there, and it's not even a great one. And if I can get the picture of Dan and Theresa with all the grandkids, you'll see that once again Brayden wasn't feeling pictures and had to sit on my lap to participate. Oh the joys of toddlerhood.

If you're reading this, I hope that you had the best Christmas season and end to your 2022, and that 2023 has been off to a great start so far. Here's to looking towards all the opportunities this year has to offer.