Eating is kind of messy...

 This girl has my heart, more than she will ever know.  She is so much fun and I am so grateful to be able to spend the majority of my time with her.  She has the most irresistible smile! I must admit most of her naps are in the safety of my arms, I realize someday she may need to sleep in her crib but for now, I don't care.  I love snuggling her and keeping her safe and warm.  In fact, napping in her bed is overrated. 

She happens to be an incredibly messy eater, she is so busy that she can barely pause to take a bite but swallowing requires too much time.  This particular day she may have ended up in the bathtub with diaper, bumbo and all.  It was quite humorous! We are still working on the whole eating thing-she does alright most of the time but still isn't entirely interested in it.

She has still only rolled over when no-one is watching.  She refuses to put on a show apparently.  She did however learn that if she pushes herself too far from her toys she can actually use her feet to it them! Lately she has also been staring at her hands in front of her and is completely mesmerized by them! She is still in love with her "luvie".  She falls asleep almost instantly with it and loves to pull it up close to her, I love when she wraps her tiny arms around it!

Ray's Birthday...

Ray's birthday was celebrated in stages.  He is not a huge birthday celebrat-er but I am trying to get him excited about his birth!  I am very happy that he was born, he moved to Utah, he went to a singles ward, he hated women (which gave him the courage to talk to me), he then asked me out and soon after asked me to marry him, and that he is now MINE forever.  I am very grateful his life brought him to me and that now we are able to share our lives with each other.  He is a pretty amazing guy.

He is also a hard worker which resulted in him working a 13 hour day on his birthday. Needless to say, we didn't celebrate the day of.  Well, he got breakfast (cake donuts and chocolate milk--his favorite), a delicious packed lunch, a card and EZ-UP awning.  On Saturday he got breakfast in bed, we went to Morgan to check out Kristi & Blake's new house, had lunch at Tucano's with some fabulous people and Saturday night we had a hot dog/mallow roast with friends. On Sunday (I was thankfully put on-call) so we enjoyed a lazy Sunday (except he had 3 meetings +church) but he did get a nap in and then we had cake and ice cream with a couple of his siblings and their families.  I think he enjoyed the weekend--even if he doesn't care to celebrate his birthday.

Katelyn was mesmerized by the candles and then was confused as to what the smoke was after they were blown out.  It was funny to watch her react to the event!

Baby Doll's...

Katelyn loves Briele's baby doll!  Whenever she sees it she busts up laughing and then talks to it incessantly.  It is adorable.  I love it so much I wanted it to happen at my house...all of the time.  I went and searched seven stores (yes, seven!  Apparently there are issues with the manufacturers of the $5 dolls at Walmart and they are impossible to find but that is the one she loves), I settled with a doll I paid too much for but was as close as I could find to the one she loves...and guess what.  She doesn't love this baby at all.  It really is quite sad.  She is still pretty cute though and gave it a try for her mom. She is still pretty crazy to try to feed.  Her new obsession is my water bottles.  She loves to suck on the caps and tries to get even a drop.  If I am holding her while taking a drink she dives for it and mauls it.  It's pretty humorous and has only resulted in spilled water a dozen or so times!

Sunday...

Sunday at church was so fun with little miss. I was stopped so many times by people exclaiming "how happy" "how beautiful" and "so cute" my baby is.  I agree.  Katelyn loves to make new friends so as if to prove how right they all were she would greet them all with a shy smile.  It was adorable.  In sacrament she wanted to lay down and kick her legs so we laid her on the bench in between us.  She proceeded to laugh and talk ALL through sacrament. It was so cute we couldn't help but laugh along with her...as did several people around us!

We took a couple pictures after church of our happy fashion-ista...even though we spent no more than a minute taking these, I love them! I gave her some rice cereal in the afternoon and she loved it and was all smiles. She did so well that I decided to give her some again that night when Ray was home and it did not go nearly as well! She couldn't keep her hands away from the spoon or out of her mouth so her shirt was soaked and her hands and face were dripping! If you look close at the picture you can see how "shiney" her face and hands are! She was immediately stripped down and got a bath, which she is starting to love more and more! She keeps us so entertained each day!

Mom's Birthday...

We had a little redneck celebration for my mom's birthday.  We had some delicious dutch oven chicken and potatoes and dutch oven hot fudge pudding cake with homemade ice cream.  It was quite chilly and rainy so we bundled up in Jess & Kip's garage.  It was really quite fun, the girls ran and played outside despite the cold weather (that would warm intermittently), we all relaxed and visited.  Ray had been busy busy installing a stairwell but thankfully he was able to stop by and join in on the fun for a minute.

My mom is such a wonderful blessing in our life. She does so much to help us. Mostly I love that she is so involved in all that we do.  I talk to her several times a week (if not daily) and she is always willing to jump in and help.  She is the best Grandma and LOVES her grand-babies with all her heart!

A couple funny things from this day:

1. Katelyn was sleeping in the bouncer, I checked on her and found her like this.  She was holding onto the toy on the bouncer, with her headband over her eyes and completely zonked out. It was so cute. Oh and she has this super ability to spit her binky out at incredible speeds and distances.  It took 3 days for us to find her binky at Jess's house because she had spit it approximately 5 feet away behind the couch! 

2. Halli wanted me to blow bubbles so that she could pop them and she was so SERIOUS about it. She took her job so serious I couldn't help but laugh!

3. Briele was SO excited when Ray showed up, she has a little crush on him.  Every time I go to her house she asks me why Ray didn't come to!

4. Madison was patiently waiting for the ice cream to get done.  It was taking longer than expected so we kept checking it and finally Madi pipes up and says "Why don't you stop checking it and just wait a little then it will be done!" It was hilarious, she schooled us all on being a little more patient!

5. Tanner is SO cute, he has a shy little smile that just melts my heart! Oh and the WILDEST red hair!

Little One...

This little gal is my everything. You have probably noticed.  My blog is overflowing with pictures/words all about her.  I don't care though.  I'm obsessed.  I know it and I embrace it.  I love that once a week at work I get to update the blog/journal with pictures and her recent triumphs.  The time is passing so quickly.  I am glad I can look back and re-live each moment.  She truly is incredible.  Ray and I thank our Heavenly Father for her EVERY DAY!  

We are still trying rice cereal, she is getting better at it but she would much rather just play with us/the spoon/the bumbo/the bib and her hands than eat.  Eating is overrated.  She makes such a mess because she can't keep her hands out of her mouth but I love it.  It is so fun to watch her explore new things. She is also getting quite close to rolling over, if only her dang arm would get out of the way!  She loves tummy time so she is in no hurry to roll back onto her back!

My mom comes and watches Katelyn in-between my shifts at work most weeks. I LOVE it.  I love knowing that my baby is taken care of.  I love that she gets to spend time with her grandma.  I know my mom loves the time together.  It really is so much fun having my mom stay with us and incorporating her into our daily life.  (Sidenote: If my mom doesn't have Katelyn, my sister does and I wouldn't have it any other way!  They are both so good to my baby, I don't have to worry about her at all!) On Thursday's after I have a little nap we usually have lunch with me, Kate, Jess, Briele and my mom.  It is so much fun! Briele is such a character. She currently has a little crush on Ray which is pretty cute!

4 months!

You had your 4 month visit and you did great! I was expecting the worse with immunizations since last time you were hysterical but you did so great!  You cried for just a minute and then gave the mean nurses a big smile through the tears! You are so sweet!

Weight: 12.55 lbs-18%

Height: 25.25 inches- 84%

You are definitely long and skinny! You have the chubbiest cheeks that trickle down to your neck but other than that you are quite scrawny!  I am trying to plump you up! 

Her 1st Solid Food!!

Miss Katelyn got her first taste of some solid food, it was only rice cereal but still! I am actually quite surprised that my dad hasn't snuck her some ice cream or something yet so this was definitely a first! Can you tell by the look on her face she didn't really care for it!  Haha! It was quite funny!  She has been incredibly interested in whatever we are eating...she will lunge for our plate, open her mouth whenever we take a bite of food and  she chews on everything--except for the spoon when I was trying to feed her!  She started to get a bit better after a minute and would smack her little lips together! Oh I love this gal, it is so fun to see her growing and developing and yes starting rice cereal made me pretty darn excited!

Side note: I tried to get Lexi to try it and she said "not a chance!" haha!

Sunday...

Sunday we headed up north once again to finish the chimney, we had a great dinner courtesy of my mom. Great company thanks to Lexi and Katelyn.  And Ray and Cody did a great job of finishing the chimney even though it was incredibly cold!  Lexi once again had a great time of loving on Katelyn. I am sad the pictures were a bit blurry but I love her "that's enough pictures Aunt Nicole!" face!  Haha, love these girls!

Happy Birthday Dad!

We spent our Saturday celebrating my dad's birthday!  We had a great morning at Ashley's baptism and then headed to Salt Lake.  We first went to the aquarium which is always fun.  The octopus was incredibly active this time which had me entranced for some reason!  Lexi and Cody also went with us and kept us on our toes!  I was looking at the alligators with Lexi. The water line was above her head so she could only see their bellies, then I would lift her up and she could see their eyes and nose above water.  She looked at me and said "it's crazy! their freaking me out!"! It was hilarious!

After the aquarium we went to Joe's Crab Shack and got some delicious seafood.  I was teasing my dad that watching all those sea creatures swimming around made him hungry so we had to get seafood! We got some delicious ice cream from Cold Stone and then went to my grandparents house to find Grandma had gotten strawberry shortcake for my dad's birthday! Needless to say, our bellies were full!  Lexi also asked me on our way to the grandparents--"Do you think great gma & gpa know that its Grandpa's birthday!?"  She asked them when we got there and sure enough they knew!

I loved being able to hang out with Lexi for the day!  She is so funny and definitely keeps us busy!  Lexi and I shared the backseat with Katelyn on the way home.  We sang songs and she held my hand the entire way! I loved it!  Oh and if you eve wonder how a Taylor Swift song goes, just ask her!  She knows them all by heart!!

I hope my dad felt special on his birthday! It was definitely fun to go down and play for the day!  My dad is such a great guy, very adventurous and always supportive!  We love having him in our family!

Life...

Life with a little baby is incredible.  She makes us so happy! We thank Heavenly Father for bringing her to our home EVERY DAY!  Each little thing that she does is so magical and special.  I watch her for hours every day. Each grin, laugh, yawn, and snuggle just melt my heart.  She truly is my world.

Her dad is pretty fond of her as well.  He gets home from work and swoops her right out of my arms.  I use the excuse that it's time for her to eat so that I can get in one last snuggle before bedtime. She is becoming so much more interactive, she loves to watch us, talk to us and she loves when she has all of our attention!

Katelyn and I had lunch with grandma, Briele, Jess and Kip!  This little gal is pretty amazing as well!  She is such a character! I love the "pirate smile"!

Katelyn tends to grab anything and everything that is within her reach...which just happened to be her dad's drink!  And everything that she gets hold of goes STRAIGHT to her mouth!

We headed up north to help Cody with his chimney which meant I got to hang out with this cool chick!  She is such a sweetheart! She LOVES Baby Kate!  She is so smart and rational it just kills me!  She informed me "babies sleep alot, because they grow alot and it wears them out! I don't grow that much anymore so sometimes I get up SUPER early!"

Whipple Easter Party

Whipple's had a nice little Easter Party on Sunday...not that any Whipple gathering in "little"!  As usual there were mass amounts of people (mostly kiddos) running and screaming everywhere!  It is always nice to get together with all of the Whipple's but it is even nicer when it is warm out and we can expand outside of the house!  We had a great dinner (Ray grilled some amazing SOY burgers--even having bought them we didn't know they were soy burgers until after the fact but they were delicious!), all the kids were super excited to get their Easter baskets and of course the Easter egg hunt was much loved as well!  This year Camille hid 500 eggs...there were so many you had to be careful where you stepped! Everyone found eggs til they were bored silly of it, got to "buy" prizes with their eggs and found lots of fun non-candy goodies inside of them!  We spent most of the day just hanging out and enjoying the company!

Kristi was there with her brand new little one and it made me sad to realize my baby isn't nearly as tiny as she once was!  She looked like a giant (a very very pale red-headed giant) next to the tiny (dark skinned dark haired) Karalyn!  I love watching her learn and grow though!  She grabs onto everything and sometimes she surprises herself and then quickly drops the item!  She is now working on rolling over! Oh my!

A Name & A Blessing...

Katelyn...

I love being a nurse, I love helping contribute to my family financially, I love having health insurance, but leaving my baby sucks! She just makes me so happy! I realize working only twice a week shouldn't be that bad, but some nights it breaks my heart.  As I sat crying in the break room tonight I felt overwhelming joy for the opportunity to be her mom. I also felt grateful for the profession I have chosen. I am lucky to make good money in not very many hours so that I can focus more on being with her. Motherhood is the best thing to happen to me!  

We spent a couple nights at Whipple's helping with a project and these little girlies could not get enough of her...to the point Katelyn was screaming because she was just feeling a little too loved! She is getting so good at holding her head up and is getting better at sitting in the bumbo. She still LOVES her "lovey" and hates falling asleep without it! I love how she wraps her little hands around it and holds it tight, if she starts to wake up she pulls it in close to her again and falls right back asleep! Oh and I love this picture of Ray and Kate...they just look so cute! Love my family!