Natalie: The Littlest Little

Today we celebrated 2 weeks of life for a precious girl, Natalie!  Here's a look at the last couple of weeks:

 BIRTH STORY (Trying to keep it PG, but be forewarned)

The last few days last week, Natalie seemed so comfy cozy inside me. I wasn't anticipating anything happening for another week or so. Friday night, we went to bed. I had mild back pain, which was nothing new, but nothing else. I had dreams throughout the night of power walking, squatting, and getting advice from people about how to get labor started, such as eating pineapple. Right about 3 a.m. I woke up to go to the bathroom--again, nothing out of the ordinary. But then I thought, "Hey, I think that might be a REAL contraction. I'll probably get a few and they'll go away like they did a few days ago." I went back to bed and as I was lying there, I felt another one. And another. I started timing them. 6-10 minutes apart and getting closer. I woke Zach up a little after 3:30 and had him help me time them. 3-5 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds to a minute. I finally decided this was real at about 4 and called my mom to let her know. She got to our house to watch the girls and we left at about 4:40--I was in no HUGE rush to get to the hospital, thinking we had quite a bit more time left. We got there at 5 and the lady at the desk asked if we needed to rush back and have someone meet us there right away, or if we could wait until someone got back to Triage and then head back. I decided to wait and let Zach park and come back. From 5:00-5:10, I had at least 4 contractions. The lady at the desk told me that as soon as Zach got back, we needed to head in. We checked into Triage at 5:15, 5 cm and 90% effaced. I was "probably going to be admitted." I told Zach that if I wasn't, I'd like to punch someone. This. Was. Real. Thankfully, I was admitted and got to my room about 6. I was 9 cm and 100% effaced. I said I didn't think it was quite time yet, but was starting to feel some pressure. They called in Dr. Hutchison, who was already at the hospital, and she came over 6:15-6:20 am. They got the station all ready and we waited. We chatted in between contractions. She asked if I'd like her to break my waters, and I declined... unless of course she had somewhere else to be. I'd rather her break them and be there than miss it. HA. She said she was fine and we kept visiting. Finally, right about 7:20 or just before I knew it was time to push.

Natalie Grace Jones arrived on February 07, 2015 at 7:24 a.m.
7 lb. 8 oz. ~ 19"

She is healthy and beautiful and the girls absolutely LOVE her.

Although we have had a few nights of less comfortable sleep, and just plain less sleep, this girl is the best addition to our family that I could have received.  I mean just look at her a few more times.

Kara: The Middle Little Joy

Kara is such a sweet heart.  I think at this point, I'm figuring out that her primary love language is words of affirmation.  She's at the age that her vocabulary is just soaring.  (23 months) She says many many more things than these few, but these are some of our favorites. She also does a few hilarious things as well.

1) Sad: This is a HUGE thing for her.  She picks up on emotions so easily.  When someone is sad, she immediately says so. With a sweet concerned face, "Sad." Usually she goes over to comfort them at that point. She wants to make all bad things good.

2) Mimicking big sister.  She loves to do very similar things as Kaylee.  She'll often add her own little twist to it, but looks up to her big sis so much.  The admiration she has for Kaylee is so sweet to watch.  This has only grown since becoming a big sister.

3) The way she says, "Okay." She gets a deeper voice than she has for pretty much anything else she says.

4)  She's usually pretty compliant and does what she's asked, but when she's not--boy, is she STUBBORN! She looks over to the side out of the corner of her eyes and absolutely refuses to make eye contact with anyone.

5) "Thank you," and "You're welcome" are very common phrases in her vocabulary.  She is super consistent in using them.  "Ank you!" "You're wel'm!"  So. Stinkin'. Cute.

6)  She is a silly goofball with tons of energy.  Spinning around until she's dizzy.  Running back and forth from the couch to the kitchen trash can. Trying to jump as high as she can (2 inches off the ground).

7) Stickers. Need I say more?  Stickers on walls, blankets, desks, tables, shirts, shoes, arms, faces... oh and paper sometimes.

8) "YAY!"  She is not at all shy about hiding the fact that she is excited about something.  "YAY, yay, yay, YAY!"

9) Same thing with when she thinks something is fun. "Fun!"

10) 1...2....5...10...11...9  I love her counting skills

11) She loves to bang things.  "Bammer," and "hammer," are some words we hear quite often.

12) Walking in other people's shoes.  Yes.  All kids love doing this.  Kara makes a habit of it extremely regularly. Daddy's, Mommy's, Kaylee's.  Tennis shoes, work shoes, flats, heals, flip-flops.  Around the house, in the car, at other's houses.

13) Want some.

14) "It's fine."  If she wants it, she makes sure to let us know it's fine.

15) I do it.

16) Don wanna.

17) I.... Luh.... YOUUUUU!

18) "Dear Jesus...Amen."

19) "Nat!" I love that she gets excited about her little sister.

20) The hug tackle.  She loves to give Kaylee hug tackles.  This is where she runs up and hugs Kaylee so tightly, that they both end up crashing to the ground.

I love my Kara girl so much.

Kaylee: The Little that's a BIG JOY in my life.

Kaylee-isms 

{This post is from a LONG time ago.  But I'm posting because I don't ever want to forget this little girl. She's changing so much.  She's now my little momma-mini-me.  A 3-year-old full of spunk, attitude, vigor, love for life and all things "fair"--or at least what is fair in her mind. Flashback to little 16-month-old Kaylee is fun.}

My little Kaylee-Bug is such a sweetie pie. I know it's only natural for parents to think that their children are truly the best ever, but with Kaylee it really is true.  {haha}  She's such a little smartie pants.  Some of my favorite things that she does right now:

1)  Her breathy little, "Hi," that she gives while she waves.  She waves and/or says hi to almost everyone that she sees.  Sometimes, when she wants someone's attention really badly, she ends up sounding more and more desperate. 

2)  Speaking of her wave, I love her wave.  Sometimes she just waves her fingers, and keeps them facing towards herself.  Other times she does a stiff little wave of her palm facing out towards the receiving person.  

3)  Shaking her head, "No." Sometimes she has a serious face, sometimes a more goofy face, but her head shake is always very emphatic.  She usually accompanies this with saying, "No."  It used to sound like, "Doh," but it has recently transitioned to a clear, "No."

4)  Nodding, "Yes."  She just recently learned how to do this.  It started out with her entire torso rocking back and forth.  Finally one day she mastered the up and down head motion required for a proper nod.  This is accompanied by the cutest little, "Yeah," ever.  She says it with her voice inflection going up at the end. SO. STINKIN'. CUTE!

5)  "Ohhhh..."  She says this in 2 very distinct and different ways.  

• "Ohhhh..." with her head leaning on something or someone, like, "I'm so cute."

• "Ohhhh..." with a very serious and concerned look on her face, sounding like she's very disappointed.  This is sometimes given along with her shake of the head.  It's almost always in response of something being dropped, whether by her or someone else.  

6)  Her "hot response".  When something is said to be hot, she holds out her hand and blows, usually down on her tray.  Sometimes it's an actually little blow, sometimes it's more of a "hhhhhha". 

7)  Her "cold response".  She shakes her head and says, "o-ooo-ooo-ooo."  It looks and sounds like she is saying, "No," but she is indeed saying that something is cold.  She does this because I once said something was cold and followed it with a pretend shiver saying, "Brrr-rrr-rrr."  

8) Oh Boy!  She doesn't say, "Oh boy!" But any time someone says it she puts her hands up on either side of her head.  Once again, at some point I exclaimed, "Oh Boy!" while I put my hands on my head.  She thought it was hilarious and now does it all the time.  Sometimes she wants to do it as a game so she'll put her hands up on her head and bring it back down and put them up and bring them back down until we give in and finally say, "Oh boy!"  

9)  One! Right at 13 months, she mastered the one figer up in the air, proudly saying that she was 1!  Many times this will also be her response when asked, "How are you?"  1!  :o)

10)  So Big!  This is not unique to Kaylee-bug.  What is unique is somehow, numbers 8, 9, and 10 ended up being grouped together in her mind.  So many times she will give the signs in succession of one another.

11)  Please.  She signs "please" by scratching her chest close to her shoulder. 

12)  How is this one so far down in my list??? One of my favorites. "K."  Not, "Kay." Just the phonetic K sound.  This means none other than, "I want to eat."  If she is SUPER hungry, she's say," K. K. K. K."  Our theory of how that came to be is that most of her preferred foods have some sort of K sound in them.  BreaKfast.  (This was the one I noticed it on first.  I asked if she would like breakfast and her response was, "K.")  Cottage cheese.  Crackers.  Cookies.   Like I said, it's just a theory, but it makes the most sense to us.  Nonetheless, we've never heard any other kid use that sound and associate it with eating. 

13)  "Where?"  Whenever we ask where anything is, her face automatically gets a look of concern or confusion and her hand goes out to the side, asking, "where?"  She doesn't say anything.  However, you can tell by the look on her face how much she really wants to know.  That, and the fact that if she is really curious or concerned both hands will shoot out asking "where?"

14)  "Da."  She loves her daddy.  Pictures of Da.  The office room, where Da works on school.  The soccer ball that Da plays with.  The side of the bed that Da sleeps on.  During the day she is constantly pointing out things she connects with her daddy.  Love. It.  Of course I love, "Momomomom," too.   (Mom).  

15)  Giving and blowing kisses.  She gives kisses so gently, and usually say, "ahhh," at the same time. For blowing kisses she just holds her hand up to her mouth and blows on it.

16)  Whenever we ask her if she understands something she says, "No." VERY. CLEARLY.  "Do you understand?" "NO."  This can follow anything from, "We don't touch that, do you understand?" to, "We're going to go to the zoo today.  Do you understand?"  (She loves the Zoo.)  She always answers no.  We think it might be that she thinks we're asking her if she "stands".  We tell her not to stand in the bathtub, so she might think we're saying something about that?? I don't know for sure. 

17)  She  just started saying. "Moe," meaning more.  This, in her mind, rhymes with "bow" as in hair bow.  I guess she's somewhat right. :)

18) "Bubbo."  She LOVES going outside to blow bubbles.

19)  A recent anecdote: Kaylee, pointing at the fridge, says, "Chee? Yeah.  Chee? Yeah.  Chee? Yeah."  I replied, "Would you like some cream cheese?"  "YEAH!" accompanied by a BIG head nod.

20)  Anatomy:  Eye (said VERY clearly).  Nose (pronounced "no").  Ear (pronounced "ee").  Mouth (pronounced mow, as in mouse).

She is my favorite 16-month-old ever.   Okay, I guess that's enough bragging describing for now.  Please share a unique, fun thing that your kiddos do at this stage in life!  It's so much fun to see the creative minds of little ones.