How BIG is Katie?

SO BIG!!

And a special hello to Auntie Ali : )

 

Andy - 2 years, 7 months

Over the past month I feel like Andy has become a new little dude.  He is talking up a storm, he has learned how to manipulate Kyle and me, and more than ever I have learned that I need to "run" him just like I need to "run" Henry every day.  Andy's energy - if not released - causes everyone else in the house to go crazy at the end of the day.  On the flip side, I LOVE that Andy has his own opinions, can hold his end of the conversation, makes observations about things, his imagination grows every day, and he makes me laugh every day.  He is understanding the concept of sharing with his sister - or "trading" toys - and he is getting the fact that he has to be gentle with her - FINALLY.  We have started on the path of potty training, but it is exhausting.  Andy doesn't really seem to mind going to the bathroom in his underwear, as long as the underwear has Lightning McQueen or Mater on them.  He just says, "Oops, mommy clean up, okay?" and then wants a new pair of exciting underwear.  During nap time, Andy rarely naps and usually takes his bed apart or dumps all of his clothes out of his drawers all over the floor.  He still needs the nap, but usually is too curious to fall asleep.  More selfishly, I need him to nap so that I have a few seconds to myself during the day.  If he just has "quiet time" it ends up being the game of 20 questions.  Andy loves asking "why?" to everything.  EVERYTHING.  But right when I think I have reached my max, he'll turn to me and say,  "mommy, I love you SOOOO much."  It fills my tank right back up : )  This stage is taxing but fun and I love seeing the world through Andy's eyes.  If only kids stayed so innocent!

Mr. Patch is back - 1 hour a day for 6 months.  Luckily he does't seem to mind too much.

The helicopter was his gift for going poop on the potty 

Lightening McQueen unerwear - and cars in both hands.  Andy loves anything that has to do with cars or trains - and especially loves the movie Cars.

Pointing out that his underwear has stars on them. Love those buns!

Happy 5th Birthday Robbie-Dobs!

I can't believe Robbie is FIVE.  He's the oldest boy out of the cousins and for some reason it's hard for me to believe he is five.  We celebrated on his birthday with some yummy dinner and a fun party at the Lentz house.

Big sister Callie

Birthday Boy

Nickers

Apparently my kids were hungry.  Well, Andy just wanted ketchup

Anticipating the cake...

Uncle Andy

Happy Birthday Robs!

Katie girl at 9 months

I love the 9 month age.  Katie is starting to become a "person" not just a baby.  She is a really happy girl with lots of smiles and grumpy only when she needs/wants something.  One thing that is starting to show is her desire to do things herself.  She is pretty adamant about feeding herself, whether it is grabbing at the spoon when I try to feed her, or taking food out of my hand before the food even makes it to her tray.  She will eat ANYTHING.  This is way different from Andy, so it's fun to see the difference.  It's also fun to hear Katie communicate.  She mimics sounds that Andy makes - from coughing to screaming.  She also says mama, dada, and is discovering all the funny things she can do with her tongue.  She has 1 full bottom tooth in and her other front bottom tooth is half-way in.

Katie only recently has mastered sitting up by herself, so she is "behind" on the gross motor skills, but following the same trend as Andy.  Having her immobile for now is a-okay with me as I know how life changes once they can freely move!   Another exciting "family" milestone is that she knows and wants her daddy.  She gets excited when she hears Kyle's voice and gives him a special smile.  Of course, like Andy, she says "da da da da" all day long. 

Katie still is a great sleeper - sleeping from 7:30PM - 8:30 AM.  She naps for about an hour in the morning - from about 10 - 11 and naps in the afternoon from about 1 - 3.  She still is solely breast-fed, which is a big shock to me, but for some reason it works (and it saves a lot of money!).  Not sure how much longer we'll last, just taking it one week at a time.  Given that she needs to bulk up a little, she will be on a "high-fat" diet along with Andy.  Everything soaked in butter and olive oil and sneaking in chocolate in anything we can is like a dream for me - and so difficult when trying to shed the post baby pounds (can I still call them that after 9 months?!?).  Like her brother, Katie loves finding the tags on her toys and stuffed animals.  Her favorite toys are her lambie, her teething blanket, and her monkey.  Her most favorite item is her right thumb.  Binkies are a thing of the past.

We are looking forward to seeing her continue to explore and discover new things.  My favorites right now are responding to "SO BIG," how she is super ticklish all over - especially under her chin, her talking to herself and in response to Andy, and her deep belly laugh.

Katie - 9 month stats

I was surprised to see the statistics for Katie.  She has lots of rolls, but only falls in the 10th percentile.  Otherwise, she is growing almost identically to her brother. 

Weight:  16 pounds, 3 ounces - 10%

Height:  27 3/4 inches - 75%

Head:  17 1/4 inches - 50%

Surgery

Hooray!  We made it through Katie's surgery with flying colors.  Katie was a trooper.  We left our house at 6AM and headed to Children's.  Gamma was there to watch Andy - thank you Gamma!  As soon as we got to Children's, my stomach started churning...I just wanted everything to be over with and to know Katie was going to be okay.  We checked in, had our pre-surgery chat with the different teams and then...they told us to give our finals hugs and kisses.  I was super bummed to not get to see Katie fall to sleep, but understood hospital procedure. 

Her surgery lasted an hour - during which time Kyle ate and I watched the clock.  She was in at 8:15 and out at 9:15 and we talked to her surgeon at 9:45.  All went well, they removed the part of her skull that had grown over the cyst, and the cyst was, in fact, filled with hair and other facial cell tissues (pretty gross sounding!).  All of the stitches are internal and dissolving and we haven't seen the incision yet, but it sounds like she'll have a divot in her skull until it grows and fills in.  The hardest part of the day, besides seeing her carried off to surgery, was seeing her coming toward us after surgery.  She was so loopy and not a happy camper.  Kyle and I both had tears.  We are so grateful that everything went smoothly and so proud of our little girl for being such a rock star through it all.  We love you baby girl!

For someone who normally sleeps in until 8:30, the 5:30 wake-up was a little early : )

This picture made me laugh, because it looks like she is biting her nails with nerves

But really, she was all smiles

Stop with the pictures, mom!

Her favorite lambie - and the markings on her head for surgery

Last hugs before surgery

First post-surgery picture

Not feeling so hot

But once she got home - back to smiles

Swollen face, which got worse before it got better

First bath after surgery - 48 hours later...finally!

Andy enjoying some attention on him after so much focus on his sister

Tomorrow is the day...

This day has been hanging over my head every since we learned about Katie's dermoid cyst and knew we were going to have to get it removed.  Betsy came over yesterday to watch my kids while I was at an appointment, and Maggie asked what the the bump was on Katie's head.  I made the mistake of not using any filters.  Now Maggie is convinced that Katie has an alien in her head made up of multiple eyes and that Katie not only can see out of her own two eyes, but that she also can see out of her forehead as well.  Sorry Bets, and note to self, FILTER with a 5 1/2 year-old (and Maggie has the most creative and wonderful imagination, which didn't help in this situation).

So, I received a nonchalant call from Children's this morning to confirm the details of tomorrow's surgery.  I know it's not a major procedure, but it's major to me.  We check in, talk to the anesthesia team, ask questions, "if we want to we can watch them put our daughter to sleep", during surgery - "feel free to go grab a coffee and tour around the hospital and then we'll page you when Katie is ready to be seen".  Seriously?  Do they know they are talking to one major control freak?  As much as it's going to scare me to watch my 9 month old daughter be "put to sleep" I wouldn't be anywhere else.  Coffee and a leisurely walk while she is in surgery.  I will be watching the clock tick, minute to minute while she is under.  Kyle, on the other hand will probably know the history of how Children's was constructed and will have analyzed the structure of the building.  That's one of the things I love most about him, we are built and deal with things very differently.  Although, in this case, I think he will be sitting next to me watching the clock tick.

The surgery itself...well the way it has been described to me is that they are going to scoop her scull with an ice-cream scoop type tool.  So comforting.  But I do know that she is in the best hands.  Our doctor is amazing and the Children's staff is wonderful.  Please say prayers for our baby to have a successful and seamless surgery tomorrow, and prayers for mom and dad would be wonderful too.

Henry

Henry is our oldest child at 5 1/2 years old.  Kyle and I anticipated getting Henry almost as much as we did a child.  We always wanted a dog and did a lot of research on Springer Spaniels as they are one of the only dogs I am not extremely allergic to (yes, I take allergy medicine daily in order to have a dog).  I never ever thought I would be one of those families that spoils, loves and dotes over their puppy...until children come and the dog becomes the low man on the totem pole.  Well, we have arrived.  Officially, Henry is acting out because of the lack of attention he is getting.  I feel awful as I love our Henry.  He is such a good dog with our kids.  Andy tortures him by riding him, sitting on him, playing tackle-mania with him.  Andy pulls ears, his tongue, pokes at his eyes, yanks on his tail, picks his nose, hits him...and Henry just gives Andy kisses in return.  Every once in awhile, Henry will give a grumpy moan and escape to the room that is the furthest away from Andy.  But lately, instead of a mere moan...Henry has been very mischievous.  He is doing things that he never has done before.  First, he started peeing inside the house in the same spot, nearly every day.  Now our hallways smells like pee.  He also not only jumps on the counters to see if there is anything to eat, he jumps and also scoops his paw an amazing long distance.  He use to only be interested in food that would be appetizing to him, but when he was staying with Connie while we were out of town, he tore into the rice and flour and sprinkled it all over her basement.  Seriously?!?  I was able to capture his latest trick - opening the rice crispies box and bag and dragging it across the kitchen into our dining room.  I will be the first to admit that we need to give him more attention, but lately I feel like I have 3 babies at home instead of two!

In action

uh-oh, I got caught (doesn't he look guilty?!?)

Don't mind me, I am going to back to eating

His whole nose was covered, but I thought it was hilarious that he was so focused on the task at hand, he didn't even stop to lick his nose

Palm Desert - Arroyo time

Every night the sun sets behind the mountains and creates a warm glow.  I took the camera out and captured Andy playing.  Bubbles, popcorn, and bikes!

March - Palm Desert

I was lucky to get down to the sunshine for the first 10 days in March.  I don't know what it is - but this winter I really have been bummed out by the weather.  It seems to be extra gloomy and dark.  Getting down to Palm Desert for 10 days with the kids was just what the doctor ordered.  The weather was beautiful and warm and we played hard every day.  Both kids were fighting colds, but it didn't slow us down too much.  We went for our morning walk, headed to the pool (Katie's first time in the pool!), afternoon naps, and evening golf.  Unfortunately, Kyle couldn't join us, but I was lucky to have my mom helping the whole week and we had some great mom-daughter time.  We also were lucky to have a last-minute surprise and have my dad with us for four days!  Andy and Bapa had some good bonding time swimming, golfing, and reading books.  Thanks mom and dad for really great time away.  I am not so happy to be back in rainy, windy Seattle.

Pool time with Bapa

Katie and Ka

Katie's first time swimming - think she is having fun?!?

Life is tough : )

Golf cart and popcorn

Walking with Katie-girl