Work out Wednesdays

I am dedicating Wednesdays on my blog to working out.  There are all kinds of work out inspiration photos, instructional videos, and smart pieces of advice on the internet these days so I think I want to use this platform to talk about them and how they are helping me in my life and hopefully to inspire you to do the same.  I am really trying to get myself in shape and working out is a major factor in that.  I have a few problems with working out: 1) I hate it 2) I feel like I have better things to do 3) I get bored within the blink of an eye.

After I had Kate my body had completely transformed it's self.  I was pretty proud of the fact that I had only gained 30 pounds during pregnancy (because I already had some to lose) and actually got that off pretty quick.  Since the day I came home from the hospital I have lost a total of 51 pounds. sounds pretty good right? I have dropped all of my pregnancy weight and lost an extra 20 pounds.  I should be feeling awesome about myself right? Well guess what. I measure everything by pant size.  My pant size has not changed one bit from my pre pregnancy size. Thanks to pregnancy my weight, my body shifted so much that I lost weight in other areas like my arms, thighs, and butt, but my hips, stomach, and boobs have stayed exactly the same or gotten bigger! How frustrating is that?! Well it was all for the cause and I would do it 100 times again if I had to, but It made me realize that to get where I want to be regular exercise and toning is going to have to be a part of my life.  

I have recently started jogging/ walk-running intervals and felt like that was good enough, but I know that I get bored easily so I have started going to my trusty friend pinterest to find some fun things to do to switch it up! I want to share one of my new favorite things I have found.  

I have started doing this quick short work out during a quick 10 minute break at work a few times a day.  I love this because it is a small quick calorie burn that adds up.  If you can do this 3 times a day on top of your regular work out that is 300 calories extra burned. If you do this 5 times a week thats 1500 calories! How awesome is that?! I just recently started doing this but I will report back on how it's going and how I feel like it's helping.  I do know that i'm trying to do it when I'm wanting to snack and taking my mind off of food and onto burning calories! 

Let me know if you try it and how it's working for you! 

-K 

New Look, New Blogs

I hope everyone has been doing well and getting into the fall mood! I personally have been loving the weather recently!

As you can see we have a new look here at The life of Kate's Mom! I wanted to streamline and really make this blog about the story of our lives.  I hope you all like it! I'm sure as I get more sophisticated at blogger and html there will be new features at some point but for right now we are going simple. 

So along with the new look I have two more exciting announcements to make! I have taken on two more blogs that I can't wait for you to be a part of! I know what you are thinking, 'but Kylie, you don't even blog enough on this blog, what are you thinking?'.  That is a very good point and I have big plans to bring you new fun blog posts to this blog and the new blogs.  

The first one is a super fun blog for me and I have been wanting to start for a while now.  I have started a photography blog for all of our photo ventures.  I have recently been asked by multiple people to do some photography and shoots for them and I wanted a place to display all of our fun work! It is called Katherine H photography, after that sweet baby of mine, and I am so excited! I have a full time job so this is really just a fun fun hobby for me.  I hope to get that going soon and have some photos up for you all to see! 

The second blog is something I am SUPER excited about.  I am a big reader and I love the idea of a book club but lets be honest, who has time to get together with a bunch of people and talk about them? Not me. So one of my super hilarious best friends Jessica over at JessandJacy.com and I decided that we were going to start an online blogger book club.  The way this works is that every monday we will dedicate our blog to the book club.  We will pick 2-3 chapters of a book and write what we think about it.  Heres how you join, Write a blog on the same chapters we are on mondays and add our blog buttons to your blog and we will do the same that way we can easily go read each others!  Now let me just warn you/let you in on a little secret of mine.  I LOVE trashy romance novels.  I know I know, but your a MOM? Well most of you reading this blog are either in your 20's, a mom, or like me, both.  Don't lie to yourselves people, you like reading trashy romance books too.  Which is why i'm going to put this disclaimer out there for people before going to read or join our blogger book club.  Most of our books will be trashy romance novels.  Think fifty shades, Nora Robert's, Sylvia Day etc etc.  What this means is there is going to be some topics that people might be uncomfortable with, language for adults, and adult content. That's why I made a completely new blog just for this :)  The book club is cleverly named: The Monday Seductive... Not your momma's book club, and you can find the link here and the button to share on your blog at the bottom of this blog site! I really hope I can convince some of you to join us because it's going to be a fun time to unwind and take some time to yourself ;).  

Talk soon blogger world! 

-K

Quick and easy yummies

Today at the end of work we were all talking about what we were going to make for dinner tonight, I didn't think I had all of the ingredients for the meal I wanted to make but I suggested it to my friends at work (which both have two young boys) that they should try my mexican casserole sometime! I was craving it when we started talking about it so the first thing I did when I made it home was look in the cabinet to see if I had the ingredients that I needed. Turns out I did! I ended up making Jacob one of my favorite go to easy dinners.  I am trying to be good so I actually only had a bite of casserole and a "taco" salad instead which consisted of spinach leaves leftover smoked turkey salsa and a little bit of fat free cheese.  Definitely not as good as mexican casserole, but it served it's purpose of getting me my "mexican" fix. This recipe is super yummy and actually really pocket friendly! I told the girls I would share the recipe on my blog and on pinterest (which you can follow me here).  So here it is, my cheap fix mexican casserole!


To start the mexican casserole brown  ground beef with taco seasoning. I usually just do one pound because i'm just cooking for the two of us.  That leaves us with a pan that feeds us both for dinner and a lunch so it will easily feed a family of four at dinner time! It would be super easy to double or triple this recipe if you ware going to be feeding a crowd!

Next you spread one can on refried beans into the bottom of an 8x8 pan or just whatever small baking dish you have!  Then on top of the refried beans layer your taco meet.  Then sprinkle some cheese on top of the taco meet.  I really like to use the mexican blend shredded cheese :). For the last layer spread a box of mixed up corn bread batter (or use your own recipe if you are an overachiever) on the top! 

Bake the casserole according to the corn bread recipe and about 15-20 minutes later you have a super yummy dinner! 

I hope this quick and easy meal inspires you to try it yourself! It is super simple! 

Mexican Casserole

Ingredients:

1 can refried beans

1lb Ground Beef, Browned

1 packet Taco Seasoning

1-1/2 C. Shredded Mexican Blend Cheese

1 mixed recipe Cornbread Batter

In small baking dish layer the Refried beans, Taco Seasoned Ground beef, Shredded Cheese.  Poor Cornbread mix on top and spread evenly to cover entire casserole. Bake per the cornbread recipe.  Enjoy! 

-K

Leave of absence

I want to apologize right now for the lack of love I have given to my poor 'ol blog.  I don't know where the Summer has gone but It absolutely was one of the busier summers I can remember.  I have realized that between working, being a mom, trying to keep up with our house, and trying to have a social life that my blogging time was really limited.  I think my lack of love to my blog has really been caused by the fact that I have a 7 month old.  I really think that there is something to be said and a little *cheers* should be had for all moms before me that were prepared for the 4-8 month time frame.  I love that little girl but I would be lying if I said I was prepared for this part of her first year.

Before Kate was born I did my best to read all of the best books, online sites,  and talk to all the other mommies I knew to try and be prepared to have a child.  It was so fun to learn about what the first couple months would be like.  I was absolutely prepared for the fact that I wasn't going to be sleeping, how much she was going to be eating, what her first milestones should have been, how to burp a baby, how to have tummy time, etc, etc.  What I was NOT prepared for what how the months between her being a baby and a small toddler were going to be.

Let me make a list of things that I honestly was not prepared for: teething, helpless ness, laughter, food issues, play time, dirty house, learning how to tag team.

First and foremost I was not prepared for the fact that she gets so frustrated with herself.  That sweet little chubby faced girl gets so frustrated when she mentally knows exactly what she wants but she just can not physically do it herself.  Her gift of being very smart is also her demise because her body can not keep up.  I absolutely hate the feeling when I am watching her try to pick up a puff and she just can't quite get it.  She is determined so she tries and tries until she just can't any more.  Although it is frustrating for her, one of my favorite things about this stage of her life is celebrating those small things.  We cheer like OU just won the national championship when she can hold her bottle by herself or get a puff into her mouth by herself.  I root her on when she is trying to crawl, We all laugh and cheer when she does something by herself that she had not be able to do before.  She is such a smiley little babe so it is obvious when she is proud of herself.  I love that about her.

The second things I was not prepared for was teething.  Honestly it has not been that bad so far *knock on wood* she has really done so great.  She now has a whopping four teeth that she is so in love with. She scoots her tongue around them and clicks them with her fingers and thinks they are awesome.  Even though her teething was not nearly as bad as some other kids I've heard of, this was really the first time where she didn't feel good and I hated that feeling.  I hated that there really wasn't much I could do to make her feel better and that I just had to wait it out.  There is no good reason for it but I absolutely felt guilty that she hurt.  We ran into this feeling also on a flight home from a vacation we recently took.  She was such a great flier and did amazing on the flights there but on the first flight home she got behind on clearing her ears on the decent and started screaming and crying so hard because her poor little ears hurt.  It was awful.  I was crying, she was crying, people felt bad for us, and there was nothing I could get her to do to make her feel better.  Not prepared for that at all.

The third thing that I was not prepared for was the little things about this point in her life.  I guess I had some dream baby in my head that would be able to entertain herself for longer than 10 minutes at a time by this age, but that isn't the case quite yet.  She absolutely is getting better at playing by her herself but I was not prepared that Jacob and I would have to tag team to get dinner done or to get the house picked up.  I don't mind this time at all, actually she is so much fun right now that I really love it, but not being able to keep our house picked up and picking sleep over dusted shelves is something that we are having to get used to.

Although there are some things that I was not prepared for, there are a ton of things I was unprepared for that are happy surprises.  It surprises me everyday how much Jacob and I love her more and more.  She surprises us how much she grows and how fast she learns.  Her smile is the most contagious thing on this planet and I am so thankful that I get to see it every morning and every night.

Overall the past few months have been great.  She is a rolling fool that loves to wiggle and move.  She "talks" to herself all day long, and she LOVES to eat.  That last one is obvious because she is a healthy 21 pounds and 28 inches long and 96th percentile overall.  Her favorite foods at the moment are sweet potatoes, carrots, peas, mangos, pears, apples, and oatmeal.  She loves those fun little puffies and is actively trying to learn how to feed herself which is super funny and exciting.  She is starting to look more like a toddler than a baby and i'm not really sure how I feel about that.  I am looking forward to fall and the holiday season with her this year and I think she is going to be so cute.  I really need to keep up with my blog and have it updated so you all can keep up with how fun she is!

Sorry this post is mostly me rambling but I have big plans for the blog's future.  I've been dabbling in some photography so that will be something fun I will start posting, I have a lot of pinterest projects that I plan on sharing, and I also can not wait to share more stories about being Kate's mom.  I also have design plans for the blog so be looking for a new look soon!!

-K

Mothers Day!

My first mothers day was awesome.  My day was really a weekend full of fun!  It started out Friday when My mother in law sent me flowers.  Having flowers at work just makes any girls day better.  Then friday night I had a good time hanging out with my parents and just having a laid back night.   Saturday morning my mom and I had breakfast and then went to a make up / mini facial special at the Chanel counter in Dillards.  We had mini facials, our make up done, had punch and snacks! It was a fun time.  Late saturday night we had my cousins graduation party and that was a fun time too! Sunday, Mothers day, was a great day.  My mom and I had a whole brunch planned for that mid morning and I couldn't wait! I had found these super cute mothers day printables that I was super excited about and they turned out so cute!

We ended up having a lovely brunch with my parents, Jacob's mom, my grandma, and my aunt and uncles family! We stuffed ourselves and then were sleepy the rest of the afternoon.  That night we took Jacob's mom out to the Melting Pot.  We Love love love the melting pot! Yes I realize you are cooking your own food but the atmosphere and the fact the food is really good is so fun! Misti had never eaten fondue (I know right?) so we took her for her mothers day present! I have been bugging jacob about getting the Melting Pot cook book for some time now and when we walked up to the table they had one waiting for me! woo hoo! I get to make all those fun recipes at home now! watch out for invitations to a fondue party soon! hehe! Any ways it was a great day and I felt really special.  

My sister sent me a video on friday night that was made by johnson and johnson (Here it is) and it said all of the right things that a new mom needs to hear.  All you want to hear is that you are doing okay.  During these past 4 months taking care of Kate when I have never taken care of a baby before it is really easy to doubt yourself and think you are not doing things right. It's true I have not done everything right but I look back and see that I have at least done OK.  As jacob says "she's alive".  I hope that I can continue to do the best I can raising her.  If you see a new mom out there tell her exactly that... She's doing just fine.  I promise you It will make her day. 

I can not thank my Husband and my parents enough for being so great to me on sunday, and every day.  Love you guys!

-K

Fathers Day Printables!

Most of you all know that I love to plan parties and events.  I love love love parties.  We have a monthly birthday party and one of my favorite parts of my job is helping plan them.  I was helping some girls at the office plan the birthday party this month and I made the cutest pennant banner! The colors are a robyns egg blue, brown, and white.  I love these colors together and I realized I really really love these colors for Father's day! This is a big fathers day because it is Jacobs first! I am so excited to throw him a big Fathers day party this year and I decided to make the banner from the birthday party into my fathers day banner! I ended up makeing a banner, cupcake toppers, place cards, and signs! I thought you all might want to throw your own fathers day parties too so I thought I would share my printables!! I LOVED making these so hopefully for future parties and events I can create more and share them with you!

so here they are! FREE!


{Free Fathers Day Printables!}

I will update with pictures after we have the party! woo hoo!

-K

3 months

Our baby girl is 3 months and 3 weeks old.  It is amazing how fast it has gone, but then again it seems like she has been here forever.  I really can't remember what my life was like without her.  I guess every parent feels this way, it just seems weird that she hasn't been around for very long.

In the past three months we have watched her grow from a tiny 7 pound 9 oz little tiny thing to the 15 pound 4 oz cute little chunkster that she is now.  It has really been amazing to see her come into her little personality.  We have always known (well for 3.5 months) that she was a pretty laid back baby.  We are so lucky that she sleeps trough the night, she really only cries when she is hungry (which is often) and when she is tired.  She loves to smile and is starting to constantly laugh which is oh so funny.  She recently started "standing up", or maybe the better explanation would be that she is bering weight on her legs and when she is standing Jacob tells her "look at this baby standing up" and she just laughs and laughs.  She thinks that waking up is one of the funniest things.  I walk into her room and look at her while she is laying in her crib and she gets this big smile on her face, picks her legs up towards her face, then squeals and slams them down on the bed.  She could probably do this for a good 30 minutes if I let her just lay there :).

Kate is growing so fast and with her growing and becoming more alert there are going to be some fun and challenging things that are going to come.  One of the more fun things we are trying to teach her is sign language.  Our families are all really into learning the language and we can not wait to be able to teach her.  I think learning another language will be really great for her and sign can come in handy.  It will allow us to communicate with her before she can speak, but it will also let us communicate in quite places, or without yelling across a park or the house.  Who knows, it might come in handy some day.  We also get to start solid foods too here in the next few months.  I am going to make her baby food so that will be a fun little challenge.  She recently rolled over from her tummy to her back which was a fun thing to watch.  I was afraid she was never going to be able to do that because she just wasn't a fan of being on her tummy.  She is getting stronger and more used to tummy time now so watching her learn to roll over and eventually watching her learn to crawl will be fun, but we can wait on the crawling part for a while.

Jacob and I are just so lucky to have her.  We had a strong love and Marriage before she came along, but she absolutely makes it stronger.  I know what most of you are thinking, yea yea we were only married for four months before we got pregnant, but we have been together for 7 years now and living together 4 of those so I think that counts :).  She brings so much joy to our lives.

Here is a sneak peak of her three month photo shoot that happened to be a mommy and me shoot for mothers day! Thanks to the amazing Angel Porch at Art and Soul Photography for the amazing photos! She's the best!

-K

The weight loss post

Okay okay okay.  I know yall don't really want to read another  "weight loss blog" so I promise that I will not turn this entire blog into bitching about losing weight, but I am going to post about it every now and then. It's an active part of my life and that's what this blog is for.  So here it goes.

It's not a secret that I have gained some weight over the past few years.  I obviously have some work to do when it comes to my body and my health. In the past I honestly have not ever had a problem with my body.  I won't say I didn't get upset when I went jean shopping or when swimsuit season came around, because I did, but I was over all pretty content with myself.  I lost this content after Kate was born.  After she was born everything was stretched out, saggy, and just plain ol soft.  Gross.  I actually lost all of my pregnancy weight really fast.  I gained 30lbs on the dot which is a great healthy amount of weight to gain.  As of one month ago I was back to my pre pregnancy weight but with lots of extra skin and stretch marks. Again, gross.  I'm not quite ready to reveal my actual weight but I will tell you that as of April 1st I set a goal to lose 65 pounds.  Thats a lot of weight.  I have short term goals too which I think are helping me keep the slow and steady wins the race mentality.  I have a goal to lose 30 pounds by august.  I think this is super obtainable and I am well on my way.  I set these goals with Kate on my mind.  How great will it be for me to be healthier to be able to keep up with that little squirmer later! I need to be healthier for myself first of all, but also for her.

What inspired me to write this post today was meeting my other short term goal.  Thanks to my awesomely supportive hubby I set my goal for April which was to lose 10 pounds.  As of this morning I met that goal.  I lost 10 pounds this month which is awesome.  I don't think I have actually hit a weight loss goal in a LONG time.  I woke up this morning feeling proud of myself, healthier, and ready to kick it in gear and continue this month.  I plan on having the same goal for May.  10 pounds gone by June 1st.  As to how I lost those 10 pounds I have to say I am really just trying to make healthier choices and I have been going to the gym.  I found an iPhone app that I LOVE called lolo treadmill.  The app creates interval workouts for me and gradually increases the intensity every time.  I have been going to the gym at least 5 times a week for the month of April.  I plan on keeping that routine up.  I don't think I have ever felt so good about working out.  It hasn't come easy but I have some great support!  Along with Jacob cheering me on I have a friend, Jessica, that has been keeping me motivated.  I felt really proud to be able to tell her this morning that I hit my goal.  I love that she is proud of me just as much as I am proud of myself.  That right there is a great friend.  I am so lucky to have her as a friend. 
As with any great blog you have to have pictures, and on any successful weight loss blog you always see "before" and "after" pictures.  I don't know what makes me think that this helps them lose more weight and stay motivated, but I do think it helps. I took my "before" pictures at the beginning of April. I took pictures of myself that are internet appropriate (with clothes on) so I could share them on my blog. I don't particularly know why I have felt nervous to put them up before, but I really debated if I should or not.  I decided yesterday that everyone that is reading this blog has probably met me and they know what I look like, and If they haven't, well great, they will have something to compare to when I post my next pictures later.  I think it is allowing me to put everything out on the table.  I'm not hiding behind anything anymore.  They aren't the best pictures ever but you get the point. So here they are.

                                       Please excuse my messy room, workout clothes, and blurry pictures :)

 I also took them for myself (with less clothes on) and someday when I'm ready I might just share those with you to show how much I have really changed, but for now these will work :).


I hope to share a story that can inspire other people to get themselves to be healthier and happier with themselves.  I am so happy to have everyones support and keep it up because the kind words really keep me going!


End the sappy weight loss post.... NOW!



-K

UPDATE:  I totally forgot to mention one of my favorite people that is helping keep myself accountable.  My great cousin and friend Elizabeth.  She inspired me to join our gym and has been with me every step of this journey so far.  She and I are keeping eachother accountable and also giving me someone to chat with at the gym.  I love you and sorry I forgot you ;)

I live for happiness.

Something many of you know about me is that I'm a really happy person most of the time. I don't really understand how people go through life unhappy and down on life. I absolutely live on happiness. I love to be happy myself, but there really is no better way to make myself happy than to make someone else happy.

These last couple weeks have been fun with Kate because all I do is strive to make her happy, and if you have read my blog "laughing" you would know that she is starting to let me know when she is really happy. It makes me happy to know that I can make her happy. I know that for the rest of my life I will try and make her happy, just like my parents have done far too often for me.

I read in someone else's blog today about how a lot of people look at having kids as a burden rather than a blessing and how hurtful she finds that. I could not agree more. There were so many times when I was pregnant that I heard something like "enjoy your time now" or "wait until" this or that happens. People all around me made it sound like such work with little pay off. I have quickly come to find out that all of those people should really take a step back and look at the advice they are giving. I might only be 3 months into being a mom, but I absolutely know that I am looking forward to the future with my daughter. I would gladly have sleepless nights and trying times to have her and make her happy. I can't imagine that people intend the unsolicited advice as hurtful or rude, but in all honesty, it is. I think people should focus on how great the reward of being a parent is. I might not sleep, but in the mean time I get to stare at that precious face. She might hinder our ability to just hop up and go, but I just can't ever imagine Kate being a burden to my life. Yes it might be hard, and yes I might not know what I'm talking about yet, but I know how happy I am because she is here.

-K

sleeping habits

I have been together with my husband for quite a while now.  We will have been together for 7 years on April 25th, We have lived together 3 years, and we have been married for a year and a half in June.  Long enough for us to figure out eachother sleeping habits.   It took me a while to figure out a good sleeping schedule. We have our "his and her's" side of the bed, (while I was pregnant I convinced myself that I would sleep better if we switched sides... I was wrong, but we have yet to switch back).  We have figured out that Jacob is a back/side sleeper and I am for sure a stomach sleeper. We also figured out during pregnancy that when I sleep on my back I snore. A LOT.  Jacob doesn't like to sleep without a shower.  We both have to go to sleep pretty early because we both wake up pretty early for work.  I would like to say I dont have vary many sleep issues but who knows... I'm sleeping.  I do know for a fact that Jacob has some sleep issues that freak me out.

Jacob is a sleep talker. He is also a sleep walker.

It took me longer to figure out these interesting things about him. The first weird thing I figured out about him was that he sleeps with his eyes open. It's like he's staring at me. Super weird.  Talking in his sleep was the next weird thing.  I dont remember a lot of what he says because a lot of times it's unrecognizeable mermers and noises that I can't understand.  On the very special occasion that he talks to me in his sleep and I can understand him it always makes me wonder, WHAT THE HECK is he dreaming about?! The most recent event when he was talking in his sleep, the converstation went like this:

Jacob: "Girlfriend" (which by the way yes we still call eachother boyfriend and girlfriend, and yes we will probably do that until we die)

Me: huh?

Jacob: "Girlfriend do you have your earplugs in?"

Me: "Boyfriend you are sleeping"

Jacob: "I am NOT sleeping, do you have your earplugs?"

Me: "no, you are sleeping"

Jacob: " Do whatever you want". He then rolls over and goes back into regular sleep.

I always ask him if he remembers talking to me the night before and he usually remembers talking to me but doesnt remember what happend.  This is a very simmilar situation as to when he is sleep walking.  His sleep walking in most cases is much less obvious. Most of the time he heads towards the bathroom, but then viers off to some other part of the room. I can usually catch him by saying "boyfriend, what are you doing?".  Sometimes he responds still dreaming and it takes a second question, but most of the time it just takes that one for him to wake up and realize he doesn't know what he is doing and goes back to bed.  The last time he slept walked was when Kate was about 7 weeks old.  Jacob is a super light sleeper so he cant sleep in the same room as her because she is LOUD when she sleeps.  She was still sleeping in the living room in a bassinett thing when this happened which is what tipped me off to him sleep walking.  He had gotten out of bed and headed for the bathroom, turned around and then headed for the door to the living room.  I asked my usual "what are you doing?" and he said "I'm going to sleep on the couch" when I asked why he said " you need to stop rolling around" I told him "I havent moved since I have been asleep" and he says "oh, okay." and comes back to bed.

These instances are honestly few and far between but they always make me laugh.  They are just really funny. Something we have figured out about Kate is that she is already an expressive sleeper.  She dreams like no baby I have ever seen.  She looks like she is dreaming of bottles and trying to eat while she is sleeping.  she laughs, she cries, she screams, and she smiles all in her sleep.  she even sleeps with her eyes open just like Jacob.  let's all hope she doesnt grow up to be a sleep talker, but i'm not holding my breath. 

-K

laughing

Kate has started laughing and it is the most wonderful sound in the world.  It is so so funny to hear her chuckle.  It also makes me feel good that I am getting a reaction from her about all the stupid faces and noises I make to her everyday in hopes that it makes her happy.  There is a pin on pinterest I see every once in a while that is a picture of a bunch of women standing around in a circle looking over a baby with googily eyes.  I laugh every time I see this picture because it is so true.  I feel like a complete dumbass sometimes when i'm standing over Kate sticking my tounge out at her or babbling at her like an idiot, but I now know that my efforts are being recieved and now I am being rewarded.  It has been amazing to watch her grow from a tiny little thing that had no facial expression, to a bit bigger tiny thing that smiled at me every once in a while, and now a 14 pound infant that smiles, laughs, and cacks at me because i'm making her happy with my stupid faces and noises. 

Her first laugh made me laugh, and almost cry.  We were over hanging out with my mother in law and sister in law that day.  My mother in law is just a great grandma and is always making Kate smile.  She was doing something along the lines of saying "i'm gunna get this baby" and brigning her up and kissing her neck really fast and all of a sudden we hear this "huh huuhhh huuuhhh" noise.  It took me a second to realize OH MY GOSH! MY BABY IS LAUGHING! I was a super proud mama. 

The little act of laughing or smiling or learning a new sign (which by the way we are totally going to be awesome signing parents) has made me realize how proud I am going to be.  I am going to be one of those annoying parents that is proud of any tiny little thing my kids do.  I haven't ever had a problem with those kinds of parents before, but I assume I will probably annoy people.  I will here by promise to try to keep my proudness undercontrol in public.  I just know that I will be so excited when any little accomplishments are made.  I know there are kids out there that have parents that are never proud of them and I vowed when Kate was born that I would never be one of those parents. I have a daughter. She laughed and I am proud of her.

-K

Maternity leave

Yesterday was my last day of maternity leave.  Sad face.  Happy face.

It ended up being one great day.  We got up and snuggled for a little while and then we went and visited Kate's Grandma, Jacob's mom, at her work.  There is one thing that I have to say about my family.  I have the best family ever.  I am so lucky to have amazing parents myself but I am also blessed with having amazing In-Laws.  Kate and I love going to visit my mother in law at work.  For one I love getting to spend time with her and we have super fun chats about decorating, sign language (I'm sure this topic will soon become it's own post), and all sorts of gossip.  I also love that everyone around the office loves to take time out of their day to come see us.  It is just a fun place to go have a break.  Kate is always so happy to see her grandma :).

After our adventure to visit Misti, we went and visited her other grandma (She she, as we like to call her) for a nice lunch.  Now I know I have gloated before about how awesome my mom is, but here we go again.  She is awesome.  She would do anything in the world for my sister and I, and now she would give up the world for Kate.  What else can you ask for in a person? I have no idea.  Kate loves her and my dad so much already and she doesn't even know her own name yet.  We had a lovely lunch for which Kate slept the entire time.  This is a pretty common instance.  Besides the poop incident (which you can read about here) Kate has always been so easy to take anywhere.  She the majority of the time falls asleep within 30 seconds of being in the car and stays that way until she realizes she is hungry, which these days can be after 4-5 hours of her last meal so it is pretty simple going for her (knock on wood).  My mom had gone shopping earlier in the day which resulted in "santa clause" gearing up for christmas this year haha.  P.S. did you all know pottery barn kids in Penn is going out of business?! Anyways my mom got the cutest things for her but they are all things she won't be able to use until she is a little bit older.  Why not stock up now right?  ANYWAYS so after lunch we took a trip to target.  If you know me you know how I feel about target.  If you don't, I LOVE TARGET!! I will shout it from the roof tops.  I buy everything from target.  After our Target run we went back to my parent's house and played with She She and Pop's.  She always has a good time over there because she is spoiled with love and attention.  Which in my opinion is never a bad thing.

Jacob and I had a little fun too.  Last night we asked his mom to baby sit Kate for us while we went and had a super fun dinner at the melting pot! I love the melting pot.  I know some people don't like it because your paying to cook your own food, but I think it's the atmosphere that does it for us.  I love having long dinners with friends where we can just sit and talk and laugh and enjoy each other, good food, and good wine.

My time off has been so amazing.  I have gotten to watch my little girl grow so fast.  She has reached so many milestones and I know that she is in good hands to continue that growth.  I am so lucky that we have found such a great baby school for Kate to attend while we are at work.

It's been sweet but I am happy to be back at work.  I am really loving my job right now and I can't wait to see where it is going to take me.

-K

By request... Poop (this is gross)

be advised that this post is gross. if you can't handle talking about poop don't read this.

I had a specific request for a blog, which doesn't happen normally, to blog about Kate's wonderful first time to hideaway pizza. All I can say is Poop. Poop EVERYWHERE!  So for all of you parents out there you know that when your child is first born they poop. for the non parents... they poop. A lot. Kate in particular had really disgusting breast fed baby poop (i'll spare you the details).  So you can see where this story is going.

It was a lovely afternoon.  Kate was about 4 weeks old and my mom and I had decided to have lunch at hideaway that day.  Hideaway is not far from my good friend Jessica's work so I give her a shout to see if she want's to come and meet us for lunch.  She agreed and we all met at lunchtime.  I had started bringing Kate into public when she was about a week old.  She was always sleeping and we never had a problem bringing her anywhere so I didn't think too much about bringing her out.  I always feel prepared when we go out for any situation because I have an amazing diaper bag that is stuffed full with all the stuff I could ever need.  We have our diapers, wipes, burp rags, bottles, milk, and secondary outfits if needed all in this awesome back pack.  I am absolutely prepared for any situation that would occur right? Wrong.

By this time in Kate's life she had developed a habit to where she was only pooping once a day or so.  you always hear before you child is born that you need to watch out for the "blowouts", but you also think, nooo not my precious baby girl, she is to pretty to poop like that.  well that was a freaking fantasy that I made up in my head because guess what? It happened. It happened right there in the middle of Hideaway.

My mom was holding her and she made her face like she was about to make a mess. and sure enough she did.  all over. all over the table, all over my mom, all over her clothes, all over the floor, all over. Jessica is a weak stomach and just about puked all over the table.  she couldn't get out of there fast enough. I think she realized how embarrassed I was because she felt bad that she gagged. I don't blame her at all, it was gross. let alone did Jess have to witness this mess but our waiter was standing RIGHT THERE! He totally witnessed the whole event and didn't even say a word. I commend him for keeping a straight face in front of me. I think if he would have said something I might have cried. I was trying to be as discrete about the situation as possible but that is kind of impossible when there is shit flinging across the table and onto the floor. gross.
I am mortified.

So my mom and I flee into action and wrap kate up in a burp cloth we had, clean up the table, luckily I carry lysol wipes and could disinfect everything.  okay maybe i'm over exaggerating and it didn't really get on the table, but it did for sure get on the floor.  We go to the bathroom and everything just got worse. She got poop on every part of her. I don't even know how that was possible, but it was. I have to strip her down, give her a makeshift sponge bath right there in the hideaway bathroom, and change her diaper and her clothes. It was a huge task.  I am still bright red with embarrassment, she has no more diapers so she better not go again, and she was out of our travel outfits that are clean.  I was not prepared.  

I don't think i will ever be allowed back in hideaway nor do I really want to show my face there but I am just glad I survived the day. 

So Jess, this ones for you. 

That's the life of Kate's mom

-K

How I became Kate's Mom...

well you already know how I became her mom but here is the part you might not know...

Cry, eat, sleep, poop, cry, eat, sleep, poop....  sometimes.

This has been my life for the past two and a half months.  I became forever known as "Kate's mom" two and a half wonderful months ago.  I thought the previous nine months were the best and worst months of my life, but as it turns out, actually having a physical live human being to take care of is actually more challenging than tilted sore hips and gaining a bunch of weight, but it is also the best thing that has ever happened to me.  On January 19th 2012 at 6:31pm my baby girl Katherine Kay was born.  She is my sunshine on any day and I can't even remember what life was like before she was here.  I have no need to.  It is really amazing what the process of pregnancy and childbirth will do to a person.  It is fun, scary, painful, emotional, and absolutely terrifyingly amazing.

It was this time last year we found out that Kate was on her way.  It was a wonderfully planned surprise.  What I mean by that was we had started talking about expanding our family and we were in the processes of getting ready physically and finically so that when the time came we could get right too it.  Well I guess  fate had another plan and BAM there she was.  The best planned surprise ever.  We had a relatively smooth pregnancy, pretty much textbook for normal, and then our induction date finally was here.  I opted for an induction on January 19th 2012 and it is a good thing I did.  The last week I was pregnant Kate started running out of room in there and it was non stress tests every other day that week.  We got checked in the hospital at midnight on the 19th and they got the ball rolling.  I started on the dilation drug at around one o'clock am and *tried* to get some sleep that night.  well turns out sleeping in the hospital when your so anxious leads to no sleep what so ever.  I had my blood pressure taken every 30 minutes and the nurses came and checked my vitals every hour so there was just no sleep going on.  Luckily I had a TV and my iPad to be able to Pinterest all night.  At 7 am my doctor came and broke my water and an hour later started me on the meds that make your labor start.  I was already having some contractions by that time so it didn't take long for the contractions to start coming on fast and strong.  I made it until 10:30am to get my epidural and what a great decision that was. (If you know me, you know why it was a normal decision to have an epidural :) ).  and THANK THE LORD for epidurals.  I wasn't afraid of getting an epidural like most people are, I have seen them done multiple times and the needle didn't freak me out at all, but I will not lie to you and tell you that this was the only part of my entire labour experience that I used the words "shit" and "damn".  It might have just been me and my intolerance for shots and pain, but dang did that first shot to numb the area hurt.  It might have hurt but it was ONE HUNDRED and FIFTY percent worth it.  After I had that kick in it was pretty much smooth sailing... sort of.  the rest of that day went by pretty slow.  I progressed pretty normally though out the day, going from a 1 to a 3 then to a 5,7, and then the magic number for me... an 8. At 4:00pm I had made it to an 8.  Then things began to get funky.  My contractions had changed from a beautiful perfectly timed pattern to some seriously wonky un-coordinated pattern, Kate's heart rate was spiking higher, and she decided that she did not want to come down any further.  So at this point it wasn't an emergency, but something to watch.  I was warned at this point that if she doesn't come down in a couple of hours we will need to do a C-Section.  I didn't particularly want a C-Section but if that is what needed to happen then I would deal with it. so they check again at 5:00 pm and no progress... well shit.  At this point a section was looking more likely, but they wanted to give me until 6 to see if any progress could be made.  I was kind of ready for them to just take me... I had been in the hospital for 17 hours and in labor for 11 of those 17 hours.  I was checked out and wanted to get the show on the road.  At 5:45 they come in and tell me that kate is stressing out in there and we need to go ahead with the C-Section.  I think two things at the same time, WOO HOO! and OH SHIT! .  I was super excited for her to finally be here but I was also nervous.  I have never in my life had any kind of surgery before.  I have watched surgery A LOT so I knew the procedure but it was still weird being the girl on the table.  So when they told us we were headed out, they gave Jacob some scrubs to wear into the OR (funny side note: he didn't think he got to go in, and so when they brought him his scrubs he was super excited.) he changed really quickly and away we go, saying our goodbyes to my amazing family who all were in the hospital ALL DAY waiting for miss Kate.  We get in the OR and literally like 5 minutes later she was here.   Kate was born at 6:31 pm and was 19.5 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 9 ounces.After the first few minutes of her being in Jacobs arms things start to go really fast.  I don't remember much from the time she was born to when I woke up in our recovery room, but I do remember I was shaking uncontrollably and I was exhausted.

The time we were in the hospital, Thursday to Sunday, was really nice.  we had sooo many amazing family and friends come visit us.  I am absolutely humbled and grateful that we have so many amazing people to surround Kate with during her life.  It made me so happy that Kate got to meet some of my best friends and family that were from out of town. We had pretty good nights sleep because we sent miss Kate to the nursery at night and they just brought her to me when she needed to eat.  This was a godsend because I was so tired those few nights it let me rest up for when the actual work started when we got home.  During the days in the hospital we all just sat and stared at her. who knew you could love something so much. (I know, I know, super cheesy, but you will understand one day).

The next three weeks were a pretty eye opening experience.  I have never known what tired was until now.  I have never known what emotional was until now.  I have never known what people mean when they say "i feel like a feeding machine" until now.  I was literally crying everyday for 3 weeks.  I felt so over my head it wasn't even funny.  I was freaking out... but all the while I loved that little girl and would do anything to make her happy, even if that includes no sleep and limited showers.  I had loads of help those first three weeks and I am beyond grateful for that. Thank goodness for Jacob and his natural ability to take care of babies and take care of me. I love him for his ability to take care of me, among other wonderful qualities. I also have to say thank goodness for my parents and mother in law.  My mom came and helped me every day for almost three weeks straight. Love you mom.   I can't imagine how people can make it through those first three weeks with no help.  Thank goodness I won't have to find out how they do it. When Kate was about one month old things started getting much easier.  I will say, we were lucky from the start.  She is one of the sleepiest babies I have ever seen.  She sleeps all day and all night now.

I can't believe how these two months have flown by.  I am back to work and really loving the adult interaction, but I miss my little miss Kate all day.  I am excited to be getting back in my workout routine which i'm sure is what I will end up crying, yelling, and wining about on this blog but it should make for  pretty great entertainment for anyone that decides they want to read it! I want to try and keep an up to date profile of what is going on in my life and my families life so here it is.  Welcome to the life of Kate's Mom.

-K

UPDATE: I totally forgot to post a picture.  yea yea most of you have seen her pictures a million times but hey, it's my blog and I do what I want ;)

 One week old

Two and a Half months old