Fall pics

Had a good photo opp last weekend at the church festival. Our first family picture (pretty sad, huh?)

We love October!

The Pumpkin Patch, Halloween, football, perfect weather...what's not to love about fall? We are definitely excited that fall is finally here, we put up some fall decorations this weekend and I don't even think it got above 80 the entire weekend! We even went to the park and ate dinner and played the other night. We have lots to look forward to in the coming month - Maya and Chris are going camping next weekend, Chris' birthday on the 13th, Katelyn's baptism on the 24th and we will have some company for the occasion, and of course Halloween and all the fun kids activities that go along with it.

Maya and Katelyn are both doing great. Kate just had her 4 month checkup on the 1st. She weighs 16 lbs and is 26 inches. She's stayed right on track at the 90th percentile since she was born. I think in the next week or so I will see if she's interested in trying out rice cereal - she definitely watches intently when we are eating so she may be ready. She's been rolling over since she was 15 weeks old. We can't keep her on her back when she's playing and she rolls over in her crib and likes to sleeps on her tummy. She's definitely more active then I remember Maya being at this age. I have to strap her onto everything otherwise she will wiggle and kick and roll her way to freedom. Here are some new pics...

And this picture is for my family, I know my baby pictures well so I know that this picture could have been me when I was a baby!

Maya is still doing great. She has been learning like crazy already this year. She is the leader of the pack at her daycare, she knows all her letters and numbers so we help her practice writing them and sounding out words with her. She is also practicing cutting a straight line and cutting a circle. What a difference a year makes!

Chris and I are doing good as well. We're both busy at work as usual and exhausted every other part of the day. We had a really great date night when my mom was here over labor day and I hope we get to have another one in October. We went to dinner at a winery in Ft Worth and had a lot of fun. Also, Katelyn's daycare has 'parents night out' where she'll watch the kids once a month for an evening. So we took advantage of that last week and went to see a movie and stuff our faces with popcorn and candy :-)

Well the kids are in bed so I'm going to go park myself on the couch with a glass of wine and my hubby. I do have some new videos of the girls but I still need to get that put together. Until next time...hope everyone has a good week!

Back in the swing of things

Well I think we're all looking forward to some cooler weather anytime soon. This past week we had a cool front and it went below 100 degrees for the first time in weeks. We were all so excited! Yesterday we even broke out the kiddie pools and had Ang and Noah over to play. Maya is doing really well being a big sister, she can always make Katelyn smile and loves to play with her. I can only imagine how much fun it will be when Katelyn starts to play back! Maya's preschool starts back up after labor day and they'll be working to get her ready for Kindergarten next year. A couple of her friends are going this year and I'm sure next year will be here before we know it.

I'm definitely back into the swing of things with work and we have a new daily routine around here. Katelyn is doing well at her daycare although we have challenges getting her to eat and sleep enough over there. She does just great for us on the weekends so we think it's just too noisy for her at daycare to get any good rest. The good news is that when I went back to work she started to seriously sleep through the night, like from 7pm till 6:30am the next morning as long as I feed her before I go to bed. It's been very nice getting a full night sleep again! I definitely miss my baby time during the week though since I only get to see her for 2 hours before it's bedtime.

Hard to believe Katelyn is going to be 3 months old this week. She's still growing like crazy, today I weighed her and she was 15 pounds. Here are some smiley pictures of her. She's getting pretty good at tummy time and sitting in her bumbo chair. And I wouldn't be surprised if she's rolling over when I sit down to do the blog next month. We really lucked out having a 2nd 'easy' baby I'll say that much!

Back to work I go...

Well it's back to work for me this week :-(. I'm really not looking forward to it, but then again when does any new mom want to go back to work and we all survive just the same. It's funny though just about the time I get her all figured out and she becomes and easy baby for me, I have to hand her over to someone else to benefit from my hard work. The girls will be going to separate daycares because Maya's is geared towards older kids, so I will be dropping them both off in the morning and then driving 30 minutes to work, Chris will be picking them up when he gets off. Our week days are about to get super hectic!

About 2 weeks ago I started tracking Kate's schedule and really started trying to get her to bed by 8 and seeing how many hours of naps she needed during the day, etc. Ever since we went through that exercise she has been crying less, taking naps and going to bed on time. It's amazing what paying attention can do! She is definitely our chunky monkey, she goes for her checkup this week but I'm pretty sure she already weighs as much as Maya did at 4 months old.

Last week I went to visit my mom in San Antonio with my sister Angela and her son Noah during my last week of freedom. It was very spur of the moment and while it wasn't necessarily a relaxing trip for me it was good to go visit my mom and spend time with my sister. Maya and Noah got along really great until the end of the trip was near, but I know they both had tons of fun. We got back Friday afternoon and since then this weekend has been relaxing, I haven't had to do much of anything around the house so this first week back to work should hopefully go smoothly. Last night Grandma Bennett babysat the girls, Katelyn didn't spend the night but it was still nice to get out for a nice dinner. Cheesecake Factory...yumm!

This outfit inspired her current nickname. When I was at my mom's I looked at my baby pictures, I think Kate might have bigger cheeks than I had but otherwise we are pretty identical.

I'm so happy to be two months old today! I'm smiling alot these days and I LOVE my playmat, I'd rather be laying down than be in a swing or bouncer or even be held!

Here are Maya and Katelyn just sitting around...

1 month old and 4 years old!

Well the days and weeks are just flying by this summer, I'm back to work in a few short weeks. I definitely don't feel like I've been off work for 5 weeks already! Katelyn has grown so much in her first 5 weeks, she is bigger than Maya was at that age, already 11 pounds 4 ounces. Katelyn is such a sweet baby but she is 'harder' than Maya was. She is pretty gassy alot of the time and has extended fussy periods every day. It's been a pretty rough month off and on, the wonderful flip side is her sleeping through the night already! I'm honestly not sure it's worth 9 hours of fussy baby during the day just so I can sleep 7 hours at night. Of course every day and week brings something new so I'm sure next month I'll have it all figured out! She does much better on days when we get out of the house and she always sleeps in her carseat so maybe we just need to go shopping everyday :-). I love her to pieces regardless of my frustration, she is a complete doll and really a good baby. So far we have had Grandma Maureen come stay for a week and Grandpa Pearson come visit for a weekend to see Maya and Katelyn this summer. Maya just LOVES having her grandparents stay with us!

1 month old

Look how big she is! Happy 4th of July!

Here's a video of Maya and Katelyn playing


And of course we just celebrated Maya's birthday this past weekend which made for a busy few days of playing, playing, playing! Daddy bought Maya a pink princess jumphouse because that was the only thing she said she wanted. Of course it's Texas in July so it was really too hot to play outside for too long so she played inside with her new toys most of the time - Candyland was a huge hit, as was indoor hopscotch and new polly pockets and pet shop toys. We had Maya's party at the Indoor Safari Park which was a big hit and tons of kids showed up despite the holiday. They all had tons of fun and it was good to see some of our friends at the same time!

Maya is in swim lessons again this summer

The kids were too busy playing at the party so we brought the presents home, she was sooo excited to open this big pile of presents!

Well that's all for this month, Chris and Maya will be home soon from work and daycare and I have about 20 other things I should be doing around the house while the baby is giving me a few minutes of quiet. This having two kids thing is definitely alot of work, we are already ready for a serious vacation so if anyone is interesting in coming to babysit just let me know!

Katelyn has finally arrived!

Name: Katelyn Elizabeth Bennett

Birthday: June 1st 2010 1:07pm

Weight: 8 lb 2 oz

Length: 19.69 inches

After going a week overdue and trying everything under the sun to get baby Kate to come before my induction the night of June 1st, she finally listened and I started having contractions on my own the night of May 31st. We headed for the hospital at 6:30am on on the 1st and Kate was born about 6 hours later. Labor was painful (no surprise there) but epidurals are a lifesaver. I'm very thankful I got to experience going into labor naturally and I'm also of course thankful for a quick labor.

Katelyn is perfect and we're all adjusting to our new life at home, today is day 3 and every day gets easier. After another jaundice scare we finally got to bring her home on Friday the 4th. My blood type is different from the girls and that made them have a condition after birth where their jaundice is worse than that of a normal baby. I'm grateful that Kate got her treatment in the hospital before we left, it was less stressful on me than with Maya we were sent home thinking everything was normal. Of course everything is easier this time around when it comes to taking care of the baby. The sleep deprivation part doesn't get any easier however :-)

Maya is doing really wonderful and so far has been very patient about getting mommy time and she loves her little sister. And Chris has been amazing taking care of the house and laundry so that I can get some rest and spend time with the girls. And now the reason you're all even reading this, to see some pics and video. So enjoy!

The end is in sight...May 24th!

Why is it that the end of pregnancy always drags by sooo slowly? The perspective of time during a pregnancy is always different when watching someone go through it vs. going through it yourself but the end always just seems to drag no matter who it's happening to. lol.

This past weekend we had a 'refresher childbirth class' which was actually really good and at least I thought the day went by quickly. I switched doctors and hospitals from when I had Maya so it was good to learn our way around and see how they do things differently. They are a baby friendly hospital which means they don't ever take the baby out of your room...like ever :-/ even at 4am when you want to sleep. So we'll see how that goes. I'm looking forward to a more positive birth experience this time around and that means the baby needs to come on her own time so I will just be patiently waiting for the next month.

I'm definitely not very mobile these days and have zero energy. I even got tired from the stand up/sit down routine at church on Sunday :-) I am able to sleep ok and I'm not having any back pains or heartburn like so many friends have had so I'm grateful for that. I definitely don't remember being this tired with Maya, but otherwise things aren't too different. Chris has been great the past month, when I decided the house should be cleaned but I didn't actually have the energy to do the cleaning - and he's now on store duty because I can't handle hauling groceries around anymore.

Everything is ready for baby Katelyn's arrival at the house. Even though we don't really have any big plans for the month we still have a birthday and mothers day to occupy the next two weekends. Alright well I have to sign off and put Maya to bed so I can go lay on the couch and eat something chocolate and delicious...next time you hear from me I hope to have a new baby in tow! Enjoy some spring pics in the previous post.