Three Months Old

I was hoping to do a post when these girls turned two months old...

but that didn't happen....
And I better hurry, because before you know it these girls will be four months old. Time is going way too fast!

So here's a post about these girls at Three months!

Time has really flown by.
Really, it seems like the last few months have been a big blur of time.
It's January and I'm not sure what happened with the last few months of my life.
We've survived the sleep deprivation and rigorous newborn schedule with two little girls and we're living to tell about it!

I really can't complain. These two are seriously the best little babies....they are good eaters taking about 4-5oz. each. They are going four hour stretches during the day and will sleep from their last feeding at 8-9pm to 6-7am in the morning. Which has made a world of difference in my life. They are happy and content little girls. Although, Olivia has had some reflux the last few months and was diagnosed with GERD. It's taken some trial and error to find the right medication to help her. But now that we've got that figured out. She is not in pain anymore and is one happy girl. Thanks goodness!

Kathryn
At two months:

Weight: 9 lbs 12 oz  (19th percentile)
Height: 22 inches  (29th percentile)
Head Circumference: 37.5 cm  (14th percentile)

At three months, Kathryn loves to smile and coo at you. I love that it takes her whole body to make the sweet smile and I love hearing her sweet voice.  Most everyone can get a smile out of this little girl pretty easily. I think she might be our little social butterfly. She loves people and faces and can stare at her sister or into a mirror for a long time and be happy as can be. She has such a calm and easy temperament. She puts herself to sleep so quickly, she hardly even cries. She is still our little cuddly girl. She curl up on your shoulder and nuzzle her nose right into your neck. We call her our "Cuddle Bug Kate". We had a weight check at three months with this girl because of some feeding issues....she certainly has not had any issues gaining weight and weighed 11 lbs 1 oz at 3 months. She is growing like a weed and is getting so heavy to hold. She's almost out of 3 month-sized clothes!

 Happy Girl!

 This girl loves bath time!

Andrew wanted to play with Kathryn and wanted his picture with her. 

It was pretty cute he wanted to pose by holding her hand. 

Just talking up a storm while waiting for everyone to 

finish getting ready for church! 

Having 9am church with three kids makes for pretty crazy Sunday mornings!

Olivia
At two months:

Weight: 8 lbs 12 oz  (16th percentile)
Height: 21.25 inches  (8th percentile)
Head Circumference: 36.5 cm  (3rd percentile)

At three months, Olivia loves motion, being bounced, rocked, and in the baby swing. She also loves to be swaddled, although she always seems to find a way to get both hands out, so she can sleep with them above her head. She smiles all the time too, although you have to do a lot of work to get her going. But once she's started her whole face lights up and it melts your heart.  She has also recently discovered her little hand. It's so cute to see her intently looking at her fingers and following it as she waves it around. She also has mastered the art of getting out of tummy time. She's getting pretty strong and pushes up and rolls right to her back. It won't be long before she will be rolling all around.

 All smiles! 

 Someone loves her Daddy

 Olivia is getting so strong.

She is loved lots by her brother!

All cuddly in her towel after a bath.

After the Christmas Holiday we moved these two into their own room and into the big crib. They have both learned to put themselves to sleep all on their own. They've lost their newborn cries, but I can still tell who is who by their distinct cry. Amazingly enough they've learned to block each others cry out. One can be screaming and the other sound asleep. Thank goodness!

These beautiful girls are looking more and more alike now that they are filling out and getting chubby little cheeks and legs. I still can't believe they are three months old!! They have brought so much joy into our family. We love having them apart of our lives each day!

Christmas in Michigan

Before the girls were even born we told our family that we were going to spend both Thanksgiving and Christmas at home by ourselves. We didn't not want to travel with newborn babies. Thanksgiving we spent with my cousin and his family who live here in Atlanta. We had a fun time and still was able to celebrate with the family that we have close by.  But the closer Christmas got the harder it was to know that all of our family would be together except for us. So as a last minute decision (on December 23rd) we packed up the car and drove to Michigan. The kids did amazingly great on the 12 hr drive.  It was so nice to be there with family and enjoy the time together.

Christmas Eve we decided to try to have the grand kids act out the nativity. Grandma did a great job pulling together a few makeshift costumes and we read from the scriptures. The kids were darling. Andrew and Stephen were wisemen. Olivia was baby Jesus and Kathryn was the shining star. 

The Crew

Kathryn the "Shining Star" 

 Jasmine & Olivia playing Mary & baby Jesus

The Wise Men traveled from far

I appreciated all the extra help with the girls. There was always an extra pair of hands to hold or feed one of them.

This little girl was the best helper! She loved holding the babies....especially Kathryn and would just sit and hold them for literally hours. She was so content not even wanting to play with the other kids and they'd eventually fell asleep in her arms.  I needed to take bring her home with me. She is going to be the best little helper to her little baby brother who will be born this summer. 

I love Christmas time and it was hard to believe it came and went. Andrew was way into Christmas this year and understood the whole Santa thing! I think it helped to be around cousins and feed off of their excitement and energy! He loved opening presents and was very overwhelmed. He wanted to just stop and play with everything! Kids sure make Christmas magical!

Opening our stockings

 Kathryn slept through most of the crazy Christmas morning! But here's all of us who were awake!

 Opening Presents!

 Love the Christmas Chaos!!

Andrew playing with his cars and car rug that Santa brought!

First Christmas with these sweet girls in their Christmas Jammies

Andrew playing with Uncle Micah

I was finally able to meet a new brother and sister in law!! Both Stephen's little brother and sister got married this summer and while I was laying in a hospital bed, Stephen and Andrew flew out to Utah for a week of weddings! It was wonderful to finally meet and hang out with these guys. Between Christmas and New Years, we did more wedding celebrations and had a reception for both couples for all their Michigan friends. For some odd reason I didn't get any pictures at the receptions of the two couples.....Oh that's right, I was trying to keep three kids happy!

 James and his new bride Michelle holding Kathryn

I don't know how I never got a picture of Erin with her new hubby, But those two gave me the BEST christmas present EVER! It started out as a joke because Alex, her husband had never even changed a babies diaper and it ended up that they took both girls for an entire night! We moved the pack'n play into their room and I went to bed about 10:30 and woke up around 7am. Best nights sleep in I don't know how long! It was amazing!!  They seriously don't know how awesome that little gift of sleep was. 

Grandpa has been working hard at finishing some rooms in their basement and saved some of the big boxes to make a slide for the grand kids down the stairs. It took a few of the engineers in the family to figure out the best way to get it to turn around the corner.  All the kids had a blast and maybe even a few of us adults. 

We stayed the week and rang in the New Year with family too! It was an evening full of delicious food and games! 

Minute to Win It games were fun for both the adults and all the kids.

It went by all too quick. There's nothing like spending time with family during the holidays and that is what we realized both Stephen and I needed the most. It made the trip well worth it.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

We had a fun filled December here in a Georgia!

Andrew was way into Santa this year and it was so much fun! He'd find our Santa hat and walk around the whole house saying "Ho! Ho! Ho! I'm Santa" It was so funny and he never got bored of it! 

My parents came to visit us for a week. It was wonderful to see them and we loved having them visit this time of year. They sure gave us a boost and helped me finish up with Christmas.

Grandma Helping Olivia in the bathtub!

Grandpa & the Girls 

Cuddles with Grandpa! This kid LOVES his Grandpa Jerry!

Kathryn giving lots of smiles to Grandma Lyn

It's so fun to see my dad play the same games he did with me as a little girl with Andrew. Here's the famous "Take off My Shoes"  Game. 

Cuddles with Kathryn

This is the best we could get of Grandma & Grandpa with all three kids.

My mom became a pro at feeding both girls at the same time.

Andrew's preschool class had a Christmas program they performed with their 'buddies'. I knew they were practicing Christmas songs for a while because this kid LOVES to sing and would go around singing all the songs he learned at school. Jingle Bells was a favorite...especially after I got out the Christmas decorations and he found some bells he could shake and accompany himself with. Also 'Police Navidad' or Feliz Navidad was also sung a lot around our house during the month. 

I think Andrew was more excited that mommy, daddy, grandma & grandpa were at his school then anything else. He talked about it for days afterwards. 

We had an early Christmas with them and exchanged all of our gifts! It was perfect! Andrew got a few new toys halfway through the month which kept him happy. 

It may not look like it, but I promise this kid was super excited to get a new camera. He's always stealing my phone and taking TONS of pictures with it! 

Our ward had a fun Christmas party and we were able to leave the girls with my parents and sneak away for a few hours. With them being preemies AND the fact that is is cold/flu season, we are pretty careful where we take them and who holds them. Andrew on the other hand was super excited to see that Santa came to the party too! I wasn't sure how he'd respond when it was time to sit on his lap...but he loved it! He was a little shy at first, but so excited. Much better then last year of tears! He told Santa he wanted him to bring him lots of cars. 

I was also able to spend one morning at the temple. While my parents were here. We literally live just down the street from the Atlanta Temple and with all the craziness of bed rest and having babies. I haven't been  able to go in a very long time. It was so wonderful to spend the morning there. I couldn't resist taking a picture! The sky was so blue that December day!