Halloween

Halloween was fun this year. We took Katelynn and Mark to the Pumpkin Patch, I don't think that we will go there again, the pumpkin selection wasn't the greatest,  but we did enjoy hayride. 

I liked my Halloween decor this year. It really did feel pretty festive.

This was the first year that we actually carved a pumpkin. I tried to carve the pumpkin but I wasn't getting too far so Ben ended up carving it all while I emptied the pumpkin. Katelynn thought it was pretty weird what we were doing but she was pretty entertained by it too. And Mark just watched from his carseat. After we got the face done Katelynn liked to put it back together like a puzzle.

For Halloween Katelynn was Dorothy Mark was a lion and was a witch. I made Mark's mane,   even though some thought he was a flower. He looked cute no matter what.

We had a good showing of people come to our house Trick-or-treating. By the end of the night Katelynn  was so excited to hear the door bell and she would be wanting to help hand out the candy. She was also excited to hand out candy to herself. By the end of the night she was saying trick or treat to me so that I would give her candy! 

Katelynn's First trim

In two and a half years I haven't cut her hair. It was finally time to do something with it though. It was looking pretty scraggly. I was going to take her in and have someone else cut it, but after Ben said he only wanted an inch cut off I decided to do it myself. Her hair has so many different layers cutting an inch off wouldn't even get close to trimming all of her hair.

Katelynn's hair EVERY morning, quite the raggamuffin


Before

After


She didn't even know I did anything. I was hoping she wouldn't see the scissors cutting and get an idea.



I barely cut anything off, but it looks so much better. I did save that tiny bit of hair that I cut off.

Katelynn 2.5 years old

Katelynn is now 2.5 years old. She is my ball of fire, always wanting to go somewhere and do something. She is fun and she is a handful. You really never know what she is going to get into. Her conversation skills are improving so, that is nice. I am trying to increase my conversation level with her to help her know more words and be able to express her needs to me.
At 2.5 years she likes to watch Cinderella (yea-yea), Princess and the Frog (Frog), Mulan, Tangled, and Toy Story (Woody and Buzz) and Mouse (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).
She likes to line things up. She will get her letter and number magnets and line them up and down the fridge. She will also line up the silicone cupcake wrappers.
She is starting to know wonder where Mark is more. She asks where the baby is quite a few times during the day and she won't give up looking for him until he is found. He is usually napping and so I try to quietly show her where he is but she will call out "ere he is" and wake him up 50% of the time. She knows to be gentle with him but isn't always gentle. She hasn't hit him purposefully that I have seen but she will try and put too much of her weight on him when she is giving him a hug.
Her favorite toys at the moment are Mr. Potato head and Mega Blocks (which we have 200 blocks) and her Little People Farm.
She is growing up right before our eyes and I am just trying to love this time that is going by too fast, but loving this time is hard when she is whining at you that is for sure.
Katelynn was playing in the bathroom and Ben called to her in the front room, she stopped playing and said, "I comining...I comining daee" (daddy) and went to him in the front room. I thought it was the most adorable thing to hear her say that. She is learning and growing and I love her to death. I surely hope she understands what I say when I tell her I love her each day.

Pictures taken on 10/5/11
She was saying "Oh No!" in a sad way about something.


I took these pictures while I was chasing her around the tree in the front yard. I knew by doing that I would get a good smile, and I did.


My personal Favorite! The true wild woman in action! LOVE it! I can just see the life in her eyes.



A Smile

Mark 2 Months

Mark is now two months old. Wow! He is my little blue eyed boy that I love to snuggle with and love on.
He has better head control now but still has some drunken moments where he violently swings back while we are holding him against our chests. He smiles so much now, usually in the morning before we get Katelynn out of bed. I am sure he likes the alone time that he is getting then.
We put him in the Bumbo for a minute and then his neck muscles wear out. He plays under his little gym in the morning and usually falls asleep under it while Katelynn and I eat breakfast. He has the routine down of: eat, play, sleep and repeat. He will take a few cat naps and then at least one 3 hour nap during the day. He is eating 6 or 7 four ounce bottles a day. He is wearing size two diapers and almost grown out of 3-6 month clothes.
He really is a good baby. It doesn't take much to console him once you figure out what he needs, which usually takes a minute or two to figure out. Ben, thinks he is more high maintenance than Katelynn was, I don't. I think it is more our attitude. I was stressed with Katelynn so, I was never relaxed with her, so I thought that she was a crazy baby. Ben is more stressed with Mark and so he thinks that he is more high maintenance.
Here he is in all his 2 month glory. Today we had the perfect temperature so we went outside and got a few shots. Isn't he the cutest thing.




His shirt says "Rock and Stroll" in case you couldn't read it.
Updated 11/15/11: On 10/31/11 Mark had his 2 month appointment and weighed 12lbs 15 and a half ounces and was 23.5 inches long

No More Monkeys Jumping on the Bed

On Sunday around noon Katelynn and Ben were getting ready for church in our bedroom and I was in the kitchen getting a quick lunch ready for us. I heard a thud and crying and knew that Ben was back there so, he was consoling her while is finished things up. She was jumping on our bed and fell off. The only problem was that she was crying A LOT. She would be okay for a minute and then crying and whining the next. Yes, she can cry and whine in a seconds notice but I knew that this was different. I knew something was wrong but I couldn't see any blood, major bumps or bruises.
I had to be at church since it was the Primary Program that day. We decided to go to church. She was a mess throughout church, she wasn't happy in Nursery, which she usually loves. We got home and the crying and whining continued until bath time when I finally saw the knot and bruise on her right collar. It was 6pm on a Sunday and decided that taking her to an urgent care was too risky since they might not be able to treat her fully since she was two. I took her out to the Children's Hospital, while Ben stayed home with Mark. We got to the ER at 7pm and were the only ones there! We went right back to triage and a MD had seen us by 7:30 to tell us that she had a collar bone fracture. They would still do x-rays to make sure, but the MD knew that it was that. I did have a feeling once I saw where she was hurting that that was the problem.
The longest part was waiting to get into x-ray. Luckily I had my phone and so we played some games and watched some Sesame Street to pass the time. She was still all over the bed trying to get to everything but finally the tech came and then we had the wrestle of a life time. Katelynn REALLY did not like the x-ray machine. We had to pin her down with three 10 lb sand bags on her legs and me on her chest making sure that they got the shots they needed. Three x-rays later, I saw her tiny little collarbone snapped like a twig.
So, what is the treatment for a broken collarbone? keeping it immobile with a sling for 3-4 weeks. HAHA! Did they see that she was a crazy two year old!? So, we will keep her in the sling and try to do what we can to have this heal properly. She hasn't fought me putting it on but it didn't quite stay where it needed to. So, I had to rig it by putting a couple safety pins on it to keep her arm more immobile. We were discharged from ER and home by 9pm. Now that is the quickest ER visit that I have ever been through and I didn't even tell them I worked there.
She has been babying it by not lifting it above her head or using it to eat somethings with. She doesn't put all her weight on it. So, I know that it does hurt her just enough to remind her to keep it still, but not enough to keep her down. She is still on the go and doing everything that she can. There is a knot on the collar bone at the break where the bone is healing which our pediatrician said was normal, it should heal just fine. We will know in a few weeks if she still doesn't have full range of motion if the break is healing correctly.
She is back to old her whiny self, which I know how to handle.

Us waiting to be discharged after the x-rays. She was looking at the Curious George decals on the wall.

Picture Update

I love this picture. Ben and Katelynn were swimming. Mark and I were chilling poolside and he was just looking as cute as ever.


I love to do Katelynn's hair. Most of the time it is usually just a simple pig tails or pony tail. Today, she wasn't fussing too much so I was brave and did this lattice style. I love how it turned out. She picked a couple flowers from the yard.



In the October Family Fun magazine they had his Halloween craft and I knew that Katelynn would be able to do. So, a couple Saturday's ago we did it.





The finished project


He just looks so small in Ben's arms.


Katelynn and Mark playing, under close supervision. Katelynn gave Mark a little people toy at each hand and at each foot.


Mark's Aunt Ammy made him this blanket and I LOVE it. She had asked weeks ago about colors for him and I told her orange and she found this amazingly wonderful robot fabric somewhere. She also made him three tie onesies that I hope he doesn't grow out of too quickly.

1 month Pictures

He Looks so bald, which I know that he is but he just has fine blonde hair with gorgeous his blue eyes.


I think this picture is funny since he looks like he is singing, but we all know that he was not happy with Mommy in that picture instead.