January

January was a busy month. In addition to putting up Christmas decorations, we were in the last couple weeks of pregnancy. The official due date was January 12. Since I went past my due date with Preston, I was expecting to do the same with Kate.

We had a LATE New Year's Eve celebration at the house. Preston stayed up to enjoy the fireworks and the attention he was getting. Pretty soon, he'd be sharing us with his sister, so we decided to just let him have a good ol' time. The next day (New Year's Day), we ate lunch at Meme's. We enjoyed all the fixings to bring us health, good luck, and fortune.

Preston helping me clean

Cute story. Preston LOVES the Christmas movie, The Polar Express. It has Santa and trains, so naturally it'd be a favorite. One evening, I was removing tags from some new pajamas, when one tag was a bright yellow fire retardant notice. Preston caught a glimpse of it and got so excited. He had a proud grin, and then exclaimed, "My ticket! I found my ticket! Hooray!"

Holding his ticket at dinner

Sporting his Woody hat from Toy Story

On the day of my due date, we decided to skip church to take Preston to an early movie at the movie theater. He has never been, and we knew it'd be a while until he was able to go again most likely. The movie we saw was Disney's Frozen. It was a super cute movie. Preston behaved pretty well considering just how busy he is. That boy has got to move all the time, so sitting in a dark theater watching a movie was a lot to expect. He lasted about 45 minutes. If it weren't for the huge tub of popcorn, he might not have lasted that long!

40 weeks pregnant

We went to dinner that night, and it wasn't until we got home that I realized we never got a last "Family of 3" picture. I was pretty bummed about it, but at least we got these precious ones!

Our precious baby girl, Kate

Ronnie took Preston out to dinner while Kate and I were still in the hospital.

Getting to come home to my loves!

Coming home with a second baby was an easier transition than I had imagined. Sometimes, the saying, "Expect the worst, hope for the best" certain;y has some truth. With Preston, I was a nervous wreck and had NO clue what to do. This time around, I had realistic expectations. I decided that I would be as relaxed and calm as possible. These early days are so precious. Kate was super easy for the first few weeks. She slept all day long. She was awake more often at night, but I didn't mind. I liked that uninterrupted time of just the two of us. About a month before she was born, Preston began to ask me to lie down with him at nap. I was exhausted at the end, and there's now way I could tell him no. Well, one nap turned into a month of him needing me to lie down with him. Once Kate came home, I couldn't just stop cold turkey. I didn't want him to blame her for taking his Mommy away. when she was pretty much attached to me all day long anyway. So, I continued to nap with him. I'd feed him lunch and once we got in his bed, I'd nurse Kate. All three of us would nap for a full 2 hours! As a momma to a newborn, a 2 hour nap is just enough to rejuvenate you for the rest of the day (in addition to my late evening cup of coffee of course!). When you have your second baby, you definitely take advantage of that smart advice of sleeping when the baby does.

Kate was nursing fairly often, which was around every 2 hours. I was pretty exhausted, and couldn't do much for Preston. I felt so guilty, but he has transitioned into the big brother role beautifully. He is very gentle and loving towards Kate. He is very quick to let me (and anyone within earshot) know that she "needs to eat my booby" when she cries. Ha! Preston is also very independent, which is very helpful. He goes to the bathroom and washes his hands by himself. I am so relieved that he was so easy to potty-train at a young age. Now, if I could teach him how to do the laundry...;)

Preston has adored Kate since we brought her home!

When Kate was around a week old, Meme watched her so I could take Preston to our local Tunes for Tots event. It is hosted by the university's music department. We had a great time, and got to learn about a variety of instruments. Preston was bummed because there wasn't a drum though. I shouldn't have used that instrument as leverage. Whoops!