Kate's Big Girl Bed

Kate officially upgraded to a big girl bed and it was all so exciting and a bit heart breaking all at the same time. 

We wanted to get Owen into a bigger bed and eventually give Kate his little bed. Well the time came when we found the big bedroom set that we wanted to get Owen (I'll post pictures later) and we didn't want to store the little white bed in the attic so we made the move of putting Kate in a big girl bed. 

Again it was one of those things that our older two were actually younger than Kate but we had nothing or no new baby needed the crib so the rush wasn't there, but it was also time. 

So we waited a week before Owen's bed was delivered to the house and then that evening took apart the crib and got Kate ready for the transition. 

After taking down the crib my heart became heavy and a few tears swelled in my eyes. I REALLY REALLY REALLY DO NOT want another child. We are in an incredibly good place in our lives and we complete with our family so it wasn't the feeling of missing a member of our family, but a feeling of a chapter closing in our lives. I remember Dan and I skipped a "Taking Back Sunday" concert to set up that crib when I was pregnant with June (We were soooooo excited to FINALLY be pregnant) and here we are with three beautifully children later who all slept in that crib. How could it not be hard? 

And plus we all know how sentimental I am. HAHA! 

So we have not parted with the crib. It sits in our attic and most likely will sit there for years to come. 

It's a good change. A great change that I welcome but weird to be ending our baby years in our family. It's time. 

Little Kate was so excited for her bed. She just kept climbing on it and saying "my bed, I sleep". We were a bit anxious to see how the night would go. 

We snuggled her in tight, did her little night routine, and said good night. I think I said "Stay in bed" over a hundred times as I walked out the door. We stayed upstairs just to see what would happen. About 20 minutes later we heard knocking on her door "Mama, Hi. I Kate" More knocking. I was laughing so I went back in, sang her some songs and then tucked her in again. She didn't come back out of bed. 

Ever since she has done amazingly well. She fell out of bed once in the middle of the night and was crying because she couldn't get back in. So as soon as I lifted her back to bed she collapsed on her pillow. We haven't had any issues since. And in the morning we normally find her sitting in her bed reading books or one of the older two are in there playing with her or they are in the living room playing. She love her bed and the bit more freedom she has. We are really happy that we made the transition. 

I love this child with all my soul. 

Potty Trained Kid Number 3

I always get a big shocked look on people's faces when they hear I potty trained Kate. But here's the thing. I potty trained my other two when they were YOUNGER than Kate mostly because I refused to have two children in diapers. Kate turned two in January and I really had no intentions of potty training her but she has been showing ALL THE SIGNS and truly hated wearing a diaper. She was always taking it off, and always asking to sit on the potty, plus she took a huge interest when anyone in the house headed to the bathroom. I knew I couldn't hold it off any longer. 

I also always potty train when Dan goes out of town. He's a distraction, a good one, but a distraction and I like the absolute focus on potty training so I waited until he was in Canada and hit the ground running. 

I was a little less stressed about this go around mainly because we didn't have a deadline, like a new baby coming, so I was a little more relaxed. I was pretty strict on my three day rule and it works like a charm. Literally three for three of my kids potty trained this way.

We quarantined ourselves in the house all weekend and it definitely got old. Especially for the older two, but we did great filling the time and running to the potty every twenty minutes. I kept a list on day one but again I was a little more relaxed this go around and stopped keeping track. Kate had her potty chart but really wasn't in to it. So we filled it for the first couple of days and that was it. 

Then boom. Potty Trained. 

So we are officially diaper free at our house. Well besides pull-ups. She still is little and wears a pull-up every night and sometimes naps. She stays dry majority of the time but I'm still not taking the risk just yet. 

Kate has nailed potty training. Don't get me wrong we still have accidents if we get too distracted and she forgets to listen to her body (Which is CLEARLY expected and PERFECTLY NORMAL) but we have conquered public potties and my worries of going long periods of time are diminishing. 

I'm so so proud of her and love her dearly. We are still on potty watch pretty closely and if she hasn't told me to go potty about every two hours we go have a little potty break. 

She's my bestie, my little tag along and as much as I hate having her grow up into this little human I can't help but be completely consumed by all the things she's accomplishing. Shhhh don't tell the others but she's my favorite. ;) 

January Randoms

So I'm a little late with January Randoms, given that it's now the end of February but things have been so insanely busy here that I feel I haven't had a moment to just sit down and blog. I finally have a spare minute so I figured it would be a good use of my time to get a little caught up on the blog. 

Kate loves dolls and she has to have all her "babies" in the crib with her. She's running out of room in here and I don't know how I feel about it. We plan to get her in a big girl bed soon but she's my baby and we have no rush to get her out of the crib, other than she's out growing it. So for now she stays. 

We were baking one day. June and I got into a little bit of a flour fight. She said it was the best thing ever. Sure was until I was the one cleaning up all the flour. haha. No it was worth it. We both had a pretty good laugh over it all. 

The crew helping us bake. 

If you can't tell here, which you can't, it's actually snowing. It snowed for about one minute but we all  made it outside to play in the flurries. It was all the snow we saw this year. 

I don't even have anything to say other than I love her dearly. 

June loves doing yoga pictures with me. 

We have been having the warmest and coldest weather. It has been a bizarre winter, but on the nice days we try to make it to the parks and play all afternoon. Dan was home with us and we had such a fun time playing at the park. 

Ranger turned 8 this year! I can't believe we have had him for eight years!! June got all excited because she thought now that he is eight he gets to be baptized. Haha it was cute. 

We (and I mean the kids) love these little Orbie beads. I HATE the cleanup of them but we found a happy compromise if they play with them in the bathtub then it's easier to clean them up! So all parties are happy. 

Kate turned two which means we got to turn her around. We moved her to the other side of the car so I could see her and boy oh boy was she excited about it. She begs for my attention all the time now! And I mean ALL. THE. TIME. She is such a little chatter box and loves to sing too. So it's been fun having her face forward with us all. 

I wanted to see if I could carry the whole family on my back. I could and it was awesome. 

One afternoon we were all upstairs playing Mario and June was downstairs getting a snack, We then all asked her to bring us a snack and my laptop. She did it all. It was funny watching her bring it all up! She's growing up so much. 

So I have been getting heartburn like crazy lately, I swear it's old age. And I was laughing how I had to run and grab my antacids quickly because I didn't want to miss the beginning part of the news. I love watching the news at night. I'm old and I like it. 

In my eyes he's perfection! 

I came out from the bedroom one day to find Kate with the iPad and the pack of Oreos. She's sneaky and I love her so so much. 

One of those warm days. We try to take advantage of the warmth. 

On instagram I hosted my very first yoga challenge. It was a lot of fun and I have loved working with these ladies and getting to know them better. It's much more work than I expected being a host but we loved it and I'm currently hosting my 2nd one. 

That is it! Yay for January! It was busy and life is not slowing down any. It's good. All of it is good. It's just overwhelming at times with how much is all happening all at the same time. 

More to come! 

Kate's Birthday

We had a fun time celebrating Kate's birthday this year. At the age of two we don't do birthday parties, we just stick to family and it was so nice not to have to plan anything. We loved celebrating her and keeping it low key. It was really nice. 

Her birthday was on a Monday so life went on as normal throughout the day. Dan went to work, June went to school and we went about our business at home. Owen and I tried to make Kate feel a little more special throughout the day. Like totally getting her own pack of peanut butter cups at the store and not having to share with anyone. Haha

Later that night we met Dan at the mall and took Kate to "Build A Bear". We have done this with all our children, so it's a bit of a tradition. 

She picked out a cute little bunny with the help of her siblings. 

She calls her Bear. 

She is growing up and I don't know how I feel about it. 

 

We planned to go out for dinner but the kids were all jazzed about the food court so we ate there and then let them ride the carousel. 

We then came home and had Cake and ice-cream, sang to Katers and opened presents. It was late and the kids had school the next day so we played for  a bit and got ready for bed. 

It was a really good low key day. I loved the time we got to spend all together and celebrating our little Kate. She had a good little day and ended up with some fun new toys and games. We love spoiling her and we love her being a part of our family! 

One last Happy Birthday sweet Kate! We love you oh so much!! 

Kate at Two

Dear sweet little Kate, Kater, Keetos, baby, Kateorade, sweet cheeks, 

You are two and oh how you melt my heart. I wish I could capture every little sweet thing you do but it's impossible so I try to just absorb as much as I can and get some of it on video. 

Kate at two years old you are walking and running as if you have been doing it from day one. We are so grateful and relieved that you decided to get on those two feet. It's been amazing. You try so hard to keep up with your two older siblings and you are doing a pretty good job at it! 

You are so smart and developing beautifully. You are an incredible chatter box and you are forming new sentences every day. It's amazing to watch you progress. You love yelling STOP whenever something is bugging you or you don't want to do something. Or how you say OK is innocently when we are telling you something. My goodness it warms my heart. 

You are a growing little thing at two years old. You Weigh 24lbs 2oz (18th percentile) height is 33.1in (29th Percentile) and you are my chunky little thing. Gosh I love you.

You are talking like crazy repeating every word we say and forming more and more sentences every day. You love saying "Don't" and Paci and blanky are hand in hand at all times. I gotta tell ya Kate, you are my baby so you are getting away with a lot more than your two other siblings did. That pacifier is one of those things. I just don't have the heart to take it away from you. I swore I would never be that mother that allows their child to have a pacifier past the age of one. And here I am... TOTALLY WORTH IT! Though it is probably time to start thinking about giving it up. I just can't yet though. You love it so so much!!!! You sleep with so many blankets in your crib. I have to hide them because if they are in sight you want it in your crib. 

You love dolls and are obsessed with books. We would read books all day if you had it your way. You love to explore and we find you locked in closets all the time. You don't mind. You are just happy playing. 

Little one you are a bit OCD and like things in an order and straight. You hate dirty things and hate being in diapers. You are so ready to be potty trained and we hopefully will get there soon. I don't really know when but sometime. You are also our longest sleeping baby in a crib. We really have no rush to get you out like we did with your other siblings but we assume a big bed will be coming soon. I'm just not ready to part with you being a baby yet. Purely selfish reasons. I need you to stay my baby forever!!

You LOVE LOVE LOVE "Masha and Bear" Not just the show but all little toys. You would play Masha and Bear all day. It's cute to watch you get excited about it. You also LOVE LOVE LOVE "Wheels on the bus" We think it's so funny when you try to ask "Alexa" to play it and how you get so upset when she doesn't listen to you. Hahaha you just roll your arms over and over and shhhhhh the machine. 

Kate, all in all you are just mommy's little buddy. It's so fun watching you grow and progress and it breaks my heart all at the same time. 

I hope you keep your sweet and sassy spirit and stay my little snuggle bug. I just love you dearly. I don't really know how else to say it. I look forward to you waking up everyday and you are such a light in our lives. 

We hope you just know how loved you are in our house!! 

Love you sweet girl!

Love, Mom