Katelyn,
I have been trying to figure out a way to write the first paragraph of this letter for over 3 months. I’ve written and deleted something probably 15 different times and nothing seems quite good enough. This month we had the honor of baptizing you and officially welcoming you into God’s family/church. And I’ve been attempting to put into words how Gods work is imprinted into the sparkle of your eyes, the soft touch of your cheek, the smell of vanilla on your hair, the roll of skin on your thighs, the calmness of your babbles, the love your siblings have for you and the awesomeness of God that I’ve seen in my life and hope you will too. After umpteen times of writing and re-writing, I’ve figured out that no words or story could possibly summarize the strength and importance faith can have in your life. I see, experience and thank God for his miracles in my life everyday. I pray that as you grow up, you too, will choose this path. Baptism, is the first of many, I believe my role is in being your mom. I promise to do my best to live a life of example and set a solid Christian foundation for you as well as pray that you will allow Jesus into your heart and that someday YOU will choose to put God at the center of your life.
Everything about you is a little miracle from God my sweet girl. Your tender heart, your calmness, your adaptability, your sleeping and eating patterns are all little sprinkles of miracles from the big guy upstairs.
Most nights you sleep about 10 hours straight each night (7:30pm – 5:00pm). The first time you wake up, I’ll pop your pacifier back in and you’ll sleep for another 30-60 minutes. The second time you wake up, you’ll usually be happy and chatty as a bird. As soon as I enter, you quiet down and light up with a huge smile and squinty eyes once you see my face. You’re still not rolling over from back to front so we’ve continued to swaddle you. For bedtime, you’ll nurse and then I’ll swaddle you up, turn off the lights, put a blanket next to your face and snuggle with you in the rocking chair and you’re out in less than 5 minutes. If I’m in the middle of putting the big kids to bed, I’ll just put you down awake in your crib and you fall asleep, without a peep. Naps range from 2-3 a day and anywhere from 20 min to 2+ hours, in your crib swaddled in a muslin blanket.
Nursing is still going well. Each morning, I’ll nurse you on my left (non-dominate side) and then pump the right as I’ll get 6-7oz. Then for the remainder of the day I usually nurse or pump both sides. The morning session, I’ll usually get 5oz and 3-4 in the afternoon. Most nights, I’ve still been pumping before I go to bed around 11 or 12 and will get another 6 oz. So all up, I’m producing an extra 6-10oz of milk each day that I’ve been stock-pilling in the freezer. With all that said, I’m still super stressed about it, more so than I remember with the other two and I’m not sure why I can’t relax about it. Moving on. This month you started to show a ton of interest in my food. I started to give you little pieces of bread and then spontaneously decided to give you some baby squash one night and you LOVED it. You ate the entire container and would open your mouth every time I brought up the spoon. Considering we skipped the rice cereal, you did a pretty amazing job keeping the food in your mouth and not spitting it all out.
You’ve FINALLY started to roll from your stomach to your back–it doesn’t happen very often, but you can do it. You love to lay (on your back) on you playmat and play with toys hanging from it. We also brought out the exersaucer this month and you do pretty good in that (as long as we have a blanket behind you to prevent you from flopping around like a fish.) This month you’ve also started to take your pacifier out of your mouth and put it back in with 50% rate. Your favorite place is in mommy’s arms and are as happy as can be just leaching onto me and tagging along wherever I go. If we put you down and walk away, you throw a fit, but are as happy as a puppy when we’re back within arms reach.
As far as the details go for your Baptism, the actual celebration was on Sunday, December 3rd. We celebrated at St. Andrew’s Church in Mahtomedi, same church your brother and sister were baptized at and that Mommy and Daddy were married at. All of your extended family was there to celebrate and you are blessed to have Uncle Dustin as your Godfather and two Godmothers, Auntie Beca and Auntie Rael. You were a total gem throughout the ceremony and wore the family heirloom baptismal gown, and the 26th baby to wear it! Following the ceremony, we headed over to Grammy and Papa’s house for a dual celebration for your baptism and Lexi’s 5th Birthday!
1st’s for the month: Thanksgiving, Snowfall, Food, Christmas celebrations (school concert, dance recital, music, decorations, shopping! (including Black Friday shopping!) sibling birthday party.
6 month stats
- Weight: 15.1 oz
- Length: 25″
- Head circumference:
- Clothes: 3-6 month
- Diapers: size 2
We are so blessed to have you be a part of our family and I thank God for you and all of your little blessings everyday. You are perfect in every way possible and I love you to pieces little Kate the Great!
Love,
Mama
Peanut Smiles 