2 months

Kate Elizabeth turned 2 months old on September 22! These pictures are actually from the 23rd because we were busy the day before... Daddy was standing off to the side being crazy because he makes her smile so much! I need to get a video of her smiles, it will brighten anyones day, I'm sure of it :)

Also last week, Tanya and her mom were finally able to meet Kate! Tanya and I have been friends since we were 6 and spent much of our childhoods together. She just returned from spending 4 months in England with her boyfriend, and her parents just returned (temporarily) from sailing South America. I have been so excited for the day that they'd hold my baby girl!

We also worked on tummy time last week, which Kate hates :(

Happier when I flipped her over!

How beautiful is she?!

Kate was baptized on Sunday and was a PERFECT angel! More on that soon...

Whew!

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind for us! Kate is growing and changing everyday, and we love her more than ANYTHING in this world! Her colic is getting better, and some of those screaming episodes are now replaced with smiles that melt my heart! 

I tried to think of a way to divide up these pictures, but time and creativity are limited, so here is a big photo recap of what we've been up to...

I cohosted a couples shower for Matt and Jane, our good friends who are getting married December 17. Dad BBQ'd, Kate slept well, and a fabulous time was had by all :)

L to R: Brett, Matt (the groom to be), Dad, and Matt Hamilton

 We were so excited to have Laura in town a couple of weeks ago! She stayed with us for a bit while she was down for some work meetings. She was finally able to meet Kate and it was so good to catch up with her!

The morning that Laura left, we loaded up and headed to Fort Myers for Brett's sweet Grandma's funeral. It was a celebration of the wonderful lady she was! While we were there, Kate got to meet lots more family, and we were so excited to finally get the babies, Kate & Aubrey, together! (Don't worry, before we went out of town, my baby girl had her 2 month vaccines so she would stay healthy after meeting so many people :)

 Aubrey, 4 months and Kate, 2 months not really excited about this picture!

 Being such good girls at breakfast! This was actually the first time we went "out" to eat with Kate (other than the mall food court). Did I tell you how happy I am her colic is getting better?!

L to R: Brett, Kacy (with Kate), Ian (with Aubrey) and Lauren

 After breakfast, we left Fort Myers and headed on our way to Gainesville/the farm. On our way out of town, we got to stop and see Jess and sweet baby Ella! We're holding each other's babies in this pic, and they're both tired, so Ella's sleeping and Kate's crying. Ha!

The drive to the farm was about 4 hours, and Kate did GREAT! The day before, she finally started to take a pacifier sometimes - perfect for roadtripping! We stopped once to feed her, and we got to the farm (my parents were already there) just in time to see a gorgeous sunset, then went out to eat. After such a long day, Kate slept EIGHT HOURS that night!! It hasn't happened since, and she is currently up every 3 hours at night, but that one night was still so exciting!

The next morning, waking up with PopPop and Buddy before going to Gainesville for the Gator game!

 Loves her Uncle Jeremy!

 Good friend Alex came by to meet Kate too!

 My fam, minus Dad... football games are not really his thing, but mowing at the farm is :)

Kate didn't actually go to the game. She stayed at Jeremy's house with me and Mrs. Hooks.

On Sunday, we left the farm to head home and on the way, stopped to see some of my family who hadn't yet met Kate. Aunt Karen is holding her in this picture. It was so wonderful to see everyone!!

Whew! I'm tired just writing this post (which has taken me allll dayyyy to do because Kate's newest trick is to only sleep 30 minutes at a time and then refuse to be put down). Actually, the little monitor tells me she's up again... bye!

Grandma Bladergroen

 Kate had her first "road trip" (unless you count the Gardens mall ;) Brett, Kate and I headed to Fort Myers, just for the day, this past Thursday to visit his family there, especially his sweet Grandma who wasn't doing well and had yet to meet her great granddaughter.

I wish that the roadtrip was the only news, but now we are celebrating the life of that wonderfully sweet Grandma Bladergroen. She went to heaven last night, and we find peace and comfort in the fact that she is no longer suffering and is now with Grandpa. She lived a beautiful 88 years, raising 7 children. What a blessing she was in all of our lives!

This was back in January, when Grandma first "met" her great granddaughters :)

This was from just a few weeks ago, when she met Aubrey (the other baby bump in the picture above), her first great granddaughter.

 This picture is from Thursday, actually meeting Kate :) Grandma was pretty sleepy from her medicine, but when Kate was crying and we told her "This is Kate, your great granddaughter, Kacy & Brett's baby," her eyes LIT UP and she oohed and aahed. That's what she's doing in this picture. We are so thankful for our visit with her. 

A couple more pictures from our visit Thursday...

Kate with her Grandpa and some more of Grandma's children :)

Celebrate!

Happy Labor Day! For this post, I just feel like celebrating! All in all, it's been a great week with many things worth cheering for. There were a few rough days thrown in there, but overall life is GRAND :)

We celebrated that this little angel SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT last night! The past few nights, she had been eating every 3 hours, which means I slept for 2 hours at a time (apparently we reverted to being a newborn?) and then last night she slept from 10 - 5:49!! Yes, that's exact time...every minute of sleep counts, right?!

We celebrated that Kate could finally meet Grandpa!! He's been out of town since the day before she was born, so we were so happy when they finally met. It was love at first sight :)

We celebrate grandfathers in general... Something about their deep voices and big comfy chests, Kate is usually so content with them. Here, she's having a wide-eyed stare down with Pop Pop! Here are a few more precious Pop Pop pics.

 This dock has become pretty important - my labor walking here brought us our little girl, and our walks with Kate here usually bring her sleep, or at least no crying :)

Kate is SUCH a light sleeper - if it's too quiet, she doesn't nap longer than about 30 minutes. However, she'll sleep like this for hours... 

We celebrated new friends! Kate, Tilloo and their mamas spent some great time together. How beautiful are these girls?!

 Brett and I finally had a date night! My parents kept Kate for a few hours while we enjoyed a glass of wine, dinner, and then some yogurt on a walk downtown. We missed our girl, but it was wonderful to have this time together!

This is normally Kate's face (which is followed with screaming) when we put her in the swing (or anywhere but our arms for that matter) when she's awake, but we are celebrating that THREE TIMES this weekend, she fell asleep, on her OWN, in the swing! This is a huge deal in this household. Go on, cheer with us :)

We celebrated a WIN for the Gators! Kate was so excited to watch them kick some FAU butt with us. She was also happy for her Louisiana family that LSU won a great game too :)

 And today we celebrated that Daddy didn't have to work and the weather was perfect. We grilled out, because I just think that's what you're supposed to do on hot, sunny summer days.

Kate took her first dip in the pool! Of course, we have so many precious, tiny bathing suits, but I wasn't planning ahead. I was outside with her, it was hot (but she loves it), so I took of her onesie and dipped her feet, just to see. She didn't squirm or scream, she actually enjoyed it for a few minutes! Next time, we'll get the obligate cute-baby-in-a-bathing-suit pictures :)

I'm excited for the start of Gator football season, but not so much for fall. I know they go hand-in-hand, but I'm hanging on to summer. I'll keep burning our Sun & Sand yankee candle, loving this 90 degree weather, and enjoying our pool time! This summer has been incredibly special and I just don't want it to end. I'm savoring every second with Kate before I head back to work...half of my maternity leave has passed, and although I love my job, I get so sad thinking about not spending all day with my girl. We have a busy few weeks coming up, so I'll do my best to post! 

I hope you all have something to celebrate today :)

Shutterfly album

Click here to view this photo book larger

Here is a link to an album Mom and I made of Kate's first couple of weeks!