Papa T and Grandma K come to visit

Tony and Kathie made another trip out here a couple of weeks ago.  It so happened that Tony had a root canal and was willing to let Jeff be the one to take care of it.  (Did I mention it was his FIRST root canal!?)  What a nice dad!  Jeff was needing some root canals to fill his requirements before he graduates, so thanks to Tony he has one more to check off!

As far as I know everything went smoothly and Jeff did a great job.  At least Tony hasn't called yet to tell us otherwise. :)

Trey loves when Grandma and Grandpa come to visit.  It was fun having them here again.

 

While Jeff and Tony were taking care of business at the Dental school, the rest of us spent the morning at the park.

It has been great weather for the past couple of weeks... I'm talking 70's and 80's and it's only the middle of March!  I love it!  So we've spent many of our days at the park.

Trey found Grandpa's shoes.  Silly kid.

We went out to eat a couple of times but decided maybe we wouldn't be doing that anymore since Trey was a little stinker!  The days of enjoying a peaceful dinner with kids at a restaurant are over...

We did however make it to two of my favorite places.  Pamela's and Uncle Sam's.  And we can't forget Cheesecake Factory.  I've become a sucker for their White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake lately.  I don't even want to know how many calories are in one slice and I refuse to find out.  I'll continue to enjoy it without that extra guilt.

Tony and Kathie got up way too early, in my opinion, to go watch Jeff play church ball in Washington.  The chances of me being ready to walk out the door with my 2 kids by 8am were slim to none... so Kate and I opted to stay home while the rest of them went to support my basketball obsessed husband. :)

We can't forget about sweet little Kate.

It wouldn't be right if I didn't have at least one sleeping picture of Tony.
That man can sleep anytime, anywhere, anyhow.  Ha.

We also blessed Kate the weekend they were here.  The timing worked out perfectly.
Thanks for everything Tony and Kathie!  We look forward to seeing you again in May!

Kate's Blessing Day

Kate was blessed on March 4.

Jeff gave her a beautiful blessing.

She looked so dang cute on her special day.

She even sat on the bench like a big girl. :)

She cried through a lot of the blessing.  That darn binki fell out as soon as the blessing started!

We were lucky to have Jeff's parents here that weekend.  It was nice to have some family at the blessing.

 I love this pic!

You can see both her dimples.

It truly is a blessing to have this little girl in our lives.  She is my little sweetheart!

Weeks 2 & 3 with Grandma Kathie

Grandma Kathie came to visit a couple of days after my mom and sister left.  Thank goodness because I wasn't quite ready to be on my own yet!

This was the day she arrived.  Trey was so excited to see her!

Grandma K and Trey had lots of fun together.

I'm so glad Kathie was so helpful with him, he was a little extra needy these first couple of weeks (as was expected.)

I think Trey loved having someone to play with him ALL of the time.

Trey would wake up every morning and want Grandma K to race his cars on the racetrack.  He was pretty consistent with this. He would sit down and pat the floor next to him for her to sit down.  Pretty cute if I do say so myself.

Trey got his fair share of ring around the rosies.  He wanted to do it again and again and again... unfortunately for him, us old folks could only do it a couple of times before we got too dizzy.

 Loving on his sister Kate.  

Trey really was so sweet with Kate.  I was worried how he would act towards her, but he did so great and always wanted to give her hugs and kisses.

Playing some more with Grandma... Trey kept her busy! :)  (Kate was waiting for her bath)

Love my kiddos...

She also did some bonding with Miss Kate.

 

Random photos of Kate

Kathie was here for a week and was supposed to head home the Saturday after she got here.  It so happened that Jeff was leaving to interview in Texas that same day.  Kathie got up at 5am, got ready, and packed her bags... just about ready to head to the airport when she decided she better stay to help me the 3 days that Jeff was going to be gone.  Bless her heart.  (This may or may not have been due to the melt down I had the night before.)  I had reassured her that I would be fine but I think she knew my state of affairs and decided it was best that she stayed.  I'm so glad she did because Trey got another blasted cold/cough that weekend and was quite miserable to say the least.  I was up more at night with him than I was with Kate.  Between the two of them I think I only got about 5 hours of sleep in 2 nights.  Thank goodness Kathie was here so I could nap during the day.

Thanks again Kathie for staying longer to help me out... we were all glad you did!

Cuddling with Grandma while watching a show... we watched a few too many of those since he was sick and not feeling well.

CHEEEESE!

We took Kathie to the airport Tuesday morning (the same day Jeff got home).

Trey was sure sad to see her leave.

Poor kid gets used to having someone here and then they just have to turn around and leave again.

Good thing she comes back a few weeks later!

That same day I came downstairs from doing something and found this...

Cute little Trey thought it would make Kate happy to share his pretend food with her.

This wasn't the first time I found his toys on her..  once I found his Barney DVD on her head and more than once have found a ball on her lap.

I love that he thinks whatever makes him happy should make her happy too!

It's times like this when I just LOVE being a mom.

Week One - Post Hospital

I was so glad to have my mom and sisters help for a whole week after Kate was born.  I was worried I was only going to have help for a few days if Kate didn't come when she did... luckily I was induced and things went as planned... well close enough.

My mom and sister were a HUGE help.  I can't thank them enough for all they did while they were here.  It was nice having two extra helpers so we could all switch off when one of us was exhausted.  (Especially at night)  We had our share of late/all nighters.  Kate had her days and nights mixed up for the first couple of weeks.  She would sleep pretty much all day and as soon as 11:00 hit, she was wide awake.  Then she had a fussy time between 12 and 3am and that made for some pretty long nights.  Again, I am so glad I had so much help or I'm not sure I would have made it.

We didn't do much besides entertain Trey and snuggle sweet little Kate.  We did however, go on a quick shopping adventure the day after I got home from the hospital.  We left Kate with Jeff (for the first time) and ventured out to the mall, Costco, and Wal-Mart.  I needed to get myself a comfortable nursing bra and we also needed to exchange a few more clothes for Kate.  I think I may have pushed myself a little too hard, too fast, and I ended up sitting in the car for the rest of our errands.  But I do have to say, I was pretty impressed with myself that I was able to get myself ready and out of the house the day after the hospital.  Kate slept the whole 4 hours we were gone and didn't make a peep.  Easiest babysitting job Jeff's ever had to do!

  Here are bunch of pictures from our week.

While I was in the hospital, Grandma and Ashlee bonded with this little guy.

Trey loved having them here to play.

While I was waiting in the car at the mall, my mom and Ash decided to take Trey to see the Chik-fil-a cow.
I think his face tells it all.  He was NOT a fan.

Apparently the closer they got, the madder he got.  I think this picture despite the blurriness, is quite hilarious.

Grandma Wendy snuggling with Kate.

Ash and Kate

Kate's first bath.
She wasn't a fan that first time.  Poor girl was probably freezing!

We got smarter the second time and put some water in the bottom of her little tub.
She loved it so much she practically slept through the whole thing!

 Trey was so sweet with Kate.  He asked me to put her in his crib and then he proceeded to read to her.  Such a cute big brother.

 Just hanging out...

Daddy and Kate.  And the mange. ;)

One of Trey's "I want Mommy" moments.

More Grandma and Kate bonding time.

 My cute little man.

How can you not just love this sweet little cuddly stage!?

Aunt Ash definitely had her share of snuggle time as well.

Trey being a good big brother.  We had gone over with Trey multiple times that he needed to be soft with Baby Kate, so when we brought Kate home from the hospital he would often just come and pat her ever so softly on the head.  It was so sweet.
My mom bought Kate that cute bear in the picture above and all Trey wanted to do those first couple of weeks was make sure Kate had her bear.  Often when she was crying, he would go find the bear wherever it was and bring it to her.  Occasionally I would find it on her head. :)

Unfortunately Trey got sick with a cold the day after we brought Kate home from the hospital so we had to try hard to keep Trey away from her.  I was sad he wasn't able to hold her much that first week.

Trey would sit right next to Ash when she put on her makeup.  He found himself a perfect little seat right on her makeup box.

 Ashlee took these cute pictures of Kate with her phone.

Saying our goodbyes and trying our best not to cry.
Actually at this point I had already lost it, hence the reason why I am not pictured.
I was quite a mess when I took my mom and sister to the airport.  It took me almost a whole day to gain my composure.  Seriously, it was ridiculous.  Those post pregnancy hormones were out of control!  All Jeff had to do was say one wrong thing and I would start crying all over again.  Whew!  Glad we're past that now!

I'm not sure what Trey is doing in this picture but he will occasionally put mine or Jeff's shoes on and try and walk around the house.  It appears in this picture like he is doing some sort of basketball drill.  Wouldn't surprise me if he's already up on his drills!

Stay tuned for Week 2 with Grandma Kathie!