Quotable

Jackson: "I'm a man, like daddy!"
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Me: "Don't you just love this warm weather in the winter?  I'll take it!"
Kathryn: "I'll take it too!  Whatever God gives, I'll take, because it's good."
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In a family discussion about heaven, and how our bodies will be made new, with no hurts or pain:
Kathryn: "Yeah, and no ear defections!"  (aka, infections)
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Jackson: "Sissy eat her booger!"
Johnny and I exchange an oh-brother glace, before realizing her was commenting about her eating her burger. 

Waverly at 9 months!

Our little lady is a big nine-month-old now!  She had a good check up at the doctor's today, and now weighs 17 lbs 4 oz and is 26 inches long.  She's definitely grown these past few months!  

One big new thing she experienced this month was her first pedicure!  She was able to get in on the action of her big sister getting her nails painted.  Her little toes looked so cute with pink nail polish!  Although she was not a fan of actually getting them painted, and pulled her foot away every time the brush touched her nail! 

 Her other big news of the month is that she got glasses!  She looks so cute in them, although she has a hard time keeping them on her.  They have a strap that goes around the back of her head, but she wiggles her head back and forth, and they are off in a minute.  We are working on getting them rigged so they will stay on better.  Apparently she is far-sighted, so these should help her see closer up. 

 I love her little smirk here!

 This past week in particular she has been a super happy baby!  She wakes up with a huge smile, and continues to grin and coo all day long.  We are absolutely loving it! 

 She also experienced her first (and hopefully last!) UTI this month.  She really only had a couple of days of seeming miserable, and we were quite worried about her since we didn't know what was wrong.  She would have these long crying spells that I thought were seizures (may still have been).  This picture is of her during a crying fit in the middle of the night.  She didn't sleep at all.  Poor baby...  She's since been on antibiotics and has been much better!

 What a chunker!

 This is a dress that Kathryn wore a lot at her age (or maybe a bit older even!). 

 I took this picture the other morning to show her morning cocktail of medicines.  It's quite a lot!  Of course, she has two extra here because of her UTI (an antibiotic and a steroid).  But still!  There's Miralax (in the measuring spoon to be mixed in with her milk), Keppra (for seizures), Vigabatrin (for seizures), Zantac (for reflux), vitamins, probiotics, cod liver oil, and then the antibiotic and steroid.  Whew!  She sure keeps me busy! 

Waverly still sleeps in our room in the bassinet that she has far outgrown by now.  We are in the process of getting a big bed for her (more on that later), but I just wasn't brave enough to move her to her own room yet.  However, after a few nights in a row of her waking up and wanting to party, I think I may have to try her in the bassinet in her room tonight to see if I get some sleep.  I'm nervous though!  She's now wearing some 12 month clothes, and some 9 month clothes, although she's pretty much outgrown all 9 month shirts (her big belly sticks out!).  Her schedule is still random throughout the day with napping, and she definitely likes to be held to go to sleep.  Stinker! 

We have been loving seeing her personality shine this past week or two!  Hopefully I can post a video here soon so you can see how sweet she is in action!

Church Picture

At church this morning we realized that Waverly was wearing the same dress that Kathryn had on when we got our picture taken for a church banner. Coincidentally, I had on something similar too! We haven't changed too much since that first picture, have we?

Waverly at 8 months

Our growing girl is 8 months old!!!  This past month has been a busy one with Christmas and all the celebrations that go with it.  But here are a couple of sweet pictures of Waverly recently.  

She really loves to snuggle still, and we love it too!  She can be quite clear about communicating what she wants at times, and has started making it known when she would like to be snuggled to sleep.  She also lets us know when she's done being held and wants to sit by herself.  I snapped this picture on my phone the other night when she was being fussy.  As soon as I picked her up, she snuggled against me, and fell fast asleep.  I love our nightly snuggle time! 

 I also love this picture of her bright eyes from Christmas afternoon. 

Her eight month birthday also marks a month of her being off of the prednisone.  The neurologist said that the greatest likelihood of the infantile spasms returning would be within the first month of stopping the prednisone, so it's a great sign that they haven't returned yet!  We are praying that they continue to stay away, and are SO thankful that God has had mercy on her in keeping them away for so long.  She is still quite smiley in the mornings, and loves to watch her brother and sister.  She's also gotten into watching tv some (when we let her!), and will turn her head to try to see it when it's on!  (Stinker!)  She still sleeps in our room at night, but that is about to change any night now as she's just about outgrown the bassinet.  We will try her in her own crib in her own room and see how that goes.  I am nervous to move her out, but she should do just fine!  The last time she went to the doctor she weighed 16 pounds, so she is definitely growing!  A few weeks ago she saw the eye doctor and now has a prescription for glasses.  She was farsighted.  We haven't gotten her glasses yet, but hope to some time this week.  We'll definitely post a pic of that!

Kathryn at 5 YEARS old!!!

It's hard to believe, but our firstborn is now FIVE!  That's school-aged, ya'll!  What a little lady she has become, too.  We often have joked that she's four-going-on-fourteen (guess we gotta change that saying now!).  See if you can see some of her big-stuff personality show in some of these pictures!

This year she really got into putting out cookies for Santa.  Although she knows "the truth" about Santa, she still made it a big deal to put out cookies for him.

 She is also really into writing notes.  She dictated the note that you see in the above picture.  She talks so fast and says so much it's hard to keep up!  She also loves texting people and sending Facebook messages.  Ah, kids these days...! 

She knows she's beautiful, too.  Can you tell?

 One of the biggest highlights of her past year was becoming a big sister again.  The whole pregnancy (except for the first month), she was very confident that it was a girl, and told people so all the time when they'd ask, even though we waited to find out.  When Waverly was born and we told her the news that she was a girl, she simply said, "I know."  She has taken on the role quite nicely, and loves to do things with and for her little sister.  She is a big help, and will get things for me like diapers, clothes, wipes, and her equipment.  She loves doing basic care for her like washing her face, helping with bath time, putting lotion on her, helping with diaper changes, and giving her meds.  When Waverly is done eating, she'll turn off her feeding pump.  She often entertains her and will "babysit" for me very seriously when asked (like if I have to attend to Jackson for a few minutes). 

 She's very much into accessorizing.  Always in search of the perfect headband, bow, or piece of jewelry, she will sometimes surprise us with her get-ups, as you can see in this picture.  In fact, although I don't have a picture of it, she currently has glitter in her hair that I can't get out.  She used her glitter lipgloss to accent her hair, and it's embedded into her scalp.  Guess it'll be there a while!

 Kathryn has really been into learning lately.  She can write all of her letters, and loves to spell.  She recognizes some basic sight words, and is constantly asking what a word spells, or how to spell something.  She loves to work on her "homework" (workbooks) during naptime.  Her preschool teacher has already told me she is quite ready for kindergarten. 

 Her memory is also incredible.  The things she remembers constantly amazes us.  She will often come up with something that happened over a year ago and hasn't been mentioned since.  It can be quite difficult to keep up with her sometimes! 

She took ballet class this fall.  It was her first "class" ever, and she really enjoyed it.  However, when the time came for the next session, she said she was done and hasn't asked about taking it again since. 

 One big thing that happened for Kathryn this year was starting preschool.  She goes three mornings a week, and LOVES it!  She seems to know every single kid in the whole school, and cracks us up and how much she knows about everyone.  She is obviously very social! 

 Here are a few more pictures of her taking care of her little sister. 

 Kathryn is also very much into her outfits these days.  She loves wearing skirts, and now that it's colder out loves to pick out her tights or leggings to go with them. 

 This year at preschool they did a Christmas play.  Kathryn was chosen to be the angel in the play that announced to the shepherds that Jesus was born.  She was the ONLY child in the whole play that had a speaking part, and she did awesome!  We were so proud of her for saying all four lines so well! 

 We also had fun going to the Nutcracker with her great-aunt and Grandma.  I love being able to do such big-girl things with her now.  She's really fun to hang out with, and I always enjoy one-on-one time with her.  You can tell she feels like such a big girl too. 

We still find her in funny sleeping positions.  When we check on her and Jackson in their room at night, we are never quite sure where we'll find her (in her bed, on the floor, in Jackson's bed, in Waverly's room in the chair, etc.).  One day she got tired and fell asleep downstairs in the chair like this:

This pic was taken today, her actual birthday.  She was very serious about what outfit she picked out, how her hair was done (in a braid with two clips on either side, with a crown on her head).  She's posing with her bear that her Grammy got for her on the day she was born.

Here are a few more things about our girl:

-She will often ask me to remind her of things, as in, "Mom, can you remind me to take my folder to school in the morning?"  or "Remind me when we get home to get my necklace." 
-Her imagination is really growing, and she will tell elaborate stories and dreams. 
-She wears mostly size 5 or 6 now. 
-Her shoe size is 12 or 13.
-She still loves music and will sing along to her songs on the cd or to songs on the radio.  She often surprises me with a new song she knows.
-She often picks out her own clothes for the morning, gets herself dressed, brushes her own hair and teeth, can get herself something to drink and sometimes something to eat (if it's accessible and easy).
-She loves UVA sports.
-She's still a good eater.  Some of her favorite foods are black olives, green olives stuffed with garlic, spaghetti, salad, apples, cheese, broccoli, and of course junk food like chocolate.  She also loves our local frozen yogurt place where you can choose your flavor of yogurt and then add any toppings you want.

Kathryn, we are so proud of the little girl that you have become.  It has been a true delight to be your parents these five years.  You bring so much joy and laughter to our lives.  We are so thankful that God blessed us with you, and pray that you continue to grow in your love and knowledge of Him.  May you be a light for His glory.  We love you!

Merry Christmas!!!

We were so blessed to have a happy and healthy Christmas all together this year! 

We had a hard time getting a decent pic of all the cousins together.  This is the best one I got! 

Pretty girl!

Baby's First Christmas!

Present time!

Too much Christmas!

Checking out Waverly's Nap Nanny.

Family pic.

 As I took Waverly in later in the day to change her out of her poofy Christmas dress I realized she was awake and happy and the light was perfect for a photo op.  I couldn't choose which pic was best, so here are all of them! 

 One last Christmas-y outfit pic of a very chubby-looking girl!