Still attached at the hip??? A shout-out to Laurin.

Laurin Headley is my life-long best friend. We met when we were 4 and as we were growing up, our family and friends always told us we were attached at the hip (I still don't really know what that means...). Anyway, a few weeks ago, I sent out birth announcements for Graham. Having never seen the ones Laurin picked out for her son, Sawyer, I evidently picked the exact same ones for Graham. We thought that was funny. Then last week after I finally updated my blog, changed the background, and put my blog list back up, I got around to checking my friends' blogs for the first time in FOREVER. Guess what? Same background as Laurin. This blog is just a silly little note to say: Sorry for always copying you, Laurin! It's not intentional! I'd change the background of this blog again, but it took me forever to do it this time, so I guess we're stuck matching for a little while! :) Also, I'm SOOOO happy you picked the name Jack! Can't wait to meet him!

Our Not-So-Little Girl

Last week I posted about Graham and his first 10 weeks, but I want to be sure not to leave out our precious little Kate, who is growing more and more into a little girl and leaving the "baby" role up to her little brother  now! Kate turned 19 months on Sunday and it's hard to believe she's closer to 2 now than 1! She definitely acts like it, too!

We are more and more impressed with the things she just "picks up" without even being taught...for instance, a few weeks ago I was reading/singing an ABC book with Kate and after I said "A, B, C" Kate proceeded to sing the rest of the letters all the way through H! Neither of us realized she was picking up on her alphabet, but sure enough a few days later, she sang through S! I've heard her sing the whole alphabet now (some letters don't come out quite right, but it's obvious what she's singing) and count from 1-10 (usually missing 1 number - either 8 or 9)!! Evidently during a trip to Saint George last week, she pointed out a star, heart, and circle to Michelle! How is my little Kate old enough to be learning all this stuff?!?!  

Kate has definitely become a fan of singing in general. She'll sing Elmo's song (the lalala part), the ABC's, Old McDonald (the EIEIO part followed by a "oink, oink"), Jesus Loves Me (she sings "Jesus, Jesus loves me, Bible" and kinda hums the in between parts), the Wheels on the Bus (she sings "Round and Round, Round and Round, the Town," again humming in between and doing the motions). A few weeks ago I played Ring Around the Rosy with her maybe twice, and about a week ago I started singing it while I was feeding Graham and she immediately started spinning around and fell down at the end! I didn't realize she would remember! Since then she's been singing "Ashes, Ashes, DOWN!" and spinning and falling...so adorable! 

Her vocabulary is still growing and her pronunciation of words getting so much better! "Movie" sounds like it should now, as  opposed to "Bo0Boo." She refers to things as being "Mommy's" or "Daddy's" or "Graham's" - especially our shoes, keys/purses, and Grahams bottles, paci's, etc. I could go on and on and on about how much she is learning and how precious she is! We are definitely just so amazed at her and are so thankful that Kate was finally discharged from the developmentalists that she had to see ever since her seizures! Her neurologist was also impressed at our last visit (in February) and we don't have to see him again for a year! God has truly been so good to us, to Kate, and we are so thankful for all of your prayers! Please keep praying for her and for our family!

A few recent pics:

A Few Favorites of Graham

Here we are and another 6 weeks has passed! Our tiny little bundle of joy is quickly growing into a BIG bundle of joy!! Graham is such a sweet little baby...he loves to hear his mommy, daddy, and even sister talk and sing to him and he's getting pretty good at "talking" back to us, too!! He started smiling around 5 1/2 weeks and hasn't stopped! He really does have such a good nature - even as I type this he is on his playmat looking at himself in the mirror and just talking and smiling at himself! And that's saying something, because he has accomplished another "first" this week: his first cold. :( Our poor little guy and his big sister are coughing and sneezing up a storm...and Mommy isn't getting much sleep because she's staying up all night listening to him breathe! :) Thankfully, he is still sleeping well for the most part, which, for him is about 8 hours a night right now. He's not quite as great of a sleeper as his big sister was, but he's a big boy (12 pounds, 6 ounces and 24 inches long at 9 1/2 weeks) and he needs to eat! :) I know I'm way behind on pictures, but I've picked a few of our favorites of his first 10 weeks of life...hope you enjoy catching up on our new addition!

We love you, Graham!!!

Graham is here!!!

Williamson Graham Lott

January 5, 2009 3:36 PM

7 pounds, 2 ounces 20 inches

Our baby is here!! This post has been a long time in coming because I wanted to wait until I had time to sit down and write out Graham's "Birthday Story" in full (warning: it is REALLY long), and since time has been a hard thing to come by these days, our little guy is 4 days shy of a month old right now...so hard to believe! 

Williamson Graham Lott, "Graham," was born on Monday, January 5, 2009 at 3:36 PM at REX Hospital in Raleigh, NC. As with Kate, I was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks because of the blood thinner I was on to prevent blood clots. My mom and brother came in to town on Sunday to help us get things together and to be here to watch Kate should we get the call to come to the hospital in the early hours of the morning - which we did!! We were told to expect a call anytime after 6:30 that morning, but the phone rang at 5:30 and the nurse asked us to be at the hospital at 7:15! So I took my time getting ready and Kevin and I headed out the door to get down to the hospital, completely underestimating work traffic, and spent the drive praying that we'd get there on time so they didn't give away our room. Thankfully, we pulled up right at 7:15 and were seen right back to the room to get things started. I should add here that this week (and the week before) Kevin, Kate, and I had been passing around an awful cold (an ear infection for Kate and bronchitis for me). I had just caught it 3 days earlier and the day of Graham's delivery was the worst possible day for it - I couldn't even breathe! Not to mention that this meant we were leaving a fussy daughter with family and friends for 3 days and bringing a newborn baby home to all kinds of germs...so I was worried they were going to see how sick I was and send me back home. Thankfully, once again, they let me deliver, but I regret that my head was in a fog most of the day as I was fighting to try to ignore one of the worse colds I've had in a while. Anyway, all that to say that these details might be a little fuzzy, but from the best I remember I was 1 1/2 centimeters dilated when I arrived, but the baby hadn't dropped at all. Dr. Groff was the doctor on call when I arrived and started me on the pitocin (spelling???) at 9:15 AM. It took a while for the labor to really start and I don't think I got the epidural until I was around 3 centimeters at close to noon (?) that day. In the meantime, Dr. Watson replaced Dr. Groff as the doctor on call and after I got the epidural I began dilating quickly, although it took a while for him to drop down any. Kevin's parents had arrived around 10:00 that morning and at about 1:00 our friends Kacie and Ross so graciously relieved my mom and brother so that they could head down to the hospital. It wasn't long after they arrived that I hit 9 centimeters and began to feel the need to deliver this baby! Lorren barely made it in to say hi before it was time to deliver and we realized my dad and Kevin's sister weren't going to make it in time (they couldn't get there until 5:30 because of work). My mom, Kevin's mom, and (of course) Kevin remained in the room for the delivery. By the time all was set, the nurse went ahead and called in Dr. Watson before I even pushed once because he was already ready to be born! I think I only pushed 4 times before Graham was born at 3:36! He was the most beautiful thing I've ever laid eyes on (with only his sister to equal him). I don't think I'll ever get over that first moment when you hear your baby's cry, see him for the first time, and they place him up there in your arms...even if I had 20 babies! :) God is SO gracious to allow us to be part of the creation of LIFE - these moments are truly the absolute most beautiful life has to offer!! I'm sure all you moms know that I could go on and on about this, but I'll make myself move on. :) Graham weighed in at 7 pounds, 2 ounces and was 20 inches long. We thought his hair was dark at first, but after a bath we realized it was some "strange" mixture of blonde, red, and light brown. His eyes were also an interesting mix of blue and brown, which I guess I would call gray, thus starting his nickname from his Daddy, "Gray." We also thought he looked like Kate at first, but it only took a few minutes to realize he looks only slightly like her - more like Kevin, Kevin's brother, and my brother - but completely with a look all his own that can be called nothing other than gorgeous! :) Anyway, they moved us to a recovery room that afternoon just in time to meet my dad and Michelle. When we had Kate we stayed the whole time in our labor room because they ran out of recovery rooms, so this was a new experience for us! While I got settled with lots of medication for my cold and preventative measures for blood clots, our family spent time getting to meet little Graham. We did send him down to the nursery for the nights, but I was able to begin nursing him, which he did perfectly at (at least for a few days...). I felt SOOO different from when I had Kate and was up and dressed starting the next day, which made the whole experience at the hospital so much smoother! Kevin's mom brought Kate up to meet her brother that afternoon. She didn't know what to think of him, but had a fun time looking at him and exploring the hospital room. We had friends visit later that night and got ready to go home the next day. It took us a while to check out because the Dr. Inge was supposed to do Graham's circumsion, but had to do an emergency C-section. He did eventually get circumcised and we were able to check out around 2:00. The whole visit to REX (actually, the whole pregnancy) seemed like such a whirlwind and I couldn't believe we were actually headed home with our second bundle of joy - I STILL can't believe it and he will be 4 weeks old tomorrow! God has been so incredibly good to our family. We just ask that you join with us in prayer that our children will grow in the knowledge and faith of Christ and choose to serve Him faithfully with their lives - this is the only blessing greater than their births themselves and we pray fervently that the Lord will move in their hearts at an early age! 

Updates on Kate

Well, here I am again playing catch-up! I wanted to post about Kate's latest milestones over the last few months, mostly so I won't forget them! Our baby is definitely not a baby anymore! 

She can say almost anything you ask her to say and is getting better and better at putting 2-word phrases together. Some of our recent favorites are: "Good girl," which she says after she's listened to you or when she wants to be done with something she doesn't love (like washing her hair), and "Bad girl," which I found her saying to Cayman after I told her to get in her house one afternoon. We've also heard her copying Kevin saying "Shoot" and me saying "Darn" when we were frustrated - we're definitely to the stage of having to watch every little thing you say! She has trouble with the "Gr" sound - around Christmas she simply called Kevin's Dad "B" instead of "Gramps." That's become "Bamps" now and she's changed the "Nay-nay" she used to call Cayman into "Nay-Nah." 

She is recognizing people more and more. When everyone sent out their Christmas cards, we got a few from our friends with children that Kate knows. I hung them all on the fridge and one day Kate kept going over to the fridge saying "Baby" and "Di." It took me a minute to realize she was talking about the pictures of "Baylor" and "Eden." After I showed her the rest of the pictures, she became obsessed with the card from the Snuffins. She walked around with it pointing at "De-Drew" (Andrew) for 2 days! 

On not such a bright note, we've spent the last 2 1/2 months being sick with one thing or another. It started around Halloween with Hand, Foot, and Mouth/Roseola (and a trip to the ER), which turned into a bad cold and then Croup, followed by 2 ear infections, another cold, bronchitis, and another ear infection....I THINK we are finally on the mend (knock on wood)!! :) In the middle of all this, her doctor became concerned that she was barely gaining weight (only 1 oz/6 weeks or so), so we've been fighting to get her to eat ANYTHING that'll put some weight on her. We're not too worried, though, considering that Kevin and I were both lanky little kids. 

She has decided recently that she loves singing and dancing. She will sing "do-do-do" or "la-la-la" to most music that comes on. I think it started around Christmas with trying to sing "Jingle Bells." She sat with my Mom, brother, Kevin, and I for over 30 minutes singing along with a book she has that plays music. One of the tunes is slow and she'd sway from side to side, but on the faster song she'd bounce up and down. I wish I'd caught it on video! She's added some really great moves to her dancing repertoire - marching, tap dancing, bouncing, butt-shaking, and swaying. :) She is loving her Elmo Sing-Along video. She knows when her 2 favorite songs come on and she'll go stand in front of the TV ready to do the motions: marching to "The Ants Go Marching" and clapping to "If You're Happy and You Know It." 

She is also loving to draw and pretend cook. She is sleeping in her big girl bed now (as of Thanksgiving) and has yet to try to get out of it at night (knock on wood again)! :) She likes to help brush her teeth, feed Cayman (she carries the food to her bowl and dumps it in), and is learning to use a fork and spoon by herself. We are also working on numbers and colors. She'll repeat all the numbers with you (up to ten) and repeat all the basic colors and I'm pretty sure she knows the color yellow, but I wouldn't put any money on it yet. :) She's started going to sleep with her "Bear" (a little pink bear Uncle Dut gave her when she was born) and her "Night-night" (1 of 2 pink blankets - 1 from our friends the Wardens and 1 from Gracie). She wakes up every morning trying to find Bear in her bed, then asking for a "Biapy" (diaper), and her "Froggies" (frog bedroom shoes). She is definitely a girl who knows what she wants! :) She is also loving dress-up, especially bracelets. One of my favorite things is her new-found interest in her Bible. She'll point up to her bookshelf and say "Bible," then she'll sit and flip the pages saying "Jesus" each time. I know she has no clue what it really means, but it shows me that she catches on at least in part to the importance of God in our lives, and we continue to pray that she'll choose to follow the Lord on her own.

Kate is just such a smart and SILLY  little girl and we are completely blessed to be her parents! I'm sure once I end this post I'll come up with a dozen other milestones or funny things, but for now I'll leave you with a few favorite pictures of the last few months. Oh...and somebody please tell me how your kids can grow up this fast?!?! 

Loving her PB&J (Can't figure out how to get rid of the underline....)

Off to her first sleep over. Lorren and Cole took care of Kate while Kevin and I went to the Bayleaf Toy Chest to get Kate some amazing Christmas presents!

A few of her last moments in her crib:




Why we decided to put her in the big-girl bed:

Last night in the crib (Don't mind me, I'd just come back from '80's Girls' Night at the Melting Pot):



First night in the big-girl bed:

Waking up the next morning with just a LITTLE bed head: