A Beautiful Day

Today was just a gorgeous day -- It was 86 degrees without a cloud in the sky. We spent the morning with Doug/Daddy, went out to lunch and then this afternoon after Noah was out of school we had his soccer game to go to. He played AWESOME today - no goals scored - but he was really getting into the mix of things and trying to get to the ball and take it from the other team. I love to watch him play when he's like that - so into what he's doing and having a lot of fun while he's at it. He was a happy guy this evening after he played and I was his number one cheerleader. We finished off the day with an icecream cone from our local shop. I snapped a couple of pictures of the girls earlier in the day. Rachel always has a smile on her face when she gets to hold her baby sister. Miss Kate wore her first dress today - it was huge on her, but I still thought she looked so cute!

Weight Update

We stopped by Dr. Goza's office yesterday on a whim and checked on Kate's weight. We were very happy to learn that she had regained up to her birth weight (YAY!) and is now weighing 7lbs, 10.5oz. She weighed 7lbs 10.4oz at birth. She was up from 7lbs, 3.5oz on Thursday. This is awesome news! =)

The pictures above are a sort of a tradition for the babies in our family. When Noah was born Christina gave me this little hat and an outfit that matches it... I loved the hat so much! I have a picture just like this of all three of the kids and they are all framed throughout the house. I need to post them all on here so you can see how similar (and different) they all look! I love that I was able to capture them each in this cute little hat.

3 Weeks Old

Kate is three weeks old today - That seems so hard to believe! It seems like she only just arrived... She's doing great - She seems to be gaining weight (we're going to head over to her pediatrician's office on Wednesday and do another weigh in), she sleeps good, she has great wake periods, she is tracking my voice and looking for me when she hears me, and she is trying really hard to hold up her pumpkin head. She's actually fairly good at it, but will do it for so long that when she gets tired it just flops. The kids are totally in love with her. I love to watch them interact with her. Noah held her yesterday for a very long time just talking to her and telling her how cute she is. Rachel loves holding her and helping in any way she can. We made our first big outing today up to Locust Grove to the outlets and did a little shopping. Kate did really well and didn't fuss a bit. I love our new Sit/Stand stroller and it makes being out with the two smaller kiddos a breeze. Kate has been meeting all of her neighbors since they have been dropping by to see how she's doing -Very cool! =) We also found out that one of the babies in the NICU with us was born the same day as Kate and is also our neighbor here in Willow Bend -It's a small world for sure! I'm so glad to hear Aubrey is doing well and is home with her family now.

She always has a skip in her step...

Rachel loves being a big sister. I honestly think she adores Kate and wants to help in any way she can. We had Rachel sitting in the back row of the explorer recently with Kate in the middle row, middle seat, and Noah has to sit middle row behind the passenger seat due to drop off and pick up at school. Yesterday I moved Rachel up to the middle seat on the other side of Kate and she was so, so happy to be sitting by 'her' baby. After the soccer game today on our way home Kate started to fuss and Rachel immediately started singing to her. She was so cute the way she would sing this little song:

"Calm down, Katherine Rebecca -- Katherine Rebecca, Calm down. Calm down Kate, calm down Kate -- Kate, calm down." She would sing this over and over in her cute little voice (okay, so she really can't sing on key as most of you who have heard her knows... but, it was so cute!). I have got to try to catch that on video. It's the kind of thing that will be priceless in years to come.

My mom got Rachel this little dress and gave it to her the day before Kate was born. Rachel loves dresses and a couple of days ago it was actually warm enough to wear it. I took her outside to let her 'dance' for me and took some pictures of her while I was watching. She always manages to ham it up when she's dancing and skipping around. She's such a sweet girl. =)

Growing

We had our third weigh in for Kate today and thank heavens she's gained four ounces since Monday! Yay! As her pediatrician said, it looks like she's finally turned a corner and is starting to gain weight back. She weighed in at 7lbs 3.5 oz and was up from 6lbs 15.5 oz on Monday. I have to say I was holding my breath as I placed her on the scale today. She looks so tiny and is all skinny arms and legs to me, so I was so happy to hear she was up four ounces. Way to go Kate! A big thank you going out to Chris and family for the beautiful gift basket you sent Kate. Everything was wonderful and as you can see above, already being put to good use! Rachel said she had to wear the ladybug outfit first! Love you guys and thanks for thinking of our baby girl.

Pink Flowers

I know, it seems as though it is always the girls in the pictures... Noah has been anti-camera again here lately. I haven't been pushing the issue. I hope to get some pictures of my favorite little dude in soon. When we were at the park the other day there were these huge bushes of pink flowers and Rachel was just in awe of them... What little girl doesn't adore big pink flowers? She had to pick some, smell some, take some to the other little girls there playing... Cute.

Photos from Kate's first week home (2nd week of life)

I love this one - she looks so little in Doug's hands!

This was shortly after Kate came home and was still getting a bottle to measure how much she was eating. Rachel was so excited to help feed her!

So proud to be a big sister!

These are of Kate's first bath at home - Noah and Rachel wanted to help give her a bath so Noah washed her feet and legs, Rachel washed her hair, while I washed everything in between. They were so happy and so proud to help.

We wanted to share a few pictures of Kate's first week with you -- A lot of you have been asking for pictures, so here you go!

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2 Weeks Old Today

Our little bunny is two weeks old today - It's hard to believe that that much time has gone by already. We took her in for a weight check today and she was up to 6lbs 15.5 oz. She's a very good baby and only really seems to fuss on occasion when her tummy hurts (she doesn't like to burp at all for us). She is just amazing and I can sit and stare at her for long moments until some other chaotic thing catches my intrest or attention here on the homefront. Noah and Rachel both seem to adore her - each in their own way. Noah must tell us she's a "Cutie-Cutie" a hundred times a day and Rachel just wants to hold her and have her come up to the play room to watch her play dress up and dance for her. I know she is just waiting for the day that Kate can actually play girly stuff with her. Life seems to be adjusting nicely around her and that's a good thing. We were all sad to see Doug/Daddy go back to work today after two weeks home with us. We miss him already. We have ventured out a few times all as a family (I have to say I was pretty shocked when I had a complete stranger ask to hold Kate...) and then I have tested the waters going out with the three kids by myself a couple of times. It really goes pretty smoothly which is really nice. I'm glad our laid back little bunny seems to just go with the flow of our crazy life here in the Hornback household.