Happy New Year

It's been a busy holiday week again, with visits to the grandparents and more 'firsts.' At Grammy and Grandpa's (Rothfus) house, Kate went on her first snowmobile ride! It made me super nervous, as there definitely was NOT a car seat involved, but because of the large amount of snow that arrived overnight, it was either the snowmobile or a very long walk in the cold! She did great, of course. Todd plopped her in the bjorn and she slept the whole time we rode down to the car. Too cute!

At Grandma and Grandpa's(Smith) house, Kate went sledding for the first time! Grandpa made a very cool attachment to a sled so that her car seat carrier fit right in. We towed her behind us as we walked downtown Leavenworth for lunch. She was awake for the first part of it and seemed to like it (well, as much as we could tell!) After lunch we took her to the sledding hill, to a part with a modest incline and let her sled down it! She thought it was fabulous. Check out the video for more proof of that. :)



I forgot to mention that last week she rolled over for the first time! She went back to belly, which is more unusual to start with, but it just goes to show that we have a genius on our hands.

We had a great time visiting with family, and I appreciated all the help I got with Kate. Her Grammy and Grandma got to have lots of cuddle time, and I got to get some knitting done! I'll have to post a photo of my latest project.

Todd's gearing up to start his tests to obtain his Architectural license. His first test is on Monday, and then he'll have a test every 3-4 weeks until May. It's a pretty rigorous examination, but he's looking forward to getting started on it.

I'm heading back to work next Wednesday. I'm feeling ready to rejoin my colleagues and to get back into the other 'nursing' world. It will be hard to leave Kate for 13 hours at a time, but knowing Todd is home taking care of her will make it much easier. I'll just be working every Wed and every other weekend, and he'll be staying home on Wed to care for her. I think they're going to have lots of fun having so much one-on-one daddy time!

Enjoy more pictures, and Happy New Year!

Much love,
Julie

Oops! You caught me with my hands in my mouth again!


She doesn't seem to appreciate our efforts to keep her warm.


Out enjoying a rare snow day!


Yes, she's trying to eat her snowsuit.


Winter Wonderland in Seattle

Feeling Sentimental

As I look down at the sleeping babe in my arms, I can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of happiness and disbelief. A year ago today, we had our first true chance to start our family after nearly a year and half of trying. I was feeling so hopeful and nervous at the same time and trying to stay relaxed. Two weeks later we received our first positive pg test and were overjoyed, as well as cautiously optimistic. And as you know, in September we finally welcomed our lovely Kate Scarlett into this world.

Christmas has a new meaning for me now. It's always been a time for family, and now it's a time that reminds me of how our Kate came to us. It was an incredibly hard journey for us, but we now have this wonderful new person in our lives.

My heart goes out to those couples still waiting to start or to add to their families. Your strength amazes me and we think of you often.

Merry Christmas,
Julie

Big Girl Crib

Todd and I decided that we were ready to move our sweet Kate out of the co-sleeper in our room and into her big girl crib in her room this week. She's been a good sleeper, although this past week she was starting to wake up more frequently during the night. I wasn't sure if it was because she was going through a growth spurt, if she was just stirring and I was nursing prematurely, if she just wanted to nurse for comfort, or something else. I also wanted to have her sleeping in her crib by the time I went back to work, so that I could get better sleep. So we decided to try putting her to sleep in her room to see if her sleeping pattern would improve.

Her first night in her big girl crib was on Tuesday night, her 3 month birthday. :) Todd was staying home from work on Wednesday, so we figured if it was a disaster and I was up all night, at least he'd be home from work to take care of her so I could sleep. We did our normal bedtime routine, but in her room instead of ours, and put her down in her crib at 9pm. She didn't stir or fuss at all, and slept until 5am! I nursed her again, and put her back down in her crib and she slept until 7:45! How fabulous is that?!

Last night went almost as smooth. She went down at 9pm, but fussed around for about an hour. She just kept sleeping and then stirring and having tiny little whimpers, but a binky helped and she finally was out around 10. She woke up around 3, nursed, and went back to sleep in her crib until 7:15.

I am so proud of her! She's doing so well! Napping has been a bit better the past few days too. Not sure if that's a coincidence with a better night sleep, but I'll take it. She's spending more naps in her crib and less held by mom and dad. My little baby's growing up! (Ok, now I know just because she's sleeping well right now, doesn't mean that she always will, but it sure feels good right now !)

Check out this great video of Todd trying to get Kate to laugh. It's so fun!

3 months old

Wow! How did my little baby become 3 months old already?! It's truly amazing how fast time flies sometimes. She is doing so well! The past week or so has been a bit more challenging--but this is a normal time for challenges to occur as babes are mastering more skills and becoming more aware of the world. She's awake a lot more of the day, and you can really see her looking around taking everything in. She does get over-stimulated more often now, and we have to pay attention to her signs that she's had too much. She's smiling a lot, giving us occasional laughs, and just becoming a wonderfully delightful person.

I'll be heading back to work in January (just part time) and am trying to really enjoy these days with her. It will be great that Todd will get to spend more time with her once I go back, as he'll be taking care of her when I'm at work. I think she's looking forward to more one-on-one time with daddy too!

More pics for you to enjoy:

My dear friend Sarah and her daughter Charlotte (11 mo)(aren't the girls cute in their matching outfits?!)


Todd & Chad doing daddy duty


Sam (Lisa's son)(8 weeks) and Kate (12 weeks)
Sam's almost as big as Kate now!


Cousin Brianna


Kate's first Christmas tree

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a wonderful thanksgiving weekend with both families. Here are some pictures:
Thanksgiving pictures
At the Rothfus Residence in Ronald, uncle Bill came down from Orcas for a great couple days visit. Check out the step stool he made for Kate. Grammy(julie's mom) made a great turkey dinner. In leavenworth, 4 generations came to visit. The oldest being my(todd's) 93 year old Grandad, Madeira from Ohio.

Also, A big smile on the changing table! Almost 11 weeks old now.

Early Thanksgiving with friends

Saturday we went to over to Micah and Amy's for a friends Thanksgiving dinner. Evan & Petra and Micah & Beth also joined us. These guys grew up with Todd in Leavenworth. Everyone brought food to share and the food was delicious! Amy even cooked the turkey by herself for the first time and it turned out great!

Enjoy the pictures! Can you tell who the star of the party was? :)
click here

And here's a cute one from today:

More Pics

I know this is really what you want to see!

Enjoy!

These are some rad pants that my aunt Jane & uncle Jim sent from Australia. The pictures don't do them justice, but the pockets aren't real--they're sort of painted on. Super cute!


Front side of her hot pants



Hanging out


Kate and Sam (Lisa's new son--4 weeks old) at our new mom's group. Actually you can get a better look at her hot pants here!


My current favorite--Life is good!

7 Hour Stretch

I'm happy to report that Miss Kate slept SEVEN consecutive hours last night! Woohoo! She's been fairly consistently sleeping 4-6 hours since she was about 4 weeks old, but it was often like a 9 to 3a stretch, or 10-2a. That in itself is great--I know lots of 8 week old babes still wake more often than that.

So last night, she'd been taking an evening nap, and woke up around 10p for another feed. She ate really well, and then I decided to try a new swaddle technique that I learned at this great new parent group that I go to here. We used to swaddle her, but she kept breaking free from it...so then this last week we had just been putting her in this, but she'd squirm and squirm and wake herself up.
This is the special swaddle technique: It's a 2 blanket swaddle...the first you use to wrap their arms, and then bring the blanket up between her legs and around the chest (kind of hard to describe). Then the 2nd blanket you just do a typical swaddle. She nursed a bit more and I put her down in her crib asleep around 11pm. She woke up ready to eat at 6am! How brilliant is that?! Needless to say, I'll be using that swaddle again!

First Babysitter

Today marks the first day that we left Kate without me or Todd being there! I had a dentist appointment today and had planned on taking miss Kate with me. The office said it was fine to bring her along and leave her in the car seat at the front desk. Unfortunately this morning she was a bit on the fussy side and I was worried that she'd scream the whole time that I was there! She'll tolerate her car seat when it's in the car and moving, but she does NOT like to be in it without movement! So I spontaneously called my friend Stephanie (who's also a pediatric nurse!) to see if she'd be able to watch Kate, and she said she'd love to!

When I left the house, Kate was screaming and Steff was already on the bouncy ball trying to settle her. Yikes! But despite the screaming, I knew she was in good hands! My appointment went well, and 2 hours later I was home. When I walked in the door, I was afraid that Kate would still be fussing, but instead I opened the door to Kate sleeping in Steff's arms while she was knitting! :) What a relief to see 2 contented faces!

It feels good to know that I can leave her and that her world (or mine!) won't fall apart!

Bring on date night!

Julie

Dancing pre-birth

Thought it would be fun to post an older video showing Julie trying to get the baby to come out a couple weeks before her due date. Dancing to Lady Sovereign's "those were the days" watch as Julie get's down.

First smiles and more cute photos

1st smile on camera


Hi momma!


Mom sure is having fun dressing me!


Just hanging out


Rocking with Grammy


Spending time with Grandma


Getting ready for bath time!

First vacation!

To celebrate my birthday, Todd and I decided to be brave and spend the weekend in Portland, with 5 week old Kate! Friday evening we took the train down. It was a beautiful ride..the sun was setting and miss Kate hardly made a peep! When we got off, a couple people even commented on how good she was. That made us feel like super-star parents! :) We stayed at this great hotel--the front desk upgraded our room AND gave us a complimentary bottle of wine. It was such a nice and unexpected treat. We spent Saturday walking around the Pearl district and going to the Saturday market. That evening, Todd took us out to dinner at a great restaurant. He had octopus and rabbit, and while my choices were predictably more conservative, I did try his more adventurous meal (which was actually pretty good!). Again, Kate was well behaved!
Sunday we spent the day walking through Washington Park. The trees were so beautiful, with the leaves changing colors. It was sunny and warm...a perfect fall day! Kate loved all the walking that we did--especially because her daddy was carrying her the whole time!
We had a such a lovely time.

Enjoy some pictures of our trip.

Love, Julie

1 month old!

It's hard to believe that Miss Kate Scarlett is already one month old! We've had so much fun getting to know our little one and she's been such a good baby. Sleep has been going well and she really doesn't fuss too much. Sometimes she needs help getting to sleep, but it's been pretty reasonable.

We've had lots of friends over to visit and meet our Kate. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure:


Friends Alia & Stephanie


Nina


Katie, Tim, Andrew


Alexis


Joey


Kenny


Micah


Erin & Eli


Lauren & Kyle


And here are some cute ones of just her:

1st entry into the Smith Chronicle

This is our first post of our new blog site. It's an honor to announce our new baby daughter, Kate Scarlett. It's a great thing, this duty called parenthood.

This site is a means to keep friends and family up to speed on us. A family that blogs together, stays together: A modern day sunday phone call to parents and friends....haha.

Anyways, we'll post pictures, news, stories, B.S. and the like. We look forward to it.