Christmas Decoration Day!!!

We jumped the gun on our Christmas decorations this year. I've NEVER put Christmas up before Thanksgiving. It just seems wrong. BUT...I am so far behind on my Christmas shopping. Last year by the day after Thanksgiving I was DONE. And I am not even going to be close this year. So, I figured I should try to get ahead on something. Plus it will be fun to be able to enjoy the decorations for a whole extra week.The big basket full of wrapped books is our new Christmas tradition this year. Everyday from now until Christmas, Savannah will get to open up one Christmas book that we will get to read that night. Tonight she opened Pooh's Christmas Mystery. I think it will be a fun tradition. Hopefully we can convince Savannah that its a good idea to only open one book per day.

Savannah putting the star on the tree. She has been so excited all day. I have no idea how our decorations are going to make it through this Christmas season. She just wanted to touch everything. We did get her the Little People Nativity and we've been encouraging her to play with that instead of the other decorations. We'll see how it goes!Sophie really got in on the decorating action. Haha. She did enjoy spending time with this toy. This was seriously the ONLY thing that Savannah enjoyed as a baby. It was either me holding her or her laying under this thing. I'm afraid Sophie may be heading in that direction!

I am so blessed.
This is the first time we've let Savannah hold Sophie by herself. She was very excited.
And just because I think she's oh so cute...

Love These Peeps...

I saw this picture on Abbie's Facebook. More awesome work from Adri. I miss them. I got messages from both of my sisters today saying they love me and miss me. I LOVE YOU TOO!!! Just want to say that living away from my family is hard stuff. Even though I've been doing it for the last 7 years, it never get easier. Especially now that I have kids...its even harder watching Savannah miss my family...and she does...she talks about them constantly and asks to see them all the time.

Park pictures

Yesterday I took the girls to Steve's work for lunch. Savannah loves visiting Steve at work and talks about it all of the time. It helps that everyone there plays with her and doesn't mind when she acts like a crazy person. Yesterday she even answered the phone. It rang once and she just picked it right up. Yikes!

Since the weather was somewhat decent yesterday and since I'm pretty sure it was probably the last decent day we're going to see in awhile, we went to the park. It was so much fun. I've said it a million times, but winter is hard. Kids don't belong cooped up in the house.

I also went to this cool new bookstore yesterday. It's a used book store and they give you a grocery sack and you can put as many books in it as you can fit for $7. I got 20 kids books yesterday for $7. And they have TONS of books and they get new books everyday. It was pretty much heaven for me and Savannah. Books are the one toy that I think you can never have too much of. I'm sure I'll be going back frequently :)

And I just want to mention that yesterday this munchkin had her 1-month birthday. We are anxiously awaiting her first smile. Crazy!

Savannah Funnies of the moment...

Is there anything funnier than a kid learning to talk? Savannah says the funniest things to me all the time. These are just a few of them that I can remember.

She been calling me "Mommy Katie." When I ask her what Dad's name is, she says, "Kid."

She's been begging me all week to, "Go for a ride in Nanny's (herself) car." She is as stir crazy as me.

We were looking through her books, trying to find different objects (kind of like Where's Waldo), she couldn't find something and I found it for her and she said, "Good job Mom!"

Today she climbed up on Steve's lap and said, "I love you dad!" (Oh my gosh, is there anything sweeter? Just wondering when she's going to say that to me...)

When she is getting in trouble and I tell her to look at me, she rolls her head back, closes her eyes and pretends to be snoring. Lovely.

When Sophie has gas she tells me, "Sophie burped in her pants!"

She used to call Sophie, Fofie...Now she's shortened it to Fofe. She also tells "Fofe" that she loves her. Still...waiting to hear that she loves mom.

She always comes up to me, puts her hand to her ear and says, "Ssshh, listen." Not sure what we're listening for.

She is really disturbed about the fact that Sophie has no teeth. Whenever we are eating anything she comments on the fact that Sophie has no teeth.

She counts to 12, skips 5 EVERY time and adds the word Komee onto the end of it. Steve swears she's speaking Swahili (apparently there is a Barney episode where they count to 10 in Swahili and one of the numbers is Komee). Savannah doesn't believe us when we tell her that she's skipping 5 and that Komee is NOT a number.

She is so incredibly stubborn. Seriously, she has a one track mind. It is so frustrating for me to try to reason with her. She constantly wants Sophie to have her binky in her mouth, even when she's sleeping. She will sit there and shove it in her mouth until Sophie finally gives in. I swear the girl never gives up.

I absolutely LOVE this picture. When my family was in town, before Kevin went to the MTC, we had a family friend, Adri take our pictures. She is awesome! Check out her site. It has become so impossible for me to get a decent picture of Savannah. She won't look at me. I was thrilled when I saw this picture of Savannah. What a good smile. Thanks Adri! (Just FYI-these pictures were taken 12 days after I had Sophia...I'm definitely not loving the way I look in them...)

And here's "baby Fofe!" So cute!

The girls...

How many days in a row can she go wearing this skirt over her clothes and pajamas? We shall see...

I can't believe she's 4 WEEKS OLD!!!

A few of my favorite things...

Randomness...

Today I decided to bust out my Moby wrap and see if Sophia liked it. I won this wrap on Seriously, so blessed when I was just first pregnant with Sophie. Sophie loves to be held, and I love to hold her but I feel like I never can because I'm trying to take care of Savannah and keep up with the housework, plus tomorrow I'm going to try to start working some (from home) and I really need my hands free. This way I feel like I can hold her as much as she needs to be held and still accomplish everything I need to do. Sophie LOVED the wrap. Hopefully it lasts, because it would be wonderful to be able to hold her all day, like I did for Savannah.This is one of Savannah's outfits. What do you think? Does she look like Savannah? They remind me so much of each other, but I think I'm the only one who thinks that.

We decided to take a Sunday night drive tonight. We were all getting a little stir crazy. Savannah is so obsessed with the temple lately. She thinks pretty much every large building is the temple and whenever we are driving around, she is demanding to know where the temple is and trying to find it. She calls it Jesus' house. So cute. Then we took a drive around campus and told her all about Utah State. By the end of the night we had her saying that she wanted to get married in the temple and wanted to go to school at Utah State. YES!!!

Andrea made this cute hat for Sophie. It didn't fit her when she was born. She's growing like crazy!!!Savannah was being such a stinker and didn't want me to take her picture. This is her saying, "No picture!'

Sophie and Ollie

This is a picture of Sophie and her cute little cousin Ollie. Ollie was born at the end of July. I love how they both sleep with their hands stretched out above their heads. Ollie has the cutest smile and is so happy. I couldn't believe how huge he looked compared to Sophie. They just get big way too fast! I'm sure these two will be best buddies in no time at all. Their big sisters are only 3 months apart too. Thanks for coming to see us Scot and Diana!

Bundled Up Baby...

And her crazy big sister!

Hot Diggity Dog!

Savannah always wants Sophie to dance. Anyone familiar with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse? The hot dog song? It gets stuck in your head and won't leave. Steve and I and even Savannah are always walking around singing it. Anyway, Sophie usually does a nightly dance to the hot diggity dog song for Savannah (with assistance from dad!). Savannah thinks its the funniest thing in the world.

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day was awesome! I'm so proud to be an American and so thankful for the freedoms we enjoy. I am grateful to those who serve our country and who willingly put their lives on the line for us.

Steve had the day off, but don't worry I put him to work! He stayed up with the baby last night and I slept for 7 straight hours. It was pretty amazing and I feel totally rejuvenated. Sleep makes such a HUGE difference! Thank you Steve! Then this morning, we all headed up to Savannah's room to clean up the incredible mess...seriously it was unbelievable.

We went to lunch at Old Grist Mill and then went to the park with friends. Savannah was so excited about going to the park. You would have thought it was Christmas or something. She must be feeling a little cooped up too. The park we went to was a new park and it was a ton of fun. I was sad that we just found it today seeing as there probably won't be any more warm days until spring.

I know I've posted a lot of pictures like this, but I think they're cute. Savannah just can't get enough of "baby Fofie." While I was taking these pictures she was pointing out every feature on Sophie's face and telling me that it was pretty. "Pretty nose, pretty ears, pretty little bow!"This is my favorite. I'm sure this is how Sophie feels about Savannah right now. Savannah gets soooo close to her face and just talks and talks and talks to her...so loud. In this one she kept saying, "Hi baby Fofie, hi baby Fofie" over and over again. Sophie is so bright eyed. When she's awake her eyes are opened so wide. She's just takin' it all in!Haha! I love this one...crazy eyes. Totally reminds me of Savannah. This is how she looked at me for the first 2 months of her life. I thought my baby hated me.

Three Weeks

Sophie is three weeks old today. All I can say is life is crazy right now...and its not because of the 3-week old we have living in our house. Its because of the 2-year-old. Today Savannah colored with permanent marker on the fridge and ate a handful of dirt...to name a few. She's lucky she's so cute and funny because, oh my, she's trouble. Today I asked her if she missed Kevin and she told me she did. I said, "me too," and Savannah responded with, "me three!" What a crackup.

Sophie is as cute and sweet as ever. She wakes up every 2-3 hours to eat so I'm not getting much sleep. Its weird living life like that. I forgot how hazy and groggy you feel. I may be getting 6-7 hours of sleep in a 24-hour period, but it is so broken up that I feel like I'm getting NO sleep. I just keep reminding myself that this all changes SO FAST and that I need to take the time to enjoy sweet little Sophie while she is so small.

Steve doesn't have to work tomorrow so I'm going to be able to get some consecutive sleep tonight. That should make everything feel better! We rented Monsters vs. Aliens and ate yummy Frostys tonight. It was fun to spend some time together as a family, even if it was a bit chaotic!

And by the way, I was able to get all of the permanent marker off of the fridge by some miracle. Normally when Savannah takes permanent marker to something, I bust out the magic eraser, and it usually does the trick. Today I was having no such luck. I was almost in tears when I realized that the magic eraser wasn't going to work because I didn't know what else to do. I found some Kaboom in the closet and that, combined with the magic eraser, did the trick. What a relief!

I <3 Daddy

Baby Loves

Savannah kept saying, "Sophie's kissing me!" So cute. I'm not sure how Sophie feels about all of the love and attention she gets from her big sister, but Savannah sure loves to love on her. Well my parents went home this morning. Sad, sad day. We have enjoyed having them here so much. Savannah has been having so much fun with her grandma and papa, and I'm worried that I just won't be able to provide the same level of entertainment for her! My mom worked so hard while she was here and I appreciate all she did so much. I got much more sleep than normal because my mom was willing to sit up at night and hold Sophie. My mom cooked for us, cleaned for us and did our laundry. I'm feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed today knowing that they are gone. Thank you mom and dad! Our girls are so lucky to have such wonderful grandparents.

2 weeks

I took Sophia to her 2-week checkup today. She is a little chunker! I was pretty much expecting her to have gained a lot of weight...the girl eats constantly, but even I was shocked at how much she had gained. She now weighs 8 pounds 14 ounces (up from her birth weight of 7 pounds 11 ounces) and is 22 inches long (up from 20 inches at birth)! She is in the 96% for height and the 66% for weight. The doctor and nurse were quite impressed with how much she's grown in two weeks! Haha!

Check out that cute double chin...

We went to the park today with grandma and grandpa. Savannah had so much fun. It was great to enjoy park weather and Savannah was thrilled about getting out of the house.

Elder Pickett...it's official!

Here are some pictures of Kevin this afternoon being dropped off at the MTC. He is official! My parents said he was a rock. As they were standing there saying goodbye he said, "This is where I'm supposed to be." He has been so anxious to get going. We are so proud of Kevin. He has prepared well and is going to be an awesome missionary.

It's my party and I'll cry if I want to!

Today is my 26th birthday. It was different than any other birthday I've ever had...for a few reasons. The first being that I haven't been able to spend my birthday with my family since my 19th birthday. The second being that I just had a baby 2 weeks ago (Sophie's 2-week birthday!). And the third being that I said goodbye to my brother for the next two years.This afternoon we ordered Jimmy Johns and Steve brought home a Cold Stone cake...yummy!!! After lunch my family left to take Kevin to the MTC. They are spending the night in Salt Lake and then taking him to the MTC tomorrow. Yes...there were many tears. I am so proud of Kevin for making such good decisions in his life, but its still hard to say goodbye! I will miss him dearly and it blows my mind to think that the next time I see him my newborn will be two!

I heard a little knock on the door while I was sitting on the couch crying this afternoon and was cheered by these beautiful flowers from my sweet husband. We didn't do much tonight just ate some Chinese leftovers and hung out with our cute girls. Steve got me a gift card and I'm excited to go shopping...it will be nice to go shopping for non-maternity clothes! I love my husband and love my little girls and my family! They have all made my day great and I am so blessed.

Playing...

Yesterday everyone went to church except for me and Sophie. We had a nice relaxing morning at home. We had a lot of visitors yesterday and we also got some family pictures taken. Since Kevin won't get to spend Thanksgiving at home, my mom made a YUMMY Thanksgiving dinner. It was awesome. Here are some fun pictures of Grandpa playing with the girls after church. They were laughing so hard.

And here is Sophie, being so sweet! We love her!

Halloween!

Bear with me on the picture overload here. The kids had a fun Halloween and looked SO cute! My whole family is here for the week so we had a fun family party. After the kids got dressed in their costumes, we took them outside to take pictures. My dad and Steve started raking up all of the leaves into a huge pile and the kids had so much fun playing in the leaves. Then the Brad and Steve took the kids around the neighborhood trick or treating. While they were gone my mom dressed up like a witch and when they came back to our house my mom opened the door. Savannah was pretty freaked out by her, but once she realized it was grandma, she was okay. She kept say, "Grandma's a witch" the rest of the night. My mom had some fun activities planned for the kids. They made mummys, ghosts, worms in mud and spiders. They had so much fun. Thanks mom and dad for making it such a fun night!!!

Tired...

I'm not gonna lie...we're all REALLY tired around here. Even Savannah. After her nap today, I'm not too sure how thrilled I am about the big girl bed. She barely got a nap because all of the playing that was going on and she has been SO GROUCHY!

Big girl bed...

Aren't I lucky to have such talented sisters and sisters in law. Blankets and bows made by awesome family members! Good thing, because I could never make things like this!About 20 minutes after we put Savannah down for her nap today, she came wandering into the living room. Uh-oh! I've been waiting for the day when Savannah would figure out that she can climb out of her crib. And today was the day. Sadly, we decided that it just isn't safe to have her in the crib anymore. Boo... I know I have a new baby who needs the crib, but I love having Savannah in a crib. Anyway, we decided to take the easy way out and just remove the front part of her crib. We have a bed for her and cute bedding to go with it, but we decided to just leave her crib for a little while longer with no front on it. She was thrilled when she realized she could climb in and out of her crib. She kept saying ,"Oh gosh, I like this!" We had Sophie in the room with us in her swing and Savannah said to her, "Sophie, I like this!" She was being hilarious. I spent a good hour in her room tonight putting most of her toys in a locked cabinet and in her closet. She hasn't made a peep since she went to bed, and Steve went and checked on her and said that she was just laying in bed looking at a book, about to fall asleep. Hopefully every night will be this easy!

Stubborn

Savannah has figured out that if she uses her stool, she can control the light switch. We've been sitting in the dark for most of the morning. Every time I turn the light back on, she reprimands me and turns it back off. Are all 2-year-olds so stubborn?!?!

Sophia's Story

I decided I better hurry and write down Sophia's birth story before I forget the details. It has been one week since I went into labor and it already feels like a lifetime ago. I have been trying really hard to write a little something every day about what is going on with Sophia. I know how fast these first few months go and it will nice to be able to have this record to look back on. I wish I would have done the same when Savannah was born.

Anyway...on Tuesday October 20 at around 1:00 pm, I started to notice that my water was leaking. I had been expecting a big gush because that is how it was with Savannah, so I was hesitant to drop everything and go to the hospital. I was kind of waiting for the big gush. Finally, I realized it probably wasn't going to happen and that I probably needed to get to the hospital. I called Steve and made arrangements to drop Savannah off at our friends' house. I still wasn't 100% certain that this was it because my contractions were so mild and so far apart.

It took us two hours to get to the hospital (and we live 10 minutes away!). I guess I should have been better prepared. I was running around the house trying to get everything ready for Savannah and me and the baby. Plus Steve had to get his stuff ready when he got home from work.

When I got to the hospital they told me I could choose two people who would be able to visit me the whole time I was in the hospital. I had to write down two names right there and then and no one else could come in the whole time I was there. So...Steve and Shera were the only people who got to come to the hospital to see Sophie. Well obviously Steve was there the whole time!

The labor and delivery nurse confirmed that my water had broken and that I wasn't going anywhere so we started to make more long term plans for where Savannah was going to stay while we were in the hospital. The hardest part of having this baby was being away from Savannah. I couldn't stop thinking about her and I wished so much that they would have let her come to the hospital to be with us for a little while.

Anyway, we got to the hospital at around 3:30 and I was dilated to a 4. But...contractions were still really mild and not very regular. The same thing happened when I had Savannah and they had to give me Pitocin to help get things going, and this is what they did this time too. After about 10 minutes with the Pitocin I requested my epidural. Haha! I have such low pain tolerance. Unfortunately, my epidural wasn't all that great this time. I still felt all of my contractions, but my lower half was completely numb. Like it felt like my legs weren't even attached to my body. Everyone kept having to move my legs for me. It was so frustrating and uncomfortable!

After I got the Pitocin, I progressed really fast. At about 7:30 the doctor came in and started to get everything ready. I warned the nurse that I pushed Savannah out really fast and that she might want to have the doctor there before she had me do a practice push. The doctor barely made it in time for Savannah because she almost came out with the practice push. My doctor didn't actually deliver Sophie because it was his day off, so Dr. Horsley delivered her. He was so awesome though. We were having a great time in the delivery room! Haha. Delivery was pretty uneventful. I pushed through three contractions and there was little Sophia. It was funny though, since I couldn't feel my lower half, I couldn't tell if I was pushing. I kept asking everyone if I was pushing and they kept assuring me that I was! On the second push, the doctor realized that Sophia was coming out with her face up. He said he was going to turn her on the next push because it can take hours to deliver a baby face up. When I went to push next time, she came out though, so there was no need. I think everyone was amazed at how fast I pushed her out. The nurse kept saying how it usually takes forever for people to push babies out like that. I guess I'm blessed to have babies who are anxious to get here and who have really small heads (which just makes me laugh. Who would have ever thought that I would have small-headed children!!!). She had a giant cone on her forehead when she first came out because the birth was a little traumatizing! She still have a little birth mark between her eyebrows, but it is fading fast.

I just want to mention that the whole time I was in labor I was having fears that Sophia was going to be a boy! I don't know how I got this idea in my head but it stuck through my whole pregnancy. It didn't help that Andrea texted Steve right before I started pushing and said, "Don't tell Katie, but I still think its a boy!" Thanks a lot Andrea! Haha!!! When the doctor and nurses would ask me what we were having, I would tell them that they told me it was a girl, but that I was nervous that it was a boy. The first thing I asked when she was born is, "Is it a girl?" Everyone confirmed that it was a girl and I was very relieved. Haha!

Before I started pushing, I told everyone that I didn't want them to put Sophie on my chest, I just wanted them to take her right back to the nurse to make sure her lungs were fully developed and working well. I was so nervous because when I had Savannah her lungs weren't ready, and I knew I wouldn't be able to relax and enjoy Sophie until I knew for sure that she was healthy. So as soon as she was born, they showed her to me, Steve cut the cord and then they took her back to the nurse. After a few minutes the nurse assured us that everything was perfect and then we got the chance to snuggle our sweet girl. It was wonderful. I got to hold her while they took me to recovery and I got to spend so much time with her while we were in the hospital. It was so relaxing! When I had Savannah I didn't even get to hold her for a few days, so this just felt amazing. Having a baby is such a spiritual experience. They come into this world so perfect and it is incredible how much you love them and how much they rely on you.

That night, her one and only visitor came to see her. Shera got there late that night and was able to spend some time with us. She also came back Wednesday morning. They were on their way to Washington and spent the night at our house with Savannah. Savannah spent all day Wednesday at Andrea and David's house. I was so thankful to everyone who helped take care of Savannah while we were in the hospital. It was nice to know that she was having fun playing with her friends and cousins.

I had Sophia at 8:05 PM. I asked the nurse the next morning if I could go home! Haha! I was ready to sleep in my own bed and spend time with Savannah. The nurse said I could go home after lunch but the pediatrician said that Sophie needed to stay for at least 24 hours from the time she was born so we didn't actually get discharged until 9:00 pm on the 21st.

We are just so happy to have Sophie here healthy and beautiful, 7 pounds 11 ounces, even at 13 days early. She is such a blessing to our family and it feels like she has always been a part of it. We love our little Sophia!

Just the girls...

Steve went back to work today, so it was just me and the girlies! I was pretty nervous about the situation, especially since Sophie and I were up most of the night. Things went as good as can be expected though. All three of us spent the day just lounging around, trying to get some rest. Savannah was really good. I'm so lucky that she is so good at playing by herself. She is little miss independent and I was very thankful today for that. I could do without all of her "help" though. Haha! She constantly wants to hold Sophie or put her binky in her mouth or feed her a bottle. Its a bit stressful trying to keep Sophie safe. I do try to let Savannah help wherever she can, but it definitely makes things a little harder. We are just trying to make it to the weekend when my family gets here. I'm sure Savannah will be thrilled to have people here to entertain her! Wish us luck...just a few more days.

I never thought Savannah had enough hair for two ponytails, but aunt Tristan proved me wrong on Saturday. She gave me a little lesson on how to do Savannah's hair in pigtails and I love it! It's so cute. This picture makes me feel like Savannah is so grown up...even though she's sucking her thumb!

Pumpkin carving day!

We carved pumpkins tonight. It was a very exciting time. Savannah has been looking forward to this since the day we got our pumpkins, although I'm not sure she knew what she was so excited about. Of course, her attention span was short, so we only carved two pumpkins and then Savannah colored on one of the pumpkins with markers.She was very, very excited about putting candles in the pumpkins, but then when we got outside to light them, she started getting nervous. I think she thought we were going to do fireworks again. Once she found out we were just lighting candles, not fireworks, she felt better about things.Savannah has been so sweet with Sophia today. Every time she sees her she says, "Oh, she's so cute!" She has also been saying, "I love you Fofie!" a lot today too. I'm glad that the transition is going so well for her. I was really nervous about it, it's nice to see that my fears weren't necessary. Sophie hung out in her bouncer while we carved pumpkins. We were a little bit sad today because we missed two big family events. Our nephew Ollie was blessed today and my brother's farewell talk was today. We didn't get to go to either and we would have loved to be at both. We heard they both went well though. It was sad not being there, but having our beautiful baby girl definitely makes up for it!