Cate is Five Weeks Old!

“Wow! She is a month old already?! Can you believe it?” is something I’ve heard a lot lately. Cate is so much fun, we love her to death, and yes, I can believe it. It’s been five weeks and three days to be exact, and I’ve felt every minute of it! Not in a bad way, but this has probably been the longest five weeks of my life. I hear that at some point you blink and they are starting kindergarten, then you blink again and they are graduating from high school—but so far, when I blink the only thing that happens is I fall asleep. Then when I blink again she wakes up. So we’ll see … I’ll keep you posted!

One of the things I really love about writing this update every week is that it is on my mind throughout the week. As we go through the week, I often find myself thinking about what I will include here. I jot down my story ideas and then I’m ready to go when it’s time to write this on Friday or Saturday. For the last two weeks, I’ve done this with the laptop propped up on my lap while Sam and I watch a movie and Cate takes her last nap of the day. It’s a good life we have, and I am so grateful for Sam and Cate and all the fun we are having together.

Cate’s First Awkward Stage Our adorable Cate’s hair has grown out so that it is starting to cover her fuzzy ears, her tear ducts are still clogged so she has constant eye boogers, she’s now facing a bout of baby acne, and she scratched her face in the night and broke the skin, all of which combine to make this officially her first awkward stage. I hope that getting through this will be inspiration for her in later awkward stages because (let’s be honest) she’s going to have them!

Forever in Blue Jeans Cate and I went on a big adventure Thursday night to visit Sam while he was teaching a class at Orson Gygi. I got Cate dressed in a light pink onesie and decided it was the perfect occasion for her to debut her boot cut blue jeans, and off we went. We ended up staying through the whole class! We got home and Sam had to run to the Art Institute for a minute. While he was gone, I changed Cate’s diaper and saw that her legs were blue! My first thought was that her diaper had somehow cut off her circulation, but she seemed fine except for her color so I figured that couldn’t be it. My next thought was that somehow I had bruised her, even though I touch her so gently. Of course, that had me really worried. I called Sam right away and told him to hurry home. Then, just as I got off the phone with Sam, I saw her jeans sitting on the chair next to her changing table! Her jeans had turned her legs exactly the color of a bruise! We washed her off and just like that—circulation back, no terrible bruise-causing disease. Whew!

Meeting Wilma This week, we went to visit my friend Wilma, whom I met through the Duke Club of Salt Lake about eight years ago. Wilma graduated from Duke in 1944 and has lived in Salt Lake City for more than 60 years. We became fast friends and have done so many fun things together over the years, including watching Duke basketball games, going on lunch dates, and working on craft and sewing projects together. Wilma came to visit Cate in the hospital, but this was our first visit to Wilma’s house. Cate was so good and just loved snuggling with Wilma!

Cate is One Month Old!

We are having so much fun with Cate! Every day she seems to be more and more alert. In addition to going to the rain forest, we celebrated Cate’s one-month birthday with a family nap in the afternoon and Cate’s first trip to a restaurant, a Mexican place we love called Rafael’s, and a movie for the three of us at home. Happy Birthday, Cate!

A Visit from Nana The most exciting thing that happened this week is that Nana came to visit us! She was here from Tuesday through Saturday and Cate had so much fun with her! Here they are together:

Cate’s First Birthday Party Cate went to Lauren Graham’s 2nd birthday party this week! She picked out a very cute mermaid book to take Lauren for a present and had fun visiting with all the guests from the comfort of her Moby wrap.

A Few More Visitors Three of the eight-year-old girls that I teach at church came by to visit Cate this week. They are the perfect age for meeting a new baby—they were enchanted by Cate (even though she was sleeping) and just as excited to see her room!

Out and About In addition to all her visitors this week, Cate also went to United Way to meet my coworkers and to the Culinary Crafts kitchen to visit Daddy while he was at work. She was a big hit with all of our co-workers, and I was so happy to see my friends from work after a month away.

Cate’s Fuzzy Ears Cate’s ears are still just as fuzzy as when she was born. We’re hoping that will clear up at some point (she does, after all, have her first playdate with Jack DelPriore scheduled for this week), but for now it ensures Daddy will be the only one who is nibbling on her ears—and we’re okay with that!

Cate Visits the Rain Forest Cate loves her rain forest play mat. Here is a photo of her relaxing in Costa Rica:

Cate is Four Weeks Old!

So far the most surprising thing about being Cate’s mom has been that I really do seem to be able to figure out what she needs pretty quickly (Sam has this same ability!). It is not true that the second I pick her up any time she is fussy she is overwhelmed by my maternal love and settles right down, but it is true that I generally know when she needs to eat, when she needs her diaper changed, and when she is just tired. She hardly fusses at all, so that probably makes it easier. I have stopped checking on her every five minutes through the night, and we finally now sleep without any lights on. For the first few weeks I wanted to check her breathing every second. She’s become a more consistent breather as she has gotten older, and I’ve relaxed a little. Either that or I am just too exhausted by the time she goes down that I really don’t have the energy to stay away watching her breathe! The pediatrician told me the only cure for hyperactive checking on her is exhaustion, and I think he was right!

Another surprising thing about being Cate’s mom is discovering that even at only three weeks old, she has preferences. She simply likes some things better than others, and I’ve highlighted a few of those here.

Cate’s Quirks There are a few things about Cate that make her unique already, and we just love them. One is that she really prefers not to be swaddled. It took us a few weeks to figure this out, but now we are going with it. We wrap her in a blanket tightly, but usually with her arms out. She likes to keep them above her head when she sleeps. I love that we have this ultrasound picture of her doing just what she likes to do now:

Things Cate loves: wearing short sleeves, snuggling with Daddy, wearing socks, having a clean face, laying on Lamby (her blanket from Grandpa, pictured above), riding in the car, bath/spa time, eating, trying to hold her own bottle

Things Cate does not love: the sound of packages opening (like the crinkling of a bag of chips), wearing two layers of long sleeves (causes bunching of undershirt at the elbows—very uncomfy!), clothes that are even slightly too big, having her hat fall down over her eyes

Cate is 3 Weeks Old!

Cate’s First Party Although Cate’s first celebration was her homecoming on Christmas Eve, her first official party that included people outside of our family was the Culinary Crafts Holiday Party last Tuesday. She did great! I packed her up in the Moby Wrap so she was nice and snug and close to me. The major benefit of the Moby is that it clearly conveys, “Thank you for inviting us. We are glad to be here. No, you cannot touch me.” People are funny: some said, “Oh, you’re just not letting people touch her because she’s your first. By your second you won’t even care!” Then others said things like, “I would never take a two-week old baby out!” So I guess you can’t win. Regardless, we had a fun time and Cate was the hit of the party. Sam and I very carefully packed her diaper bag, including an extra outfit (good thinking, Dad!), and then promptly spilled water from a water bottle into the bag within 10 minutes of being at the party. Oops. Cate did end up needing a change of clothes, but her extra outfit was wet, so we had to strip her down to just her onesie (gasp! We’re trying to teach her to be a lady, but there she was in just her undies at her first party!). Her hat also got wet, which meant she was not only in just her underwear, but also hatless. Again, good thing she was all bundled up in the Moby!

Spa Time Cate loves getting a bath and having her hair washed! We’ve also incorporated another element to bath time, which takes bath time to the next level: Spa Time! A friend of ours recommended infant massage and gave us some infant massage oil and a book about it. The book is pretty hokey—it does, for example, encourage the parent to “approach the naked infant and ask for permission to touch her body,” (a step we skip) but the massage oil is great! Cate loves it! After she gets her hair washed and combed, I put her on a blanket and massage her legs and arms, then give her belly and back a little rub. When it’s over she is in heaven!

Delivery "Service"

Dear Mr. Delivery Truck Man,

You probably noticed when you left the note on our door yesterday telling us to call you to schedule a delivery time for today that we live on the third floor of our building. I'm thinking that when you loaded the package on to your truck yesterday, and again today, you noticed it weighs 102 pounds.

Yes, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, I am working from home today so that I can be here when you arrive.

No, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, I cannot help you carry it up the stairs.

I'm sorry, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, but my husband is at work.

No, Mr. Delivery Truck Man, I don't know anyone who can come over to help you.

Mr. Delivery Truck Company, don't you have another Delivery Truck Man who can help this one? So that you can, you know, DELIVER our package?

You do? Great! Thank you.

Just one more thing: Next time, Mr. Delivery Truck Men, could you please not leave a package this big and doorbell ditch me? That would be awesome.

Have a Seat!

Would you like to come over? Because you're totally invited, and we got a new chair this weekend. We'd love to have you sit in it.


We're very excited about this chair because we've had our eye on it for months, since our friends Karen and Joseph bought it. They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and we're glad that K & J seem to actually believe this because we've been following their lead in a few things lately. Their adorable little boy, Jackson (I do believe this may be his first blog shout-out), arrived August 31 and will be just a few months older than our Cate. So we totally copied them there (well, not totally I guess, since they had a boy baby and we're having a girl baby, but still), and then we went and bought the same chair.

A few months ago when we started admiring their chair, Karen and Joseph were kind enough to give us the name and phone number of the sales person who sold them theirs. So we went and met this guy, who told us he'd just sold his last one. And that he couldn't find one anywhere else.

But then, as luck would have it, I heard about a "scratch and dent" sale that furniture store was having this weekend. We didn't camp out overnight to be there when it started or hustle bustle over there or anything. We cruised in about 1:00, which turned out to be good enough. We were there about five minutes when we saw this beauty.

Thank you, maker of invisible scratches and/or dents, for getting us such a great deal on this chair! Did I mention it reclines?


So, anyway, come on over. You won't have to snuggle with us on the couch this time.

Paranormalcy

Ok, so remember our friends Todd and Erin? The introduced us. You might have met them in person or you might have seen my shout-out to them in the anniversary post.

Well, this was a big week for them! Why, you ask?

Because this week Erin's sister, Kiersten White, wrote a book and it debuted at #7 on the New York Times Bestseller list. Well, she didn't write the book this week, but it's on the list this week.

Seriously, Erin's little sister sat down with a notebook and a pen or a laptop and a Diet Coke or whatever people do when they sit down to write bestsellers and WROTE A BOOK. And GOT IT PUBLISHED. And now it's on the NY TIMES BESTSELLER LIST.

I generally opt for normal over paranormal, but I'm getting a copy this weekend, and you should too!

Click here to buy it!

You can check out Kiersten's blog here: http://www.kierstenwhite.com/