First Day at Church

When I saw this sweet dress at the BX, I couldn't resist buying it for Kate's first Sunday at church. We stayed home for three weeks, and by the time we went back she was practically too big for it! But she still looked adorable in polka dots and her tiny tights.

Photo Shoots

Sydney has been doing ballet on Tuesday afternoons on Kadena, so every now and then I'll call Stacey to see if we can invite ourselves over come play at their house for a little while afterwards. Kate and Taylor were both awake, so we wanted to snap a few pictures of them side by side. Taylor is 6 weeks older than Kate.

Mesmerized by the bright lights on the TV.

I love Kate's crossed eyes in this one! Classic.

My little ballerina holding Winston, who I like to call Toto.

A few days later, I took some side-by-sides of all of my kids laying down on the floor. Syd and Shawn are getting so big, and it's crazy to see how tiny my Kate is by comparison.

Sydney: 5 years old.

Shawn: 2 1/2 years old.

Kate: 2 1/2 weeks old.

Big Sister Sydney

Sydney has loooovvveeed having a new baby in our house. She is always asking me if she can give Kate a hug and a kiss, and whenever Kate is chillin' on the floor Syd will lay down next to her and say cute things like, "I'm your big sister Sydney and I'm going to take care of you." She especially likes to hold Kate, and was really excited to help feed her a bottle.

Big sister Sydney in action.

Kate at 2 1/2 weeks old.

Thus far, Kate is my championed sleeper. She'll regularly do (at least!) 4 hour stretches between meals, which has made my life significantly easier. Especially since Spencer had to work the first two weeks in January to teach a Red Cross class.  We were both concerned about me getting thrown right in to having to take care of 3 kids all by myself, but she made it easy on me! At her two week check-up, her growth stats were:

• Length- 21.85 in. (91st percentile)
• Weight- 9 lbs. 1 oz. (66th percentile)
• Head- 37 cm (68th percentile)

Morning Walk to the Sea Wall

One Saturday morning, we gathered our brood and walked our two strollers over to Aeon to pick up some baked goods. The Japanese bakeries have the most delicious bread. The kids got really cute rolls that were made in the shape of animals.

Syd and Shawn enjoying their horse bread.

Getting ready to dig into the turtle bread.

A few minutes after we stopped at a bench to enjoy our bread, a Japanese woman came and gave each of us a similar baked good and also handed me and Spencer each a can of coffee (the vending machines here have hot beverages too). How nice is that? Since we already had our fill of breakfast, we gave them to some bums that were hanging outside the Starbucks we passed by on our way back home.

Sunsets with Daddy

We had yet another evening where 2 minutes before dinner, Spencer sees the sunset and has to run outside to snap a picture of it. And as usual, it turned into a little photo shoot for one of our kids.

It would have been perfect if the Beach Tower wasn't blocking it!

My sweet little 2 year old.

We love his crooked smile.

Is it just me, or does he look a smudge like Gollum in this one?

Kate's First Week

After feeding and burping sleepyhead Kate one night, I handed her to Spencer while I went and did something. When I came back in the room, he had her resting on his belly. She looked so sweet that I had to run and grab the camera.

Right in the middle of my impromptu photo shoot, she hit me with this beauty:

Sweet dreams!

I didn't have many non-gown newborn sized pj's, so I had fun picking out some cute ones at the BX. When Spencer saw her dressed in this little mouse ensemble, he called her his "little Mousekewitz."

Our little cross-eyed baby :)

Even her little feet had cute mice faces on them.

Right from the start, Kate was a championed sleeper. She would frequently do 4-5 hour stretches between meals. Since Spencer had to head back to work right away for Red Cross stuff, it certainly made it easier on me!

Sacrament

Over the past several months, Shawn has a developed a slight obsession with the Sacrament. He loves using the Uno Moo game to pretend like he is one of the boys passing the Sacrament. He'll set it on the stairs, pretend to break bread, then lay down on the floor and say a prayer (which always sounds like, "Ahsa, ahsa. Amen.") Then he'll stand up and wait for us to line up behind him before walking into the living room to pretend to pass it to the congregation. It's pretty adorable.

Pretending to pass the Sacrament.

Needless to say, he is incredibly reverent when the boys pass the Sacrament at church. He watches them so intently and knows all their names. He knows that the Sacrament helps us remember Jesus. I'm glad my boy is picking up good things from church!