1's NOT the Loneliest Number...

Happy One Month Birthday Kaki-Pants!! And what is a proper "monthly post" if this phrase doesn't end up in the first paragraph... "I canNOT believe it has already been a month!!" I know, I know, we all say it all the time, but time IT REALLY is a flyin' right by! Life with two kids is fast and furious... I never imagined a day could escape me so quickly and then there are moments... or minutes... like this morning when 60 minutes although fast and furious felt like an eternity... that is what a nursing child while sitting on the toilet opposite a toddler who needs to poop but REFUSES to poop on the potty will do to you. But before this turns into a post all about Caden and his lack of pooping (hasn't gone since Saturday!!)... let's move on and focus on the girl of the moment...

Kaki is up to the usual one-month-old antics... eating, sleeping, pooping (A LOT) and playing... She is not a huge fan of tummy time but LOVES to play and kick her feet and box her little fists when lying on her back. We only catch her awake enough to really get into her playtime about twice a day, once in the morning and once at night. We've had some nursing adjustments to make over the past week and I think we're getting to where we need to be... once again I am a milk producing machine and have got to learn to manage myself so she can get all that good hind milk that makes them SLEEP through the night! :) Cause let's be real... at this point we are more concerned about sleep than growth... I kid, I kid! :)

Speaking of sleep... the past two nights Kaki has slept from 10pm-4:30am... and it has been glorious! And then we are usually down again by 5:30 or so and get to sleep until 8! Not too bad for a one month old I'd say! Certainly beating the socks right off her brother when it comes to sleep thus far and he really wasn't a bad sleeper. She takes one long morning nap and one long afternoon nap with several little cat naps in between! She is starting to find her voice when she is unhappy... which is usually because she is ready to eat or thinks she is ready to eat which means she really just needs her paci! :)She does like her paci... and her doctor said that it was good for her to use one since she has already developed a super strong sucking reflex... which I can tell you from personal experience (ahem) is a VERY true statement! The girl does NOT mess around with her food! Goodness gracious! She is an Evans-girl through and through... :)

We take a lot baths around here with her tendency to BLOW IT OUT... and UP... so luckily she is a huge fan of the bath! She loves to suck on her wet hands and wiggles her way down until she is a tiny little ball in the bath net... it is the cutest thing... her rolls all bunch together and she looks like a perfect little nugget! I love bath time... especially the way a baby smells after bath time!! It seems to last SO much longer than the sweet smell of a clean toddler... :) And speaking of toddler... she and Caden are both NOISY sleepers... Caden was a grunter and Kaki is following suit. It has taken me some getting used to knowing what the differences between her "I'm waking up" grunts and her "I'm still sleeping" grunts are! Nothing worse than being tricked and depriving yourself of that extra hour of sleep! :)

I love getting to snuggle with my girl... when Caden goes down for naps I try to let her sit in her swing to nap so I can do some things around the house... like blog! :) But typically I can only stand it for about an hour and I have to go pick her up and snuggle for the rest of nap time... and I love it! We also get to snuggle at night too... after the Cade-man goes to bed and when her Daddy's not hogging her! :)

She is in love with her Daddy... they make the BEST faces at each other and I have NO doubt that she knows exactly who he is! It is the sweetest thing to watch a Daddy with a girl! SO different than a Daddy with a boy. Justin calls Kaki "girlfriend" and Caden "terd-licker" so in that alone you can see the difference between having a boy and a girl! :) Ha!

I am so in love with her sweet little face it is painful!! She is such a beautiful little bundle of chub!! WE LOVE OUR KAKI-GIRL SO VERY MUCH! She is a dream... an absolute, perfect little blessing from the good Lord above!! He did some serious knittin' when He made her!! Happy One Month Little One!

Now for her One Month photo shoot... (LOVE MY PICKY STICKIES!!)

She was REALLY needing something in her mouth... so a paci will have to do.. at least she's awake!! :)

Let me see if I can take it out and snap a few...

Not super happy about it...

Okay NOW she's M-A-D!! Mute button... mute button... put in the mute button!! I mean, paci!

That's better... or as Caden says, "That feel better, Mommy!"

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL...

Hey there blue eyes...

The sweetest...
Hi, my name is Kaki and I look exactly like my KK!!

Of course... when I started the photo shoot this morning I asked Caden if he wanted to change clothes and join us... and he threw a fit... "NO pictures Caden Mommy. Pictures of Kaki, Mommy!" Okay, okay fine... not going to force the issue... besides today is all about Kaki anyway!

But look who decided to join in... in his lovely christmas top pj top and Mickey Mouse undies... to my credit... I do not pick out his pjs each night... that would be his Daddy! Obviously, we are running a little low on our PJs... good thing I finished the laundry this morning! :)

Caden likes to be ALL UP IN Kaki's face... which is going to have to change once he starts back to school again and brings all of those nasty germs home! :)

And now for a properly-posed picture...bless his heart!

No wonder Kaki is SO laid back... she knows she has NOT a prayer to compete with this one... he is a MESS!! And most days I have not a clue as to what to do with him! But I love him so... he's my best boy!! And Kaki-pants... my big one-month-old, you are my BEST girl!! Love you!

4 Weeks and Day TWO!

This time I have pictures... albeit they are not REAL pictures and simply iPhone pics... but what else is a Mommy of two to do?! I know, I know... there are plenty of mommies out there who manage to get the BEST pictures of their 2+ kids, but I am just not one of them quite yet... especially since the scene around our house has been this...

BIG BOY UNDIES... Potty-Training in 3 Days... Day #1: Our 7th Wedding Anniversary! Trust me when I say that we did not plan it this way... we are FAR more romantic... or maybe we aren't at all but we would never plan to celebrate our wedded bliss with pee pee accidents ALL day! :) But nonetheless after our trip to Target to STOCK up on all of our potty training necessities for me to start today, Caden was READY... and who are we to deny a big boy of his potty rights... so we started!

It ended up being a HUGE blessing to have Justin home to help the first day... he speaks boy WAY better than I do and was able to give him some tips on controlling his anatomy that I wouldn't have quite picked up on!

Day #1... Overall it was a success! It started off VERY rough, but we ended with a several great successes and a FULLY-stickered potty chart!! Yay Caden!

Day#2... Overall VERY successful... only one major accident and a few controlling the anatomy while on the potty accidents. YAY!

Day #3... only time will tell!!

BUT can you get enough of this big boy in his undies??!! What a BOD, he has no?! :) Too bad you can't see the front side... :) Not sure it is blog appropriate!

And poor little one has had to DEAL with this potty training non-sense ALL day... being put down in the middle of a feeding so Mommy can rush to the bathroom... and on her 4 week Birthday! The nerve... the nerve!

But honestly... I can barely get the child to wake up for a picture... so I really don't think she was all too bothered by the potty training trials and tribulations...

I caught some SERIOUS flack for not putting more sweet faced pics of Kaki-pants in my last blog... so here you go (KK)... even though you have already seen ALL of these since I text you most of my iPhone-photo-ops! But nonetheless I know she really only wants EVERY ONE else to see her cuteness! :) Braggin' rights and all that jazz! And I get that...

So here she is... in her favorite position... she sleeps exactly like this at night... so CUTE!!

Sweet girl in her footie pjs... she finally will straighten those legs out enough to make it work!!

SLEEPY, SLEEPY girl... with the cutest little pouty lips you have ever seen!

Trying to capture one of her sleepy smiles... my fav!!

Before our outting on Sunday... she proceeded to have a BLOWOUT at Target that took 15 minutes in the family bathroom to get cleaned up. Caden and Justin were waiting for us and were wondering what the heck all that screaming was about... then when she came out sans-bow and in a new outfit they only had to take one guess... it was AWFUL! Caden was my spitter-upper and Kaki is going to be my POOPER... straight up the back!! It is impressive!! I am going to have to carry 8 outfits every where we go... and for Caden too now that we're potty training! I might need to invest in a rolling suitcase rather than a diaper bag! :)

I will have more on my girl on Wednesday on her ONE MONTH birthday... is that even possible?!! Love my sweet-faced girl and my BIG boy Caden!! Can't believe I only have one in diapers now!!

Happy 4 Weeks Kaki-pants!!

Well done on Day #2 Cade-man!!

Just Words: Me, the Boot and the Kids...

My computer is BACK! Didn't realize it was gone did you? Thank goodness for iPhones or else I would have felt WAY out of touch over the past week. I had JUST purchased a fancy new charger for my computer about two months ago... and wouldn't it figure that one night early this week when I was trying to set the computer back on the coffee table with one hand, the other one holding Kaki that I slipped and DOWN, DOWN, DOWN went my computer... LUCKILY for the computer it landed spot on the charger... and just broke the charger and NOT the computer! Phew! So today, Justin and Caden were kind enough to pick us up a new one at the Apple Store after several unsuccessful attempts at finding one online that would be here before August! All of that nonsense to say... we're baaaaa-aaack!

This was our FIRST FULL week at home as a trio... or a quad-rio... or would that be foursome? My mind is a fog... don't judge me! And I don't mean Justin as the last of number in our quad-rio... I mean the boot... after all it IS bigger than Kaki and she gets a number... so the quad-rio and I had a pretty great week! We were working hard on establishing a routine... and if you know me you know I LOVE NOTHING MORE than a routine... I like structure in my day and in fact I thrive on it. So our days looked something like this:

• Get up, feed Kaki in bed
• Go get Caden out of bed... where Caden and Kaki spend some quality moments together when I put Kaki in Caden's bed and they say their good mornings to each other.
• Come down, fix breakfast for Caden, fix COFFEE and breakfast for myself
• Kaki plays on her play mat
• Caden eats and watches TV
• I eat and check in with KK
• Then she wakes up for her next course
• Then she plays a bit longer with Caden and I in his playroom
• And then it's Kaki's nap time and time for Caden and I to be productive... thank you notes, birth announcements, laundry, snack, juice refill, diaper change, etc.
• A few days this week we even ventured out of the house during morning nap time to go to the "mail office" as Caden calls it, CVS, Sonic and the like. I did manage to get out of the car for an errand or two this week. Kaki was in the Bjorn and Caden held my hand and the boot... well it drug it's black little behind right alongside us.
• Lunchtime is quick
• Then it is time for Kaki to eat
• Caden to nap and Kaki to play while I am putting Caden down
• Then Kaki to take her afternoon nap
• I relax... usually cuddle with my girl on the couch because let's be real... I can't stand not to even though she would be perfectly content chilling in her swing!
• She usually eats just before Caden wakes up from his nap
• Then it's snack time, tv time and play time together until it's time for to get ready for dinner
• Kaki is usually taking another nap about that time and about the time Justin gets home and we are ready to sit down to dinner she is ready to eat... :)
• She eats, the boys eat, I join them and I eat.
• Playtime for Caden in the backyard with the doggies and his nightly chores
• Bath for Caden with Justin, bath for Kaki with me
• Bed time for Caden
• Hang out time with Daddy for Kaki
• Pre-bedtime nap for Kaki
• Upstairs, feed Kaki... get her down for the night...
• AND FINALLY... BEDTIME!!

And that is a FULL day... I am amazed at how fast our time flies! Of course you throw in all of the diaper changes... like the 11 poopy diapers Kaki had yesterday... and it is 6pm and time for Justin to come home before I know it! Crazy!

I am still getting to know Kaki and her habits... especially at night. It is typically hardest to get her down at night for the first stretch... she has been sleeping 4-5 hours after I get her down, but a few nights it has taken over 2 hours to get her settled after eating. We've had some gas issues and have welcomed our favorite friend Mylicon back to the routine... Caden lived on that stuff for WEEKS! I think it is helping... and I am learning (the hard way) that Kaki is one who MUST be burped... Caden would never burp... but boy will Kaki ever burp... like a grown man!

Kaki is still super laid back for the most part. She rarely belts out a cry... which is how I knew she had gas earlier this week... she was MAD! And she gets mad after a bath... doesn't like the fresh air... :) She loves her brother and of course she loves me... but only because I feed her... I really think she is ALREADY becoming a Daddy's girl because she LOVES it when Justin comes home and gives her a kiss. She doesn't exactly smile at him, but she gives him the closest thing she's got to a smile... and she reserves those for him! And I am trying my hardest not to be bitter about it! :)

Kaki loves to be sung to... or at least I am telling myself that she likes it after finding the Summer Hits of the 90s Pandora station after a GREAT blog post by my sweet friend and expectant mommy, Melanie... it's my childhood expressed musically and it is FABULOUS! And Kaki is now reminiscent for the 90s like I was for the 80s... I always wanted to be a teenager of the 80s... We have had WAY too much fun! And the boys of the house... well they haven't quite appreciated our musical stylings, but this kind of thing cannot be silenced!

Kaki was three weeks on Monday and will be four weeks in just another day... so I kind of let that one slide right by... I am hoping to take some pictures of the kids tomorrow for her 4 week birthday while I have Justin here to help out! Speaking of... Justin and I are celebrating our 7 year wedding anniversary tomorrow... 7 years!! WOW! More on that later though...

I think I've bored us all to tears enough for one day... I am pretty sure I'll read back over this entry someday and think..."oh man, was I ever still in the newborn fog... bless my heart!" But for now I feel good that I even got ANYTHING down... and that I have a working computer... two victories... Amen! Amen!

Happy Saturday y'all!!

PS: Still would appreciate the prayers for my cousin and her sweet baby boy! Tomorrow will be 27 weeks... and a HUGE victory! She has very low amniotic fluid and is being monitored closely to ensure both she and baby are doing GREAT... and so far so good! Every extra hour, day, week is a victory! Please continue to pray for the Leach Family! Thank you!!

Back from the Beach...

What? You didn't know we went to the beach? Well, we did... are we crazy?! With a toddler and a two week old we packed up the car and headed down south for family vacation with the Cox Clan. I am super-Mommy, am I not? Ha! Just so none of us are under any illusions... I did cry nearly the ENTIRE morning we left... as I was trying to pack, take care of two kids (only the second day I had been ALL by myself)... and it was a bit overwhelming... BUT I just kept thinking about this sweet little face... and the joy he would experience while we were there and I willed myself to get there!

Caden needed this trip... and both Justin and I knew this... and again it was our motivating factor in getting our stuff together and getting down there. Kaki was a dream in the car... she slept most of the way. Kaki and I spent our days in the house and our nights in the house with the rest of the family. It was fun getting to see Caden in his element... being loved on by his grandparents and his aunt and uncle. It also gave Justin and Caden some time to hang at the beach together! I was SUPER SAD to miss him in action, but thankful that he got a change of scenery after being cooped up in the house with me over the past several months! He has been a REAL trooper and deserved a little fun in the sun!

I am not being SUPER blogger right now BUT I did pull a few pics off from Aunt Cori's MANY pics she took over the week! Thank you Aunt Ree Ree for being the photog AGAIN... we are beginning to count on it... I might as well sell my camera! :) Ha!

Uncle Trent got to meet Kaki for the first time at the beach... I think he is smitten! :)

My boy... snack time at the beach! There is something about having a newborn at home that all of the sudden ages your toddler like 10 years... he seems HUGE to me now... it had been the weirdest phenomenon!

The boys... minus Bop of course!
Caden LOVED the beach... Justin bought him that fancy green boat and hat before their first day at the beach! Of course I forgot HALF of the things on my to pack list! And the hat was included on that list... In fact, when we left I refused to even look at my list because I knew how MANY things I had forgotten and I just couldn't deal with that... :) Ha!

Caden swimming... he does this every where... he is always up for a good swim... on the carpet, on the tile, in the wet sand... :)

Fishing with Bop... TOO much fun!

Drawing in the sand with Uncle Tag!! Caden loves him some Uncle Tag...

Popsicles... a beach tradition!

We did go out to eat one night... Bop and Uncle Tag had gone fishing one morning and caught our dinner... and it was YUMMY! The place took what the caught and cooked it for us... and bonus... there was lots left over for us to take home! We were hoping to snap family pics before dinner... but the pic below is about as far as we got... thanks to a very NOT cooperative toddler... who shall remain nameless!

But aren't they kind of cute??!! Kaki had a BLOW out on her planned outfit and on Justin's TOO! So we had a last minute costume change... but I think they still turned out pretty matchy! :)

See what I mean... Caden is a GIANT now... is he not?

Caden with Nana and Bop... our fabulous hosts for the weekend!!

It was a fast and a little bit furious trip BUT well-deserved for my little (BIG) man! I am so glad we were able to muster up the strength to make it happen because he will talk about it for MONTHS to come!

We are excited to be back at home and getting back into our routine... it has been a fun two days figuring this mom of two thing out... I am LOVING it! I am so thankful for my two little loves! I am overwhelmed by this great blessing!! Thank you Jesus!

And thank you Jesus for family who loves and supports us and takes us on vacation!! :) We love y'all!!

URGENT: CALLING ALL PRAYER WARRIORS!!

I need some serious prayer warriors to join me in praying for my cousin Amanda who I wrote about in this post. She has been admitted to the hospital today at 25 weeks, 3 days because she started leaking amniotic fluid and is contracting. Please pray for the health and safety of both Amanda and her sweet little boy... we need him to stay put a while longer!

More than anything else I am praying for today I am praying that a God WHO IS ABLE will do more than all we could ask or imagine in Christ Jesus!!

I am claiming this verse for Amanda and her family... please join me...

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3: 20-21

IMMEASURABLY MORE is where my hope remains... HE IS ABLE!!

THANK YOU sweet friends for your prayers!! We know that they are ABLE to far more than anything else could!!

I love you, Boozy!!

A Tale of THREE Doctor's Appointments

Today is Kaki's TWO WEEK BIRTHDAY!!! Happy Birthday Sweet Kaki-Pants! So naturally... we had some doctor's appointments to attend... one for me for my two week incision check and one for Kaki for her two week well-check...

Thankfully, KK and Albi were able to come in for the day to help me out since I hadn't officially been given the ALL CLEAR to drive. So KK and I loaded up the car about 10:15 this morning and headed out for Appointment #1. Kaki came along with the girls in case she got hungry... Albi wasn't so sure he could give her what she would need... go figure! :)

Appointment #1: Katie's Two Week Incision Check...

ALL looked good and I got the free and clear to drive, bathe, swim, etc. Just four more weeks and I'll get the BIG all clear and we'll be well on our way to a solid recovery! Yay! I was glad to hear that things looked good and of course glad to say a quick hi to all of the nurses and my doctor who have become like friends over the past 9 months!

After that appointment we rushed home and grabbed a quick bite to eat, fed Kaki and then we were off again...

Appointment #2: Kaki's Two Week Well-Check...

You can't help but notice that Kaki-Pants has certainly put back on all the weight she lost those first few days of life... in fact she is back up to birth weight, plus some! Here are her stats:

Weight: 9lbs, 10 ounces, 90% percentile

Height: 21.75 inches, 90% percentile

Head: 14 cm, 75% percentile

So far she is looking similar to her brother in height and weight percentiles but that head... THANKFULLY is a bit smaller (for now!) :) Everything else looks good... she still has what our doctor is calling breastfeeding jaundice and expects her yellow hue to last for a few more weeks. We go back at 2 months for her well-check and a sonogram of her hips. Apparently, ALL breech babies get a sonogram to be sure that they do not have any dislocation in their hips from being breech. So far her hips look good so we are hopeful that they will remain that way!

At two weeks Kaki is still a pretty sleepy girl... we are really working on the eat, play, sleep routine but we are having a hard time getting this girl to play... she would rather just eat and sleep! But slowly she is starting to wake up and play for longer... especially where a good Barney video and her big bro are concerned... she's all eyes... and ears!

She has even gone so far as to FALL asleep on her play mat... something Caden NEVER did... heck Caden never slept ANYWHERE but our arms for the first month of his life... and for the first four months he "napped" in my arms during the day... so the fact that Kaki will sleep on her play mat, in her swing, in her nap nanny, in our arms, in her pack n play... is pretty unbelievable! :)

And even during ALL three doctor's appointments today she did this...

We love our sweet girl SO SO SO much! I call her "little one" more than I call her any thing else, because she is... she's my little one... forever and for always. I know she's only been here two weeks but I can't imagine our life without her... she came in and completed our family. We all are smitten... absolutely smitten with our little Kaki-pants!

So...

let's head on over to appointment #3. In order to do that we have to back track just a bit. Let's go back a few weeks... WAY back when I was still HUGE and PREGGO... I started to complain that my right foot hurt... almost like I was getting a stress fracture. Surely not though I would tell myself... that would just be cruel. So I kept blowing it off. Let's be honest... there are PLENTY of aches and pains in late pregnancy and my foot didn't make the top of the list, but I always noticed the pain when I walked... I was holing out hope that once I delivered the pain would miraculously disappear... no baby, no pressure, no pain... right?!

WRONG! The more I've been up and on my feet the more I noticed the pain. Stinkin' foot... STOP hurting... you aren't broken! But in this case mind over matter just wasn't working out for me. So today, on a whim I decided that I needed to get into an orthopedist and get it checked out. I have had two previous stress fractures, one in each foot, and I was pretty sure I knew what was going on, BUT I am no doctor so best to let them do the diagnosing. So after an HOUR of phone calls I finally found someone who could see me TODAY... yay! I had to take advantage of Kk and Albi being here to help me with the kids (I love saying kids... by the way!).

So that brings us to Appointment #3... duh, duh, duh...

And concludes with this beautiful black boot that I get to wear for the next 6 weeks!!

Awesome! The doctor gave me an honorary MD today because not only did I diagnose my fracture... BUT I told him exactly which bone it was in... and the xray confirmed my case! This is not my first rodeo... I knew weeks ago what I was up against... I was just in serious denial... serious!

So I think it only appropriate that y'all call me Dr. Cox from now on...

And have a quick "awwwwww poor Katie" moment with me... and then LAUGH your head off with me!! Two weeks post-pardom... PUDGY... and with a BIG 'OL BOOT... clompin' around chasing after my toddler and nursing (spewing milk all over) my little one! I am a sight...

Bless my heart!! You can hear me coming from a mile away... a hot, itchy, limpy, steel plated heavy booted mess of a new mommy of two... seriously... BLESS MY HEART!!

Boy is Kaki gonna get an earful on all of her birthdays from here to eternity... :)

Of course... let's be real... I would wear this gorgeous specimen on my leg for the rest of my life if it meant I got to keep my Kaki-girl... wouldn't trade any of it! Not even the things that make me say (scream) BUMMER!!

And that my friends is our tale... for today... tomorrow is a new day!!

Happy Monday y'all!!

3 Dude Carts and a Little Lady

We started our day this morning with a YUMMY breakfast out at our FAVORITE spot in G-town! And then it was time for DUDE ERRANDS for Justin and Caden and GIRL TALK for Kaki and I at home. Caden must have been livin' right today because he scored THREE very COOL dude carts on all of his errands...

Dude Cart #1... Specs...
Dude Cart #2... Home Depot...

And Dude Cart #3... HEB...

Not a bad way to spend a morning... for the boys...

...or for the girls...

My sweet girl during her morning play time on the floor! She LOVES kicking and stretching it out. We are still working our way up to solid tummy time, but so far so good!

I think hot pink could be her signature color...

Of course as my Grandmother said in an email to me today, "We haven't found a color yet that doesn't look good on her!" Not that we are ONE BIT BIASED... of course! :)

Thank you Aunt Terry for the super CUTE outfit!!

First Official Photo Shoot ( a la Mommy and KK)

This morning we attempted what we had feared might be the NEAR impossible... photographing BOTH kiddos... TOGETHER... in coordinating outfits! We were hopeful... FULL of bribes and prepared to strike as MANY deals with Caden as we might need to in order to get just ONE pic... JUST one!

The first attempt was PITIFUL... full on drama King... did NOT want to take a picture. Not even for the promise of a surprise...

So we photographed our little lady...

And I told Caden that I didn't want any pictures of him... (harsh I know, but I didn't if he was going to act like he was acting...)

And then KK promised immediate gratification in the form of M&Ms... we were getting closer...

And poor Kaki just couldn't take it ANY more... "give me a BREAK Caden... it's NOT that HARD to look cute... at least not for me! Stand still and SMILE for CRYING OUT LOUD!!! :)"
Reverse psychology and M&Ms and a little peer pressure... and we got these...

And then... CADEN WAS DONE! And we captured my FAVORITE picture of the day!! If this isn't the reality of life with a newborn and a toddler I don't know what is...

We did take SEVERAL more pictures in different outfits of Miss Kaki-Pants, but I don't want to spoil the BIG reveal in her birth announcement so I will just leave you with one... that concluded our shoot for the morning...

Looking so cute can be awfully hard on a girl...

Wouldn't you agree?!

Happy Friday!!