December is always a crazy month, but add a newborn in the mix and it's 10 times the fun!!! It's been a complete blur since Halloween, but we had an awesome holiday season!!! Leevi took off from work the same amount of time that the girls were out of school, so we had lots of family time with bowling, swimming, game nights and movie nights!
I'd normally put the abundance of the photos in a collage, but who has time for that extra step??!!
Luke made this at church...it's Jesus in a manger!
She LOVES the sunshine!
Big sisters rock!
This is what makes her a rock star sleeper! Swaddled and in a Rock N Play by Fisher Price. We splurge on the deluxe model that plugs in and rocks all night.
He's the best babysitter!
New stockings this year because I couldn't find the match for Whitney!
Craft morning with my neighbor and we each made a new wreath!
The USO had a holiday fest with lots of activities and of course, Santa. Luke was perfectly fine with visiting Santa, but just as it was our turn in line one of the workers told Luke to stop touching a snow globe and he completely shut down!! :(
Sleepy smiles...her first real smile came at exactly 6 weeks!
Whitney said, "no laundry, just snuggles"
Playing in the fort behind our house
The girls marching in the Christmas parade...thankfully it wasn't as cold as last year!
Whitney enjoying the parade! :)
Luke built two houses...one for him and daddy and one for me and the girls, ha!
First smiles!!
Multi-tasking big brother! He's definitely the most concerned and alert to her needs out of the 3 of them. Hailey is obviously the most helpful because she can hold her the easiest and doesn't mind when I ask her for help, but Luke is definitely the most helpful without being asked.
Ready to see Santa (again). I thought it was so cute that Leevi picked out her Christmas dress at the PX without me telling him that she needed one.
We weren't about to relive our fiasco of a Santa visit like last year in Springfield where we waited almost 3 hours to see Santa at Bass Pro so we went 2 minutes down the road to a local photographer who had walk in photos with Santa the first 2 Saturdays in December for $8. Whitney cooperated by sleeping and not having a goofy newborn awake look and Luke hopped up on Santa's lap like he'd done it a million times.
I had to cram her in but she fit! :) The lady on Etsy who made these for me asked if she could use my picture on her website! :) They are super cute and she was super affordable!!!
She's a trooper being drug around to sister fun!!!
We went to a Girl Adored Princess party with some friends. It was cute and my girls were probably on the older end but they still had lots of fun.
Sweet girl growing way too fast!
The girls and Riley put on another great performance; this time about the birth of Jesus.
Whitney was a perfect baby Jesus
The cast...
Milk break while we were running errands!
Even superheroes need lunch!
Snuggles before school
I love these crazy kids!
Smitten by Hailey
Whitney and I walked around the indoor track while Leevi took the big kids swimming at the gym on post.
My cute workout partner!
She usually goes right back to sleep after she nurses first thing in the morning and it's soooo hard to not just sit on the couch with her everyday and snuggle!
Monster truck fanatic!
Those first two months, she slept better on a person...it's amazing what you can do one handed! I was never desperate enough that I had to put in her the carrier to get things done...at least not yet!!!
A brisk sunny day...
Gingerbread craft house that Jennifer had taken Riley and my big girls to.
Date night for our 13th anniversary!!!!!
After dinner, we finished up Christmas shopping together without the big kids!
More morning snuggles...how can I put this sweet thing down!!??!
Making salt dough ornaments!
Leevi got me a new Keurig for our anniversary and we got the kids some hot chocolate pods!
Olaf marshmellow
Family bowling...Luke actually beat the girls!!!! It was his first time not using the ramp (of course they all had bumpers though!)
Whoa, the first month flew!!! As did the following TWO since she's already 3 months old as I type this. She was so easy from the 2nd night (the first night she was awake forever and thankfully one of the nurses came and took her from me and I instantly crashed and got 3 straight hours of sleep after having been awake the entire night before while I was in labor) She had lost some weight after birth and wasn't gaining it back super fast so we had to go in twice to have her weight checked. They weren't concerned since she was a bigger baby to begin with but Leevi and I questioned how much she slept! For most of the first month, I'd feed her and then get Luke to bed where I'd ultimately fall asleep in his room and then Leevi would wake me up to feed her before he went to bed but some nights she wouldn't even wake up when he put her in her cradle.
Luke is truly obsessed with her and always says, "But Mama, I just gotta kiss her!!!" and it's true, he gives her a million kisses a day! I was worried about Luke waking at night (which he still comes in every night at some point and goes right back to sleep in our bed) and me nursing her and him throwing a fit, but he hasn't. He'll give her a smooch and snuggle in next to me! Love that boy!!!
She definitely didn't like having her diaper changed that first month and was such a dramatic crier!!! Leevi and I couldn't remember any of the other kids crying that loud!! I also hadn't mentioned in previous posts what her name would have been if she was a boy...we had finally, just about a week before she was born, narrowed it down to Tyler Matthew. Dylan was a front runner for a long time as was Mark and Matthew. Edward was thrown around as a middle name after Leevi's grandfather and we also liked Ian or Evan. Not even 5 minutes after Kailee found out that she was a girl she screamed, "we get to keep our toys!!!!" I had warned them that if the baby was a boy they were going to have to drastically downsize their toys before the move this summer.
And she already has some cute nicknames: Luke only calls her Baby Whitney, Hailey calls her Whitnesovich (after Dennisovich from Hotel Transylvania 2) and Kai calls her Whit Whit. Leevi calls her Peanut and I call her Whit Whit Emma. She is just the sweetest thing ever and has stolen all of our hearts!!!
This post could go on forever especially when I get sucked into looking through old photos!!!! They all look so much alike, but each has their own look as they grow and change. Whitney is definitely the runt of the litter and while she still has some healthy cheeks, she hasn't chunked out like the rest of them with arm rolls and leg rolls and rolls on top of rolls! There's still time! :) I think it's because she has slept so great since birth and just doesn't nurse as much as the first three did.
Luke and Whitney
Hailey with Luke and Kailee with Whitney
Kailee and Luke, Whitney and Luke
Kailee and Whitney
Kailee with Luke and Luke with Whitney
My favorite!
Baby Hailey and Hailey with Whitney in the same outfit
Baby Kailee and Kailee with Whitney in the same outfit
Whitney, Hailey, Kailee, Luke
Professional big sister!!!!!!!!!!
I think I'd totally fail this test except for Luke...Hailey, Kailee, Luke, Whitney
Hailey, Kailee, Luke, Whitney (Etsy didn't exist yet when the big girls were newborns, so no cute headbands for them! I had some from Walmart that left big marks on their heads!)
Who said the 2nd/3rd/4th kid never has many photos??!!! I think the real question is will those photos make it to an album?! The blog will have to do for now because I don't even have an album for Luke! One day...maybe...
He loves his sister as much as he loves monster trucks and that's saying a lot!!!
Sisters!
Luke would only sit for the photo if he was the one holding Whitney!!! (and then of course she woke up!!!)
Of course I have to throw in the reality of getting 4 kids to cooperate! I love that the girls are still smiling!!
First baby, last baby!
She was still so swollen from the birth
Cooperating well!!!!
We were minutes away from taking these pictures when Luke busted his tooth! Thankfully a week later, his mouth was healed (and praise the Lord, he still has all of his teeth) and the weather cooperated! I hadn't planned on using these on our Christmas card but I figured why torture my family anymore! These are the woods behind our house. I didn't want our fence in the photos, so we went next door because they don't have a fence. Easy peasy!
This was a close 2nd to making it on the front of the card!
So crazy blessed!!!!
Luke was all about silly faces!
They make my heart EXPLODE!!!
My boys!!!!!!!!!
If you look closely, I've swapped my head in this picture! Ha, it's soooooo hard to get everyone with a decent smile and not blinking not to mention getting them to just cooperate! Our family of SIX!!
Leevi and I were so excited when the girls, on their own chose, to be baptized! We talked about the meaning of it and Leevi took them to meet with Pastor John. They were baptized on November 22nd at the beginning of church.
It was also the day of baby dedications and Whitney was the youngest baby at 3 weeks old
