8 Months Old

Dave had his wisdom teeth out last Friday, so Katelyn and I have spent a lot of quality time together the past few days.  Here she is watching the rain:

The scrape on the top of her head is from the DVD player. She had pulled up on something and was a little over-zealous in attempting to walk unassisted. Lesson learned? I don't think so. After she stopped crying, she pulled herself right back up and tried again.

Eating a MumMum. If we're not careful, Baylor will snatch these right out of her hand. Who knew a vegetable-flavored wafer could be so good?

Katelyn's love of Target makes me laugh (and swell with pride!). I'll take her with me on errands to several stores, but she grins and kicks her legs in excitement when we walk into Target. It's so funny because she rarely acts like that in other stores. My little shopping buddy. :)

In the past week we've made major progress on sleeping through the night!! We seemed to have turned a corner right after she turned 8 months old. Some nights are better than others, but lately ALL nights have been a major improvement. Part of our bedtime routine is me singing to her. As I'm rocking her and singing, she becomes uncharacteristically still and has the sweetest, most peaceful smile on her face. Sometimes she will join me with soft "la la la" sounds.  Love. It.  Seriously one of my most treasured moments so far as a parent.

Visiting Family

Katelyn has had a busy two weeks.  First, we went to Baytown to visit Dave's family.  Here are a few pictures:

with Mary Ruth

 Playing in a big tub of toys

with Sue and MawMaw

 with Sue

The next weekend, Katelyn and I went to Denton to visit my family.  Here are some pictures:

Cousins Annabelle and Katelyn

 A few random updates:

• Katelyn loves chicken (does my heart proud!).
• Lately, her favorite thing to chew on is leather.
• Amoxicillin comes with unpleasant side effects.
• Katelyn and I sat in on Dad's handbell practice at church and she was mesmerized.  She particularly liked the big, low octave bells, and who can blame her?  They're big, shiny, and make noise.
• When I say "high five!", she slaps my hand five... ten... fifteen times...
• People have been asking me if she is always a happy baby.  Yes, except for normal things like fighting sleep and crying at times, Katelyn is a very happy baby.  She seems to enjoy every minute of soaking in her surroundings, especially if it's a new environment or activity.
• She "talks" with her legs.  When she watches Baylor run, she kicks her legs in excitement.  If I'm holding her and she wants me to walk faster, she kicks her legs against me as if to say, "Giddy Up, Mama!"  When she wants more of her bottle, she kicks and rubs her feet together before ever making a sound.  Her legs are ALWAYS moving and communicating emotion.  As you can imagine, it's nearly impossible to keep socks and/or shoes on this active girl!  Someday we'll put a soccer ball in front of her and see what happens. :)

7 1/2 months

Welcome to Round Two of teething.  It is less than pleasant for all parties involved. 

Katelyn is into everything!  Her eyes sparkle with excitement as she scans the room looking for interesting things to chew.  Her crawling has gotten really fast.  Luckily, she now understands the meaning of "No!" and stops dead in her tracks when one of us says it.  I realize that responsiveness won't last much longer, but I'm grateful for it now.  Thank goodness she has an adaptive personality and can be easily diverted.

She has also started using her bright pink walker to get across the room.  She's still a little wobbly but is so proud that she can do it with very little assistance from Dave or me.

Katelyn has finally developed a taste for pears and apples.  She will eat all vegetables, but her least favorite food is peas.  Squash is still her #1 choice for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

For several weeks now she's been awake and ready to play every morning around 4 a.m.  I. Am. Tired.  We've tried giving her more to eat before bedtime, letting her stay up later the night before, etc.  Nothing has worked, so I'm open to suggestions.

Here are some recent pictures:

Katelyn, Sofi, and Jillian

She loved collapsing into these pillows! So comfy!

Embracing Pure Joy: One Year Later

It was almost a year ago when we had Katelyn's 19 week ultrasound, when her arm difference stared us in the face and we sat stunned that God chose our little girl to be 1 in 40,000.  As I reflect back on that day, I realize how much we've grown and the lessons we've learned...

I don't know if it was coincidence or intuition, but as we walked into the ultrasound room that day, I thought to myself, "I wonder if something is wrong with our baby?"  I quickly dismissed the thought as silly worrying that every mother-to-be surely feels before seeing an ultrasound.

We cheered when we found out our baby was a girl.  A few minutes later, the room grew strangely quiet and the technician's face grew pale as she--and we--realized something was wrong with our baby's arm. 

If I could choose one word to describe that moment, it would be final.  Katelyn was missing a forearm, hand, and five fingers.  Period.  There was no "hoping for the best" that she would grow the rest of her arm, and no possibility that the ultrasound had been wrong.  In the finality of that moment, in that forced sense of closure, we had no choice but to deal with it.  And so pray we did.  A lot.  To my own surprise, my instincts were to accept reality first, establish a sensible perspective, and then deal with emotions as they naturally came. 

Lesson learned: When God's plan knocks the wind out of you, pray before you panic.  Embrace it, embrace HIM, and let Him guide you to the next step forward.  And whatever you do, don't let go.

After we left the doctor's office, I called my mom to tell her our news and began crying.  I could wrap my mind around her arm difference, but I was scared.  At that point, we didn't know if other parts of Katelyn's body would be similarly effected in the remainder of the pregnancy.  I just wanted to wrap my arms around my belly and protect her.  Dave and I spent the rest of the day together and filled it with prayers, research, hugs, tears, and thinking of fun advantages to having only one hand.  The more we talked about Katelyn, the more excited we became.  At only 19 weeks in utero, we felt privileged to already know our daughter on a deeper level.  We couldn't WAIT to meet her!!


Lesson learned: The more positive our thinking, the easier it is to face reality. And don't be afraid to laugh; keeping a sense of humor has a way of shutting out self pity.

The next 48 hours (and throughout the pregnancy), we received an outpouring of love and prayers from family and friends.  Our church and the churches our friends and families attend were also praying for Katelyn, and let me tell you- we felt it.  It was in this sense of peace that we realized God has a remarkable plan for Katelyn's life.  I mean, she wasn't even born, yet He used her to draw hundreds of people closer to Him in prayer.  Pretty special.  Humbling.

Lesson learned: Sometimes the most meaningful gift you can give someone is prayer, so give generously.  To be on the receiving end of such generosity is life-changing.

Two days after the ultrasound, we met with a specialist who determined that Katelyn was, in fact, a very healthy baby and that she was otherwise on track to develop normally.  Talk about relief!!  Even so, we wouldn't have a confirmed diagnosis until after she was born.  I was still a little scared and, at times, let human nature's worry get the best of me, but God gave me an underlying peace I needed in the remainder of the pregnancy.

After Katelyn was born, our visit to Scottish Rite reminded us that her arm almost seems trivial compared to other children who are missing both legs, both arms, or have no limbs at all.  She's missing part of her arm; so what?  She's a happy, well-adjusted baby who seems to love life.  Sure, she'll face challenges, but again, so what?  She'll overcome them and we'll be cheering every step of the way.  Her name means "pure joy," and that she is.

Lesson learned: God is graciously intentional when he creates life.  Be patient with and unapologetically accepting of others who are different.  He made them His way on purpose-- and that, friends, is life worth loving and joy worth embracing.

Papa, Books, and Mobility

We recently met Harold (Papa) in Louisiana. We had a good time!  Katelyn loves the toy he got her for Christmas and the special Valentine's Day present, too.

See my teeth?

More importantly, see my earrings?

Playing with Papa

New toy!

Katelyn has taken an interest in books.  She doesn't care much for the pages, but it appears she will gnaw her way inside before too long.  Looking forward to the day when she'll sit still long enough to let me turn the pages!

She is now pulling up on her own, especially in her crib.  We're still working on sleeping through the night.  The more mobile she becomes, the harder it is to get her back to sleep because she keeps defaulting to the sitting up position.  It's like there's a hidden lever in the mattress: when I lay her down, she comes right back up, no matter how groggy she is.  You'd think it would be tiring to be a human seesaw!

6 months old and mobile!

She's crawling a lot now!!  I'm trying to post a video in the blog but am having trouble getting it to work.  In the mean time, here are a few random things:

Two things that amuse Katelyn:

1. My electric toothbrush.  Every morning when I'm getting ready and turn it on, she watches me and laughs.  I think she likes the sound.
2. Baylor chewing on her bone.  Katelyn watches Baylor intently and grins mischeviously. I'm pretty sure she's plotting something because now that she can crawl, she goes straight for Baylor's bone.

That two things scare Katelyn:

1. When Baylor gets excited and starts running laps inside the house, Katelyn panics a bit.  As soon as Baylor calms down, though, Katelyn is ready to pet her.
2. She LOVES to play (well, chew on) a rubber duck in the bathtub.  However, when I squeeze the water out of the duck so that it won’t get in her mouth, she flips out!  Something about it scares her and she can’t handle it. 

Why these things scare her and not a Santa suit or gorilla costume is beyond me!

Katelyn has a lot of fun at the doctor's office.  This baby gets bored quickly, but nothing holds her attention longer than sitting on a table covered in paper.

She figured out how to use her little arm to pull more paper from the roll and use her right hand to gather the paper she pulled.  Think of a cat pawing at a roll of toilet paper.

She is an increasingly good eater and her favorite food so far appears to be squash.  She does NOT like pears or apples.  It makes me a little sad.  How can someone favor squash and peas over the delicious sweetness of fruit?!?



More Pictures

Here are a few pictures of Katelyn that didn't fit into another blog post category:

This was Katelyn's expression of choice for several days after spending the week with Grandmom and Granddad. Dave and I like to think she missed us and this is her way of showing excitement to see us again!

Varnado cousins Piper, Katelyn, and Annabelle... and Michael, in the background, who had politely asked the girls to get off his couch so he could stretch out on it.