Kate's First Weeks







This is the baby quilt my mom made for Kate. Beautiful!







I love this expression because that's what I always see when I'm holding her. Her little wrinkly forehead as she looks up is so cute!







She doesn't even know she left the house!




Joel found Kate's bed!



First Girls' Night Out! We went to the Cheesecake Factory with about 20 ladies from church to celebrate a couple birthdays, but my camera was dead for the outing.



Looking up at her momma, so sweet!





Holding her head up!


I didn't realize I had neglected posting new pictures here! Sorry! Kate is growing so fast, I'm trying to enjoy this time with her as it flies by! She is so sweet. She has the best facial expressions and her big blue eyes and long lashes are just captivating! I can't stop looking at her and kissing her soft cheeks! :) We're all adjusting pretty well. Joel had a hard time for a while... his world was rocked pretty hard when she came home (on top of Holiday madness, being sick, and cutting 4 molars.) She does sleep at night, but still gets up to eat every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, so the lack of good sleep is catching up to me. I'm grateful for what I do get though! At Kate's 2 week check up she weighed 8lbs. 9oz. She's my best eater yet! She already had her first little virus that made her have a yucky cough and snotty nose for a week. It's so sad to see such a tiny little thing sick! Now she's starting to hold her head up and she's really been focusing on faces when she's being held! She likes to be held when she sleeps and laid down when she's awake. It's the opposite of what I'd like, but I'm glad she's a pretty content baby! There's so much, I can't think of what all to say, but I am LOVING having her!

Kate's Arrival!

Kate Elizabeth Eckelkamp
December 19th, 2008 11:29am
7lbs. 11oz. 20 in.

Well, finally, Kate arrived 10 days past her due date! I was induced Friday morning the 19th. They started Pitocin at 7:15 and in the next hour I only had about 3 contractions. We were afraid they were going to just say "too bad," and send us home, but Dr. Potts came through about 8:30 and broke my water. From there everything moved pretty fast! I had hard contractions every 2 minutes for the next hour before I got that blessed epidural. An hour later I was 7cm, then another hour I was ready to push! I pushed through only one contraction and she was here! They were surprised to see how tangled she was in the cord (tight around the neck twice, once around her shoulder, and around her belly). Usually the baby's heart rate drops when they're tangled, but she didn't show any signs of distress. As you can see, Derek helped deliver her, which was pretty cool. He wanted to, but once he realized how slippery she was, he wasn't so sure. But he didn't drop her, so he must've done it right! The kids were super excited to see her, Jaden wants to hold her all the time, Tyler really doesn't pay much attention to her, and Joel gets excited and likes to hug her, but he usually gives her a poke, pinch, or smack before he lets go. We're definitely seeing a new side if him now- our sweet little guy has quite a temper and attitude he's been displaying recently. Hopefully when things settle down, he will too.

I'll try to get some more pictures up of our first week home soon!