On May 24th, 2015 we had Catherine blessed by her dad. She was blessed at her Great Grandma Elaine's house at 11 am. We wanted to bless her at grandma's house so that she could be apart of the blessing. Just three days before the blessing day grandma had just gotten home from the care center. I am so glad that grandma was there to share this special day with us. We had a nice special program for her before the blessing and then afterwards took pictures and then my siblings that came joined Chris and I at our house for a nice lunch!
The Program: Song:
I will Follow God's Plan
-I like to pick a special song specifically for each individual child of mine that I feel describes them. This song becomes their song that I will sing to them at bedtime. As I was looking through the children's songbook to pick one for Catherine, this one stood out to me and so I started singing it and immediately Catherine started smiling. It was just meant for her! Lyrics My life is a gift; my life has a plan. My life has a purpose; in heav'n it began. My choice was to come to this lovely home on earth And seek for God's light to direct me from birth. I will follow God's plan for me, Holding fast to his word and his love. I will work, and I will pray; I will always walk in his way. Then I will be happy on earth And in my home above.
Prayer: Frank Freeman
Scripture:
Chris told our story of how we came up with her name and then ended with his testimony of how important family is.
"So one night before Catherine joined our family, we were reading scriptures together when we read this verse:"
Helaman 5:6
"6 Behold, my sons, I desire that ye should remember to keep the commandments of God; and I would that ye should declare unto the people these words. Behold, I have given unto you the names of our firstparentswho came out of the land of Jerusalem; and this I have done that when you remember your names ye may remember them; and when ye remember them ye may remember their works; and when ye remember their works ye may know how that it is said, and also written, that they weregood."
Mom's Testimony:
I then gave my testimony along with expressing my gratitude to everyone that came.
Blessing:
Chris gave her a name and blessing along with all the men holding the priesthood in the circle. Catherine was crying the whole time so it was hard to really remember what was told in the blessing. But I do remember that she will be blessed to have the desire to do what is right and to marry a righteous man in the temple. Chris remembers having a really good feeling when he started giving her the blessing.
-Catherine's Grandma Marilyn Freeman(my mom) made her blessing dress and accessories! She is amazing and did a beautiful job! Love you mom, wish you and dad could have been here but I know that you guys are where you need to be. You guys are setting an amazing example to our kids and a legacy that will never be forgotten!
Catherine with her grandma Kathy Huntington
Catherine with her Great Grandma Elaine Huntington
This is Everyone that came to share this special day with us. Thank you for coming!!
my serious boys!! haha
Aunt Marla tickling Caden
COUSINS!!!!
with Jack who is about 1 week older than Catherine
Catherine with both of her grandmas
Cousins: Jack and Catherine only about a week apart.
After we blessed Catherine, the people from my side of the family came to our house for lunch:
haha Chris couldn't resist doing this to Kyle!
Cousins, Catherine and Lorelai. Only a few months apart
Caden loves his cousin Heidi!
I just love my sweet little girl. She is my little angel! I am so grateful to have her in my life! Isn't she just Gorgeous!!
Caden giving Catherine kisses! He loves her so much!
Catherine (2 months old):
(A lot of this information is for me so I can look at it for reference with my other future children)
2 month old appointment- weight: 10 lbs. 1.5 oz. 18%, Length: 22.75 inch. 61%, Head: 37.6 cm. 28%
Drinks mostly 4 oz. every three hours. Sometimes 5 oz. right before bed and in morning. Her breathing while she eats is really good now, thank goodness, I hated that! She usually has to be burped around every 1 1/2- 2 oz.
Her schedule looks something like this: wakes up in the morning sometime between 5am-8am, eats 4-5 oz., awake for 11/2-2 hours, Nap around 9:30/10 for about 1-11/2 hours, wake and Eat at 11am(ideally), wake time for about 11/2 hours, Nap around 12:30(I try and have her wait until one when Caden goes down), This nap is usually her longer nap(somewhere from 1-4 hours depending on how long she slept with the past naps) Now that she is two months old I will let her sleep as long as she wants at this nap(I was waking her up before), I try to have her eat around 4-4:30...if wakes up at 5 then no catnap, awake for 1-11/2 hours, Cat Nap around 5 or 5:30, Wake her up at 6pm and keep her up until bedtime. I try to give her a bath around 7:30(By this time she is really hungry and tired and the bath calms her down), Feed her around 7:45, Down for bed by 8pm. (I started this schedule as soon as I could, but she practically was on it herself by 1 month old with a few changes- up until now she would usually take 4 naps depending on how long they each were).
She started sleeping 10 hours at night since two days before mothers day!! She was about a little over a month and a half and has done that or longer since!! Crazy! I think that is even earlier than what Caden did! Either I have been blessed with Amazing sleepers or my schedule that I do works! Probably both!!
She will usually start stirring around 1 or 2 am and then I just flip her over to her tummy and she will go back to sleep and sleep until morning! I don't know why but she loves to be on her tummy! Even for naps she will sleep much better on her tummy. Made me very nervous at first and I would still get up every few hours to make sure she was still breathing. But after talking to my sister and mother-in-law I felt much more relaxed about letting her sleep on her tummy!
I don't bring her in bed with us any more! I probably will once she is older like what we did with Caden. But for now, I don't want her getting in that habit and I couldn't sleep as well with her there.
By one month old I started putting her in her crib once she was sleepy but not sleeping. I did this with Caden and it has been awesome because now I can just lay him down completely awake and he will go to sleep all on his own. Catherine has responded to it quite nicely so far. She is able to put herself to sleep now for the most part. Sometimes she will cry for a few minutes before she falls asleep. However, I don't ever let her cry more than ten minutes. If it gets to be that long I will go in there and comfort her by rocking her until she stops crying and is about to fall asleep again. I think that any longer than ten minutes will over work them and make it harder to go to sleep. I repeat this process until she falls asleep and stays asleep!
It has been tricky to get her to sleep with Caden around lately! He is so loud and she is becoming more sensitive to the noise. There has been a few times where I have had to lock him out of the room while I try and get her to sleep. Caden does not like that, he cries! He is just going to have to learn to either be quite or get used to not being in the room when I am putting her to sleep.
Catherine has been a lot more fussy while awake than what Caden was. Caden I could just lay him on the ground and he would be content there for the longest time. Catherine, not so much. She requires a lot more attention. Either someone right next to her while she is on the ground or wanting to be held. I am hoping this will change as she gets older.
She does smile a lot more and sooner than what Caden did. Both Chris and I can get her to smile fairly easy! She probably started smiling at us around 1 month old!
She only poops about 1-2 times in the day now!! Yay
We plan on blessing her on Sunday May 24th!
Caden (23 months old):
Loves going to nursery now! For the past few weeks he hasn't fought it at all! He will give me a hug, kiss, and wave bye! But when I come and get him he is very excited to see me and so ready for a nap. Towards the end of nursery he sometimes starts crying off and on. It is right during his nap time!!
He has his 2 year appointment coming up in June! Crazy that he is almost 2! But we weighed him a few weeks ago and he was almost 40 pounds!!! Holy Smokes! My guess is that when he is older he will end up being at least 6 ft. 3 in!
Lately he has been so good! In the mornings after he eats breakfast he will watch his favorite tv show-Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood while I am either taking a nap or taking care of Catherine! I hope to stop tv completely soon, I don't think it is the best thing for Caden but whatever at least we are all happy. He also has been taking really good naps, about 2-3 hours naps!! Some days I have been lucky to get both of them down for a nap at the same time and them both waking up 3 hours later at the same time!! Those are the best days! Like today, that is how I was able to get all of this written up!!
He has been really good with Catherine! Hasn't hit her in a long time now, so relieved! Sometimes when I am feeding her, he will sit next to us and suck his thumb while rubbing her fuzzy little head!haha So cute! He is and will continue to be the Best Big Brother!! He Seriously Loves her!!
He has been so helpful! He will help me by throwing things away for me, taking the small garbage bags and putting them outside the door, and talking and playing with Catherine if she is fussing while I am making her a bottle, and help clean up toys. He loves doing errands for me!
He loves to read, weather it be his books or the kid Book of Mormon. We just bought the kids version of the Book of Mormon with all the pictures in it a few weeks ago and have made it our goal to read a chapter a night to him right before bed. He loves it!
He is so good with the night time routine, except for brushing teeth-that is still a challenge. But everything else he does really well. He even does really well with family prayers. He will kneel down next to me and lay his head on my lap while one of us prays. Occasionally we will have him pray. After we say Amen, he will give me a kiss and hug and then Catherine a kiss on the head and a hug(which kind of looks like a head butt haha) and then he will give daddy a kiss and hug and then Dad will lay him in bed!
He still loves to have me sing to him. Usually after we pray and lay him in his crib he will wave his hands and say "eh eh eh", which means music. haha I just do the normal-We'll Bring the World His Truth, I am a Child of God, A Child's Prayer, and I Love to See the Temple! Lately I will sing these to him while rocking Catherine in the chair next to his crib. After I am done singing I will blow Caden a kiss which he blows me one back and then I leave and go put Catherine down for the night!! It is SOOO nice that both go down at the same time!! What a blessing!
Chris:
Started his own company with his buddy Ben Clayton! Their company is a franchise of bubble soccer. They named their company Kynetic Bubble Sports!
Chris likes his current job with Vivint Solar. He is their Supply chain analyst on the sales team. From just some of the stuff he has told me and shown me of what he does, He is Amazing!! He does so much for the team. He has become Really REALLY good with Excel!!
Calling in our Church: Along with me, Sunday School Teacher for the youth.
He is such an amazing dad. In the morning before he goes to work, if I am taking care of Catherine, he will take care of Caden. He will change his diaper and get him eating breakfast. By that time I am done feeding Catherine and he can go to work around 8am. He will usually get home sometime between 5:30-6pm. Once he gets home he usually will take over with the kids while I get dinner all ready.
I am so gratefully to have a husband and a great dad to my kids! Even if he has had a bad day at work, he always comes home cheerful and happy to play with Caden! Thank You!
Mothers Day: I coordinated with all of my siblings to get a gift for my mom! I was the one to buy the gift and get everyones letters and they all reimbursed me and I mailed it off to her. We got her a bracelet that had everyones birth stone on it along with a letter from every one of us kids! She loved it!! I am so glad that we did this for her!
For mothers day for me, Chris woke up with the kids and let me sleep through the whole night and sleep in. He also made me a delicious breakfast: banana waffles, eggs, sausage, and orange juice. He also gave me a really nice foot massage! Thanks Chris, I love you!
We also went and saw grandma in the care center for on mothers day!!
Catherine and Ethan(Sharlee and Daniel Hendricks little boy)
Left: Bonnie Whittier about 4 days old Left: Bonnie about 2 weeks old
Right: Catherine about 1 month old Right: Catherine about 1 and 1/2 months
Love her Smiles!!
Sometimes he will snuggle up to her and start sucking his thumb when she cries.
haha I love how they are both making funny faces!!
Ready for church
He was talking to her and she loved it!
My sleepy kids! Got Yogurt?? haha
Holy Cow! THis scared me so bad! I was putting Catherine in her bed when I heard a big crash!! Caden had pulled the dresser over! I am SO SO grateful that it didn't come down on him...I have no idea how it didn't even touch him, but it did sure scare him! This thing is heavy!! If it would have landed on top of Caden there would have been some serious injuries!!! So SO blessed that nothing happened to Caden!! WOW
I caught Caden reading to Catherine!! haha so so cute! Out on a walk
We went to Emma's BYU invitational to watch her throw the discuss! She is doing so good at the discuss. At state she took 2nd! This was her first year ever trying it and even came in half way through the season! Go Emma!!
Bath Time Fun He wanted to get in the bath with Catherine so bad!!
