sweet

Monday, June 30, 2014

Aunt Kirstin

This weekend Aunt Kirstin flew down from Seattle for an extra special visit to meet her first official niece.
It was a quick trip, just over 24 hours, but she showed up with a lot of love and a big suitcase full of gifts for us.
She even packed gift wrap to match Kate's nursery.
The first batch of gifts consisted of several books to fill up Kate's personal library. Kirstin included her family member's favorite books with a special note to Kate written on the inside of each of them. The monster in the pictures above is hand puppet to go with Uncle Jonathan's favorite "Where the Wild Things Are."

Kirstin also saved some of her girl's special pieces of clothing, including some of the gifts we got them, and gave them to Kate to now enjoy.
With both Ks under one roof (Kirstin and Kate), Nana and Papa couldn't resist and drove up from San Diego to join in on the fun. 
Kirstin was also able to offer some helpful mommy advice and help prepare a great shrimp taco dinner while she was here.
Thanks for visiting Kirst. We already miss you!
Nice shot Kirst. . .
xo

Fashion, Focus, & Footprints

In between meeting her family and friends, Kate has been keeping busy by building up her wardrobe and engaging in some fun activities.

One of the minor downsides of not finding out if she was a boy or a girl before she was born, was that we couldn't buy any gender-specific clothes. She did have this Johnny Cash onesie from her dad:
Steve couldn't wait to dress her in this onesie he bought her. Everyday  I dressed her he would ask:
 "What about that Johnny Cash outfit?"
Not to worry! In the weeks since her arrival we have received so many cute girl outfits from family and friends. Here's a look at some of the items:

Grandma de los Santos sent a package to Miss Kate full of all of the above items.
So many cute things in all sizes!
Steve's good friend from college, Noami, sent Kate her first Ralph Lauren.
My good friend Courtney Davis got Kate her first pink cardigan from Nordies.
If you know our style, it's very appropriate!
Kate's Great Aunt Norma sent this all the way from Rapid City, South Dakota.
She is set! Now our little fashionista just needs places to go to show off all her adorable looks.
Dressed in an outfit from "Aunt" Nici. It has the most adorable matching shoes too!
Kate has had a few more alert hours during the late morning and early afternoon. She loved looking in the mirror so much at her doctor's office (see earlier post) that I decided to buy one to have by her changing table. As an added bonus, the one I bought has black, white, and red graphics on the back side. They are just what she needed to stimulate her visual curiosity and give her practice with focusing her eyes.
Studying hard.
One of the special gifts that was waiting for us when we got home from the hospital was a hand and footprint frame from my Ph.D. advisor at UCSB, Robin. It took us several tries over a few days to get them, but we love the finished product. Thank you Robin, it is definitely a gift that we will treasure.
Kate's little hand was a lot harder than her foot to capture. Theresa Bernard and I did it together while she was visiting. There is still black ink stuck under Kate's nails that makes it look like she has been working on cars, but it is worth it. 
Kate has also been working on sitting up and smiling.
Big shot.
I know it's just a reflex smile at this point, but it sure is cute.
All these activities sure are tiring.
Right now, Kate is sleeping for 2 1/2 to 3 hours between feedings overnight and some days all of us also get a good nap in the afternoon from around 12:30 to 3:00 pm (no complaints here!).

Kate and Friends

Kate had another full week of special first visits with family and friends.

On Wednesday, June 25th we conquered our first big outing by driving from LA to the OC to have lunch with Steve's cousin Tiffany from Atlanta who happened to be working in Irvine.
So far, Kate seems to enjoy being on the go in her car seat. On this trip, in true newborn fashion, she slept for most of the car ride down and back and during lunch.

After lunch we (mainly me) felt like we needed to regroup, so we headed to Newport Beach for a quick stop at Nici and Aaron's house.
Aaron happy to finally get his hands on this girl!
On Friday June 27th, my cousin Paige's daughter, Theresa, came for a visit. Not only did she bring some cute hair bows and pink onesies, but she also baked a really tasty lasagna for me and Steve. Steve welcomed the break from dinner duty.

And finally, "Uncle" Rocco, Steve's good friend since high school, returned for a second visit on Saturday the 28th. He was in town from San Diego to pick up his son Max from camp.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

2 Week-Old Stats

Kate went back to the doctors on Friday, June 20th for her 2-week old check up. Dr. DiMundo said she looks great.

Here are her stats:

Height: 21 inches - 75th percentile
Weight: 7 lbs. 12 1/2 ounces - 50th percentile (she gained 12 ounces in a week)
Head Circumference: 35.8 - 75th percentile
Hair: Off the charts! Our girl has a lot of it!
Almost ready for a ponytail!

She Sure is Loved

Some very special visitors have come to meet Kate during her first weeks.

My cousin Nici and her son Ryan who is in school at UCLA visited on June 11 when Kate was 6 days old.
These two now share the same birthday
Nana and Papa Williams took the train up from San Diego for the weekend to celebrate Steve's first Father's Day.

Daddy's Girl!
Aunt Rachel, Uncle Derek, and cousins Shane and Ella came for a swim day and mini BBQ after school on June 17th.

Ella can't wait for Kate to come and play in her room with her!
This is the best picture we could get of Shane with Kate. He let us know that "he is not interested in babies."
Kate celebrated her 2 week mark with visits from my good friends Chan and Kelly. 

I met Chan in graduate school at UCSB and would not have made it through without her. She just defended her dissertation and now is moving to Washington, DC in August for a post-doc. We sure are going to miss her!


I met Kelly at Pepperdine when I was a Master's student. She lives in the Bay area now, but was in LA for work and came to spend the evening with us.
GREAT Aunt Rosa (my dad's sister) and Uncle Matt visited on visited on Sunday, June 22. 
They came with a bag full of new books and girly gifts for Kate and home-cooked chicken enchiladas, veggies, and special jello for me and Steve!
Like the title of this post says: She Sure is Loved!