Baby Kate

I can't believe that Kate is already 1 week and a day old. We caught her with eyes open the other day. I still just love her hair! She always wakes up and sometimes fusses when we put her little newborn hat on--we joke that she doesn't like to have her hair messed up.

Luke and Kate

Luke is a great big brother. He finally got a chance to hold Kate and is always wanting to hold her. He likes to sing "Popcorn Popping" to her and gives her LOTS of kisses. He told me that even though he doesn't like babies, he does like Kate. He likes to play with her fingers and thinks that her hair is funny. (Sometimes it is!)

Grandma and Grandpa

Grandma and Grandpa Galyan came on Thursday and took us home from the hospital. These are the last shots we took as we were leaving. We enjoyed our stay there but it's nice to be home and with the family again. I'm so glad that they are here to take care of us.

Girls Night Out

Kate and I got a special visitor in the hospital today. Allie came for our first "girls night out". She's here for dinner and a few hours of fun! What a great big sister.

It's a beautiful day

Some more pictures of Kate...and the family.

First Bath

Here's Kate's first bath. She loved it and didn't really cry. She's a very calm baby (so far).

Kate Lynn Melanson

Kate was born at 12:34 pm. She was 8lb 3 oz, 20 1/4" inches. Everything went really well and I wasn't uncomfortable at all. Dr. Bair was so quick and comforting. I feel so blessed to have him for a doctor. We also had the best nurses. We were surprised at how much hair she has. She looks a lot like Allie did, but with way more hair. Michael got to tell me that she was a girl and I just cried. The nurse asked her name and Michael said "Her name is Kate" and it felt so right. She cried for just a little bit and then settled down. She is beautiful and truly a gift from Heavenly Father.

Baby Update

It's been a busy week with lots of doctor appointments. We had 4 appointments in 3 days. On Monday I had an ultrasound to check the baby's size and it looked kind of big--they measured 8 lb 7oz but can be a pound off. So since Luke was 8lb 10oz and got stuck we're going to do an C-section on Monday @ 12:00. We will try to update the blog with pics as soon as we get the chance. I was hoping to have the baby this week, but it turned out good this way since Luke and Michael both got strep on Wednesday. Now everyone will be healthy and ready for the baby. We are so excited!
The kids are super excited and have said some cute things about the new arrival. I was talking to Luke about nursing and he said, "That's so cool Mom--you're just like a cow." Then the other day Luke came in on me while I was getting dressed and took one look at me and said, "Whoa--that baby is huge!" Not really the way I wanted to start the day!
Allie keeps looking at me and saying, "You just don't look like my mom anymore-your stomach is sooooo big." She asked if my stomach would go down right away or if it would take a while. That's the million dollar question--I wish I could have said right away!

The Science Fair

Thanks to my friend Janessa for snapping a picture of Allie at the science fair at school. Wed was a very hectic day for me and I just couldn't make it. Allie loved telling people about her project and was very proud of it. Oh yeah, since I know that everyone who reads about the owl pellets will want to do them, here's the website I got them from: http://www.owlbrandkits.com/. What a great family night! :)

Owl Pellets

Allie had her science fair at school last week. We did a project on owl pellets. I had wanted to do those since my friend Nicole did them in elementary school. (Don't worry, Allie wanted to do them too!) Basically what they are are things that owl cough up that contain all the parts of their prey that they can't digest--things like bones and feathers. When you pull them apart you can tell what they have been eating by what kinds of bones are in them. We found lots of rat bones, a mole skull and some bird skulls--intact. The best way to describe the whole experience was by what Allie said, "It's disgusting, but a lot of fun!" Allie was very scientific about the whole thing--she observed, made predictions and was really careful and good at dissecting the pellets. We may have another scientist in the family. The best part was that is was just fun spending the time together and doing something different. I'm so glad that I have someone who will do stuff like that with me!

Super Luke

Luke inherited Michael's old superman cape for Christmas this year. He likes to fly around the house and protect us from the bad guys.

Luke also enjoys a good hunt for bugs. It got a little warmer this week and so he was out on a search but couldn't find any. At least he looked good.