Hayley and Kate Minter

Yeah, I know, slack blogging since Kate came here, but we’ve been busy with the newborn.

She’s been doing well since coming home - she’s in a pretty good routine of eat-sleep-poop-cry-repeat. In fact, whenever she starts crying, you’ll hear Hayley’s little voice call out “MORE NURSING, MAMA!”

She’s starting to spend some more alert time, too - looking around with those deep blue eyes. She’ll “talk” to us during this time, making cute baby cooing noises. She especially seems to like talking to Hayley.

She’s been sleeping pretty well - going for between 3-5 hours at a stretch at night, and napping regularly during the day. She’s also nursing well, after losing around a pound in the hospital before the milk came in.

Hayley’s been very positive about the new little person in the house, which has been nice. She likes holding, cuddling, and kissing her little sister. Of course, the kid hasn’t started grabbing her toys yet, so we’ll see what happens when that hits.

We’re slowly but surely adjusting to becoming a family of four. Thanks to everyone who has emailed, called, and come by!

As far as we know, Hayley’s right-handed. At least, she “writes” (colors/draws/etc) and throws a ball right-handed. So when it was time for her to play hockey, we got her a right-handed stick. However, she kept refusing to hold her stick properly (left hand on top, right hand on bottom). Instead, she’d swap her hands (right hand on top, left hand on bottom). If I corrected her, she’d hold it properly, then almost immediately swap back.

After watching her do that all class today, I asked her coach about it after class today. He said “Oh yeah, I meant to say something to you about that. She’s a left-handed player - you should get her a left-handed stick. She’s holding the stick left-handed very naturally. She may switch in a few years, but right now don’t force her.” That reminded Holly that her Mom is like that - writes right, plays left.

The coach sent us over to the pro shop and gave Hayley a free “learn-to-play” stick (one with no curve at all), so it’ll be easy for her to figure out if she wants to hold it right-or-left handed.

You know it’s an interesting day when you find out, after nearly four years, that your daughter is ambidextrous.

Holly, Hayley, and I are proud to announce the newest member of our family. Katherine Lee “Kate” Minter was born via C-section today at 12:24pm. The vitals are that she was 8 pounds, 11 ounces, and 22 inches long. And just as adorable as she can be, even with her “Richard Nixon” jowls and lack of a neck.

Mom and Baby are doing great (Kate’s sleeping as I type). We’re in Room 205 of Rex Hospital if anyone needs us.

Pictures will get uploaded to Kate’s Flickr tag, so check back there regularly.

We love you Kate!

I took Hayley out to the local grocery store the other day, where they had a table set up giving out flu shots. Both of us were going to get ours before the baby came.

When we got there, however, they had a sign up saying that their vaccines were only for kids 4 and up. Hayley, being 3 and 3/4, didn’t qualify.

On the way back to the car, Hayley looked like she was going to cry. I asked her what was wrong, and she said “I wanted **my** flu shot too. Can we go somewhere else to get it?”

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a child who was sad because they *didn’t* get a shot.