Hayley and Kate Minter

I know, we’re slackers. Well, not slackers, per se, only extremely busy, so updates here have fallen by the wayside. But I’m determined to get one more update in before midnight, to salvage my own pride if nothing else.

Hayley continues to grow up quickly. The other day, she was holding Kate, and I was tickling Kate and making nonsense baby talk at her. Then I started doing the same to Hayley. She looked at me, completely deadpan, and said in a slightly exasperated voice “I’m not a baby.” True, sad, and hilarious at the same time.

Hayley’s other big news is that she’s starting preschool! She seems to be at a point where she needs more instruction than we really know how to give her, her birthday falls in such a way that she’s got a year and a half more before “real school” starts, and with Kate being so little we don’t have the time to “play school” with her. So I asked around, and found out that there was an opening at Children’s House of Raleigh. Family friends the Turners send their daughter Hallie there, and she seems to have done really well in the program. So we’re hoping it will be worth the extra drive out to 540 and Leesville Rd. She’ll be going 5 days a week, 9-12. Hopefully it turns out to be good for her.

Hayley’s still playing soccer, though we’ve had to switch her from Friday mornings to Saturday mornings due to preschool. We dropped hockey for a bit, as she didn’t seem to be making much progress getting comfortable on skates, and I didn’t want to push her if she wasn’t into it. Preschool and one sport are probably more than enough for right now.

As for Katherine, she’ll be two months old tomorrow. I’ve forgotten how tiring an infant can be, and I’m not the one staying home with her all day! She is making progress, though, at having more “happy time” when she’s awake. She’ll grin and grin. She also “talks” a lot more than Hayley did at the same age. She eats a lot, leading to her nickname of “grunty pig.” Sleep is hit-or-miss - she’ll generally go for 4-5 hours a stretch at night, but that often doesn’t start until 1am. She’s still not in her own bed, as we haven’t found a way to get her to stay asleep there. And she really doesn’t like being put down for more than a few minutes at a time, much to Mommy’s chagrin. So excuse the mess in our house if you ever come by.

Next up in 2007 - Hayley’s 4th birthday. Hard to believe she’ll be 4, but it’s coming up on January 22. She has requested a “Happy Feet” birthday party, which will be worth it to see her do the “Happy Feet” dance.

Happy 2007!

We took advantage of the nice weather to play outside today. Right after we went out to play in the back yard, Hayley noticed some of the other neighborhood kids fishing off of the dock on our backyard pond. She, of course, wanted to join in.

We got her fishing pole and joined the kids. In about 45 minutes of fishing, the score was Hayley: 2 fish, All other kids combined: 0. And she caught them, too - all I did was cast the line, she did the rest.

That kid must take after her granddaddy, because she doesn’t get the ability to fish from me.

A friend of mine was recently complaining about our lack of updates, but Wade has been busy with work and, of course, I have been busy with the kids. But I am going to post an update today, even if it takes me a few hours of stopping and starting again.

Kate had her one-month check-up last Friday. She was 10 lbs. 4 oz. and 23 inches long. She got one shot, and after a few seconds of crying, was fine. The doctor said everything looked fine with her, and they’ll see her next month.

Kate has genuine smiles now. They’re so cute and she has the most adorable dimple in her left cheek. Her baby acne is even clearing up. I don’t know if it’ll come back again or not, but her skin looks a lot better now. She has lost a little bit of hair on the top of her head. I don’t know how much she’ll end up losing; Hayley lost nearly all the hair on top of her head, but Kate hasn’t lost that much so far. Kate’s umbilical cord finally fell off last Saturday so we don’t have to deal with cleaning that anymore. And her latest new development is being able to roll from her back onto her side and back again. It’s the first stage of mobility!

In Hayley news, her soccer is going well, but we are done with hockey for now. Her last session ended and we didn’t sign her up for more. Wade wants to work with her on her skating for a few months and maybe in the spring we’ll consider signing her up for more classes, if she’s still interested.

And finally, in Mommy news, I was actually able to wear real jeans today. It’s the first time since Kate was born that I haven’t worn pants with an elastic waist. Yay! And now that Wade has bought me an elliptical machine, I hope to lose even more weight in the coming months…assuming Kate will let me put her down for 30 minutes at one time. Wish me luck.

I doubt I’ll update again before the holidays, so Merry Christmas (or Happy whatever-holiday-you-celebrate) and Happy New Year!