New additions: the Fire Baby, B, and W

You have already met the Fire Baby--her name is Cate.
We were walking through the mall on Saturday. Chris was pushing the double stroller with the girls; all of a sudden he heard a guy say, "That's a fire baby!" Obviously the man saw Cate's hair :) But I like the term "Fire Baby" because it describes Cate when she's mad. She doesn't get really mad too often
(only when she's uncomfortable in her car seat, in fact)

but it's priceless. Cate the Fire Baby. We love it! Every time we go out, we get a ton of compliments about our little Fire Baby and her full head of red hair!

B and W refer to dear friends of ours, new members of our family. Perhaps you recognize them? They are famous, after all:

Valerie brought Buzz and Woody from Texas for Lizzie, Miss Toy Story fanatic. She was a little taken aback at first--we think she didn't expect Buzz and Woody to be life-size! But she warmed up to them quickly! Buzz and Woody join us everywhere (within the house boundaries, of course).

My mom is known as Mimi to the girls, and Chris's mom is called Granny. We were so lucky to have Granny with us for eight adventure-filled days!
We took the Metro down to the Zoo--


Cate's first Metro ride, we might add!

Checked out the panda--awesome!

This girl loves the misters!

Examining a little animal of some sort in the small mammal house


We went to the mall and played around;

Cate slept while Liz played ;)

Sunday before church: Granny and her matching granddaughters!


We also stopped by GW, where Chris will start school in a month (so soon--yikes!)


Here's my cuz, G-Dub (Really, he is my 1st cousin, nine times removed on my dad's side. Go George Washington!)

Reed came over to watch Winnie the Pooh!

Liz tested her Buzz-mobile,

And she danced in it, too!

Liz helped make chocolate chip cookies with Granny


We had a wonderful time with Granny and we miss her very much already! The girls were definitely spoiled with gifts and clothes, which is a grandmother's job, Valerie says :) THANK YOU, GRANNY! WE LOVE YOU!

And here we GO

Julia went back to NJ on Saturday.

Chris went back to work today.

Thankfully Valerie flies into town tomorrow. It's pretty difficult handling two kids. No joke! But we remind ourselves (well, let's be honest--Chris reminds me) that we need to focus on the good parts of the day.

Cate is mellow, but not as much as Liz was. When she's cranky, she lets you know it!

Liz is into kicking, hitting, biting, all that delightful stuff. Chris and I realized that she picked up most of that from nursery, of all places. Makes me not want to drop her off there on Sundays, but what are you going to do?

Everyone has told us that this stage gets better. I'm thankful for that, yes, but what I would like to know is WHEN it will get better. I want to know! haha


Our good parts of the week:
Breaking out the double stroller

Fun at the pool!

First sponge bath at home

Sleep time

Late nite convo

Using the floaties at the pool

Loves the boppy pillow

At the zoo!

HOT that day

First Sunday at church



Well Liz has just climbed onto the table and is pouring out the salt and pepper shakers--talk to you later!

Friday Confessions

My Jersey girls do this and I love it, so here it goes...
Friday Confessions!

1. The thought "Catherine will be lucky to see her half-birthday" flashes through my head at least once a day.
2. The thought "Elizabeth may not make it to her 2nd birthday" flashes through my head at least once a day.
3. I severely lack patience. My first two confessions should make this obvious.
4. Elizabeth Cheronne and Catherine Michelle, the first and middle names of the girls, each have nine letters in the English-derived first name and eight letters in the French-derived middle name. We have an extra third girl name in case we have another girl in the future, and I'm TRYING to make it have nine letters in the first name and eight letters in the middle name ...I'm just like that.
5. Team Jacob. All. The. WAY!
6. Refreshing: not wearing maternity clothes. NOT so refreshing: not being allowed to swim in public pools for four-six weeks because of infection risks for my c-section. Argh!
7. Elder Jett comes home in FIVE weeks and I am beyond excited to see him!

That's all I can think of for now. See you on Monday!

The first few days

Last night= fabulous. Cate slept from 12:30-6:45 am. Keep it up, daughter! :)

Cate and I left the hospital on Saturday morning, after I was seen by my OB and after Cate was seen by her pediatrician. Both gave us clean bills of health so off we went! Chris placed her in her car seat--

(seems like we were just doing this with Lizzie)


She loves her car seat (so far)

and quickly fell asleep on the short drive home, right after I took her picture.

It's so nice to be home again. We've been lucky so far with schedules and naps and the like. My dad and sister drove up yesterday and spent the night here, so they were able to meet Cate.


Unfortunately, Joe had to work this morning so he stayed in NJ. :(

Lizzie is pretty well-behaved around Cate. The only time where she's rough around Cate is when I'm feeding Cate. Liz names each part of Cate's body, which is cute...and then pokes or hits each part after she names it. (ie Pokes an eye, hits an arm.) We're working on controlling that haha

Here are some pictures of the little sister:




Julia is staying with us for another week. She is a great mother's helper and we are definitely thankful that we get to keep her around for a few more days. She's been such a big help around the house, especially with Lizzie.
Dad, Mom, and Katie headed home to NJ just a little awhile ago. It was a true blessing to have my mom here. Chris spent each night with me in the hospital and my mom and Julia stayed at the house with Lizzie. They visited us every day and I was grateful to know that my daughter would be taken care of while I was recovering. My mom is awesome--if you've ever met her, I don't need to tell you that but I will anyway! Gracias Mama!

Welcome to the world! AKA my mother got her wish

Long ago before I met Chris, my mother told me that her biggest wish had been to have a "white" child--a blonde haired, blue or green-eyed son or daughter of her own. It was possible, seeing as my dad is blonde and green-eyed, but we all know that Ecuadorian genes are pretty dominant.
So what do we Jett children look like?
We all have my mom's coloring: dark brown hair and dark brown eyes, with olive skin that tans very well in the summer time. My mom told me, "Well I tried five times with your father and you all look like me, so...my wish is that you marry a white boy so I can have white grandchildren."
You all know Juanita...she wasn't kidding.
You can imagine her happiness when Chris and I began dating--you can imagine her excitement when we became more serious...and you can imagine her elation at the announcement of our engagement.
YES! I WILL have white grandchildren! she proclaimed.
I reminded her that I have her genes, which will probably beat out Chris's genes in terms of looks. It did with Elizabeth, after all. She has my skin tone, my dark hair, and my dark eyes.

But it didn't with our Catherine. My mother finally got her wish.
Catherine Michelle Killion, born 6/30/10 @ 12:12pm, 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 in.


Our biggest surprise was the color of her hair--a medium blonde with tons of reddish highlighting. Chris has some redheads on his side of the family; don't worry, I was wondering where it came from too! She is much more fair skinned than her older sister. Although her eyes are still dark blue, they are much brighter and lighter than Lizzie's were (if that makes sense). Every time I hold her, I marvel at that head of hair--I didn't think I could produce that hair color on my babies!

Prepping for c-section

Dr. Killion in his blue scrubs!

Hello Catie Baby!

Getting weighed

Getting situated...

First family photo, minus Elizabeth

My first time holding my Cate

Relaxing

Cutie!

Mimi, Lizzie, Aunt Julia watching Cate with Chris in the nursery

Mimi holding Cate for the first time

Aunt Julia holding Cate

Big sister Lizzie holding Cate

Mom with Cate

Dad with Cate


Some of you asked if I had the VBAC; the first picture caption should tell you that I did in fact get another c-section, which I'm very happy about. I am overjoyed that Cate is here and that she is healthy. My recovery is going very smoothly--I walked for the first time after surgery around 5:30am this morning; I'm off my IV and catheter; I'm getting a solid food breakfast here in a bit--it's all good. Honestly I feel blessed to have had another c-section because my daughters are here safe and sound. It was really quite nice to know when Cate would arrive, to hear her loud cry when she entered the world, to see that she is getting extra-special care. Maybe there is a VBAC in my far future with my third child, who knows? But I'll tell you right now, I'm perfectly pleased with my first two c-sections and I would not hesitate to do it again--I wouldn't trade the experiences I've had with my daughters' arrivals into this world for anything!
If you're around the area, please feel free to stop by, we would love visitors :)
Stay tuned for more updates and pictures here because facebook is just not cooperating with picture uploading!