Nursing?

Having two kids so close together has been very interesting. Oftentimes, I feel like I serve as Kate's personal bodyguard where my main duty is to protect her from her older brother! While Danny has been very accepting of his new baby sister and loves her very much, he is still learning how to be gentle. And I'm still learning how to to help him understand how we take care of Kate. For example, I've tried to explain to him that when I'm nursing Kate, she's drinking milk and that's how she eats. But for some reason, I don't think he quite understands that. He has always been very affectionate with me while I've been nursing the baby, but I thought that was simply because he wanted my attention as well. But the other day as I was switching Kate to the other side, Danny comes over, looks at me and Kate, and then tries to kiss me where Kate had been eating!!! Every day is so exciting with the two of them!

Welcome Kate to Our Family!!

Wednesday started off like any other day and ended with us having another member to our family. On July 30, 2008, Kathryn Hawley Norton was born at 5:38 p.m. She was 20.5 inches long and weighed only 7 pounds 13 ounces. I can say only because Danny was over 9 pounds. And what a difference a pound and a half makes!

This labor was much quicker the second time around and with the aid of only four contractions, I was able to push her out! It was awesome!
This was taken minutes after she was born. We were amazed with her VERY long and skinny fingers and toes. Danny has blocks for feet, so it's interesting to see her very different build. Dan's dad was able to come over shortly after the delivery and take some great pictures!
I was worried about how Danny was going to react to having a baby sister around, but it was a delightful surprise when all he could do was smile and want to kiss her. Although he's "a bit" rough and still trying to learn how to control all his strength, all he wants to is kiss and touch her and be with her everywhere. I can't turn my back for a second, only to find out he's trying to climb into the pack 'n play with her, for example. But he's been really good and is excited to be a big brother.
As many of you know, we struggled with picking out a name for this child and we didn't have a name until just a few days ago. Dan and I would like to try to name our children with names from our family, so that they know where their name originated from and why they were named what they were. So we chose the name Kathryn, my mom's name, and will call her Kate for short. There will be no confusion, since my mom is very much a Kathy and never uses her given name, which I think is beautiful. The name Hawley (pronounced like Holly) is Dan's grandma's maiden name. So Kathryn Hawley Norton it is!

Baby Shower

Check out that tummy! Wow!!! Can it get any bigger? (Acutually, on second thought, let's not answer that.)

My friends threw the most amazing baby shower for me! Everything was so beautiful, it looked as if things had been professionally catered. Needless to say, the food was divine. :) Everyone made suggestions about what to name this baby since we haven't decided officially as of yet. We got some pretty good ideas! But people were overwhelmingly generous and the new baby definetely has some cute new outfits!

These pictures are with my sister-in-laws, Kristy, Jen, and Elena.

4th of July Fun

Survivor concert! "With the eye of the Tiger, it's the thrill of the fight, rising up to the challenge of our rival. And the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night and he's watching us all with the.........Eye of the TIGER!!!!"

We celebrated THREE full days of the 4th of July. Our ward had an activity on the 3rd with a big firework show and all. The 4th was spent at our local park where Survivor played a concert. (This was very exciting news for an Idaho Falls High School graduate. Go Tigers!) They sounded so great and it was so much fun! Then we watched firework celebration number two with some friends of ours. This is Danny's little friend Josh.

On the 5th, we were able to go up to Bayse, VA where Dan's great aunt lives. Their little community has quite the celebration and we were able to be there with most of his family enjoying the pool, good company and good food. And obviously, Danny very much enjoyed the watermelon. I had to resist posting all ten pictures of him eating the watermelon, because he was so cute and was absolutely enjoying it (except the rind, that confused him a bit.)

Shoes

Whether they're mine or Dan's, Danny loves to wear our shoes! And apparently putting on Dan's dirty socks as well!

Momentary Mishap

Danny got his entire arm stuck down the ball chute of his little toy. He was quite panicked for a little while. I couldn't even get it to budge, so I asked Dan if he could try to get him unstuck. After a few minutes of trying and not having any success, he asks me for some cooking oil!! I was like, "Can't we try something else first?!" The thought of that cleanup process was a little overwhelming. So I talked him into trying lotion, and wala! It worked! Danny was freed!

Danny's girlfriends

The two little girls next to Danny are our neighbors. Danny just loves them!!