Photos were taken!  Ok, let’s be honest, we’d be hard pressed to find a day photos of Kate or Noah weren’t taken but when Kate was nine days old a family friend and photographer (who wishes to remain anonymous) came to take photos of Kate.  Here are a few of my favorites -

Her umbilical cord stub fell out the next day, it was a big week in the Yap house!  Thanks for letting us drown you in photos!

Last year we went to Canada to experience what fall is really supposed to be like, or at least what we see on TV – it was amazing!  We had such a great time and tried so many new things like apple picking and fall leaves, it’s a bit disappointing spending fall here this year but we are so blessed with a new person to spend it with we won’t complain (any more than we have already). 

So here it is – fall Florida style.  You pack your cranky family into the car in outfits that are way too hot for the 90 degree weather and you act like idiots and bribe them (or threaten them) until they smile.  It’s very painful.  We managed to get a few cute photos and in a few years when Kate is running circles around us and we forget how defeated we felt leaving the pumpkin patch (without a pumpkin) we will love these photos and show them how well behaved they appeared.  Long gone will be the memories of Kate screaming (hoping someone would call Child Welfare Services) and Noah protesting by stepping on pumpkins, dropping them, and then icing the cake by sitting on a completely rotten pumpkin that ended up all over his pants.  Oh, fun times.  Enjoy the photos!

When did he turn into such a big boy!?

You should have seen me.  I swear the video would have sold millions.  It must have been good, it even got Noah to smile.  Kate – not so much.

Again with the hats.  I can’t help myself.

He was drawn to the “bumpy punkins”. 

We don’t title our photos but we couldn’t stop talking about how this would have turned out if we did.  Something that could have been a very cute, but cheesy, “Special Delivery” turned very quickly into “Handle With Care, Damnit!”.  I cannot tell you how many looks we got for doing this.  The bystanders definitely thought we were nuts.  Who are we kidding?  We are nuts.  Our poor children.

Today we attempted to take family photos.  Our friend Rachel got suckered into… err… volunteered to shoot them for us but unfortunately Noah wasn’t in the mood.  He woke up way too early for anyone’s good and gave us a run for our money as we were tried to leave the house by 8am.  It was an interesting morning that had quite a few tears but ended pretty well with a few good shots, bribery and breakfast.  We followed through with his promised lollipop afterwards but that wrecked his afternoon nap, of course.

Anyway, thanks to Rachel for the photos, Robby and Ayla for putting up with the whole ordeal and hello to Lani and her peanuts who we bumped into at Mizner doing the shoot!

And now for the photos -

There was a lot of tickling but those shots look mostly like this first one. 

Noah is just so darn serious (but cute)!  And yes, he’s practically bald.  This happened right after I told the hairdresser “just make sure he doesn’t look bald!”.  Ummm, thanks.

Noah has the cutest face in these but it’s not his love for photos he’s showing you, which is why he’s not looking anywhere near the camera.  Instead, it’s his love for airplanes.  I edited out all the photos of him pointing, and the really funny one where Walter and Noah are watching the plane fly by while Kate and I look oblivious.

At this point we’d pretty much lost Noah completely.  I have no idea what was in his mouth.  It was also about 109 degrees with 600% humidity, you can tell by the gradual demise of my hair!

This is the face he makes when you ask him to smile.  I guess it’s better than the broken neck look Kate is going for.  And yes, she’s a girl in blue.  Does it count that it’s a dress?

It is so nice to be home!  My mom has been an amazing help ever since we arrived acting as our live in nanny and helping out with everything.  Walter’s parents come to visit and bring us dinner every night.  I don’t know how we would do this without our family!  Our friends have also been so generous and amazing and I just want to thank everyone for their help and support while we settle in.  Noah is doing really well with all of the changes.  He shows off a bit when company is over but relatively speaking he’s adjusting well. He’s more curious about Kate everyday and has been so sweet to her.  Today he gave her his monkey when she was crying – that is love.  Kate is doing very well too!  She has a clogged tear duct so one of her eyes is a little gunky but is otherwise perfect.  She’s over her jaundice and is starting to be more alert.  Today her belly button cord fell off and she wore her first dress.  Big milestones on this lazy Thursday!

And because I don’t dare post a word without a photo these days, here are some pictures from the 27th when we were trying to get the right photo for her birth announcement.  I will post that soon but in the meantime here are some other pictures from the day.

A lot of people who have met Kate ask “Is that her!?” when they see this photo.  Indeed it is.  No one is used to seeing her with her eyes open.  It’s a fleeting thing I know.  Isn’t she pretty? 

And this is Kate’s usual expression.  We were taking photos in the rose petals from XM’s generous arrangement.  Once she’d had enough we swaddled her so she could relax.  I couldn’t help but take photos even if the backdrop is a bit out of place.

And Noah couldn’t help but get in on the action.  The boy has the most flawless skin, doesn’t he?  I swear these pictures haven’t been touched up.

Sweet Noah -

Silly Noah -

Kate

I finally have access to a computer and can download some pictures and post them!  I know many of you have been anxiously awaiting them and we appreciate all your well wishes and congratulations.  Well, we have a lot of pictures so far and I’m sure Dawn will do a much better job of writing about everything and putting up more pictures. Right now though, I’m sure most of you just want to see her.  So, without more delay, here she is …

I think she’s beautiful (but I’m biased). Dawn sure does make cute babies.  Everyone is doing great so far and hopefully Dawn will be able to come home soon.  Kate seems to be latching like a pro so that’s good.  Stay tuned, I’m sure more will follow .. as time permits.  We do have a newbornafter all!

Oh! One more thing. Noah visited Dawn and Kate for the first time today. Until he saw them, he was all “Where’s mommy!”, “Where’s Kate!”, “I wanna see mommy!”.  When he did get to see them, he gave mom a look and hug, stared briefly at Kate with a “who’s that?” look, then saw all the buttons in the room and it was all over. Too funny. We’ll see how that goes.

Katherine Claire (Kate) is here! Dawn and Kate are doing fine. Kate was born at 4:40PM weighing 8lbs and measuring 20″. She’s got a full head of black hair and is so beautiful. Pictures to follow.

So as I mentioned below my uber-talented sister, Lindy, made Kate’s crib bedding and got it here in time for the surprise baby shower.  She almost came unglued when I had time to tell you about that and post photos but didn’t have a single one of the bedding on the crib.  So after much anticipation here it is – Kate’s bedding!!!!

And yes, I know I need a course in bow tying (anyone, anyone?) and I am also abundantly aware that the monogram is yet to find the wall.

The colors are off in this photo but it’s a more overall view.  On the glider you can see the blanket Lindy made for Kate.  Unfortunately those taggie people get their panties in a wad when someone else makes one of these so it was a one time deal but let me tell you, it’s fabulous and minky!

This is the best shot of the colors.  Aunt Lindy also made this pillow for Kate.  She made one when Noah was born too and he still sleeps on it.  Also, notice the piping on top of the bumper, she did an amazing job!

And here’s the rest of the nursery (again with color correction issues) -

So the bedding is gorgeous and fits great.  One of the ties is off on the front but Lindy will move it on her trip down in November when she comes to meet Kate.  To give you an idea of how challenging this was for her she’s never seen the crib and made everything off of a photo with a tape measure held up to the furnuiture.  She’s never done bedding before either so there were a lot of hurdles but it is absolutely incredible.  She’s also making window valances that match the crib skirt, which if you can’t tell from the position of the crib (at its highest setting) is a white box pleat skirt with a pink ribbon trim that matches the ties on the bumper.  Isn’t she amazing?  To see more of her work you can check out her website www.lilsugarpie.com.  She’ll be selling on Etsy soon too! 

Thank you Aunt Lindy!!!

LITERALLY!

This morning I took a tumble trying to bring Noah’s ride on tractor into the garage. Unfortunately I fell on my belly. I felt fine, the baby was moving and other than scraped up knees and being a little shook up, nothing was wrong. I debated for an hour before calling my doctor just to let him know. I had fallen a million times during my first pregnancy and they didn’t do anything but it was never on my belly (and I was also seeing a different doctor). Well, my doctor (who I felt horrible for bothering on the weekend) told me to go to L&D. Because I have a negative blood type there could be problems if my blood had somehow mixed with the placenta or baby’s. I was shocked, I never thought I would have to go to the ER, I even tried to talk my doctor out of it.

So I went and Walter and Noah went to our niece, Amy’s, baptism, which I felt bad about missing.  We haven’t seen her since just after her birth and now I was going to miss an opportunity again!  Well, they monitored me, did blood work, gave me an ultrasound (where they clocked the baby at just over EIGHT POUNDS), and monitored me some more. Other than some contractions and back pain, everything was fine. So 8 hours of sitting in L&D alone gave me plenty of time to rest and relax; my feet are remarkably unswollen! I saw some of the most beautiful babies and really got excited about meeting ours in the next few weeks. I see my doctor next week and he told me to be careful or he was going to get me a walker.

So the moral of the story is to be careful because losing your balance can ruin your Saturday!  Here are some photos from the baptism –  

My favorite, I think this is so beautiful!

The happy family -

It’s a gorgeous church!  This is also where Jaimie (our other niece and Amy’s older sister) was baptized.

What a roller coaster it’s been with maternity photos this time around.  We were elated to have Amy Hill (www.amyhill.net) agree to do them again but things have been crazy for both of us and time has been slipping away.  In that time I have gotten to the point where I feel DONE.  I’m beyond huge and find it hard to smile when someone points a camera at me.  Because of this I am no longer up for a marathon shoot, outside, in the heat, with a two year old, and an extra boulder attached to my already heavy frame.  I feel bad for not giving my belly the attention and time we devoted to it when Noah was inside but I’d rather have professional photos of the actual kid anyway.  Besides, Amy has a beautiful new daughter, Quinn, who I’m sure would rather soak up all the time she can with mommy before wedding season is in full force.

Not wanting to go completely without a family photo we decided to take a few of ourselves.  Just something to commemorate the occasion with, nothing fancy, and I think we did alright.  Thank God Walter is handy with the camera and we had such a great opportunity to get a few shots!  This was right after a 3 hour nap (thank you, Noah) so while we may all be feeling our best some of us may also have bedhead.  Here are some of our favorites -

Noah was so patient with us that we took him to a playground afterwards to thank him.  We got a few cute shots there too.  Not for the same reason but still some fun photos worth sharing.

One of my personal favorites – this is the boys giving me “a look” (when I suggest something absurd, like leaving too early or that they pose for a photo).  We have several photos of this expression through the years but it gets cuter everytime, I think Walter is getting much better at it too!

My Uncle Kenneth and Aunt Love headed our way for a brief visit this weekend.  It’s always so great to see them but being the busiest retired couple you’ve ever met it doesn’t happen often.  They are constantly traveling, visiting family, researching geneology, and now renovating a new home.  When I grow up I’d like to retire like that!  I can’t even name half the amazing places they’ve seen or countries they’ve traveled to! 

We met at Poppies, as we do almost every visit, because they apparently have the best blintzes on the face of the earth.  A blintze is a blintze to me but my Aunt Love is a self proclaimed expert and blintzes she must get from Poppies on every trip!

Hopefully they’ll be back when Kate arrives.  We can’t wait to see you again soon!

Here’s the whole group.  If you can guess who was taking the photo, and later added to the group by Photoshop you’re good!

My sister, Nikki, and niece, Julia.

And my monster in his new sneakers.  He picked them out himself because of the “dinosaurs” on them.  They’re Lacoste which makes it an alligator but please don’t tell him.