Month 1, a letter

Aunt Holly gave me this idea. She wrote letters to the twins. I love the idea that they will be able to read those when they are old and grown, so I'm following her lead. Here is letter #1 (prepare yourself...it's long).

Dear Katelyn,

Wow, what a difference a month makes. This month has been so much fun, but exhausting would probably be a better word to describe it. Being a mommy and daddy is hard work! We would do it all again in a heartbeat. You are worth every sleepy second :)

You were born on Thursday, August 19th at 6:20pm and were 9 lbs even and 21 ¼ inches long. I was shocked and amazed to see how beautiful you were. Daddy changed your first diaper at 3am, mommy had to coach him through it. He is a pro now! You ate great from the first feeding and have had no health issues to date.

Your first night at home was ROUGH. You must have gotten so used to the hospital that home was a second scary new place outside of mommy’s belly. You’ve gotten used to your crib (yes, you’ve slept there since night #1). You don’t seem to mind diaper changes, I hear some babies scream and you just squirm a little. And…cross my fingers… you haven’t gotten any diaper rash yet.

You had a lot of love and support in your first month from Grammy and Mama Lin. You are adored by your grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. You are the first Allen girl in this generation, so you’ve got big shoes to fill. I don’t think you’ll have a problem. Your feet are pretty big :)

Your official name is Katelyn, but sometimes we call you Kate. Kate Allen has a nice ring to it. Katelyn seems to be a very popular name right now, but it can be spelled in many ways. I hope you like your name...we do!

You LOVE baths and sleeping. You seem so content in the warm water and get a very cute face when it’s bathtime. I can understand that. I see a future of bubble baths my dear. You sleep a lot, which is not a surprise. Mommy loves to sleep too and has loved naps. Grammy says I used to ask to go to bed, which is opposite of most babies and kids. She says I would go to her and say “Mommy, night night?” with a very sleepy voice.

You are very laid-back and seem to sit back and take it all in. In the past few days you’ve changed a lot and we think you are figuring out how to control your hand and arms. When you are awake and playing you love to kick, kick, kick. Hopefully that means soccer is in your future. Both mommy and daddy play(ed) soccer and it is our favorite sport. We hope to get you started early with tennis and golf too (daddy’s excuse to join Dunwoody Country Club if we win the lottery). You already can hold your head up pretty good and on occasion can put weight on your legs. You’ve been about 50/50 with tummy time, sometimes you like it, other times you don’t.

Your favorite toy is the Fisher Price Imaginarium. You stare at it everytime the music plays. Mommy and Daddy think you have two best friends right now. They are Mr. Penguin and Monkey, pictured below.


You’re not talking yet, but mommy swears you said “Hi” the other day in a squeak… You either squeak or grunt. Mommy thinks you grunt when you are trying really hard to do something and you squeak when you are tired.

You sleep pretty good, but sometimes you forget that the daytime is for playing and nighttime is for sleeping. Mommy and daddy are lucky because most of the time you just look around when you are awake in bed. You love stretching when you wake up. I have to give you at least a few minutes to STRETCH when you wake up.

You love to eat. When mommy puts the burp cloth under your chin to catch the drips, you get excited. You get even more excited when mommy wipes your mouth clean after you eat. You get a smile on your face (you haven’t really smiled much besides in your sleep). You’re eating 4 oz at each meal (have since day 6), have worn size 1 diapers since birthday and at 1 month are moving into 3-6 month clothes…you’ve got a very long torso.

The neighborhood and some of mommy’s friends have been bringing over meals. It is SUCH a nice treat. Mommy has met some really nice neighbors, and 3 of them have little girls who are within 2 months of your birthday. It’ll be interesting to see how your friendships develop with Vivian, Sadie and Baby Girl O’Neil (and of course, Olivia!). The O’Neils live 2 doors down so I see LOTS of play dates in the future. It’s funny how they are all girls, I see many “no boys allowed” signs in your future. All three of them have older brothers  It makes mommy and daddy so happy to live in such a great neighborhood with so many little friends for you. We’ve lived in this house for a year now. We see a very long and happy future with you and future siblings here in The Branches.

You amaze us every day and we couldn’t love you more!! Thanks for all the fun memories Kate!