Fridays with Granni

My wonderful mama sets aside Friday afternoons for Kate and I. I look forward to our times every week! Besides Dave, there is no one who I enjoy being with and talking with more then my mom. Our relationship has grown tremendously over the years and I am so grateful for her wisdom, counsel, and help in all areas of my life. I love her!

Today, we went up to Birkdale to have lunch at Brixx and then to Target for some necessities:) 

All of a sudden today Kate seems so much like a toddler! She just seems bigger and more mature. She is such a little companion to Mom and I!

Kate was having lots of fun standing on Mom and Dad's porch looking out at the yard.

I think Kate looks like she is punching me in the chin in this picture. She wasn't into having her picture taken with me at the moment!

I gave her a lemon to entertain her for a bit! She was making horrible faces after every lick but she kept going back for more! 

I finally got a picture of her sour face!

Kate loves her Granni! 

9 Month Stats

At her 9 month (almost 10 actually) check up today Kate checked out good and healthy!

She is:

19 lbs 9 oz which is the 50th %, she is slimming down!

28.5 inches long which is still 75th %

and a 50th % head still

I asked her pediatrician about the fact that Kate isn't crawling and she said that crawling is not a developmental milestone and it's fine that she isn't even close! This past week Kate has started cruising all around on the furniture and Doctor Perterson said she thinks Kate will be an early walker and that she might never crawl at all. That was good to hear that she is just fine:)

So it was a good appointment!

Laurel's Birthday Bash

A couple of weeks ago I got to travel over to Knoxville to visit Meg and Laurel! We had so much fun together! Laurel and Kate learn to interact a little more each time they are together. This time around they spent most of their time grabbing from each other:) Thankfully they were both very good natured about this.

I love the tops of their little heads! We had to laugh over the fact that the girls are almost the same size even though they are 3 months apart! (in recent doctor's appointments it has been discovered that Kate is actually 3 POUNDS heavier then Laurel! Oh my:)

Since it was so close to Laurel's first birthday while we were there, Meg decided to have Laurel's party so that we could attend! Laurel got to get her toes painted for the first time for the festivities:)

Will's sister, Lauren, is very talented at decorating cakes. She made this adorable cake for the party!

Laurel was a bit disgruntled about having to wear her party hat and having such a large crowd singing in her face. Heavy rests the crown....

The birthday girl enjoying her cake!

This was after she took to big a bite of cake (she was stuffing) and Meg pulled a hunk out of her mouth. Laurel did not appreciate that.

Opening gifts:)

Will and Meg have headed of to Gainsville, Fl for a year. Will is studying for a tax law certification. I was so grateful to get to spend some time with them before they left! I won't get to see them nearly as often while they are gone. 

Poor Little Sicky

My poor girl has had a rough go of it lately! 

Last Thursday I was getting her ready to go to the pool and, in a moment of insanity, I put the sunblock (which says it won't sting eyes) on her eyelids. Of course, it got in her eyes, and did sting, and then she started rubbing them with her sunscreen covered hands. Many minutes of crying insued which ended with me having to hang her head over the sink to wash the sunscreen out of her eyes. By then I was almost crying too it was so sad! Kate was shaking and screaming. It was really awful:(

But, she recovered beautifully. I took a few pictures of her red, swollen face to remember the truama!

We ended up not going to the pool. I love her in her swim suit:)

Then, over the weekend, she came down with a virus! She has had a fever for about 4 days and is so unhappy. These pictures are from this morning. She was watching TV and just looked so pitiful! I am really praying that she will wake up feeling better tomorrow!

Standing Ovation

The most frequently asked question I get about Kate is, "Is she crawling yet?" The answer is still no, but she makes little attempts at movement. Such as the other day when I set her down near this basket and went into the kitchen. I came back to fine this: 

Yeah, she was trying to bite the prong on the basket. Not the safest thing considering her precarious position:)

I sat her back down and she immediately pulled back up. 

Two Saturdays ago Kate woke up and started clapping! I was so thrilled because it's super cute and I couldn't figure out how she had learned. I thought she was brilliant until I found out Minnie had been showing her how the night before:) It's still one of the cutest things I've ever seen her do. All I have to do now is say, "Yaaay!" and she'll start up (most of the time.)

Rather then practicing crawling, Kate LOVES to stand up holding onto the furniture.

It's the only thing she'll do happily for any length of time right now. You can just tell she is so

proud of herself! She does knee bends and head bops and pounds the table.

The past two Sundays she's fallen asleep on the way home from church and just keeps

sleeping when David carries her inside. It's so sweet!

Tomorrow I am heading over to Knoxville with the Seavers (Dave is joining us on Friday:)

There will be lots of fun pictures when we get home!

"Mama, my hair's a mess!"

Kate is sticking her tongue out in these because she is feeling her little tooth which has finally broken the surface! 

8 Months

A quick note: Over the past months my purpose for this blog has distilled to having it as a way for family and friends to stay up to date on Kate and for me to keep a little record for my future use. There are many other things of great priority and importance going on in my life but I just don't want to use this blog for any of that. That's why I only post pictures and updates on Kate and on fun trips/activities we've had as a family:) I would rather save the "other stuff" for face to face (or phone to phone:) times.

8 months has brought a lot of changes to our Katina (one of my favorite nicknames for her)! She suddenly seems like a "little girl" baby, not a "baby" baby. Her greatest accomplishment this month has been to start consistently sleeping through the night. I thought that once a baby stops getting up to eat at night (which happened 6 months ago) they would sleep through the night every night. Haha, First Time Mom! For many months there were any number of things that she would wake up for (needing her paci back being the most common.) Most recently she was waking in the middle of the night and taking a full 2 hours to go back to sleep. Not fun. However, now she is able to find her paci on her own (most of the time) and she rarely wakes at night anymore! 

Just this week she is starting to be able to pick things up with her thumb and forefinger and put them in her mouth. Yesterday she stuffed her mouth full of cheerios! I was worried she would choke on them so I pulled some out, hehe. Sometimes she thinks she has gotten something in her mouth and sits there happily "eating" it while the piece of food still is in her hand. That always makes me laugh!

She will now "dance" (bob up and down/rock back and forth) when you sing to her or when she is happy. It's really fun. 

Still no crawling but she is moving in that direction I think. She is getting stronger and stronger.

Her current favorite playtime things are to take all the jewelry out of my little basket I keep stuff in, to shake anything you give her, and to try and drink out of a sippy cup. She also is delighted with her own image in the mirror:)

She expresses frustration and anger now with a loud whine/growl. She knows what she wants!

I really feel like she is my little buddy more then ever and each day I get so much enjoyment out of her. Children really are such a gift from the Lord!

Playing with my calendar. She was shaking it and pulling it up over her face and babbling at it.
Mama and her Blue Eyes!
Last night the weather was lovely and breezy and Kate was so cheerful. We spent some family time in the backyard. She really needed her bath after that. She was filthy!





Bath time is one of our favorite times of day! Kate kicks and splashes like crazy! I love watching her and it gets out some wiggles before bed time
Her hair is growing so much!

My "Chleotubdra"