My little girl

I have been realizing this past week that my baby is quickly turning into a little girl! I knew it would happen, I just wasn't quite prepared. Katie's getting such a personality, so silly and sincere at the same time. She's quick with a smile and slow with the tears (except at bedtime!) and is always friendly with everyone. She really seems to enjoy people so much, and really gets a kick out of interacting with them. She's a huge flirt, and seems to think that a smile should get her out of all trouble.

And boy, does Katie know how to find trouble! My busy little climber seems to be everywhere at once. She's almost completely abandoned crawling, and is walking everywhere. She climbs on the back of the couch to get to the front window. Today, she and Tiny worked in cahoots to knock the baby gate down!

Katie is interacting with people in so many new ways. She is starting to share. Today she traded me a Cheez-It for a Nuk. She's pretty good at making her desires known. This afternoon she ran back to her room, grabbed a blankie, and let me know she was ready for a nap! She's given up the swaddle, and sleeps with a blankie like a big girl. She's playing with toys (good thing, because Santa left his entire workshop here!) and loves stuffed animals.



She's such a precious little girl, and I feel so lucky that she is mine!

The aftermath...

What a wonderful Christmas! We are so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family! I love reconnecting with friends and family at this time of year. I love getting Christmas cards in the mailbox, reading those newsy letters, looking at pictures to see how big everyone's kids are getting, who has changed jobs, or moved, or vacationed.

This has been an especially fun Christmas for us. Katie slept through most of last Christmas, so having her running around, laughing and playing, was such fun to watch. She wasn't interested in opening her gifts, but she sure had fun playing with them after!

Here are Katie and Daddy, sword fighting before Grandpa and Nana arrive:


Checking out Nana's loot:

She wouldn't leave the honey roasted peanuts alone--she's her Daddy's girl!

Playing with the activity center from Grace:

It's funny: the box says that it promotes activity and movement. My girl is so busy that standing banging on the thing is the quietest she gets all day!

Uncle Dennis and Aunt Colleen went a little crazy, too! Katie loves her new pink pony:


She has figured out that she has to use her feet to push it, so now she'll stand, straddling the saddle, and walk, or get behind it and push it. She also likes to pull it alongside as she walks, too. Katie is getting so good at walking, now! She'll grab a toy, sock, magnetic letter, one in each hand, and take them to another part of the house. It's a great game.

And Colleen, just letting you know that I'll remember this:

Yes, folks, that is a bicycle horn! My girl walks around with the bulb in her mouth, honking like a deranged goose. And driving Tiny nuts, as he thinks she is the fastest squeeky toy in the world.

And, oh, the mess!






The wonderful mess!

Merry Christmas!

Wishing everyone a holiday of joy, peace, and happiness!

Snow!

This has been such a snowy week! Neither Jared nor I can remember this much snow in the Tri-Cities. It started last weekend, and really hasn't stopped since. The schools were on two hour delay all week (including Wednesday, which was also early release! Historical day...). As of late Sunday evening, we have at least a foot on the ground, and are only granted what appears to be a temporary reprieve. I'm pretty sure that White Christmas won't be just a dream...

Jared has had Tiny out playing fetch, since the poor pup can hardly walk in snow up to his belly.

Katie enjoys watching them through the front window.

We haven't taken Katie out to play in the snow, because it's been much too cold. Temperatures have been in the single digits for much of the week. It got up towards the 20s today, which is why Jared's just in a T-shirt :)

Additionally, it's been a pretty rotten week. Monday night we lost power (and heat) for about five and a half hours. It got pretty chilly in the house! We all hunkered down under about four blankets. When we got Katie up, even her nose was toasty, which was pretty amazing. It took the heater the rest of the week to get back up to speed and start actually warming things up around here.

Wednesday night, I caught the oven on fire. I was cooking some pastry thing when the butter melted out and flared up. I panicked, and Jared came to the rescue with the fire extinguisher. Which sucks to clean out of the oven. Although, really, I recommend the Method tub and tile cleaner. Gosh, I love that stuff!

Here's a parting snow shot:

Such a sweet day!

I had such a great day with Katie today! Jared was hanging out with Brennan all day, so I had Katie all to myself!

We got a tree yesterday and brought it in, but I didn't start decorating until she went to bed. And it snowed last night! When I heard Katie awake in her crib, I turned on the tree lights and brought her out. The light was all soft, and my baby was thrilled by the tree. Her eyes were so big and shining. Then she saw that it had snowed, and her eyes got even bigger. We snuggled down on the couch under a blankey, looked at the tree, checked on the snow, and watched A Christmas Story. Such a nice morning!

I am a little worried that Katie is going to try to climb the Christmas tree, but she was really good today. She would walk up to the tree and point one finger at a light, I would say "No touch, just look," and she would stop. She just enchanted with it.

Year One stats

Just an update for the numbers folks:
Katie had her one year checkup Monday. She's still at 22 pounds (70%tile), but it's not really a concern, because she shot up to 31 inches (100%tile). Fighting off a cold, but right on developmentally and behaviorally. Given the all clear to switch to whole milk, although there are some concerns (digestively speaking) with that.

Also had a bunch of vaccinations, although we have discovered that grape suckers make everything bad go away. Good to know, that.

Party Girl!

Katie's first birthday party was a lot of fun!

She opened presents...


And even tore some of the paper herself!

She got her first baby doll and first puzzle, a huge panda bear (from gramps!) some cute sleepers, and tons of busy activity toys.

Then, of course we all sang happy birthday, while Katie preened and flirted away.


And Mommy clearly took too long cutting the cake.


Katie was very funny about eating the cake. For the most part, she was really tidy about it. She was much more interested in actually eating it than in smearing it and making a big mess. It's like she didn't want to waste any of it. :)


At one point, she picked up the whole slice, but just nibbled at it. She did, however, get sufficiently sticky before getting down to play with her new toys.


Katie had tons of fun playing with Grace and Aiden!


Happy Birthday, Katie!

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Happy first birthday, dearest girl!



December 5, 2007


January 2008


February 2008


June 2008


July 2008


August 2008


September 2008


October 2008


November 2008






Poor Birthday Girl was masquerading as Princess Crankypants today. She's got teeth coming in, and a terribly runny nose with a bit of a cough. Not the happiest camper! The nice thing is that she was willing to snuggle with Mommy a bit more than she usually is.

I never expected to spend my baby girl's first birthday so sad. I keep thinking back to that terrible, wonderful day a year ago, and the scary events leading up to Katie's birth. The fear as we waited at home, trying to get her to move. The trip to Kadlec, when it seemed like Jared couldn't drive fast enough. The awful ultrasound, where we watched a heart beat in an otherwise motionless baby. And to have to sit there for a half an hour, while the tech documented everything that wasn't happening... The serious look Dr. Smith gave us, as he recommended an immediate c-section. And then, an hour later, as that beautiful, perfect, screaming baby girl was given the all-clear and handed over to Daddy...

Not bad, though, to go to the hospital at 1:30 and have a baby two hours later!

And this one's for Jared...

Christmas, 2007

Birthday party pics tomorrow!

Thankful

I am so thankful for many blessings in my life. It has been a rough couple of years, and as I sit and reflect, I know in my heart that without the trials, the joy wouldn't shine so brightly.

Foremost among the blessings in my life are my family and friends. I am so thankful for the beautiful baby girl we have been entrusted with, and I hope and pray that she grows into a woman who chooses to do good in this world. I'm grateful for my husband, who chooses to make caring for our daughter his full-time job, and for the friendship we share that is above all others. And I'm thankful for our extended families that are stuck with us, and for the friends who comprise our chosen family.

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah this year. We stayed with Jared's brother Richard and his girlfriend Kristen, who were such wonderful hosts! We really felt at home there, and we had so much fun. We enjoyed a wonderful feast! Our nephew Dallin recently earned the rank of Eagle Scout, and we were able to attend his Court of Honor the day after Thanksgiving. We are so proud of him and his accomplishments!

After Thanksgiving, we drove down to visit friends. We first stopped in Midvale for a few hours to visit Kris and Caroline. Katie had lots of fun playing with Gracie!





We continued on to Lehi, where we were going to stay the night with Kurt and Desiree. They have a big black Lab, and Katie absolutely loved him! Jared and Kurt were making him run around and do tricks and she would squeal with excitement. We figured out that she learned to bark this weekend. Kristen has a dog named Winston that barks a lot, and Katie will make little high pitched "oof!"s back.

Here she is in a quieter moment, reading with Desiree.





And here is all of us, including Gooch!

My first sweater!

I finished my first sweater!





It's too big, because I knit it to be 24 month size, and Katie's currently wearing between 12 and 18 month size. But I wanted to give myself plenty of time to finish it before she got too big to wear it! And I still need to add buttons to the neckline on the right side, which is why it is gaping.





The above picture was taken under a fluorescent light, which kind of washed out the color, but I wanted a picture of the sweater flat.

Our lil' punkin

Happy Halloween! Katie got all dressed up as the cutest little pumpkin last night!





We went to visit Grandpa, who was hiding from trick or treaters as usual, and then to visit Nana.





Jared decided to be silly, too!





And even Tiny got in on the act.





While we were taking pictures in the front yard, the neighbor's grandsons came to trick or treat. As they were getting loaded into their car seats, I could hear them yelling, "Baby pumpkin! Baby pumpkin, mama!" Then finally their mom turned around and said, "Oh, there's the baby pumpkin! I couldn't figure out what they were talking about!"

I didn't fall off the face of the earth!

Promise! But it seems like I only ever remember to update from school, where I don't have my pics! And I HAVE to post pictures, because so much is happening.

First things first...

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Jared,





A very Happy Birthday to you!

It's a 2007 Suzuki V Strom, and he is so pleased with it, and having so much fun!

Then there's Katie.





She's getting so big and so beautiful! She's 10 and a half months old, and crawling and climbing everywhere. She babbles all the time, and always likes to be the center of attention. She's a terrible flirt, but it seems to work for her.





And clapping! She loves music, clapping, bouncing with the music. I think she'd watch the Wiggles all day long. She also loves going for long walks with her daddy, either in the backpack carrier or in the stroller. She's so much fun!

I've been working a lot. I, for whatever reason, decided to take on an extra class this year, so I have 6 classes with no prep period. It's hard. I feel like I'm not a very good teacher this year, because I'm spending so much of my day trying to stay ahead of the game. It doesn't help that I currently have 31 overload a day, on top of all that. Plus, I got elected to site council (yay, me) and am on the CAC committee with Keith. Oh, and am still junior TRIBE facilitator. What is wrong with me?

The good thing is that my classes are awesome. I LOVE the Anatomy class, and my sophomores aren't bad either. I have a lot of really nice kids. And the knitting club is giving me the energy to get through the day. It's so fun to see these kids come in, so excited to show me what they worked on the night before. There are good kids, there are good kids... Now if I could just get some sleep!

Katie poops stars!

Seriously. She does. Yesterday, Katie found some forgotten star stickers in my Bible. So she had a little adventure:





We didn't know she had eaten any. Until today.

It's been a while...

So much is happening. School has started, Dad is home, Katie is driving... Kidding.

Let's start with school: I am so excited to be teaching the Anatomy and Physiology classes. I'm really having fun with it, and I think the kids are too. It's a subject that really interests me. Yay!

Dad is home! Yippee! After the tree trunk cast on his leg




he was wearing a black aluminum splint. After x-rays showed the bone graft was healing just fine, he graduated to a walker and an Air Jordan walking boot. Well, maybe it isn't made by Nike, but it has inflatable bladders for maximum support. It's mostly to support his ankle joint while the tendons and ligaments get used to moving again, and he only has to wear it when he's walking. It's so great to have him home! And remember, chicks dig scars.

It has been a summer of adventure with Katie. It seems like every week she was doing something new. We went from rolling, to sitting, to army crawling, to climbing, to real crawling, to getting down off the couch, to seeking out Tiny to pull his ears.





Today she pulled herself up on Dad's walker and pushed it while walking.





Oh, and her first runny nose. But she's so darned cute!





I think we'll keep her!