Updates

The blanket that came with Katelyn's bedding has flowers and butterflies on it.  Katelyn has recently taken interest in it and gets so excited to point out the flowers and butterflies when I ask her which is which.  She especially loves the butterflies, I think because of their texture on the blanket.

She had her first ear infection.  10 months without an ear infection isn't bad!  Though I could tell a drastic difference in her energy level, she was still active.  As the doctor watched a bleary-eyed, feverish Katelyn wiggle out of my arms to crawl across the room, she made the comment, "Well, being sick doesn't seem to slow her down."  Amused, I replied, "Actually, this is lethargic Katelyn.  She's crawling a lot slower than usual."  NOTHING slows this child down from exploring.  Though I know she'll be a handfull when she starts walking, I can't help but love her curiosity.

Mealtime has been challenging lately.  She seems to enjoy being a messy eater. Awhile back, she started slapping a spoonful of food right before it entered her mouth.  So I began holding her hand down when feeding her. Now, she finds it more entertaining to "bat" the spoon with her left arm. That little arm is FAST!  It's just the right length to swing at the spoon when I least expect it-- and it's hard to hold down.  I don't even think she notices that she has food on her arm, fingers, neck, face, hair, etc.  Her new daycare mentioned that she enjoys painting.  I'm not surprised.

As she is growing, the tiny finger on her left arm is growing, too. Obviously, it will never be the size of a normal finger, and it's way too soon to see how much functionality it will have. But Katelyn has discovered it and recently used it to pull on MawMaw's necklace.  She seems intrigued by the little finger and I often catch her chewing on it or poking at it.

A few additional updates:

• She has FOUR teeth (all upper) that have just barely cut through!  They seem to be coming in at about the same pace... that can't be comfortable.
• She can crawl up a flight of stairs... and is super cute doing it!
• She loves refrigerator magnets (mostly just knocking them off)
• She understands the word "shoe" and tries to say it.  When I'm putting her shoes on her, she points to the shoe, grins, and makes a "shh" sound.

Goodbye... Hello!

Well, we've moved.  We could not have done this without the help of our mothers!  THANK YOU both for helping with Katelyn and helping us clean, unpack, and organize.  We love and appreciate you!

She wants to walk!

I like my job so far and Dave continues to like his.  Katelyn started daycare this week and it seems to be going well.

Katelyn updates:

1. Coincidentally with the timing of our move, Katelyn now waves hello and goodbye.  Whenever we enter or leave a room or she hears "hi" or "bye," she waves.  It's really cute.  She even waved goodbye to our home in Waco.
2. She has added "Nana" to her vocabulary.  I'm sure spending a week with Nana helped. :)
3. She wants to feed herself with her spoon.  This is not always a good idea, as she has no problem making a mess, getting her hands dirty, or splattering food all over me. As I was packing, I discovered dried splashes of sweet potato in strange places.
4. She is a busy, busy girl!  This child LOVES to play and explore.  I have yet to find a toy or activity that keeps her attention longer than 15 seconds (except Praise Baby!).  It's fun to watch her imagination develop. We put several pacifiers in her crib at night, and one morning I watched her on the baby monitor.  She had gathered the pacifiers and was happily playing her own little game of "throw each pacifier down as hard as possible."
5. She is deceptively destructive.  She really seems to enjoy throwing things and/or knocking things over.  And she's FAST!  While my Mom was eating lunch, Katelyn sweetly pulled up into her lap... and then picked up her plate of food and threw it on the ground, shattering it.  If Katelyn had two hands, I think we'd be in trouble.
6. She can identify her little Noah's Ark animals.  For example: I hold the cow in one hand and the lion in my other hand and say "Katelyn, where's the lion?"  She then reaches for the lion.  This also works if I just make the animal sound instead of saying its name.  She specifically likes hitting/throwing the cow. 
7. There's a picture of Dave and me hanging in our bedroom, and one day I was holding her eye level with the picture.  She started smiling and kicking her legs.  I said, "Where's Daddy?" and she moved her hand over Dave's face.  Same with Mama.  She did this several times and was so excited!
8. We got Baylor a new toy, and Katelyn thinks it's HILARIOUS to watch Baylor play with it.  I've never seen her laugh so hard for so long.  It's so funny.

Look, she's wearing shoes! And she wore them ALL DAY!

First Easter

We had a great Easter weekend. On Easter morning, we attended my dad's church in Garland.  One of the trumpet players in the orchestra had an arm just like Katelyn's!  He was a junior in high school and was so gracious to talk to us, answer questions, and offer advice.  It was neat.

After church everyone met at my sister and brother-in-law's home.  Though the rain put a damper on our plans to grill outside and have an outdoor Easter egg hunt, we had a great time.  Annabelle enjoyed hunting for Easter eggs inside. Katelyn enjoyed throwing the eggs.  Repeatedly.

Cousins Annabelle (almost 3) and Katelyn.  Thanks, Nana, for my cute dress!

Distracted by a bug.  Why is the stuffed lamb the only one looking at the camera?

Granddad and Katelyn 

Wearing her cute bunny outfit from Uncle Joey 

Standing with Daddy 

Shoes?  No thanks.

Moving On!

Dave and I both got great new jobs, so we will be moving soon.  Will we miss Waco?  YES.  I love this quirky town that's loaded with character and diversity.  I love the "biggest small town" feel of it.  I love the Baylor spirit!  And we will especially miss our sweet Waco friends, church, and Katelyn's daycare.  However, God's leading has been very clear to us in making this move.  We have a lot of opportunity ahead and look forward to this next chapter with excitement.

Dave has been commuting to Dallas for the past few weeks, so I've been focusing on getting everything packed and ready to go.  Katelyn HATES-- hates-- the sounds of packing tape and bubble wrap, so I've become pretty good at packing in record time when she is napping and after she has gone to bed.

Katelyn now looks at Dave and says "Dada."  She knows who "Mama" is, because she looks at me and smiles when I say it, but she's still working on it.  As for saying "Baylor", that of course is too difficult right now.  But, I've noticed that she makes the same garbled sound when she "addresses" Baylor or watches her run outside.

A few recent pictures:

This is how she sits in the shopping cart.  Must know what's going on!

 Look, Mom! I opened the drawer all by myself!

Hello, world!  Advantages of having a 6'4" Daddy.

She humored me for the two seconds required to take this picture. Immediately afterwards, she came right at me!

Notice the little toy animals beside her in the above picture. She loves animal sounds. She appears confused by my imitation of an elephant, is mildly amused by the lion, and finds the monkey sound really funny.  Every time.

Stay tuned... Easter pictures coming soon!

Fun in the Sun

Katelyn and Dave spent last weekend in Baytown with Nana and family (I had a work obligation).  Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, she played with cousin Cassidy, enjoyed time in the water, rode in the wagon, and then slept for 12 hours when she got home.  Nice!

Kicking in the water, of course!

What are they thinking about??

On an unrelated note, Katelyn is boycotting vegetables.  I don't know why.   Even when I give her squash, she gives me a bewildered look as if to say, "Have you lost your mind?  Why would I want to eat that?"  She doesn't care for beef, either.  Preferred foods are chicken and fruit.  I can't blame her.  Those are my favorites, too!

8 Months Old

Dave had his wisdom teeth out last Friday, so Katelyn and I have spent a lot of quality time together the past few days.  Here she is watching the rain:

The scrape on the top of her head is from the DVD player. She had pulled up on something and was a little over-zealous in attempting to walk unassisted. Lesson learned? I don't think so. After she stopped crying, she pulled herself right back up and tried again.

Eating a MumMum. If we're not careful, Baylor will snatch these right out of her hand. Who knew a vegetable-flavored wafer could be so good?

Katelyn's love of Target makes me laugh (and swell with pride!). I'll take her with me on errands to several stores, but she grins and kicks her legs in excitement when we walk into Target. It's so funny because she rarely acts like that in other stores. My little shopping buddy. :)

In the past week we've made major progress on sleeping through the night!! We seemed to have turned a corner right after she turned 8 months old. Some nights are better than others, but lately ALL nights have been a major improvement. Part of our bedtime routine is me singing to her. As I'm rocking her and singing, she becomes uncharacteristically still and has the sweetest, most peaceful smile on her face. Sometimes she will join me with soft "la la la" sounds.  Love. It.  Seriously one of my most treasured moments so far as a parent.

Visiting Family

Katelyn has had a busy two weeks.  First, we went to Baytown to visit Dave's family.  Here are a few pictures:

with Mary Ruth

 Playing in a big tub of toys

with Sue and MawMaw

 with Sue

The next weekend, Katelyn and I went to Denton to visit my family.  Here are some pictures:

Cousins Annabelle and Katelyn

 A few random updates:

• Katelyn loves chicken (does my heart proud!).
• Lately, her favorite thing to chew on is leather.
• Amoxicillin comes with unpleasant side effects.
• Katelyn and I sat in on Dad's handbell practice at church and she was mesmerized.  She particularly liked the big, low octave bells, and who can blame her?  They're big, shiny, and make noise.
• When I say "high five!", she slaps my hand five... ten... fifteen times...
• People have been asking me if she is always a happy baby.  Yes, except for normal things like fighting sleep and crying at times, Katelyn is a very happy baby.  She seems to enjoy every minute of soaking in her surroundings, especially if it's a new environment or activity.
• She "talks" with her legs.  When she watches Baylor run, she kicks her legs in excitement.  If I'm holding her and she wants me to walk faster, she kicks her legs against me as if to say, "Giddy Up, Mama!"  When she wants more of her bottle, she kicks and rubs her feet together before ever making a sound.  Her legs are ALWAYS moving and communicating emotion.  As you can imagine, it's nearly impossible to keep socks and/or shoes on this active girl!  Someday we'll put a soccer ball in front of her and see what happens. :)