Florida

Katelyn and Dave spent 5 days in Florida visiting Nana. I wasn't able to go, but they reportedly had a great time!


Here are some highlights:

• Her first plane ride.  She did really well!  Hats off to Dave for braving an airplane ride with an active one year old.
• Her first trip to the beach. 
• Her first trip to the zoo.  Not surprisingly, Katelyn loved the zoo, especially the elephants.  She also wanted the monkey-- or rather, the banana the monkey was eating. 

waiting for the plane

at the beach with Nana

with Daddy

It didn't take long to abandon riding in the stroller at the zoo.  Zoo map in hand, she preferred to push the stroller and point in the direction she wanted to go.

She's pretended to be an elephant ever since.

She loves water!

Molars and Animals

Holy Molars!  This round of teething somehow caught me off guard.  Since Katelyn only has three bottom teeth, I was surprised to discover a first year molar coming in on top. Teething molars is ROUGH.  The fever spikes, erratic sleeping, fits of unconsolable screaming, unpredictable eating... it's all very fun.  Wow.  It's like having a newborn all over again.  This too shall pass, right?

Here are a couple of random, happy pictures I took... before the molars began... it was a simpler time.  :)

Lately, this has been Katelyn's expression of choice right when I'm about to take the picture.  After I take the picture, she giggles like she did it on purpose.

About 90% of the time that Katelyn is awake, she is pretending to be an animal.  I can't stress this enough.  Whether she's eating, playing, almost asleep, or not quite awake, chances are good that she's pretending to be an animal-- usually a dog (although monkey, fish, horse, elephant, and alligator are also favorites).  Last weekend she had a fever of 103, and as I lifted her out of her crib to give her medicine, her eyes barely open, she pretended to be a dog.

My favorite is when we're in the car and I adjust the sun visor.  As soon as I raise my arm to move the visor, she raises her arm and pretends to be an elephant.  Every. Single. Time.  It keeps me laughing!  When I first noticed this and wanted to see if it was coincidental, I had a little fun and raised the visor up and down, up and down... but sure enough, she would raise her arm and make her "Ahhhh" elephant sound repeatedly, as if on cue.  Love it! 

pretending to be an elephant

This is how a normal "conversation" goes on our way home in the afternoons:

Me: Did you have a good day?
Katelyn: *makes a fish face*
Me: We're going to stop at Wal-Mart on our way home.
Katelyn: *pretends to be a dog*
Me: Daddy is excited to see you!  We're almost home.
Katelyn: *pretends to be a monkey, then quickly switches to dog, since, in the mind of Katelyn, home = dog.*
Throw in a couple of elephants and several more dogs, and then we're home.  Love her!

Baytown

We went to Baytown to visit family at the end of July.  We had a great time!

Katelyn will go ANYWHERE with Daddy and Uncle Joey.  Even for a 5 mph ride around the block in a Gator.

Wearing Uncle Joey's hat.  I suppose anything goes with pink flowers...

Sweet cousins Cassidy and Katelyn

They play so well together!

Worn out!!

Independence

Katelyn has become very... opinionated lately.  At 13 months old, she is "expressing her independence" and has mastered the art of throwing tantrums.  Not just burying her face into the floor when she's mad, but angry for hours/screaming/refusing to eat or sleep/trick the teachers into thinking she's sick kind of tantrums.  It. Is. Awesome.

My favorite story is how her teacher described lunch time: Katelyn pulled out her chair by herself (for the first time!) and sat down at the table.  Her lunch plate was placed in front of her.  She promptly threw it on the floor.  They gave her another plate, and she turned it upside down.  She then calmly took her Sippy cup and sat down on the play mat by herself until lunch time was over.  Her teacher said she composed herself very well-- no tantrum, just a calm defiance towards lunch that day.

My mom suggested I read Dr. Dobson's The Strong Willed Child.  Apparently there are updates since reading it during my childhood.  Sigh.  I can't take full credit, though-- both sets of grandparents would agree that Katelyn gets these traits honestly from BOTH her parents.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.  While we certainly have our hands full and will discipline/parent appropriately, I'm thinking long term-- I would MUCH rather her grow to have strong opinions and convictions than to become a follower who is easily swayed by her peers.

Just one of my favorite pictures ever.  Love her!

Anyway... I have managed to catch a few funny Katelyn moments between tantrums:

Lately Katelyn has been pointing to her name letters that are spelled out above her crib. I spell them out and tell her it says Katelyn. Last night as we were walking into her room, I asked her, "What's your name?" She gave me a "duh, mom" look and pointed to the letters.  Smarty pants!

The other day Katelyn and I were playing in the office.  There were some pants hanging up in the doorway to dry, and a 5 lb. weight was propping the door open (because it tends to shut on its own).  Katelyn made it clear that she wanted to shut the door.  Not wanting to move everything, I told her, "No, we can't shut the door."  She looked at me, walked over to the door, moved the weight out of the way, and shut the door.  Challenge accepted, Mama.

And my favorite story... She is such a cuddle bug.  She wants-- needs-- for her day to end with cuddling.  The other night I didn't feel well, so I cut our pre-bedtime cuddling short.  After singing/rocking very quickly, I put her in her crib.  And she screamed for the next 15 minutes.  Because this is very uncharacteristic of Katelyn, I went back into her bedroom.  Through her tears, she stood up in her crib and pointed to the rocking chair, as if to say, "WHY did you leave so soon?!?  I wasn't done!!"  So, my mommy heart melted and we rocked and sang some more.  That's all she needed-- just quality time. Apparently insufficient cuddle time is both noticed and unacceptable to this child.  THAT'S my sweet girl!

ONE YEAR OLD!!!

What a wonderful, blessed year we have had.  Turns out those first few months of colic and sleepless nights really were temporary!  I love the age Katelyn's at right now; it seems every day is a new little milestone or discovery.  Mastering a fish face, closing doors, identifying objects, giving kisses, etc.

We were able to have two family gatherings for her birthday: one in Baytown and one in Dallas.

Some pictures from Baytown:

She LOVED playing in the balls.

Not a huge fan of birthday cake, but we tried.

Swimming with Daddy

with Nana and Cassidy

Cassidy showing her how the horn works.  Katelyn LOVED the car.

Sleepy girl!

Some pics from Dallas:

Enjoying her first popsicle!

Cousins Pierson and Annabelle

on the swings

intrigued by bubbles

Oooo, bubbles are neat!

Figuring out what to do... 

...sort of.

Decides to eat sidewalk chalk instead.

Something doesn't seem right about orange chalk.

Was that not ok to eat? (don't worry, we scooped it out of her mouth)

The next weekend we had a great time with Papa!  Katelyn chose to REALLY take off walking when Papa was here.  She loved walking back and forth to him.

Scottish Rite Update

Katelyn's Scottish Rite check-up for her arm went great!  Absolutely no worries or anything of concern.  The doctor was pleased that she hit all her first year milestones without a problem.  Her next appointment will be in July 2013.  Here are a few things that the doctor reminded us, and the answers to some questions we're commonly asked:

• Does she have feeling at end of her left arm?  Yes, 100%.  Hot, cold, pain, texture-- the nerve endings are completely normal.  This is why many people don't like wearing prosthetics.  While they look amazing, it just feels like plastic.
• When will Katelyn get a prosthetic?  Not for years, and we will let it be her choice (for example, if she wants some sort of extension to help her ride a bike).  Given how independent and adaptable she is, though, I wouldn't be surprised if she someday finds that a prosthetic just gets in the way.  
• Does/will she sometimes feel pain radiate in her left arm?  No.
• What about the tiny finger at the end of her arm?  It will continue to grow in proportion to her arm and will have some degree of functionality, but it's not going to grow into a full-sized finger that extends out from her arm.  To quote the doctor, "Her arm won't look like a unicorn."  :)

Scottish Rite is like Candy Land for an explorative child like Katelyn.  She was in a great mood and we walked all over the place before her appointment.  I tried getting some normal head-on pictures of her, but those didn't work out because she wouldn't be still. 

A few additional update of some of Katelyn's favorite things:

• The bunny at daycare.  There is a sweet, docile bunny in the hallway, and Katelyn would be content sitting by the cage all day long, giggling each time the bunny hopped.
• Our dog, Baylor.  They are BIG buddies.  When I pick Katelyn up in the afternoons, I tell her we are going home.  She immediately starts doing her dog imitation-- sticking her tongue out repeatedly (this is because Baylor licks her ALL THE TIME!).  To Katelyn, Baylor = home.  When Katelyn wakes up in the morning, the first thing she does is her dog imitation, as if to say, "I'm awake now.  Where's Baylor?" 
• Snuggling.  She gives hugs generously and loves to sit in a lap-- any lap.  Her teachers said she is a jealous girl; she does not like it when another child is sitting in the teacher's lap!
• Playing "chase."  When one of us or Baylor enters the room, she giggles and races in the opposite direction.

Father's Day

Dave is a wonderful father!  He is exactly the kind of father that I always dreamed my child would have.  Dave and I are both blessed to have wonderful fathers who set great examples of what a Daddy should be.  And Katelyn adores her Daddy.  He can make her laugh like no one else.  She loves sitting on his shoulders or in his lap.  When he walks into a room, her eyes light up with a playful, mischievous look and she grins from ear to ear. She wants to eat whatever he is eating and loves sharing a bowl of applesauce with him. Watching them together is one of my greatest joys as a wife and mother.  

My sister, Christy, speaks only Spanish to Katelyn, just as she does with her own daughter. Katelyn thinks it's hilarious!  When Christy speaks to Katelyn, Katelyn responds with laughter.  I guess she likes the expressive rhythm/sound of the language, and she finds it amusing that Christy is speaking differently than us.  Since Dave and I are not strong Spanish speakers, we figure Christy is Katelyn's best shot for getting ahead linguistically-- and maybe we can learn something along the way, too!  We figure at some point Katelyn will see Christy as a more than a comedian and will start to understand the words.

laughing with/at Tia Christy

Annabelle and Katelyn rubbing their heads together.

It was a group effort getting Katelyn to smile for this picture.  The rest of the family is behind the camera singing "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."  I said, "Sing a song!" and everyone immediately starting singing that song in unison, with hand motions, like a choir.  It was really funny. Katelyn seems to be enjoying the show.

With Granddad in his TX State Guard uniform.  As Chaplain, he spearheads a toy drive that benefits children's hospitals.  One of those hospitals happens to be Scottish Rite, Katelyn's arm hospital!  The toy drive has been an enormous success and has grown to reach children's hospitals all across Texas. When the project started several years ago, we had no idea that his future granddaughter would be a patient at one of the benefitting hospitals!