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!

Weekend in Baytown

Last weekend we visited Dave's family in Baytown.  It was a relaxing weekend with lots of swimming!

Contemplative swimmer

There's a small window in life when you can get away with walking on the table!

She laughs when I start to sing the ABC's. I think they sing it to her at daycare and she finds it funny that I know the song, too.

A few updates:

• Always intrigued by details, Katelyn's latest curiosity is my eyelashes.  She likes to tug on them (not cool!).
• She finally likes books-- particularly tearing the pages out.  The only exceptions are two Paddington Bear mini-books that she LOVES.  I can recite them in my sleep. 
• Her current favorite song is "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  I've learned that when she wants me to sing it, she holds out her thumb and index finger and smiles.  Another favorite is "The Wheels on the Bus."  In an attempt to keep her pacified on road trips, I'm proud to say that my improv skills have increased dramatically.  I've made up all sorts of verses to that song.
• She likes to stand and peer over the edge of whatever she's holding onto-- specifically while on the changing table and in the bathtub.  This isn't something that I willingly let her do.  It's just a battle we fight every night.

While Dave and I are enjoying every moment of the present, there are things that we both long for her to grow into:

• Dave can't wait for her to be old enough for Daddy/daughter breakfast dates on Saturday mornings.
• I can't wait for the days of sidewalk chalk, paintbrushes, and markers!

Memorial Day Weekend, etc.

Memorial Day weekend was great. On Saturday we went to a birthday party for my niece, Annabelle.  I think Katelyn enjoyed the swings.  It was her first time and she seemed to be analyzing it more than sitting back and enjoying it.

 All done.

Always thinking about something!

Without a doubt, one of my favorite pictures ever.  I love the sparkle in her eyes.

with Uncle Jeff

Still teething.

with the birthday girl

Katelyn loves turning things into games. She now initiates peek-a-boo-- as in, she holds something over MY eyes and keeps it there until I've said, "Where's Mommy?"  She thinks it's pretty funny.  :)  She also made up what we call "Recliner Tag."  With Dave in the recliner and me on the floor, she crawls up the recliner footrest, and as soon as she reaches his arms, she slithers back down into my lap... and as soon as she's in my arms, she immediately turns around and goes back up the recliner... then back down... over and over and over again until WE get tired of playing.  It's tiring to watch.

Katelyn has also started to walk with assistance!  She likes walking up and down the hallway holding on to Dave's or my finger.  Interestingly, she won't walk with shoes on.  Free spirit. :)

Recent Visits

Dave's grandfather (PawPaw) passed away recently so we made a trip to Mississippi for the funeral.  Though the circumstances were sad, it was good to see family.


Katelyn wins the Miss Congeniality award for friendliest baby EVER.  She made a friend everywhere we went: the nice man with the mustache at the funeral home, the pallbearer with the funny glasses, the man with the chef's hat at the Chinese restaurant.  Katelyn's smile is infectious. 


She was quite the social butterfly at PawPaw's visitation.  As the room filled with people, it became increasingly hard to contain her (and after riding in the car for 9 hours, I can't blame her for being active).  And she waved at EVERYONE.  PawPaw sure loved her smile, so it's only fitting that she brought joy to an occasion that honored his life.  She was never "bad" on the trip.  Just reallyreallyreally active. 

Katelyn and Papa 

Katelyn and MawMaw

She LOVES looking out doors.

The next weekend Katelyn and I had a chance to visit with some wonderful friends who also used to live in Waco.  Just to put Katelyn's speed into perspective: she can crawl as fast as Ellie (3 months older) can run.  Very cute watching them play together.

Our attempt to take a picture of the four of us.  Fail.

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!