Outside Fun

Kate has been enjoying all of the time she still gets to spend outside. We watched her play at a park where she climbed onto the play equipment all by herself! OK, it was a step up into the play area, but she managed to work her way up that step without any help from us!

We all went to the Los Angeles Zoo on Wednesday. It was pretty chilly, so we didn't stay long. She enjoyed watching the duikers jump and run in front of her (they are antelope that look a little like Bambi). The petting zoo area was closed because of the weather, so she only got to see animals from a distance. She was facinated by a reindeer chewing on its fence, but didn't see what all the excitement was about at the giraffe, elephant, and sea lion exhibits. She did LOVE watching all of the other little kids run and play, and so it was a good day.

Christmas

Merry Christmas Baby!

We all had a quiet morning of Christmas for Kate's first Christmas. Kate slept in until about 8am.

Our traditions this year:
A stocking was hung for Kate off of the new mantel.
Tim read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" as Kate's bedtime story on Christmas Eve.
We sang "O Christmas Tree" and "O Tannenbaum"
We made a hand-print ornament with Kate's hand and hung it from the tree.
We opened gifts on Christmas morning, instead of Christmas Eve.

We received so many gifts for Kate this year, and a big thanks to all of you who thought of us this year. We feel so blessed to have Kate in our lives, and it's a wonder to see her change every day and to learn new things. We certainly missed all of the family, and yet, in its own way, it was nice to have our little family of three Christmas together.

Alison, Richard and Petra came to visit in the afternoon, so we did have company, too. They made a lovely lamb stew that was absolutely delicious, and we always enjoy their company. It's fun to see Petra and Kate interact as they grow. Kate still looks up to Petra (physically, too). As Kate learns to walk, I'm not sure that Petra will still be able to get away from her so easily.

I am an elephant

Kate is finally starting to feel better. Here she is pretending to be an elephant.



And we went on the swing at the park nearby - Kate squeals on the swing!

Holiday Photos and a cold

Kate has a horrible cold this week, so we're not posting any current pictures this week. Seems that she came down with something on Monday and today is the first day that she seems better than the day before. It's so hard to listen to her snuffle. Man, does she HATE it when you try to wipe her nose - and we're not even going to talk about how much she hates that "sucker" thing that goes up her nose.


Almost all of the holiday cards are in the mail now, so we can post about the beach Santa photos.

Kate and Petra (and their respective parents) went down to Santa Monica Beach in November for pictures. It was Kate's first time tasting sand, and Petra really enjoyed throwing it all about. We really loved the idea of taking holiday pictures in her Santa hat on the beach. And we really like the one where you can see the Santa Monica Pier in the upper left corner of the first photo.

Kate also went to have her picture taken with Santa last week. I think we beat the holiday rush by going during the beginning of the week. The line went through half of the mall last weekend.

Carousels and cruising

On Sunday, Kate went to mall for a repeat performance on the carousel. Tim got to take her this time. She still loved it, and really liked watching the girl next to her enjoy her ride.

Back at home, Kate continues to pull up to standing. The "cruising" has just started. She stands against one item and then tries to stay standing while transfering her weight to another item. Good thing the paper towels were around!

Ducks

We went for a walk around our little lake today. Kate got to see the ducks in the lake. She was very excited.

Walking?

Kate has discovered our little wooden step stool in the kitchen. She pulls herself up to standing on it. Since we have wood floors, this is no easy task - the stool moves...and Kate walks along behind it! I'm not sure that this really counts as walking...

Anissa took Kate on a carousel ride at the mall yesterday. OH THE JOY! The best $2 ever spent. She sat on a horse that went up and down (Kate, not Anissa - Anissa held her on). When the ride started she looked so happy to be moving in a circle, but when she realized that her horse went up and down too - many baby squeals and giggles of delight. Her squeals even stopped others wandering in the mall and made them smile.

Sitting from crawling and other small wonders

Kate is mysteriously finding a way to sit from crawling. Somehow we both seem to miss seeing it happen.

On Friday, Anissa and Kate went to a friend's house that was having a holiday kid gift exchange. What fun to try to get all of the kids to look the same direction at the same time. How'd they do it? Sing a song from Gymboree, and that'll do it.

In other news, Kate's friend, Petra came over to the house to visit (with her parents, of course). Petra enjoyed playing on the stairs. It didn't take long for Kate to work her way over to the stairs and give it a go, too! She hadn't really noticed the stairs before Petra pointed them out.

In other news, Tim built a mantel for the fireplace in ONE DAY. It was quite an amazing feat!

Slide

Kate went to a Mommy & Me class today, and they have a new small plastic slide. It's probably only 3 feet tall. I thought it might amuse her to stand her up by the ladder - finally, something that she can hold on to that doesn't move! She smiled, she giggled....and then she moved her foot up a rung on the ladder! Wait a minute, Kate! You're too little to be climbing a ladder! She gave me a big smile and pulled herself up onto that rung. Five minutes later, she'd made her way to the top of the ladder, placed both hands above her head and screeched in delight!

Going down the slide was a different matter - Kate has no fear, so she just pulled herself down the slide head-first. Good thing I had a hold on her, as she went pretty fast, and I think it scared her just a bit.

By the time I got to the camera, this was her third attempt at the slide, and I was holding her to go down the slide on her bottom.

Suction

Kate spent the morning yesterday hanging out by the sliding glass door. It's the first time that she's noticed it. Since she's working on standing, she had to try to stand up against the glass - but there isn't anything to hold on to!

After much glee at pressing her head against the glass, she decided to try to hold on with her LIPS - yep, our little girl tried to use suction to help her out. Kate really makes us laugh sometimes. (No, it didn't work).

And how is the crawling going? Daddy left for work yesterday, and Kate was on the other end of the house when he called out his final goodbye to her. Well, she wanted to see her daddy one more time so SHE JUST SWITCHED to coordinated crawling to get to him faster. No signs of the old inchworm any more. Boy, that was quick!

Standing

Kate is still working on pulling herself up to standing.
All.Day.Long. On any surface, anywhere, any time, all the time. Whew!

It's hard to watch her fall so often. We try to put the items that she wants to climb on on a soft surface, but she still is having some spectacular bonks on the head. She screams, Anissa picks her up, she stops after some rocking, and we do it all over again. Aren't babies supposed to be quick learners?

Bye Bye Cradle

We visited with Anissa's friend, Judy on Saturday. Her father hand-built the cradle that Kate slept in for the first 3 months. Since Kate is pulling herself up now, we gave her the chance to say "goodbye".

Judy's son, LB, was the original recipient of the cradle. He was so kind to share with Kate, and we all appreciate all of the kindness that LB and his family have shown ours.

6 month check up

Kate went for her 6 month check up and immunizations yesterday. Three shots, and a follow up in one month for one more shot made Kate a very unhappy baby. Her stats: 27 inches long, 16 lbs 10 oz for weight and 17.3 inches for head circumference. She's still above average, though not in the 95th percentiles like she used to be.

She is pretty clingy today, and is running a small fever, so Anissa will spend the day carrying/walking her.

In her food update, Anissa made Kate homemade pears for dinner yesterday. My, what a difference - Kate gobbled up a serving and asked for more. It was pretty easily to steam the pears in the microwave, and then puree them in the blender. They went into the freezer in ice cube trays, and we'll have them ready for her for a while now.

What happened to crawling?

I went into Kate's room after her morning nap to find her standing in her crib, with both hands on the rails! This from a baby who is still working on crawling - how dare she keep growing!

Later, she was cruising around the kitchen, and apparently needs more water - there she was, standing over the flat of water looking cute as a button!

Santa's newest elves

Another pleasant trip to Long Beach to see the cousins. Antonio is walking, cruising, tackling, and generally walking or falling over anything in his path, including Kate.

Kate just wanted to be around her cousins and show off her new skills. Kate is crawling "inch worm" style. You'd think she was dancin' hip-hop with her skills. Only problem is that everyone moves too fast for her to catch up. By the time she gets moving, her target has moved away!

Gaby and Olivia were anxious to spend time with Kate too, and Kate really enjoyed them as well. Everyone took a walk in the neighborhood to see the Christmas lights together.

Our first official babysitters

One of our best men from our wedding (yes, we had two) visited with his girlfriend from Tucson for Thansgiving. Here is Dave, Kassi, and Kate. Notice the smiles all around.

Dave and Kassi watched Kate for us on Friday night so that we could go out to dinner on our own. This was a first for us and we enjoyed it, though we couldn't stay away long. We missed her within minutes and were ready to return after an hour. We somehow managed to stay away for almost two hours!

Dave and Kassi were so good with her - they played and sang and didn't drop her on her head (or so they told us). Kate didn't cry at all, which is amazing for her, since she seems to get unhappy whenever she can't see one of her parents around. She was facinated by both of them and we're all so grateful for the little break.

Thanksgiving

We hosted Thanksgiving this year at the new house. Anissa made the cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole and green beans, Tim made the mashed potatoes, and we both made the turkey. Alison brought 5 homemade pies and it seems as though everyone brought bottles of wine. Dave and Kassi flew in from Tucson to share Thanksgiving with all of us, and everyone stayed overnight at the house. We timed the meal perfectly, and both babies (Petra and Kate) managed to take a nap that carried through dinner. The grown-ups were able to have a pleasant meal, and the babies woke well rested but hungry. Petra ate samples off of her parents' plates and Kate tried some jarred baby food of turkey (not a fan). We all forgot to take photos of the event. It was so nice to be able to share the day together.

Kate has been changing by leaps and bounds this week too! She's able to crawl around now, and can get from point A to point B well, though rather slowly. She "inch-worms" her way along. We have to change her diaper "on the move", and she barely stays still long enough to change it the old-fashioned way.

She's mastered raspberries now, and can even manage to do them while keeping her pacifier in her mouth. She can shoot her pacifier quite a distance when she wants to now too.

She can hold herself in a sit on her own, and can move from sitting to crawling. She's trying to move from crawling to sitting, but can't manage it yet. She can't sit up from lying down on her own yet either, but she's trying.

She can stand while holding on to something if someone gets her set up.

She is starting to learn how to sleep without the swaddle at night - not every night, but there's progress.

She wants to turn around in her high chair and will gnaw on the back of the chair. She wants to lean over the side of her swing too - I can't imagine that she'll be able to use the swing for much longer now.

We've taken her to the park, and she's able to sit in a baby swing - boy does she love to swing.

And the giggles - ohh the giggles! When she gets raspberries blown on her tummy, when you play peek-a-boo, when she swings, when her Daddy talks to her - it's all delicious!

We think that there will be a first tooth soon. She's sticking her tongue on one side, and drooling quite a bit. She's gnawing on anything and everything, including her own toes!

Ahh, the beach

We went to the beach today to take photos. We can't post most of them here because we're going to use them for Christmas cards - you'll just have to watch your mailboxes for those. Temps at the beach had to have been in the 80's, and we had Kate all dressed up for Christmas. Here's a picture of Kate and her Daddy by the palm trees, after everyone took off their holiday sweaters.

Nice to meet you

Kate turned 6 months old this trip!

Kate got to meet so many new faces this trip too - and she got a chance to spend a little more time with those that she just met last time in Cleveland.
She got to visit with Anissa's cousins, the Valcos.




She met and spoke Spanish with Tim's aunt, Sussy.






She met Anissa's friend, Holly, too. Kate graciously posed for pictures and was so good-natured.









And she was fussed over by Tim's Great Aunt, Lou (who thinks she has the hands and fingers for piano).

Deja Vu

Back to Cleveland after only two weeks away. We had purchased these tickets back in September when Anissa was really homesick. The airlines made it very difficult for us to use these tickets for Anissa's Granny's funeral, so we used frequent flyer miles for that and kept these tickets as is.





Kate was glad to be back. She didn't have near enough time with all of her family. While visiting, she officially crawled with her Papa showing her the way on Wednesday November 15.



I wasn't above showing her how it was done, and moving each leg and arm until she got it (or fell on her face trying). She still isn't at all coordinated, but she understands that she has to move each appendage separately!











Kate also got to meet a few more family and friends. Our best man, Chuck, brought his son, Jack over to meet Kate. Jack just had stitches removed from his forehead from toddler mishaps, and (you guessed it), split his head open again while visiting us. Chuck's wife, Chris, says that this is enough, and that no more bleeding is allowed. We're hoping that we might dodge all of this drama with Kate (but realize that we probably won't).

Sit! Stay! Good Girl!

We are not training a puppy, but look at our little girl sit up all by herself! She'll fall over to one side or the other if she ends up tilted past about 45 degrees of vertical. She just seems to keep changing and growing every day now. She's close to crawling, but not there yet. I'll place her on the rug in the living room to start dinner, and when I check on her a minute later, she's moved a couple of feet. She'll look at me with all smiles, but won't tell me how she got there!

Peek-a-boo

It seems that Kate has picked up the concept of peek-a-boo this week. She'll grab an article in both hands and lift it over her head to cover her face. We have to try not to laugh at her when she does it even when she's dropped her blankie. Grandma Shirley calls it "picture in a frame" then. Such a cute girl!

Happy Birthday Mommy

Daddy you blockhead!

We let mommy sleep in for her birthday. Daddy and I played quietly downstairs until daddy found a new hat for me.


Later, we went out to dinner with Alison, Richard and Petra. Petra lent me her winter hat to take to Cleveland this week. We definitely don't need it here. It was 80+ degrees for Mommy's birthday.

Hi ho, hi ho!

Anissa and Kate went to visit Daddy at work today.

Daddy let Kate play at his desk, and was even allowed to "file" some reports (she ate them).

Baby, you can drive my car

OK, I'm kidding. We were "just snacking" behind the wheel. Don't worry - we weren't moving.

Halloween

Kate was a turtle for Halloween this year.

Hear that? A turtle, not a frog - it is NOT a FROG costume. Both green, yes, but this is a TURTLE (why does everyone think she's a frog??)

In the morning, Kate went to a Mommy and Me class at the hospital. We did a "babies on parade" through non-infectious wards of the hospital and brought many patients cheer.

Later, the plan was to dress her up for Trick-or-Treat to pass out candy....but she fell asleep.

Grandparents

Here is Kate with her Grandpa and Grandma.

Kate did finally learn how to do raspberries correctly. She did them right into her Grandpa's face. Good thing that he has a sense of humor.







Kate and her Papa.
















Kate with her Nana.