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.