What happened to Thanksgiving?

So it seems that in all of the hectic activity that is Thanksgiving, neither Tim nor I took many photos. At least the camera didn't end up in the mashed potatoes! We had the cousins (and aunt and uncle) up for dinner and Petra and her folks too. Quite a nice gathering and everyone pitched in and brought WAY too much food! It was a great day.

We also made a trip to Disneyland the weekend before. It was nice to only go for the half day (free of course!). We took a train ride, played lots in ToonTown, rode on "It's a Small World", Autotopia, and generally had a great day.

...and then there were three

Anissa went to see her OB on Monday for a sinus infection. The OB offered to do an ultrasound to see what's new with the baby. There was no heartbeat.

It's been a very difficult week for everyone in the Pauer family. Due to the sinus infection, Anissa wasn't able to set an "end date" to the ordeal. After a very long day yesterday, it appears that everything is finally on its way back to normal.

Kate has been an absolute blessing and joy this week. It's almost as though she's decided to be extra-cute to help her parents out. She'll repeat almost any word that her parents ask her to and "apple" is "bapple" in Katie-speak.

Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts.

Halloween

Katie went out with her friends for the first time "Trick or Treating." She met up with her pals Maggie and Dylan and hit the neighborhood - 4 houses. Katie had a lot of fun. She also enjoyed giving the candy to the "older" kids who came to our house. She had a few M&M's and then ran around the house like a crazy pixie. So much fun!

Fire!

We're fine, but the fire did get quite close as you can see the heavy smoke in the pictures. We were on the Western edge of the "Buckweed Fire" that started in Canyon Country on Saturday. By Sunday they closed Anissa's school. We saw the smoke but didn't think there was any danger to us since it was several miles away. Well overnight the winds whipped it our way. We were up at 5am with Katie anyway when a kindly neighbor rang our doorbell to say she saw flames coming up over the hill about a mile or so away. We started packing. Anissa and Katie decided to stay in Long Beach for the day and left just before 8am. The city evacuated our entire development by 9:30am. Luckily the winds changed later in the day and blew the fire away from us. We stayed down in Long Beach Monday night to stay out of the smoke. By the time Anissa returned to the house on Tuesday everyone in the neighborhood was back and safe. Katie enjoyed her day with the cousins. Thanks to Deb, Matt, Olivia, Gaby, and Antonio for a very fun evacuation.

Big Sister

Yes Katie will be a big sister in June 2008. Anissa is pregnant and we couldn't be happier. Katie is mostly oblivious but she has started taking her dolls for a double stroller walk. And the news sometimes sinks in and she just has to hit the bottle.





She's hit quite a growth spurt recently and with the weather turning colder we've been shopping to keep up with her.

Eating!

Katie has 4 good teeth (2 up, 2 down) and is making fine use of them. She is done with "baby food" and eats yogurt, sweet potato slices, fish sticks, chicken nuggets, watermelon, grilled cheese sandwich, and the obligatory french fries. She really likes when she can feed herself and gets mommy and daddy to sing when she gets the "spoon in her mouth." She's not too messy and likes sitting in her booster chair with mom and dad. She tells us to "siiiiit, sssssiiiiiiiiiit, sssssssssssiiiiiiiiiiiit" and pats the chair next to her - very cute.

Green Acres

Farm living might not agree with Katie but she sure liked the pumpkin farm we went to out in Moorpark with her BFF Petra. Katie and Petra played on the toy tractors. Rode the train several times with lots of giggles and dizziness. They weren't too interested in picking out pumpkins, but a lot of fun was had by all. The pig races were amusing to the parents, but Katie and Petra were too busy chasing each other through the tunnels next door to notice.
Katie is still pondering her choices for Halloween costume, but she really likes Daddy's dark pullover. It makes her look like a miniature Darth Vader wearing red crocks. Petra wants Katie to be a pirate. Unfortunately Katie hates hats right now so it is hard to find a kid's costume without a hat,hood, etc.

Yeah Cousins!

The LBC (Long Beach cousins - and parents) came up for a very nice visit on Saturday. The heatwave has finally broken and we can go outside without feeling like we will burst into flames. Everyone hung out at the pool most of the afternoon. Olivia and Gaby are very good swimmers. And Antonio and Katie shared food and discussed how best to ask for treats. Katie can say Antonio. Actually she shouted it when he wasn't paying attention to her and she wanted him to follow her lead. She's a sponge for language and picks up new words every day. She babbles "thank you," if you give her what she wants. We don't want to know what she's saying when you don't give her what she wants.



Katie has also discovered how much fun it is to try on Mommy's clothes. I think she's experimenting with rock fashion. She likes a lot of belts. I guess the 80's really are coming back. Shoes are so much fun lately. Such a girl. She brings Daddy several pairs of shoes each morning to try on with her outfit before we leave for daycare. She loves going to Payless with Mommy - nirvana.

Babble babble giggles...

Katie is talking all the time now. We're not quite sure what she is saying all the time. Recently she says "diter" (diaper), up, down, apple, and bubbles. She really likes bubbles. We're hoping she's not OCD and just likes washing her hands in bubbles.

Katie has been pretty tired this week. Lots of play time with her buddy Tommy. And Petra visited with Alison and Richard this weekend. Katie and Petra were both really tired but didn't want to nap. Their parents would have gladly taken a nap - the heat is exhausting them.

Katie's top two top teeth are fully in and the bottom teeth have broken through. She's really chomping a lot - especially Daddy's shoulder. She's been walking around the house babbling and talking to herself and then giggling when we catch her. She picks up her play phone and says, "bee boo doo dee daa..." as she dials nana or grandma.

With the heat, Katie has been really fond of "naked time." She likes splashing around in her pools in the backyard and then runs around inside the house without her diaper. So far Mommy and Daddy have been lucky with no "accidents."

The End of Summer

Yep, it's here already. Anissa goes back to work this week. So we've spent these last few weeks visiting friends and family, going to the beach, running errands, and just generally hanging around.

Katie's second tooth has broken through but more are on the way. We still feel the lower two trying to make an appearance. She hasn't let the pain slow her down though. Mommy taught her to do somersaults and she loves flipping over on the couch, the lawn, anywhere.

The beach has been good for Kate and her parents this Summer. Kate loves sand and chasing the waves as they crash over her toes.

Her vocabulary has really started to expand as well. She says, "Sit, open, down, 'Blues Clues" and the ever popular "No." Kate likes her new table and chairs. She sits and eats, draws, plays, and sometimes falls off the chair. She has of course learned to push it over to the kitchen island so she can stand on the table and reach the kitchen counter tops.

Daddy tried to teach Katie the value of money in today's economy, but Kate likes sorting the money more. Now if we can teach her to put the coins into a roll, she would have a valuable skill. Kate did learn "Heads or Tails." She likes throwing them more than checking which side landed face up, but it's progress.

Hot

Katie's new word is "hot." She's learning not to go near the BBQ grill or the stove. It's hot. But the other day we were driving down to Alison and Richard's house to visit Petra in daddy's car - which doesn't have tinted windows. Katie fell asleep for about 40 minutes and woke up quite verbally.

Daddy: Was that a good nap Katie?

Katie: Hot!

Daddy: Too sunny back there?

Katie: Hot! Hot!!

Daddy: We're almost there and then you can get out.

Katie: Hot! Hot! Hot!!!!!

I think she's catching on that we live in a desert and are very pale people. Luckily, all we have to do is drive to the beach where it is 20 degrees cooler. Aaah cooler by the ocean.

Where's your nose?

Kate's been learning her body parts. She can point to her nose, mouth, eyes, belly button, head, feet, toes, and sometimes her ears (though she easily confuses ears and eyes). Here she is pointing to her eyes - ouch!

Added to her word list this week has been "mah-w mah-w" (meow meow) - the sound that a kitty cat makes. She loves helping out in the kitchen - taking things out and putting things away. She's able to bring her mom things from around the house more and more, when asked.

She even gives the cutest little kisses (no open mouth kissing anymore!)




The weather has gotten really hot again around here. We took a long drive last weekend to Ventura, where Kate enjoyed stomping and touching the sand. When we left the house, the temp read 99 degrees. By the time we reached the beach, it was 72 degrees, so taking a drive to the beach really does help us to cool off. We also found some playgrounds for Kate to climb and we did a little of window shopping.





And for those of you who have insisted on pictures of Kate's first tooth (her top left), here it is. The only time we can get a good look at it is when we turn her upside down and tickle her - so...

Communication

Kate's been talking up a storm. Not talking as in stringing nouns and verbs together into a sentence talking, but finding new ways to get her message across.

She can carry an entire monologue in grunts.

She points up into the sky and grunts whenever an airplane flies overhead.
She squatted down in the backyard, did the sign for "toilet" and piddled on the lawn.
She says "gen" when she wants something opened ("pen").
She says "goo gooo" when she want to watch Blue's Clues on TV.
I swear that I heard her say what sounded like "Whatcha doin' Mommy?" when she opened the door to where I was.
She said "cool!" when she caused a toy to zoom by her.
She comes to have her diaper changed about half of the time when I ask her.
She will fetch an object for us if she knows what it is and can see it.

It's hot (and I'm not wearing pants)

Temperatures have been soaring here in Southern California. Most days are in the upper 90's and low 100's. Evenings haven't been cooling off much either. It's too hot to go to the park with Kate, and the car gets sooo hot from standing that we're not running many errands during the day either.

We've set up a baby pool in our backyard for Kate to splash around in - which is good, since she still doesn't like her baths. The nice thing about having a pool in the backyard -- playing without clothes on!

Good Times

Tim had his 20th high school reunion last weekend, so the family traveled once again to the great Midwest (Cleveland, Ohio) to visit family and friends. The weather was the usual Cleveland summer fare - cold and rainy to hot and muggy. You can always count on a little of everything (so glad it didn't snow).

The reunion was under-attended, but it was nice to get some time to visit with Chuck, Chris, Jack, Dave, Kassi, Tina and Rick.

We also got in some quality family time with the folks too! Katie learned how to play an upright piano at Nana's house, played at the playground with cousins Isa, Jandro, and Bito (and Sussy), chased the cat and dog at Grandma and Grandpa's, visited with Abby, Zach, Kayla and Kam (we missed you Kent!), reduced herself to giggles with Aunt Teresa, and had a picnic with the Godparents, Valcos, and Aunt Kathe.




Godfather Mike taught Kate how to toast by "clinking glasses" - so what if she had to use her sippy cup to play along:

More walking

Kate is walking, walking, walking. She is so proud of herself. She's walking so much that it's wearing her out (yeah!). Two hour naps, twice a day have been going on, so everyone is happy around here right now. Her cutest thing right now is walking around with some article of clothing (her PJs being the favorite), and playing peekaboo while she walks. The PJs are so long, that she's tripping on them, but she won't give them up for smaller articles either.

Also new on the development front: nodding her head yes, using a spoon to (try) to feed herself - she gets the spoon into her mouth (and a song sung to her when she does), but not much food makes it in this way, and she's getting adventurous on TOUCHING mushy food (but still doesn't want to eat it yet).

Best of all is the giggles with her mom. Mom knows just where to tickle her that produces such giggles that it makes everyone laugh.

Baby no more

I can't believe how much she's changed since she started walking. I looked at her yesterday, and she no longer looked like a baby, more like a toddler. She's walking (or trying to) more often than crawling now. She still holds her arms in front of her like Frankenstein - so cute.

She's started saying a lot of new words too, though we usually have to guess at what she's trying to say. She usually says the first sound of the word, so "shoe" is "sh" (often while pointing to her toes) , "sticker" is "ss" (while pointing to the place where we hide them), "water" is "ww", and "car" is "ca".

We had a nice weekend. On Saturday, we went to a BBQ at a neighbor's house (yummy). On Sunday, Richard invited us to a house (more like a mansion) in the Hollywood Hills that was being "house-sat" by his brother for several weeks. Katie loved the pool, and Petra, and meeting Richard's mom, Kate too! On Monday, we hung out around the house and pool, and let Kate catch up on some much needed napping.

Nope, no teeth yet. Stay tuned.

Walking

First she took a couple of steps on Friday for Anissa. She took a couple more on Saturday for Petra. But on Sunday, she went from a couple of steps to running full tilt across the kitchen from Anissa to Tim and back again. It was like when you learn how to ride a bike for the first time and want to go fast so that you won't fall. She still looks like a little drunkard stumbling everywhere - so cute!

Here she is on Sunday before the running began:

Feisty

Kate is just moving all over the place this week. I couldn't figure out why she was so interested in her activity table, that she's ignored for months. First I thought that she wanted me to turn the top of the table over. Nope. She wanted the top of the table removed, so she could sit inside!

Katie still has Gymboree love - boy, does she love that scary clown! Here she is with a bubble on her head!

Mother's Day

We spent a quiet day at home. Anissa got to sleep in really late, and Kate worked on her bedhead hairdo!

Later, we all decided to go for a drive to the beach. We forgot how much colder the beach was, and after only a couple of minutes at the beach, we realized that we should have packed warmer clothes. It was a nice day out though!