Kate is a year old!!!

Kate had her first birthday the day before Easter.  I would love to say that she enjoyed opening her presents and eating her cake, but neither of those would be true.  Since it was such a beautiful day we opened her presents and ate cake in the sunroom.  Kate stood by the door the entire time hoping that she would be able to go outside again.  Ella did enjoy opening all of Kate's gifts and oohh-ing and ahhh-ing about all of them.  Kate didn't mind at all.  And we thought for sure that Kate would LOVE her cake because she WAS willing to try nearly anything and liked a variety of food.  Nope.  She put her hand in the icing and couldn't figure out how to get it off.  She did put one finger in her mouth, but apparently didn't enjoy it.  I put a piece of cake in her mouth and she spit it out.  That was it.  Not a fan.  Oh well.

She is now an active walker.  She has been walking with assistance for quite some time, but liked the security of having a hand to help her.  Now she is walking all the time and enjoying her freedom.

We went to her 1 year doctor appointment last Monday.  She had to get 3 shots and I had both girls with me.  They both cried - Ella may have cried harder.  This is the first time that Kate cried when getting her shots.  Kate weighed in at 19 lb 2 oz (15%) and 29.5 inches (60%).

This is Ella at swimming lessons - it turned out dark.  She loves to swim.

Enjoying the nice weather - Aunt Annie took them into the fountain to get soaked!

St. Patrick's Day

We celebrated St. Patty's Day in Ireland (Indiana, that is) this year.  They had a big celebration and I think that they had a great turnout for every event!  Here are some pictures from the weekend...

Kate's 9 Month Pictures and Ella too

Kate had her 9 month pictures taken the beginning of January.  While our photographer does a really good job, sometimes it's just out of her (and our) control.  Kate is quite the bruiser.  Of course a couple of days before we had her pictures taken she came home with a carpet burn and bruise on her head.  A little boy had hit her in the head with a toy and she also decided to scoot her head across the carpet at the babysitter.  So as if that wasn't bad enough, on our way to the appointment she scratched her face with her fingernail.  And it's January so her little cheeks are chapped.  The pictures were definitely not Kate at her best, but they will definitely be memorable.  She nearly always has bumps and bruises on her head because she really wants to walk and she is a climber.  Always trying to pull herself up on something that just isn't sturdy enough.  Here are a couple of the pictures.  I made most of them black and white so you can't see just how rough she looks.  Mom and Ann saw the originals and I think that they were concerned that the authorities were going to take her from me!!!  Hopefully the 1 year will be better - we are hoping that she will be walking and that we will be able to be outside!

Ella had some pictures taken while we were there too - she always requests to have her picture taken.  Thank goodness the photographer always plays along...

Ella is taking swimming lessons again this year and she is doing great.  There are four kids in her session and she is the youngest in the class.  It's apparent that the younger kids are started on things, the more comfortable they are with them.  The other kids are much more hesitant to try things, but Ella is always jumping at the chance.  She loves her teacher and can't wait to get there every week.  Hopefully next year we will be able to have Kate join in on the fun!

Pete and I had the opportunity to go out of town for a work event.  I was not looking forward to it and decided at the very last moment that we were going to go.  (We had a BLAST!!!  Did not expect to have so much fun at an Awards Ceremony with my boss and his wife!!!)  Anyway, Aunt Annie & Uncle Zac stayed with Ella & Kate for the evening.  I told Ella that I was going to miss her and Kate.  I asked her if she was going to miss me - she thought about it and said, maybe just a little bit.  And I don't think that she missed me much more than that.  Atleast we can leave them for an evening and know that they will be fine.  Kate may have missed me more than Ella.  She kept Ann up from 1:30 to 4 or so...sorry Annie!

Kate is trying so hard to walk - all she wants to do is hold onto our fingers and walk around the house.  She generally goes straight for the stairs because she has figured out how to climb them.  She also really loves to play.  And she is getting really jealous.  As soon as Ella gets on my lap you can bet that Kate will be crawling over to be held too.  She's also shaking her head no all the time - no matter what you ask her, she will always say no.  It's really cute!

Ella picks up on way too many things that we say.  Yesterday Pete told me that he was nervous about something.  Ella was at the table eating a snack.  She turns to me and says, "Mommy, I think that Daddy is just freakin' out".  I told her that I think that she is right.  And she woke up on Monday early morning crying.  I went to see what was wrong and she told me that she had a bad dream.  She said that she and Tiffany (her friend) were having a race and her racecar got stuck in the mud and Tiffany won.  She couldn't get her racecar out.  She was happy for Tiffany though.  Oh I wish those were my bad dreams!

Spring is right around the corner...can't wait!

February Random Thoughts

It's cold outside and we are all ready for spring!  Ella is enjoying the snow though and somehow doesn't get cold no matter how long she plays outside.  Pete never has a chance to shovel the driveway by himself.  Ella always gets her shovel and helps.  They built a snowman last week.  She even named him Asha.  Pete and Ella have been sledding a couple of times.  Last year she would not even think about getting on the sled, but this year she loves it!  Last weekend my family came out and Mom, Jonathan, Angie, Jaxon & Averie went sledding with them too.  Kate gets to stay inside in the warm house with Mommy.  Maybe next year she will be able to venture out too!

Ella surprises us all the time with new words and phrases that she has learned.  She was in bed on Wednesday night and she couldn't sleep.  I went up to talk to her and she told me, "Mommy, the troof (truth) is I'm not that tired".  I let her get up for a while and same thing later, "Mommy, the troof is that I'm actually not a very good sleeper."  Oh but she is a good sleeper - she just had a nap that day and she is outgrowing the naps.  If she doesn't have one she is a mess by bedtime, but if she does take one she just isn't tired by bedtime.  We attended Uncle Zac's 30th birthday party last Saturday night and she stayed up until MIDNIGHT!!!!  That was a first - but she did have a 2.5 hour nap that afternoon.  Ted, Christy, Kelsey & Kaiser stayed at our house too so we were all at the party that long (Kate was sleeping) - Kelsey slept in Ella's bed with her which she thought was great.

Kate is on the move.  She crawls so fast and pulls up on anything and everything.  She is constantly getting new bruises - of course usually on her head.  She can stand by herself and loves to walk if someone holds her hands.  Pete called her Happy Feet because she kind of walks like him if she gets excited.  And Kate is a grunter/yeller to get some attention.  At church she picks out one person and tries to get their attention.  She yells, grunts, "talks" until they look at her.  She LOVES church!  She is always smiling and talking to everyone there.  I think that she knows that no one there tries to hold her but people she knows so she loves to make new friends.

Kate and Ella both had double ear infections this week.  Kate had a really bad cold and Ella had a stuffy nose.  I took Kate to the doctor to check her out and Ella had mentioned that her ear hurt so he checked her out too.  Sure enough, both of them had infections.  Neither seemed too bothered by them - again, I can't wait until spring!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kate's 9 Month Development

It's hard to believe that our little Kate is already 9 months old!  She is crawling everywhere.  She has been "mobile" since the beginning of December, but now she is officially crawling.  She started army crawling, then went to an interesting move of being on her hands, one knee, and keeping the other leg straight out to the side to push herself along.  It was really funny to watch.  Now she is crawling on hands and knees and moving quickly.  She LOVES to eat - anything really!  She does not like to drink her bottle - never has and apparently never will.  Some days we are lucky to get her to drink 3 ounces at a time.  She is sleeping through the night for the most part.  She is very strong willed and has a temper.  I thought that she would be my laid back daughter since the Ella is strong willed.  But if things progress like they have been, she may be more stubborn than her big sister!  We are in trouble.  She has 4 teeth now - the two top front teeth popped through within the last week.  She loves to play with Ella and gets stiff with excitement when she sees her.  At her doctor's appointment she was 17lb 3oz (25%) and 29 in (90%).  Growing like a weed.  Both girls will be taller than me by age 6 if we keep up at this pace!

How We Spend Our Days...

Just some random pictures of playing at home, playing in the snow, and just enjoying some time at home...I love these days!  Don't mind the mess...we'll have time to clean when they are in college, right?

Christmas 2009

Our Christmas celebrations started on December 20th with Ella's Christmas Program at Sunday School.  I knew that she wouldn't sing (she told me that she wouldn't)  Stubborn little lady.  She was cute - the pictures are kind of dark so you might not be able to see her.  They were all wearing "crowns" and she had hers on upside down.  She ended up getting a little sad at the end - not sure why - just wanted her Mommy. 

That same day was actually my Grandma's Christmas celebration, but we had to miss it because of the program and it's a 5 + hour trip that we didn't want to make 2 times in one week!

On December 22nd Santa came ot our house.  Santa knew that we would not be home for Christmas so he came on Monday night since we would be leaving for Grammy & Grampy's house on Wednesday morning.  This was the first year that Ella really understood what was going on - it was fun to see her get so excited.  And from some of the pictures you can tell that it didn't matter what she was opening, she was thrilled!

We spend Christmas Eve at my parents and then my Grandma's house.  And Christmas Day we go to Aunt Cheryl's just to hang out and eat and talk.  And this year on the 26th we were able to get together with some of my high school friends.  Of course I didn't bring my camera!  I haven't seen some of them in years - it was great to catch up with everyone.

This year Ann, Zac, Pete & I decided that we were going to wear Ugly Sweaters to Mom & Dad's for Christmas.  Zac came out first with his on.  Ann & I were cracking up.  Mom couldn't figure out why we were laughing.  She didn't think that it looked out of the ordinary for Zac's wardrobe!  Hilarious!  She said that if Ann & I would have had ours on that she would have realized something was up.

Grammy & Grampy came out to go to the Zoo Lights with Ella on New Year's Eve.  Then they volunteered to watch the girls so we could go out.  We decided to go out for dinner and drinks.  We were home by 10:00 and then played cards until 2010!

Grandma & Grandpa celebrated the Saturday after New Year's which is nice not to be so rushed during the week of Christmas.