The Christmas Tree Farm

Yesterday we went to get our Christmas tree. This is the first year since Kate has been born that we've been able to afford a tree, so Brett and I were really excited. Brett found a Christmas tree "farm" online. Really, this should have been called a Christmas tree forest because the ground was not flat at all. You basically were handed a saw and went out into the forest canyon to cut down your tree. This was some really fun terrain to traverse as a largely pregnant person. Also, Kate declared she was scared of the tree stumps and so I was holding her on my hip at least half the time. Looking back I'm not sure how I did it, but it was actually really fun!

Getting ready to venture into the forest

Look at that smile! I don't think she was really that scared, I think she just wanted to be held :)

Cutting down our tree!

Kate's "say cheese" face

Our tree

Enjoying a drink of water before we head home

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving might be my favorite holiday. I love getting together with family and enjoying wonderful food (though I can't stand turkey). I was a bit bummed that we had to stay home this year. Being 38 weeks pregnant, I wasn't cleared to travel more than an hour away. But Brett's mom came to celebrate with us. Kate was sooooooo excited to have Grandma and Kira (her dog) here. And even though we didn't have all the fun chaos that comes with lots of family, it was a wonderful, relaxing day that reminded me how many things I have to be grateful for (including a husband that wouldn't let me help with dinner and a little girl whose smile is probably the best thing ever).

Martinelli's sparkling apple cider. Yum.

Our little feast

Big Girl Bed

Kate now sleeps in a big girl bed! I feel like moving her out of her crib was letting go of the last sign of her babyhood. I thought since she was so attached to her crib this might be a hard transition for her. Wrong. She already seems perfectly comfortable in her bed and has proclaimed that the crib is now for Annabel to sleep in. I just hope she isn't disappointed to learn the baby won't be sleeping in it right away!

I hyped up the idea of her new bed for weeks, so she was very excited. Then we started out by just putting a thin mattress from Ikea on the floor for her. The first night she probably left her room about 50 times and it was 10:30pm before she went to bed. But there were minimal tears involved and she slept straight through the night! It only took her a few days to really adjust and now she hardly ever gets out of bed anymore (although sometimes I find she sneaks books into bed with her during nap time). After a week or two on the floor we moved the mattress onto the bed frame. We stuck some rolled up towels under the sheets to try to keep her from falling off the bed in the night. So far she has fallen off once--and that was when she was awake. So I think we will try removing the towels soon. She has done so well with the transition. I love listening to her on the monitor talking to her stuffed animals or reading books to herself before she falls asleep or right when she wakes up. And while she still is a major procrastinator when it comes to bedtime, I have found that since we put her in her big girl bed there are generally less tears and tantrums during the whole process. She does seem to be waking up more at night then in her crib, but she was sick a week or two ago and I'm blaming it on that. I haven't really worried too much about the night waking since her sister will be joining us any day now and I'm guessing that will take some adjusting before she learns to sleep through the new baby's sounds (Annabel will be in our room at first, but it is right next to Kate's because our house is tiny). Overall I'm super happy with the transition-and it seems like Kate is too.

Twinkle Twinkle

Kate has never really been into singing. From the time she could say "all done" she would insist that I not sing to her most of the time. She never really liked to dance to music. But she has recently had a change of heart and has started singing songs. The first song she ever sang was the ABCs--she just started singing it one day with zero prompting from me. She has since moved on to many others and likes to be sung to a bit more than she used to (although she will still censor me fairly frequently). Here is a video of her singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star".

Halloween

So I should probably write a little about Halloween. It was really fun because it was the first time Kate understood the concept (at least a little). She decided she wanted to be a cat (although at first she wanted to be a cow, then a sheep. I think I actually suggested a cat because there are about zero cute sheep costumes available). Brett and I dressed up as Ron and Hermione, so we affectionately referred to Kate as Baby McGonagall. On the actual day of Halloween we stayed inside; Brett was working late and I was not about to venture out trick-or-treating with her on my own.  But we took her to the ward Halloween party for her first trunk-or-treat and she had a great time. She even got the hang of saying "Trick or Treat" and I think managed an occasional "Thank you". She was very excited to come home with a bag of "special treats"--what she calls any kind of treat or candy. Of course, I forgot to take any pictures of her in her costume until after we got home. So these pictures are of a kid who is already up past her bedtime, won't sit still to have her picture taken, and whose costume and makeup have undergone several hours of wear. And she is still adorable.

Unfortunately, Deacon ate pretty much all of her Halloween candy a day or two later when we accidentally left the bag on the floor. Kate was very forgiving, which was good, because Brett and I were planning on eating most of it anyway!

Conversations with Kate: What's That?

"What's that?" is the question of the week. She has been asking this about everything, even when she knows what things are. Sometimes she wants you to answer her question, and sometimes she will answer the question herself. So last night I go into Kate's room to check on her because she isn't going to sleep. She tells me she needs her diaper changed. So I lay her down on the floor. Keep in mind that I haven't turned the light on, so it is dark. Kate hands me something and asks, "What's that?" I take it from her without even thinking about it. I don't know what it is, probably something she found on the floor. So I say, "I don't know." Kate gleefully replies with, "It's a booger!"

Yup, it is indeed a booger.

Hot Chocolate

Fall is here! Kate recently got to experience hot chocolate for the first time. I think she likes it :)

The Pumpkin Patch

No, we didn't go to the pumpkin patch in November. We went before Halloween. By now we already know that I am not proficient at writing posts as they happen. But I still want to record all the fun adventures of our little family.

Kate loved the pumpkin patch--she talked about it for weeks afterward. It was the first time since Brett and I have been married that we picked out pumpkins and carved them, so it was equally as fun for the two of us.

First we went on a little train that circled the pumpkin patch. We tried taking pictures of Kate on the train, but she was just way more interested in looking around at everything that was happening.

Kate kept on going up to various pumpkins and trying to pick them up. Then she would declare that they were "too heavy". 

It was exciting once we found some that were more her size!

We kept on trying to get Kate to pose for various cute pictures. She had about zero interest in looking at the camera.

Once Brett and I found some we liked Kate helped push the wheelbarrow around.

She loved watching the bees on the flowers.

And at the very end of our trip Kate got to pick out her very own little pumpkin. In truth she had picked out many pumpkins during our wanderings around the patch, but this was the one she got to take home.

It was the perfect fall outing for our little family.

Mommy and Me

Do you know how hard and frustrating it is to be a mom and have almost no good pictures of you with your kid? Yeah, I spend almost all day everyday with Kate, but when she looks back at the photos she might never know it. One day I was taking pictures of her and she decided she needed to sit in my lap, so we tried to take some together. We learned that clearly I need some help in the photography department. But at least we have some pictures to prove that we actually hang out together!

I originally started taking pictures because I thought she looked adorable in this dress

Classic finger up the nose pose

Terrible lighting, but I just love that smile

Together

Yup, mom rocks at this

Love this girl

Birthday Videos

And here is the birthday fun we were able to catch on video:

Happy Birthday 2 You!

My baby is now 2. And yes, I am writing this birthday post over a month after she had her birthday. I could make up lots of excuses for why that is--but I'll skip that. Here's what I was thinking about on and around her birthday:

I was thinking about the actual word: birthday. The day she was born. The day I gave birth to her. I was remembering that day, and reliving all of its sweetness in my mind. It was the day she grew our family. I could not have imagined how much joy she would bring to us. Her smile and laughter light up my life every single day. Sometimes I just look at her and kiss her and think about how beautiful she is. Everything about her little self is so amazing. I love watching her grow and learn. I love how I grow and learn when I am with her. Two years ago, I could never have perceived how I would be able to love someone as much as I love her.

Ok, now that I have released a small fraction of my mom emotions, I can write about her actual birthday. Like her previous birthday, it was a nice relaxing day. We opted to skip a party and just celebrate as a family.

 

We spent a good deal of the morning playing with Play-Doh. It is her favorite "toy". Sometimes she even asks to kiss the Play-Doh goodnight before she goes to bed.

Play-Doh was literally the only activity I had planned. Other than that I just let her take the lead and did pretty much whatever she wanted (including eating cinnamon toast crunch). Then when Daddy came home we had dinner, cake, and presents.

 

I am so grateful for the past two years I've spent getting to know this amazing little girl.

Conversations with Kate: Phone Call to my Belly

Kate: (Picks up my phone.) "Call Daddy!"
Me: "We can't call Daddy right now, he's at work. We can call someone else. Who do you want to call?"
Kate: "Annabel."

Annabel is the name we chose for her baby sister. Yup, my heart just melted.

Conversations with Kate: Sad Girl

I decided I need to start recording some of the hilarious things this girl says. It happens quite frequently, and I hate forgetting them. So I hope to start doing this more regularly.

Bedtimes have been rough recently, mostly because Kate tells me she just has to go potty, conveniently as soon as I put her in bed. Even if we literally just got off the potty. Of course, eventually she has to go to bed. And then the tears come. I have tried various tactics to avoid the whole crying thing. Here was what I said the other night:

Me: "Ok, Mommy is going bye-bye now. I want you to be a happy girl."
Kate: (In a very dejected voice) "All done happy girl."

Well, at least she's honest.

Our "staycation"

Note: I found this post lurking around in the "drafts" section of Kate's blog. Apparently I forgot to publish it after I wrote it. So it is actually from mid to late July. Oh well, here it is!

So Brett has had (most) of this week off of work. Tuesday was his first full day off and we were supposed to go to my midwife appointment, but my midwife had someone in labor and so she canceled last minute. But I was already wearing makeup before 10am - I was not about to waste all the effort it took me to stand in front of my mirror for five minutes. We decided we would take Kate and Deacon on a little "walk" to get out of the house. A walk turned into a 3.5 mile hike. But hey, at least I was wearing makeup for the excursion! It was a fun start to the week.

The next day we went to Santa Cruz to go on another hike around the cliffs of the ocean. It was so breezy and beautiful. Kate fell asleep in her stroller for maybe the second time in her life.

Today we meant to go to the Gilroy Garlic Festival. However at about midnight last night Brett and I did some research and discovered that the festival includes a lot of dirt, heat, long lines, crowds, and traffic. I don't like dirt and heat. Brett can't stand long lines or big crowds. Kate prefers exploring to being strapped into a stroller. And nobody likes traffic. So we decided this was probably not a good fit for our family and instead took Kate to Happy Hollow Zoo. So fun! Kate loved seeing all the animals, getting to run around, and going on her first "rides". I'm glad we decided to stay local today.

And tomorrow we are off to El Dorado Hills to visit family there and to let Kate hang out with her cousins Gemma and Marek before they move to Texas. Kate is very excited about this and keeps on saying, "See Kira! See Kira!". Kira is Grandma's dog. I think she might be Kate's favorite relative (just don't tell Grandma that).

Another note: These first three pictures of Kate on the boat are from around July 4th, not during our "staycation". But I think they are cute :)

Hanging out with cousin Emma

Chilling on the wake surfboard

Hiking along the coast in Santa Cruz

Some seals we saw on our hike - Kate liked watching them play in the water

At Happy Hollow Zoo

Feeding the goats

Going on her first ride. After it was over she was yelling "again!"

23 Months

Next month this little girl turns two. I can't believe it. She really is becoming such a little girl. It baffles me. So here are some things I want to remember about this awesome stage in her life.

• Favorite song is "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man," or as Kate calls it, "Rock!"
• Loves to read books. Any of the Carl (the Rottweiler) books are a big hit.
• Can spot a "special treat" from a mile away. And by a mile away I mean whenever I try to sneak one into my mouth. 
• Favorite foods are fruit (especially bananas and peaches) and cereal. Pasta is another big hit.
• Favorite game is "Little Piggies". I need to get the way she says "Roast beef" on video. It's the cutest thing ever.
• Some of my favorite phrases she uses are:
• "Meesa peas" ("Excuse me please"). This is said as a command rather than as a polite request. 
• "Booboy Dee" ("Good boy, Deacon"). 
• "Mama". She just started using this the other day. Usually she calls me "Mom". However, the way she says Mama is just so sweet, and she seems to reserve it for when she is calling out for me, as opposed to when she is just talking about me. 
• "Do it again!" She said this for the first time while swimming in the lake with her uncle Kayle. He was doing something she found funny. It was also the first grammatically correct sentence she said.
•  Likes to "mess around". This is the general term I use for when she is procrastinating nap or bedtime. She quickly caught onto this phrase and now says "mess around" with an impish smile like it's one of the most fun things ever. I guess it probably is.
• Has a rapidly expanding vocabulary and sense of language. She has recently been using so many words I didn't even think she knew. This girl likes to talk. About everything.
• Will put her hand on my belly and smile, waiting for baby sister to kick her. 
• Can count to three. 
• Loves to be outside - walking, running, riding in her stroller, or even just to let Deacon out to go potty.
• The only thing she loves more than being outside is going on the boat. I don't think a day has gone by recently when I haven't heard about the boat. 
• Loves to swim, but sometimes has to be convinced to actually get in the water. 
• Loves wearing panties. This means we have just started letting her wear them out of the house. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
• Adores her family. And not just the people who live in this house. She talks everyday about at least one family member (though usually several). I hear lots about her G.G., Grandma, and various aunts, uncles, and cousins. 
• Went on her first camping trip on a floating campsite at Lake Oroville. 2 days, 1 night. Pure fun for Kate. It combined the things she loves the most (boating, swimming, and family) all into one. She was in heaven.  All she has been talking about since then is "Mary, Emma, Boat!!!".

On the boat at Lake Oroville, smiling at her cousin Mary

Panties!

We have officially embarked on the journey of potty training. In truth Kate has seemed ready for this for a while, but seeing as I was in my first trimester at the time I wasn't really up for it. Once second trimester hit and I began to regain some energy, I decided I really needed to stop putting it off and just give it a go. The thing is that when you are wiping baby bums (well, toddler bums) all you can think about is how much more convenient it would be to just have them use the toilet. But when it comes down to actually doing it, you realize that diapers are probably the most convenient thing ever. But I decided to just give it a shot. Since Kate is still on the younger side, I figured that if things didn't work out we'd just try again later, no harm done.

And a part of me wanted her to not be ready. Yep, I became the parent who wants to keep their baby small forever. It's just that diapers are one of the last signs of being a baby, and even if Kate was ready to start giving them up, I wasn't. But one morning we just ditched them and put on panties. It was a long day. We spent hours on the potty. It was exhausting. There were tears and tantrums involved. The next day was better. The third day she had zero accidents. WHAT?? Same with day four and five. Day six I started giving her a bit more freedom and trying to encourage her to tell me when she had to go (instead of sitting on the potty practically all day long). So we went back to having a few accidents. But you know what? She was doing phenomenal. She caught on to the concept so quickly. And the part of me that wanted to keep her a baby just died a little inside. Oh well, I guess this is really only the first step. I'm sure there will be many more of these moments on my parenting journey, probably of far greater significance than learning to use the toilet. But still, it's hard to watch your baby grow up.

It's probably been a little over two weeks since we started this potty training thing. Yesterday Brett and I were hanging around the house and noticed that Kate (who had run out of sight) was being unusually quiet. So I went to investigate. I found her sitting on her little froggy potty going poop all by herself. I was amazed! Later that day she came running out of the bathroom naked yelling, "pee!". As I rushed in to get her on the potty, I realized she had already gone. She wasn't telling me she needed to go, she was announcing she already had! And while she still wears diapers when she sleeps and while out of the house, she has started keeping her diapers dry during outings. I'm a bit terrified to put her in panties when we go out of the house. Cleaning up pee on my own floor is no big deal. In my car or out in public seems unfathomable to me. Maybe I just need to get over it? I guess we'll just see what happens. But we are well on our way to having a potty trained little girl.

Did I just say little girl? Oops. I mean, she will be Baby Kate forever, right?

Oh, and by the way. She looks absolutely adorable in panties. So much so that even though I think it would be safe to put some shorts on her in the house now, I just haven't bothered because watching her run around in panties is so cute!

Just reading a magazine on the potty

Milestones - The First Owie

Ok, so Kate has been hurt before. There has even been blood involved. But what happened today was different.

We were taking Deacon out and Kate was wearing flip flops (her favorite, if not her most practical pair of shoes). She was running all around and I kept telling her to slow down because I could just foresee her tripping and eating it on the cement. On the way back to the house she finally decided to slow down - and just after that she tripped and skinned her knee. This obviously isn't the first time she's fallen down and scraped her knee, but this time there was actually blood involved and a band-aid was actually a necessary thing. Normally my gut response when Kate gets hurt is to cry. I can usually contain myself, but whenever she gets hurt my mom emotions go all crazy and I am more shaken up than she is.

Not this time. This time, I was excited.

Yep, my child was crying and in pain and I was happy. Because this was the first owie that I got to "fix". Normally my only role is to give a hug, and then move on with life. But this required first aid skills. Cleaning and ointment and band-aids. And for some reason after watching her sit on the toilet while I cleaned and bandaged her I just felt like a mom. She sat so still and did such a good job.

Suffice it to say we are both big girls now.

Santa Cruz

Yesterday we took a spontaneous trip to Santa Cruz because we felt it had been too long since we had seen the ocean. Brett and I both love the ocean and just feel that it's something we have to go visit every once in a while. It turns out Kate loves the ocean, too. She kept running toward the water and trying to escape from our grasp to go play in the waves. She was completely fearless. The water was freezing, but this didn't deter her in the slightest. There was a bit of a tantrum when we had to pull her away from the beach. This seems to be a trend whenever we have to take her away from water. The girl just loves water. I guess seeing as she is my daughter, this should not come as a surprise.

See? She is looking at the ocean instead of the camera.

A sea shell

Looking at a little crab Daddy caught

Here's a little video of the adventure: