Friday, April 29, 2011

A girl's best friend

Kate's favorite new activity? Harassing Deacon. The truth is she has enjoyed this for a while, but now that she has figured out the whole mobility thing she has become much more adept at it.

This is how they started out...

About 2 seconds later they were like this

Deacon is a pretty good sport

My two babies...plus a diaper pail, what a lovely shot

Best Friends

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Small and Simple (and Cheap!) Things

When I was at Target a while ago I saw some stacking cups in the bath toy section and bought them for Kate since they were only a dollar. Recently they have become her favorite toy. I just love how amused she is by small and simple things. She has the best sense of humor, and it's moments like this that bring a lot of unexpected joy into my day.  





Sunday, April 24, 2011

Easter Fun

Kate's first Easter! We celebrated at home, it was actually our first holiday since Brett and I have been married that we haven't been with extended family. We went to church midday and then had an easy dinner of rotisserie chicken (from Costco), green bean casserole, and deviled eggs. I was going to make my amazing french silk pie but I forgot to get the ingredients for pie crust yesterday, so we'll have pie later this week. All in all a wonderful and joyous day!
 








How You Got Your Name

Kate,

Today seems an appropriate day to tell you how you got your name. I knew what I was going to name you long before you were ever born. It had been my dream for a long time to have a little girl and name her Katherine. We found out on an ultrasound that you were a girl about halfway through my pregnancy, but I knew before that. I knew you were the little girl I had dreamed of and I knew your name was Katherine.

Katherine is the name of your grandmother, my mom. She died before you were born, when I was a teenager. She was a very special woman. She loved little babies and devoted much of her life to helping them. She was so silly, just like you are. Sometimes when you smile at things I can see a little bit of her face shining through yours. She was the most important person in my life, and I named you after her because I wanted to honor her, and because I wanted you to have a special connection with your grandmother, even though you won't be able to know her on this Earth.

When I think about it, I feel sad that you won't get to know your grandmother. I know she would have loved to be there when you were born. I know she is sad that she isn't here to see you grow and to play with you and give you hugs and kisses. I know that she would have wanted to do that so badly.

That is why I am telling you about this on Easter. Because whenever I feel sad that your grandmother is no longer on this Earth, I think about our savior, Jesus Christ. I think about the words the angel said to Mary: "He is risen". When Jesus Christ lived on the Earth he did something very important: He laid down his life for the sins of the world. But in order to complete the atonement he had to do something else. He took his life up again. He was resurrected.

He lives.

This part is the most important. Because Jesus Christ was resurrected, so will we all be resurrected. Because of Easter, your grandmother will get to live again. She will get to hug you and kiss you and do all those things she can't do now. And so while I named you after her in order that you may feel a special connection with her while on this Earth, the most important part is that you will have the opportunity to be connected to her forever in heaven.

This knowledge, the knowledge that Jesus Christ lives, has given me such profound peace in my life. I hope that as you grow older and learn about Jesus you will feel that peace, too. It is the peace of knowing that there is life after death, and that families exist beyond the veil of this Earth.

Love,

Mom

Monday, April 18, 2011

Catching Up With Kate

So it has been a while since I have posted, mostly because I was busy with the end of the school semester. But now that I am done with class (yay!) I can give a little update on what Kate has been doing lately.

She turned 7 months old yesterday! I can't believe my baby is getting so big. I can't think of a way to talk about how fast time goes by without being completely cliche, but seriously, time is going by too fast. 


She has been rolling everywhere! While she figured out how to roll over a little while ago, she recently figured out how to use rolling as a means to mobility, and has been all over the place ever since. Her favorite place to roll is right into Deacon.


She can sit up by herself! And now that she sits up we have started doing all sorts of fun things. Today she rode in a shopping cart for the first time, and she also had her first experience on a swing at the park. She thought both things were pretty funny, but she especially loved the swing.

She can talk! Can you believe it? Yup, she's a genius. Periodically she will make consonant sounds which usually end up in the adorable combination of "mama" or something that sounds like "mom". So cute. She still loves to laugh and has the most adorable chuckle.


She eats food! I started experimenting with food periodically almost 2 months ago because she was trying to steal my food constantly. She hated it. Anything I gave her she acted like I was trying to poison her. I finally tried some extremely watery oatmeal cereal and she took it! Right now the only things she will eat are oatmeal and peaches. She has even started leaning toward the spoon for the peaches. It's been very fun.


So that's what Kate has been up to. Isn't she just so adorable? I often feel like I love this little girl so much my heart just might burst.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Beautiful Bed-head

Recently Kate has started taking 3 hour long morning naps. I really hope she keeps it up! She used to only nap for 30 minutes at a time. Could this be the beginning of a glorious new routine?

She wakes up so happy!

Bed-head

I just can't get over how adorable she is

Thursday, March 17, 2011

6 Month Saudades

Today Kate is six months old. Half a year. I am experiencing a little bit of shock and also some "saudades". Saudades is a Portuguese word for which there isn't an adequate English translation. I don't really speak Portuguese, but my understanding is that it is a sense of missing someone, with feelings of nostalgia or longing. I think that describes how I am feeling today. What happened to my little Baby Kate? I feel like I just gave birth to her!





Even though I am longing to have my squishy newborn girl back, I am also loving this chunkier version of Baby Kate. The past six months have been an amazing journey. We are so blessed to have this adorable little girl in our lives. Kate has the cutest chuckle, and she finds the world to be an absolutely hilarious place. She is a very happy baby, and is usually content wherever we are and whatever we're doing. She loves splashing in the bath, riding in her ergo, petting Deacon, sucking on her toes, talking, blowing spit bubbles, and just hanging out with the family. She brings so much wonder and joy into my life. I love her more than I can describe. I am just in awe of how much she has grown in such a short time.