Sunday, August 21, 2011
Friday, August 19, 2011
It runs in the family
I don't know what it is about my shoes. Two of my nieces, Isabella and Gemma, have both spent a fair amount of time playing with my shoes. It looks like Kate will be following in their footsteps (haha, I can make puns). Today while I was trying to put away the laundry, Kate decided she would get into the closet and play with my shoes.
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| These were her favorite - a pair of Report flats |
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| Having a blast |
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| Yes, the container she is sitting on also contains shoes. Please don't judge me. |
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| Taking the shoes in and out of the closet kept her occupied for a long time! |
Thursday, August 18, 2011
11 Months Old
Yesterday Kate turned 11 months old. As she gets closer and closer to 1 year, the entire experience seems somewhat surreal. But maybe that's only because I'm so exhausted I can't think straight. As it turns out, month 10 has not exactly been Kate's easiest month. The past few days I have found myself wondering where my happy little baby went. I think she was eaten by a pre-toddler.
Frustration. That has been a big emotion for Kate lately (and for me). She has also expanded her emotional horizons to include anger. Pinching is her method of choice to express this anger. She has been having a lot of tantrums lately. Tantrums because I take something away from her. Tantrums because I don't bring her food fast enough. Tantrums because I don't bring her the right kind of food. Tantrums because she doesn't know what she wants. Tantrums because she doesn't have any other way to express the fact that she doesn't know what she wants. I have been working harder to help her learn some baby signs so that she can start to communicate better. I'm hoping that once she learns to communicate a little it will lessen her frustration. Some signs we use everyday are nurse, more, all done, and eat. She is beginning to make the sign for "nurse" sometimes.
I think part of this frustration also might be that she is about to reach a big milestone. It wouldn't surprise me if she starts to say a word or two sometime soon. It really wouldn't surprise me if her first word is "dog". She loves to point out Deacon and say "duh" as loud as she can. It's super cute. She would also do this with Grandma's dog Kira when we were in California.
Side-note: We're back in Utah now. It's good to be home. When we first arrived home and I took Kate into her room her face lit up and she smiled so big. It was adorable to see her actually remember her room. But I think she is missing all the family she got to hang out with in California, especially her cousin Gemma.
I think another part of all Kate's frustration may be teething. She recently cut her top left tooth (that makes 3 total right now), and the top right tooth looks like it will come through any day now. There also might be some teeth coming in further back, but I can't tell.
Aside from all this frustration, Kate has really been blowing my mind with how fast she is learning things. She can crawl super fast now. Having me chase her is one of her favorite games. She loves to pull herself up to a standing position on just about anything she can. She never stops moving. From the time she wakes up until the time she goes to sleep, she has an extreme case of the wiggles. She likes to experiment by putting her toys inside of things, on top of things, etc. to see what happens. She will sometimes put shapes into a shape sorter if you show her which holes they go in. Her fine motor skills amaze me. But she seems to get bored of this game fast because it requires a lot of effort on her part.
And really, despite all of the frustration on both her part and mine, her smile and laugh still melt my heart every single day.
Frustration. That has been a big emotion for Kate lately (and for me). She has also expanded her emotional horizons to include anger. Pinching is her method of choice to express this anger. She has been having a lot of tantrums lately. Tantrums because I take something away from her. Tantrums because I don't bring her food fast enough. Tantrums because I don't bring her the right kind of food. Tantrums because she doesn't know what she wants. Tantrums because she doesn't have any other way to express the fact that she doesn't know what she wants. I have been working harder to help her learn some baby signs so that she can start to communicate better. I'm hoping that once she learns to communicate a little it will lessen her frustration. Some signs we use everyday are nurse, more, all done, and eat. She is beginning to make the sign for "nurse" sometimes.
I think part of this frustration also might be that she is about to reach a big milestone. It wouldn't surprise me if she starts to say a word or two sometime soon. It really wouldn't surprise me if her first word is "dog". She loves to point out Deacon and say "duh" as loud as she can. It's super cute. She would also do this with Grandma's dog Kira when we were in California.
Side-note: We're back in Utah now. It's good to be home. When we first arrived home and I took Kate into her room her face lit up and she smiled so big. It was adorable to see her actually remember her room. But I think she is missing all the family she got to hang out with in California, especially her cousin Gemma.
I think another part of all Kate's frustration may be teething. She recently cut her top left tooth (that makes 3 total right now), and the top right tooth looks like it will come through any day now. There also might be some teeth coming in further back, but I can't tell.
Aside from all this frustration, Kate has really been blowing my mind with how fast she is learning things. She can crawl super fast now. Having me chase her is one of her favorite games. She loves to pull herself up to a standing position on just about anything she can. She never stops moving. From the time she wakes up until the time she goes to sleep, she has an extreme case of the wiggles. She likes to experiment by putting her toys inside of things, on top of things, etc. to see what happens. She will sometimes put shapes into a shape sorter if you show her which holes they go in. Her fine motor skills amaze me. But she seems to get bored of this game fast because it requires a lot of effort on her part.
And really, despite all of the frustration on both her part and mine, her smile and laugh still melt my heart every single day.
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| So on days where the only picture I can snap of her looks like this... |
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| ...I try to remember moments like this. It helps...a little :) |
Thursday, August 4, 2011
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Spray Park
Today we went to a local spray park with Sean, Kristen, Gemma, and Marek. At first Kate was really unsure about the water, but as soon as she watched cousin Gemma having fun she perked up and decided to have a little bit of fun herself. She really enjoyed watching all the big kids go crazy. Her new thing is that she likes to dance whenever she gets excited, and so she was totally rocking out while watching all the other kids. She had a great time, but was really tired afterwards.
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| This is when she discovered that the spray park was fun |
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| Playing with cousin Gemma |
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| The back of her bathing suit was just too cute not to take a picture |
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| Dancing |
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| I love her serious face |
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| So tired |
Weekend at the Bay
Well, I am super behind on blogging, as always. But, I am going to try to be better at keeping up! So about two weeks ago Kate, Carolyn (Grandma), and I went to the bay area to visit Brett instead of having him come to visit us. We really had a blast. We drove up Friday and picked up Brett at his office in San Francisco. From there we went to Ghirardelli Square and had icecream sundaes. They were delicious! Kate thought so, too. Even though we tried to keep them from her, her little hands are quick and she managed to swipe a bite. Then we went and walked around fisherman's wharf for a while before having dinner at Boudin's (yes, that's right, we had dessert before dinner). We had a view of the bay while we dined and it was fabulous! Kate even made friends with the people at the next table.
On Saturday we got up and drove to Los Altos for a work BBQ with Ernst & Young. It was good to meet some of the other interns and employees; I really felt like our family would fit in if Brett ends up working there full time. After the BBQ we drove to Pescadero. We went to a little shop that sold this amazing garlic artichoke bread. That's what we had for lunch. And dinner. Then we took Kate for her first trip to the beach! It was a little pebble beach, and it was very cloudy so it wasn't your typical "beach" experience, but Kate was just all smiles the whole time. Of course, when is she not all smiles?
After the beach we left Kate with Grandma to babysit and Brett and I saw the last Harry Potter movie. It was a perfect weekend. Unfortunately, it ended with Kate getting a little fever, but she recovered quickly and is back to being her happy self.
On Saturday we got up and drove to Los Altos for a work BBQ with Ernst & Young. It was good to meet some of the other interns and employees; I really felt like our family would fit in if Brett ends up working there full time. After the BBQ we drove to Pescadero. We went to a little shop that sold this amazing garlic artichoke bread. That's what we had for lunch. And dinner. Then we took Kate for her first trip to the beach! It was a little pebble beach, and it was very cloudy so it wasn't your typical "beach" experience, but Kate was just all smiles the whole time. Of course, when is she not all smiles?
After the beach we left Kate with Grandma to babysit and Brett and I saw the last Harry Potter movie. It was a perfect weekend. Unfortunately, it ended with Kate getting a little fever, but she recovered quickly and is back to being her happy self.
Monday, July 25, 2011
10 Months Old
About 2 weeks ago Kate turned 10 months old. I can't believe my little baby is almost 1! Kate has been very busy this last month. Here is a little bit of what she has been up to:
She can get from lying down to sitting up! She figured this out just a few days after she turned 9 months old, and is now a pro at it.
She can pull up to a standing position on the furniture! She has only done it a time or two, but she is becoming increasingly interested in trying to figure out how to stand up by herself. She will often try to stand up by herself in the middle of the floor, but she doesn't get very far. Climbing is her new obsession. She especially loves to climb on me (of course).
She loooooves solid food. Really, she can't get enough of it. She started eating three meals a day and sometimes she eats a lot. Favorite foods right now are frozen bluberries, frozen peas, yogurt, cheerios, bananas and zucchini. She loved a zucchini and goat cheese quiche I made the other night. She will still eat purees once in a while, but will generally cry until I give her something she can pick up by herself.
She can drink from a straw! Since she has been eating so much food, she has been having some issues with constipation. So another favorite treat she gets is carrot juice. She makes a huge mess, but really enjoys it.
She loves her cousin Gemma. Gemma is 2, and Kate loves to ride in the car with Gemma, play with Gemma, take baths with Gemma, talk to Gemma, and so on. It's so cute. One of their favorite activities is splashing at each other in the bath. They also like to imitate each other's sounds. Unfortunately this means that sometimes they scream at each other. Fortunately they are still pretty cute.
She is getting better at crawling. She can crawl for a while if she wants to, but typically she will just crawl for a few steps and then start army crawling. She is becoming quite destructive, and keeps me on my toes.
Some fun activities this month included lunch with her G.G. (great-grandma) and going on the boat for the second time. She also enjoys the weekends, when she gets to spend time with her Daddy. Brett gets home late Friday nights, so Kate gets excited when I get her up Saturday morning and bring her into our room; she gets a big smile on her face when she realizes Brett is there. So far she is really having a blast in California.
She can get from lying down to sitting up! She figured this out just a few days after she turned 9 months old, and is now a pro at it.
She can pull up to a standing position on the furniture! She has only done it a time or two, but she is becoming increasingly interested in trying to figure out how to stand up by herself. She will often try to stand up by herself in the middle of the floor, but she doesn't get very far. Climbing is her new obsession. She especially loves to climb on me (of course).
She loooooves solid food. Really, she can't get enough of it. She started eating three meals a day and sometimes she eats a lot. Favorite foods right now are frozen bluberries, frozen peas, yogurt, cheerios, bananas and zucchini. She loved a zucchini and goat cheese quiche I made the other night. She will still eat purees once in a while, but will generally cry until I give her something she can pick up by herself.
She can drink from a straw! Since she has been eating so much food, she has been having some issues with constipation. So another favorite treat she gets is carrot juice. She makes a huge mess, but really enjoys it.
She loves her cousin Gemma. Gemma is 2, and Kate loves to ride in the car with Gemma, play with Gemma, take baths with Gemma, talk to Gemma, and so on. It's so cute. One of their favorite activities is splashing at each other in the bath. They also like to imitate each other's sounds. Unfortunately this means that sometimes they scream at each other. Fortunately they are still pretty cute.
She is getting better at crawling. She can crawl for a while if she wants to, but typically she will just crawl for a few steps and then start army crawling. She is becoming quite destructive, and keeps me on my toes.
Some fun activities this month included lunch with her G.G. (great-grandma) and going on the boat for the second time. She also enjoys the weekends, when she gets to spend time with her Daddy. Brett gets home late Friday nights, so Kate gets excited when I get her up Saturday morning and bring her into our room; she gets a big smile on her face when she realizes Brett is there. So far she is really having a blast in California.
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