Birthday Fun

Kate's birthday was really low key. But I think she liked it that way, because she seems to be a low key kid. So after her morning nap we took her to the duck pond at BYU and had a picnic. She loved the ducks. But when we first got there she kept insisting that ducks say "woof". Hahahahaha. After being at the pond for a little while she began saying "duhduhduh" to mean "duck".

Making mischief

Playing with Daddy

Ducks are so fun!

After the duck pond and another nap we ran some errands and came home for cake. I made Kate a banana cake, and since I had extra time while she was napping I decided to get fancy and decorate it.

Just call me "Cake Boss"

Watching Kate eat the cake was adorable. Instead of the typical one year old cake smash, she decided to daintily pick off little pieces of her cake. With help from me and Brett, the piece eventually got smaller and smaller, until she very suddenly gave up her dainty side and shoved the whole thing in her mouth.

Daddy eating cake is hilarious

Kate shared a bite of her cake with Deacon...and then whacked him in the face.

The whole cake ordeal took so long that we didn't even have time to do presents. I guess that is what's wonderful about first birthdays. You really aren't under any pressure! So we did presents the following morning. Kate had fun opening and playing with her new toys.

Overall, Kate's birthday was fun, relaxing, and full of smiles. And while I do wish I could have held a big bash with all our family and friends, it was also fun to just be together as a family and reflect on that wonderful day 1 year ago when our little family went from 2 to 3. Or 3 to 4 if you count Deacon :)

1 Year

Kate is 1 year old!

I would now like to congratulate myself. I can't keep a plant alive for more than a week. But I can keep a kid alive for a whole year. Win!

I don't even know what to write. I am overcome with emotion right now. That is probably because we just got back from Kate's 1 year doctor's appointment. The appointment went fine. Going to the lab to get her blood drawn did not. It is seriously heart-wrenching to listen to your child scream "all done!!" while the phlebotomist struggles to keep her foot from dripping blood all over the floor. Yeah, cue mom emotions.

The last year has been amazing. Incredible. Heart-wrenching. Joyful. Tearful. Messy. Filled with laughter. With smiles. With giggles and chuckles. Exhausting. Exciting. Anxious. A little fearful. Very prayerful.

And I am so grateful for every moment of every day. Every diaper change. Every nursing session. Every time she wouldn't fall asleep. Every time she would. Every snuggle. Every smile. Every tear. Every milestone. Every. Single. Thing.

I have been reflecting a lot on the meaning of birthdays. More than anything, I am grateful that Kate had the opportunity to come to Earth. To receive a body.

Kate, I need you to know how amazing that is. You made a decision before you were ever born into this world. You chose to follow the plan of your Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. You chose the plan of happiness. You chose the plan of salvation. Remember that.

 

 

I'll end the post with this picture. It shows how big you have become, but how little you still are. It reminds me that no matter how big you get, you will always be my Baby Kate. And I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to be your mommy.

The Cute Factor

In just a few days my baby will be 1. And while she has been cute since the moment she came into this world, recently she is just becoming so sweet. She is entering that stage (I refuse to say the word "toddler") where she takes her cuteness to a whole new level. Here are some random things she has been doing lately that just melt my heart.

She waves hello and goodbye. She waves to me when I first come into her room in the morning and say "hi". Today she waved to Brett as he was running out the door to go to school. I don't know how to describe how cute it is, but sometimes when I see her happily waving my heart feels like it might burst from joy.

She escapes from me during every single diaper change. There is nothing cuter than a naked baby butt crawling in the opposite direction from you.

She swats at flies (specifically the one living in our kitchen that I can't seem to kill). She saw me doing it, and so now whenever she sees the fly she waves her arms madly (and seems very proud of herself).

She follows simple directions. Seriously, as I'm making this list I'm not sure why I find all these things about Kate so stinkin' cute. But when I say, "Can I have your binky please?" and she hands me her binky, it is just adorable. Writing it down just doesn't do it justice. I guess I'll have to start taking more videos. She will also follow other directions like "sit down" and "no touch" (okay, she doesn't really listen when I say no touch, but I know she knows what I mean!)

When you ask her what the dog says, she tries to say "woof". It sounds more like "fffff" or sometimes "ooofff". But really, could anything be more sweet? Nope. She will also sometimes say "mmmmm" when you ask her what the cow says. Not quite as adorable as "woof," but it's close.

If you ask her, "Where is Kate's tongue?" she sticks her tongue out at you. Haha. That's right, some people teach their kids body parts like eyes, nose, and ears. I started with her tongue. Might as well take advantage of her sticking out her tongue at me while it's still cute, right? She also likes to point out my tongue by trying to grab it. Not as cute, but she still gets away with it for now.

She still sometimes sleeps on her belly with her butt sticking straight up in the air. It looks horribly uncomfortable, but is also the cutest thing ever.

This picture was horribly difficult to take without waking her up. But at least you can kind of see how cute it is. 

Looking back at what I have written, it is becoming more and more apparent that my baby really is becoming a toddler. But I still have one more day to live in denial before it's official...

Look at that dimple! Whenever we went out when she was littler people would comment on her hair. Now they comment on her dimple.

Word Explosion

So about two weeks ago when I blogged about Kate's first word, I was honestly a little skeptical. I kept asking myself if it was really her first word, or if I was just being an overexcited first-time mom when really it was just a fluke. Well, I have a verdict. Yes, I am an overexcited first-time mom. And yes, it was really her first word.

After she first said "dog" she continued saying it all the time. She typically leaves off the "g" so it just sounds like "dah," but she was emphatically yelling this anytime Deacon did anything. Seriously, if she saw him she'd yell "dah!" If he barked, "dah!" If he shook his head a little bit, "dah!!" Pretty sure it was the cutest thing ever.

Then she started to add more words. She has been saying "mama" and "dada" for a while, but never with any real purpose. She now says "dada" all the time. When she hears Brett pull up in the car and then sees him come through the door she says "dada!" This morning when I went to get her out of her crib she yelled "dada!" I thought she was just confused, but I was wrong. She absolutely had meant to say "dada". As soon as I got her out of her crib and put her on the floor she crawled off towards the bathroom, pushed open the door, and found Brett (which brought more gleeful cries of "dada" and a look of great accomplishment on her face). She also will now look at me and say "mama," but this is typically only when she is cranky and wants to nurse or have me hold her. So she'll say "dada" just because she's happy to see Brett, but "mama" is typically said while she's whining. Brett is lucky guy :)

She has also added "all done" to her vocabulary. She loves to say this all the time recently, and has gotten better at pronouncing it the last few days. It now sounds like "ahl dun" instead of "ah duh". She likes to say this when she is finished eating, when she is done nursing, and recently, when she is trying to get out of taking a nap she will stand in her crib and cry "all done" when I come into the room. Haha, nice try.

She is also working on other words that she can't pronounce very well yet. Her word for nurse is "na-na". Yesterday she started trying to say diaper "di" or "di-di". She has been repeating this more today. She also tries to say the "f" sound sometimes but has a hard time with it. It is still cute to hear her as she practices "fa-fa-fa". She will often practice this when she hears me say "phone". 

But I think my favorite word she has learned has to be "Deacon". The first time she said this Brett's jaw dropped, it was hilarious. We both didn't really believe she had said it, but she has started repeating it a lot. This morning she looked at Deacon and said, "deekan dah" (deacon dog). It melted my heart. Her little voice is just so sweet.

I really can't believe how much she has learned in just less than two weeks. Communication has been a special thing for both of us. She seems to love being able to share her thoughts and discoveries with me. And since she has started talking, the frustration we were both experiencing a few weeks ago has definitely improved. She still has some grumpy moments (due to teething I think) but overall she has gone back to being a happy little girl, which makes me so happy!!

And as a side-note, she waved hello to me for the first time this morning. It was adorable. I'll have to see if I can get her to wave to other people now.

Becoming Crafty: No-Sew Crib Rail Guards

Ok, I have a confession to make. I am not crafty. At all. Some people like to D-I-Y. I like to B-U-Y. It's just my style. So when Kate learned how to pull herself up and chew on the rails of her crib, the first thing I did was go shopping. And I was shocked. It was going to cost between $40 and $60 to put on crib rail guards. Not to mention that most of these products are 1) ugly and 2) don't get very good reviews. Clearly even shopaholics such as myself have a breaking point. So I decided I would sew my own. Then I remembered that I can't even thread my sewing machine. Or sew (minor problem).

But I was determined, and that's when I came up with what I think was a brilliant idea. You know those no-sew fleece blankets people make? I decided to take the same basic idea to make Kate's crib rail guards. And you know what? IT WORKED!

Here's how I did it:
(Please remember that since I am not a crafty person, these instructions may not be the best. Bear with me and please excuse any blunders, because I'm really quite proud of myself.)

To start, I bought two yards of fleece fabric and cut three rectangles in the following sizes:

Front Rail Guard: 53'' x 12''
Side Rail Guards: 33'' x 15''

Kate has a Graco Lauren Crib. You'll need to take your own measurements for your crib, but maybe this can help give you an idea of where to start. When measuring the length the rail guards needed to be, I added about an inch to make sure the guards would be long enough. For the width, I measured the area I needed covered, and then added 4 inches on either side for the fringe (so 8 total).

For the front rail guard:

Fold the piece of fabric in half length-wise. Then cut your fringe about 4 inches in length and about 1 inch apart. Don't worry about cutting straight. I used a pair of kitchen shears for this project since I didn't have sewing scissors, and not a single cut I made was straight. You can't even tell on the finished product.

Then unfold the fabric and place it over the crib rail, tying the fringe together underneath. When you get to a bar of the crib, tie two pieces together on the same side, instead of tying them with their pair on the opposite side.

Continue this until you have tied all the fringe. I would highly recommend tying them loosely at first, then going back and tying them in a knot. That way if you need to change anything, it will be a lot easier (I learned this from experience).

And that's it! How easy was that? If you want you can do the same thing for the side rail guards, but that will leave the corners of the crib uncovered. While Kate can't reach the corners of her crib to bite, I think it looks a little neater to have the corners covered as well, so...

For the side rail guards:

Do the same thing you did for the front rail guard, but when cutting the fringe leave about the last 6 inches uncut (again, these measurements will vary depending on your crib).

Cut the corner away by cutting perpendicular to the fringe.

Cut a piece of fringe that runs perpendicular to the others.

Cut another fringe, but make it about half as long as the one you just cut.

Now cut the other corner away.

 

When unfolded, the fabric should look like this.

Drape the fabric over the crib rail and tie the fringe the same way you did for the front rail guard. To cover the corners, take the long pieces of fringe and tie them together around the the corner.

 

Then take the short pieces of fringe and tie them together.

 

And ta-da!

 

Note: I ended up taking the ends of the knot from the short fringe and tucking them under the tie I made with the long fringe, just to make sure the corner would stay put. If you are a crafty person maybe you can think of a better way to do the corners, but this worked well for me.

And that's it! This was seriously such an easy project. And now I have crib rail guards that not only saved me money, but are cute! The total cost for this project was $14.09, which was what I spent on the fabric. Since I never buy fabric, I have no idea if this is a good price, so maybe this project could cost even less.

Here are the before and after shots:

These are Kate's bite marks, which prompted the project

Finished!

Battle Creek Hike

So yesterday afternoon Brett and I decided we would take a little family outing. After doing some research online Brett informed me that we were going to hike to Battle Creek Falls. Let me just clarify that when we typically use the word "hike" in this household it means we are going to walk somewhere outdoors and see some nature stuff, but not really anything that takes more physical effort than a walk around the block. I guess I should have asked him to clarify. When we got there I put Kate in the Ergo on my back, we got our stuff out of the car, and a little Cocker Spaniel puppy appeared out of nowhere. We assumed he belonged to someone around and so we just left him and started our hike. As it turns out, when Brett said hike he actually meant that we were going to hike. Don't get me wrong, the hike was only about a mile and it was considered easy, but I had an extra 22 pounds on my back and we were going uphill!

But it was so worth it! Not only did I get an awesome work-out, the hike was beautiful. It was such a fun way to spend time as a family. I felt an awesome sense of accomplishment once we got to the top. There was hardly anyone else on the trail and the solitude was very peaceful. Kate chattered a lot of the time and loved watching and listening to the falls.

The hike down was much easier. I told Brett that if the dog was still there by the time we got back down we would take him home with us. I think we were both a bit surprised when we got to the parking lot and he was still there, though now he was muddy from taking a swim. When we saw him again Kate yelled "duh" and squealed with joy. After we looked around to make sure he had no owners, he got into the car with us and we brought him home. Kate continued to squeal "duh" several times on the way home, and once we got home she even added a "guh" sound to the end of the word.

Wait, was that her first word?!?!

Unfortunately we had to drop the puppy off at the police station later that night, because we had no crate for him to stay in and didn't feel comfortable leaving him out in the house. But I plan on checking with the shelter Monday morning to see what their policy is. If his owners don't claim him and no one will adopt him, he will be coming back to our house until we can find him a more permanent home. Unfortunately we didn't really get any pictures of him, but suffice it to say he was really cute, and I wanted to name him Achilles (because I've always wanted to name a dog after some great work of literature, and because his long golden locks reminded me of Brad Pitt's hair from the movie Troy). Brett wasn't super found of this and was calling him Little Buddy.

So then this morning Kate is playing with Deacon and it sounded like she said "dog" again. What a fun milestone to add onto an already exciting (though somewhat surprising) adventure. I'm so proud of her!

Hiking up the trail

View from the top

At the top of the falls

At the bottom of the falls

Taking a short break

We love our Ergo!