Sidewalk Chalk and Outdoor Fun!

Kate is obsessed with the outdoors.  Sidewalk chalk has become a new favorite!  She doesn't really draw a whole lot, but she does enjoy watching Mommy and Daddy draw!

Pure joy!

Look at me, Mommy!  I love chalk!

Working really hard on her "rainbow".

Not sure what she's holding...

So much fun!

We also visited the Lumberton Primary School playground recently.  There isn't a park in Lumberton, so they use the school's playground equipment as a community park.  It's really nice!  Kate was more interested in just walking around that actually doing anything.  Here she is trying to climb up the slide.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeee!

There's nothing her size at this park, but that didn't stop her from trying to do everything herself.

New Carpet!

Lance and I finally ordered new carpet for the two spares rooms in our house.  When we moved into this house back in July of 2007, the owners pretty much let their dogs have the run of the house.  They were moving to Baytown and while away to their new house, they would lock the dogs in the spare rooms.  Get a good mental image and imagine what the carpet looked like...MANY MANY stains. :(  We steamed cleaned it when we moved in, but it wasn't in the budget to replace right away.  With Kate getting bigger, we wanted to put new carpet down for when she moves into her new big girl room (possibly this Christmas).  She's still sleeping in her room off of our master bedroom. 

The carpet man has now been here for 6 hours.  My house is a wreck, and I am itching to put these two rooms back in order.  Now that they are both at blank slate status, I really want to rearrange furniture placement and redo the decor!  Probably not going to happen, but I can at least rearrange the furniture in a new way.  Plus, it will be much more organized!

We sent Kate to Nanna and Pop's house for the day, and the were all too happy to oblige!  Any excuse to keep Kate!  We miss her, but our house is a danger zone for a newly walking toddler at every turn.

Here's Kate, catching up on some light reading while new carpet is being put in her future bedroom.

VOTE FOR KATE!

http://www.gerber.com/photo/?entryid=19262&/#/detail/

I entered Kate in the Gerber Baby of the Month Contest for July...yes, she's on of 36,000.  Will she win, probably not, but it is something fun to do!

Vote with every available e-mail address you have and vote daily!  We could really use the $25,000 scholarship!

15 Months Old

Kate won't be 15 months old until Sunday, but she is talking so much that I thought I would keep a record of all the words she can say at this age.

Mama
Dada (mostly becoming daddy now)
Nanna
Pop
Nannie
PawPaw
LaRue
Granddad (pronounced DaDad)
B for Brian
Dog
Bird
Buck
Doe
Duck
Quack
Octopus
Fish
Shark
Outside
Yogurt
Applesauce
Ice
Puff
Eye
Two
Gentle
Hi
Bye-Bye
Hello
Thank You
Please
Smart
More
Up (my favorite right now)
Out
On
Off
House
High Chair
Shoe
Bow
Hat
Brush
Toe
Knee
Lulu (a.k.a. Lulu's Shoes, Kate's favorite book)
Girl
Boy
Pat
Oh boy
Door
Bob
Snoopy
Charlie
Grover, Ernie, Bert, Big Bird, Zoe, Elmo, Abby, Cookie Monster, Oscar, Count
Blue's Clues
Jello
Jesus
Amen
Amy
Happy Birthday
Yes
Yeah
No
Baby
Water
Milk
Juice
Turtle
Bee
Egg
Ba (bottle)
Book
Key
Toy
Rye-Rye (Ryan)
Slide, usually accompanied by "Weeeeeee"
All done (after finishing a meal, a book, or a drink)
Burp
Mail
Light
Love You
Eebee (children's tv character)
Larry
Barry
Green
Yellow
Mall

I feel like I'm missing some, which I probably am, but I'll update if I think of more.  She's growing up so fast.  Losing the dada that is now becoming Daddy is sort of sad.  Since I'm off this summer, I've been trying to ween her off some things I know she doesn't need anymore.  We've been bottle free since Saturday night...HUGE accomplishment.  The pacifier will be the next to go, but I'm not quite ready for it yet.  With each of these milestones, a small part of her baby-ness is leaving.  However, the new milestones she's hitting are just as exciting as when she smiled for the first time.

Now, if only the walking part would come.  I'm ready, Lance is ready, she's not.  She'll take several steps walking back and forth between us, but won't do it on her own.  She's very content with crawling.  I know it will come with time, but at times it would be easier if she could run around outside in the backyard and just play.  I know she would love it!

Summer fun in the pool ( x 2)!

We had a VERY fun filled weekend in the pool.  Kate swam in Grandmother and Granddad's pool for the first time this year, and it was a much better experience that last summer.  She just cried last year.  This year (after a little warm-up), she LOVED the water.  Sunday, since we don't have a big pool, we set up Kate's turtle pool in the front yard and let her play in the water.  She was fascinated by the man mowing the lawn across the street and kept saying "Hi guy!".  She was getting frustrated that he wasn't paying her any attention.  I think we have an attention hoarder on our hands!

Last year...not feeling the swimming pool.

This year, much better!

Serious about the pool float.

Her favorite part of swimming was floating to Grandmother for a piece of ice.  

Here's the turtle pool we put in our front yard.  

Mmmmm, sucking on a squirt toy and drinking water hose water....yum!

She LOVED playing with her stacking cups in the water.

It was a wonderful weekend.  I see many more swimming dates in the future!

Kemah Boardwalk

To celebrate Nanny D's birthday, we traveled to Kemah Boardwalk for the day to enjoy a nice lunch and some sea life.  Kate has been on a few roadtrips to Houston before, but never without stopping at someone's house, which has a since of home for her.  I was nervous about her nap schedule and how she would do being gone all day, but she did wonderful!  She didn't take a nap on the way to Kemah because Nanna, Nanny D, and myself were all in the back of the car with her.  She was too busy trying to get our attention to sleep.  We ate at Landry's for lunch, and Kate held a crayon for the first time and scribbled a little on the marine life picture (and tablecloth, oops!).  She even held the crayon the correct way for a short period of time.  Smart girl!

Kate thinking hard about which item she wants Mommy to color next.

"Okay, now can I eat this?"  I see buying crayons far down the road in our future.  Certainly, not right now!

After eating at Landry's, we shopped around a bit, and Kate FINALLY fell asleep in the Christmas store.  I think it was the soft carols and the mood lighting that did it. She took a good hour nap in her stroller (not long enough for Mom), but it seemed to sustain her for the rest of the afternoon.

 Zonked out

Next stop was the Aquarium Restaurant.  Inside the restaurant, you can pay to take a self-guided tour through the aquarium and can find the stingrays.  Kate is obsessed with "ish" and couldn't stop pointing and saying "ish" over and over.  She loved it.  It was well worth the $4.60 per person fee.

Shopping in the gift shop...doesn't she look like she's questioning whether or not she should just take that stuffed stingray.  It's like she got caught!

Outside the Aquarium.  Kate has been doing this face now for about 2 months, and it never seems to get old.  I'm afraid we're going to look back at this time period and this is the only face we will see in pictures!

Kate and Pop enjoying the fish tanks.

She was a little uneasy at first, but she warmed up quickly!

The stingray tank!  Okay, if the Crocodile Hunter can die from a stingray, my 13 month old daughter is not going to touch one.  However, she LOVED splashing in the water.  

Pure joy!

Here's Kate doing her elephant impression.  She raises one arm and says, "Wheeeeeee!"

Our next top was the pier to just be outside and enjoy the boats.  Kate was getting antsy in her stroller, so we let her toddle around the boardwalk pier.  She waved to all the boats and said hi, she stood tall on her tiptoes to look out, and really enjoyed herself.

What a wonderful way to spend a Saturday!

A Bee-utiful Sunday

Lance took Kate to his parents' house today for some fun in the sun and to help them move around furniture after getting new carpet.  Kate enjoyed swinging on the "Mr. Bear" swing in the backyard.

I'm surprised she has a hat on.  They're usually ripped right off!

 I can hear her yelling "Wwwwhhhhheeeeeeeeeeeee"!

Lance said after they had been out there for awhile, Dana noticed a swarm of insects suddenly approaching.  They all rushed into the house and watched from the backdoor to see what was happening.  Lance happened to have his telescope lens to his camera, and zoomed in to get a close look.  His PawPaw and his parents' backyards run into each other, and his Pawpaw has quite the garden in his backyard.  To encourage bees to come into the yard and pollinate, he has planted many patches of clover.  He was just telling Lance this morning, "I don't know where all the bees are!"  Well, be careful what you wish for...

The swarm beginning....all the specks on the house and window (in the air) are bees.

They settled on a small tree in the middle of the backyard.

Close up of the beehive being formed.  No one was stung in the process, and Kate was safely inside by this point napping.  Hopefully, not dreaming of bees.

Tea for Two and Two For Me

Kate was invited to her first ever tea party on Wednesday at Miss Patti's house.  On the guest list was grandmothers and their granddaughters.  The dress was formal and the shoes had to be fancy!  (Kate didn't want to change her clothes, thus the explanation for the casual green outfit with no shoes!)  I wasn't there to witness the magic of the tea party, but my mom expressed that Kate had a wonderful time playing with everyone and sitting on the mini bench with her new friend, Libby. 

Cup-Kate is One!

Well, we've reached the first birthday party. Lance and I were both excited and sad at the same time. How can our little one grow one year so quickly? People always say "It flies by" and they're right. Looking back at our 365 Days of Kate album and video, I see so many changes in Kate. Around day 60 is when she starts looking a little like the girl she is today. She still looks exactly like her Daddy except for the eyes. Before she was born, I wanted her to have blue eyes like Lance, but now I'm secretly happy that she has my eyes...because that's all she does have!

1st birthday milestones:
- She can crawl quickly and directly to what she wants.
- can pull up on anything, again, very fast
- can say Momma, Dada, Pop, Pawpaw, Nannie, Nanna, Ryerye (Ryan), ball, Hello, Byebye, No (her favorite), mall (yes, Miss Rebecca is my witness!), cookie, mine, Elmo, more, my baby
- loves to ride in her wagon
- can sign the word "more" (Thank you Miss Rebecca!)
- will eat anything except for babyfood green beans and broccoli
- can FINALLY drink from a cup unassisted (it was a long process)
- starting to drink her formula from a cup, occassionally
- loves to dance
- loves to hit drums, bangs on many items
- enjoys watching Sesame Street, Sprout, and Eebee videos
- can feed herself puffs, veggie cheese puff thangies, Ella's kitchen baby food
- can drink juice by herself in her carseat (although sometimes she comes out wearing more juice than went in her mouth)
- will take a nap or go to bed without crying about 9 out of 10 times
- points constantly and wants you to take her there
- loves to read books and I will find her sitting by herself just looking at them (she knows how to turn the pages and which way to hold the book...that's my girl!)

Her first birthday party was yesterday, and after many many hours of planning, it all came together exactly how I wanted. She was a perfect baby...no tantrums, no fussing. She only cried once when I made her put her birthday hat on, and then got over it and forgot it was on her head! Lance and I are so fortunate to have a happy, beautiful baby girl!

Mommy and Kate opening gifts. She did fantastic! Stayed with/around me the entire time we opened presents.

Did NOT want to wear her birthday hat!

All ready to "blow out" the candles.

Family photo opportunity

Kate's smash cake
Kate with her sitter Miss Rebecca

Mr. Drew showing off for the camera!

The cake after Kate finished with it.

The cupcakes for the guests.

Miss Caroline playing with blocks.

All the kids playing with Kate in her playroom.

Kate says, "It's hard to crawl with a dress on, Mom."

Overall, the party was a success. We only had one small mishap with Kate and the icing. We think she may be allergic to the dye in the icing, because shortly after the got it on her face, there were red splotches everywhere (just on her face). After a bath and a dose of Benadryl...all was well! We're ready to do it all again next year!