She Knows Her Name!

Kate responded to her name for the first time yesterday! She responded to both Jeff and me on separate occasions, multiple times, so we know it wasn't by chance!

Eight Things - For Jimmie

Usually, I keep my blog only about Kate and things going on with her, but I'm just bored enough today waiting for Jeff to get home that I'll finally fill out a meme she tagged me on. :)

Without further ado...

Eight Things: A Meme

8 things I am passionate about:
- Kate
- Traveling
- Weather
- My husband
- Dogs
- Horses
- Sleep
- Jesus

8 books I’ve read and enjoyed:
- A Tale of Two Cities
- Memoirs of a Geisha
- Shopaholic Series
-
-
-
-
-

(Is it sad that that's all I can come up with?? I used to be a huge reader... Not so much anymore.)

8 words/phrases that I say often:
- I'm so sure!
- Whatever
- Suuuuuuure
- Shhhhhh
- A-goo A-goo A-goo
- Ahhhhh (in Kate's little voice)
- Hey, you!
- Cha Cha Cha

Gotta love the phrases a baby adds to your vernacular.

8 things I want to do before I die:
- Travel as much as possible
- See my child(ren) get married
- Have a boat
- See my grandchildren
- Go to the Olympics (I've always wanted to do this - me too Jimmie! We sort of have a tentative goal to attend the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver)
- Take a girls-only trip with my best friends
- Be a SAHM
- Breed my own foal

8 things I’ve learned in my life:
- God is in control.
- Everything does happen for a reason, even if that reason isn't clear to you.
- Children are a gift.
- Hard work pays off.
- Don't take your situation for granted.
- Plan financially for the worst case scenario.
- Don't look back on anything with regret - you can't change what happened.
- Make the best of where you are now.

8 places I want to see:
- Norway (see my homeland!)
- Swiss Alps
- One of those really cool islands in the South Pacific with the bungalows over the water
- The Great Wall of China
- Paris
- Ireland
- Iceland (pay a visit to Elin!)
- Alaska

8 things I currently want/need:
- Jeff to hurry up and get home or he won't get to see Kate today
- For my headache to go away
- For the neck muscle I pulled to fix itself
- A million dollars so I don't have to go back to work
- Lots more rain like we got last night
- Dinner
- To live closer to my sister
- The cleaning fairies to show up and clean my house for me...on a weekly basis (good one Jimmie!)

Chicago Trip

Well, we are back from Chicago! We had SO much fun. Traveling alone with Kate really wasn't too bad. Not something I'd want to do every week, but it was a very successful trip and definitely worth it. It was so much fun to spend time with my sister, Steve, and of course Micah! And just neat to have our kids together. One of my favorite moments was when Micah was playing with a little teething toy. He crawled over to Kate (sitting in the bouncy seat) and laid it on her chest! What a good boy to share. :) We spent all day and all night watching the Olympics, deciding which sports our children would compete in. We also took advantage of the beautiful weather (in the 70's and 80's!) by spending as much time outside as possible. It was wonderful. Kate had never really been outside much with the exception of going to and from the car! She liked going for a walk. Our stay was over much too quickly, but all good things must come to an end. When Kate got home, I really do think she was glad to be home! As soon as we set her carseat down in the house, she got a big smile on her face and even started to laugh a little bit! She was just in a very good mood and she seemed to relax a bit. Thankfully we are home for about 2 weeks now to give Kate a break and get back into her schedule before we uproot her again and head to Atlanta. So, here are some pictures from the trip.

The kiddos in their car seats. Micah liked to look at Kate, especially when she was fussing, like "What's her problem?"



Kate chilling in Micah's way fun bouncy seat.





What an adorable little guy! Such amazing blue eyes.



Micah loved to "help" Kate bounce.



Cute cousins!



Kate doing what she does best, being cute! Thanks for the onesie, Grandma and Grandpa Blair!



The kids in their Pony Ranch cuteness.



Micah riding a pony.



Auntie Laura and Micah.



Kate on a pony!



Andrea and Micah, Kate and me.

That's My Girl!

This evening I was watching Olympic coverage, and Kate was playing on her little playmat thing. Equestrian coverage came on, and Kate stopped what she was doing, and turned her neck to watch the horses compete in Dressage. That's my girl. :)

A New Milestone!

Checking in from Chicago!

The flight went really well! Kate got a little fussy mid-flight, but I nursed her a couple minutes and she settled right down. She's a great air traveler!

I just wanted to post quickly about Kate's milestone she reached today - she rolled from her back to her belly, all by herself!!! She's been very close for a long time, but she finally did it this afternoon! Big girl.

We are having a great time here. It's so fun to have the kids together!

3 Month Portraits - Take One

Last week I took Kate to get an attempt at 3 Month Portraits. We had gone to lunch with friends prior to the session, so I knew I would be stretching her thin, but I thought we'd give it a try anyway. Here is what we got. (She's wearing the dress my mom gave me in the hospital when Kate was born!)











They are decently cute, but I'm not thrilled with them, so I'm going to give it a try again sometime soon. That dress is also just a little big on her, so I'm going to try a few other things to find something that fits better.

Three Months

I can't believe it, my little girl is 3 months old today! Such a big girl!



These last few days have been a little hard. Over the weekend Jeff and I noticed Kate's overall demeanor declining, and she was at her worst yesterday. She's just not herself. The only time she's not fussing and/or crying is when she's eating or sleeping. She doesn't have a fever, so I'm not sure what is wrong. I'm sure they have "off" days just like we do, but I want my happy, smiley baby back! Normally she loves to lay on the floor, kick around and play, but not these last few days. She has to be vertically up on my shoulder, with me walking around, or she's crying. Talk about exhausting! I really hope this resolves itself before we go to Chicago. Otherwise I feel bad for the other passengers on the plane! It's just sad when you can see that she's not feeling good and not happy, but we can't figure out how to make it better.

In other news, Kate sleeps on her side now! She just started doing it yesterday. I'll lay her down on her back, but within seconds, she flips herself onto her side. Silly girl. Also, last week, she laughed for the first time!! It is SO cute! I want to hear it again! But in the mood she's in right now, I won't be getting any laughs anytime soon.

I think we found the daycare we'll be sending Kate to when I (unfortunately) find a job and go back to work. It kills me, but unless we sell the house, we just can't afford for me to stay home. So I'm trying to look on the bright side of things. The daycare is only 5 houses down from ours, which will be incredibly convenient! I interviewed them yesterday and they seem very nice, and I think it will be a good solution for now. In the mean time, I'm just enjoying every minute I have with Kate. It's hard not to be bitter knowing that if I hadn't been laid off from my previous job, I'd be working from home right now and not having to even think about daycare. But God has a plan, even though I can't see it, so we plod along. Hope for the best.

I am SO excited for our trip to Chicago on Friday. I've had my suitcase laid out for a few days now! I just really really hope Kate cheers up by then so we can all enjoy it to the fullest!

EDIT: Now that we're into the afternoon, my happy Kate is back! What a relief!