Kate is Going to be a Big Sister!

The big news in our family is that we are expecting another baby!! I am due December 15th, the day after my birthday! It has been a rocky pregnancy, to say the least, but all is well now, and the baby appears to be healthy and thriving! We are very excited to see who this precious little person is going to be. Here is the latest ultrasound a little over a week ago at 9 weeks, 2 days.

Should Have Known Better

I should have known better than to brag about Kate's health. She woke up Sunday morning with herself, her bed, and all of her stuffed animals just covered in vomit. Lovely. The poor thing must have thrown up in the middle of the night, but never said ANYTHING until the morning! Of course we were in Oklahoma too, so not even home for her to be sick! Later that day, the bug worked its way through her stomach and gave her more problems. She still isn't fully recovered in terms of appetite, but at least she hasn't thrown up anymore. But now she seems to be developing something else. Her nose has been running like a faucet today, and now she's been having a coughing fit ever since I put her to bed. I see a long night of little sleep ahead.

2 Years

I'm a week late, but our little Kate has turned 2! I really don't know where the time went. She is such a big girl!



She is such an amazing little girl. Her vocabulary is increasing by leaps and bounds, and it is so much fun to watch her figure out language and communication. It is also very nice to be able to talk and reason with her, and have her give me her own input back! She is giving us good 3 if not 4 - 5 word sentences. I am thankful for every day we have with her.

She is also on a good stretch of health! (Knock on wood!) Right before we went to Chicago for Easter she came down with a little cold, but that means she's been healthy now for about 6 weeks! That's just about the longest I can remember! Maybe the whole tonsil thing is finally paying off. At her 2 year checkup, she weighed 34.25 lbs (99th percentile), and is 35.75 inches(95th percentile) tall. So she continues to grow steadily! She's wearing size 3T and even 4T in some stores.

She is still a great sleeper, going to bed by 7:30 (or 7:00 on night's she's crabby... ha!) and sleeping until 7-7:30 am! I appreciate that very much. :) I need to be better about updating the blog. I'm sure there are so many cute things she does that I never write down and forget about.

Thank you, God, for blessing us with our precious little daughter. Happy Birthday Kate!!

Meow Meow Poo Poo

More pretend play! It is SO adorable to watch Kate act out her experiences through her point of view. Yesterday I got a sample of the new Pampers Cruisers diapers in the mail from P&G. Kate wanted them as soon as she saw them, so I handed them down to her. She ran over to her favorite lovey of all time, her kitty Meow Meow. She said, "Meow Meow poo poo!" and took him over to a pad on the floor. She laid him down, and proceeded to act out a diaper change! When she took the imaginary diaper off Meow Meow, she even said "Eeeeeewwwww!! Icky poo poo!!" Ha! She opened up a diaper and laid it down on top of MM, but couldn't quite understand how to strap it on. Then she picked him up and said "All done!"

Among other news, Kate is sick again. Not sure what it is this time, but so far she's running a low grade fever and coughing. I think we're going to wait this one out and see if we can make it through without a trip to the Pediatrician, but we'll see.

Here's a quick pic of Kate. We took her to the Dallas Arboretum last weekend for my mom's birthday. We had a great time and saw some beautiful flowers!

Pretend Play

I feel like I've said this at every stage (except 18 months) but I must say, I think 21 months is my favorite! Kate is SO much fun right now. She can understand just about everything I tell her, and her vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds as well, so she is able to communicate quite a bit with me. My favorite thing has been the beginning of pretend play. We first saw it with her buddies or her kitty Meow Meow. She teaches Meow Meow how to do things like climb stairs, jump off edges, and then praises him when he has done a good job. :) The most fun to watch her play is in the bath. She has 4 bath toys that are her favorite. She usually portrays herself as the dolphin, me as the turtle, and Jeff as the pelican. I think the crab is anonymous. :) She takes these toys through different courses of events. She makes "me" (the turtle) carry the dolphin around, saying "Are you ready?" "Ready." "Here we go!" And then they travel around the bath tub. Every once in a while the dolphin falls, and Kate says, "Are you ok? Ok?"

Sometimes she will put Jeff and me (the turtle and pelican) up on a shelf. Then she (dolphin) will kiss us both, then say "bye bye!" and swim off for a while. The sweetest was when she brought the dolphin up to the turtle, made them kiss, then said, "Awww, Mommy, I wat choo." (I wat choo is how she says I love you.)

Today I took Kate to a park here in town. So during her bath I watched her re-create all the fun activities she did at the park, there in the bath tub with her dolphin. Slides, climbing the sides, running across bridges, etc. Anyway, all that to say just how much fun she is, and how amazing it is to see the world through her eyes, and her interpretation of the things going on around her!

Kate and Her Auntie

As Kate grows closer to two, she is starting to look SO much like my sister Andrea, don't you think?

Record Snowfall

God is once again giving me a taste of the Minnesota winter I've been missing so much this year. It has been snowing all day here in Dallas. Not just any snow, those big, soft sticky snowflakes that stick to everything they fall on. I captured Kate's sentiment about the snow, which happens to match mine perfectly as well.



Thank you, Lord, for the snow.