Overdue update...

How is it that when I have the most free time, I'm the busiest? We've been doing a lot of swimming and Kate can now swim underwater totally alone without a floaty about 5 feet! She is really a little fish in the water and loves it.

Alex and my Mom were here for a week at the beginning of June. We love having them visit! Kate loves playing with Annie and Alex both. Alex mowed our lawn because Loren was out of town. He was so tired! It was a lot of work. We were lucky there were here then, because it has been SO hot since they left. Upper 90s every day.

My garden is hanging in there, but everything is pretty wilted after the long hot days. I had enough tomatoes to can a batch! I also harvested the potatoes that were taking over the garden.

All from the garden!

This is Irene, our neighbor that Kate adores. She is going to be in 4th grade and Kate thinks she is absolutely the neatest person on earth. She is wearing a skirt I made her out of an old t-shirt.

Dentist's daughter.

It is worth it...

Yesterday after our shower, Kate was bundled up in her hooded towel, and looked at me funny. She pointed to a stretch mark on my stomach and we had this conversation:

Kate: "Mommy, what is that?"
Me: "That is a stretch mark I got when you were a baby inside my tummy"
Kate: "I stretched you Mommy?"
Me: "Yes, when you were in my tummy before you were born"
Kate (with a genuinely concerned, compassionate look on her face): "Oh Mommy, I'm sorry I stretched you"

Ok, the darn stretch marks were worth it.

A conversation with Kate

This is the conversation Kate and I had in the car today on the way home from Loren's USGS picnic. She was particularly chatty:

Me: Kate, do you remember what we are doing tomorrow afternoon?

Kate: Go airplane, Aunt Beedoh's wedding. Go airport? Go airplane? Bumpy? Bring ummm...(something I couldn't understand) seat with us?

Me: bring what with us?

Kate: what's this Mommy? (pats car seat)

Me: The car seat

Kate: yeah. bring car seat with us? buckle car seat. wear seat belt.

Me: yes, we are going to the airport to get on the airplane and you can bring your car seat.

Kate: Flower girl! Pretty dress.

Me: Yes, you have a pretty dress. What will we do at Aunt Beedoh's wedding?

Kate: Walk down the aisle? Mommy walk down the aisle, Kate walk down the aisle, Daddy walk down the aisle.

Me: yes, that's right.

Kate (now distracted): I see cars Mommy! They driving. We can't get them. They not ours. Ours right here (pats the car). We driving too. The same! Actually, this is my car. Not Daddy's car. It's mine's. It's Mommy's car. I see a truck. It's not ours. We can't get it. Too hard. Where Daddy's truck? Daddy probably working. Do hokey pokey mama?

I love being able to have these little conversations with her! She moves fast, though. You have to be paying attention because the topics change quickly!!

Where to even begin? 1. Kate

Sorry, I'm a slacker. I love my summer schedule and I'm really enjoying it! I've done a bunch of new sewing projects (and still have a bunch on my to do list) that I need to post, tons of gardening and cooking. I think I'm going to do separate posts to get all caught up, though. This first will be on my favorite subject: Kate!

Still to come: Vermont trip, Projects, Garden, Chinese dumpling lessons

She is talking so much! It is really a lot of fun. She can tell us what is wrong, tell us what she needs and has whole conversations with us! I can ask her what happened during her day and she can remember and relate it back to me. For example, she had a bruise on her head the other day and I asked her how she got it. She told me she fell out of bed during her nap that day. Talking is pretty useful huh?!?

Kate picked up occasionally calling me "Meggan" instead of "Mommy" from her cousins. Ok fine. But what is really funny is that she thinks Loren's name is "Ryan". What?

This is Kate showing what you do with wet diapers "Squeeeeeeeee it" I've got to get a video. It is so funny!

Terrible twos: T-3 months until Kate's 2nd birthday, but we are starting a bit of ornery-ness. The other day she didn't want to take an afternoon nap and was pretty wound up. When I came back to her room to tell her to go to sleep, she was jumping on the bed saying "naughty, naughty". So I know she knows she is being disobedient. I guess at least she knows...we just have to work on that self control...

Stalling

It's official. We've been had. Outsmarted by our 18 month old. It took us at least a week to see it for what it really was: bedtime stalling.

As you all know, getting Kate to eat has always been a task, so anytime she tells us she actually wants to eat, we sprint to the kitchen and throw open the fridge. So apparently, Kate noticed this, and devised a plan: at bedtime, tell mom and dad "eat! hun-ry!" and it will effectively delay bedtime by getting them to run to the kitchen and offer food. Sneaky little thing! The thing is, sometimes she'll eat a bit, but sometimes nothing we offer is what she wants.

On the 5th or 6th night, it dawned on us...she isn't actually hungry. She's stalling. The old glass of water at bedtime trick. And we fell for it. Granted, if she'll really eat something, I'm willing to put up with a bit of stalling for a full tummy.

As Kate would say..."oh boy..."

Sometimes you just gotta give in...(or up...)

Sometimes it just isn't worth the fight...

Sigh...yes, even the most well-intentioned, over-educated parents can end up feeding their child French Onion dip for dinner on occasion. Ummm...dairy group?? No, the chip wasn't included. It was just acting as the spoon. Hey, you try to get her to eat!

Even though she doesn't want to eat, she does love to cook. "Cooking! Food! Eat! Hun-ry." Interesting that her kitchen floor looks similar to mine after I've made dinner...hmmm. I think there is even a baby having a temper tantrum on her floor, too!

It is so fun to see Kate starting some imaginative play where she pretends. She pretends to cook (with my felt food!! yippee!!) and puts her babies to bed "night night baby...peeping" (=sleeping, said always in a whisper).

She also loves her stroller "go-wee". Here she is grocery shopping, checking out the nutritional content of Special K. Highly advanced for her age, you know...
Nah, I'll pass on the Special K, give me that French Onion dip!

And I couldn't resist one more pic with her hair in pig tails...they are just so darn cute! Such a shame they don't last.

The Helmet

Kate loves her bike. "Bike! Bike!" is all I hear when we go get in the car (the bike is right next to her side of the car). However, we made the mistake of letting her go on it before we got her a helmet...I'm sure you can see where this is going. Kate can't actually ride the bike, but she loves to sit on the seat and have Daddy push her around. Until the helmet...

A few minutes of riding...

Get this thing OFF!Daddy will wear the helmet, see?!? Isn't this fun!
Mommy to the rescue.

Coloring

Clear your refridgerator doors-Kate has just started to show an interest in coloring. It is so cute to see her concentrate on her artwork! She uses both hands and talks to herself. I'm hoping to get some large paper to spread out on the floor. I was really surprised to see her hold her pen correctly, as well. We didn't show her, she just did it!

Aunt Beedoh and Uncle Brad

Aunt Beedoh and Uncle Brad came to visit us this weekend. Brad surprised Beedoh with the trip for her birthday, but the even bigger surprise was that they went to South Carolina first and got engaged! We are so happy for them. It was a wonderful weekend--we went to a swim lesson with Kate, went to Duke gardens and took some photos, had lunch at Lindsey Berutti's soda fountain, had our nails done and went shoe shopping for Kate. I wish we lived closer:(

11 months

I can hardly believe Kate is 11 months old. I remember last year at this time being very pregnant and hot in the NC heat. We get the first 2 weeks of August off each year, and last year I spent my 2 weeks getting ready for Kate and finishing up our wedding scrapbook which I figured would never get done otherwise. This year we took a trip to CO for the first week. We stayed with both Kent and Debbie and my parents. Kate got to meet Great Gagy, which was wonderful for both of them. We went to the county fair and had popsicles naked outside.

Kate loved playing airplane with Papa Kent:

...and cuddling with Papa Craig.

She enjoyed being pulled in the wagon by Uncle Alex...
and having her toenails painted by Aunt Beedoh.

She spent lots of time outside playing on the slide...

and going for a dip in the hot tub.

Everywhere she went, she left her mark...

Kate is walking all over the place now and is very stable. Only the occasional crash now. She is very independent and enjoys her new freedom. She has also started saying her official first word: "Hi" and will say "Hi Dad" on the phone. We are having so much fun with her, especially now that she is interacting with us more and more.

While we were gone, Loren surprised me with new wood floors throughout the main level of our house. I was shocked! They are beautiful! In addition, he cleaned the bathrooms and refrigerator. I've got to leave more often!!

I admit I'm a little nervous to go back to school for the fall. My schedule is not as good as it has been in the past and I don't get as much time at home. I am trying to have a positive attitude and keep reminding myself it is only about 3 months...

How easily we forget...

When Kate is fussy in public, people sometimes make the comment "oh poor baby, life is rough isn't it..." but I'm not sure they actually think about this sarcastic statement. I think sometimes life really IS rough for a baby.

Imagine not being able to communicate your needs very well, having to guess and use trial and error to get what you need. Imagine using building up your muscles to be able to take a few steps and then once you can actually walk, you have no balance, and so you fall all the time. You also have decreased spatial perception, and so you also run into things all the time. People sometimes pick you up and take you places you don't want to go. You get interrupted during your playtime. You are tired and don't know how to go to sleep, and you DO have worries--people come and go and you don't really understand why or where or even if you'll ever see them again. You get sick and can't breathe and don't know why, or what to do about it, or even if it will ever get better. People tell you not to do things and you don't understand why.

Ok, you get the point...so when we are out and fussy, just remember: they are babies, not adults!

Chameleon head

Kate's hair changes color depending on the light- I can't tell if she is going to be a red head or not!?! What do you think?

Summertime and the living is easy...

I love summer- the pace of school is slow, the days are long and warm and the humidity is high (especially in our house, with a husband who is anti-A/C)--oh yeah, I don't love the humidity, but that doesn't stop me from loving summer! Kate has been participating in all the great summer kid activities including drinking water from the hose, taking naps in the afternoon, and playing outside in the rain.

Trial and error

Unfortunately these shiny little beetles devastated one of our most beautiful rose bushes while we were wedding hopping. They ate the ENTIRE bush. I was so sad. We are also having trouble with several of our salvias which look like they have been torched. Strangely, several others (same kind) right next to the dead ones are going wild. Who knows! We'll have to try again next summer.

We've also discovered that Kate loves blueberries and shredded cheese! She has been eating so well the past few weeks and actually ate an entire yogurt for me today! She is also starting to do some signs back to us. We have been trying "more", "milk" and "all done". Two times in a row, she has done "all done when she was finished eating. It is so cute to see her learn.

I still need to do her 10 month photo-hopefully today or tomorrow. She is so wiggly now that I can't do it alone-I need Loren to put her on the couch and entertain her long enough for me to back up and take the photo.

She is doing so well learning to walk. She is excellent at standing on her own and can walk about 6-8 feet alone. She tries so hard...stands up, walks, falls, gets up, walks, falls...over and over. She is never discouraged. What a good attitude! I hope she will carry that persistence and positivity her whole life.