Showering Drew, Mandy, & Baby Zoey with Love

Books galore!

Last Saturday we survived the impossible: a baby shower with three energetic toddlers running/cruising around.  As Blake said at the end of the evening, "that was much more fun than I thought it would be!"  He certainly wasn't knocking the company or the idea of the party, but you just never know what can happen with a room full of little ones!

We are so happy for Drew and Mandy (Kate's god-mommy extraordinaire) and can't wait to meet Baby Zoey.  I know she and Kate are going to be fast friends!  I hope you enjoy some of the pictures from the book-themed shower!

Strawberry cupcakes with the recipe courtesy of Oprah.com

Zoey Rae is going to be one loved little girl!

Flowers from our garden

Opening gifts

Mandy might be thinking, "what did I get myself into?" after being around the kids!

Excited daddy!  :)

 

The mom-to-be!

Caroline & Nate playing a potential disastrous game

Kate helping to open presents

Kate with the bow she "borrowed" from Zoey

End of the night...I think someone is worn out!

Oh, What a Weekend!

Kate's favorite expression when something "surprises" her

This post will be short because I haven't uploaded the photos from our weekend yet, but I wanted to include Kate's "surprised" expression on the blog.  This little face gets us every time!

New Experiences

It's amazing to watch Kate grow and play each day.  It's so fun to witness her making new discoveries, almost on a daily basis.  As she continues to learn to walk independently, we have a new skill...crawling!  Of course I'd describe her crawling as more as half-crawling, half-walking, but it allows her to make quick, forward progress while she is still learning to walk.  

Another new experience for Kate is eating watermelon.  I've included lots of "juicy" pictures of Kate enjoying her favorite new fruit!

Watermelon is so yummy!

Isn't summertime so wonderful?  While it's not technically summer yet, it sure has felt like it lately with the 90+ degree weather.  As a result, we've had limited outdoor playtime as a family.  Even though it's been a little toasty, we did sneak in a romp in the grass one evening this week and, of course, we had to peek at our growing garden.  Here's some pictures of Daddy and Kate having fun outside!

My favorite ride!

Veggie garden

No, those aren't weeds...those are our blackberry & raspberry bushes!

Splish, Splash

Kate in her chair!

Loving the new porch!

Well, it seems like we've skipped spring around here and have just run head-long into summer.  One week it was cool and rainy and the next we've been having 90 degree weather.  What happened to 70 and sunny?  Oh well.  As a result of the balmy conditions, Blake and I made a new purchase Saturday night: a plastic baby pool (yep, you read that right).  We now have a "redneck hot tub" as Blake calls it.  Even though Blake complained about getting the baby pool,  he can't get over Kate's delight when she gets in her new toy.

As you can see below, they both enjoyed the pool yesterday afternoon.  It sure does come in handy after an afternoon of yard work!

We've really enjoyed our 3 day weekend together.  Lots of fun in the sun, playing outside, enjoying the new screened-in porch, and some relaxing thrown in there too.  Work will be hard tomorrow, but at least it's air-conditioned!  Here are some more pictures from our weekend:

Trying to 'scoop' up the water and drink it

Come join me!

Long Time, No Post

Sorry it's been several weeks since I last posted on the blog.  There just doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day to work and play.  We've also pushed Kate's bedtime to between 7:30 and 8pm which doesn't leave me much time to do things around the house before I need to go to bed.  Needless to say, our laundry pile is quite large by the time I get around to tackling it! Anyways, here's some "news" from the 'ole home-front.

First of all, BIG news in our house....Kate has TEETH!  Her bottom two teeth started poking through at 13 months and 1 day.  Better late than never!  I've heard from lots of people that the later the teeth, the healthier they are, that she'll soon get all of her teeth at once, it will be less painful, the list goes on and on.  Not sure any of this is true, but we're just so thankful she won't be a spokes-baby for Baby Polygrip after all!

Second, Kate has been doing such a great job transitioning to "real" food.  Even without teeth, she can chomp down on chunks of chicken and turkey, pasta, bread, and a host of fruits and veggies.  She even tried cheese pizza one day!  What a big girl!

Kate enjoying her pizza!

Finally, I enjoyed a great 2nd Mother's Day.  As some of you might recall, Kate came home from the NICU on my 1st Mother's Day.  We spent the day with my parents and grandmother.  We enjoyed a Mother's Day brunch at my grandma's retirement community and baked a chicken dinner for dinner.  All in all, a great day!

Kate and Mommy on Mother's Day

Let Me Eat Cake!

Cake face!

Our local bakery is offering free cake squares every Monday in the month of May.  As you can see, Baby Kate couldn't resist getting a cake square of her very own!  

Dottie enjoyed helping Kate clean up before her bath.  You don't get thunder thighs like Kate without eating a little cake every now and then!  :)

Getting clean thanks to Daddy!

All clean and I have TWO pacis!

Blake cleaned Kate up and put on her snuggly pjs.  She went to bed nice and warm... dreaming of cake!

Baby Steps

Peek-a-boo!

I see you!

When I walk I find things to put in my mouth!

Over the past couple of weeks Kate has become more determined than ever to learn to walk.  While she still has a death-grip on my hands when she stands and walks, she can motor around quicker than before.  We had friends over for dinner last night and they commented on the huge progress she's made in the two weeks since they saw her last.  We've come to the conclusion that Kate is not going to crawl, at least not before she learns to walk.  

These pictures were taken in our downstairs playroom.  Kate loves the leather ottoman because it's just to right height to walk around.  Now, if she can just gain the confidence (and the balance) to try some walking on her own, I think she'll be ready to take off!

Corners are tricky!

I made it!