7 months! (well now 7 1/2 months...takes me too long to post!)

We've had another busy month, enjoying our little baby become more of a little girl! She's still loving sitting up, and is doing such a good job at lunging for toys and keeping her balance. Sometimes she'll lunge so far that she starts to move into this half-crawling position, and by the looks of it, it doesn't seem that crawling is too far off! She squirms all around on her tummy now too. She can move in a 360 degree circle on her tummy (only clockwise!) and just this week has started scooting backwards in a straight line. How frustrating to move further away from your toys, when you are trying to get closer! :) We had a funny moment yesterday when she was on her tummy. I was trying to distract her into getting more tummy time and was singing and dancing with her sun hat. I started throwing it up in the air and she thought it was hilarious! Big, belly laughs! I managed to get some video of it and will try to post it at the end of this post. So much fun!

She's babbling more, lots of mama's, baa's, ffff's, and gaa's. Haven't heard the daa yet, but I'm sure it's coming. She's real vocal, either with those sounds, or she also likes to growl a lot. Must feel funny in her throat! Super cute.

She's starting a bit of the separation anxiety now too. Sometimes momma just can't be close enough for her! It's endearing, but at times trying--for example when I would like to make a run to the bathroom sans child on my hip! :) That's ok though...she's such a love bug that it's hard not to want her with me all the time anyway!

Oh, she also loves to walk around holding our hands. Not sure if this means she'll be an early walker (oh dear!), but she sure loves it right now. We were at the park this week, over by the slides, and she wanted to do some walking. I put her down, holding her hands for balance, and she walked right back over to the swings! So cute! She does love the swings.

A few days before her 7month birthday, she decided that she likes to eat! We'd been offering baby food for about a month prior to that, but she really just wasn't into it. She'd close her lips, turn her head and refuse to eat. She wanted to eat--she kept reaching for our food--but just wasn't ready I guess. I figured she'd eat when she wanted to, and sure enough she did. All of a sudden, when I offered her food she eagerly went for it! We've had lots of fun trying new foods and watching her get it everywhere on her body. She gets excited to eat and has liked pretty much everything we've offered: sweet potatoes, bananas, apples, carrots. Good stuff!

I'm sure there's other new things that she's doing, but I just can't remember them all! I really should post more often, even if it's just a quick update. As it is, it's hard to complete a big post like this! (I'm finally finishing this May 2nd!).

Here are some pictures to enjoy:

Kate in her party dress at one of the many baby showers she attended this month!


Getting ready for an EEG for a research study at the UW (she was such a good sport!)


Mmmm...sweet potatoes!


See, I really do like food!


Playing with my toys!


Good friend Aidan making me laugh!


How many pictures does it take to get all 3 kids looking at the camera?
One? Nope.


Two? Nope. (Kate's trying to eat Charlotte's shoe)


Three? still nope. Aidan's got the smiling down, but the girls are a bit behind! (well at least Charlotte's trying to direct Kate's chewing to something more appropriate). :)



Here's the video of Kate laughing at me tossing her sunhat around the house. At the end, you can see me pitifully roll my ankle and fall down. Ahh, the things you do for a laugh! :)

Cherry Blossoms!

Kate and I were off on another adventure in the sun today! We went to the quad at the UW to enjoy the blooming cherry trees. It was spectacular! Kate loved all the people watching and the sun on her back.

More pics to prove how cute she is...

Also, she started playing peek-a-boo yesterday! It is so much fun watching her cover her face with a blanket, and then pull it down real fast, grinning and waiting to see our reaction. Such pure joy.

Think I'm in love.

Fun in the Sun

Kate spent part of the afternoon today enjoying this sunshine that we're having by playing at the beach with mom and auntie Sue! She loved playing in the sand...she kept digging her hands in it and letting it fall between her fingers. She was pretty messy by the time we had to go home, but that's what being a kid is all about, right? ;)

Enjoy the pics!

Julie

Half a Year, Already!

This month seems to have gone by particularly fast, even though I know I said this last month, but I think my proof is with the lack of posts! I know you all are probably aching for more pictures of our darling girl, and I'm sorry I've slacked with that! I hope this month I'll do better! :)

Kate is growing into such a lovely little girl. She's a happy, joyful, easy going girl. She certainly has her moments of fussiness and crankiness, but those moments don't last for very long.

She's sitting by herself now, which she absolutely loves. Whenever she's put on her back, she strains to lift her head, shoulders, and as much as her body as she can, to look around and see what's going on. She'd much rather be sitting up to check everyone out, than laying down! She's good at playing on her tummy (as long as she's in a good mood!) and rolls over periodically. She definitely rolls, but she hasn't figured out that she can do it when she wants to. So far, she only rolls when she's fussing and protesting being on her tummy, or if I bring a toy over her head and she rolls to look at it. At least for now we can ensure she gets good tummy time! I've heard that once they realize they can roll whenever they want, it's much harder to get the tummy time in. :)

We've started using highchairs when we're out at restaurants, as well as at home, and she really likes being a part of the action. Todd also popped her in a grocery cart this weekend for the first time, and he said she was loving that too. Anything that gets her sitting up!

She went on a swing for the first time this month too! She thinks swinging is so much fun! She's still a bit tiny so we have to pop a blanket in behind her for a little extra support, but she loves it! She has huge smiles, her legs kick wildly, and she makes her happy vocalizations. It is so much fun for us too. Now we have a good reason to go to the park--it's fun to see her in the swing with all the other little kids playing around. She's not just this little babe that sleeps and eats anymore! She's playing! :) So much fun!

What else?? She's found her feet and likes to try to grab them and shove them in her mouth. She's babbling a lot--she says her vowels and lots of "mmms" and I've heard an occasional "bah." Sometimes she says "mmm mah" and it sounds like momma, and we joke and say that she's a genius and already has her first word! :) Such simple pleasures now.

Her 6 month appt was yesterday (and I mean monday--yes, it's taking me 4 days to get this post written!) and everything went well. Her weight is still hanging around the 10th percentile: 13lbs 8 oz. We've looked at my own growth charts and her weight and my weight have been practically identical. I was 13lbs 4oz. Too funny...we're just a couple of tiny girls!

We've started giving her a few tastes of food, although she hasn't been too interested yet. Well, she acts like she wants food, but then gags or spits it out. She's swallowed a little bit, but not much yet. So we're just taking it easy and following her cues. It sure provides lots of fun picture opportunities!

I'll try to update this month more often than last, but until then, here's some pictures to enjoy!

Thanks for checking in. Please leave a comment for us to read to Kate!
Love,
Julie

All bundled up and ready for a stroll


Oh, mom...


First time swinging!


Playing with my bff Charlotte (before I mastered sitting up!)


Swinging with my buddy Sam.


Hmmm...not so sure about avocado.


Definitely not sure about this avocado!


Lounging in my high chair

5 months old!

How quickly time flies! Our Kate Scarlett is already five months old, although it seems like just yesterday that I was writing about being 4 months old!

She is such a fun girl these days. Lots of smiles and laughs, with occasional squealing :) . She is really quite a happy girl. She loves bath time--she always takes her bath with mom or dad in the tub with her, and she loves to kick her legs and play with her turtles. And when I say play, I mean she tries really hard to get the turtles in her mouth! I think we'll have to take her swimming at the pool one of these days!

She's really into standing up now too. When we hold her in a sitting position, it's not very long before she arches her back and kicks her legs out to try and get into a standing position. She just wants to see what's going on and be a part of all the action.

She's started to pay more attention to other kids, especially her friends Aidan and Charlotte. Aidan is 3 1/2 years, and Charlotte is 1 yr and Kate is so interested in what they are doing! I think she's taking notes, saying to herself, "they stand up and then move their legs...hmmm..wonder if I can do that?" Pretty soon she'll be chasing after them!

I think it won't be long now until she starts eating some food too. She's been very interested in watching us eat, and lately she's grabbing my cup whenever I'm holding one. I'll let her mouth it, and she just drools all over it!

She's also reaching for everything that's within 6 inches of her. Toys, the phone, clothes, anything--we're definately more on the baby-proofing thoughts these days because of that. She's keeping us on our toes!

Sleep's been more of a challenge this past month. She's continued with waking every 3-4 hours at night, despite the pleading her mother does to return to the 7-9 hour stretches. I know, I know, it was too good to be true, but a girl can try, can't she?! Actually the past couple nights have been a bit better...we've warmed up her room a bit and she slept 6.5 and 7.5 hours. Maybe we've found the magic potion...

Ok, enough with the written updates. I know you're hankering for more pics, so here you go! Thanks also for all the comments from the last post. It's so nice to see who's checking up on us. We appreciate you thinking about us!

Enjoy,
Love
Julie

I'm too cool for my sunglasses.


Admiring my first Valentine's Day card from Grandma


It's so fun to play with friends! (Left to right: Avery, Linnea, Kate, Amelia)


You are so funny, momma!


Lovin' daddy time!

Fun Pics

Just wanted to post a few new pictures of our darling girl.

Enjoy!
P.S. Kate really likes it when you post a comment after you check out our updates!



Enjoying a day with dad and trying to eat my sweater.


Playing outside in the sunshine (yes, mom made me this hat!)


Just showing off the hat again!


Smiley floor time


When will spring come?? (it's hard to see, but it's snowing in the background)

Four Months Old!

Our little girl is growing so fast! We've had so much fun with her this past month, watching her grow and learn every day. She's now rolled from her back to belly once, and belly to back a handful of times, although she's gotta be naked to do any rolling at all! She's laughing a lot--tonight at dinner, we sat her down on the table next to us, and for some reason, she thought it was the funniest thing ever! She gave a good hearty laugh, which made Todd and I laugh, which made her laugh more! She's giving out many smiles and likes it when we blow on her tummy and kiss her cheeks. She thinks it's really funny when mom sings skitamarink-ka-dink-ka-dink (or how ever you spell that!) and she could (and does!) stroll for hours with dad.

Sleeping has been a bit of a mixed bag this month. She sometimes gives us NINE consecutive hours, and other nights, she's up every 3-4. We can't really figure out a pattern to that, but just try to take advantage when she's feeling generous. Naps have started to even out though. She takes a couple shorter naps in the morning, and a long 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon.

I started back to work this month, and so she and Todd get to have long days together, just the two of them. They both seem to be doing well with that, and, although my first day back to work was really tough, it's getting easier to be away. It does feel good to be back with patients and feeling productive, in a non-mommy way.

She has her 4 month appt next Monday...we'll get to see how much she weighs now, and of course, more vaccinations.

I'll leave you with some more lovely pictures of Kate: