Horse Races

Dear Kate,

Last weekend, Mommy, Daddy, Sister and you went to Lexington, KY to visit Mommy's college friend, Miss Jenny.  While there, we went to Keeneland on Saturday to see the horses race.  Well, some of us watched, others slept...

You were such a fantastic baby at the races (well, to be honest, the whole weekend!), that even the ushers said something to me after about how good you did the whole time.  You didn't sleep the whole time, but when you weren't sleeping, you took full notice of those horses.  Daddy even tried to make you pick which horse would win, but I told him he had to wait at least a year before he started getting you to gamble :)

It was a fun weekend for us all.  Next time though, you will be walking and betting like all the rest of us!! Love you baby girl! 

7 Months Old

 Dear Kate,
You are 7 months old!  Wow, a lot can happen in a month.  First off, HELLO TOOTH!  That's right, your first precious little tooth popped on through.  It's on your bottom and I'd say within a week  of that one popping through, you had yet another one!  Now you have 2 bottom teeth!!  You will be chewing steaks in no time.  You've done rather well with the teething, so far.  A couple times you've been fussy, but I don't know whether that's to teeth or just being 7 months old.  I can give you a wet rag and you are content.  No crazy fevers or terrible nights/days.  So keep that up!  
Because getting a tooth wasn't enough to do in a month, you also learned to crawl! Yep, you crawl.  Well, let me clarify.  You get from one spot to the other.  We cannot take our eyes off you, at all.  Now, you aren't officially using your knees, but you do what's called an army crawl.  You are all arms, baby girl!  But you go, no doubt.  You also learned to pick yourself up when laying down.  This was just in the last couple of days, so we are super impressed with that.  Sister let us know you could do it!  She hollered "MOM!!! Kate sat up!!!"  I thought she said/meant threw up, but nope, you were sitting up like a champ!  You are also eating like a champ these days.  You're eating cereal and fruit for breakfast and cereal and TWO level 2 veggies at night.  And you do NOT like to wait.  When it's time to eat, you want it and you want it now and do not want breaks in between.  I love it though.  Well, not the screaming when I'm trying to eat in between your bites, but I love that we're all 4 sitting at the dinner table each night eating together!  Soon enough you'll be eating what we're eating with all those teeth popping in!  Then I'll REALLY love it!
As I've mentioned, you are taking baths now with your sister.  So big girl of you.  You are also into swinging, especially with the big sis.  Who loves to push you.
Sleeping is going fantastic.  For a little over a week, you were sleeping all night, like no paci cries, nothing.  I'd put you to bed at 7:30, and you'd sleep until 7 the next morning.  This was also the time your sister was sleeping all night in her bed (well, Mimi's bed, but not ours is the key point here), so Mommy and Daddy had the whole bed all night long, no interruptions to go upstairs for a solid week.  It was nice.  For some reason this past week you've woken up to where I have to put your paci in.  It's just once a night, so I'm not complaining, but not sure why we had that crazy week of sleep freedom in there!  Again, no complaints, you are awesome at going to sleep and sleeping till 6ish in the morning.  And now we let you play in your bed for a little bit in the morning.
It's been an interesting and exciting month baby girl, and you are just as beautiful as ever.

 

 

Love you sweet Kate!!!

Week in pictures

Dear Kate,

This week...

You took a big girl bath!!!!
With your big sister!!!!
And even gave her a good washing...

We headed back to the zoo, getting in on the swing action...

I don't have pictures of it, but you stayed with your first babysitter on Friday night. Mommy and Daddy went to the hockey game and our sweet neighbor, Lauren, got to babysit you! She's been super eager about it and Mommy was happy to have her over. We were able to send your sister to Aunt Steph's so it was just you and Lauren. Thank goodness!!! Apparently you were not your sweetest for about an hour. But it's okay. Lauren was able to keep things under control and you took a quick little nap to help with your issues. I was a little nervous about it at first (when she text me and said you were asleep at 6:45) because I just knew that meant you'd be up at 4, or not be asleep when we got home. But, she was awesome and had you asleep by 8:15 and you slept ALL NIGHT LONG! Thank goodness. Lauren is super sweet and loves babies, especially you so I am glad she worked it out with you :)

Saturday we headed to your buddies house for some outdoor activity.

And then the bestest thing happened yesterday. We got a playground. Finally. It was finished at 7:00 and you and your sister could not wait to play on it....

Hooray!! You love to swing and your sister loves to push you! A good combo, no doubt. Loves to ya!

OH! YOU GOT A TOOTH!!! But maybe I'll wait to talk about that in your 7 month post...

Your First Easter!!

Dear Kate,

Your first Easter has come and gone, but what a great first it was! After visiting the Easter bunny (alone, because you were the lone brave one to sit in his lap), the next step was to dye eggs. Well, your sister and her buddies did, but you had some playin' with your buddy, Jake...

How sweet & precious is he, huh?! And you are just looking all innocent and sweet yourself...

Oh wait. Never mind...

Jake is shocked someone is pinchin' his booty!
You guys had tons of fun playing together and you decided to top the night off with an incredibly "bad" diaper, to the point that I had to call in for help from Aunt Steph. We ended on that note.

On Friday, we headed to Sister's school for her Easter party, including an egg hunt. You and Daddy watched carefully as all the eggs were gathered. You seemed to be enjoying the beautiful weather!

Then, when we got back in Sis's classroom, you got to sit right beside her during circle time!!

She was SOOOO excited and pointed out to all her friends that you were sitting beside her!

On Saturday, we prepared the house and some food for the Easter brunch at our house, and then we headed to Dickson (where Daddy grew up!) to go to dinner for Papa's birthday. You got to sit at the head of the table and sweet Alexis was even sweet enough to feed you while Mommy ate!

It was a great (but too short) dinner because ALL of the Clark family was there!

After dinner, we headed to your first basketball game! It was a fund raiser for Daddy and Uncle Jaybee's friend's kids who are sick. You enjoyed the game, and by enjoy, I mean enjoyed being passed from Papa to Mommy to Daddy to Papa!

Oh, and then to Caroline! She loved holding you but gave Aunt Amy a heart attack because she was walking around with you!! Mommy had a close eye on you, and Caro did great!
It was such a good game for you that eventually you conked out! Everyone was laughing because the buzzers were going off and it wouldn't even phase you!
The next morning you had a little surprise waiting for you from the Easter bunny!!!

And your sister was super helpful in showing you all your loot...

Caro (and fam!) spent the night and she shared her bunny with you.
And you loved your yogurt melts, or at least the outside of the package. I haven't been brave enough to let you try them just yet. Your sister and her choking habits have put the fear of mankind in me...
Look at my cute bunnies!

After digging through the baskets, we got all cleaned and spiffy and got ready for Easter brunch at our house. First though, we had to go through many, many pictures, some candid, others not so much...

My sweet girls...
Here's our family! Easter 2012!
And Christopher decided to test out your exersaucer, while chattin' on the phone.

We ate brunch, you ate a bottle, and then eventually took a lovely nap. So peaceful that you woke up happy as can be, and just as pretty as can be, too...

Then the lovin' started! Aunt Amy had to get some lovin' time with you...
And Mommy had to give some hugs and kisses away...

Papa loved on you, but then made you look like you were in a cage :)
And Caroline needed some holding time with you...

Then Aunt Steph decided you'd look super cute with Caro's big bow!! I thought you pulled it off rather well!

And then you had to give Christopher some cousin lovin'!
Going for the face, as usual...

We hid some eggs and let the girls hunt, and you and Daddy did a little hunting, too! Here you are spotting an egg and making your grab at it...

But someone else was a little more swift and got to it first...
Daddy was not happy.

You'll get her back one of these days, I just know it!

Aside from the stolen egg, Easter was such a great day this year. We all enjoyed the family and the beautiful weather just was icing on the cake! Happy First Easter baby girl! You are getting so big and beyond beautiful right before our eyes! Love you!