So today we celebrated Kate's first birthday with the extended family. We have actually been celebrating since Friday(her actual birthday) and it has really been so much fun. Anyways, she had a great day today. She got to see all her family she loves and she got to have her own birthday cake(which btw was so pretty thanks to Mimi taking care of that for us). But the best part of the day today was Kate started walking. She was so proud of herself, and giggling the whole time and I was so proud too, until I realized my life just changed. : ) Well, here are some pictures of today, friday her real birthday, a video of her blowing out her candle and a video of her walking.
Well, I don't even know where to begin. First, I guess, is Happy Birthday baby Kate! Whew, what a year it has been. I know you all know Kate's entrance into the world was a little different than we had hoped, but what a treasure this past year has been. We are so glad to have baby Kate here with us celebrating her first birthday. She has been such the trooper over the past year enduring countless tests to see what was causing her breathing issues and putting up with that monitor she wore for the first 10 months of her life. Well, we are happy to say, nothing seems to be wrong and she is now 2 months free of that monitor and doing so great. Kate has been such a blessing to us over this past year. She has taken us on a journey of understanding and knowing how to fully put our trust and hope in Christ and Christ alone. How He is faithful in giving us the grace and peace and rest we need when we seek Him and only Him. I will be forever thankful for this past year and the emotional ups and downs of it solely because I now have a firmer foundation in Christ, confidence that He is in control, and what a peace that brings.
Well, back to Kate, she is the greatest little thing that could have been added to this family. I am not sure I can even describe her, but I am going to try. The movie line that always comes to mind when I want to describe Kate is the line from the movie Shrek: “Ogres are like onions! Lot’s of layers.” Not comparing her to orgres here, but onions. She is much cuter than an orgre! Like an onion though, my sweet girl is full of layers. She is so sweet, mild, not too talkactive but when she gets her mind set that she wants something, those things go out the window and she is full force determined to go for it, nothing stopping her. She will not take no for an answer, and when she wants to be heard, believe me, you will hear her! : ) She is mysterious in such a great way...I think. She doesn't let you in upon first meeting(or maybe 100th meeting for that matter), but when she does, oh what a blessing she is. She really makes you work hard to even get a smile out of her(which to me is so hilarious because she really loves to smile and giggle.) She loves Catch and thinks he hung the moon, but she still gives him a hard time and tries to purposely drive him crazy by getting into his beloved red chair. Sometimes she does it while he is in it and just trys to squash herself right in beside him, but sometimes she waits so patiently till he gets out of it and then she makes a dart for it and giggles the whole way there and the whole time we are trying to tell her that is Catch's chair. The giggle there is the best ever, such a loving "I am just trying to get your attention because I love your attention." type giggle.
Kate is competitive already. She and Catch have crawling races and when he starts to win, she pulls back up and sits on her legs and waits for him to come back to her and right when he gets to her, but is stilling facing the wrong direction, she throws herself back down into crawling position and takes off, trying to win. If you know baby Kate, you know she does not like kisses(as I have been told, her mama was just the same way as a baby), but she can be so cuddly and loving with her hugs and touches. The other thing I find so great about baby Kate is...she loves loves to dance. It is the funniest thing ever, but if she hears music with a good beat, she can't control herself, she just breaks out in a dance. She gets a little embarrassed by it sometimes(like if we are in the store or something), but she just can't control herself. She loves music and it makes her move! : ) We frequently have dance parties in the office.
Other things...Kate loves animals. Dogs mainly. She has loved dagz from the moment she could move anywhere near him. Um, she is the best eater. The joy she gets from food is contagious to me. She loves all kinds of food(really good for you food, which is the best! It makes her mama so happy) She loves for you to get her bottle ready in front of her, she just squeals with excitement. I call it the bottle dance! : ) She has such a sweet sense of humor that I look forward to enjoying even more as she grows. So, as you can tell, I have soo soo soo enjoyed this past year getting to know this incredible little person that I actually get to call my daughter. She is just amazing to me. I am so blessed to have her and Catch. They have really been great joys in our lives and I do look forward to getting to know them both more and more each day. So with that....Happy Birthday again sweet girl. Mama loves you sooo much! Below is a video of her first year of life. Hope you enjoy seeing her grow!
I love fall here in Macon. The weather starts getting perfect and cool(although of course there are always some hot days in there too) and fall fun begins. There are fall festivals to go to, the fair in Perry, Halloween, football games and now Kate's birthday to look forward to. This past weekend, we went to our first fall festival at Forest Hills United Methodist Church. Each year they have a fun pumpkin patch to go to and this year was our first time at their festival. Catch and Kate had a great time. Kate just watched in the stroller as Catch played the fun games they had there. He was pretty good at the game where you throw small toy pumpkins into halloween buckets(probably from the hours of basketball we play in the driveway!). I tried to get him to get wounds painted on himself, but I guess he is a little too young for that. : ) Anyways, here are a few pictures of the two of them in the pumpkin patch and Catch playing the games.
So tonight after dinner I told Catch he could have some of these little cookies because he ate well. Me..."I will give you three, Catch, because that is how old you are." Catch..."Mommy, why don't you just pretend I am four today." haha.
Just wanted to wish a happy birthday today to Matt(daddy) and Mimi today. Hope it was a special day for you. Matt and I got to go to the season opener for Georgia last night to celebrate his birthday and what a great time we had. We got to tailgate with some friends and the game was awesome! Mimi came to keep the kids and it was so nice being able to see her on her birthday. Thanks Mimi for coming and spending time with the kids. I know they enjoy seeing you so much. You are full of imagination and energy, which we love about you! Thanks for being a great Mimi. Happy Birthday you two....Go Dawgs!
So Catch's hair was getting out of control, but for some reason I have such a hard time committing to a haircut for him. I have no idea why, but every time it comes time to cut his hair I just am all nervous inside. I like his hair longer, but unfortunately it is so thick and out of control when it is longer that it just doesn't work right. So came the time for a haircut...he did great, but as you can tell from the second picture, I had promised him some gum and I am sure he was thinking what kind he was going to pick out from the store(it's fun to be a little kid and get such small rewards that seem so big to you!) Now he is all clean cut and as cute as he can be...to his mommy at least!
Now it was time to go visit Mimi and Grandpa in Savannah for the weekend(Labor Day weekend) and enjoy some fun in the sun at the beach for a day. Catch loves the beach and this would be the first time for Kate to really experience the beach, so we were really excited about going. The trip was so great, really enjoyable. We left Macon on Sunday and the kids spent Sunday afternoon with Mimi and Grandpa while I went shopping all by myself(Thanks Mimi and Grandpa). Then Monday, we packed up all that was needed for the beach and Catch and Mimi went down a little early so Catch could spend as much time as possible there, while I waited back at the house for Kate to wake up from her morning nap and then we went and meet them at the beach. Catch of course had a great time. He loves jumping in the water, running in and out of the shore break, making mud pies out of the wet sand. He built ramps for his monster truck to roll over and built sandcastles. A treat for him was that his cousins came out to play...John age 5 and Drew age 3. I was so glad they made it. They had a great time playing football and building castles for the dinosaurs they had brought. It was so fun to sit back and watch all these boys play together. As for Kate, well, she did enjoy her first experience at the beach and I think in the long run she will like it even more. First off, she looked so cute in her matching bathing suit and hairbow(Thanks Nancy for that), which is all that matters right! : ) She thought she was something else sitting up in the beach chair. She was a little iffy of the sand and once I put the umbrella up and laid out a towel for her, she was very content to sit right there on that towel, playing with her toys, not even attempting to see what all this sand business was all about(quite the opposite of her brother who at that age basically rolled around in the sand, eating it, not bothered at all about it...and if you notice the pics, not much has changed, except he doesn't eat as much sand now!) The shore break scared her a little, but she is such a good sport when introduced to new things. Overall, it was a great visit to Savannah and to the beach. We look forward to it again soon. Oh how I wish the beach were in our backyard! Love you Mimi and Grandpa, thanks for having us.
So today was a day of first for both of my little ones. It is always an exciting day when something new happens in their development. Watch the video and see the pictures below to see what Catch and Kate's new experience was for today.
Now if any of you know how much Catch likes to swing, you will know why I was so so excited that he figured out how to do it on his own(thanks to a previous trip to the park that morning where he saw a 6 and an 8 year old swinging beside him....he watched them very closely and came home and did it all by himself. I was so proud of him.) I have been so looking forward to this day, but in all honesty, it was kinda bitter sweet. Thankfully I know Catch well enough that even though he knows how to do it, he will always want his mommy to push him on the swing. : )
As for Kate...it was her first time down the slide. I have video of this too, but for some reason can't get it on here. You know, I think she liked it, but she is not near the risk taker that Catch was. He had pure joy the first time he went down the slide and then kept wanting to go again and again. Kate on the other hand was definitely caught by surprise as to what she was doing and then every time I put her back up there and Catch would give her a little nudge on the back, she would hold onto the side of the slide so that she couldn't go down it...she would be just dangling mid-slide still holding on. She didn't cry, so I am assuming she didn't hate it. I think she is just going to have to figure it all out on her own. Below are the pictures of both of their first trips down the slide. Kate today and then Catch's first time down the slide and then back to the top again full of joy ready for another trip down it. So funny to see the different personalities.
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