Catching Up Part 2 - Month 5

While Kate is busy sawing some logs during her afternoon nap, I'm going to continue on with my marathon blog post and try to get the past month wrapped up.  Being first time parents we are pretty amazed at every little coo and burp that comes out of our baby.  When she grabbed her feet for the first time it was as though man had landed on the moon for the first time.  Besides discovering her feet, the past month has brought many firsts and even some seconds including her second snow.

We'll start off with a few Daddy and Kate pictures.  I can already tell she's got her daddy wrapped around her finger.  Just get used to opening that wallet Dad!

For Papa's birthday Kate and I did a little photo shoot to send him some birthday wishes.  It took a few (quite a few) attempts but we finally got one that we could send.

For some Texas kids this was the first snow they'd seen.  For Kate this was old news after her white Christmas in Atlanta.  Regardless we still got excited when we woke up to snow covering the ground.  Or maybe we were just excited for an excuse to bundle her up in the bunny suit again.  By the time she woke up from her nap the snow was almost all gone!

Kate got to meet another new friend, Elizabeth one sunny weekend for lunch. Her mom, Colleen and I went to Vanderbilt together and we grabbed a quick bit to eat while they were passing through Austin on their way home to San Angelo. Kate got a few tips from her older friend on crawling and pulling socks off.

Future Vandy girls?!?!

Elizabeth shows Kate how Texas girls should go barefoot. 

Kate got to watch her first Superbowl.  Here she is cheering alongside Mia and Nana. 

I'm not sure we even knew who was playing, but we know that dad was big the winner with his awesome pulled pork.  Yummy!

Also on the list of repeat performances was another hike.  This time we went to Emma Long Park and did the Turkey Creek Trail.  Dad did a great job navigating all 17 times the path crossed the creek. 

February also meant Kate got to celebrate her first Valentine's Day.  She got up early so that she could ask Mia to be her Valentine. 

Opening her first Valentine!

Later that night, Kate gave Dad a special valentine that she and Mommy made. 

Daddy brought his favorite girls some beautiful pink roses. 

Later that week it was time for more birthday celebrations.  Happy Birthday Mia!

Giving Mia a personalized notebook and making Mia cry. 

Kate is still working on mastering her skills at sitting up so she gets a little help from the bumbo chair.  You'll have to indulge me as I posted quite a few pictures from this photo shoot.  She's just so darn cute I couldn't pick my favorite! 

Ah, the end is in site which is good because I think I hear little one waking up from her nap.  I leave you with her five month photos.  Notice the hair which is completely laying down.  I have ignored Stephen's suggestion that we go and have it cut!

Not her most intelligent look, but pretty funny :-)

I think she got her Daddy's long eyelashes!

Sweet little feet.

 

While most of the country is being battered by nasty weather including snow predicted in San Francisco?!?! we are enjoying a beautiful 70 degree day.  I think Kate and I will close out this blog post and treat ourselves to a nice walk around the neighborhood.

Just kidding!  Baby went back to sleep and I pulled the pictures and videos off my phone so thought I would share those as well.

Happy baby out for a walk.

She thinks her hands are fascinating.  What a coincidence, so do I!

Probably the last time she will wear her bunny suit.  It was a chilly 20 degrees outside!

I think she might be calling on a higher power here.

While not the most lady-like picture, I love this one.  Mia had put Kate to bed the night before and this is how I found her the next morning.  Completely unwrapped, gown hiked up, one sock pulled off (can you find where it ended up?), and Franciose her giraffe-pacifier on top of her head.  Guess you get what you pay for with babysitters :-)

One last video to leave you with.  Kate is definitely starting to have her own 'language'.  Here she is having a fabulous conversation with herself. 

Ok, baby is officially awake and kicking her legs up in the air so I better go rescue her...

Catching Up Part 1 - Month 4

I have been feeling very guilty for not blogging recently so I am determined to catch our blog post up to current day.  So here goes the first part of my attempt to get caught up with current day.  I'll post pictures from the past month in the next posting.  Hope you enjoy!

Before I skipped ahead to post videos of Kate rolling over, we were back in January enjoying our first hike as a family.  Kate had a big day when friends Austin and Graham came to town with their mom Angela and we all got together over at Elliott's house for a big play date.  Kate had fun watching the boys run amuck.  Thanks Stephanie for having us all over!

Here Kate puts up with Mom snapping some photos before the big date. Just wait until it's prom time!

Below is our attempt at getting all the kiddos lined up for a photo.  Austin is being 'gentle' with Kate while Elliott laughs at Graham who is never still.  I'm not sure even the sport photo setting on our camera could catch that energetic little guy!

Kate's not quite sure what to think of all these boys.

Austin was very sweet with Kate and it seems she is quite taken with him :-)

 

Kate got to see an old friend when Kris came to stay with us while in town for work from San Francisco.  Not sure what kind of tales Kris is telling Kate.  But it looks like those two are up to no good!

 

It became evident that Kate was rapidly outgrowing her Moses basket as well as the straight-jacket swaddle.  Our little Houdini was busting out of the swaddle during most naps and finally we gave in.  I took this picture while she was still asleep and had broken free of my attempt to keep her arms pinned down.

I love this picture of one of her first naps unswaddled. She seems to have a look of victory on her face.

It had also become pretty apparent that the days in the Moses basket were coming to an end. Not only was she about as big as the basket, she had also found the handles and decided they made a fun play toy.

With my discount at Pottery Barn Kids about to run out we finally broke down and bought her a crib.  After assembling the whole thing twice (guess I didn't measure as well as I thought and we couldn't get the crib into her room after assembling it while she was napping!) she was all set for her first night in her crib.  We didn't want to rush things too much so you'll see the familiar green flowers in her crib which is the bedding from her basket. 

Other things she is growing out of include her Puj tub in the bathroom sink.  We have moved on to the big tub and I'll have to get some pictures once I have a photographer home for bath time.  She  loves having the freedom to kick her legs in the big tub. 

 

I'll wrap up Part 1 of my catch-up blog post with pics from Kate's 4 month photo shoot including a video that while it's not Oscar-worthy it should at least entertain the grandparents! 

At four months her hair was still sort of standing up.  I am sad to say that by five months she has outgrown the faux-hawk and now sports a lovely comb-over!

Guess I said something funny!