Changing diapers, changing our home, changing our lives!

Wow! Just when I thought I would have a chance to post blogs during Katie's nap times and bedtimes....not so much! Hahaha! I now find myself busy following her around the house as she is an avid crawler, exploring the world from her point of view, and discovering everything around her. A lot has changed in the last few months. We've had to baby proof our home, Katie is finally doing much better sleeping through the night (YAY!), and she now has 4 teeth...4!!!! Two front teeth on the bottom and two front teeth on the top (still making their way down). She absolutely adores our dog Riley and he is very patient, kind, gentle, and understanding of the love and attention she wants to give (grabbing his ears and tail, "gently" pulling handfuls of hair off him, climbing over him to reach a toy, laughing hysterically when she lays on him and he sneezes. Katie LOVES to laugh and smile. Almost everyone we meet, she shares her smile with, and it's a pretty contagious smile too! She loves to "wash" windows with her lips and tongue, loves having play dates with friends, and going to story time at the library. She went to drinking from only bottles in early November and loves to eat sweet potatoes, bananas with apples, mac n cheese, and pears...all baby food style. We've recently introduced puffs to her and she favors the banana and sweet potato flavors. When we think of it, her Daddy and I are practicing having her walk while we hold her up and she holds onto our hands. We may be needing a chiropractic visit (ahem...and massage!) or two pretty soon! :)

Welcome to our Catholic Faith!

Katie was Baptized on Saturday, August 17th at our church. One of our favorite priests generously came out of retirement when we kindly asked him to Baptize our daughter. Uncle E.J. flew in from San Diego, California to be her Godather and Aunt Kristin drove from S.C. with her family to be the Godmother. Brad's Aunt Lorna was one of the readers and one of my best friends Tracy was the other reader. The ceremony was perfect and we had a nice luncheon celebration at our house following Katie's Baptism. We're very excited to her our daughter Baptized and look forward to teaching her, supporting her, and watching her learn and grow as a Catholic and helping her learn about God.

Jaws!

So Miss Kaitlyn has 2 new teeth! Her bottom front left one came in on August 6th and the right one came in on August 8th! This girl LOVES to chew on anything she can get (we'll let) into her mouth! Gramma nicknamed her "Jaws" after Kaitlyn left bite marks on Gramma's hand while she chomped away! Her first tooth did require some pain relieving medicine after the other teething toys, my hand, cold wash cloths, and clod toys didn't do the trick. However, she took it like a pro for the 2nd tooth and only required my hand and teether toys to chomp on. Yay Kaitlyn! :)

 

First tooth making an appearance 8/6/13

It's time to Rock and Roll...over!

 I finally captured her rolling skills (on 7/18/13...almost 5 months old) in separate pictures. It kind of reminds me of a flip book,...where if you flip the pages really quick, you'll see the actions "come to life". I figured if you scroll down the page fast enough...that counts...right? She starts on her back towards the right side of the playmat...then quickly rolls over to her tummy, rolling on her right side. Hangs out there for a couple of minutes until she's ready to tuck her arm and roll to her back again n the same direction...then repeats until she finds herself on the carpet...not the playmat. She then squirms, slightly scoots, and wiggles her way back to her playmat. By the way, she had no help from me at all. I just sat back, held the camera phone ready to go, and cheered her on! :)

 

Video Out Takes

 

 

So, of course, capturing these precious moments in our daughter's life isn't as simple as I thought it would be. Sometimes Kaitlyn is a fan of the camera and satisfies my goal in about a minute. Other times, I find myself recording her milestones for 3-4 minutes, and then trying again for a shorter time frame. So, my Mom had a great idea of posting the out takes on our blog for those family and friends who don't mind sitting in front of the the computer watching as Kaitlyn decides when she is finally ready to "talk" or "sing" or roll over for the camera. :) I'm going to try to post some of the longer videos....hopefully it works. Enjoy!

 

 

Well, I tried to upload a couple of videos, but will need the help of my techy husband Brad to guide me. Check back soon to see if we are successful! :)

 

 

1st time at the pool!

Brad actually gets credit for this great idea of going to our neighborhood pool on the 4th of July. It was perfect! No one was there, the weather was beautiful, and we were able to share this quality family time together, uninterrupted. We bought Katie (well, Mommy lovingly insisted) a new bathing suit from Target (bikini style) and Mommy bought a one piece "Mommy" style bathing suit to wear as well. We all had a great time, taking pictures, splashing around, swimming, and enjoying the July evening as the sun was going down. Definitely going to have more pool days! Katie was just over 4 months old when we went.

 

 

 

1st Time at the Beach!

 

Katie's 1st trip to the beach! We went to St. Augustine Beach for Memorial Day weekend. We were there for our friends' daughter's high school graduation. The weather was beautiful, everyone was enjoying the atmosphere, and Katie loved checking out the ocean and the sand for the first time. May 25th (1 day shy of being 3 months old) was the actual day she was in the water and on the sand. We brought her bouncy seat so she napped in the afternoon as well. Nana came along but she stayed at the hotel during the day to relax and work on crafty projects she brought along. Then, Nana graciously babysat Katie that evening while Brad and I rejoined our friends to enjoy the evening festivities. A great time was had by all!

 

Brad and I purchased our first beach umbrella so we can make more trips to the beach early on a Saturday or Sunday morning before it gets too hot to be out there. Loking forward to using it soon!