Rock and Roll - From Back to Belly!

As of February 17th, we have a roller! This baby is rolling every chance she gets and is starting to get very mobile... things are about to get interesting around this house!

Shower for Baby Wilt!

Kate attended her first baby shower (not counting her own, of course) for Baby Boy Wilt, who is due in May to our wonderful friends, Ken and Mandy. She did so well... except for the fact that she did NOT want to take a nap the whole day. So afraid she's going to miss out on something!

She also got to spend some quality time with one of her BFF's, Eisley. How unbelievably cute are these pictures?!

February Family Visits!

My mom and dad spend every winter in Florida. Luckily this year my mom flew up for a few days to spend with us! My sister and her boyfriend, Phillip, also came into town. We had such a great time and Kate so enjoyed spending time with her Grammy and her Auntie Alysha.

My mom was even able to watch Kate for us during half of the week while we were at work, which was wonderful! I threatened to never let her leave. It really made me wish that my family lived closer!

Going to pick up Grammy from the airport!

Dinner time with Aunt Alysha!

Company can be exhausting!

Selfies with Grammy!

We definitely know who picked out this outfit!

6 Months Old

How is it even possible that our sweet girl is half a year old? On February 17th, Kate turned 6 months old. To her dismay, we celebrated with her 6-month check-up with Dr. Fiedler... along with a bunch of shots. :( But she, of course, got a couple new toys for her birthday/day o' shots from us and from her Grammy who was here visiting from Florida at the time.

I can't even keep track of all the new things that Kate is doing! It seems like she is doing something new every day. Here is what life is like with Kate at 6 months:

- This baby loves to eat! Turning 6 months brought along a whole new meal schedule. She now gets fruits mixed with oatmeal cereal for breakfast, fruits/veggies for lunch, and veggies mixed with oatmeal cereal before bed. Her favorite foods are... I couldn't tell you because there has not been a food that she has disliked. She sits in her high chair in a full upright position and eats so well from a spoon. I have also gone from nursing her about 8 times a day to about 4-5 times a day, which is a relief but also a little bittersweet. Just a reminder at how fast she is growing up!

- Kate is learning to love the wonders of play! It is so great to watch her interact with her toys now. She picks them up, makes sounds with them, and usually they all end up in her mouth. Some of her favorite toys right now are her exersaucer, her green ball, her keys, and her fabric book. She loves anything that she can hold.

- Kate is sleeping so well! Hallelujah! Bedtime right now is usually around 8:00, with the whole process starting at 7:00. First we give her some veggies with cereal, then we do bath and jammies, then story time (if she isn't TOO tired), then I nurse her before she is off to dreamland. She is sleeping so great. Most nights she still wakes up around 3 am to eat, and she will sleep until 7 or 7:30 if we don't have to go to the sitter's that day.

- In the first 6  months of Kate's life we have enjoyed MANY Snow Days at home together! I believe the count now is at 13! Though we will be making these up at the end of the school year, I do not even care. I have thoroughly enjoyed every single Snow Day that I have had at home with Kate. She is only this age once, and it has truly been a blessing getting lots of extra days off with her to enjoy her more and more at every age. But I am still really looking forward to having the summer months off with her!

- Kate LOVES to laugh! So many things make her laugh right now, but a guaranteed laugh will happen if you fake sneeze (ah-choo!!!), if you get out her stuffed monkey (the one bigger than she is),  if you nuzzle her ribs, or tickle under her arms. She is also fascinated by hands. If you put your hand out in front of her, she will mirror you and place her palm on yours... kind of like a slow motion high-five.

- We are still working on signing with Kate. So far we have focused on "eat", "more", and "all done". They all revolve around eating. Though she can't sign yet she certainly knows what "eat" means - the word and the sign. We are careful not to mention or sign it until we are ready to give her some food! She starts kicking her feet and getting so excited and it is so hilarious!

- Another thing Kate loves right now is the "Discovering Water" episode of Baby Einstein. It's on YouTube and if we let her, she will sit there and watch the whole show, completely mesmerized. Nick and I crack up watching her watch this. She breaks out in a huge smile every time the turtle comes on the screen and she laughs out loud at the puppets. It is so stinking cute!

So... as you can see, Kate is growing and learning so much every day! Her personality is starting to shine through and we are so blessed to have such a sweet and funny little girl. It is such a joy to watch her grow and learn!

Selfie!

Sleep, Sweet Sleep

Kate is finally sleeping in her crib all night! A couple weeks ago we started the transition from bassinet to crib (yet again) and decided this time we were not giving up... we called this Crib-ageddon. Every night we would put her to bed in her crib and keep her there until she started waking up every hour or two, and then move her back to her bassinet so that we could all enjoy just a few hours of sleep before the arrival of morning. For the first week, she would make it in her crib until about 1 or 2 am. Then last Saturday night she woke up crying and when I looked at the clock, it was 3 am! Before that night, she would have already been awake 2 or 3 times! That was the only time she woke up that night and it was because she was hungry. Believe me, I have no problem waking up once with her at night to feed her. Once feels like nothing after you're used to waking up 3 or 4 times every night. What's even better is she requires no rocking, bouncing, pacing to be put to sleep anymore. We lay her down in her crib awake and she goes right to sleep, usually even before we can get the monitor turned on!

So she has been sleeping wonderfully in her crib, all night for about a week (I wanted to wait before posting anything about it on here as I am a believer in the power of jinxing oneself). However, for the past couple of nights, she has slept ALL NIGHT, sleeping from 8pm to 5 or 6am! What a blessing sleep is... I think she finally is realizing that it is truly awesome.

Some pics after the first night she slept in her crib all night. Notice how well-rested she looks. :)

Back to work for Mom and Dad... Thank God for a wonderful babysitter.

After Christmas break, it was time for both Nick and I to return to work on January 6th... Then I had a Snow Day on the 6th. Then on the 7th. Those were wonderful! Returning to work and having to take Kate to her babysitter for the first time on my 30th birthday... That was not a fun birthday present. It was incredibly hard leaving her with our sitter. I cried the whole way to work... Again. Just like I did when I left her with Nick.

However, this day would have been much more difficult if we weren't so blessed to have a WONDERFUL sitter for Kate. Our dear friend, Laura, from church is watching her each day. She has two kiddos, Grace who's in 1st grade and Will who's 4 years old. Her kids adore Kate and Kate loves them! Her face lights up with a big smile whenever she sees them. It is so reassuring to know that Kate is taken care of by such a wonderful family whenever we are at work.