Halloween Fun

Seems like I am always saying, "Now that I'm 2 months late, here are pictures of ____." Well, it's that time again! Now that it's Christmas, here are some pictures of Halloween!  To top that off, I realized I posted the pictures in the wrong order, so bear with this post, I'm too tired to change it right now! :) 

Kevin, Kate, and I as Tarzan, Jane, and our little monkey!

Little monkey talking to her daddy...maybe saying "Ah-ah-ah!?!" Monkey sounds are some of her best animal noises!
Little monkey with Mommy at our Halloween playdate.

Here's where the reverse order matters. These are the finished products of our pumpkins...take a look below for the process of getting there! :)

Ta-da!! Kate and Kevin's masterpiece - well, 2 masterpieces if you count Kate's body art! 

Little artist in the making!

QUITE proud of herself!

Kate painting her pumpkin with a little help from her Daddy!

Kate's Nursery

This post is mainly for me. I never got around to taking pictures of Kate's nursery and I wanted to make sure I did before we started changing things around for the baby. There are a few things I never finished that I wanted to: making white liners for the baskets on the changing table and finding a box spring for the 2nd twin bed (evidently you can't buy them separately anymore b/c of a fire hazard and I can't seem to find one on craigslist). Anyway, otherwise, this room is PERFECT to me - exactly what I would dream of having for my little girl, but never would've thought possible! It's been through many transformations (I'll have to go find the pictures before we added the twin beds and all the pictures) and it's already quite different as we have cleared everything out to teach Kate to sleep in the twin bed (post coming later). As crazy as the cinderblock walls are and the hardware poking out of the walls from where this room was once a dentist's office, I can't even imagine a day when we move and I can't just go sit in the glider and remember holding my precious little girl in those first days of life and even now at times as she lets me. Not that we're moving any time soon, but it gets me thinking of everything sweet and perfect about this little room: middle of the night feedings as I tried to figure out nursing, singing to my sweet baby after she'd fallen asleep in my arms, reading to her before naptime, many of those first giggles on the changing table, trying to crawl and going backwards underneath the crib, checking on her every night before we head to bed...these are only some of my most cherished memories and all you parents know that words can't express how precious this time is! I couldn't be more thankful that the Lord has first of all given me such an amazing husband, an all together wonderful daughter, and this sweet little baby boy that we'll get to meet in just over a month, but also that He's provided a way for me to have the privilege of staying home with my children and witnessing all of these beautiful moments!! 

Girly Day

These pictures were taken several weeks ago after I decided it would be fun to figure out how to make a tutu for Kate. We went over to Lorren and Savannah's for the afternoon and had fun dressing up both girls and taking SO many pictures of them! It was a great time of just enjoying being a mommy to my little girl and also getting some fun shots of her right after she learned to walk. I love these pictures because so much of her personality comes out in them! Hope you enjoy!

My little monkey.

New skill: finding her belly button!

Fluffing the flowers.

Walking everywhere now. 13 1/2 months.

First Birthday Party

And finally the pictures of her party!  We went down to the Rolesville Town Park and had SUCH a great time celebrating with our family and friends - watching Kate make a mess of her cake, opening one present at the party and a whole mountain of them later at home, and enjoying having the people we love with us on such a special day!!

Family picture with my parents and brother - Papa, Nana, and Uncle RyRy.

And with Kevin's family - PatPat, Gramps, Aunt Chelle, and Uncle DutDut.

Opening her gift!

Such a sweet girl sharing her cake with her Daddy!!

The first "dig in." Look at the concentration on that face! 

Party decorations...

Yummy cakes decorated by Aunt Chelle!

An attempt at getting a picture with all of Kate's first friends that were able to make it - Kate, Ella, Avery, Brody, Andrew, and Baylor!

Playing with her new toy - it was a hit!!

Back to digging into the cake. She definitely didn't care for the actual CAKE part, but she was a big fan of the icing!

"What is this stuff?!" 

Thanks again to everyone who helped make this day special!!

1 Year Pictures

Now that Kate is 14 months, I thought it would be a good time to post her 1 year pictures! :) Our friend, Courtney Navey (alwaysautumnstudios.com), took these just before her birthday party and did an incredible job! Also, for anyone who might be interested, my college roommate made Kate's dress - check out her website at blushandbashfulbaby.blogspot.com! Here are just a few of the over 600 pictures Courtney took:

We are so very blessed to have such a fun and beautiful little girl! Words can't express how much Mommy and Daddy love you, Kate!!!

Just to catch up...

I have been slack enough about posting pictures, but even worse at updating everyone on everything Kate has been learning! I wish I had exact dates for all things, but this is everything she can do as of 13 1/2 months:

SIGN: more, all done, eat, book, and please

SAY: ball, book ("boo"), bath, bubble, ba-ba (for bottle), juice, shoes, more, please, banana ("nanana"), eye, bye-bye, go, uh-oh, and her own version of all done (which sounds like "gun-gun")

Dada, Mama, Cayman ("Nay-nay"), Papa, Nana, Uncle Ryan ("Ry-Ry"), PatPat, and Uncle Dustin ("Dut-Dut")

sheep: baa, horse: neigh, cow: moo, dog: pant, monkey: ah-ah-ah, bird: tweet, car: brrrmmm

FIND: eye, nose, mouth, ear, hair/head, and is getting pretty good at belly button (is better at doing these on other people than herself)  

HELP: brush her teeth, wash her hair, wash her tummy, put on her shirt/shoes/pants, put a clip in her hair, and clean up (obviously, she is not self-sufficient in these things, she just knows what to do and tries to do it when you tell her to)              

                                 

Now she is pretty much walking (YAY!!!), although sometimes she decides to revert to crawling, she can walk anywhere she wants to go! She can also climb on and off the couch, in and out of the stroller, and up and down stairs (climbing is one of her FAVORITE things). She loves to read books and loves it if you ask her to go get a book and bring it to you (she'll walk all the way across the room, pick out the same book every time - "Where is Baby's Belly Button?" - and walk all the way back and give it to you). She likes to do this with her other toys, too, but especially books. She also loves pushing her baby around in her little stroller, swinging, and riding to the park in her wagon (she sits still the whole time). She also loves to get lipstick (either mine or her play one) and "put it on" (which consists of putting the lipstick IN her mouth, moving it back and forth, and saying "Mmmmm") as well as putting on bracelets. She gives kisses and snuggles, which are Mommy and Daddy's favorites! She is also finally drinking plain milk out of a sippy cup, so we are officially done with bottles (at least for another 3 months)! It is SOOO cute, too, when she gets excited, she says "OOooo!!" in this adorable little high-pitched voice! I THINK that is everything! :) We definitely LOVE our precious little girl and have the most fun watching her discover new things - it's crazy how quickly she picks up on the world around her and CRAZY how quickly she's growing!! 

Weekend in Greenville (Part II)

Once more it has taken me forever to post a new blog. These are the continuation of our trip to Greenville a few weeks ago:

Hanging out with friends from Lexington! Cheryl, Claire, Syd, me, and Steph

Even Kate had a great time!!

Road trip buddies Kate and Savannah - so cute in their pjs!

Back in Wake Forest later that day:

Brody and Kate are just like big kids playing at Melissa's shower...

And having a blast!!