8 Months

Kathryn Grace is 8 months old today.  It's hard to grasp the reality that in just 4 short months we'll be celebrating her first birthday.  Motherhood is a constant ebb and flow of excitement for what is to come but mourning for what will never be again.

Stats: According to our at home scale, she weighs 17lbs.  I have no idea how long she is because she won't be still enough to measure that.  But I do know her legs are getting too long for her sleepers.

New skills: Waving, talking in her sleep.  People wave at Kathryn all the time so naturally, she thinks that all waves are pointed at her.  When she sees someone or something she wants to wave at, she is really waving at herself.  It's adorable.  Equally as cute is her mumbles and disjointed syllables that come out randomly while she's asleep.  Sometimes it sounds like a whole sentence, complete with hand gestures. 

Sleeping: She has decided that 8pm is her bedtime.  I think we can live with that.  I just need her to stop waking up quite so much between the hours of 11pm and 5am.  Also, it's apparently impossible to sleep without doing this with her legs:

For anyone who just inhaled deeply, that's a mesh bumper.  I had to get it because she whacks her head up against the slats of her crib. No need to contact the authorities.  

Movement: Continuing on the trend from last month, she is determined to stand up.  She pulls up on everything from her crib, the coffee table, me, just whatever she can grasp.  The problem is when she does stand up, she has nowhere to go so she just falls over.  I worry about her getting a concussion because she falls so hard!  She has one spot on her forehead that is always red because that's where she seems to hit each time she falls.  She isn't crawling, but she is showing signs.  She also scoots around on her bottom, using her legs like a spider to propel herself along the floor.  She can get on all fours which is an improvement from last month; she used to fall down because of her lack of upper body strength.

Food: Still eating like a champ!  Loves everything, including what other people are eating.

Claim to fame: Hair.  This girl's hair is halfway down her back...at 8 months old!  It's crazy.  It's getting curlier, too, which is adorable.

What I want to remember: Of course I want to remember everything, but what stands out the most right now is how our relationship is starting to form a social element.  We have little inside jokes, so to speak---things that we laugh at together.  The other night in her bath we both got tickled and giggled for about 5 minutes.  She has a great relationship with her dad of course, but ours is different. It's so fun getting to know her.  Time is going by so fast.  I'm treasuring the little things but also getting excited for her to talk to me and have tea parties.  I am also excited to get more than 2 hours of consecutive sleep. That will come, right?

Double the Fun

On Friday I packed up two changes of clothes, loads of toys, 8 diapers + the wet bag and headed out of town.  By myself.  With Kathryn.  It was a big step in our relationship.  We've gone to neighboring towns before, but haven't travelled farther than an hour.  This trip was 2 hours and a total of 10 hours away from home.  I am happy to report that we came home with extra diapers and didn't have to change anyone's clothes 

Where did we go?  I have a dear friend from college, McKinsey, who has the most precious little twin boys who are about 6 weeks younger than Kathryn.  They are so adorable and it was fun to not only observe how different they were from each other but also how they differed from Kathryn.  The main difference was how much bigger they were than she is!  We snapped a few photos but there was so much action that I didn't get many.

As you can tell, Kathryn was a little agressive  excited.  Not pictured is her attacking them with kisses.  She's enthusiastic, my girl.

It was TWO [haha] much fun. I can't wait to do it again soon.  It was so fun to remember meeting her 11 years ago and now look at us!

I also got to meet up with another dear friend from college, Jean, for dinner.  We didn't take any photos because I'm a loser.  We had a great dinner at a new BBQ place in Lexington. Seriously, run don't walk to City BBQ on Richmond Rd/Man O' War in Lexington.  Delish. 

It was such a great day to be out and about.  I started feeling mommy guilt, that I should have gone home much earlier and not gotten together with Jean.  I had some errands to run after dinner and ended up not getting home until 10:30.  Sleep is a precious commodity with babies, and my little angel has decided that 8pm is her bedtime.  Fine by me, but I don't want to be stuck at home and missing out on all the fun...wah-wah.  So I decided to enjoy myself and stay out later.  I got crazy and bought some shoes on sale at Target, but not crazy enough to stop at Starbucks on the way home.  I didn't pay for it too much, but it has kind of thrown off bed time since.  Oh well.

I felt so refreshed and encouraged to see my friends.  Having a new baby can be a little confining, coupled with the fact that I don't really have any friends where we live.  I really don't mind where we live, but I so don't like living soooo faaaar from anywhere I want to go/shop/eat/hang out.  Please, everyone, pause for a moment to cry about my first world problems.

Bottom line, friends are great, babies are blessings, and go eat at City BBQ.  This is not a paid advertisement, but I will take corn pudding and ribs from here to ever more.



First Father's Day

On Father's Day we celebrated a great daddy [and husband].  He works around 50 [sometimes more] hours a week and yet he's always ready to jump in and help with whatever I need done around the house.  Instead of complaining he compliments.  He doesn't see Kathryn very much because she has just awakened when he leaves for work and has already gone to bed when he gets home.  We love and appreciate him so much.  Kathryn wriggles and shrieks with delight when she sees him.  He can't sit down with her because he has already set the play time standard high. 

We celebrated Father's Day by having hamburgers Saturday night.  Daddy cooked, of course.  He made some amazing onion jam and I made some homemade mayo for the first time [we added chipotles-- but that's another post].  Then we gave him his gifts.

As you can see, it was a Pinterest-inspired Father's Day.  We also got him 2 bow ties which we spent the entire night trying to figure out. While we were working on that Miss Kathryn found her own project to work on. 

On Sunday we decided to drive up and surprise Justin's parents for Father's Day.  It was a great day and Justin got to eat at one of [our] favorite spots, PF Changs.  We also visited The Comfy Cow for ice cream and Heine Bros. for coffee and relaxing music.  It was a great day!

Here are some outtakes from one of our Father's Day projects.  I had planned to do it for a few weeks but hadn't had the chance.  I wanted to do these photos outside but it was just too hot.  I didn't get to go to Hobby Lobby to buy letters so I had to cut them from foam board, which isn't as easy as it sounds.  Either way, I think this project turned out really cute and I know Justin will treasure it.

Father's Day is only once a year but we celebrate Daddy every day!

No Bow

It's no secret that Kathryn has been blessed with quite the head of hair.  It was obvious in my ultrasounds as we'd see the hair flowing in the amniotic fluid.  It's been the talk of the town since her birth.

She came home from the hospital with a bow in her hair [sans head band] and I've been finding ways to hold her hair back ever since.  She had her first pig tails at 4 1/2 months.

I used to sit her up in her bumbo seat and she'd just let me comb her hair into whatever I needed to do with it.  She never seemed to notice her bows.  Until recently, that is.  The following is an example of what happens now.



We're Not in Kansas Anymore

My sweet little Kathryn Grace has been on the move these days.  She's learned how to remove her diaper...

...pull up in her crib...

...and she's become quite the water baby.

She is also gaining strong vocal skills and becoming expressive with her hands.  She will open and shut her right hand as she points it toward what she desires. She has reached out for a couple of friends this week because she wanted them to hold her.  Today, she gained her pincer grasp and can now put her puffs in her mouth all by herself! I have been using some sign language with her and hope she can start picking that up soon.

She is constantly trying to stand up.  She's showing the typical strides in learning to crawl, but she'd prefer to stand.  I think it's time to stop putting her on her changing table because she is using the rail and/or the artwork above it to pull up on.  Sometimes she gets so angry with sitting or lying down and I just have to hold her fingers as she stands, wobbly but strong.

We are having so much fun with her but man oh man, I am so much more tired at the end of the day!



A Milestone

You might not have noticed, but it's been 2 years of living in the sticks for us city folk.  We have gotten used to driving slower, finding things to do at home, and no one wanting to visit us because we live so "far out".

Here's to life in the fast---err, slow---lane.  :)

Kathryn and the Rainy Day

We have been having outstanding weather around these parts.  Last week was lots of rain and cooler weather, and this week has been sunny with temps in the 60s and 70s.  For someone like me who hates to sweat and enjoys rain, it couldn't be better.  I know it won't be long before the humidity will cover us like plastic wrap, so we have been enjoying every minute of it.  There was one rainy day last week that was quite fun for Kathryn.  I was working in the kitchen and needed to distract her, so I pulled back the curtain over the back door and just sat her on the rug to see if she'd notice the rain. 

It's the simple things, really.  

Strawberry Shortcake

Last weekend we visited my inlaws.  They have a great farmer's market where we purchased some of the best strawberries I've ever had.  And they were the best Kathryn had ever had as well.  I was breaking pieces of them off for her to eat and she was loving it.  When I got one for myself [as I was holding her] she took it from me and shoved it in her mouth before I could stop her!  She loves strawberries!

Strawberry face!

7 months

Another month has flown by!  Things really kicked into high gear for Miss Kathryn Grace in the last month.  She is learning new things all the time and always ready to move.  She is so adorable and such a joy to us.

We did a weigh in a few days ago and she is at 16lbs 10oz, but that was with clothes & cloth diaper.  I'm going to say she's a litle over 16 pounds.  That's close to 2 lbs gained in one month!  I tried to measure her length but she is awfully squirmy.  Looks like about 26 inches though.

Favorite foods: avocado, strawberries, anything blueberry.  She has loved everything except orange carrots [she loves purple carrots]

Diva moments: she is so girly and dainty, and when she doesn't like a situation she gets a high-pitched squeal and kind of throws her hands up in the air.  It's sad.  And cute.

Pet peeves: laying down, car riding, sleeping. (Yawn.)

Teeth: she has none, but she's putting up a fuss and rubbing lots of things on her gums.

Notable achievements: babbling, holding onto our thumbs to stand up, trying to "walk" [takes steps without bending her knees & looks a bit like a German soldier]

Cutest thing ever: loves to get & give kisses. Melts my heart!

Here's to another busy month with our growing girl!