Ten Months

Miss Kathryn Grace is ten whole months old! She is growing in so many ways and into EVERYTHING.  Due to various head injuries and the fear of her licking batteries or drinking dishwasher soap, we child-proofed and now we can't get into ANYTHING. 

New skills: crawling while carrying something with her, especially her Cabbage Patch "Julie".  She comes everywhere with us. She crawls faster than some people walk. She is also cruising around the living room while holding onto things with one hand. As of Sunday, she is able to stand without assistance. I found this out while she was in her tub [kind of scary]. I guess walking comes next!

Food: She still loves yogurt the most. In fact, she bums ours off of us even when she shouldn't be hungry! We are a Chobani family, I suppose. She also loves smoothies and her fruit/oatmeal that I make for her. This morning she fed herself strawberries and scrambled eggs. What a big girl! She does not like sippy cups but she can drink from a glass. Which means, don't walk away from your drink or she will make it hers.

Sleep: Most days she takes two 2-hour naps.  I'm sure that will change today since I mentioned it. She wakes 2-3 times during the night to nurse.

Concepts: Whether it's a sock or a shoe, she understands that it goes on her foot.  It's so funny to watch her try to put it on. She likes to pull her hairbows out, but she will try to stick them back on her head. She thinks it's really funny to put her bows on my head. She also likes to comb my hair. Speaking of combs, we've had to move to a real hairbrush. Yeah...she's got some hair! She loves story time and will get a book and come sit in my lap to read.

Language: She is really starting to string syllables together.  She babbles all day long, especially to the dog. I wonder what she thinks she's saying. She is using m, n, t, p, d, b, s, g, r, c/k, and maybe a few other sounds.

Fun times: She thinks everything is exciting and fun, for the most part, but some of her favorite things are trying to hug the dog and anything her dad wants to do with her as long as it involves going upside down or tickling.

Social butterfly: She has gotten so much attention since birth from strangers and of course from the rest of us that she is always expecting people to talk to her.  When they don't, she yells until they notice her. She also likes to talk on the phone.  When she hears the ring for the other end she will try get really close to the phone and make loud, one syllable sounds.

I don't know her weight/height because she won't be still enough for me to find out. Her 6 month clothes fit perfectly but she is wearing some 9 months because they are summery and I want her to get some use out of them.

Here's to another month of new discoveries! What will the 11th month hold?

Best Friends

1st Trip to the Zoo

*Warning: there are going to be a lot of pictures in this post. :)

A couple of weeks ago the weather was really nice so we decided to take Kathryn to the Louisville Zoo.  I have to say, it is super expensive to walk around and look at animals [most of whom were not available for viewing]. I know I'm cheap, but I don't think we'll be taking her back until she's old enough to interact more. Go ahead and yell at me for being a lame mom....haha. I will say, though, that getting a season pass is a great deal.  It pays for itself quickly and it would be great to just get up and go to the zoo whenever we wanted.  The only problem is that it's an hour and a half drive.  But it would still be fun!

Here are some shots of when we first got there and when we saw the giraffes.  She was excited!

 

I love how she puts her little hands on her tray.

 

Here is a stinky elephant!  She was going to wear one of her many elephant outfits that day but she got her breakfast all over it.  Wonder how that happened? It's a good thing we did change her clothes because it ended up being quite warm.

I think Kathryn really enjoyed herself.  The giraffes were a big hit and so was the African Petting Zoo.  Except I didn't actually let her pet anything.  She liked the goats a lot! Here I am holding her little hand from getting in the goat's personal space.  I think that goat had a pretty good job, just standing there getting attention all day.

 

I'm pretty sure Kathryn's foot was in his mouth at this point. Thank goodness I bought her those shoes!

 

 

Cooling off.

 

Checking out the sea lion.

 

 

We paid $10 to see mechanical dinosaurs.  Again with the cheap, I know.

 

Even if they sleep the whole time, watching your child enjoy an experience is worth any price of admission. 

 

 

 



 

Double Oven

I need a double oven.  There, I said it. Please spare me from any talk of first world problems. I've always told my patient and dear husband that I don't need diamonds, just buy me a double oven someday.

I/we are always preparing food for something whether it's for the college Bible study in our home, someone who is sick, or just trying to get the freezer stocked with easy meal options. Sometimes it's fun to have a neighbor over for dinner "just because".

Today I am making dinner for someone who had a baby [and hoping to double it for our own dinner] and making cookies for all of the Resident Directors at the university in our town. I also had Bible study this morning and a child who has had 3 major diarrhea moments and a fever. Oh, and I had to go to Wal-Mart.

If I had a double oven I could get all of these things done a lot faster and with, perhaps, a more happy heart.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest you can scold me about how I should be happy to have an oven that works and that I should feel blessed to have money to buy food.  Yeah, yeah, I know.  You have no idea how much guilt I actually do carry about that and perhaps that is why I feel so compelled to feed everyone else in the world at a moment's notice. I'm sorry for indulging in one measley little complaint about my cushy life with one oven.

But I digress.

I bet she didn't have a double oven. At least, not at first.

Happy 100th Birthday, dear Julia.  If you were still here, I wonder what you'd think of all the shows on Food Network.  I wonder what you'd think about those people who travel around eating gigantic sandwiches for a living.  I wonder what sorts of things you'd be cooking. 

Thanks for all you did to inspire. Maybe you had more inspiration on famous chefs or food bloggers or recipe writers than you have had on me, but your inspiring them has taught me a lot.  Thanks for being fearless.

In honor of you, I will pretend that I have enough money to buy something fun for my kitchen like a mortar and pestle.

Maybe I'll just get something I really need, like a double oven.

Just kidding.  What I really need is more cookie sheets.

Kathryn and Norah

I've known my friend Shellee for 11 years.  That's a long time to be invested in a relationship.  She lives in my former hometown of Cleveland, TN with her husband and daughters Kayla and new baby Norah [5 weeks old!]. Kathryn and Norah have the same middle name: Grace.  We pray they give us a lot of that as we parent them. Yesterday we got to visit Shellee and Norah while they were visiting Dottie and PopPop, who live an hour from me.

Inside Water Play

Sometimes a mama just needs to occupy her baby. Out of necessity comes invention, that's for sure! 

In this next photo you can see that the water was quickly dumped onto the towell.

Listening to her voice echo in the bowl.

I'm done!

And she's off!

Ok mom, you got me this time...but I'll take my diaper off again later!

Playdate

Kathryn is very social, like most babies I imagine.  She loves to stare at folks in restaurants, babble to fellow shoppers, and is all around happy in social situations.  She has been around lots of toddlers and older kids but not very many babies.  In fact, the only time she has interacted with anyone close to her age was when she saw my friend McKinsey's twin boys who are just a few weeks younger than she is.  Sadly, Kathryn has not befriended any little girlies.  Last week we invited a little one who, although she is about the same size as Kathryn, is about 3 months younger.

Her little friend was so joyful and talkative at first. Then, the friend cried for almost an hour.  Kathryn can be agressive.  I don't know where she gets that from since Justin and I are pretty meek and mild. She likes to kiss and hug, even if she has to tackle you to the ground. It ended up being a great time once we put her friend in the entertainer and Kathryn could not reach her head. They played next to each other, and I think that is just fine.

These pictures are from the first few minutes before the crying started.  I have a feeling there will be lots of life lessons learned in playdates to come.  I hope this little girl can spend more time with us in the future!