First Easter

Seems like it wasn't very long ago that we spent Easter anticipating Kate's arrival. I remember vividly being very pregnant last year around this time for Easter filled with anticipation of what type of little girl we would soon have. Hard to believe how fast time has flown. Here's a few pictures of Kate from today in her first Easter dress. She looked adorable but wouldn't let mom put any bows in her hair. At 10 months now, she's mastered pulling them off immediately. We awoke this morning and surprised Kate with a little basket of Easter goodies and then went to church with Kyle's family. After church, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's for lunch and to see what the Easter Bunny dropped off there ; ) Kate also got a special gift in the mail from Mimi and G-Paw (my parents) with an assortment of Easter goodies. Despite a basket full of fun stuff, I think she was more interested in the decorative grass that filled the basket. Kate is such a blessing in our lives - our first Easter together was very special!

Kate - 9 months!

Kate turned 9 months old this past week! Here's a few pictures that I tried to take with her posing with her monkey but that was the biggest challenge ever! It was impossible to get her to sit without reaching for him, so I think there's one or two in the mix that shows you how much she's grown compared to previous pictures I've posted. We're still guessing who she favors most - me or Kyle??? We really don't know! I think she must just be a great mix of us both ; )

At this nine month mark, Kate is not crawling yet - at least she's not moving forward...lol! She does a great job of scooting back when she's on her stomach and moving that direction and she'll also spin around on her belly in circles but regardless of how much we "practice", she's still not getting those long legs up under her yet to get any traction going forward. She is babbling more and more and more...I can't even fathom an actual word coming up but I know I will freak out when that happens! She's learned to wave bye bye, which is adorable! We've also started eating lots of fresh fruits (something I never learned to like) so I'm going to try my hardest to expose Kate to all fruits early on so she will hopefully grow to love them! : ) I think the biggest development is that she now has 4 teeth. In these shots, I think you can only see her two bottom ones but her two top ones have broken through and are starting to come in. We have our 9 month doctor visit in a few days. Can't wait to see how much she's grown and if she's still in the 95th percentile height/weight!

New Home Sweet Home

Well, we aren't officially moved in yet but here's our soon-to-be NEW home sweet home! My last post shared the details of our current living situation and the sewer issues we were experiencing...yuk! Prior to all of these issues, Kyle and I had been contemplating making a move. In fact, we already had our eye on this house but were forced to postpone our plans to move -- temporarily at least - until we could get our current house back in order. Well, that ended up taking far longer than expected since we were displaced for an entire month. After a long wait, finally everything got fixed and we were so thankful that this house was still on the market.

Since it's a buyer's market, we promised ourselves that we would look for a "deal" and not pay top dollar on a house (no matter how much we loved it!). This house had actually been on the market for over 400 days. The builder who built the house filed bankruptcy and it was bank owned. We made an offer we never dreamed they would accept but were hopeful! I guess the bank was ready to sell because we were able to strike a great deal and get the house! We were ecstatic! Kyle and I joke that "we don't belong in this neighborhood" - lol! Seriously, we snuck in by getting this deal on such a great house. We're very excited to make it our new home in just a couple of weeks! We close at the end of this month.

Oh...and we had luck on our side after all the issues we had to deal with leading up to all of this. We put our house on the market and sold it in 2 days for our full asking price! Tons of thanks to Kyle's sister, Carrie Martin, who is a fantastic realtor with Keller Williams!

Can't wait to have friends and family over to our new home very, very soon! Cheers!

A Few Recent Favorites

Life has been crazy for us! We've been displaced from our home for almost a month - just finally moved back in - due to a major sewer issue. Totally gross, so I'll spare the details. Anyway, we're all fixed up now and our home is back in working order. The timing couldn't have been worse for it all to happen. We've been contemplating putting our house on the market in anticipation of making a move to a new home and then, bam....we dump more money than we would have liked into replacing an old sewer system in a home we don't intend to live in much longer. Ahhh! During all this chaos, I had plans for college friends/sorority sisters to travel in town to see Kate and attend our 50 Year Anniversary festivities for my sorority. No friends could stay with us given the house conditions - total bummer! And, to top it off, we had been planning a special vacation back to the place where we honeymooned (Whistler, Canada) as a nice little Five Year wedding anniversary gift to ourselves and despite our fingers crossed that we could get everything back in shape before leaving and have peace of mind, we left with our house still in disarray and uninhabitable. Hence, I'm behind yet again with blogging.

On a much brighter note, we have returned from our vacation and while we were gone, Kyle's dad helped oversee the work on our sewer system to completion and both of our families helped get us moved back into our home by the time we returned from vacation - just this past weekend. yay! I feel like our lives are getting back to normal. In the grand scheme of things, while these issues may feel major at the moment, they really are so minor and will not effect us any further into the future. I'm grateful that everything is now fixed!

I don't have all recent pictures uploaded, edited and ready to post but here's a few that are on my iPhone that are some of my new faves! Kate will be nine months old in just a couple of weeks. So hard to believe! She's what keeps everything in perspective for us! Love, love, love!

Kate Meets Elle

Last weekend, one of my best friends, Courtney, and her husband, Josh, came to visit us with their little girl, Elle! They live in Mississippi, so it was quite the trip for them to haul their little one (who is about 20 months old) all the way to Oklahoma....I won't even go into all the terrible delays and airport madness they faced. I was just thankful they were able to get here, so that Kate could meet Elle for the first time! And, I hadn't seen Elle since she was around 6 months old, so I was so excited to see her again. She's such a doll - as you can see by these pics!!

Kate and Elle had a great time together. I think Kate is really into toddlers who talk and move - she seems to be mesmerized by them. Elle tried her best to say "Kate" but it ended up sounding more like "Baby Cake" - so cute! Spending the weekend with Elle gave me a good glimpse into what the near future holds in store...tons of fun with one on the move! I absolutely love this shot of the girls giving each other a kiss.

The weekend was so much fun - we went to the Omniplex Science Museum and went to a Thunder game and watched the Thunder beat the Knicks with just seconds left. It was awesome!

Wish there wasn't so much distance between us! Next time, it'll be our turn to haul Miss Kate cross country to visit.

The Holiday Card

I think I've finally gotten all of the holiday cards out to friends, fam, etc. but I'm certain that I've forgotten to send to so many. I'm trying to compile a more complete list of addresses but it's a major work in progress. I've seem to have lost track of the wedding guest list spreadsheet that had so many contacts. That feels like it was many moons ago and definitely a few computers back.

Thought I'd share the card here on the blog because I love it so much and know that with my incomplete mailing list, I had to have missed sending to so many! Kate definitely has spiced up our traditional, boring holiday card with her cuteness ; ) Brandi Traina with Traina Photography captured all of these amazing photos! She is absolutely amazing and if anyone is in need of priceless pictures, she's your go-to person! Her eye is incredible and she is so much fun and easy to work with. A photo shoot with an infant is no easy task, but I'm amazed at the shots she was able to capture from the comfort of our own home! And, many, many thanks to Kami for designing such a cute card! You're the best!!!

I love the expression on Kate's face on the front of the card! Kyle's favorite picture is the one of her grinning with the little ski cap! I love them all - stay tuned for more pics from this session - yes, there are actually more great shots that we weren't able to include on the card.

Happy holidays!!!!

Kate - 6 months

I'm behind again in posting but hopefully will get all caught up before the new year! That's the goal! Here are a few of my fave snapshots of Kate at 6 months with her monkey (that still doesn't have a name). She turned 6 months old on Dec. 16 and is still growing like a weed! She's still in the 90th percentile in weight (18 pounds, 9 ounces) and we'll find out tomorrow at the doctor just how tall she is! She's been in the 97th percentile in height too - just crazy! Kate is babbling more and more at this age and every now and then, I like to think I can make out her saying "mama" or something to that effect ; ) She's definitely more in tune with the world around her and is very observant. If we go somewhere new or out and about, she definitely scopes the place and people out. She loves the outdoors, although it's too cold to go outside these days. Her favorite thing in the world is Cooper dog! She screams and smiles so often when he's around. Guess they actually spend the most time together, so to be expected, right?! She's sitting up these days on her own - but not for too long before losing her balance and falling over. My favorite new trick of hers is giving kisses! I'll say "can I have a kiss?" and lean in toward her and she'll lean toward me with her mouth sort of half open and lay one on me. It's the best thing ever! The other day, she actually grabbed my cheeks with both hands and laid one on me - gotta love it!

Kate's First Thanksgiving!

Kate's very first Thanksgiving was spent in Nashville, Tennessee visiting family and could not have been better! We are all so thankful to have her as the newest addition to the family. To get to Nashville, we flew with Kate for the very first time...which was an adventure. I had intended to take pictures of her/us at the airport but with all the other airport chaos, that just never happened. We got to the airport and realized we had left several crucial items - I swear, sooner or later, I'll get this packing thing down. We left the car seat base and an essential bottle part, all of which had to be purchased so that we could survive the trip. The flights were packed due to the holidays. Maybe I would feel otherwise if the airport had not been so busy, but if you're traveling with an infant, my advice is to cough up the extra bucks to purchase the additional seat and have the extra space for a car seat or whatever would make them most comfortable. Traveling with a five month old in your lap is not an easy challenge!

Thanksgiving weekend was spent relaxing, eating, shopping and before leaving town, we even went to a hockey game! Kate was mesmerized with hockey and despite the cool temps inside the arena, she gazed at all of the players, ice rink, and loved all the music and lights! We got to go in style and had our own suite, so it was nice to move inside to warm up and toward the end of the night, Kate totally passed out and had a nice comfy space to rest!

Here are some of our favorite pics from the weekend!