18 Month Checkup and Visit from Nana & Pop

Friday we had K's 18 mo checkup at the doctor. While we were waiting in the room she kept wanting to push around the doctor's little stool and I kept telling her, "that's the doctor's." Well, Dr. Meyer finally came in and sat down on that stool and K goes "Hi Doctor." She's a smart cookie that one. Here are her stats:

29lbs even: 95%
35 3/4 in: >97%
Don't remember the head measurement, but it was at 75%. This gives us hope that she won't be 6'5" tall.

Then around lunch time Nana and Pop arrived for a short visit. Here are some pics:



Cheese!








Playing on the computer with Nana.








Washing baby's hands before snack time. Very imperative that baby participate in all of our activities.








Washing K's hands







Snack time. In my attempt to get K to eat veggies, I provide a small portion of Ranch dressing. She just uses the carrots to suck off the dressing (never actually getting a bite of carrot), and eventually just uses her hands to consume the dressing.






Mmmm, anyone want some soggy carrots??











Dancing on our way to the Tubes.








Coming down the slide at the Tubes with momma.








Capping off the evening - post dinner dance party!!

Fort Worth Zoo

Today Catherine, Thomas, Kaitlin and I went to the Fort Worth Zoo. Kaitlin thought everyone was there for her 18mo bday, but I tried to tell her that the zoo is open everyday, they weren't all there for her. We saw a lot of animals and K was definitely more into it this time than when we went to the Dallas Zoo a few months ago. I think the monkeys were her favorite animal, she kept pointing and saying "monkey" while doing the sign for it as well. We walked around for a while with the kids in their strollers, and then went to the petting zoo area and let them loose. They also had a little indoor play area that they got to roam around in. I think her favorite part of the day was on our way out we stopped to take some pictures in front of the zoo and then let them run wild before we had to strap them in the carseats. She had fun chasing Thomas around and trying to give him kisses (he was having none of it). Here are some pics: Link to zoo pictures.

Sweet and sweeter

Sweet - Baby #2 is an extremely active baby! Maybe I've just forgotten how much they can move around in there at the beginning, but I feel like several times a day there is a party going on and I'm being invited. I've noticed that lots of times when I am holding Kaitlin and rocking before bed or naptime there is a lot of action too. Maybe it's because she's pressed up against me so it makes it easier to feel, or maybe there's already a bit of sibling rivalry going on?

Sweeter - Kaitlin officially gives the best hugs of anyone EVER. She has been giving kisses for a while and hugs used to consist of her allowing us to hug her - when I asked for one, she would just kind of lean into me and then I was free to squeeze her. But now! She wraps those little arms so tight around my neck, nuzzles her head into my shoulder and just melts into me. IT. IS. THE. BEST. THING. EVER. And now that she's all about Barney, she sings the song several times a day and I am the lucky recipient of a hug and kiss at the appropriate moments. For those that don't know, the song goes "I love you, you love me, we're a happy family, with a great big hug and a kiss from me to you, won't you say you love me too!" When she sings it, it sounds more like "I luw you, you me, we're happy, ly, great big hug, kiss, me, you, luw meeeeee TOOOOO!!!" What used to be an incredibly annoying song is now the sweetest sound in the world!

Valentine's and updated photos

We had a wonderful Valentine's weekend, celebrating 7 years since we got engaged! Friday morning I had playgroup with the Mom's club where we had a very festive Valentine's lunch. I made red, heart-shaped rice krispie treats that were GREAT if I do say so myself. Although I don't understand how you are supposed to get 6 cups of rice krispies in with only one bag of marshmallows? I had trouble getting 4 cups in there without pulling my shoulder out trying to stir the stuff. So they were a little extra sweet, so what? They had white chocolate drizzled on top too, delicious! Kaitlin enjoyed playing with all the other kids and with the big playset in the backyard. At one point I looked outside and she had climbed up to the top by herself (5 ft off the ground!) Needless to say I spent the rest of the afternoon with a close eye on her.

Friday night, Scott and I went to Pappa's Bros Steakhouse while Stan & Cindi kept Kaitlin overnight for us. I'm not sure who was more excited about this, us looking forward to getting to sleep in past 7am or Cindi who was texting me all day "I AM SO EXCITED!" Scott and I had a wonderful dinner where we consumed way too much food, and then went and saw "Slumdog Millionaire." I really enjoyed it, Scott not so much (as expected). Meanwhile, K was treated to another night at Cici's (she's not complaining) and breakfast at The Pancake House.

Saturday morning Stan & Cindi charioted K back over to our house so we could attend a 10am birthday party for our friend Talitha. We had a great time playing with all the kids, although there were more than a couple timeouts since there was a stroller at the party and someone wasn't too fond of sharing. Then it was back home for Daddy-Daughter afternoon while I went to lunch with my old Maverick friends and Stephanie who was back in town from Chicago. It was great to see everyone and have an afternoon of all adult conversation! Steph was so sweet and brought me a gift for the newest Keith, not to mention picking up the tab for lunch for everyone!

The rest of Saturday was low key and we made our own pizzas for dinner that night. Sunday was off to church at 9am and then I worked in the nursery for the 2nd service and got to witness a little girl catch a handful of red puke. It was awesome to try and keep 12 other 2 year olds away from that mess! I guess she had too much Valentine's candy.

All in all it was a wonderful way to celebrate our second Valentine's with our sweet girl. I will say that it didn't even cross my mind to get her a Valentine's gift. Good thing this kid has awesome grandparents. She came home from Nannie & Papa's with an Abby Cadabby doll (from Sesame Street), and I hear she has a ton of loot waiting on her down in Houston.

Here are some pics from the past 2 months. We're trying Picasa since it seems so much faster to upload and view, let me know what you think!

Link to Picasa Pictures

1 Year Anniversary

Amanda came over tonight to celebrate Kaitlin's one year anniversary of being baptized! She brought Kaitlin some Veggie Tales CD's and DVD's, and took us both out for pizza to celebrate. I can't believe it's already been a year, and looking back on our posts from last year, it seems I didn't do a post about it at all. For shame! So here's a look back at the big event, and some comparison pictures from tonight. A note about her dress - it was the same dress that my grandmother made for me that I wore when I was baptized . It was a very special day.




Kaitlin and her godmother, Aunt Amanda, February 10, 2008










Kaitlin and her godmother, February 10, 2009







Washed in the water








Post baptism







Post bath time














Precious girl then








Precious, silly girl now (note the pizza sticker on her shirt. She was REALLY excited about going to get pizza.)

Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo

I'm a bit tardy in my posting of this. April, Catherine and I took Gabriel, Thomas and Kaitlin to the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo a couple weeks ago. We went in the morning and saw all the animals. We walked through the sheep, cow and horse areas, and went to the children's area, which had a bunch of moms and babies (a pig with her 12 piglets!) and other interesting animals (turkeys, rabbits, ducks, chickens, etc), and finally the petting zoo on the way out. We didn't get to see the actual rodeo since it was at 2pm and that is prime nap hour for these guys. See the pictures below, the kids loved seeing all the animals!


Kaitlin and Thomas saying hi to the sheep










Another mom and her baby






Petting zoo - you would think from this picture that she is enjoying looking at the chicken, but...









she was actually just going from water bowl to water bowl and pointing at it and saying "WA-TER." She couldn't have cared less about the animals milling about around her.






Afterwards we headed to Dutch's on TCU's campus for a big, juicy burger. Some of us had applesauce instead.









This is within 10 minutes of being in the car. I'd say it was a successful trip!

I swear I will quit talking about this soon..

but it's so much fun to have Kaitlin talking so much! I really feel like everyday she learns 5 new words, and I'm having a hard time keeping up! Add to that Claudia teaching her Spanish, and I'm really in trouble. She really pretty much narrates the entire day with the words she knows. Today we went for our afternoon walk to the canals up at the front of our neighborhood. When she realizes where we're heading, she usually excitedly yells "WATER!!" (in much the same tone and pitch that she screams "BUS" when she sees one - it really is something you have to hear for yourself to understand. Believe me though when I say it is a scream). But today she yelled "WATER!" and followed it up by saying "agua." Not a scream on the "agua" because I think she was a bit hesitant that she had the right word, but I'm sure we'll get there. And while she was "helping" me unload the dishwasher this morning, she would take out the cup that I make her oatmeal in and hand it to me and say "oatmeal" and the plate that she gets toast on was rightly named "toast." Again, girl after my own heart relating everything back to food. Oh! And I just remembered this one from this morning, and even though it probably doesn't reflect too well on her behavior, I still couldn't help but giggle to myself. She was playfully slapping my hand while I was changing her diaper, and she goes "No, no hit. Timeout." Which is pretty much word for word what I say to her when she truly hits me. And then the other day she busted out with "change diaper?" and sure enough she needed her diaper changed. I took it one step farther and showed her how to change her baby's diaper, so now that's a 10 times a day activity - "momma, chg diaper?" So we head into her room, where I'm required to hand her a wipe so she can "wipe bottom please" of whatever doll is getting the treatment this time. It's just so fun to see her literally budding right before our eyes. I'm sure at some point I will grow tired of all the talking all the time (I'm not a big talker myself), but for now I'm enjoying every second of it.

Tony Romo -- #9 in your programs...

#1 in your hearts!
On Sunday we went to a Superbowl party at one of Summer's friends from MOPS house. Kaitlin sported her pink Tony Romo jersey, as you can see. She wanted a Troy Polamalu jersey (if you don't know who he is, click here), but they didn't have any in her size! Nonetheless, the other girls didn't give her too hard of a time about it and good times were had by all.

Corndog

This is a nickname that Kaitlin has earned from time to time when we are trying to get her to take a serious picture. I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves.