Correction = Kate's XMas Gifts

I incorrectly stated that my Grandma had given Kate the train for Christmas. My aunt Gail actually got her the train. Thanks Aunt Gail, sorry for the mistake!

Merry Christmas!

We had a great first Christmas with Kate. She had so much fun visiting with everyone and of course she was spoiled with lots of presents. As you can see she was a little suspicious of her pony but now she likes it. She really likes the gumball toy Aunt Denise got her and the train Great Grandma got her.

Merry Christmas!

Kate almost walking!

Ready for Christmas!

Kate is really excited about Christmas. She has already received a few Christmas presents and is having a lot of fun. She loves a walker with music she got from Angie, Brian, Hailey, and Cameron. I took some video of her walking with it and she took a little tumble at the end.

She has been really good at leaving the Christmas tree alone. Every once in a while she pokes at it. The cats like the tree since they can hide from Kate under the tree. As you can see, Maggie the cat is less than thrilled with being chased by Kate. The cats favorite time is when Kate goes to bed.

Fun with Kate

I haven't been posting too much and wanted to add some pictures of Kate. She is doing great and getting big. Kate received a Christmas gift from Jamisen's grandparents in Florida. They sent her some musical shakers and she really likes them. She likes making lots of noise. I had to take a picture of her crazy hair after she got out of her bath. She loves her baths but she hates getting dressed so we have to chase her around to get her pjs on.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's been a while since I've updated the blog. Kate has been very busy over the holidays. She enjoyed her 1st Thanksgiving---the Cheerios were her favorite part. She didn't care for any "people" food. I tried to give her potatoes but she gagged. She loved playing with Lonnie, my cousin Megan's dog.

Kate had her 9 month check up and is still growing quickly. She is 21 lbs 2 oz and 29 in long. She is still in the 95% for height and 90% for weight. She's doing well with all her milestones--standing, cruising around furniture, and feeding herself.

Kate is 9 months old today!

I can't believe Kate is already 9 months old. She's getting so big and so independent. She is very active and doesn't like to sit still very much. I think she'll be walking soon.

Kate pooped

This video is kind of old. It's from almost a month ago but I thought I'd add it. Kate is pretty funny and she did have a pretty awful diaper.

Kate's been a lot of fun lately. She's developing her own sense of humor. Anytime we hide from her and jump up, we're pretty much guaranteed a laugh or at least a smile. She's also learned to "tickle" my feet to make me laugh.

The link to youtube is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mC8TBZwj1c

Grrrr.....

This is a video of Kate laughing when I growl and bark like a dog. She was really cracking up

before I brought out the camera then she got a little distracted. You can see her 4 teeth when she smiles.

Kate's enjoying fall

We tried to let Kate play in the leaves this weekend but she didn't really enjoy it. She cried as soon as we put her in them. She also thinks it's hilarious when I growl and bark like a dog. It was really funny the first time but now it's just slightly funny.

Happy Halloween!

Kate had a good time on Halloween and she was a good sport about her duck costume. She went to a baby Halloween party earlier this week and had a good time playing with all the other babies.

Hard day at work

Kate is already working hard emailing and getting calls on her cell phone. She is so obsessed with all electronics equipment so we have let her bang on an old laptop and occasionally play with Jamisen's iphone.

I've got a puzzle and a sweater...

Grandma and Grandpa came to see Kate this weekend and brought her a puzzle and a new book. She really loves her new puzzle and played with it all day. Grandma also knitted Kate a sweater. The proportions may be a little off...but Kate doesn't mind. Kate and I went for a walk on Sunday in her new coat. She doesn't look too happy but she now anticipates the flash and doesn't willingly pose for photos.

Kate is 8 months old!

I have to upload some of her newest pictures but I can't believe she's 8 months old already. Here are some of the things that Kate has already done:

1. Crawling (she's been doing this for a while)
2. Pulling herself up (and she doesn't care if it's a stationary object or not)
3. Flown on a plane
4. Climbing up stairs
5. Eating solid foods (she can't quite feed herself puffs yet)
6. Swim (well, sort of in swim class)
7. Say ma ma and da da (it's random but it happens)
8. Dance
9. Go on swings at the park
10. Read (ok, maybe she can't read yet but she loves her books)

Kate is such a happy baby and she is so much fun. She definitely makes us laugh everyday.

Kate is climbing

Kate is very mobile and fearless. She has climbed the whole flight of stairs up to Jamisen's office with him making sure she didn't fall. I caught her standing in her car seat this weekend. She's so fast---one second she was innocently playing with the buckle and the next she is standing up.

Kate video

This is a video I took when I was playing with Kate in her crib. She was laughing so hard but got a little distracted by the camera. Sorry for the bounciness---I was both the camera person and the entertainer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioAZVw47PGY

The laundry basket is the best

Kate probably spends a few hours a day in the laundry basket. She plays with her toys in there and likes to stand up in the basket. It's pretty much her favorite toy right now.

Getting ready for cold weather!

It's getting colder here in Michigan so Kate is getting into her warmer clothes. We're still taking walks in the park and going on the swings but it's been pretty rainy lately. Kate is still enjoying her swim class and Grandma came with us today to watch Kate swim. Her favorite part of swim class is when they bring out all the toys.

As you can see by the picture Kate was not into the ripe banana I gave her. She was not a fan even though she loves her banana baby food. We'll try again later!

I'm climbing everywhere!

Kate is climbing on everything. She loves to get under her exersaucer and she now knows how to get back out. She can pull herself up to standing on just about anything.

Look under there!

Kate has learned how to look under things now. I took a video of her today trying to look under the ottoman. She is growing up so fast and loves to pull herself up on everything. She definitely has a mind of her own. She's decided that she doesn't like to go to sleep willingly for naps or at night.

Kate hanging out

We've been really busy lately but I wanted to post a picture of Kate in the laundry basket and a video of her making her latest noise. She loves the laundry basket and is also obsessed with the vacuum. Maybe she'll help me clean soon?

Kate's new

Kate's 1st swim class

Kate absolutely loved her 1st swim class. She had so much fun watching the other babies, splashing, and paddling around.

Crazy!

Kate's favorite song is Crazy by Gnarls Barkley. I finally got a video of her dancing to it. Sometimes she hears the camera go on and then she just wants to watch the camera light.

I think Kate is getting her second tooth because she's kind of cranky today. She took extra long naps today.

Double click on the link to load the video of Kate dancing---there's no sound youtube removed it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITbxFZTRUd4

Went to the zoo!

Jamisen and I took Kate to the zoo today. It was so nice out and perfect weather for the zoo. Kate wasn't too excited about most of the animals as you can tell by the pictures. She did like the meerkats and peacocks.

Kate's new clothes

Kate is growing so fast, I had to go buy her some new clothes. She's really tall so a lot of her pants were getting too short. Of course there are so many cute outfits so I didn't have any problem buying more clothes.

She's getting to be an extremely fast crawler and has even pulled herself up a few times. I just got her a play table to stand at and she seems to like it. She's definitely starting to be exhausting to keep up with.

Kate dancing to her duck

Kate is staring to enjoy music. One of her favorite songs is Frank Sinatra "The Way You Look Tonight". She also likes this duck toy she has that sings. Below is a link of her dancing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62TCjtEjh4Y

Kate's beach vacation!

This weekend we rented a cottage in Au Gres, MI. It was a really nice area with a beautiful beach. It was very windy Thurs and Friday so although we tried to spend some time on the beach we also spent a lot of time inside. Sat was not as windy but cold. This was Kate's first time playing in the sand and she did pretty good not eating it. We were with friends of ours that have a 2 yr old and an 8 wk old and she really loves other kids. She desperately wants to play with Connor but since he can't move around too much we had to keep her away. I've also posted a picture of her wearing jeans for the first time. She looks like such a little person now.

Angry baby....

Kate does this fake snort that we call angry baby. We were trying to get her to do it in the video and she does it at the beginning. She's always really distracted by the light on the camera.

Practicing to be either a dog or a cheerleader...

Lately Kate has been putting her toys in her mouth and crawling around. She kind of looks like she's trying to be a dog. She also loves to grab her feet right now. Alix and Angela think she's going to be a cheerleader and this morning she was practicing her stretches. She just might be a future cheerleader.