Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

One year. I can't believe it. How did this year go so fast? In some ways, it feels like our daughter has always been a part of our lives... like, I don't really remember what we did without her. On the other hand, it feels like we just left the hospital with our new little bundle, all wrapped in pink.

At this time last year, we had just met our little Kathryn Elizabeth... seen her for the first time, heard her cry and already fallen madly in love. Within moments. I remember counting all her tiny fingers and toes. She was very pink and had the most perfect nose... and she still does.

It is amazing how much babies change in only one year. What one year ago was a helpless, flailing, delicate newborn is now a giggling, stubborn, moving, shaking ball of personality! I can't even begin to imagine what this next year will look like! At 12 months, Kathryn is cruising (not walking yet, though), says "baba" very excitedly any time she sees her bottle, laughs at anything, shakes her head "no" anytime she starts doing something she knows she isn't supposed to... she's too wonderful!

If you know much about me, I cry. Often. At most anything. So tonight, while I was rocking her, right around the time she made her appearance into the world one year ago, I finally got emotional. My baby girl has almost (not quite) tripled her weight since birth, gained a good 10 inches, has 6 teeth (and is working on 2 more) and begun the transition from 'baby' to 'little girl'. Crazy!




This morning, she had birthday pancakes for breakfast then battled her morning nap until it became a futile task- so she won. Mommy lost. Then we went off to work as usual. Had a birthday lunch with the office staff, had a birthday cupcake- with some fun orange frosting (what a mess!), then came home.




She's been crabby and whiny most of the day... and only napped for 30 minutes total. She'll sleep good tonight, though. Tomorrow morning is her one-year check, complete with a few shots. Poor kid. And then Saturday is the big day- the 1st birthday party!







So I'm exhausted and emotional, but so SO grateful for the blessings in my life. I'm certainly undeserving of all these blessings, but I guess that is the beauty of grace. This second year will be an adventure and I am so excited for all the amazing things we'll get to experience together as a family!

My cup runneth over!

The Due Date

It was a year ago today that I sat on our couch pouting. Kathryn was due 11/11 and my uterus hadn't made any moves yet. Over it. People that were due with their babies after me had already had their babies. I was getting grumpy.

It's funny looking back... she was worth every single minute more that she stayed "in the oven", but I was so crabby and tired of being pregnant. Seven days later- bam, baby! And a year later, I miss being pregnant. Funny how that goes.

We had a fun scare on Monday morning at 3:00am. I woke up to the sound of the smoke alarm in Kate's room screaming at us! I don't think I have ever moved so quickly in my life- out of bed, down the hall and into her room. She hadn't even woken up at that point- which REALLY scared me at first... then she started to stir. I took her out of the room and Matt came in to check out the alarm. It was no biggie- our heater had come on for the first time in many months and the dust that collected was burning off, which triggered the smoke detector. After that adrenaline rush, it wasn't easy getting back to sleep.

Now she is working on two new teeth and has been quite the crab. On that note, time to go deal with Crabby McGee!

Cute as a bug!

Last night was a first for Kate: her first Halloween! We took some time pre-Halloween night to get some good shots in her costume, and then had a playdate with her friend Sienna, who was also sporting the ladybug look, coincidentally.





That first picture cracks me up... poor Kathryn doesn't get to spend a ton of time with other babies, so when she does get some social time, she is all over it- literally. She kept trying to pull to standing using Sienna's dress, crawling all over her, putting her finger in Sienna's mouth (and yes- she did get bit), and trying to give her little friend kisses (which amounts to licking her). Babies are so funny.

So we're halfway into month 11 and I'm planning Kate's 1st birthday party. Unreal. Matt and I spent some time in the backyard last week trying to get one good picture to use for her invitations... out of 81 pictures, here are some faves (the first one is the one we used for the invite, by the by):





It is amazing how much she has changed, even just within this last month/ month-and-a-half. She's a cruising machine- zipping around the furniture like it's no big deal; she proudly declares "Baba!" when she catches even the slightest glimpse of her bottle (which, much to my dismay, I am planning our escape from once that first birthday hits); if you ask for a kiss, she'll plant one on your cheek (open mouth I'm afraid... I swear I'm trying to teach her to be a lady...) and then the sweetest part- she says, "isssss!". Now, to anyone else this probably means nothing, but I SWEAR she is saying Kiss! She does it all the time- there is no way it's just a coincidence. Is there? No- there's no way.

Her personality is really starting to shine- she's always been a sweet and mellow baby, but now she is just so personable. She babbles away with full inflection in her voice and has fun little conversations with her toys. She shakes her head "No" when she starts to head for a "No-no zone" in the house. She slays me- she is hilarious!

Tomorrow morning should be an interesting experiment... our first "Fall Back" with a baby. So on a morning that used to bring a delicious extra hour of sleep, we'll see what Miss K does. On that note, I am off to reset the clocks, put my laundry in the dryer and maybe read a little before I call it a night.