Some stats

Kate had her 9 month well child check today, so I'll give you some stats since I haven't done that in a while. Some pictures too, because I found more on a camera!

If you can't tell in that picture above, baby girl is tall!

Today (9 months, 4 days)...

Weight: 19 lb, 5 oz (55th percentile)

Height: 29.25 in (95th percentile)

Happy girl this evening even though she had a shot and
fingerstick at her appointment. Vaccines are
SO IMPORTANT! Pass it on ;)

Spying on the dogs

She had a perfect checkup and was a good girl for Dr. Ali. 

On a side note, Kate has still never cried a tear. Oh, she has cried, no doubt about that, but no tears. Ever. 

But that's OK. I just think it was God's way of throwing me a bone in the beginning ...all that crying for the first 4 months was so heartbreaking, and big ole' alligator tears would have made it 

even harder on my heart! 

This is the happy girl we get from the crib in the mornings and after each nap. She usually plays in there for a bit and then smiles SO BIG when we walk in. By the way, this picture is deceiving...the mobile is no longer there, but it was never that close to her head!

Cruising around, walking along anything she can!

Tonight Kate was hanging out with Daddy while he exercised and I cooked dinner, and then I peeked out the window and saw this. She LOVES walking, and seeing my little bitty baby's legs under her Daddy's...this life is so good.

Happy almost Friday! We have a good weekend coming up.

9 months

Dear Kate,

You are 9 months old! I can't believe it. To be honest, I really haven't wanted this "3/4 of a year" age to hit because it just seems less baby, but you have made 9 months amazing! We love you to pieces and with your personality, your new milestones, and your improved sleeping habits, I'd say you're perfect :)

This sock monkey is the first toy I was suckered into buying... we found it at Target and it sings a ridiculous Rihanna song and waves its arms. You CRACKED UP and so of course, we brought it home :) I know, it's only the beginning!

Currently, some of your favorite things are the dogs (especially when they jump and splash in the pool), getting in the water, singing sock monkeys, your light up piano, balls and blocks, stroller walks, and moving EVERYWHERE! You smile so much now and it's awesome. You are good at crawling, but you're even better at cruising. You hold onto things with sometimes just one hand and you practically run! Yesterday, you stood independently for 12 seconds and also took 2 steps. You just want to walk so badly and you're getting close, but slow down a little bit babydoll...you fall an awful lot!

You have entered a whole new world of eating! You have never been a great baby food eater - mealtimes were always a bit frustrating because there was no rhyme or reason as to what or how much you'd eat (have I told you how strong willed you are?!) but now you've graduated beyond the purees. These days, you pretty much only eat pieces of soft fruits, veggies and meats and maybe a little cereal and you're eating so much better! You let us give you pieces and you feed yourself too (using your fist). Today you ate a prune pancake (yum! ha!), blueberries, a peach, peas & carrots, grapes, avocado and puffs. You like water from your sippy cup and you're still breastfed. 

Rinsing off in Nannie's sink outside - you love it!

Happy on a walk

You also wave bye-bye now!!! It is the cutest thing in the world and since you just learned, you practice all day long :) When we walk across the street to Nannie and PopPop's, you smile so big as soon as we get to their driveway! You laugh hard when I kiss your toes and when I "zzzzzzippp" your jammies. You are also having a little separation anxiety when I pass you to someone else or put you down. It makes me sad to see you sad, but it's also sweet you know I'm your mama. Don't worry, you cheer up if you go outside! Sometimes you get to hang out with Daddy in the mornings after I leave if he goes to work a little later, and you love your time with him - you're a really good helper for him watering the plants and walking the dogs. Your wardrobe overwhelms him a little, so sometimes I lay out your clothes if he dresses you, but you must give him fits getting dressed because your clothes are on backwards!! That's OK, he's learning :)

Enjoying an afternoon with Tanya and James

You still really love the pool! You have no fear - you'll literally lean right into the pool if we let you, and you sometimes dunk your face. So, we're starting swimming lessons soon!

You hair is getting a little longer and I can finally kind of clip a barrette in! I've waited my entire life for a baby girl with a little bow, so even if these only stay in for 5 minutes, I'm still excited. At night after your bath when I'm dressing you, Daddy brushes your hair with your sweet silver brush PopPop bought you, and he is so meticulous about it. It's one of my favorite things. Most nights you go down about 830 and wake up about 7, waking once (occasionally twice) in between. Thank you for sleeping better!!

Every single day, I think that I couldn't love you more, and then the next day comes and I do. You make our lives so much better and you're such a blessing to us all. You have a strong personality and I love that. You definitely have some Taylor in you! I've never been a very patient person, but sweet girl, you have taught me patience like nothing else in my life :)

 I can't wait to show you the world and teach you about the wonderful things in life like boat rides, sunsets, puppies, snow, playdoh, the Gators, Disney World, and ice cream :) I wake up each morning excited to see your beautiful smile and your little arms reach out to me. Thank your for making me a mama and for being mine. 

I love you. 

One day

One day, my brothers will be the uncles who play hard with Kate and teach her pranks and rough house and get her to repeat not-the-best things and pick on her and chase her and throw her in the pool and spoil her and maybe even have her in their weddings. But right now? They are completely taken by her and when they come home to visit, it is so obvious how much they love her. 

She doesn't know how lucky she is :)

Me and my baby and my brothers over Easter weekend

Her new thing is this bunny rabbit impression, sniffing while laughing....and she copies us doing it too!

Something tells me she won't be allowed to date until she's 40 ;)

Hope your Easter was happy!

Ours definitely was! My brothers were both in town for the weekend and Brett finalllllyyyy had a day (the whole day!) off of work.

As you can see, Kate was really into dying eggs this year ;)

In my family, Good Friday is a seafood fest and if Scotty and Jeremy will both be home, 80 lbs of live crawfish magically appear on Mom and Dad's doorstep from the Fed Ex truck. Our Mama's cajun blood runs thick ;)

On Easter Sunday, Kate slept in (7:30. Ha!! This is sleeping in these days, especially after waking a few times at night) so we kind of last minute decided to go to the earlier mass that didn't conflict with her nap time. Of course, there was standing room only at church (which was fine with Kate, who hung out outside with Brett), then home for breakfast, pictures, baskets, and her nap. Then lunch, and then spent the afternoon with Brett's mom and sister who came to visit :)

Our sweet girl with some of her Easter treats! 

I LOVE when everyone is home together

You know how when you're taking a picture with a baby, everyone needs to always stay looking at the camera so in the quick instant that baby looks at camera, CLICK for the good picture? Well Brett sometimes has a hard time with this... he always looks down at Kate to see if she's looking. So sometimes we end up with pictures like this, but I kind of love this one :)

Very interested in everything, but I think her favorite Easter treats were her yogurt melts, singing sock monkey bunny from Aunt Kim and the glittery cup in the next picture. My favorites? All her precious new clothes and soft animals. Easter is the best!

My 2 favorite girls

My mama and my baby...these are my 2 favorite girls :)

I am so blessed that my babydoll is in such good hands while we work each day, and I can only strive to be as good of a Mama to Kate as mine is to me. 

oh baby!

So 8 months is a really fun age! Kate's personality is certainly developing and I feel like I need to do a post because so much is changing so quickly. When I get off work each day, I can't get home fast enough to her.... and when I walk in, she smiles SO BIG and crawls towards me. And my heart completely melts. I love her more than any words can describe and she is absolutely the most wonderful form of sleep deprivation ;) 

She can give us the most wonderful smiles (top picture), but usually this is her "look." Very serious, deep in thought... and oh, those sweet lips!

So yes, Kate is crawling. Our entire house has tile floors (except for the really pretty foam mat with numbers and letters in primary colors covering our living room rug) so we don't just "let her go" with crawling, but she's good at it. I'm glad we're past the "face plant" stage of learning to crawl where she always seemed to have a bruise on her forehead :( Actually, she just crawls to the nearest thing (couch, our leg, chair, table) to pull up and stand or cruise. When she stands, she holds on with just one hand and is SO PROUD of herself :)

She drinks her water out of a sippy cup with a straw (or our cup...her favorite)! She couldn't quite figure out the regular sippy cup because she'd just chew on the spout, and I had been offering the one with a straw and then all of a sudden, it just clicked and she started drinking. 

Not sure why but this was a big deal to me!

She still has 4 teeth, but 2 more are about to cut and I think these are giving her the biggest fits so far :(

Still LOVES the water and she'll leave her hat and glasses on if she's distracted...

...But she ALWAYS tries to get our glasses :)

She finally got to meet my good friend Emily! She lives in Jacksonville and I haven't been very good at traveling around the state for visits so I was so excited when Emily & Doug stopped by! "Em" and I were in nursing school together at UF, worked in the PICU together at Shands, and got our MSNs in peds together too. For some reason, everyone at Shands confused us the entire time. Not sure why ;)

Emily has been beggingggggg me to have a baby for like 6 years now so I was so happy for her to meet Kate. One day, Emily will be an amazing mama and I can't wait!!

So I mentioned a long time ago my office is kind of like a baby factory. This is me with Kate and Ali with Tilloo celebrating Jessica and her sweet baby boy to be!

Kate loves the beach, especially sitting in the water. She's pretty good at not eating the sand too! Speaking of eating...she still has some purees but definitely prefers soft table foods (avocado, banana, sweet potato) and the snacky stuff (yogurt melts, mum mums). Also, she'll only eat when she reallllly feels like it. Keeps the days interesting ;)

She is doing LOTS of babbling and has the most precious voice in the whole wide world. She is saying "mama" randomly and Lord help me when she says it purposefully!! 

She smacks her lips when she sees something she wants to eat or drink. 

She growls at the tiger in her animal book and when we make the sound. 

She loves our dogs and "calls for Maggie" when I am calling the dogs outside.

She "reads" her books by flipping the pages over and over.

She is wearing 12-18 month clothes, size 3 shoes and size 3 diapers.

She loves to brush her teeth in the bathtub. 

We don't have a picture with the Easter Bunny this year because I think she'll be scared and I'm not into torturing babies just for a picture...but I think he'll still come leave her some treats on Sunday ;)

She always laughs at a certain tickle I do, whenever I blow my nose and when Brett plays peek-a-boo behind the fridge. She kind of starting waving the other day. She is a terrible sleeper, I've just accepted it. She loves Nannie so much and smiles huge and kicks her legs and reaches for her in the mornings. It makes leaving for work a little easier knowing she is so loved. She loves her playtime on the ground now. Many times she just needs to get down and crawl and be independent. She does this "sniffing" laugh all the time now. Her hair is coming in so evenly and her eyes are getting bigger. She still has puffy eyes in the mornings just like me, and Daddy points it out everyday... "Good morning Kate Kate, you have your mama's eyes."

She is our whole world and I want to freeze time right now. I never imagined I could love someone so much and I wake up each morning so (tired and) excited to see what new things she'll learn that day!