Kaitlin's First Haircut

Kaitlin's bangs were starting to hang in her eyes, so while we were in Florida before Christmas, Pop Pop gave her her first haircut. She wasn't too thrilled with the process, but at least she doesn't have hair in her eyes anymore! And Pop Pop was excited to be able to cut her hair since he has always cut Kenny's, Keven's, Kyler's, and Kohl's.

Thank You

Kaitlin is doing well with her signs. Here is a special
message to everyone who sent her a Christmas gift:

Merry Christmas!

Here are some pictures from our Christmas festivities.



















Kaitlin reaching for Mommy; not a big fan of Santa Claus at this age!




















Our "big" girl hardly ever sleeps on Mommy anymore - so sweet! (Vacation is tough; especially at Mom Mom and Pop Pop's house.)




















If we hadn't already ordered our Christmas cards when I took this picture, it definitely would have been on them!

Kaitlin's 15-Month Checkup

Kaitlin went for her 15-month checkup today as well as the dreaded MMR shot. Kaitlin weighed in at 17 ½ pounds and 30 ¾ inches. Her weight is not even close to being on the growth chart, but her height is still right around the 50th percentile. There were two kids in the waiting area who were in for their 12-month checkups; both of them were much bigger than Kaitlin! She is just a skinny skinny girl. Buying clothes for her is a constant struggle. I just bought her a pair of leggings yesterday; the tag says 12M: 28-30.5 inches, 20-23 pounds. See my dilemma?

Overall the doctor said she looks great and she wasn't really concerned about Kaitlin's weight since she has started walking since her last checkup and she was recently sick for a month. She does want us to bring her in for a weight check in about a month just to be sure we're not missing something. Please pray that Kaitlin will eat well and gain lots of weight over the holidays!

Kaitlin has started to say a few words. She says daddy a lot, but rarely says mommy (although we know she can). This makes me very sad :( She also says cookie, cracker, light, and yum yum. She was trying to say please this morning, but of course it sounded nothing like it! She also makes some animal noises when she feels like it including quack quack, moo, ssssss (snake), and grrr (bear).

Kaitlin can make lots of different signs and loves to watch her "Baby Signing Time" videos! She even uses sign language to ask for them. The signs she does the most include milk, more, please, book, all done, banana, dog, hat, wash hands, Baby Signing Time, and ball. She is just now really starting to use her signs to communicate and is very good at signing "more, please" when she wants more food, especially cookies! She loves her mini Vanilla Wafers! Some other signs that Kaitlin can do are drink, eat, car, thank you, airplane, train, coat, cracker, shoe, sock, brush teeth, and it hurts. It seems like every time we watch one of the videos she does a new sign.

Kaitlin spends most of her time wondering around the house getting into this and that. She particularly enjoys putting objects inside other objects. Her latest skill is taking off her socks. Everytime I lay her down for a diaper change the feet go up and she pulls her socks off. She also tries to put them on, but it's not quite as effective! Well, I really need to try to get something done before Kaitlin wakes up in a half hour, so I should end this very long post. Here are some pictures of her trying to put on her socks!

Our Little Champ

Kaitlin has been sick for about a month now. It started with a cold that led to an ear infection and now she has a lingering cough and congestion. I took her back to the doctor yesterday and the ear infection has cleared up, but he was concerned about her wheezing, so now Kaitlin has to be given breathing treatments with a nebulizer every 4 hours. The first few times were quite traumatic for all involved, but I got some great advice from another mom and now Kaitlin lets us put the mask right on while she watches a video. We're very proud of her for being such a big girl!




















Clearly the treatments aren't nearly as
traumatic as Kaitlin first let on:

October 30

Today was a very big day for us. It was Keven's birthday and also Kaitlin's first time trick-or-treating (don't ask). First on the agenda, was PlayGym where all the kids wore their Halloween costumes. They looked very cute and had a few special treats including a jack-o-lantern bean bag toss and choolate chip cookies. In fact, that was Kaitlin's first time eating chocolate. She seemed to enjoy the cookie once we gave her one without frosting. (And no, PopPop, you still can't give her chocolate when she's at your house in November.) After PlayGym, Kaitlin and I ran a couple errands and then went home for lunch and a long nap.

While Kaitlin was napping, I was pretending to be Martha Stewart and decorated Keven's birthday cake - a train. I disovered pretty early in the process that I am not Martha! The cake turned out really neat though and I included some pictures of it because I'm pretty proud of how it turned out. For reasons I don't feel like explaining, the city of Auburn decided that trick-or-treating would be on October 30 instead of on Halloween, so Kaitlin went trick-or-treating for the first time tonight. We had our community group over and we all took our little tots out together. It was lots of fun and neat to go with a group. At one point, Kaitlin sat down in the middle of the cul-de-sac and starting going through her bucket. It was funny! She also had fun playing on the front porch after everyone left.

Trunk or Treat

We had lots of fun at Trunk or Treat at Cornerstone last night. Kaitlin played some fun games and got lots of treats. Her favorite game was definitely the pool of ducks; we had to drag her away from it kicking and screaming! But, I think Kaitlin had the most fun just walking around the church foyer after Trunk or Treat was over. She was definitely the cutest little cow I've ever seen :)

Pumpkin Patch, Round 2

We spent the afternoon in Loachapoka on Saturday at the annual Syrup Sopping and the Farmer in the Dell Pumpkin Patch. Kaitlin was in a much better mood for this Pumpkin Patch! She loved playing in the trough of corn and we weren't able to get her away from it without a fight. Fortunately, the hay ride was bouncy enough to make her smile again. They also had a corn maze which we successfully found our way out of! Hope you enjoy the pictures. The sun wasn't in a good position and I forgot the camera, so we had to make do with Keven's phone.

Peek-A-Boo

Kaitlin discovered the full-length mirror this evening (it is usually hidden behind our open bedroom door). She enjoyed playing peek-a-boo with herself. Doesn't she look super cute in her overalls and cow hat?

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch this past weekend with MomMom and PopPop. It was lots of fun! Kaitlin has had a cold so she wasn't in the best of moods, but I think she still enjoyed it. Here are some pictures.

She was walking...and walking...and walking

Now that Kaitlin is walking, that is all she wants to do. She just walks and walks and walks all over the house, usually with a toy or two in hand. She isn't going anywhere in particular, she is just walking because she can. Every once in a while something will catch her eye and she will stop to play briefly and then she starts walking again. I got a great video today, but I still don't know how to edit and post them. Maybe Keven will teach me this weekend. Until he does, a picture will have to do!
 

Kaitlin's Protector

This is how I found Harley during Kaitlin's nap yesterday.
 

Messy, Messy, Messy!

I tried to cover Kaitlin's freshly washed hair so that it might stay clean for at least one meal.














It didn't work.


















Kaitlin likes to feed herself with her spoon. It's very messy! I often avoid giving her foods that have to be spoon fed because I don't want her to be a mess. Kaitlin doesn't really enjoy bath time, so I give them to her as infrequently as possible (to avoid the frustration). If anyone has any tips to help a 1 year old like baths, please share!

Old McDonald Had a Farm

We traveled to Birmingham on Sunday for Jake's birthday party. We were so glad we were able to celebrate with Jake and his family. Their friendship is such a blessing to us and we are really sad that they had to move to Birmingham. The birthday party was a farm theme so all the kids got farm animal bibs and there was a scarecrow. Kaitlin loved playing with the scarecrow's hat and walking around the room with her pig bib in her mouth. Jake also got a really cool tractor with a trailer for his birthday and Kaitlin had a blast playing with it! Thanks for sharing, Jake!

Kaitlin's 12-Month Checkup

I took Kaitlin for her 12-month checkup yesterday and it went very well! She weighed in at 17 lbs, 3 oz and is 29 inches long. The doctor was very happy with her weight and Kaitlin is now transitioning from formula to whole milk - woohoo!! Now if I could just get her to drink it out of a sippy cup!















I tried to get a picture of Kaitlin spoon-feeding herself cottage cheese, but she just kept pointing at the camera. We are just amazed at all the things she can do now! She even took a few steps on her own for the first time on Monday. What a big girl!

Kaitlin's Acting Debut

Kaitlin made her acting debut a few weeks ago at church. You can check out the video here. She is about 1 minute into it.

War Eagle!

Kaitlin went to her first Auburn football game today. Of course we tailgated beforehand and the game didn't start until late, so we were all very tired by the time we got there (we got to the game late and left at half-time). The tigers pulled out a win, but their offense didn't look great. Hopefully, they will look better next week!

 
 
 

Happy Birthday, Kaitlin!

Kaitlin's birthday was Saturday and although we had her party last weekend, we did have a small family celebration. It was a nasty day here as Tropical Depression Fay was visiting (and hasn't left yet) and we were all three a little bit grumpy. Kaitlin got her presents from us, and had a cupcake. Well, she scraped some icing off the cupcake and then screamed for someone to get her out of her high chair. Here are a few pictures from Kaitlin's big day.



















Kaitlin pulled up on me and then stood on her own for about 15 seconds - the longest we've seen her do it.
















Kaitlin loves to whack her balloon to hear Pooh sing "Happy Birthday."




















Here, Kaitlin is playing with the water table that we got her for her birthday.




















Kaitlin was disappointed that she didn't get to play in her new frog pool more because of the rain. We eventually had to hide it because she would get mad when she looked out the window and saw it.




















Kaitlin was delighted to play with this flower!




















Apparently cupcakes aren't good enough for this princess!

Party Time!

Last weekend was very big for Kaitlin. Although her birthday isn't until this coming Saturday, we decided to celebrate a little early and had her birthday this past Saturday. All the grandparents came to town for her party as well as Aunt Kim and Sarah. There are so many pictures that I decided to do two slideshows. This first one has pictures from the weekend and the second one is all party pictures. Kaitlin opened some of her gifts before the party (so we'd have them to entertain the other kids at the party) and some of her gifts after the party (due to a limited attention span). It was a really great weekend and we are lucky to have such wonderful friends and family to celebrate with.

As expected, Kaitlin made great progress while her grandparents were around. She didn't start walking, but she did start doing sign language for real. She now does the signs for milk, more, and all done. She even tried the signs for cat and cracker while MomMom and I were watching Baby Signing Time with her. I believe this proves our theory that Kaitlin likes to show off for her grandparents because today when she and I watched Baby Signing Time, she only did the sign for "all done."

Awesome pics!

I'm taking a photography class and our assignment this week was to take portraits. What a great excuse for me to take pictures of my two babies! The goal was to try to get a blurry background. I was only somewhat successful with the blurry background, but I got some really great shots of Kaitlin and Harley.

This one needs more explanation than a slideshow will allow. Kaitlin was hamming it up for the camera, but instead of smiling, this is the face she made. It reminds me of that Friends episode when Monica and Chandler get engagement photos made and Chandler is making these really hideous faces in all the pictures!

Vacation

Well, I haven't had time to go through these and make a slide show, so I'm just going to take the lazy way out and just link the album (click on the picture below to see more). We had lots of fun in Virginia! We went to the zoo and even out on a dolphin cruise. Some of the dolphins came right next to the boat and we even saw babies! We even convinced Sarah to pose for some pictures with Kaitlin; up until now the only pictures we have of the two of them together are candid shots.

Virginia - July 2008

Great News!

I took Kaitlin for a weight check yesterday. She is up to 16 pounds, 8 ounces (up 10 ounces) and is 28 ½ inches long. The best news is that her weight is back on the growth chart - woohoo! The doctor was very happy with that and told me to keep doing whatever we're doing.

Kaitlin is pretty much all over the place now. As mentioned before, she loves to open and close Harley's crate. Well, I knew it was only a matter of time before she crawled into his crate and it happened on Wednesday. Yesterday, she decided to get in the crate with Harley. I don't think he was too pleased with that development. I think we're probably going to start teaching her that she needs to leave Harley alone when he's in his crate. Here are some pictures.

 
 
 
 

Holy Cow! Kaitlin is 11-Months Old!

I can hardly believe it has already been 11 months since Kaitlin was born. The time really has flown by and it's getting harder and harder to remember how tiny Kaitlin was when we brought her home. Kaitlin has made a lot of progress this month and she really likes to show off for her grandparents. When Keven's parents were in town for the 4th of July, Kaitlin started waving and clapping her hands all the time (way more than she had been). And this past weekend, we traveled to Virginia to see my family and Kaitlin started to do a lot of crawling. I would say she now crawls on her hands and knees more than on her tummy. She does resort to the army crawl if she is in a hurry though! When we got home Monday night, Kaitlin was very anxious to be out of the car and moving around. She "cruised" along the couch for the first time ever! And this morning, she pulled up on my legs and let go! She stood on her own for about 2-3 seconds. It just amazes us how suddenly she starts to do new things. Here are a few pictures from our day.