Standing Kate!

A little more than two weeks ago, while Mimi (Deb) was watching Kate, she noticed Kate stood up on her own for the first time! As quick as Kate got up, she just as quickly sat back down. Since then, we hadn't noticed her even attempt it once....until last Friday. On Friday evening the three of us got down to West Bend for a fun weekend, and upon arriving we noticed Kate position herself and then stand up on her own! We were so excited to finally see it and she hasn't stopped since!

We keep trying to get pictures of her while she's up, but with the flash delay it proves to be quite difficult, especially when she notices the flash and wants to come investigate. Of course the one great shot we got, she had just taken a huge drink of milk.


Enjoy the following video of our little stander plus some extras:



Come back tomorrow to see Kate's first Easter Egg Coloring Experience!

Never Again!

See what happens when I let Mom and Dad go shopping without me! Real funny guys. You can tell by the look on my face that I'm not amused.

If you're having trouble reading the wording on Kate's PJ's, they say "Bad Hair Day". We just couldn't resist. Kate always seems to wake up with the most hilarious bed-head, especially the morning after a bath. We've been laughing about this purchase ever since!

Anyway, this past weekend Shelly and I went down to Chicago for some shopping and Red Wings Hockey. We spent Friday evening at Grandma and Grandpa Burch's house and then took off early Saturday morning. Kate stayed with her cousins and had a wonderful weekend. From the sounds of how much she slept, her cousins definitely kept her busy and simply put, wore her out! :) Big thanks to the entire Burch clan for watching our Peanut!

As for Shelly and I, we stopped at an outlet mall right before Illinois and ended up spending the entire morning and afternoon there given how many great shops they had. We found the above gem at Baby Gap. After that, we drove the rest of the way to Chicago and enjoyed a nice relaxing evening before the Red Wings game the following day. After a fun Red Wings 4-3 victory, Shelly and I headed back! It was a wonderful weekend and the weather made it even better!

It's Signing Time with Kate!

Once again, we've got lots of things to report. On Saturday Kate and I were in the kitchen making a sandwich. She was doing her usual crawling around, exploring the area and standing up on anything and everything. As I was finishing up, I noticed Kate sitting next to the refrigerator making what I knew was a sign but couldn't remember exactly which one it was (seeing as though we watch an episode of signing time every day). Anyway, she pointed with her right pointer-finger to the palm of her opened, left hand. Upon further investigation, we figured out she was signing the word "More" as in, more food. I can't begin to tell you how excited and proud I was of her. She's been watching that series for a long time now, and we were wondering when it was all of a sudden going to set in and now that she's figured it out, we can't wait to see what she signs next.

Kate Enjoying an Episode of Signing Time

Were also excited to report that some new teeth have come in. A day or so after our last blog post, Kate's top right tooth popped through. We could tell it was coming because her gum was just sheer white and harder then her other gums. Well, sure enough it popped through and then a day later the one on the left followed. She now has both her top and bottom right and left teeth. See looks so cute!

Kate's Day with Lombardi

Once the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Donald Driver, Charles Woodsen and Clay Matthews had their day with the trophy, it finally became Peanut's turn. Enjoy!

Food, Food, Food

As I mentioned in our previous post, we received approval from Kate's doctor to start feeding her real food. She stated that we could start her on watermelon, Kraft singles, bananas and more! We thought we'd ease Kate into the process by starting her on watermelon and cheese. At first she wasn't too fond of the watermelon, but liked it more as the week went on. Like a true Wisconsinite though, she loved the cheese right off the bat!

She continues to be a great eater for us, having the right portions of fruits and vegetables for lunch and dinner in addition to either watermelon or cheese. She has also been doing great with her sippy cup and we've found that since she's been having such nutritious meals, she's been drinking less formula before her naps and when she goes down for the night. It's great to see her making such progress! Enjoy the following pictures of our little Cheesehead during her mealtime adventures!

Have You Seen My Carrots?

You Want Me To Eat This?

I'm Not So Sure About This

Showing How Well I Use My Sippy Cup

And We're Back!

Sorry for the long absence - we were having computer issues which didn't allow us to post anything.

As I write this, I can’t help but think that Kate will be 10 months old tomorrow. Everyone told John and I that time flies even faster when you have kids and boy they weren’t kidding. It felt like we were just at the hospital yesterday as I can still hear my doctor say, “It’s a girl!” and vividly see my hospital bed surrounded by John, my parents and his parents.

Given how fast the past 10 months have gone by, it’s no wonder that February felt like it was here and gone with a snap of a finger. We experienced so many wonderful and exciting things this month. Kate has kept us rather busy and on our toes as she learned to pull herself up on the furniture and anything just slightly within her reach. She also continues to chew on everything since another tooth popped up right next to her first one. Needless to say, her kisses are turning into opportunities to utilize those chompers.

Given that she’s in her 9^th month, she had her routine check-up with Dr. Schacht. She definitely gets her height from her daddy as she is in the 82^nd percentile at 28.75 inches long. She now weighs 21 pounds, 10 ounces which is in the 86^th percentile and her head is in the 42^nd percentile. We were thrilled to hear that she’s thriving and thoroughly enjoyed this appointment since there were no shots. Hooray! We also got Dr. Schacht’s approval to start Kate on real foods. We attempted that this week and will talk about it in our next post so stay tuned! Until then, enjoy some pictures of Miss K.

Check Out My Cute Legs as I Stand On My Own!

I Like To Chew On My Blocks....

My Hand...

The Page On My Musical Table...
And the Remote Control. Are You Sensing A Theme Here?
But I'm Still A Happy Baby Even When I'm Teething!

Super Bowl Champs!

The other day, I found myself reflecting on how good it is to be Kate. For the most part, she gets to do whatever she wants, everyone tries to entertain her at all times, her meals are almost always spoon-fed right to her......and on top of all that, all she knows is the Green Bay Packers as Super Bowl Champions! Needless to say, it was a great night two Sunday's ago. After the big game Shelly was sweet enough to drop my brother and I off Downtown where we met my parents for a post game celebration! The streets were absolutely nuts! Filled with thousands of screaming fans, cars with their windows down and their inhabitants high-fiving everyone they drove by and to top it all off, Green and Gold Fireworks later that night! The last time the Packers won the Super Bowl I was 14 and a shade too young to enjoy the festivities of downtown, but I certainly wasn't going to miss it this time and I'm thrilled I didn't. Here's a couple of pics from our experience!

Smile's All-Around

Celebrating with New Friends

The Amazing Ice Sculpture on the Streets Downtown

Needless to say, we had an absolute blast and it was so much fun to watch the Packers' inspired run through the playoffs!

Since then, Kate continues to keep us more and more busy. The word "mobile" doesn't being to describe her lately. When we put her on the floor she's simply....gone! She crawls anywhere and everywhere and is having so much fun exploring her house. The only way we've been able to slow her down lately is by "bribing her with Mom's Valentines Day Chocolate."

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Kate's New Valentine's Day Hat from Mimi!

Other than that, Shelly and I have just really been enjoying the winding down from the holidays. It's been so nice to be able to spend some quality time with Kate on the weekends. It seemed like things were so busy that we didn't have much time to just sit back and enjoy the time with our little lady. So, that's the news as of late. We hope everyone is doing well and GO PACK GO!