The Holiday Season

Things have been absolutely crazy lately, as I'm sure it is for everyone finishing up their Christmas shopping. On the night of Sunday, December 5th Saint Nick came and placed a gift under our tree with Kate's name on it. An extremely excited Peanut (who was being held by Dad in the door way of Mom & Dad's room) yelled to Mom, "Quick Mommy, under the tree....there's something there. (While pointing) It's over here Mom...hurry!" Actually, I think it was just Dad "talking for Peanut" but we'll never know.

Anyway, the three of us went to the Living Room and watched Kate open her first ever Saint Nick gift.

Hurry with the pictures so I can attack this "bad-boy!"

Finally! Let me at it!

Alright! The classic Ring set......Score!

Who needs a Bumbo?

Things seem to be changing with our little lady more and more rapidly by the day. A little more than a week ago while we were practicing sitting up, Kate was able to hold herself up for more than 20 minutes. The following day, she made it somewhere in the ballpark of 40 minutes and she hasn't stopped since.

Well, perhaps I'm speaking too soon. Our little lady (while not able to crawl yet) has become quite the mover. We brought our Christmas tree up after Thanksgiving and while we're well aware of the fact that she can roll over, she's never gotten very far. That all changed one evening last week, when both Shelly and I went into the kitchen for no more than 15 seconds to get her bottle & bring in some dishes. We came back and our little Peanut Brittle (as I like to call her now) had barrel rolled roughly 3-4 times and was half way under our tree grabbing onto the lights and (fake) branches. We just about died laughing, but also came to the realization that from now on we'll have to put her in her pack-n-play, jumperoo or exersaucer when we have to leave the room for a moment. Now, even though Kate hasn't figured out how to officially crawl yet, she gets wherever she needs to go via the barrel roll and turning 180's on her stomach. It's beyond entertaining to watch.

As for my "speaking to soon" comment earlier, Kate is so close to crawling its unbelievable. Just last night after moving around, she started lifting her entire body up as if she was doing push-ups. (Sidenote: She must get that upper body strength from me. I've seen the Burch girls and Jeff try to climb the "Ice-Berg" in Mexico and let's just say....it wasn't pretty.) She did this atleast 5 times and then after a little bit, while also on her stomach she started bending her knees up toward her stomach and began the phase of rocking back and forth. From what we've read, this is the beginning stage of learning to crawl. We're extremely excited and can't begin to express how proud we are of her!

We hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the holiday season. We'll be posting again very soon with a bunch of new pictures, video from trimming the Christmas tree and a picture of our little lady with Santa Claus! Take care everyone!

Go Pack!

Kate knew that today's game against the Atlanta Falcons was going to be a nail biter, so she decided to put on her Green Bay Packers cheerleader outfit that Mimi gave her in hopes we could pull out a win. Unfortunately the Pack lost in a close one, but boy did she look cute!

Shake it to the left. Shake it to the right.

Happy Belated Thanksgiving!

Happy belated Thanksgiving! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! We certainly did! It was spent with family and accompanied by great food and a rousing game of Pictionary. Of course it was extra special since Kate is now with us. She is definitely on the top of the list of things to be thankful for this year. She brings so much joy to our lives and we can't help but smile when she's in our presence. In addition to our little lady, we are also thankful for the following:

- our wonderful and loving families
- our great, supportive friends
- good health
- jobs during this difficult economic time
- food on our table and a roof over our heads
- clothes on our backs
- and cameras so they can capture the wonderful photos below!

Giving Daddy The Stiff Arm

Family Photo

Turkey Tush! Gobble, Gobble!

Kate's First Halloween

A few weeks ago Kate celebrated her first Halloween! It was a fun-filled, busy day to say the least. Given the fact that we were sick two weekends before Halloween and then had rainy weather the following weekend we weren't able to get to the Pumpkin patch until that Halloween morning. Never the less, we actually very much enjoyed it since there was practically no one else there. We were able to enjoy it as a family without tons of people all around us. The three of us each picked out a pumpkin and upon Kate "selecting" hers and Mom holding it up with Kate to pose for a picture, our little Peanut dove right in and tried licking the Pumpkin! Oh, that would be our Baby Kate's.

After that, we went to our friend's (Bob & Mel) house and Kate had a play-date with their 3 month old daughter named Anna. It was a wonderful time with great food, tasty drinks and a glorious Packer victory! After the game, we rushed home in order to get there in time for the trick-or-treaters to arrive and for myself to whip up some of my (now) famous spiked cider for the neighborhood adults. Once again, the cider was a huge hit. I can tell we're starting to get a reputation as the "Cider House" because our doorbell never stopped ringing that first hour. Every trick-or-treater in town (and their parents) seemed to be at our house that first hour and then the final couple hours were dead. Coincidence....I don't think so!

We did have time to do a little photo shoot of Kate in her costume and her earlier Halloween outfit. As you can see, Kate went as a Strawberry. Enjoy the pics!

Kate plays in her Jumperoo before trick-or-treaters arrive

Our little Strawberry

Strawberry Kisses!

Kate & Mimi enjoy Halloween

Get Well Soon, Uncle Greg

On Tuesday, John's brother Greg underwent jaw surgery which required the surgeon to break his jaw and completely shift his entire mouth forward, backward, left and right. John, Kate and I visited him in the hospital that evening and while we felt completely helpless, we were glad that Kate was able to bring a little smile to his face. She even picked out a "Get Well Soon" balloon and brought it with her to give to him.

Greg and Kate have always had such a special bond. He was at the hospital the day she was born and she quickly learned that Uncle Greg's arms were just as cozy as could be. You could see and quickly sense the instant love he had for her and as parents it just warms our hearts to witness that love each time they are together.

We love you very much, Grey, and we hope that your road to recovery passes quickly!

Hi Uncle Grey! :)

Halloween Preperation

It's been an eventful past couple weeks since Shelly has gone back to work, which (by the way) she's very much enjoying. As I mentioned in the previous post, Kate started daycare at Tiny Town last week Tuesday. While the first day was beyond tough for both of us, Kate also had a difficult time adjusting to sleeping with 3-4 other kids making noise. After a couple days though, she acclimated quite well and is now getting her typical naps in and everything is going great.

In fact, the past two days we received our first projects from "both" of her daycares. On Tuesday, Kate and Mimi worked on the following pumpkin together and gave it to us:

Then, when Shelly picked her up from Tiny Town yesterday, Kate had made us the following "Happy Halloween" art project:
The only downside to the past couple weeks was that our little Lady got sick for the first time. It started off with a runny nose last Friday and by the time Sunday rolled around, Kate was not a happy camper. All day Saturday she didn't nap for more than 15 minutes, and although she slept through the night she was plenty upset when she woke up Sunday morning. We worried it was an ear infection to go with a cold because every time we put her down on her back (which she normally loves) she would wail. Not only that, that evening she woke up four times during the middle of the night crying, which is not like Kate at all. I was able to take her to the doctor the following morning and fortunately about an hour or so before we left, Kate seemed to be doing quite a bit better. Our doctor confirmed that she had a slight ear infection in her right ear, but it looked relatively minor. Kate was prescribed Children's Amoxicillin, and ever since that evening she's been back to her normal, happy-go-lucky self...and we couldn't be more thrilled.

Well as most of you know that live in the area, we had a brutal weekend weather-wise and due to all the rain we had to postpone our trip to the pumpkin patch until this weekend. We're very much looking forward to going together as a family and we'll post about that as well as Kate's first Halloween early next week.

Have a great Halloween everyone! Here's a few more pictures for your enjoyment:

Kate Smiles with her Pumpkin

Move over Anne Geddes
Alright! A New Brown Bow!
....And A Pink One!
Papa Joe & Kate Share A Laugh
Kate & Mom Enjoy a Hug Before Her First Day Back at Work
Sleeping Beauty (Too Cute not to Post)