6 Months

Kate turned six months on Sunday. As I scan over old pictures, it is so much fun to see her personality growing and showing itself on her face and body. Her well-baby check up went great! She now weighs 14 lbs 7 oz, so she is maintaining her somewhat petite frame. Her latest accomplishments are eating in a booster seat (instead of the bumbo), saying mamamamamama, drinking apple juice for the first time (quite messily, I might add), and being more loveable than ever!

Sometime last week, almost without my noticing it, Kate started sitting up like a proper English schoolmistress taking tea. Jen had suggested that I put a boppy around her and let her just sit and play on the floor. What a great idea! This gave a bit of a cushion in case she did fall, but let her have the independence and different view of the world that she has been craving. Since last week, she has grown more sturdy. Boy, does she love to sit up and play with her big girl toys. I brought out a ring stacker and Fisher Price telephone and her bag of links. She is so over her rattles and 'baby' toys!

Kate loves her books. She loves mommy's books even more. There is something completely satisfying about 200 pages of paperback novel melting in your mouth that can't be replaced with cloth books, plastic books, or even board books.


Cousin Lydia loves to be with Kate anywhere she is. So, if Kate sits, Lydia tries to sit right next to her. I think we convinced Lydia to read that "Taggies" book to Kate. She can, too!

Look, Mom! Even though this book has tags all over it, I know where the "real" tag is! No kidding. When I gave it to her the first time, she discovered the real tag in a few seconds. There's no fooling kids about real tags and fake tags, that is for sure!


Gagi, Mima, and the grand daughties. I never thought that I would let my kids call their grands by such funny little names. The important thing is, that the Grandma's are happy, so I guess I'll be happy too. I grew up with a family of Grandma's and Grandpa's -- no nana's, papa's, pawpaw's, or gam's. I think that it may be a Southern thing to come up with so many derivations. What do ya'll think? What do you call your grands, and, more importantly, what do your kids call theirs?

God Gave Us Fathers

I'm too sexy for this catwalk

I'm sorry if many of you miss the illusion contained in the title, but so be it. It was absolutely imperative to use it. Katie-boo got some sunglasses like her dadda, although hers are hot pink and Josh's are not. Kate loves her dad so much. She responds to him with loads of smiles when he comes home from work and is up for lots of play time with him. They have their own special version of This Little Piggy and Itsy Bitsy Spider (which Kate loves!). Josh is a wonderful dad. I think we all knew he would be, but it's been such a blessing to watch him grow into parenting and into his special relationship with Kate. I often ruminate how good God is in giving us what we really need. We carefully select our husbands and the future father of our children according to the needs that we perceive and the desires we predict. But, God is so good! He knows the things we cannot and gives us the best, better than we knew! So, thank God for Fathers!

Mommy doesn't get a lot of pictures with Kate, so enjoy these glimpses of baby right after her bath. We used to have bath time only twice a week. But, with the onset of summer, sunscreen, the pool, and especially EATING, we have to bathe her everyday or every other. She enjoys them more, so it works well!

Auntie and Uncles

Alas and Alack

I'm shamed by those of you whose lives are definitely busier. Your frequency of posts makes me look bad. Of course, there are others out there who also be ashamed of themselves (Hmm, mmm, Mother!)

Two weeks of vacation has seen a lot of action -- we went to the zoo, we've been swimming at Mima's pool several times (at least 3 or 4), shopping, and hanging out with Jen & Lydia a lot. I feel a little bit as though some of this will end when Lauren comes along. We'll be doing other things then -- making meals, babysitting Lydia, holding the newest member of the fam, and hanging out at their house a bit more. Craziness has also been compounded by Josh's two commitments after work plus a hobby (golf)! Deacon training started a few weeks ago every Tuesday night for two hours. Then, the guys at church are playing soccer in the month of June. This means that each week may contain several games. We're trying to adjust to a different schedule so that Josh can have some time with his family before going off to his activities. This usually means a SUPER easy supper with few dishes so he can play with Kate the whole time he's home. Wednesday night we had our first date night with Kate. She loves being at the table with us, and it's so cute to interact with her as a family.

Her meals have grown since the last post. She has expanded her repertoire to include rice cereal, sweet potatoes, and bananas. She hasn't really cared for bananas, but is in LOVE with sweet potatoes. Tomorrow we will introduce avocado and see how that goes. Josh (and Dad) don't really like avocados, so he was disappointed that we were going to be feeding her avocados when there are wonderful things like sweet potatoes, peaches, nectarines, and peaches in this world! They both consider avocado to be a non-food.

I have finally capitulated to marketing and the Disney culture! I bought my first Baby Einstein DVD. Kate liked it, of course. She even laughed at one of the songs. As she grows more curious and interactive with the world around her, I think that these visual cues can be very stimulating -- plus she's learning classical music! I mean, what is more classic than Old Macdonald? How does that fit onto a Baby Mozart dvd, I'll never know.

My Latest Tricks!

Hello everyone! Last week was my last week of school for this year! As the weather warms up, there's so little incentive to go to work (or school). I often wonder how people with regular jobs do it. And, how do people with regular jobs not wear shorts & tank tops to work during the summer? Especially in this Georgia heat. I started putting Kate in tank tops and shorts in 80 degree weather. :-)

This weekend was quite exciting. Jonathan, Ashley, and Brittny graduated from GCA. I've never been prouder of my "kids"! They represent the bulk of my teaching years. Up until this year, I taught them several classes each semester. It was a joy to watch them grow in faith and knowledge. We enjoyed so many good and crazy times together. Perhaps one of the highlights of our years together was our ten day trip to Washington, Pennsylvania, and Virginia in the RV. This class is the last one that I've taught such a large variety to, including Science (I think), English, Spanish I, II, and III, Rhetoric, Public Speaking, and Drama. No pictures of those bambinos, but my little girl is here in living color.

Kate had her first bit of cereal this week. She has loved it so far! It's so fun to see her learn how to eat. The swallowing action is subtlely different from drinking breast milk. Basically, I'm supplementing her afternoon meal with 1 T or so of rice cereal. Next week I believe that I will increase the times per day that we supplement with cereal. You should had seen her tonight at Jen & Ben's. She was reaching for the pizza like a big girl. Lydia really would like to feed her "big girl" food. I keep asking if we should give Kate pizza or applesauce or whatnot. She invariably answers, "yeah!" Also, two weeks ago, Kate discovered her feet. She's pictured here eating her tootsies. She thinks it is pretty hilarious when her big toe lands in her mouth. I imagine that would feel pretty funny!

Comparison

Here's Lydia at 5 months old. She was more sturdy sitting up and Kate definitely can't do what Lydia's doing in this pic for very long. Every time I put her on her belly, she turns over! :-) I'm going to try to find some kid pics of Josh and I. Don't hold your breath for baby pics of Josh. It's well established that Kate looks like Josh, though, so perhaps we don't need his baby pics. :-)