Katie's Trick Or Treat Night

Katie went around trick or treating for her first time! In previous years, we only went to the mall to do it, but this year Bill got to take off of work so we did true door to door trick or treating around town. Katie LOVED it! She walked most of the way, refusing even when she was getting tired to be carried, because she was having so much fun. She loved to collect the candy, just so she could add it to her monster bag.

Everyone we passed wanted to pause and say how adorable she was! She got SO many compliments, not that she cared - she wanted to run and grab candy and enjoy her time. She was so busy that she didn't even pay attention when we passed a few Mickeys and another Minnie Mouse - she had a goal set!

Finally, when we had been going for over an hour and a half and were heading back to the house, she fell asleep on my shoulder. She really wanted to keep her eyes open to see everything (in the middle of town was an outdoor movie theater, free food and drink, games and a bounce house, but she was already slipping away.) but she just couldn't.

She loved her pink glow stick bracelet, though she lost it on the way home, which broke my heart. There was a time when we were crossing the street that she let out a sad cry and I couldn't figure out why. We kept going, but now I know that's when she lost her prized treat. Of course my hormones made me feel terrible about that! But she had lots of fun and got lots of neat things (instead of just candy, she also got a little kid book and a little witch toy as well.)

It was very successful and we were both impressed with how well she did! We were also amazed at home much one little fist could grab. Any bowl where she had to grab candy, she'd grab like four things. Trying to put a few back resulted in her screaming and shoving it into her bag! No one was going to tell her how much she could take. She did get better as time went on though.

Pictures of this little cutie:

Babies

Katie has suddenly become obsessed with babies. I'm not sure what changed, as I've talked about our baby this whole pregnancy, but now she gets excited about the baby. We talk about her holding the baby when it comes, and the baby taking naps in the bouncer we have (that her baby doll is currently in), one of her favorite Blue's Clue's episodes is when Paprika gets a new baby brother (she even sings the song "the baby's here, the baby's here, we've waited and waited and waited and now the baby's here!). She wants to talk about babies all the time - if she sees one at the store, in a book, on tv, on my computer, etc. She pronounces baby so well and says it so adorably. She loves cuddling with my belly now. She'll point and say baby and then lay her head down on my belly and wrap her arms around me.

I know she can't fully get it (hell, I barely fully get it! It's so hard to realize that a new little life will be joining our every day for the rest of our lives soon!) but she seems to be really excited with the parts that she does understand. She wants to talk about the baby all the time. She wants to read her big sister books multiple times every day. She says that she's a big sister now.

It's a big change. In the beginning of pregnancy, she didn't understand it at all. If I asked if she's a big sister, she'd cry. If I asked about a baby coming, she'd get upset. If I held a baby doll, she would take it away. Now she's acting so different!

(I lost my train of thought here, because Katie walked over to me and begged me to read her the New Baby book again. It's her favorite book and boy does she read it a lot!)

She carries her babies around a lot now too, she puts them in the swing or the bouncer and covers them with her favorite blankie. She loves exclaiming "baby!!!" and then cuddling them. She just adores babies. I hope that lasts, because she's going to have lots of experience with babies soon!

Katie's New Toddler Bed

Katie suddenly seems to be in a race to become a big kid so fast! She's just blossoming and picking things up so quickly. Her latest milestone is moving from the three sided crib/daybed to her own toddler bed. She loved playing in it on the first day (Sunday), she actually sat in the middle of it while I was putting the sides together, and wanting to lay down in it before there was even a mattress! Putting on the Minnie Mouse bedding that she had picked out last week was really the icing on the cake.

Then at night when it was time for bed, I laid her down in it and told her to go to sleep in "Katie's new bed." Of course she was too excited to at first, wanting to play with the little hideaway window and point out Minnie Mouse on her new blanket, but it didn't take her too long to calm down and lay down. Once she was asleep, she did a good job at staying asleep. I heard her tossing about a few times, once she even sat up and looked around when I checked on her, but she always laid back down and went to sleep without me having to tell her to or help her back down. She ended up sleeping so well that she didn't come to wake me up until a little after 10 AM!

Monday night, she did great. I laid down next to her bed, a little further away from her than the first night, and she went to sleep and stayed there all night long and all morning until I woke her up.

Last night she went to sleep the best. I laid her down and told her goodnight, then I laid down in my bed. She laid there for a while, then wanted to cuddle. She asked so adorably that I came over, cuddled for a few minutes, then went back to my bed and she fell asleep. Unfortunately she seems to be catching my cold so around dawn she woke up crying and sounding snotty. Even though I called her to come into my bed, she stayed in hers and laid there crying so I went to get her and brought her to me. My bed is already set up for sickness, with a mountain of pillows stacked up to keep me vertical, so I laid her against that with me and cuddled her for the rest of the morning.

She's doing so well in her bed! She's acting like it isn't even a transition. She always did well in her crib, but even there I'd sometimes find her in my bed by morning, especially in the beginning. With her bed though, she seems perfectly happy to stay in it and go to sleep in it.

Since she's doing so well, I'm going to start potty training her again next week. She took to it so naturally a few months ago, she was training herself before I had to stop from pregnancy and morning sickness. This time we're going to do it again but on the big potty. I was thinking of waiting a bit longer due to changing her bedtime routine, but she has been telling me she's ready for a while now. She doesn't like her diapers, she's uncomfortable, and she's now willing to sit on the big potty and isn't afraid of it (she also loves the idea of flushing the toilet and saying goodbye! I forget where she learned that at, but she's always liked that idea best!)

Due to a mix up with insurance, Katie is FINALLY getting her two year appointment soon, hopefully next week. She was supposed to get it done a few weeks ago at her new pediatrician's office (which is SO MUCH NICER than her old one!) but I'm eager to get her seen and see how she's doing as well as get her caught up on vaccinations before the baby gets here.

Here's some pictures of little cutie and her new bed:

Weaned

Katie is now, as of last week, officially weaned.

I say this both in celebration and sadness. On one hand, this is what we've been working towards for months. It was a long, hard battle. Our breastfeeding relationship had always been great. Not always easy, but nothing major ever came in the way, and Katie was VERY used to getting to nurse. I knew she needed to be weaned though, not only because pregnancy made it very painful for me, but because Katie was so possessive over my boobs. Even if I held a doll baby, if Katie thought that baby might be nursing, she'd take the doll and throw it. Obviously, even though she didn't seem ready and was definitely not going to self wean for a long time yet, I needed to stop before the baby came. Plus, you know, three months of having my boobs just be my boobs again sounded awesome, since I'm about to go into another long, exclusive breastfeeding stint.

My goal was two years, and we were successful in making that, which is so exciting. I'm so glad that we did so well. I was so worried about breastfeeding before I had Katie, and going into this baby, I feel much more confident. I don't have any breastfeeding fears. Katie definitely boosted my confidence!

The sad part is, I wanted to self wean her. I know she wasn't ready, she loved to nurse and weaning her was an uphill battle for almost the entire time. She wanted me to know that she wasn't going along with this willingly. I did it as gently as possible though. I spent SIX months slowly, slowly weaning her down and taking out one weaning at a time. As summer came, I started keeping her busier and it was a bit easier. I got her down to nap time and bedtime, which I was fine with. But by then, all my milk had dried up and Katie no longer would latch on, but suck improperly. It would actually leave bruises on my nipples. Obviously, this had to stop too. Once again, I decided to do it slowly. At first I still did it at nap and night time, but I only did it for five minutes. Then one minute. Eventually, 30 seconds and when I couldn't stand it anymore at all, ten seconds. I cut out night time nursing all together, which was actually easier than nap time. At least at night, she had her daddy to cuddle with too and it was dark. Nap time was still bright out. For a week, I got her up early, skipped nap, went to bed early.

Honestly at that point, she forgot about nursing. She didn't even ask, she just let it go. She was happy with the new sleepy time techniques I was doing with her. Instead of nursing, we'd cuddle. I'd rub her back, or play with her hair, or hold her hand. Other times I'd sing to her - Baby Mine is a song that is pretty much guaranteed to knock her out within ten minutes. She'll go from angry crying to absolute silence and cuddling if I start to sing it. I'm thankful I rediscovered this magical key!

So it's been a week. The last few days I gave her back nap time. Sometimes she just would fall asleep on the sofa without warning, other times we'd cuddle. It wasn't until today when she suddenly realized that she missed nursing, but I sang her to sleep and she was a bit grumpy but fine.

Of course, now that she's weaned, I think of all the reasons why this isn't good. If we get sick, I have no antibodies to give her for the first time in her life, and we're going into sick season. Now when she's upset or hurt, I can't just nurse her and magically calm her down, I actually have to find new distractions to try and get her to stop and calm down. My nipples will need to readjust in a few months when baby comes. Milk would probably have come in faster and easier if she was still nursing. I know she'll regress and in a few months she'll want to nurse again, but at least it'll be more of a memory than a daily occurrence and I'm not worried about tandem nursing anymore.

She feels like more of a toddler now, so big and not a baby at all. Now she loves her apple juice that I just started to give her. She loves to cuddle, and we can now cuddle without it turning into a nursing session. I'm so grateful that for two years, we had a great run. But I'm so relieved to have a little time off now too!

25 months

Katie Belle is growing so quickly! I just ordered her early preschool kit to start teaching her. This will go along with her Latin program that she's been working on (and LOVING - I knew a curriculum that has her singing would be the way to go) as well as her kindergarten preparing. I was running out of things to teach her - she already does numbers past 15 (though I'm not sure how far she knows - she goes higher for Blue's Clues than she does for me! lol), she knows her colors (and FINALLY - she'll SAY them. She used to only point at them, but now she says blue, pink, red, etc) and she knows at least half of the alphabet and shapes.

I decided to start teaching her at the end of this month with a few different books to make up her curriculum. I'm going to do what I can before the baby comes, then take a few months off and start again when we feel ready.

We're currently changing our house so that it's homeschooling and baby friendly. Our baby play area, Katie's area and our homeschooling shelves will all be downstairs now, which is two big open rooms right off of the kitchen. My hope is that the downstairs will be where we are all day until bedtime, so that everything will be a bit easier on me!

We also just switched doctors for Katie. It's been six months since she's been to a check up, so she's finally going next week. I have a feeling shots won't go over so well this time!

Katie's Second Birthday Celebrations!!

My little girl has turned TWO! How did we celebrate? In MANY ways over the course of three weeks! I just couldn't stop, it's her last time she'll ever have a birthday as an only child, so we were going to celebrate in style and over and over! It's the 17th (she was born on the 2nd) and I'm pretty sure this kid still thinks that it's her birthday!

For her real birthday, July 2nd, I started the day early. While she still slept, I snuck downstairs and decorated the whole place in Minnie Mouse. She woke up, I took her down, and her reaction was literally her mouth falling open! She had never done that before, it was so cute! She then ran around to each Minnie Mouse decoration and kept telling me all about them. She was ecstatic! When her daddy came home, we ran out to the store and got her a dvd called Minnie Mouse's Birthday Party (because come on, how appropriate!) and let her pick out a big cookies and cream ice cream cake that was delicious. She had a great time eating her first ice cream cake and then relaxing with her favorite Minnie while watching her new movie.






Then came my birthday, the 6th. It was Saturday, and I decided for my birthday, we would celebrate our children. We took Katie to Build A Bear Workshop and let her pick out a bear. We also picked out a bunny for Elizabeth and two tiny "It's a Boy" and "it's a girl" outfits for the new baby to put on a little bear at home. Katie picked out a pink Disney Princess bear that she cuddled in her arms. When we went to stuff it, she asked to put a sound clip in, so I let her do that. She chose the cutesy song "Call me Maybe" because she was OBSESSED with it as a baby. She used to sing it every time it was on the radio, it was sometimes the only thing that cured her crying, so it was a cute memory to go in the bear. Then she put the little heart in her bear, watched the lady stuff it, then she took it back and gave it a pretend bath in their sink. She also helped with Elizabeth's bunny by picking out a little heart and putting it inside, then bathing that as well.
 We dressed Elizabeth's bunny in a Sleeping Beauty costume. They didn't have the Belle dress that we wanted for the bear, so Katie chose a little princess tee shirt and I told her I'd get her the Belle dress later online. Then she helped with the bear certificates and then carried her bear in it's big cardboard box all the way through the mall to the Disney store. Bill said it really took him back to the cruise, and I think Katie experienced the same thing. She loved seeing all the Mickey and Minnies along the walls and ceiling, loved the big screen, the piles of Minnie stuffed animals, etc. She got a bit overwhelmed! Finally we headed to Coldstone and bought us all Birthday Cake Ice Cream before heading off to a family reunion.









Then there was this Sunday, which was her big birthday party. She had a blast, and she helped us announce the gender of the baby by opening a giant over 4' tall box filled with balloons that said it's a BOY! She loves these balloons, she's still playing with them!








This is a very happy two year old, we really kicked off this new year of hers well!

I can't believe that Katie's second birthday is approaching. She's getting so big SO FAST! She's such a little girl already. I was looking back at her pictures of last year and can't believe how fast that adorable little baby face changed. Even the pictures from our Disney cruise, which was just in September, make her look like she's changed and grown in leaps and bounds since then.

Katie is having a Minnie Mouse party this year. She LOVES Minnie and Mickey, ever since she met them on the cruise. She has toys and stuffed animals and shows with them and loves them all. She loves dragging her big Minnie and Mickey out and cuddling between them. Every time she sees a Mickey or Minnie, she squeals in delight and shows me. I can't wait until she comes down to her party and sees the whole world of Mickey that I created for her. I think she's really going to be into it.

Katie loves to kiss now. She does the cutest little kissing noise whenever I hug her. She's such a big cuddler, she loves to come for hugs.

Something adorable she just started doing is saying "Bluuuuuuuue? Where are you?" Which sounds like "blue, wheh ah oooo?" and so cute! As much as she's still Blue's Clues crazy, a new obsession of hers is Mickey and Minnie Mouse. She loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but her favorites are MIckey and Minnie anything.

Big Sister Katie

That's right, Katie's going to be a big sister again! We just found out last Saturday, and we're so excited. Katie will be exactly 2 1/2 when this baby comes along, so she'll be a great age. This baby is our little Christmas Miracle, due 12.12.

My Little Learner

It never ceases to amaze me how much this little girl can understand and learn so quickly.

This week she's been so busy! She spent half of the week watching potty videos, begging me to replay them over and over like she was studying them. Around Wednesday, she actually told me when she needed to go and asked to go on the potty. I sat her down, and sure enough! She proudly smiled at me and said "stinky!" I decided to not potty train her yet as she's still quite young, but she seems to be training herself!

She also began counting. She loves to count her doggies and fish. The other night, as we waited for her daddy to come home, we counted the doggies a few times. Just as he came home, he heard her say "1 - 2- 3!" and waving her little fingers around, using them to count as well.

She also says silly things now, like "no way!" I'm not even sure where she picked it up from, but sometimes her adorable little nooo's are followed by a "way!" Whenever anything falls or drops, whether it's in real life, on purpose or accident, or in a show, she says "oooh!" As in "oh no" or "uh oh" but she goes in the middle of both and just says "oh".

She's becoming a big walker now. I'm so glad she waited, as so far she's been so steady on her feet. No walking accidents, no frequently falling down. If she wants to walk, she usually walks until she's ready to sit down. She has good balance and steady feet.

She now wants a choice in everything she eats. She knows what she wants! She hates eating just one thing for any meal. She wants to vary each bite - one bite of yogurt, followed by one bite of banana, one bite of whatever I'm having, then a swig of juice.

We also began learning Latin with a young children's learning program through song. Katie LOVES music, so this is right up her alley. As someone who always wanted to learn a large range of languages, I'm excited to give Katie the opportunity to know the base language of the romance languages so she will be able to learn Italian and French and Greek and so on like I always wanted to.

Some pictures of this month with my little girl:

waiting for daddy to come home:

playing with some of her favorites:

Fresh out of the bathtub adorableness:

A very rare picture where she looks a bit like me!

Nineteen Months!

Katie turned nineteen months yesterday! Can't believe it, she's going to be a two year old so soon!

Katie has been doing a lot in the last month, the biggest milestone is that this little girl is finally WALKING! She took her first real steps (more than just one and falling down and without touching anything else) on January 10th. Before this, she'd walk just fine when holding hands or furniture and she could balance alone and stand in the middle of a room, but she refused to walk. Not because she couldn't but because she wouldn't!

She's quickly gaining confidence now and has learned how to walk forwards, backwards and her favorite, sideways! (maybe she's watching too many music videos? lol) A few days ago she just came walking into the room with no trouble at all and she was so proud of herself! She still hates to do it if I ask or if people are watching, but if I act like I'm not or if she's around my little brother Tommy, off she goes! It's about time! She's further along in her vocabulary and her fine motor skills than she should be at this age, so I guess something had to be left out. The gross motor skills were there, she was just too busy to really develop them past climbing on everything and walking along with balance until now.

Katie LOVES the snow. She loves to be in it, she loves to watch it fall, and she loves to point to it at the window. Earlier in the week it snowed all day. She parked herself in front of the window and kept pointing at it telling me "snow, snow!"

She's also crazy for music. Not a country fan, but she loves Gymbo the Clown music and her daddy's music - drastically different but loved equally. She knows every move to every Gymbo song, and has since began making up her own unique sequences of dance moves to normal songs. It's hysterical to watch. She also loves singing. She hates car rides, but if we put on music she'll stop screaming and just sing the whole time while grooving in her seat.

I think she has all of her teeth through now. Most of them were just a bit through the gums, but in the last two weeks they've all come through more and she now has a big mouth full of teeth. Hopefully this means it's over for a while, because this last batch had four painful ones coming through at once and she's been a total crank over them.

She also seems to be striken with the 18 month sleep regression. The last week she's been a little terror to make nap and sleep. She needs that nap, she'll pass out eventually for it because she's so tired, but she never willingly wants to stop and take it. She used to love nap time just a few weeks ago. Now she's early to rise and late to sleep and it's driving me crazy. I never had sleep problems with her before, she's spoiled me with no sleep troubles until now. I tried to skip her nap today so that she'd go to sleep early, but that didn't work. Instead, she just ended up passing out on top of me anyway and later than she should have. Looks like it'll be another late night, but luckily Bill doesn't have to work in the morning tomorrow so I may just give her to him to deal with for the night!

I can't believe how big she's getting. She understands more than I can believe, she makes connections to everything. I love watching how her brain works and how much she knows. She has learned more than I've tried to teach her, she just picks up on everything. No wonder they say toddlers' brains are like sponges. I can definitely see how. I'm getting her started on the toddler Latin program for us to learn. It's through songs, so I'm sure she'll love it. I can't wait to get her started on her home preschool courses, she loves learning time.

2012 in review

2012 was the best year of my life.

There has been some great years in my life. Surviving cancer, getting married, getting our first house, the birth of our first daughter, and while all of those were amazing, 2012 has them beat.

There has been nothing better in my life than watching my daughter turn from a little blob of a baby into a real person. Someone who understands what they like and don't like; who can make decisions and form real thoughts, who has their own independent ideas, and who grows a little more every day. Nothing compares to the 365 days I spent with this little girl, watching as every day she found a way to amaze me. She learned so much and so often. She learned rapidly, and surprised me with skills that I didn't expect for months or years yet. She constantly inspired me, surprised me, amazed me, and made me proud. My love for her has grown so much that it's scary. I look at her sleeping and my heart just wants to burst. After 18 months, I still get tempted to wake her up in the middle of the night just to see her smile and get a few minutes of extra play and hugs.

I'm so glad I can say that I never missed a moment of it. Every single day of her life, every moment of new exploration and adventure, has been witnessed by me and that's so so special. When I was pregnant with her, Bill would tell me how it made him sad to know that working would make him miss a lot of big moments in her life. I agreed that it was sad, but I had no idea. No idea of how big an impact she'd make on our hearts. No idea how no matter how many pictures I take, videos I shoot, and conversations of special moments she had from the day, none of it could accurately depict that great moment for him. Something was always lost in translation. The giggle in the video didn't sound quite as giddy, the smile wasn't quite as vivacious, the little subtle things she did that really made it beautiful weren't quite as obvious when I tried to capture it. Knowing what I do now, it would break my heart to be in his place. But I love how much he tries, how he soaks up every minute left of the day to see her and play and talk to her. He asks for more pictures and stories about her day. He tells me how excited he is for another baby because Katie is just so wonderful, we can't wait to have another one that will be so loved and incredible as her.

I saw a question on a baby board asking what was my favorite part of 2012 with my baby. My mind went blank, not because I couldn't think of a great moment, but because I was avalanched with so many. It would take hours to list my favorite moments.

It's been such an incredible year, but the first one I wasn't sad to let go. I lived it to the fullest, and I'm looking forward to the next year. 2013 holds so much potential. Katie's going to continue to grow and learn and amaze me. She'll become a two year old and more importantly, a big sister. I can't wait to have this baby and explore their personality too, but just as much, I can't wait to see how Katie grows to adapt to having a new sibling to adore and play with. I think she'll make an amazing big sister. She's so full of smiles and play, and she plays so well with other kids.

2012 will always be a year full of memories. I can't wait to see what new memories will be made this year!

18 Months Old

Katie is now just shy of 18 months old!

She had a great Christmas, though she didn't think so at the time. While she loves playing with all of her new toys now, she hated opening them. She would hit the packages and ask me to open them, and then would leave the room! lol. She was such a cranky Christmas baby. Then I saw that night that her eye teeth and one tooth on the bottom had just popped out, and another bottom tooth was bulging. Poor baby must have been teething hard!

She seems to be going through a growth spurt right now. Her eating has picked up recently and she's sleeping a lot more as well.

Some things about this little toddler:

Her favorite thing is drawing. From the day we gave her a pen (yes, she used pens before we grabbed her some crayons!) she instinctively knew the correct way to perfectly hold it. She draws all the time, and I always show her how to draw a K, while saying "K for Katie!" The other day she grabbed me to get my attention, then drew a K!

Katie is really good with her hands. Her fine motor skills are well tuned and she is able to do a lot of things I didn't expect her to at this age. She loves bottles - ginger ale bottles, water bottles, anything that has a cap. She loves unscrewing the cap, popping it off, taking a big pretend gulp, then screwing the cap back on. I really want to get her a tea set, as her imagination has really taken off lately. She loves to grab her doll bowl and cup and pretend to eat and drink out of them, and hands them to me to do the same. I never thought about getting her a tea set before that, honestly never thought she'd be interested but now I see that she'd probably love it. I'm looking into getting her a nice set, but haven't decided on one yet. My ideal one, of course, would be an original 90's tea set of Beauty and the Beast, as the new ones are so flimsy and cheap.

Speaking of fine motor skills, Katie started last month (or maybe the month before?) refusing to eat with her hands. She now must eat properly with a spoon and fork, and wants a plate! (before, if food was in a plate, she'd dump the whole thing out, or she'd throw it. Now she wants to be a little lady!) I got her a few sets of utensils and I'm always surprised on what she can scoop or stab up. She's very accurate in getting each piece of food, whether it's chunky or difficult like thin spaghetti, and keeping it on the spoon or fork until she successfully gets it in her mouth.

Another thing she really enjoys is music. Any music, but especially daddy's music. Anything he plays on his phone sends her into instant dance craze mode. She will also turn any household item or toy into a drum to make her own music when there isn't any playing. She also sings all the time and really likes when we sing with her. It's so adorable to see her groove around and sing "oooooh, aaaaah, nananana, oooooh!"