The Girl Can EAT!

Kate has started eating mostly the same dinner we eat... and boy, is that a treat! When I say "treat", what I really mean is a big chore. Yea, I love to see what she likes (which is almost everything) and doesn't like (which I think is oh, peas- that's it!) and how cute she is when she eats, but the mess stinks!

The other night she ate some Mexican casserole (it was even a little spicy) and she had ground beef stuck in her ear.

Last night, she had some chicken and rice from the crockpot and it was coming out of her belly button when I got her out of the highchair. Speaking of, DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED on the high chair. And the sweeping, and the mopping, and the scrub downs in the tub when it's all over...

As I type, she is cramming fistfuls of leftovers into her mouth and then tossing some off the side of the highchair to plummet to its death on the kitchen floor, which I mop daily now.

It's tough work, I tell ya. But, would I trade it for anything in the world? No way.

Happy Birthday, Papa!

Happy Birthday, Papa!
We enjoyed spending Monday night with you.
Thanks for letting me steal your sunglasses!

Love, Kate

Nine Months

Kate,

You turned nine months old eight days ago. My heart just can't be convinced that you will be turning one soon. Just this morning, I packed away more of your clothes that you have outgrown. Daddy turned your exersaucer into a play table. You didn't need it anymore. You are growing and changing by leaps and bounds. We can hardly keep up.

Her legs are too chubby for the Bumbo seat. :)

Nine months old now, and you are such a delight. I wish we could follow you around all day with a video camera capturing all the adorable things you do each day. You clap your hands, shake your head “no”, and throw your arms up in the air when we ask, “how big’s Kate?”. You have a “mad, serious face” that everyone says looks just like me. It’s all in the eyebrows. Your most favorite thing to do is pull everything out of a basket or drawer and toss it over your shoulder one by one. It makes a mess, but boy, is it fun to watch you. You take it so seriously, like you are looking for buried treasure.

It never ceases to amaze me how you can make us laugh so much. You scream at the top of your lungs to get our attention. It’s ear piercing, but I can’t even begin to explain how funny you look when you do it. Then, all in an instant, your voice will turn all soft and sweet and say “da-da”. It melts us every time.

I love waking you up from a nap and it’s like you haven’t seen me in days. You bounce up and down from excitement, and then cling to me so tight when I pull you out of your crib. I love how you sit on your knees when you play, just like a big girl. I love how chubby your thighs are and how you giggle when I tickle them.

I love your determination and your will (ahem... your stubbornness). I pray it will be used to glorify God one day.

Everyday I am amazed at how beautiful you are. Your blue eyes are piercing and your dimples make me go crazy.

You have this little tuft of hair that just doesn’t know how to lay right. It’s always sticking up, and I love it. I love to imagine what you will look like as you get older. I look forward to the day when we can be the best of friends, like Mimi and me.

You are our joy, Kate Rileigh.

I love you to the moon and back,

Mama XOXOXO

A daughter is a day brightener and a heart warmer. ~Author Unknown

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Dear Kate,

This has been a very fun month for us. We have developed so many new games. So far we have "chase down the hallway", "baby hat", "tug on the ceiling fan", "bite your neck", "pillow fight", "baby rocket", "mess up the living room", "rifle through mommy's bag", "eat the camera strap"... should I go on? Whatever game we are playing that day is irrelevant because they basically all come down to you squealing. We play a little rough, you mostly dishing out the damage, but you always want more. This sure beats playing dolls and having tea parties.

One of my favorite memories happened just this morning. I started playing "Faith" on the guitar while you were at my feet. Pretty soon you were up and dancing. A quick change of the lyrics and we were grooving to "I got to see Kate-a-Kate-a-Kate-AH". We then slowed it down a bit as you stared at me as we sang "Disarm" by the Smashing Pumpkins. You lost interest during "Me and Bobby McGee", but our little 8:15 AM concert was a blast. Maybe we'll try Bright Eyes tomorrow.

You're my little girl and I love you very much. We'll play our games and sing our songs and just be daddy and daughter together.

Love Always,
Daddy

Pasketti

Kate had her first spaghetti dinner tonight. She loved it, but the results were frightening. There were noodles floating in the bathtub, people!

Question

Question for all my blog readers (all five of you!):

Is it wrong to keep your baby in her doorway jumper for over an HOUR while you clean your insanely messy kitchen...

...because your husband cooked dinner last night and used three skillets, the Foreman, five bowls, two cutting boards, a mess of spoons, and emptied out all the leftovers from the refrigerator (i.e. lots of tupperware), and you had like 20 people over for dinner Wednesday night and you still hadn't swept and mopped from that shin-dig.... whew!

... even when she is fussing... and pooping... and chewing on the dust pan (ewwww, sick!)??? Not to mention you were listening to your ipod all the while, ignoring all of this?

Never mind, no need to reply... I think I already know the answer.

Welcome to the World!

Our wonderful friends, Sara & Scott, welcomed their little baby boy early Thursday morning. Mark and I visited them in the hospital later that afternoon and gosh, was he adorable. So fresh from heaven. It made me want another baby... soon... did I really just write that?

(I hate that Blogger cuts off my photos... sorry for the loss of half of you, Sara!)

Welcome to the world Baby Trevor!!

Marry my daughter one day. We'll be awesome in-laws, I promise.

No Help At All

Note to self: When you take a baby to school with you to actually get work done, no work actually happens.


OK, so I did get some work done, but with many, many interruptions.


For instance, picture this....


I am cleaning off a little shelf and there was a ziplock bag full of straws on the floor. Kate comes crawling over (at top speed, I should add) and grabs the bag, throwing it over her shoulder, sending at least a hundred straws flying out of the bag all over the carpet.


OK, I can handle that. Pick them up, move on, not too much time wasted.


However, next I take some time to organize some books by size in a basket and get them all ready for my students. I put the basket in place (on the floor... see my stupidity already?) in my classroom library and admired my work. Ten minutes later, Mark calls me to come back in the classroom and look at Kate.

This is the scene:

(These pictures were taken on Mark's phone, so the quality isn't that great, but you get the idea.)

Kate is taking each book out ONE by ONE and casually tossing it over her shoulder, not even giving it a second look. Her main goal was to empty that basket, and empty that basket she did... twice. The second time, I thought we were safe. She was in her pack n' play, but when she got out, she headed right to those books. She was so cute, that I just let her do it. Besides, she was having so much fun doing it, and was so serious about the whole thing.

What's an extra twenty minutes to put it all back together anyway, right?

Date Night

We had babysitters last night. Steph and Kelly, two girls from the youth group, wanted Mark and I to go out on a date so they could babysit. Who could turn down that offer?

Here was the plan:

A quick shopping trip to Old Navy to use a great "friends and family" coupon my friend Jen gave me to use before the 3rd.

Dinner at Mimi's Cafe

Taking in a movie

Good conversation at Barnes & Noble while enjoying Starbucks

A quick stop at Wal-mart on the way home


Here's what actually happened:

We spent too long at Old Navy, then went to Gap Kids where we could also use the coupon. And, I might add, that all of our shopping was done for Kate (we bought stuff for next summer at amazing prices!).

Dinner at Mimi's Cafe.

I guess we shopped and dined for too long, because after that, all we had time for was our "quick stop" at Wal-mart. We did hold hands while we shopped, though. Does that still count for a date night?

Then, we made the 40 minute trip back home to a sweet little sleeping baby girl. Who, by the way, has learned the "so big" trick (lifting both arms up when asked, "How big's Kate?") and is saying "da-da" now.