Jack-o-lantern

 Ellie showing off her carved pumpkin with mom and dad. Katie was already in bed :(
Happy Halloween all!!

Family resemblance

 Sisters! I see plenty of family resemblance in the photos of Ellie at almost 9 months and Katie now.. minus, of course, Katie's super-crazy hair! Love those smiles, though!!

Sleep? Who needs it...

Katie's MO these days is to wake up in the middle of the night and want to play, kick us and generally be awake for an hour or so before going back to sleep. Hoping it's ear infection-related and not her new schedule. Hard to be too mad when greeted with this cuteness in the morning...

Another ear infection...

Poor Katie (and sleep-deprived mom and dad)... she was diagnosed yesterday will her third ear infection in less than 2 months. The doctor isn't even sure that the infection ever cleared up through the course of antibiotics we recently completed.
Unlike the stealth ones she had the last two rounds (where there weren't really any symptoms from Katie), she spiked a 101-degree fever yesterday at daycare. And Katie is having a really tough time sleeping at night. I'm guessing it's uncomfortable for her to lay flat, but even with her crib mattress propped she seems to be struggling. We've got her on a third kind of antibiotic now, so hopefully this one takes effect soon.

Zoo storytime

 Much to my dismay, the Bedtime Zoo story this past week featured Snakes! But I still agreed to take Ellie over there, along with Olivia and her mom, Rita. The stories they read were very cute. And then Ellie and Olivia were very brave in touching the snakes they brought around. I missed picks of the girls petting a very large python (!!!), but here's the baby Boa Constrictor they showed off.

 The highlight of the evening for the girls may have been this huge touch screen projector that they let Ellie and Olivia play with for a bit. Very cool.

Barn Yard Dance

I finally caught Ellie reading to Katie on video! Enjoy some "Barn Yard Dance" on your Friday :)

Katie: 8 months

Katie Bear is getting big! Here's a look at her top 10 list at 8 months:

1. Table food. She's eating more and more "real" food. So far it's squash, sweet potato, peas, applesauce, bananas and carrots, along with rice cereal and oatmeal.
2. Sitting up and reaching for things. Katie mastered sitting up a while back, but with her grabby ways she's also had to develop some core muscles so she doesn't topple over when reaching for toys. This also comes in handy when Katie decided to go after Ellie's toys and gets a firm shove from sister...
3. Rolling and a tiny, tiny bit of scooting. No real progress on the crawling front, but at least Katie gets around a little bit when on her belly or back.
4. Taking off socks and shoes. I'm trying to help keep those feet warm now that the weather is turning, but Katie immediately wiggles out of socks and shoes. Sigh.
5. Improving her grab. She's also experimenting with Puffs at meal times and while she's not gotten the "pincer" grab quite yet, Katie's pretty good at getting ahold of some things. She was getting pretty mad this morning, though, when she put her whole hand in her mouth and didn't realize to let go of the puff so she could eat it...
6. Long hair. I think we might actually get the ends of those beautiful curls trimmed soon! She's such a cutie :)
7. Jabbering in the middle of the night. Katie is a great sleeper, for the most part, but in recent weeks she's been waking up and randomly talking (loudly) around 3-4 a.m. This is especially problematic because she's now sharing a room with Ellie. (More on that later...)
8. Yelling when Brian or I go out of sight. I think Katie is getting into more of a phase of demanding attention. She's still pretty happy to be held by other people, but around the house if Brian or I set her down and try to work on other things she'll often get mad.
9. Playing with toys. At school and at home she loves to sit by baskets full of toys and pull them out, play around with them and then try to eat them...

10. Being our super-easygoing baby girl! I hope, hope, hope her relaxed demeanor sticks. What a joy!

Sisters!

Overdue pics

 Here are some cute pictures from our last trip down to St. Louis a couple weekends ago. Grandma and everyone else got some long overdue time with Katie!

Katie brought some smiles even when we had to visit great-grandma in the hospital. Nothing like a cute baby to lighten the mood :)