Oh, the pictures

I got rid of my BlackBerry a while back and emailed myself all the pictures. I just found them in my inbox and thought I'd give them a share. Here are some good ones from the last few years!

Miss those gymnastic classes.

She'll kill me for this one day.

Looks like an Italian mobster baby.

Just before going home.

Big Bird, you're HILARIOUS!

Proud new mama - again.

Our trips to Grandma and PawPaw's include pretty regular McDonald's stops.

About the only time she was ever quiet in church.

Reading to sis

I can't get enough of Ellie's love of "reading" to sister Katie, mom, dad or any other willing subject. I hope she doesn't outgrow her love of books any time soon :)

(Note, sorry if this is a painfully long video... but Ellie is slow when randomly making up words to go with her book of choice.)

Thanksgiving... late

Figured I better get these up before Christmas! We had a great weekend hosting the grandparents and great-grandparents for a late Thanksgiving.

Teeth!

Need to amend Katie's 10-month update with news of the appearance of her first — and second! — tooth/teeth. Felt like mother-of-the-year this morning when one of the daycare workers asked nonchalantly, "Did you see Katie's teeth?" Um, no, we had not noticed the two bitty teeth that seem to have appeared overnight on her bottom gum. Super cute :) I will try to get a picture later.

Date night

 

Brian and Ellie went to a daddy-daughter dance on Saturday. They had a great time, especially Ellie who apparently didn't stop "dancing" — i.e. running laps around the dance floor — for about two hours. So glad they got some quality time together. Now I want my own date night with our little princess :)

Katie: 10 months

This photo is a bit ironic given that it's almost hitting 70 degrees here today... but happy 10 months to Katie!
It's been a trying month for our baby girl, in some ways. but overall she's been a champ. Here's a look at highlights:
1. Tubed. Her ears are hopefully better than ever thank to the ear tube surgery last week. We have to be a bit careful about getting water in her ears, and she's still getting drops 2x a day, but other than that you wouldn't know she had been sick.
2. Pulling up/rocking. Katie is still not crawling in the traditional sense, but she's strong and loves to pull up on mom or dad if we're nearby. She gets almost fully onto her knees and then rocks forward and back, but most often she winds up sitting back down rather than lurching forward — even though I taunt her daily with toys just out of reach.


3. Rolling. Katie is a super roller and more often than not she ends up sleeping on her tummy. I'm fine with it if she is!
4. Scooting. Katie can get where she wants to go, even if it isn't pretty :)
5. Talking. Katie is adding to her ma-ma and da-da arsenal. She's trying to say ball, and we've heard some other sounds that sounded suspiciously like words recently.
6. Waving! Katie happily says "bye-bye" and "hello." Too cute.
7. Eating new foods. Just last night she tried black beans, and today at lunch she had a bit of cheese. Katie's allowed to have some dairy (not milk or eggs, though) and other goodies now that she's 10 months, so I'm sure we'll try some more fun stuff in the coming weeks.
8. Pincer grasp. Katie is a master of picking up her Cheerios and lots of other toys.
9. Hating socks. Katie won't allow them on her feet... and she even confiscates them from the feet of all her classmates at school. Good thing it's been a warm fall.
10. Happy, happy, happy. Despite having back-to-back ear infections this past month, Katie is just such a cheerful, smiley girl. Sometimes I worry it's to her detriment because she can sit quietly on the floor and play by herself — a blessing, to be sure — but I hope we don't sideline her too much... then again, she has ways of making herself known when attention is warranted...