Aunt Ellie Comes to Visit

In early January, my sister Lucinda, (Aunt Ellie) came to Kentucky to spend the weekend with us. It was so great to spend some time with her -- we hadn't seen her since Katie was born. I picked her up from the airport on my way home from school on Friday, and she stayed until Monday! We got to have a girls' night (all 3 of us!) at Applebee's on Friday night -- what fun! And on Saturday, while Tim was at work, we went driving around the city of Louisville trying to find a Bumbo Seat. (For those who have no idea what that is, it's a kind of chair made of sculpted foam that helps babies learn to sit up on their own). I wanted one because Katie was supposed to be starting to eat "big girl food" and she needed to be able to sit somewhere other than my lap while I tried to feed her. Finally, after several stops, we found one that wasn't pink or purple -- while SHE might have liked pink or purple, she won't be able to use it forever, and if there is ever a little brother in her future, he won't want to be learning to sit in a pink or purple chair!!! So, we finally found a bright green one! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!! When we got home, we sat Katie in her new chair -- she wobbled and bobbled a little bit at first, but once she got the hang of it, she did pretty well. I can't believe how fast my baby girl is growing up!!

Aunt Ellie had such a great time playing with Katie, holding her and spoiling her whenever she wanted! She brought her camera, and took something like 120 pictures over the weekend! (And we thought WE were bad!!) There are some AMAZING shots of Katie, and I took some of Katie with her Aunt Ellie -- they're so adorable!! Hopefully she'll be able to come back and see us again soon -- and bring Luke with her!

The Events of Katie's First Christmas

Well, our Christmas was a little unconventional this year -- we celebrated with my mom and dad while they were here for Tim and Jeff's graduation. Katie's favorite thing is a blanket-type play mat in the shape of a butterfly -- she spends lots of time there -- playing, sleeping, watching tv (especially football -- it's her favorite! We're not kidding!!)
But for Christmas "proper", we were in Maryland, with Tim's mom and dad this year. It was so much fun to be there, and everyone was just mesmerized with Katie's reactions to things! While we were opening presents, she was sleeping -- so much for getting any help with all that unwrapping! But she was demonstrating her Christmas spirit by wearing her "Santa Baby" outfit!

It was really cute when things were all over -- we saved the wrapping paper to pile all around her! And since she is the greatest gift ever, we HAD to put a bow on her head!!!
AND Katie got to meet Great Grandma Mac! She has finally met and had a photo shoot with all three great grandmas now! We were able to get some great pictures and a 4 generations picture, as well.

But I have to say that the most eventful part of the Christmas trip was on the way back home to KY. As we were driving through the mountains (Maryland into West Virginia), we hit a deer -- in the rain, at midnight. Ghhh! Fortunately, Tim is a great driver, and was able to maneuver in such a way that we only clipped the back end of the deer. Unfortunately, we spun around and ended up about 30 feet off the road, facing the wrong direction, stuck in the mud, in the rain, at midnight!! Praise God, nobody was hurt, our cell phones still got reception, and the baby slept through the whole incident!!!! Things could have been SO much worse. We were able to get towed out, and we drove a bit farther until we found a good spot to spend the night. The following day, we had the tires looked at (so we would be sure to make it home safely), and we were on our way home again. Our trip home took about twice as long as the one out there, but we all made it home safely, with a packed-full car with only minimal damage! God is so good!!! This was a Christmas we will not soon forget!!

Graduation

There really will be a graduation blog, but Tim wants certain things to be on it, so I need his help to put it together. For now, this is just a promise of more to come!

Too Long!

I know, I know! It's been over a month and a half since I posted last. What can I say? Between teaching, cherishing Katie-time, traveling to NY for Thanksgiving, having company for Tim and Jeff's graduation, and getting ready for Christmas, there just hasn't been a lot of time for blogging! However, since I scripted the blog address into several people's Christmas cards, I thought maybe, just maybe I should add something new.

This won't be completely up-to-date, but at least it's something! There will be more to come that will highlight other recent events -- I promise!

Well, at the end of October, Katie got to celebrate (or at least live through) her first Halloween! We had this cute little outfit for her, so I just had to include a picture!

We've been trying to take pics now and then of her all dressed up or when she's doing something incredible cute (imagine how many pictures we've taken!!)

And for Thanksgiving, we went to Randolph to spend the holiday with my parents. Katie got to meet the second of three great-grandmothers that weekend, and was incredibly gracious to pose for a family picture! It was such a great weekend -- not only did we have a fantastic turkey (and roast beef) dinner with Mom, Dad, and Grandma, but we also got to go to The Beef and Barrel (my favorite restaurant EVER) and Johnny's lunch (on the way out of town). Who could ask for anything more?

Since then, we've been working our way through each day as it comes. Tim is watching Katie in the daytime while I'm teaching, and then I watch her in the evenings while he's working! It's not the perfect schedule, but we're ecstatic that we both get to spend some time with her! She's an angel!

Our little family "escapes" together

This past weekend we took advantage of my last little bit of time off work and made the trip up to Illinois to introduce Katie to one of her Great-Grandmas. It was a beautiful drive through Indiana and Illinois in the prime of the fall leaves, and it was nice for us to just get away for a few days before "real life" starts up again.

We spent some good time with Tim's Grandma Girdler, and we got to see Aunt Janice and then stay with his cousin Justin, who's living in Grandma's house now. That was the first time I'd been to see the family in Illinois, so we also spent some of our visit driving around so Tim could show me the various places he had such fond memories of from childhood.

Grandma was so surprised and happy to see us! She said that she couldn't believe we would take time to come up there and let her see the baby. She loved to hold her and watch all her funny little faces and movements, but she was convinced she kept making the baby cry. Finally, we got some really sweet pictures of Great-Grandma with Katie -- pictures that we know Grandma will cherish and that we can show Katie when she's older to remind her of how much she is loved. We would have loved to have been there with Tim's mom and dad so we could have taken a picture with all 4 generations!

We had some down-time at the house that Saturday morning, so we took some pictures of Katie to put next to her hospital pictures so we could see how she has changed since she was first born. By far, the cutest picture of the morning, though, was one we snapped while Katie was sleeping on Tim while he sat in a chair in the living room -- she was just so comfortable, arms flailed out to her sides, so content and so safe.

We took our time coming home on Sunday, enjoying the time we could spend together, as our own little family. There was a part of us that wanted to stay gone, to not come back to our daily grind, but we know that for now, we are living where God has seen fit to place us -- we are serving Him, and we really do love the life He has blessed us with. Every day there are new blessings for which to be thankful, and our little trip was one of those things.

Katie's Maryland Grandparents Visit

While my parents (the NY grandparents) were here when Katie was born, Tim's parents planned their trip for a bit later. They were here with us from October 14th through the 18th.
While they were here, Tim and I celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary. Grandma and Grandpa Girdler babysat Katie while we went to The Bonefish Grill for our anniversary dinner. That was the first time we had really left her for any length of time -- well, at least the first time BOTH of us had left her for any length of time (even if it WAS only a couple of hours). When we got home, we found out she slept the whole time we were gone!
Katie and Grandpa Girdler have a special relationship -- when she would get fussy, he would pick her up, walk with her a little bit, and then sit down on the couch and lay her on his chest. Soon, she would be fast asleep. When we saw that this worked repeatedly, we jokingly asked when they were moving down here! I must say that it was great to have someone to call on who could help her settle down -- sometimes she just gets herself so worked up!
And speaking of getting worked up, when Katie wants to eat, NOTHING is more important -- nothing she should be doing, and nothing anyone else has planned. I was intending to take some cute pictures of her on Sunday -- she was wearing this adorable outfit that Grandma Congdon had sent -- but no, Katie wanted to eat. And rather than mess up her pretty outfit, I decided to change her into something less special. But I managed to get one picture first -- and boy, was she unhappy that we decided to spend that time snapping a picture rather than eating!
But everyone will agree, she is definitely a love-bug. Just get her to curl up on you and snuggle, and you'll be won-over! Alan sure is!! He can't get enough! She has him convinced that babies are the coolest things ever!!! (She also has him wrapped around her little finger! I think he would readily admit to that, too!)
We can't believe she's over a month old already! She went for her one-month check-up this past Friday. She also had to get a shot (which was nothing, considering that next month she needs to get 4 shots!!!). Overall, she did well. There were a few tears, but she was her good ol' happy self again by the time we left the doctor's office. Way to go, Katie!

To have a routine or . . . .

We're trying (sometimes desperately) to establish some routines at our house -- eating, sleeping, staying awake (for Katie that's a challenge), and trying to figure out what each cry means. Going through growth spurts just throws a monkey wrench into everything we know -- we eat more frequently, sleep less frequently, and cry (no, scream) for no apparent reason. And while it's all a NORMAL part of the process, it has the tendency to put us all on edge. Nevertheless, we wouldn't trade a moment of it -- our girl will always be the greatest thing ever!!

And in the moments Katie isn't screaming, she is beginning to discover her voice. In the past few days, she has begun to coo and "talk" more. It's fun to listen to each new noise she learns to make, and while we know we'll have to wait a while longer, we are so eager to hear the first "Da-da" or "Ma-ma", and her first real laughter.

By far, one of my favorite things is sharing the first few moments after she has finished eating. I'll often lay her down on my chest, and she'll pull her little legs up underneath her and just drift off to sleep, cuddled close to my heart. Sometimes she'll stay like that with me for a couple hours, just content to be close to Mommy. What a blessing! I treasure those moments, knowing full-well that we'll only be able to cuddle like that for just a short time. Soon she'll be too big to sleep cuddled up on me -- I want to savor each little thing, each moment of each stage she goes through. There is so much to look forward to, and so much to cherish each day -- things that may never happen again!