Ladies and Gentlemen, We've Got Teeth! (or, Tooth)

Sorry to say that I don't yet have a picture to go with this one, but maybe one day soon!
We have our first tooth poking through -- after fighting the good fight, complete with fever (and a trip to the ER), we have a tooth -- a sharp, little pain-inflicting tooth! (Pain inflicting for Katie and for Mommy (when my finger gets in the way!)) And tooth number two isn't far behind! We can see it in its place right next to the first tooth -- it's either just beneath the surface, or it's JUST broken through. But, regardless, it's there!! Watch out big-people food, Katie's soon to be on the prowl!!

And she's just aching to crawl! She gets onto her tummy, and can turn around to face any direction; then she tries SO hard to pull her legs up to crawl, but she can't quite get them to coordinate with the rest of her. Oh, she gets SO frustrated -- screaming, crying, but she keeps on trying again and again. It's going to happen soon, I just know it! That means we're going to have to baby-proof SOON!!! Just today when she was pseudo-crawling, she got into a sales flier and tried to eat it, and she managed to get a sticker stuck on her hand. Man, oh man, our life is going to change drastically soon!

Look at my new big-girl toy!!!

At daycare, Katie has been playing in an Exersaucer, and she's really been enjoying it. So we resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd have to be making a new purchase. We didn't get an Exersaucer, but we got something similar called "Bounce, Baby, Bounce!" It's got a bunch of toys around the tray like the Exersaucer does (just not the overwhelming amount like that does). But instead of the rocking base, this has a bungee platform that will bounce as she pushes it with her legs (once she can really reach it!)


Anyway, that was Thursday's purchase, and Mommy assembled it while Daddy was hard at work last night. Katie sat in her chair and patiently watched as it was built, but I imagine she was thinking, "Hurry up, Mommy -- I want to PLAY!" She loves it -- especially the things that she can reach and put into her mouth! Anyway, we figured this would give her something else fun to do for a little while, instead of always having to be lying on her back to play, or flipped over on her tummy, which still makes her frustrated, though she is getting the hang of rolling back over onto her back. Keep working at it, Katie-girl! You'll get it -- growing up is such hard work! And Daddy just managed to snap this picture this afternoon that encapsulates that last thought completely -- Whew!! It's hard work growing up!!

Snow Days and a Trip to the ER

Kentuckiana got a major winter storm this weekend. School was out on Friday, which meant that we had to miss day care (a.k.a. big-girl school) -- on only our second day!! But Mommy and Katie got to stay home -- nice and warm and cozy inside. But Daddy still had to go to work. And boy, did it snow. We got a LOT of snow on Friday -- about 4 inches before dark!! Then, during the night, we got about 8 more inches!!!!! Everything was covered!! That was more snow than we've had here since 2004!!! There was so much snow that Daddy didn't have to go to work on Saturday morning, so we could all just spend the day together! Two boys came and asked if they could shovel our driveway for us -- for $10 each. We agreed, and they did a PHENOMENAL job!! It looked like it had only rained, not snowed a foot!!! Amazing!!And in the midst of all that, we realized that Katie was running a fever. We took her temperature, and it was 101. So, we called the pediatrician, and he said that, just to be safe, we should take her to the ER, just to be sure it wasn't anything serious. SO, we got all bundled up and headed to the hospital. After all the paperwork, and the initial triage, we got put in a pediatrics room. Fortunately, things weren't too busy on a snowy Saturday. The doctor came and examined her -- said that there was nothing obviously wrong -- no ear infections, etc., so he wanted to do a couple tests. They swabbed her throat to test for strep; they swabbed her nose to test for the flu; and they drew blood to test for other things. That was the worst thing ever -- Katie cried, Mommy cried -- it was bad. But all the tests came back negative. They said it was just a virus, most likely. She is likely teething, as well, which can lead to an elevated temperature, too. So, they discharged us with instructions to give Tylenol every 4 hours. She was groggy, but feeling better -- acting more like herself last night, and then today, she has been mostly "normal" -- I know some of you are thinking, "How can she be normal? Look at her parents!!" HaHa!! Very funny!! Anyway, she's doing better, and hopefully will continue on her upswing tonight and tomorrow!!

A New Hat and LOTS of Formula

Well, our Katie girl outgrew her first winter hat. It was too tight and was leaving marks on her head -- OUCH!! So Katie and Mommy went shopping for a new hat. We found our treasure at Janie and Jack (on sale, of course, because who could afford it otherwise?) It's SO cute, and it's big enough that she'll be able to wear it again next winter, too. Right now it's a little overwhelming, but that just makes us look cuter!

And, then, one Saturday, our doorbell rang, and we answered it only to find a big brown cardboard box on our step. We brought it in, and opened it up -- Grandma and Grandpa Congdon bought us enough formula to last for the rest of our life!!! O.K. not really, but there were a LOT of cans of formula -- 24 cans (the little ones) -- but those are the BEST to just throw in the diaper bag when you have to go somewhere. So we're set with formula for quite a while now -- THANK YOU GRANDMA AND GRANDPA!!!!!!!

New Milestones (is that redundant?)

Boy, oh boy -- people have told me how quickly time goes by when you have a newborn, but can you believe it's been 5 months since Katie was born? Yep! This Friday, February 15, will be 5 months already!!!

She's been doing so much lately -- eating "big girl food" like oatmeal, peas, green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, some fruit (though she really doesn't seem to like fruit as much as she likes veggies!) She's also been developing her coordination -- she plays on her playgym, grabbing at things and learning how to make things "work". She gets so frustrated sometimes when she can't make the fishy "sing" -- oh how she howls! She loves to try to sit up like a big girl. The look on her face is just precious when she gets into her sitting up position. She has tried (several times) to roll over onto her belly, and Tim caught one time where she actually made it! We haven't seen any real success since then, but we know it's coming!!

We've had to move up to size 2 diapers!! Day after day, we were having to wash her Papasan seat, since it was SOAKED every morning!!! Normally we consider it a blessing that she sleeps for, like, 10 hours a night, but those days were crazy!! Laundry first thing in the morning!!

The best thing, though, is that she's getting more hair! We were wondering if she would go all through her life with her Grandpa Congdon's hairline. But, since we managed to get some of that cradle-cap off her head, the hair's been coming in beautifully! Of course what's growing is all on top -- we'll still have to wait for the hair in the back to fill in, but it's about the same color as mine, and fine-textured, and it's beautiful because it's all hers!!

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!!