Short hair :)

So busy!!

I'm still here, I promise!

Here's our life in a nutshell right now:

~There she goes! Kat is mobile, and when I say mobile I mean crawling, climbing, cruising, standing, and desperately trying to walk. She's in everything and usually attempting to eat it, so I'm constantly running around the house after her going "No, no no." My periods of uninterrupted computer time are in the past :)

~Tantrums! Ohhhh this girl has a temper, like just now when I moved from typing the blog to take cord away from her... she's throwing a huge tantrum behind me. Our current policy is to ignore tantrums, 50% of the time she gets distracted halfway through and stops crying; the other 50% it escalates more and more until one of us has to intervene which is usually followed by nursing and a nap as she has worn herself out.

~Weddings! This week is Katie's wedding (Tim's sister) and Tim will be a Bridesman, I'll be officiating, and Kat will be quiet (we hope) We're getting our little family ready for it, I'm making sure we have all our legal ducks in a row, and I'm going to be running around Thursday and Friday buying pantyhose, picking up tuxes, doing flowers, decorating, helping run the rehearsal, and finally doing the wedding. Wish me luck!

~Vacation! Rapidly approaching, and working on making sure Kat has all she needs for such a long trip away from home.

~Scrapping! My list of Creative Teams is about to grow again, and I'm seriously considering spinning that off into a side business of creating custom birth announcements, wedding invitations, and the like... so that's on our minds at the moment.

6 Months Scrap Page

Curious Kat...

She's in everything and learning to climb up! Last night she actually held her balance standing for about 10 seconds and tried to take a step forward.

Man the time is just flying!! I can't believe how big and strong she is :) I'm a lucky Mommy.

And now- pictures!

Giggles




She thinks the couch is an obstacle course :)

Aaaah peace... for a minute anyway!

Heavenly

Just a wee taste of what I'm working on :O)

Haven't been posting as much!

I've been so busy working in our garden, keeping up with my scrapping blog, keeping my committment with my new CT job, getting poor Luna declawed... and keeping up with Kat that I haven't had time to post quite as much! She's all about eating everything she can find: dog food, couch stuffing, tissues, vaccuum cleaners :) She gets quite angry when I don't let her eat those things. I'm so busy that I haven't taken many pictures either! There are some on my camera, which I'll unload in the next few days, but even then I haven't got the time! These pictures are courtesy of Grandma and Grandpa, you can always count on them for some good/funny Kat pics!

Kat singing into her hairbrush after Grandma blow dried her hair... isn't it a lovely hairdo?

Kat's innocent face playing in her Jumperoo

Kat loving on the baby in the mirror!

Car Seat

Well the time has come, Kat is rapidly outgrowing the infant seat that came in the Travel System we bought before she was born. It's time for a big girl carseat! This has been the cause of a good deal of stress and research for me. It was clear from looking at Safety Ratings that Britax carseats are far and away the best on the market. They also go up to 65lbs (most carseats go to 50-55lbs) which means it'll be that much longer until we had to buy a booster or another car seat.

Unfortunately Britax carseats are also about 300.00, which was waaaay out of our budget. I had managed to find one for 179.99 but that still seemed beyond our budget. We were likely just going to pick up a cheapie car seat... Luckily just then, the Grandma fairy came and helped us out :) So I got lucky enough to snag the 179.99 Britax Marathon at Albee Baby (which consequently is a GREAT deal, if you're looking for a carseat, head on over)

So here is Kat's new carseat being shipped to us now- YAY!!!!:

Scrapping site...

I started a scrapping blog at:
http://thewildmountainthyme.blogspot.com/

I'll be putting most of my scrapping stuff there, along with Freebie of the Day, kit reviews, and the occasional freebie graphic from yours truly! :)

If you're into Digi scrapping, check it out!

Toys are good...

Lilacs...

And just for fun: Kat figuring out that even though she can SEE us through the Pack n Play she can't crawl through it. Bad parents that we are, we sat and giggled at the crazy mushed up faces she made for a good 5 minutes before librating her from her net prison :)

Oh the Places she goes...

Today I did a little 2 hour experiment... I kept my camera with my while I cleaned and did stuff around the house, and everytime I had to pull Kat out of something she was into I took a picture first. This was just to show how curious and active she is though she's only been mobile for 2 days now! I didn't realize how many pictures I'd actually get. I tell you what though... she's napping like a champ now and other than being in everything, has been soo sweet and good today! Ahhhh... I'm tired, but much happier. I don't mind chasing her around the house, as long as she's in a good mood!

Pushing the bear off the shelf so she can climb into the shelf.



Her 'What Mama? I didn't do anything!" look

Under the coffee table, licking it actually. She's obsessed with licking our coffee table... no clue what that's about!

She followed me to the kitchen since I was cooking, and decided my flip flops looked tasty

Hiding under the Jumperoo


Trying to climb the stairs (didn't know I'd have to babyproof these so soon! LOL)

Trying to chew on the back of a metal folding chair


"No mama... I wasn't trying to steal the Pringles! I would never ever do that!"



All clean, happy, tired, and snuggling with Mama after a long hard day of running amok

Funny Baby

About 6am this morning Kat woke up wide awake, and figured she'd use her new mobility skill to get what she wanted without crying and throwing a fit. So after much grunting and shaking of her co-sleeper (which woke me up and had me watching what she was up to anyway) she managed to position both her hands on the dividing rail, peek over at me, and launch herself over the side. She proceeded to crawl onto my chest and say "Hi!"....

What a goofy funny little girl I have!

6 Month Pictures!

Crawling!

Officially crawling (ie- she finally did it in front of me and not just at Grandpa's house)!!

Oh my goodness, 6 months old and completely mobile. I've already had to get her out from under the Jumperoo, out from the bottom shelf of the bookshelf, hide the dog's bed, put up Tim's precious VHS collection, and stop her from licking (no I'm not kidding, licking) the bottom of the coffee table!

Guess when we get paid this Friday we better go get the babyproofing stuff! She's into EVERYTHING! LOL Oh- and she's also pulling herself to standing and trying to take steps... only a matter of time! When we 'walk' around the house (her walking while I hold her hands) she runs instead of walking...

I'll get video when I get a chance, for now I better go hide the dog toys!

6 Months Update

Today we went to the doctor for Kat's 6 Month checkup and vaccines. Unfortunately her normal Pedi is out on medical leave until at least June, but they aren't making any follow up appointments as they are unsure how long he might actually be out! I really hope he's okay, because we love having him as Kat's doctor! The doctor filling in was great though, so all is well.

Kat now weighs 16lbs 4oz and is 25 3/4 inches long. The new doctor was laughing at Kat getting into everything she could reach at the office and tearing up the paper on the table and asking us if we'd babyproofed yet, and advising we may want to get the extra strength stuff as Kat looks like she's going to be an absolute handful. Tell us something we didn't know! :) They were also incredibly impressed at how well she sits up on her own, and watching her pull herself to a standing position. She's been ahead of the curve on physical milestones consistantly since we had her, so no shocker there!

Kat got her vaccines, and as usual was an absolute trooper! We really expected to have a bad evening as Kat has been in an absolutely awful mood for about a week now, but after her big nap she's been playing happily on her own for about an hour now! (which is a big deal for her) I'm hoping this is the turning point, because we've been pulling our hair out (well the hair that she hasn't pulled out for us) trying to keep up with her. I am fairly sure that we have more teeth on the way, plus possibly a growth spurt. She goes through these phases, they last from a few days to a week or so, and usually coorespond to growth spurts... it's merely a matter of surviving them. Then we get our sweetheart baby back :)

Here's hoping things are on the upswing!

Kat playing in her 'blanket fort' after getting back from the doctor today.

Kat waking up happy after her nap today!

Amen...

"Babies take the fuel they need from you without considering whether they leave anything behind in mother's gas tank. The seemingly constant holding, nursing, and comforting leave little energy left over for your needs. Experienced mothers learn to operate in what one woman calls "the mother zone." It's like the "Twilight Zone"; you feel a bit fuzzy, somewhat sleep-deprived; you simply function in low gear for a stretch of time. It's a season that passes; and while you're in it, try not to fight it or resent it. Instead of feeling sorry for yourself that you didn't get enough sleep, just don't expect as much from yourself that day. Of course, you're not completely rested -- you are the mother of a baby who needs you. Time spent in the mother zone is good for you and for baby. Ease up on yourself and you'll be easier to be around. You'll be happier getting less done. Other tasks can wait, but baby can't. "
-Dr. Sears on parenting High Need Children

Good advice and hard to follow... I promise a better update is coming, but we're having a 'season' right now LOL... I'm in a fog at the moment and can't focus enough to do more than take care of the WeeKat. Bear with me :)

No time...

No time to post lots, I have a 6 month update coming, but honestly I can't seem to focus or get enough time to get it on here... so here's your fix for the day :) Kat playing in Uncle Matt's hat!

I learned how to make blinkies :)

So if anyone wants/needs one I can help!