Update

So I'm quickly learning that Katelyn likes to prove people wrong. Or wait until the last minute. One of the two. Just like when her pediatrician gave her until 7 months to start sitting and she started sitting 2 days before that. Today I heard her babble for the first time. An actual "B" sound. It didn't last long, but it's a start!



And I just have to add this one of Collin as well. Lately, his favorite is The Backyardigans. I think he wants to have a Polka Palace Party for his next birthday. The other day he asked if we could buy some instruments. He said he wanted a tuba, a clarinet for me, an accordion for Daddy, and drums for Katelyn. So silly! So he does this 20+ times a day in his room:

Nine...and just fine!

Okay, I'll stop with the silly rhyming titles next month (maybe). Katelyn celebrated her 9 month old birthday by going to bed last night at 8, waking up at 11, hanging out with Mommy (read: screaming, crying, fighting sleep, eating teething tablets, chewing on a cold washcloth, attempting to nurse, more screaming) until 2 am when she finally passed out in Mommy and Daddy's bed (a real privilege for her special day...she never sleeps with us). She (not Mommy) slept restlessly until 6 am. Thankfully she went back to sleep in her own bed from 6-730. Unfortunately, Mommy's alarm went off at 630 due to dentist appointments. Whew, I will be going to bed with the kiddos tonight for sure (if I make it that long!).

Collin got to go to the dentist with me this time around and we made him an appointment for February. Then we had a nice breakfast together at Chick-fil-a (aside from my spilling my coffee all over the floor of the play area).

Kate fell asleep on the way home and took a good nap (almost 3 hours!). Thankfully, because after lunch, we headed to her 9 month old checkup. Here's how she's measuring up:

She weighs 17 lbs 12 oz (25-50th %ile). She is 27" long (25th %ile) (We get to use the infant car seat a little bit longer!). Her head circumference is 47 cm (>97th %ile). Her pediatrician is still just keeping an eye on her head size. It's been gradually going up (in %ile) each visit. She said she won't be worried unless it takes a sudden jump up. (She does throw around the word "head CT" each time she talks about the size, but calms down when we remind her of Daddy's and big brothers). She'll recheck at 12 months.

Everything else physically checked out fine. There were some developmental concerns however. Her pediatrician and I agree that she is probably fine, but it's better to have things checked out early. So she recommended an audiology evaluation and referred us to Babies Can't Wait as well. The audiology evaluation resulted from her lack of speech sounds. Her pediatrician said she was one of the quietest babies she has seen. I guess when she's not crying, screaming, squealing, grunting, or laughing, she is pretty quiet. She hasn't really ever been a babbler. So I'm going to go along with that recommendation just to make sure her hearing is okay. The Babies Can't Wait referral was in response to her "delayed" gross motor skills (i.e. she's not crawling or showing any signs of being ready to crawl). This one I'm a little more hesitant about. Yes, she is technically delayed in these skills, but she seems to be on her own little timeline, and I think she will eventually get there with a little help at home. (She was also a little bit later with sitting and rolling). I got some good ideas for helping her today from one of my best friends (who is a PT...Hi Mag!), so we're going to try that first and see how it goes.

The past month has brought lots of new fun for Katelyn. Here are the things she's accomplished this month:
1. Waving hi and bye bye.
2. Clapping.
3. Signing "more" and "all done".

4. Eating Stage 3 foods.
5. Eating finger foods.
6. Finger feeding herself (and grabbing Mommy's food when she's not looking. Including my CFA chicken biscuit this morning.)

7. Making silly faces.
8. Giving love.

Absolutely loving her and so thankful to have a sweet healthy baby girl. Even sleepless nights are blessings.

Family is Forever

I have to share a sweet, sweet story about my little man tonight. A few weeks ago, Collin and I were having a seemingly harmless and innocent conversation about who my mommy is, who daddy's mommy is, etc. Somehow we got on the topic of me growing up and me not living at Nanna's or PaPaw's house anymore. Still didn't think much about it until Tuesday as we were pulling into the driveway after having ice cream.

From the backseat, I hear Collin say, "Mommy, when I'm not a kid anymore, where will my playroom be?" Huh? Suddenly, numerous comments from him start running through my head from the last two weeks. "Mommy, am I older yet?" "Mommy, when am I going to be big?" etc. etc.

When I look back at him, I realize he has an extremely worried look on his face. Poor kid has been thinking about not living at our house for weeks. I started stuttering and trying to find the right words to reassure him. Finally I said, "Mommy was just being silly. I thought you would want to live somewhere else when you got bigger and all grown up. Do you want to live here with Mommy and Daddy forever?"

I had barely gotten the question out of my mouth, and he says, "Yes, let's do that."

I got out of the car and went around to unbuckle him from his carseat. I gave him a big hug and told him I would be so sad if he didn't live with us anymore. Then I heard the sweetest words which melted my heart and brought tears to my eyes at the same time. He said, "I would be so sad if I didn't belong at your house." I kept hugging him for a long time (in part so he wouldn't see his silly sappy mommy crying).

I haven't heard a word about it since....

Busy Week

Yes, it has definitely been busy. Busy but fun. So busy though that I refused to go anywhere today. So I'm sitting in the quiet while Katelyn naps. Mike and Collin went for lunch at Steak and Shake and looking at golf clubs. Here's a quick recap of the week:

Monday: Why can't I remember what I did on Monday?
Tuesday: Class/Work/School
Wednesday: Work/School
Thursday: Breakfast at Krispy Kreme and playdate at the park with Mag, Colt, and Marley. See pics below...
Friday: Lunch with good friend Jena at Einsteins and trip to Babies R Us.
Saturday: Consignment sale with Collin, Grocery shopping with Collin, Mall of Ga with Collin, Katelyn, Kelli, Carter, and Campbell, Homemade pizza dinner with same people plus Mike.

Whew! It may not sound like that much at first, but add in all the climbing in/out of the car, buckling/unbuckling car seats, unloading strollers, etc. etc. all in this crazy HEAT WAVE we're having and I think you may understand why I'm staying in the house today.

Here are some pics from the park...

We had a great time, but are all looking forward to redoing the day in the fall!

In other news, Katelyn starting waving "hi" and "bye bye" yesterday. At the mall. To complete strangers.

And I know Collin's growing up, wants to stay with his friends at school, etc., but I wasn't quite ready for this...

Have a great week!

We made it!

So everyone, including me, survived our first day back at "school". Despite the fact that I had to sit in a class for 2. 5 hours that should have lasted 45 minutes (based on the material actually taught and learned), it was a pretty good day. Thankfully I had the company of a good friend and coworker to help pass the time (Hi Ali!).

Katelyn didn't sleep all that well, but was happy and had no problems taking her bottle.

Collin did better than surviving. He was a little shy about entering his classroom when I dropped him off. When I showed up to pick him up, he was having snack. I could see him through the window say "Mommy's here." He then proceeded to finish his pretzels and juice. (In case you were wondering, until today, his usual reaction would be to jump up from whatever he was doing and run to me.) I noticed that he was looking at me with a weird expression the whole time. I thought maybe he was just tired. However, as we were walking to the car, he looked up at me and said, "Mommy, I wanted to stay longer." Keep in mind he had been there for almost 8 hours. I didn't know whether to be happy or sad. I still don't. But I know that I am so proud of him.

Off to work again tomorrow! Hopefully it will be a repeat of today. Except maybe Collin will want to come home.

It's that time of year...

I'm sitting here on this Monday morning thinking about how thankful I am to be able to be at home with my little ones most of the time. I'm also thankful that I have one more year with my big boy before he goes to pre-K every weekday. And completely unrelated to the first day of school, but equally important, I'm thankful that Katelyn is still sleeping. She woke up at 5 as usual, but actually went back to sleep after she ate for the first time in over a week.

We had fun this weekend in Fayetteville. Collin spent time with Mimi and Katelyn spent time with Nanna while I was in a course on Thursday. The kids had fun swimming at Gran's pool on Friday, although Collin was whinier (is that a word?) than I have EVER seen him. Thought for sure he was getting sick, but he seems fine now. Saturday we got to check out PaPaw's new restaurant, and then we headed back home to spend time with Daddy the rest of the weekend. I didn't take many pictures this weekend (surprise, surprise!), but I did get a couple of cute videos and one cute pic of Kate relaxing on a float.








I'm definitely dreading tomorrow. Back to school means back to school for Mimi, which means daycare (which I usually call school) for the kiddos while I attend a course (again!). Then on Wednesday, they will begin their once a week (for 6 hours) trip to school while I see a few kids at a clinic near our house. Collin is so excited to play with his friends, so I am not worried about him. This is such a change from this time last year, so I am so happy for him. I am so worried about Katelyn. I'm sure she will do better than me. For some reason, leaving her with strangers (to her, not me thank goodness) in a strange place seems so much worse than leaving her at her own house. So think of us tomorrow!