A Special Day

Jason's parents, Laura, Andy, Jason, and I went to the temple on Saturday to do work for MeeMaws family. We were each given a family member to do their annointing, enowment, and sealings. This was my first time doing annointing and sealing in proxy. I was really excited because when I went through the temple the annointing was my favorite part. It was so incredible to receive those blessings. It was the one time during a crazy day that I was able to sit and actually pay attention and soak in what was being said. Being able to do it again didn't dissapoint. Seeing MeeMaw become sealed to her parents was a very emotional moment for me. (I actually cried)!  This again proves how much Heavenly Father loves us and has restored His church on Earth today. I can't wait to go to the temple with Katherine and our other kids someday and look forward to the day they can experience this with their spouse.

Who Knew

Katherine has had a busy month. She is growing super fast! It's funny because when she was born I thought she was perfect, then at 3 months I decided she would never be cuter, then when she was sitting I decided this was the best age because she could entertain herself and looked so cute sitting by herself. When she started babbling all the time I knew there was no way she could get any sweeter. Well now at 7 months she is CRAWLING and talking even more and it's official this is the best age! I love that as Kate grows she becomes more and more amazing! I know Jason likes this stage a lot better. When she was a newborn he thought she was way too helpless and decided it was very hard to keep a newborn from getting hurt. He's less worried now but still has random heart attacks on occasions, like when Kate holds her breath during a bath (which she likes to do) or when she makes a funny face while eating (which she also likes to do).

We have a video monitor and anyone who knows me has heard me talk about how incredible it is. Everyone should have one (thank you Uncle Howard and Aunt Pam). When Katherine was a teeny tiny baby we would turn on the monitor and she would be staring right back at us even though it was pitch black in her room. It freaked us out until we realized there was a green light at the end of the camera. Since then she has continued to stare at us through the camera. Well now that she can pull herself up she has made it her goal to get that camera. It takes her awhile to fall asleep because she will spend a good 30 minutes trying to get the camera. On her really determined days she'll spend this much time before she falls asleep and then again when she wakes. It's a little sad that we're going to move the camera and all her hard work will soon be for nothing!

Nice comfy bed or a jail cell?

If you look at the top left side of the crib you can see the infamous camera

She loves sleeping naked, probably because it's so hot! Not sure if you can tell but she has a bandaid on each leg from getting 2 shots that day :(

At her 6 months check-up the Dr. told me to give Katherine water. I went out, bought a sippy cup, filled it with water, and gave it to her. It took her a few days but then she got the hang of it and could drink it by herself. She looks like such a big girl!

Again she's naked. I should probably put some clothes on her :)

Just A Little Late

I finally got around to getting Katherine's 6 months pictures, so they're actually more like 6.5 months pictures. When we got there I told the lady Katherine doesn't like to sit still but the lady insisted on trying to put her on a chair. The first time Kate about dove off the chair, she hasn't quite grasped the concept of gravity yet. The second time she refused to sit and kept trying to stand up and topple off the chair, so needless to say all the pictures were taken with her safely on the floor!

This was my old baby dress that my Mom saved

This also was one of my old dresses

Jason thinks she looks like a little doll here

This is so Kate!

Our precious baby girl

Such a happy baby

My Dad came with me and didn't realize he was going to have his picture taken too :)

Yum...Real Food (sort of)

Katherine is now allowed to eat solids! She's been eating rice cereal for about a month and loved it. We never had any trouble with her since she tries to eat anything we put near her mouth. She loved sucking on peppers from our garden but we had to quit that when she tried to eat it whole. The first "solid" we gave her was squash. She was very insulted that we were trying to put something so nasty in her mouth (baby food really is disgusting). But after 2 tries she was eating it like it was no big deal.

I used to always make fun of the moms who would only feed their baby organic food or would use homemade baby food. Somewhere along the way I've turned into one of those moms. It started when I saw a box of organic whole grain rice cereal that just seemed so appealing, then I realized how easy it would be to puree some vegetables.... I blame my sister for telling me about all the chemicals in our food :) Of course I still eat the worst junk food imaginable but Katherine is going to be a very healthy eater. Jason likes to point out that I'm going to have to start eating vegetables if I'm going to make her. I plan on waiting until she's aware of her surroundings; no point in forcing myself now when she doesn't even know what's going on! Eventually I know Kate will be eating fruit roll-ups and McDonalds so for now I'll live in my dream world of all healthy non GE food

It tastes much better on my thumb

I love my carrots

What? You're taking my food away from me????

I don't think so

MOUNTAIN TRIP

My parents friends have a vacation home in Cashiers, NC so Ty, Dana, Jason, Katherine and I spent the weekend there. We turned it into a mini vacation. I absolutely love NC and if we ever have to leave GA (which hopefully won't happen) I would like to live there. The 4 of us used to do weekend trips all the time and this was our first one since Katherine was born.

The first waterfall we went to had an amazing view but we couldn't get very close to the waterfall. I had a backpack that was loaded up with everything imaginable. Katherine makes hiking a little more complicated. For such a tiny little things she sure needs a lot! Though she does make everything more fun!
She loves being outside and being carried around. She's such a happy baby (especially when she's had her naps)! She is just too adorable!!!

Katherine's first real hike! Jason did a very good job of hiking with her and protecting her from any bees. I wouldn't even consider carrying her since I'm so clumsy and did slip a couple of times and would have completely fallen if Ty hadn't been helping Dana and me. Kate is going to be a very adventures child if we keep this up!

We found instructions to a hidden waterfall. They literally told us to drive down some random road with no street sign, find a bend in the road, and then listen for a waterfall. I have no idea how we managed to find this place. The directions said there wasn't a trail and they were right. We decided we were going to blaze our own trail, with a baby! Aren't we just the best parents :)

Our only group picture! We tried to get one at the other waterfall but whenever you ask a stranger to take a picture they always seem to be incompetent. We used the timer here and I still can't believe we're all in the picture.

Jason got in the freezing cold water that Kate wanted nothing to do with. I love this picture of Ty and Dana

At the end of the hike Kate was worn out and ended up falling asleep like this while we were hiking back. She is such a sweet baby!

We had a lot of fun in the mountains and it was definitely worth going!

Kate also had her 6 mont birthday so I thought I would add these because this is her favorite thing to do now that she's a pro at sitting up. I think she gets cuter, sweeter, funnier.... everyday!

Independence Day and Pool Time

For the 4th of July I ran the Peachtree Road Race. I've run it the past 7 years except for last year when I was pregnant. It was my sister and Dad's thing until she started living all over the world and I had to take her place. This was the first year that I actually ran the whole thing! I am not a runner at all and always had to walk some. It took us forever b/c we went really slow (a speed walker could have kept up with us)!

That night we managed to go out and watch fireworks-Ty and Dana found the best spot for firework watching.

We thought Kate would freak out since she hates loud noises. Instead she watched them for a little bit while Jason held her, turned her head into Jason's chest, then fell asleep. She even slept during the finale. Jason had to poke her to make sure she was okay. How can someone who startles when the door creaks or Jason hiccups sleep during fireworks???

The night before we took Kate to the St. Ives pool. We're not sure if she likes the pool or is indifferent to the whole idea. She loves taking a bath so we thought this would be like a huge bathtub to her. She seems to enjoy baths more (maybe it's because that's her Daddy/Daughter time) She looks so cute in her bathing suit - I LOVE IT!!!!

JUNE

Two major things happened over the past month and a half - I turned 26 and Katherine learned a new trick!!!! So I'm getting closer to 30 and my tiny little baby is growing up. On her 5month birthday Jason and I were putting her to bed when Jason had propped her up and she was sitting by herself. I freaked out and ran and got the camera while Jason was like "what is this a big deal or something?"

Of course she could barely sit up and had to hold herself by putting her hands on the floor. Since she was 2 months old she has hated laying on her back. It even got to the point where she didn't like her
bouncer or carseat b/c she was reclined. She would lay on her back and do crunches trying so hard to sit up. We got her a Bumbo which worked really great until she decided she had that mastered and would try to stand up in it. The other week I decided to practice sitting up with her (mainly just putting her there and trying to balance her).

All of a sudden she was sitting up all by herself like a big girl. It just happened, there was no gradual process! At first she would loose her balance and faceplant. It was kind of pitiful b/c she would lay there and rub her face in the carpet or roll over and try so hard to sit up. By that afternoon she could sit by herself and play!

It's great b/c she'll entertain herself for awhile but I'm sad that she's growing up so fast. She's not even 6 months and she's growing too fast for me, I don't know how I'm going to handle it when she actually grows up!

Other things did happen over the past few weeks:

My sister came home to visit in between her trips to Croatia and Budapest. Don't they look like CA girls in their bohemian dresses?! Jennifer got Katherine the cutest outfits!

My cousins and Aunt came to visit too. The other baby is 2 weeks younger than Kate. She is surrounded by boys on both sides of the family, so she's either going to turn into a big tomboy or be left out a lot! At least she has some girl cousins even if they are older.

We spent a couple weekends on the boat in Columbus. Kate and I rode around while Jason went wakeboarding and helped the kids go tubing.