Visit to Santa

Our first trip to Santa was a success. No big smiles, but no tears. What a cute little girl!

Birthday Party!

Since we'll be in Montana for Katelynn's actual birthday, we had a party with friends and family here in Seattle this past Saturday. I can't believe she is almost one! It was a great few hours filled with pizza, presents, cake, and conversation. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the day.

Checking out a book from Aunt Stephanie, Aunt Jocelyn, and Cousin Abbie

Thanks Matia for helping to unwrap everything. 

Intently looking at something...

Bows, yum.

Yea for the legos and all the gifts.

Time for (cup)cake. Mommy and daddy had to blow it out before I caught myself on fire.

Hum, not to bad.

Not even any tears.

It was a really special day because a bunch of Katelynn's birthfamily got to join us! Here's Katelynn with her birthmom Tonia.

Cousin Abbie, Sister Makayla, Mommy Tonia, and Miss Kate

Playing with Grandma Pam (Nana)

And the three girls again :)

Thanks Tonia, Makayla, Pam, Stephanie, Jocelyn, Abbie, JT, Paul, Anne, Wendy, Josiah, Heather, Trapper, Sophia, Craig, Beth, Matia, Aaron, Jen, Stephanie, and Clinton for an awesome day!

Snow!

It snowed last night! And morning we had an appointment to see Santa. So because Katelynn was all dressed up already, we took a couple pictures on the freezing porch.

In exactly one week, Katelynn will be a year old. I can hardly believe it. We had a great time yesterday with friends and family having an early birthday party in Seattle. Pictures from that to come soon!

Christmas Memories

Jen, 10 months old, Christmas 1980

Katelynn, 11 1/2 months old, Christmas 2008

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a really nice thanksgiving weekend with family and friends. Katelynn was in pretty good spirits throughout the day despite the fact that two more top teeth are making their way through.
Our house was filled with 13 adults and 3 kids for a great dinner. Grandma Sue and Grandpa Ben even got to come out to see us!
On Saturday, we went to a cultural festival at the Seattle Center, and Katelynn took her first Carousel ride. She liked it!
We also got our Christmas tree on Saturday and had to have a mini modeling show with some of Katelynn's Christmas outfits.
And of course the stockings were hung by the chimney with care. Katelynn, Anne, Jen, Hannah, Tucker, Paul, and JT. :)

For Your Viewing Pleasure

Trouble

Time to start shutting the bathroom door...

Fun new "toy"

More and More

Can you believe she is only 10 1/2 months old?! I bet she is walking instead of crawling about 50% of the time already. Sorry this video is so dark.

More Walking

Boy, does Katelynn love to walk. And she is so proud of herself when she does! 31 steps is her record so far.

But watch out for the dog!

Happy Halloween

Pumpkins

This past Saturday, we carved our pumpkins that we got from the farm a couple of weeks ago. We took some pics of Katelynn in her costume first though. It's supposed to be a cow, but without the udder, some of us think it looks more like a dalmatian...

Tucker's Pumpkin

Jen's

Uncle JT's

10 Months

This is what I got the first time I tried to take photos of Katelynn on her 10 month birthday...
Luckily we did much better a couple of hours later!
She's eating the bottle better, she's starting to walk, she got two more teeth, and she still charms people everywhere she goes.

Walking!

Yesterday, at a day shy of 10 months, Katelynn took her first steps! The sad part is that Tucker and I both missed it because she was with Uncle JT. But here she is today happily showing off her new skill!

10 Month Weight

So last night we went to dinner at a friend's house, and they just happened to have a baby scale borrowed from the UW Medical Center, which made me super excited because my anal self always wants to know what Katelynn weighs. LOL. So I got to weigh miss Kate! At 4 days shy of 10 months, my little munchkin is 18 lbs 1 oz. Whoo hoo!

Pumpkin Farm

This past Saturday, we drove up to Everett to visit the farm and pick out some pumpkins! It was an unusually beautiful fall day in Seattle. Here's Katelynn on her first hay ride...

Look how tall I am!

Our first fall as a family of three.

We're so glad Uncle JT finally made it out!

My little pumpkin.

So big.

Oooohhhh.

Aren't I the cutest baby in the world?

AIDS Walk

Yesterday Tucker, Katelynn, and I all participated in the 22nd Annual Seattle AIDS walk with a team from the church Tucker works at (Mercer Island Presbyterian). There were over 100 people on our team and we raised almost $20,000. Despite the weather, we had a good time with Tucker's co-workers and got a little exercise. Here are a few pics of Katelynn sporting the t-shirt designed by Tucker (he is the graphic designer at the church)...I tried really had to find jeans that screamed "I'm a girl!" (notice the butterfly and flower) but we still got a lot of "He's so cute" or "He's doing so well" to which I would reply "Yes, she is!"

What a cutie!

You Can't Catch Me!

Katelynn's favorite thing to do when we are downstairs.

We've Moved

This is our new home in Seattle. We affectionately refer to it as Fort Awesome. It's a brand new 5-bedroom, 3-bath house with 3 living areas. We live with our good friends the Belks (Paul, Anne, and Hannah the dog), and my brother JT is moving in next week. We are enjoying our house mates, our Pinehurst/Lake City Neighborhood, and being closer to the city!

Crawling

Katelynn's Crawling Finally Caught on Video

The Stats

We finally have internet again. Whoo hoo! Katelynn had her 9-month check up today and here are the stats...

Weight: 17 lb 9 oz (26th percentile)
Height: 27.75 inches (56th percentile)
Head Circumference: 17.3 inches (50th percentile)

9 Months

Katelynn is 9 months old today! We have her 9-month check-up on Wednesday so we'll find out her weight and height then, but I'm hoping for 18 pounds. She is still wearing mostly 3-6 clothes, but I might get the next size out soon just for some variety in wardrobe. This month, Katelynn has learned how to crawl on her hands and knees, though she is still faster on her elbows. She can get to a sitting position from her belly without help from the pulling up on something, and she has learned how to climb the stairs. She can now say ba-ba, ma-ma, da-da, na-na, oh, ow, and I’m sure there are others that I’m forgetting. She loves to talk ALL the time. She has learned how to clap her hands and a couple of times she has said bye-bye.
It was really hard to get pictures of her this morning because everytime I set her on the couch, she immediately started climbing up on it!
To top it off, she's finally getting a tooth! We noticed just yesterday that the bottom left one is coming in, which explains her crankiness and not wanting to eat much lately. This ice pack made a great soothing toy.
This past weekend we moved into a new house in Seattle. We are sharing a giant house with our friends the Belks, and with my brother JT who is moving out soon. Katelynn got her first big boo-boo during the move when she fell off the bed while someone was hanging blinds. Ouch.
And thanks to Panera, I was able to make this post and get a nice hot bowl of soup. We have had a week without internet and still have a few more days to go, but hopefully I can post more soon!