9 months!!!

Oh 9th month, I like you! Actually I love you. It's funny to think that Kate spent 9 months in my belly and now she has spent 9 months out here with us. It goes without saying that the party outside is waaaaay better than the party inside. Although pretty much any party not involving pregnancy gets a thumbs up in my book. In the past 9 months the learning curve, sleepless nights, uncharted new parenthood territory ...all of these new, hard things seem to fade to a fuzzy backdrop for all of the good that parenthood has brought into our lives. Becoming a mother and experiencing this journey with Bj is really everything I ever hoped it could be, and it's pretty freaking fantastic. Kate makes our world go round, our hearts melt, stop and hurt all at the same time. I'm not sure how things could get any better than they are right now, but word on the street is that they do. Bring it.

At 9 months:
Weight: 18 lbs -- 30th percentile
Head: 17" -- 40th percentile
Height: 29" -- 85th percentile

Kate loooooves her binky. She is such a binky baby but I kind of love how everything is right in her world once she has that silly thing. She love love loves "manny", a stuffed manatee given to us from a friend. She drags him everywhere and gets so excited when we bring him to her. She loves to share food with us and will eat pretty much anything. Except yogurt with chunks. If it has even the tiniest piece of fruit she will open her mouth and let it all out. She's recently discovered she can take food out or spit food out of her mouth. So that's nice. Except not at all. She loves the horses, Dakota,  and to be tickled and chased all day long. She loves to be read to, baths and time with daddy. She loves her mama but daddy definitely has a special spot in her heart. She takes 2 naps day and for the most part sleeps pretty good at night.

Better late than never

8 months, baby girl! At 8 months Kate is almost crawling! She has been so close for the past month. Each week I proclaim that she will for sure be crawling by that weeks end.... Nothin yet but I think this is the lucky week ;-). She loves to bounce, be outside, take baths, her binky, real food, obsessed with gerber sweet potato puffs, thinks its hilarious to be hung upside down and have different sounds repeated at her.

She is getting so big and shows us more of her little personality everyday. Being her mom and having the opportunity to spend my days with her are just about the best things ever. We love you binkybear!

Cabin fun

7 months

Baby girl is 7 months! At 7 months she....

Has no more docband! Yay! Is a great sleeper. Doesn't mind tummy time and will roll from one side of the room to the other to get to something/someone. Likes to play a game where she rolls over once, stops and looks in our direction with a huge grin, we cheer and she does it again and again, Pretty funny. Babbles, shrieks and smiles all day long. Lately all it takes is us giving her a big grin and she giggles back at us. Super cute. nicknames- kateamus, binkybear, baby bear, Katebug, bug. Wears 6-9 month clothes. loves being outside and food in general. Except mashed green beans and spinach. Which I suppose makes sense due to my previous theory that all food preferences were learned behaviors. Blast me and my pre-parenting assumptions! We love our happy little bear and currently couldn't love parenthood more. Can't wait to see what this next month brings us!

Dolly steamboat

Every couple of months we go through a cycle that goes like this:

1. I complains to Bj about our lack of fun, spontaneous, thoughtful dates, compare our current activities and dates to ones during our dating days and whine about how consumed with work he is.
2. We resolve to take turns planning fun dates each weekend
3. Bj plans and executes perfect date
4. I crap out and do nothing
5. Repeat

Lovely. This particular date BJ booked a little nighttime steamboat ride that took us around some lake about hour away. Dinner, twinkling lights, a little history from the tour guide and dessert. It was perfectly unique and wonderful, you're a dreamboat beej!

Black Friday

On black Friday my mom and I ventured to Old Navy where we found mediocre deals, a 2 hour checkout line, and lots and lots of laughter. I stand by my theory that the money saved on black Friday isn't worth the lost sleep, long lines and crowds unless you are getting a big ticket item. Nonetheless it was fun and I will do it again. Next year my torture if choice will be the Chandler mall. Bring it on.

Thanksgiving

One of my talents in this life is my ability to follow a recipe. It tricks people into thinking I'm a good cook. Soooooooo.......it's pretty awesome. Awesome like all of my other talents. Those annoyingly obvious talents. Of mine. All of them. Every single one. A little overwhelming to think about them all at once. Too many, right? Am I making you feel bad about yourself? Here. You can borrow some of mine:

1. follows a recipe like a champ
2. retains random celebrity facts for freakishly long periods of time

You're welcome.

Moving on. Talent #1 aided me in making a thanksgiving dinner that was quite the crowd pleaser. The left overs were plenty, the company was great and Kate took three 2 hour naps. So much to be thankful for this year. We are healthy and happy and so thankful for it. Life is good. Really, really good.