Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is possibly my favorite Holiday.  I love everything fall, and while in Syracuse it is usually full on winter-y by the time Thanksgiving rolls around, there's still something about this time of year that I love.  It is a reminder to count your blessings, we get to spend time with family without the craziness of Christmas, and it is the beginning of the holiday season.  It is especially nice for us, living so far from home, to know that there is another holiday right around the corner.  This year, Kate, the dogs and I left Kevin in Syracuse and went home to PA by ourselves (!).  The trip actually went very well considering .. I have become a little bit immune to the baby crying in the car.  She was a little fussy for the first half of the trip down, but then we had smooth sailing from there.  I do miss the days of 10 minute stops at the rest stop .. now, by the time I let the dogs out, feed Kate, change her diaper, go to the bathroom and get gas 40 minutes has gone by!  Hopefully I will have adult company on most trips here on out.

We had an awesome visit with family and friends.  Kate even spent an entire night with Kevin's parents so I could participate in a friends' bachelorette party in Philadelphia.  All in all a very successful visit.

We had a busy day on Thanksgiving.  We had breakfast with my grandmother at Kendal with Aunt Becca.  Then we checked in on the Neubauers and Laura, Nate and baby Kauffman!

We had our Thanksgiving meal at my family's first, and it was a whopper.  Our original plan was to have a quiet meal with just my immediate family, which rapidly expanded to 24 people!  Needless to say, Kate got to meet/spend time with lots of cousins and family this trip.

My brother and sister-in-law's wedding gift from a large part of our family was a "Big Green Egg", which is basically a combo grill, smoker, outdoor ceramic oven.  We cooked our turkeys on the Egg this year and it was delicious.

Kate meeting her second cousin Waylon for the first time .. he is six weeks older than her, but they are about the same size!

 We had to put a ban on Baxter playing ball .. he was taking advantage of all the people around and was getting sore!

 

We went to Kevin's family for dessert 

We sure missed daddy (who attended an orphan T-giving with residents here in Syracuse), but we had a great visit home once again.

2 Months!

Time is flying by, Kate celebrated her 2 month mark on November 30.  We were home in PA for Thanksgiving, so we got to her pictures a few days late.  I can't believe how much she has changed in the past month.  She is a lot more alert, smiles all the time and has started babbling.  She will even babble in response to someone talking to her.  She is still very strong and has just this week started to push herself up to a standing position (with support), she likes to bounce herself on your lap.  She is still eating very well, about every 3-4 hours and is doing a great job taking a bottle when necessary.  She is also sleeping well, and went through a stretch of sleeping 6 hours at night, lately she has started waking up twice and she has not gone more than 4 hours.  We hope its a growth spurt!  Her hair is still getting longer, although I think it has thinned out a bit.  It is still dark, but now has some reddish streaks in it.  We can't tell what color her eyes will be, they are sometimes grey, sometimes blue and even green at times.  She has had a lot going on this month; she spent her first night with a babysitter when Kevin and I went to the Upstate Charity Gala.  She was fussy when we left, but everything went well and we will definitely be calling Michele again.  She had her first snow!  The week before Thanksgiving we had a few snow storms, and ended up with about 10 inches on the ground, I am sure she will see a lot more snow this winter.  She celebrated her first Thanksgiving!  Kate and I traveled to PA to be with family for the week, and sadly left daddy behind to work.  She spent her first night away from mommy, I had a bachelorette party to go to in Philadelphia and Kate got to spend the night with Kevin's parents.  She did very well taking the bottle for that long, and gave them a normal (for her) nights sleep.  She had her 2 month check up at the doctor today and is a big girl at 12lb, 9oz and 23.5 inches long and is in the 95% for both height and weight.  No wonder she is in 6 month clothes already!  The doctor even commented on how strong she was.  She got six shots, and other than some screaming did pretty well. This little girl surprises us every day with how fast she is growing and changing.  I look forward to the many changes next month will bring.

This drooling just started today

 

We still love our cloth diapers!

It was a lot more difficult to get non-blurry pictures this month!  She was kicking and wiggling a lot!

 Close up of how light her hair is getting

 Starting to get a little grumpy

 We still hate tummy time

 andddd we're done with the pictures mom, Baxter can't even cheer her up.

Kate's Nursery

I have been waiting to post about Kate's nursery because I wanted it to be completely finished before I did.  However, I have come to the realization that may never happen, so here is her nursery as it stands today.  I still need to hang the art on the wall above the crib, and I have big plans to make a mobile, a couple of blankets and crib sheets that coordinate with her room.  Hopefully that all gets done someday, but I'm not holding my breath.  I absolutely love everything about this room.  We planned the entire thing around the elephant fabric I found on spoonflower.com.  I made the crib skirt, the curtains and the changing pad cover.  The paint color is "robin's nest" by Benjamin Moore.  The dresser/changing table was a Craig's List find that we painted "Galapagos green" by Benjamin Moore.  The rocker and ottoman came from Kevin's grandmother, and the cushions were made by my very talented aunt.  The quilt was also a gift from the same aunt.  I hope it is a room Kate will enjoy for the next few years anyway, now we just have to get her to start sleeping in here!

 

 

 

 

This art will eventually be hung on the wall, along with wooden letter's spelling out her name.  I haven't decided what configuration I want yet, so they are still just propped on the crib. 

 

At least she seems to enjoy her crib while she is awake

 The dogs approve as well