Longwood Gardens

One of the things I really wanted to make sure we did while we were home for the Holidays this year, was to take Kate to Longwood Gardens.  We knew it would be pretty busy right around Christmas, but I thought she was at an age where she would really enjoy it and I was right.  My whole family made reservations to go on the afternoon of the 26th.  Despite there being a whole lot of people there, we really had a good time.  I am looking forward to taking Kate back in the spring and summer when we can spend more time outside.

I have really fond memories of the Children's Garden from when I was little and I was excited to share it with Kate, it is a whole lot bigger and nicer now too.  Kate loved playing in the fountains and seeing the other little kids.

 

 

  

Fish faces with Aunt Becca

 Trying out the new back pack with Daddy

Grandparents, Turkeys and Trees

We have had a very busy couple of weeks.  Kevin's mom came up to watch Kate for a week as we transitioned between baby sitters, Kate had such a great time with her.  Kevin's dad joined us for Thanksgiving, so we had a nice visit with both of them.  We all attended the annual orphan Thanksgiving at the Maugans' house.  I did not manage to take any pictures the entire day, but we had a fantastic time and a delicious meal.  Kate had a lot of fun playing with everyone and was a pretty good girl all day.  Kevin was off the entire weekend, so we took advantage of the family time and got our Christmas tree!  This is the first real tree Kevin and I have gotten since we got married, and I am so happy that he finally caved and decided it was worth the effort.  We had fun picking out the perfect tree, all that's left now is to decorate!

 She was not a fan of walking in boots

Quick Kate Update

I guess this could technically be a "13 month" post, although I am not really sure that I will continue monthly posts for Kate's second year.  However, a lot has changed in the last 3 or so weeks, so I wanted to do a quick update on what's going on.  Kate is a lot more active, and is pretty much walking 100% of the time.  She still is a little wobbly when she is tired, and has trouble going over the lips between the rooms in our house, but other than that she is good to go.  She is a lot better with shoes and outside after lots of practice.  I am most amazed by how much more she understands now.  According to my wonder weeks app she is going through the "programs" leap, and I have never noticed such a difference after a "leap" before.  It's as if she can comprehend things on a whole different level (which essentially she can).  She just "gets" things now, she is a lot more aware of what we are doing, and which cues mean something is going to happen.  She brings me her towel when she wants a bath, she gets excited and dances if we say we're going to music class, she brings me her shoes if I say we're going to go on a walk, and she loves to bring us books to read.  Just a lot of new things like that going on.  She still loves music, and will dance to anything with a beat.  We have started going to a toddler music class and she has a blast.  She loves to read and to be read to, and definitely has specific books that are her favorites - anything with animals in them.  She still loves animals in general, and has a new fondness for birds - she points at them constantly on walks.  Her newest animal sound is "moo" for a cow.  She has just recently started mimicking us more, and is starting to try and sound out words that we say.  She is very interested in learning names for things, and is picking up new signs.  Her new favorite game is to point out features on our faces (nose, eyes, lips, teeth), she has gotten the hang of saying "eyes" and loves to point and say it.  She is starting to become a little bit of a daredevil, she likes to run and jump into the dog bed and to jump off of her little chair (onto a blanket she puts in front).  She has also started walking around with blankets or tea towels over her head, which has caused her to run into things multiple times.  Our general routine hasn't really changed much in the past month, and she still sleeps really well.  Kate is going to start daycare in December so I am looking forward to that transition, and I hope she will enjoy it as much as we think she will.

Halloween

We have officially entered the stage of Kate's "seconds", meaning her second Halloween was last night.  We didn't do much, we didn't even officially trick or treat, but we dressed Kate in her costume and walked the dogs.  We didn't feel the need to go to any houses because we didn't really want her to have the candy, and we don't want the candy, but she had fun seeing all the other kids walking around. It is safe to say she really had no idea what was going on, but she loved her costume and the fact that the dogs were dressed up.  She definitely made the cutest duck I have ever seen, but I might be a little biased.

Her costume "head" would not stay up with her hair in a pony tail so I thought maybe I could braid it.  I was 1. shocked she stayed still long enough for me to do it (she was eating) and 2. that it was long enough!  But here's proof, she's really not a baby anymore.

Wineglass Half Marathon

Last May, my sister and I decided to run a half marathon before our 30th birthday.  We chose to run the Wineglass Half based on reviews and location and I'm really glad we did.  The race was this past weekend, and happened during the peak of fall leaf viewing in the Fingerlakes region.  It was very scenic, well organized and a great course (ie. downhill!).  Our cousins decided to join us, so we made a girls weekend out of it.  We grew up spending a lot of time with these cousins, and are very close to them.  Every time we get together we have a blast, and this weekend was no different.

I had big plans to train for this run and to be well prepared.  I did really well through the summer, but early this fall fell off my training plan for a variety of reasons (Kevin's schedule, increasing my hours at work, rain, travel).  I was a little worried about the race, but ended up beating my goal by a few minutes and beating my last half marathon time by almost 10 minutes.  My official time was 2:10:31.  All in all it was a very successful day.  Everyone else beat their goals too, and my sister completed her very first half!

Taking the bus to the starting line:

At the start!  It was very cold in the morning, but once we got moving it ended up being perfect weather.

Waiting for Becca to cross

Finishing up strong - we were screaming very loudly for her, but she claims she could not hear us.

With our medals

Corning was really a beautiful town.  I am hoping to make a family day trip down there sometime soon, including a trip to the glass museum.

Happy First Birthday Baby Girl!

Ahhh!!  Kate is one!

It is very difficult to believe that a whole year has gone by since Miss Kate was born.  We have had such an amazing year with our smart, funny, silly and happy baby girl. 

A lot of new things happened this month:
- Kate learned to walk!  She started by taking a few steps, and then has slowly progressed to walking a lot more often.  She still prefers to crawl, but we're getting there.
- She learned how to say "cat" (can can make a cat sound) and "hot"
- She now signs "more" and "water" and tries to make the sign for "airplane", but can't quite get her fingers right.
- She has officially dropped all of her bottles/nursing during the day and is eating like a big girl!  She still nurses before bed and in the morning, but we will slowly work on those.
- She has one more tooth!  Only one of her top teeth has come in, she is going to look a little silly until the rest come in!

She's still such a laid back and happy little girl.  We say, bring on another year!

 Airplane!! (and a tooth peeking)

 She still has trouble walking on grass, but loves to push this thing around

Reflections

A lot is going on in our life these days and it feels like time is moving way too fast.  Kate's first birthday is on Tuesday, as in 4 days from now.  I think the reality of that has caused an onslaught of emotions and feelings in me.  So today, while walking the dogs with Kate, I just took the time to reflect on our life right now and I realized I should write about it because I want to remember how things are right now.

Things are great.  I think this is the time of our life that we are going to look back on and feel as if it was the best time.  Kevin is in his 4th year of residency, which is his second to last year.  Suddenly, a period of time that seemed like FOREVER feels almost over.  He has applied for fellowship, he is looking for jobs - like a.real.job - and we are starting to talk about where we want to live when we move back home.  We are discussing what we want our life to look like, what type of work schedule we want Kevin to have, what type of career I want, what type of SCHOOLS we want to send our kid(s) to, how many kids we want to have, when we want to have the next one, and on and on.  Yes it is overwhelming, but it is also so so exciting.  All in all, we see the light at the end of the tunnel and it feels so REAL.

Although I am very excited to move into the next phase of our life, it also feels a little bittersweet.  Life right now is awesome.  I like my job, a lot - working part time has really been the sweet spot for me.  Being a mother is better than I ever imagined it to be, and Kate is the most amazing little person.  She surprises me every day and it is so thrilling to watch her learn, change and grow.  I love our house, our town and our friends here.  Part of me wishes we could just stay here awhile longer, but things are already changing, people are already moving away and doing amazing things.  So I am just going to enjoy this last year and a half and will try to remember that these are the best of times each and every day.

 She is usually smiling, so I had to include her pensive look

 Here she was calling out to a baby that was crying in its stroller

 Airplane!

Watches every one, the whole way across the sky (we live close enough to an airport that this happens often)

Mom! Airplanes are the best!