Catching up on photos

With Kate's first birthday last week, I thought it would be a good idea to close out the pictures from the last three months. I've uploaded the generic ones to the Kate 9 Months album, and I've included a few teasers below.

For most of Kate's life, almost everything we've done and everywhere we've gone has revolved around Kate. When it was time to post pictures, all our pictures were also of Kate, so these albums have really covered the full spectrum of our last year. Now, however, we're starting to go places and do things that don't necessarily involve her, Bora Bora being the first. I'm going to create some new albums that focus on different trips. Trust me, there will still be plenty of Kate pics, but you might see us (and friends, and family, and landscapes) as well. Comic-Con, Mammoth, Santa Cruz Island, etc. I'll also post pictures of Kate's first birthday before we start a "Kate 1 Year" album.

D mentioned that Kate is starting to become a little willful. She definitely has a gleam in her eye, which is mostly cute (like it is here), but sometimes scary....she's a little too smart for her own good.

We went to a fun pool party a couple of weeks ago, and there was a little boat bought just for Kate. She loves the water at bath time and in the shower, and the pool was no exception. She seemed really comfortable, and even laid back and lounged at one point.

We've been trying to get some "iconic" shots of Kate, so we've had a couple of pre-planned photo shoots. Unfortunately, it seems like Kate takes better pictures when she's just naturally happy and excited than she does when we've planned it all out. We went to the fountain near the entrance to our neighborhood to take some Kate-with-a-pretty-background shots. She got grumpy pretty quick, but we still managed to get some good ones. Here's a nice one of the three of us.

This session was a little less planned. Kate was playing on and around her chair, so we took it outside to get some nicely-lit pictures. Several of them turned out great, and I love the attitude in this one.

Hope you enjoyed....take a look at the online album for more.

Kate is One

One year ago at 5:09pm Kate was born and our lives have not been the same since. 99% of those changes have been nothing but positive. The early mornings? Not so much! Nonetheless, we are so incredibly lucky to have a near-perfect daughter who continues to amaze us daily. We adore her and we cherish every minute we get to spend with her.

I thought we would start off this post with a little recap and reflect on how Kate has changed over the last year.

When she was born, Kate was 9lbs and 21 inches. At her one year check up today she weighed a whopping 26 lbs. 12 ounces and was 32.5 inches long. When her doctor walked in she said, "Well, that is the biggest one year old you are ever going to see." Message received...our baby is ginormous, but in a wonderful, healthy, strong kind of way.

Kate started eating rice cereal at 4 months, pureed fruits and veggies at 6 months, finger foods at 9 months, her first lollipop after her vaccines today, and will switch over to whole milk near the end of the week. Her favorites seem to be blueberries, peas (mainly because she can smush them), scrambled eggs, and chicken.

Kate has always been a girl on the move. She started crawling and pulling up right before her nine month birthday and is almost ready to walk. She loves to hang upside down and go for walks around the block.

We love to travel and so we have tried to take Kate on a few trips during her first year. Her first real vacation was to San Francisco to visit our Nor Cal family. She has also traveled to Phoenix and Mammoth in addition to trips to Orange County and LA to visit her grandparents. We have yet to take her on a plane, mainly because we are chicken, but I am sure we'll have to bite the bullet at some point.

There are a million things that I could tell you about Kate, but hopefully you have read our blog over the last year and have learned a little bit about what a sweet, smart, funny girl she is from our ramblings and pictures.

We had a pretty low key day today as Kate really has no idea what a birthday is, but we celebrated in style last weekend at a co-71st-birthday party for my dad and Kate (they have the same birthday).

I'll end this post and our first year of recording all things Kate with a few pics from her first birthday party.

Mommy and Kate showing off their party dresses.
Every girl needs a pretty dress for her big day.

Kate's party was at Grandma and Grandpa's house and as always Grandma Steph went above and beyond to put together an amazing party. She is the greatest party planner.

Yia Yia Debbie baked Kate a yummy cake to dive into at her party. She is usually a tidy eater but still managed to get a little whip cream on her face. She didn't quite know what to make of an entire cake just for her but managed to eat almost the whole thing.

Kate and Grandpa had a great time at their birthday party.
Here's to their 91st (80 +11) in ten years.

Kate woke up from her nap in the middle of the gift opening. She wasn't too sure what was written on the card but appreciated the sentiment. Notice the outfit change. Every birthday girl deserves to have a costume change halfway through her party.

This gift looks very interesting. I imagine that she is sitting there trying to figure out how she is going to put those wood pieces in her mouth.

This gift is incredible. Looks just like one mom had when she was a little girl.

Thank you to everyone who has shared their love with Kate this first year of her life. We are so lucky to have you all on this journey with us. We look forward to having you travel the road with us through another year.

Kate's (aka Mommy's) new favorite outing

Kate and I have started going to a new place to play the last few weeks. My playgroup introduced us to the Ecke YMCA gymnasium for open gym playtime. Every day for an hour, they open their gym (not the kind with treadmills and ellipticals but with fun things like balance beams, trampolines, bars, rings, and foam pits) for free play on all the fun equipment. They have the items mentioned above as well as lots of squishy things to climb on and parents can let their babies have free run of the place. It is a blast and Kate seems to really enjoy it. I think she is really going to love it when she starts walking.

Today we went to the gym for the second time and were joined by Auntie L and our personal photographer, Daddy. Here are the highlights from our baby workout at the gym.

We usually start out the day on the baby trampoline. Kate really loves crawling back and forth at top speed. I know this because she squeals happily with every "step" she takes. You might notice Auntie L in the background checking her phone
...though she will claim that she was trying to take pictures.

Once Kate gets off the trampoline she takes off across the gym and makes use of the ample floor space to work on her crawling. At least a quarter of her time at the gym is spent cruising around the room on the soft ground.

Today, Kate was fascinated with the rope hanging from the ceiling. I don't know what it was but she loved pulling and throwing the rope and watching it swing past her.

Here she is taking a little breather before she takes off across the room again.

Off again across the room. This time she took off towards the short balance beams. Maybe someday she will be as great as this olympian. Though, I don't know that she will meet the height restrictions to be a competitive gymnast.

The gym sets up obstacles for the kids to climb on and through.
Kate has pretty much got this one mastered.

Auntie L tried to help Kate swing on the rings. She would grab on but then immediately let go.
Perhaps it won't be her apparatus.

Auntie L really loves this picture and it really epitomizes Kate's pouty face. I promise she was having fun. I am sure that we will become very familiar with this face as Kate gets older.

Our final stop of the trip around the gym is in the giant foam pit. Just to give you an idea how big this is, Daddy jumped into it feet first, all 6'4" of him, and didn't hit the ground. Once you are in it is pretty hard to get out, and watch out for your socks.

Kate isn't 100% sure about the pit but for the most part has a pretty good time sitting in the foam, playing with the squares, and having us toss her (very lightly of course) into the pit.

Perhaps my love of the foam pit comes from a movie that I adored as a kid. This clip will bring back some great memories for those of you who watched the TV movie Nadia when you were little girls and dreamt of being an Olympic gymnast someday.