Aug 17, 2011

Kate is Two

Two years ago today our first baby girl was born. After trying to get pregnant for almost a year, after having a doctor tell us our chances of getting pregnant without medical intervention were way way less than one in a million only to find out one day later that I was already pregnant with Kate, and after surviving the ever-present worry (mainly on my part) that this baby would be born healthy, Kate joined our family as healthy as can be and full of personality from day one.

With Daddy's curly hair, long lashes, and Mediterranean stubbornness and Mommy's button nose, doe eyes, and fair skin, she's the perfect combination of both J and me. Life with Kate is an adventure and every day she fascinates us with her inquisitiveness, intelligence, goofiness, and horrible dance moves.

To celebrate Kate's big day, Yia-Yia graciously allowed Kate to borrow her birthday so we could throw her a party. It was probably the biggest gathering we have had at our house, and, fortunately, we had a lot of help to put the final touches together (THANK YOU Maw-Maw, Ti-Ti, Yia-Yia, Papou, and Jen as well as all my neighbors who I borrowed things from!).

One of the highlights for Kate was the new slide Papa and Gi-Gi bought her.

Maw-Maw bought bubble guns and the entire party loved them, though Kate had just as much fun dumping the bubbles out as she did shooting the gun.

I made a fun fishing game that kept everyone busy for an hour or so.

Kate did a pretty good job blowing out the candles and we didn't even practice beforehand.

She even got a small piece of cake... thank you Daddy for okaying the cake.

Since she loves Elmo, I got her an Elmo balloon...

... and Maw-Maw bought her some great shoes...

... adorned with her favorite monster.

Kate has made some incredible advances over the last few months. She has started saying two and three word phrases, she has learned to count to ten, and she has started to sing along to some of her favorite songs. She picks up words at an incredible rate and we have realized that we really have to watch our mouths so as not to have a potty-mouthed two year old running around.

Most recently, Kate surprised us by deciding to switch over to her twin bed on her own. We tried to move her over about four months ago to get the crib ready for Lily, but Kate utterly refused the new nighttime arrangements. We spent a good two weeks cajoling, bribing, forcing, and begging her to give up her crib. No dice for four months.

The last trick we tried was to move her crib into her new room about a month ago so she could get comfortable with her new digs from the safety of her crib. Over the last few weeks I read Kate her nighttime books in her twin bed. At the end of the reading, I asked her where she wanted to sleep and she would always say crib, pack up her animals, climb out of her new bed, and make a beeline for the comforts of her crib. Surprisingly, three nights ago she said she wanted to sleep in her bed. And though I have had to spend some extra time helping her go to sleep and she has made some very early appearances in our room the last two mornings, every time has been easier and she hasn't mentioned the crib once. I'm not sure what made her change her mind. Maybe it was all the hype about being a big two year old.

So, to end this post I thought we would look back over the last two years. Though it is cliche, picking out old pictures reminds me how quickly time flies and how much my baby girl has grown up over the last two years. Before we know it, she is going to be headed off to college (hopefully on scholarship). Cue sappy sentimental music...

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Kate was born on August 17, 2009.
She weighed 9 pounds and was 21 inches long.


One day old


Six months old


1 year old

At one year old, Kate weighed 26 pounds 12 ounces
and was 32.5 inches long



15 months old


18 months old


At 2 years old, Kate weighs 34 pounds and is 37.5 inches tall.
She is almost ready to wear 4t clothes and, if she continues to grow at her current rate, will be knocking on 6 foot's door at 18 (sorry baby girl- you can thank/curse your daddy for that one)
.
I guess we better get her interested in a "tall girl" sport like volleyball or basketball.

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