18 Months: long time no see!

What a crazy few months it has been. We are severely behind on blog posts so this one will be a doozy and we will work harder to keep everything up to date from now on.

J has updated our photo albums. It has been so long that we quickly moved from 15 months to 18 months.

Let's get started with Christmas which seems like years ago. We have a separate photo album just for Christmas pics. Though this Christmas was not quite as hectic as years past, we still had a few parties to go to as well Christmas Eve at my dad's and Christmas morning at home with the rest of the family. Kate was very spoiled (big surprise) and got more presents than a one year old could ask for.

The whole family at the annual Melilli family Christmas party.

Kate all dolled up in her Christmas party dress.

Kate and Daddy decorating the tree.

Kate's personality is really starting to come out. We have a very independent, feisty, and sometimes stubborn girl. One of Kate's favorite words is NO or No No if she is in a good mood. She likes to say no even when she means yes. Most of the time, Kate is a delight, but every so often we get this face.

She is great at the crocodile tears. We foresee some fun time-out sessions in her future (she's already had a few battles with daddy which, of course, he won). Overall, though, we are glad she is not a pushover and has a strong will, but we reserve the right to amend that statement when she hits her teen years and hates us.

Lately, Kate has been using no to tell me which songs I am allowed to sing to her. Her current least favorite is "Baa Baa Black Sheep." I will start to sing it to her and she will politely say no. If I continue, her no's become much louder and more repetitive until I stop. I don't know what she has against the song, but the girl clearly knows what she wants and isn't afraid to tell us. In fact, there are very few songs that don't get a big fat no right now. I'm beginning to think it is the singing and not the songs.

We've had the chance to catch up with some of our favorite people over the last few months. Grandpa Tom came out for a long weekend to celebrate his brother's retirement from the LAPD. During his stay, we went to the beach and the park and then Kate proceeded to get sick. Fortunately she didn't pass on her germs, this time, to anyone else. The stomach bug epidemic of 2011 that ripped through our house is a whole other story for another day. Kate really enjoyed spending time with grandpa.

Grandpa and Kate checking out the birds at the beach.

We also got to take a trip out to Arizona to visit one of my best friends from high school. Auntie Kelly's son Cole turned one and we got to spend a long weekend celebrating with Kelly and her family. While there, we got to visit Kelly at work at Sea Life Arizona which is a great aquarium in Tempe. It was a nice getaway and gave us a chance to take Kate on an airplane for the first time. We came fully prepared with food, books, and Elmo videos and she did really well until the last ten minutes or so when she had a full meltdown. Perhaps skipping all her naps that day didn't help.

Kate loved Cole, but he wasn't too sure about this gigantic toddler walking around his house. By the end of the weekend, though, he warmed up a bit.

As most of you know (hopefully), we will be welcoming a new baby girl into the family in early June. It happened a little faster than we planned (it took us almost a year to get pregnant with Kate) so the girls will only be 22 months apart. The good news is that I will have the whole summer to spend with both our girls and will only have to take a few days off school at the end of this year. Kate is a little too young to understand what is going on, but she sure loves to say hi to the baby and give my tummy kisses. Unfortunately, she has to pull up my shirt to do it. Apparently, the baby can only hear her when she talks directly to her; clothing gets in the way.

I saved you the horror of seeing my stomach, but Kate is going in for a kiss here.

Kate has finally gotten brave at the park and loves to go on the slides. We have a small park in our neighborhood and take her up there every few days so she can burn off some of her excessive energy.

Tackling another slide

Papou Jerry and Yia Yia Debbie bought Kate a giant bubble wand for Christmas and Papou decided to try it out during their last visit. We weren't quite sure who had more fun as Papou kept the bubbles going long after Kate had lost interest and daddy took way too many pictures of giant bubbles.

Kate's favorite thing in the world is bubbles and giant bubbles are even better!

Now that Kate is getting a little older and has really taken an interest in animals, we have started to put our annual passes to use. Our first few trips were to the Wild Animal Park (now lamely called The San Diego Zoo Safari Park). The first time Kate loved the birds but got very scared by the gorillas and the lions -- surprising because those are her favorite sounds to make. The park's male lion decided to start to roar while we were standing in front of the enclosure and Kate almost lost it. I guess they are a little scarier when they are full size than when they are little pictures in a book.

Though Kate is gigantic, she still doesn't measure up to the gorillas.

We tried out the carousel which did not go over so well. Better luck next time I guess.

Our next trip was to the SD Zoo. We had a nice day but Kate was a little grumpy. The zoo is much farther away and she missed her nap. The morning went well but the afternoon went downhill quickly. She loved the petting zoo and didn't seem interested in much else.

We did get her to pose for this cute shot.

And this was the only elephant she was interested in. Apparently the others are way too big.

Our most recent trips have been a few ventures to Sea World. This year, Sea World is giving free year passes to teachers so I quickly took advantage of the offer and have taken Kate twice to check out the sea life. We usually start our day in the Sesame Street Bay of Play. Kate LOVES Elmo (or Emmie as she calls him) so this area is tons of fun for her.

Daddy had to take Kate on the Elmo ride as they don't really want pregnant women on their rides. She did better with this ride than she did with the carousel.

On our second trip, Kate got brave enough to try out the tubes. I love this picture because it really captures her spirit.

Auntie Lindsay and Grandma Kathy joined us for trip number two
and Kate got a good peek at a beluga whale.

Auntie Lindsay was nice enough to pay the ridiculous price for fish so Kate could feed her favorite Sea World animals, the sea lions.

People like to say "she's a mommy's girl" or "she's a daddy's girl." Because of J's job and me having every other day off, we both get to spend some great quality time with Kate so she doesn't seem to prefer one of us over the other -- except when she is in trouble.

She definitely is a great combination of both of us. I think her face looks a lot like mine, but she definitely has daddy's curly hair and long eyelashes. We did notice while at Sea World that she has picked up one of J's traits. For the last few weeks, Kate has been walking around with her hands clasped behind her back. While at Sea World last week, J and Kate headed off in front of us to check out the play area and my mom, sister, and I noticed something interesting about the two of them walking together.

Clearly, Kate has been paying attention to the little details.

As a final wrap up I'll give you a few Kate numbers from her 18 month appointment.

She is currently weighing in at a whopping 32 pounds. She hasn't really gained much weight in the last few months, but she was already so far ahead of the pack that she can stand to stay even.

Kate is 35.5 inches tall which is significantly above the 100% line on the growth curve. Daddy is very tall and Kate has definitely inherited his height. It wouldn't surprise me if she got close to the 6 foot tall mark when she is full grown.

Kate currently says over 50 words and animal sounds (stay tuned for a post dedicated to Kate's love of words). Some of her favorites are monkey, sheep, and lion noises, and the words no, doggy, mommy, daddy, Willow (she pronounces it Yee-Yee) uh-oh, bird, and baby.

The last set of clothes I bought her were 3Ts. Yes, our 19 month old wears a size 3T!!!

15 Months: Let the Holiday-ing Commence

It's my favorite time of year. My fridge is packed with Thanksgiving leftovers. Far too many of my ambitious neighbors have already fully decked out their houses with Christmas cheer and boy do they know how to do Christmas cheer. I have already informed the Mr. that we can only hold out a week on the decorations or else risk neighborhood shame. Kate was greeted at daycare today with a fully decorated Christmas tree and "Have a holly jolly Christmas" filling the air. I have three weeks of work until my Christmas break and I am eagerly awaiting the extended time off.

It has been a busy month and a half since our last post. For my dad and Kate's birthday we got them coordinating outfits and planned a mini photo shoot on the beach. After the shoot was over, we attempted to do a quick change and take a Christmas card shot for my parents. Kate thought it would be much more fun to run down the beach in her diaper.

By the end of the day, we had explored the Birch Aquarium, had lunch at a great Italian restaurant in La Jolla, and had a camera full of pictures. Little Kate didn't even make it halfway to the car before she crashed on Grandpa's shoulder.

Soon after, we got to visit with our dear friend Charlie and his adorable son Nathan. Kate and Nathan were born a month apart, but Charlie and his wife Tina moved to Japan shortly after he was born, so we haven't gotten to spend much time with them. In a surprising turn of events, Kate was not on her best behavior during their visit. She usually really loves company but was hit by a little streak of jealousy. Whenever Nathan picked up any of her toys, she ran over to him, screamed, and ripped the toy out of his hands. She is usually such a good sharer which is why we were a bit flabbergasted by her actions.

Kate has a few budding interests lately. She has really taken to reading. She always enjoyed it, but has been asking to look at her books a lot more recently and even seems to like reading them by herself. It is really nice to see and we hope this is just the beginning of a lifelong love of books. Her favorites seem to be pictures books where she can point at all the pictures and identify the objects. She has a great memory and it usually only takes her a few reminders before she has the names down and can pick them out herself.

Another fascination with Kate lately is taking random objects and wearing them on her head. First, it was a ribbon from a Nordstrom box. Then it was a pair of underwear out of my laundry basket (don't worry, they were clean). She spent a good amount of time wearing them on her head, around her neck, and over her arm like a purse. It was quite amusing and provided for some great photos that I am sure will be brought out the first time a boy comes over to take her on her first date.

J and I got a little "us time" in mid-November when we went to visit my little bro who now lives in Chicago. I have been to Chicago twice now and think it is a really amazing city. The architecture is cool, the streets are clean, the food is amazing (especially the Giordano's pizza), and the view from my brother's apartment is beyond compare. We decided not to take Kate as we felt like we could use a baby-free vacation. Sleeping in and going out past 6:30pm was at the top of the list. We went on the architectural tour along the river and to the zoo at Lincoln Park. J loves photography (I am sure most people know this by now) but both outings gave him an opportunity to take some incredible pictures.

Our holiday celebrations have started out with a bang this year. This will be Kate's second holiday season, but it is already turning out to be so much more fun now that she is 1. Our first stop was Bates Nut Farm (aka Nate's Butt Farm). Kate seemed to have fun checking out the gigantic pumpkins and did a good job picking out one for us to bring home.

Next up was Kate's second Halloween. Last year she donned a ladybug costume. This year she rocked an Elephant suit. We didn't think she would leave the hat on, but she kept it on all night and was the cutest elephant in the herd.

We also took Kate for a little trick-or-treating. She clearly got the take-candy-out-of-the-bowl- and-put-it-in-my-bag concept and spent the rest of the night transferring candy from our bowl to our neighbors' bowl.

The most recent event was Kate's second Thanksgiving. Last year, she had a pretty big meltdown at a friend's house. We thought she would get a kick out of eating with the family, but she didn't seem interested in the meal or the company. We couldn't believe that our big eater wasn't interested in yummy Thanksgiving dinner, but she had a great time running around the table while we finished our delicious meal. We had a wonderful time catching up with the Nor Cal family and got to visit with my brother again who was home from Chicago.

We've started our Christmas shopping and we will be catching up with the neighbors soon in the decorating department. We are so excited to spend this Christmas with Kate. We already know she is going to love a bunch of her gifts. We tested them out at the store before we bought them and they are Kate approved.

If we don't get a chance to say so in person, we hope you all have a merry holiday season and a happy new year.

Kate's Photo Shoot

For Kate's first birthday we decided to get some "official" pictures taken. We met the photographer at a really cool park/historical site called Leo Carrillo Ranch. Initially, Kate wasn't really that excited to be there and wasn't really interested in playing it up for the camera. Nonetheless, we got some cute pictures. Here are the pictures we chose from the many she took that day.

After we spent some time with the professional, we walked around the ranch a little more and took some unofficial pictures. Kate seemed to be in a better mood now that she wasn't being asked to "perform."

Hope you enjoyed our little model in her first "professional" shoot. Let us know if you would like us to send you one of her official shots to print out for your very own. Who knows, they could be worth a lot of money some day!

14 months: Where has the time gone?

Well, it has been two months since our last blog post which means we have a lot of catching up to do. In the last two months, Kate has grown up before our eyes; she seems more like a little girl every day. The last time we blogged, Kate had just celebrated her first birthday and was starting to think about walking. Two months later, Kate walks like a pro and has started saying a few words.

First things first, J has started a new one year album and has put up some new pictures that cover the last few months.

We'll start back in August. For Kate's birthday, we used a few gift cards to buy Kate some wheels to drive around the block. She loves tooling around the neighborhood in her red convertible. Here she is waving to some adoring fans.



Also for Kate's birthday, with the handy skills of Papou Jerry and a wonderful birthday gift from my step dad, we turned our loft into a sweet playroom for Kate. Daddy was a little miffed that his man cave got turned over to the baby, but considering he had done nothing with it since we moved in, I decided that he had forfeited his right to the room. Plus, our family room is pretty much a man room outfitted with a giant tv and surround sound. I don't know how many tricked out rooms he thinks he gets.

Kate's room comes complete with an adorable table for tea parties, stuffed animals included, the great chair Grandpa Denny made her for Christmas, and a toy box to hold all her stuff.



Papou Jerry also installed a cabinet that gives me room to hold more stuff and provides a fun place to display Kate's nicer books and breakables. She also has what every budding artist needs, an easel, whiteboard, and chalkboard. So maybe it is all a little advanced, but we have already had some fun times in her playroom. Plus, it is a good place to go when Miss wants to make noise while Daddy is on his very important business phone calls.



Kate currently has six teeth (four on top, two on bottom) and is working on her seventh. The top four came in all at the same time, so that wasn't much fun for anyone, especially Kate, but we got through it.

She is working on a few words as well. She has regularly said mama and dada for the last few months, though she seems to prefer Da Da to everything else. J wants to argue that her first real word was Willow (pronounced War-Rah), but I never heard her say it and she hasn't said it for months. So, I don't count that. I picked Kate up at daycare one day and was told that she was saying bubbles (pronounced bub-bub). She even demonstrated her new skills when A. asked Kate to show her the bubbles and she started saying it. I felt that I needed to try it at home with our bubbles. J also didn't believe when when I told him her new word, but he was amazed and impressed when she repeated the word over and over again with our bubbles. Her best word right now is probably up (pronounced up). She doesn't always use it at the right time, but has it down. Less frequent and still works in progress are duck, baby, hat, cup, and Bobby (a character in a book and heard tonight for the first time). She also makes the sound of a horse, car, and sometimes a sheep.

Another major change around the Ryan household is Kate's newfound ability to throw a tantrum. We're not talking full-on throw-herself-on-the-floor-kicking-and-screaming kind of tantrum, but we have definitely seen this face frequently, sometimes multiple times a day. And that is low key. She definitely gets her diaper in a bunch when she doesn't get exactly what she wants.



A few weeks ago, J and I took Kate back to the Wild Animal Park (now lamely called the San Diego Zoo Safari Park- don't get me started). So far, birds seem to be one of her favorite animals, other than dogs of course, so we let her have some fun in the lorikeet exhibit. She had a great time watching the birds fly around.



Kate has also figured out how to open up all our cabinets and drawers. She loves going through them and making a huge mess in her wake. Her new favorite discovery is the empty margarine tubs that we have in our Tupperware cabinet. She loves stacking them, putting things in them, taking things out of them, putting on the lids, taking off the lids. Gotta love cheap "toys."



Another great skill Kate has "mastered" is feeding herself with a spoon and a fork. I say "mastered" because she thinks she has it mastered, thus should be the only one using the utensils, but we think she gets more food on her face than in her mouth. So we have a daily battle over who is going to hold the spoon. We tried giving her one and keeping one for ourselves. That worked for a week or so. She has now decided that she needs both spoons so she can two-fist it.



Perhaps the biggest change that has happened in the Ryan household is a walking baby. She had been flirting with walking for a few weeks, but finally took her first steps at Auntie JJ's Labor Day party on September 5th. With a ton of spectators, she took about six steps and then another five or six steps a little later, and then wouldn't do it again for a week or so no matter how hard we tried to coax her.

Maybe it's because this was the extent of her walking skills in the beginning. I think I would rather crawl than walk around like a drunken sailor.



But with a little time and a lot of falls, she has finally got the hang of it. We are actually quite happy with the new mobile Kate. As we have said before, Kate is a bit on the heavy side, though she has actually lost weight since her 12 month appointment and is proportional to her height. It has been a load off our backs to have her able to walk around instead of needing to be carried everywhere. Willow, on the other hand, is not enjoying the walking as it means that she always has a baby on her heels which isn't really fair for a blind dog.



With the walking has come another fun new game. J has taught Kate to kick balls around the house. I figured she would be a volleyball or basketball player since we are pretty sure she is going to be really tall, but perhaps soccer is going to be her game.

Here she is on the move with her styling new Stride Rite shoes. The girl loves to wear shoes and socks, but would prefer not to wear anything else.



It has been an exciting two months and we think the months ahead are going to be filled with exciting and possibly patience-trying days from our smart, funny, and very stubborn little girl. Fortunately, mommy and daddy are bigger, smarter, and more stubborn than she is and we intend to win the majority of the battles, at least for a few years.

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.