6 months old

Well that 6 months went by fast. I knew it would. An itty bitty part of me is sad to see my infant baby girl grow into a soon to be toddler, but I try to live in the moment and soak up every moment of what is going on currently. We started solid foods. She is loving the rice cereal. Last night I gave her a taste of peas and she had that classic expression quickly take over her face, of what the. . . .? And by the third bite she was looking at me as if I had horribly betrayed her, by continuing to push the peas. I then tried to go back to the rice cereal, but it was evident she was done with me, and the solid food for the day. We rarely call her Kathryn these days. She has gotten the nick name Baby Pterodactyl because I imagine if a baby pterodactyl was to shriek, it would sound so much like she sounds. It's ear piercing. It's her I am some where in between about to get mad and really scream and thinking about being happy. I am not afraid to let a baby cry now and then, especially if it's not feasible to tend to her right then and there. But I tell ya, I do try to avoid waking the pterodactyl in her.

At her 6 month check up. . . 17 lbs 1 oz

She checked out great & got her 6 month vaccines.

(that's the face we see just before the pterodactyl wakes!)

Showing off her cockatiel hairstyle

An early morning nap on Ryan's bed

First foods. Notice her fist, covered in food. She did that twice and then quit trying to "help" me get the food in her mouth. Oh the flexibility of a baby....

In other news. . . Paul really thought he had a job nailed. The person he interviewed with went as far as to tell him he would have an "offer by the weekend". What he didn't tell Paul is that he did not have the final say and totally jumped the gun by telling him that. I cannot tell you how frustrating it is to watch Paul go through this. I feel so helpless. I keep telling him, it was not meant to be, when a job falls through. Paul is so sick of me saying that, and I understand. I guess that's my coping mechanism - trying to find a positive spin to a really bummer of a situation.

And here is one for Papa and Grandma Soon.

Thank you both, he loves it more than you know!

Two and a half

Happy two and a half years old Ryan!

Snoopy, Swings, Snoqualmie and PIZZA!

Happy 2010!

This big Snoopy came to me as a Christmas gift from Paul either in 2000 or 2001.We were very newly dating at the time. That year every single Hallmark store in America was given one big plush Santa Snoopy to sell and Paul, bless his heart searched for this one and I think he found it up north. I included a picture of Ryan with Snoopy in 2008 when he would have been about 17 months old. I regret not getting a picture of Ryan with Snoopy when Ryan was Kathryn's age.

Ryan in April, 2008.

Just below is Kathryn, same swing, same hat. Kathryn: when you're older please forgive me for putting a blue hat on you. I have a pink one, but it's too big and falls over your eyes. The blue hat fits great and was given to Ryan from my cousin in Portland - note the Nike swoosh! And the blue fleece cover up you have on, well.... it's all we had, so keeping warm took priority over fashion. Just don't tell Kerri.

Snoqualmie Falls. Gorgeous, blustery and cold. It's breathtaking.

Pizza making day with Ryan. I have commented before on how I love cooking with Ryan. I found that if he has a hand in making it, he'll very likely eat it. I got him to eat a kale salad last week because he was with me as I prepared it and helped with some of the ingredients. This is a spinach, mushroom, tomato pizza with Trader Joe's pizza dough. So easy and fun. My devout meat eatin' husband had three pieces. I take that as a compliment.

See ya, 2009

It was a great Christmas. It came super fast and left behind a huge chaotic mess, but when watching the holiday through your child's eyes it makes all the work put into it, so very worth it. Christmas eve was at my parents house, I really look forward to it every year. I was so freaking exhausted I didn't take a single picture, and now of course regret that.

Christmas morning spent at home with just my little family. I remembered Christmas eve night that I didn't think far enough ahead to plan a special breakfast for Christmas morning. Here it is a week later and I could not tell you what any of us ate (except Kathryn, of course) :-) I want to find a good, easy traditional Christmas breakfast that I can prepare every year. Any ideas would be appreciated!

Christmas day, afternoon spent at my in-laws. Ryan and Kathryn's cousins, Ruby - nearly 8 years old and Kimberly, 3 - really entertain Ryan. Especially Kimberly. Those two are starting to play really well together. It's fun to watch.

Other stuff. . . Little Kathryn hits 5 months old tomorrow. The very last picture is her, napping in her crib for the very first time. 90% of the time she'll put herself to sleep without needing to be rocked. She still wakes up every 3 to 4 hours every night.... on a few RARE occasions she'll give us 7 hours. It's starting to catch up with me. Months of interrupted sleep. As hard as it is to cope with night after night, I have Ryan as an example that all too soon she'll be an all night sleeper. I am trying to enjoy every moment of her infancy. It's going to be gone in a flash.

My hopes for 2010:

My little family and my extended family stay healthy.

Paul finds a good job.

I get myself back into running shape. I so very much want to be able to keep up with my Dad - who can kick my butt with his running!

Happy 2010 everyone. :-)

Christmas morning

Ryan, helping Joey with her stocking So very excited about the fruit bar he found in his stocking

The kids

Grandma Soon Papa and his grandkids. Ryan was oh so uncooperative for this photo. This was the best of 4 attempts! Papa and Kathryn. Kathryn, wearing her very first pair of tights! Gotta love little girls in tights. New PJ's, she wears them well. Nap time

A day of firsts

It didn't start out as a day to reach a whole lot of "firsts" for us, but it sure ended that way. All small stuff, but made for a fun day for our little family. Below, I proudly show off the first decorated Christmas tree of my adult life. Hard to believe I never had one before and truly if it were still just Paul and I, we would probably be still sans tree, but I have great memories of growing up with a Christmas tree and I really want to pass that on to Ryan and Kathryn. That was first #1.

Next Ryan, Paul and I decorated our first gingerbread creation - in this case it is a train and caboose. It was a messy endeavor, but we created a messy masterpiece that really took all three of us to get in place. First # 2.

First # 3, Ryan can turn on lights now. On the tips of his toes he can just hit the switch to turn it on, and on and on they went. He likes this new skill.

First # 4 - Miss Kathryn took her first bath in the big kid tub. She outgrew the bathroom sink (bummer for me, I liked standing to bathe her).

First # 5 occurred as I prepared the tub for her.

I had laid her down on the bathroom floor, on her back, on a towel, in the buff while I was checking the bath water for a good temp. Look over and she is on her belly on the cold linoleum looking shocked. She rolled from back to belly for the first time! I imagine the second her sweet little belly hit that cold floor she would have gasped if she knew how!

Like I said, all small stuff, but warms my heart, big time.

"helping"

He only crushed one Peanuts ornament box as he stepped on it - and as a Peanuts collector that hurts a little. MIB is important to collectors out there! Supervising the decorating.

Catching up

Greeting! Just a bunch of pictures from the past few weeks of our lives. I feel incredibly busy and near overwhelmed. I used to be so organized and able to plan my life out just how I wanted it and now... well I feel like I have so much to do and even though I am constantly on the move, I don't feel like I am getting anything done! That's not a complaint, I just feel scattered and it's driving me nuts! :-) Happy Holidays!

My little family at Korryn's house, on Thanksgiving

Seattle's Macy's Holiday Parade

Ryan struck it rich with a million dollar bill!

Just cuteness Finding the perfect Christmas tree with my Mom and Dad Awwwwww..... Eating an old family favorite made by my Mom. Kapushnik - a split pea, ham and sauerkraut soup. It's AMAZING! Ryan ate 3 bowls of it at that sitting.

Puppy!

Meet Gingersnap:

We had a little 7 week old, four legged visitor for 3 days. CUTE CUTE CUTE! This puppy belongs to Paul's sister - and they were out of town for a bit, giving us the opportunity to puppy sit. As much as I loved having her here, I was happy to give her back. There is not a lot of time to properly care for a pup right now! It was fun chaos while she was visiting. Joey and Demeter-kitty were a little ticked off & if animals are capable of sending dirty looks our way, they did!