Daddy's Friends

The other night we went over to visit with all my Dad's cincy friends - and their kids! Easton's parents, Matt & Elizabeth, were nice enough to host us all! We had pizza and played with all sorts of fun toys in their awesome basement play room! Also in attendance was Carson and his Dad Chip (we missed his mom, Michelle!) and Hayden and her parents Chris & Katie. Easton is just over 2 years old and was clearly running the show. He even knew how to fill up his car with gas! I thought only mommies & daddies did that! Carson is 18 months old and was really into the drum set... I would dance while he played the music. Then there's Hayden, she's only 5 months old (well almost) but she was doing a good job of keeping up with all of us. She's going to be real fun to hang out with once she's crawling! All our daddies grew up together, they either went to elementary and high-school together or were neighbors all growing up. Can you believe that! I hope I have friends I can be friends with for that long... that's like forever!

Cousin Emerson!

The day after Christmas we went over to my Great Aunt Ruthie's house to meet my cousin Emerson for the first time! Ruthie has a wonderful home with lot of pretty things that I wanted to pick up and play with, but mom said I wasn't allowed to touch - they were dangerous (which I think was a lie she only told me so I wouldn't touch them, I'm onto her). Anyway, cousin Will and I got to play with our cousin Emerson instead of all the dangerous and beautiful things at Aunt Ruthies. Emerson is my dad's mom's cousin's son's son. Did you follow that? yeah, neither did I but it doesn't matter - we're family somehow! Believe it or not, Emerson is almost 2 whole months younger than me... but he's about 2 inches taller and clearly a little... more muscular shall we say? than me. He was fun to play with and the 3 of us had a really good time. It was great meeting you Emerson! Hopefully we'll get to play again soon!

Christmas Night

On Christmas night everyone on Grandpa's side comes over to Grandma & Grandpa's house for Christmas Dinner! I had so much fun seeing all my aunts & uncles and playing with my cousins! This was actually my first time meeting my Aunt & Uncle and cousins who live in Pittsburgh and my cousin Canon! Will was of course there but Canon also came! He's almost 3 so he's a pretty big boy but he still played with Will and I. We all got to open some more presents too - how are we ever going to get all this stuff back to Chicago?! It was so great to see everyone and spend time with such a wonderful family. I miss you all already and can't wait to see you again!

Christmas Morning

Every Christmas morning, everyone on Grandma's side packs up and head to Great Grandpa's for brunch. Great Grandpa did an amazing job cleaning the house and cooking for us. He made 4 casseroles! Can you believe that? He got some tips from the chef at his country club and they paid off, it was delish! Will and I wore our matching track suits - don't we look adorable? My second cousin Sara also brought her dog, so I got to chase her around everywhere. Great Grandpa is also in a band so we played the piano too and opened presents and had so much fun. Thanks for having us Great Grandpa! I love you!!

Christmas Eve

Every year we go to Aunt Dellie's for Christmas Eve. All of Dad's grandparents are there along with cousins and second cousins and aunts and uncles and great aunts and great uncles and maybe even second aunts and uncles and thrid or fourth cousins. I mean I have no idea how we are all realated but somehow we are, we're all family! First we eat a lot of great food and then just after it gets dark a special visitor comes knocking on the door... SANTA! He doesn't come down the chimmney since it's just a quick stop, in fact, he doesn't even come inside. We ran out to meet him and I really though I was going to be able to handle it this time... but Will was clearly freaking out, so I felt I had to too...  

Back inside, things calmed down and everyone waited while Grandpa handed out the presents Santa had brought. My favorite present actually didn't come from Santa, it came from Aunt Ruthie! She game me my first set of pearls... my very own BLING! I loved them and would scream if mom tried to take them off. In fact, I was having so much fun that I refused to let my Mom put on my pajamma's. Once the pajamma's go on, it's time for bed - I didn't want to go to bed! I was having too much fun! So I wiggeled my way away from Mom and went back to join the party - with no pajammas, but with my pearls of course. Oh what fun!

 

Christmas Eve Day

Just before Christmas we drove down to Cincinnati to see everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) in my Dad's family. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa, which I love because Grandma is always doting over me and Grandpa loves to play with me. There was a lot of hoopla over Christmas and it's a little confusing for me right now, but I'm sure it'll all make sense one day. Everything got started on Christmas Eve Day...

Santa came early to Grandma & Grandpa's house! Mom said that he actually dropped off all our presents earlier since later on tonight he makes a special appearance at Aunt Dellie's and it wouldn't be fair to all the other kids otherwise. As a result we actually opened our presents from Santa on Christmas Eve Day with cousin Will and aunt Julie & Uncle Billy!

Grandma & Grandpa kicked off the event with 2 presents of their own... a laughing monkey and pig! They were hysterical!

Then we got to the good stuff! Will and I got matching push cars and rocking horses - or really a rocking butterfly and a rocking pirate ship. There will also hats and popcorn pushers, wrapping paper and tissue and ribbon too! It was a lot of fun to pull paper off of everything!

Here's some video of Will and I on the rocking horses and racing in the cars... can you believe we were outside like that on Christmas Day? Last year it was FREEZING cold on Christmas Day!

What a great Christmas! Thanks Santa!

Zoo Lights

This weekend we went with Joey (and his mom and dad) and Derek and Katie (Dad's friends from grad school!) to Zoo Lights at the Lincoln Park Zoo!

Zoo lights was spectacular! That's a new word I learned. It really was spectacular though... there were so many lights! They had red lights and green lights, white lights and blue lights, lights that danced to the beat of songs like Jingle Bells, lights that looked like monkeys, giraffes and fish, lights that seemed to be falling like snow, and lights that looked like Santa! We also saw some real lions and tigers and monkey too!

Monkeys are so funny, I can make a monkey noise. My mom & dad didn't even know Betsy had taught me that one. They were quite surprised when I started saying "ooo ooo ooo" when we entered the monkey house. They are so silly.

Santa Baby...

Nope. Not a fan.

This weekend Joey and I went to visit Santa. His grandparents invited us to their country club for a Christmas party, which was very nice of them. Thanks Pat & Angelo!

While I really love all the stories about Santa and am super excited for Christmas morning when I can sneak downstairs and see all the fun presents he's left, meeting him in person was a little intimidating! He's very big and has a very thick beard and a very scratchy coat. I prefer to gaze at him from afar rather than be thrust into his lap and left alone by mom and dad. Joey of course had no problem with Santa, but I'll let you in on a little secret... he's met Santa before! So I'm guessing that the second time you meet him is not as scary.

I was already a little less afraid when daddy held me instead of the actual big man himself...

There were a ton of other things to do and see at the party we went to - there were elf's everywhere making balloon animals, doing tricks and juggling, and a giant Christmas tree. Joey and I had a lot of fun running around the club getting into everything. Toward the end, I even got a little closer to Santa... but only for a moment.

Roommate Reunion

This weekend we flew (I know, again on a plane! If only I had a frequent flyer # already) to visit my old Chicago friend Henry (and his mom and dad; Beth & Dave) in Pennsylvania. He moved earlier this year with his mom and dad out of their Chicago apartment and into this great big house with front yard - and a back yard! They also have a basketball hoop, more toys than I've ever seen and a playroom on every floor! That's 3 different play rooms. I think we also went for a reunion - Mom, Beth, Carrie & Bonnie were all college roommates. Carrie and Denny came with Brian, who is almost 2 years old too. They live in Cincinnati so we see them when we go to visit Grandma & Grandpa. Bonnie and Nich live in New York City though, so this was my first time meeting them. Bonnie even taught me a new blinking game, if you blink, I can blink back!

We all had a lot of fun playing and hanging out all weekend long. We even did an arts and craft project, although it did not go over as well as our mom's had hoped. I think they thought us kids would love the idea of dipping our hands in gooey paint and then delicately placing hand prints on paper in the shape of mittens and wreaths. Please! Once I got my hands in that paint I immediately wanted to smear it off of me and that meant wiping it on whatever was around me - my shirt, my leg, my hair, the table, mom, bonnie, whatever. You can see that there is a hand print on that wreath down there, but let's just say I did not do that voluntarily and I doubt mom will be attempting any new craft projects this year.

Anyway, it was a great weekend and I had so much fun playing with Henry & Brian - they're not bad for a bunch of older boys! Thanks for having me Henry! Love you all!

Walking like a pro

So on my birthday I started walking, I mean really walking. I walked all the way across the room all by myself. I don't want to brag, but by that next week I was already walking like a pro! I really prefer walking to crawling now too. So much easier on the knees. At times I'm still a little wobbly but I don't have that far to fall if I go down, so it's not bad at all.

Here I am walking around the Children's museum, playing in the kitchen and in the garden, and going fishing! Betsy took me here this week with Joey & Maria.

And here I am just goofing around the house. I like to hold onto lots of things and walk at the same time. Mom says I'm very good at multitasking and that will come in handy later.

And here's video of me walking all around the house just this week...

I'm back!

Sorry for the hiatus everyone, but I had no idea how hectic the holidays would be! There's so much to do - visiting friends and family, making cookies, shopping for the perfect gifts, visiting Santa, eating cookies, dressing up for parties, and on and on! It was an exhausting month, but I survived, probably becuase I'm big time now that I'm 1. Speaking of which, I went back and added videos to the very first birthday in Chicago blog (One!) so you might want to go check those out. If you've already seen those then don't be dissapointed, I promise to post a new blog entry every day this week! I've got plenty of material from all these crazy holiday happenings so hold tight... I'll try not to dissapoint!

One, again!

While in Texas, we celebrated my birthday again! I actually turned one while I was there so Grandma felt it only appropriate that she should throw me another party. I won't complain about that! She threw a wonderful party, it was completely duck themed and she had a giant smash cake for me!

It was so exciting and I was feeling so grown up I also decided I should take a few steps! That's right, I'm walking! Not too far yet, but across the room and I'd say that is a great start!

Technically My Second Thanksgiving

As you probably know, I was born on Thanksgiving day last year, so technically this was my second thanksgiving. I, however, would like to count this year as my first Thanksgiving. Let’s be honest, I wasn’t really with it last year on Thanksgiving. I had just decided to come into this world and did not expect there to be so much action and activity all around me. I don’t think I even realized I was a part of this world until I was at least 3 weeks old and finally figured out I could do something besides eat, sleep and poop.

Based on everything that Mom and Dad have told me about Thanksgiving, it seems to be a pretty awesome holiday - You get to spend time with your family, talk about why you love each other so much and why you are so thankful for all the blessings in your life, all while eat a lot of amazing food. We had so much fun down in Texas this year that I’d really like to remember this as my first Thanksgiving. So I will from now on refer to Thanksgiving 2011 as my first REAL Thanksgiving.

So what did we do? We flew down to Texas for 6 whole days with Grandma & Grandpa Stoltz, Uncle Joe and Maggie the DOG (yes, I am even more in love with dogs now)!!! I was especially excited to see Uncle Joe as he lives in Colorado and we don’t make it out there too often. He and I had a great time playing with my toys and with Maggie and I’m so happy we were all together. We couldn’t actually get in the pool as the heater broke the day we got there, but I was still allowed to lean over the edge (don’t worry, I was fully supervised, I know not to go by a pool on my own) and splash around. Grandma also bought me a walker so I could cruse around the house and patio as fast and as often as I wanted. I am super fast and Uncle Joe says I should start considering professional race car driving for the future.

 I also participated in all the Thanksgiving preparations. While I didn’t eat any turkey, I watched in awe as it was prepared for the deep fryer – it looked bigger than me! But don’t be fooled, I still had about 5 pounds on it. Then we prepared all the sides, which I did eat – sweet potatoes, mash potatoes, corn casserole, and stuffing. YUM! We accidently forgot a green vegetable (but I don’t think anyone minded).  We spent the whole day together as a family talking, laughing, cooking, cleaning and chilling. We talked about all our relatives that weren’t there and how thankful we are to be surrounded by such a loving family. I was so happy and I am already looking forward to my second thanksgiving next year!

One!

On Friday I'm turning ONE!

It's very exciting. I even learned how to hold up my hand in the #1 sign for the occasion, although blowing out candles is still a little beyond my grasp.

Since we were going to be away for my actual birthday, Mom & Dad threw me a party the weekend before. I know it will be hard to believe, but my Mom was actually against the party at first. She figured my grandma would have a cake down in texas so it wouldn't be a big deal. She was probably right, but at the same time, I'm so glad she was convinced otherwise! You may not know this yet, but once my mom get started on party planning she can't be controlled - which is awesome for me! Here's how it all went down...

First here's the nice unassuming invitation that went out to our nearest and dearest 30 friends...

(not the more flattering picture of me, seriously, the camera does add 10 lbs)

The invite was a little too plain for my Mom, she decided we needed a theme and settled on the Hungry Caterpillar. This was approved by me easily, I love that book! So we had hungry caterpillar wall decorations with pictures of me in month's 1 - 11, ballon annimals in the shape of caterpillars, mantel decorations of giant green balls that doubled as party favors, cupcakes in the shape of caterpillars and mini cupcakes decorated to look like the pretty butterfly that emerges from the cocoon and of course party favors - or really party buckets of fun for all the kids to take home. She was about to start making cake pops in the shape of apples and pears with bite holes in them until my Dad finally reeled her back in from all the craziness. There was also an amazing BBQ spread from Smoke Daddy - of course they only settled on Smoke Daddy after having a BBQ taste test the weekend before with my Grandma & Grandpa to ensure that they had the best 'Q at the party. This along with a wonderful selection of fruit, kid cheetos, mac n' cheese, and squeeze pouches for us kids. Oh yeah, my Mom is slightly crazy. But the 20+ adults and 6 kids all had a wonderful time - me most of all!

Oh and I almost forgot about the cupcake eating, I had my first SUGAR RUSH!!! That frosting was something else. I didn't really understand what I was doing, but everyone was staring and smiling at me and of course singing, so I kept going. Mom had to give me a quick bath after all this...

...but it was totally worth it. I can't wait to do it all again down in Texas - and don't they say eveything is always bigger in Texas?? This is going to one heck of a Birthday celebration week!! Thanks Mom & Dad for the great party - and thanks to all our friends who came over to celebrate with us. I love you all so much!!

UPDATE: Here's some video of the big event too!

Presents, Presents, Presents!

Cake!

My First Sugar High...

Going Under Cover

This week I discovered how much fun it is to crawl under all my toys, and all the tables and chairs I can squeeze myself under too. If you can't find me, chances are you'll be able to see me hiding out in one of these places. I'm hoping Mom and Dad get the hint and start making me forts, but sometimes they're a little slow, so we'll just have to wait and see.

Good Morning!!!

Mom and Dad and I have a special routine every morning. First I usually wake up on my own and roll around and talk for a bit by myself or turn on my mobile and watch that go round and round. After about 15 - 20 minutes, just as I start getting bored with my alone time, Mom and Dad come in to get me. It's really exciting whenever they open the door! They say GOOD MORNING KATE!!! and I pop up over the crib railing to say good morning too (in my head at least). Then since I can't have my lovies or nuks out side of the crib we play 1, 2, 3... and on the count of 3 I chuck the lovie and then the nuk back into the crib. I'm so good that now, I don't even have to wait for them to say 3. Its so nice to wake up with Mom and Dad!

Baby Dolls and Fishes

This weekend Grandma & Grandpa Roudabush came to visit! Since I'm not going to be able to see them on my actual birthday and for even longer after that, they said they had to come and visit me. That is of course totally fine with me! When they first arrived on Friday we had an impromptu birthday celebration... this birthday thing is pretty cool by the way. I'm still not 100% sure what I did to deserve a birthday, but it means everyone is extra nice to me, I get presents, and people sing to me! It's sort of fabulous. Grandma & Grandpa game some really pretty clothes and this amazing Baby Doll. Check it out...

The next day we took a trip to the Shedd Aquarium downtown. We had so much fun looking at all the fishes and seeing the whale and dolphin show.

Before everyone left on Sunday we headed to the park one more time. Grandpa pushed me on the swing and helped me down the slide, he even taught me how to do it myself! I am pretty good at going down the slide all by my self... sometimes I get a little too excited about it, but usually it works out just fine.

Thanks for coming to visit Grandma & Grandpa! I love you so much!!!

Hide N' Seek

I've been having a lot of play dates with my friend Joey this week. He's a lot of fun and we've found a new game to play together... hide n' seek! Look at how much fun this is!

Grandma & Grandpa Stoltz!

This weekend Mom & Dad went to this place called Vegas where they said babies aren't allowed. That sounds like a pretty boring place to go if babies aren't allowed! I didn't mind though because Grandma & Grandpa Stoltz came to baby sit me all weekend long! We had so much fun going to the park, having friends over for dinner, hitting up a bubbles class, and taking walks to the Starbucks! I really enjoyed getting to spend so much time with them and was a little sad when they had to leave and Mom and Dad finally came home. Thanks for taking such good care of me Grandma & Grandpa! I love you!!

Just Another Week...

This past week was pretty uneventful. I went to the park a lot - usually with Joey) - although now I have to wear this ridiculous hat since it suddenly became winter here in Chicago.

I also ate a lot of yummy things! Apples, sweet potato, and rutabaga mish mash pouches (yum!), Hummus and baby mum-mums (hummus is awesome), and sweet potato fries (made from scratch by my mom), organic spinach and cheese ravioli (definitely not made by my mom from scratch), and black beans (my o my how I love black beans!)...

I also got all dolled up in my country best for a play date at Joeys. We hung out by the refrigerator for a long time - we both love playing in the fridge! Then we went downstairs and he let me play with his new toy car. It looked really fun, but mom and dad were busy talking and they weren't taking me for a ride in it so I had to take matters into my own hands and get it all set up for a ride! Check it out!

What a great time!

A Trip to the Cell...

Today I went to visit my mom at work - at the Chicago White Sox! The Sox have been one of her clients forever and she really wanted to introduce me to everyone. So Dad put me in my Sox T-shirt and jeans and we headed to the "Cell" late one morning. First up, we stopped for a photo op with the world Series Trophy in the lobby...

Then Mom led us back through the stadium to the accounting offices. Everyone was so nice, and once mom told them I liked bling they all busted out the biggest bling-iest rings I have ever seen! I need to figure out how to get me one of those world series rings! bling bling! My mom's team was also there - Nicole & Drew - so I hung out with them in the audit room for a while too. I showed them my calculator and how to do some basic addition on it. I think they were impressed. 

Mom said I behaved so well I was invited back for a game this summer! I can't wait!

Happy Halloween!

What a cool holiday - I love Halloween! You get to dress up, play with pumpkin goo, take walks at night, and eat lots of food! Yum!

I actually had 2 costumes, a cow and a witch! It was a good thing too as I had a lot of parties to go to. We dressed up in each of my classes this week... so I was a cow at Gymboree, a witch at Bubbles, a cow during music class, and a witch at story hour, then back to a cow for a mini pumpkin carving party at Joey's!

Here are some highlights from Gymboree, I take this class with Joey, who dressed up as a dinosaur! Roar!

And of course, Bubbles. I love to help the teacher play the guitar...

Then on Saturday night we went over to Joey's for a pumpkin carving party! I loved getting in all the pumpkin goo and even managed to steal a pumpkin seed and eat it! I got yelled at for that one, but once Mom googled it and realized it wasn't going to kill me to eat a raw pumpkin seed she relaxed a bit. Joey was not a fan of the pumpkin goo at all though! Using his extensive vocabulary (seriously, the boy is amazing) he kept telling us all that it was "ucky" (you can hear it on the video!) and preferred to play with his learning table then help with the carving. Oh well, more pumpkin goo for me!!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot, on Sunday we made Halloween cake pops too! Check out these scary pumpkins and frankensteins!

Happy Halloween!!

11 Months!

So today I turned 11 months old!  Mom and Dad keep saying how they can't believe how fast I've grown up; I'm almost a year old now!  Apparently I'm doing all kinds of new tricks that Mom and Dad are really excited about - but I don't know what the big deal is - I'm just doing all the things I enjoy.  They think its really great how I can walk by myself all over our apartment with my Learning Walker - or how I walk along the walls (or pretty much whatever I can climb up such as the couch, chairs, dressers, shelves, etc.) -- but it's no big deal, I'm just trying to check everything out because I'm so curious!!

Some of my other favorite activities right now include:  crawling behind our couch and drapes and looking out into the park; reaching up and turning the computer printer on and off; drinking out of sippy cups without any help; showing everybody where my belly, head and toes are when asked; playing peek-a-boo; and sliding down the slide at the park all by myself!

Also I'm really good at talking too -- well at least I think I am good -- I don't think Mom and Dad understand me but I definitely have a lot to say!  I say "duck" ("duh"), "dog" ("dah"), done ("duu"), down ("duh") and Dad ("daa") - never you mind that all those sound the same!  My favorite word though is duck - in fact, my little ducky stuffed animal is my favorite toy right now!

Here's some video of me doing some of my favorite things:

[Me walking around the condo]

[Me talking and playing with my ducky]

[Me playing peek-a-boo (I crack myself up!)]

It has been a great 11 months - only one more month now until I'm a year old!!!

Bucket Head Kate

Here's my new favorite game to play! I love to play it with mom and dad and I'll play it with you too. All you need to do is say 3 magic words... bucket head kate!

The Triple Threat

That's right Mariah Carey, move over again. I can dance, I can sing, and I can play the Piano!!!

Happy Birthday Ella!

This Saturday I went to Ella's 2nd Birthday Party! She had everyone over to her house for a big party. There were games and toys and presents and cake and ice cream - oh and balloons, which I did not like at all - note to Mom, no balloons at my party please! I was the youngest kid there, so everyone was helping to show me the ropes. Ella was helping me play with her dragon scooter, and another girl was helping me wear a purse, and this nice boy named Landon was giving me high-fives and trying to show me how to give knuckles... I'm going to have to work on that one though.

After we sang happy birthday there was cake and ice cream again - and this time, Mom and Dad let me have some ice cream! It was soooo good! I almost started crying when they stopped serving it to me! But they said I could have some again at my own party. I can't wait for my birthday now! Hurry up already!!

Pancakes!

Today I went out to breakfast with Mom and Dad. I got all bundled up since we were having a bit of a cold spell and we headed out. I got quite a surprise when after my yogurt Mom and dad handed me a pancake! They even put a little syrup on it for me. I really liked it, but was pretty full from my yogurt so half way through I just started to play with it and managed to make quite a mess in the restaurant.

I also got to eat some sweet potato fries mom made me for dinner, those are really good too. I like that I can start picking up all my food on my own now. Sometimes I forget to take bites though and that I can't just shove it all in my mouth at once. I also mastered the sippy cup! I'm so grown up!

Happy Birthday Joey!

Today Joey turned 1! He had a big old party with tons of kids and tons of toys! The highlight was clearly this giant inflatable ball gym. I was really excited about it, but sort of unsure of what to do with it. You can see me hanging out in the back here, just scoping it all out...

After about 5 - 10 minutes of checking the scene out, I decided to take the plunge - literally! 

After all that playing cake and ice cream was definitely in order. Joey did a great job of blowing out his candle and then smashing his cake up - in fact he needed a quick bath after it was all said and done. I was a little upset that they put this hat on me, turns out I don't really like hats - note to mom for my own party... no hats! After all the excitement at the end of the night it was just Joey and I trying out all his presents and our parents enjoying one last drink before taking me home to bed.

Thanks for inviting me to your party Joey! I had a great time!!

The Children's Museum and...

This Friday Betsy and I hopped a ride with Maria (that's Joey's nanny) and Joey to the Children's museum! We had so much fun! I have never been before and so first we ate lunch together and then we played in all the fun exhibits.

It was a great time until... POPSPLOSION!!!!

And guess what... I didn't have any of my own extra clothes, so I had to wear one of Joey's outfits. I ended up looking like a trucker in this sweet blue fleece flannel onesie. That's the last time I got anywhere without a spare outfit!

Weekday Fun

This week I got more into chunky finger food. Betsy gave me diced cooked carrots that I could pick up on my own. I think I might have missed the point though as I thought the bowl was more exciting than the carrots!

I also worked more on my standing, and eating puzzle pieces.