The Longest Day Ever

I am a champion! Today I had the longest most action packed day ever.

First, we went to breakfast with my mom's old roommate Janice and her boyfriend Matt. They live in London now and Mom and Dad haven't seen them since they were in London over a year ago for a visit. Since my Mom used to live with Katie too, Joey's mom, Joey, Katie and Chris also came to breakfast. We had a lovely morning and were able to eat outside and enjoy the sunshine! Janice & Matt also brought presents! I got the cutest dress ever and I can't wait to show it off... hopefully soon!

After a quick cat nap Mom threw me in the car again and we headed on a road trip up to Lake Forest. We drove up to visit my Mom's old client and say hi to everyone up there. They were super nice and let me play all over their desks and file cabinets. Then we headed out to lunch, which was a good thing because all this running around was making me hungry!

After our lunch in Lake Forest Mom threw me in the car again and headed downtown to the EY office. Luckily traffic was already pretty bad so I got to sleep for almost 2 hours in the car! It was just what I needed as we had a happy hour to go to that I did not want to miss out on! I spent the next 2+ hours hanging out with all my mom's co-workers at the happy hour. I got passed from one person to the next and I was loving every minute of it! Although my favorite part was when my new friend Cole arrived. He was so funny! His Mom and my Mom work together and he was running around the bar and doing tricks to make me laugh.

After we left the happy hour I again passed right out in the car and slept like a log that night. What a great day!!

Playing Outside

The weather is finally nice around here and I'm able to go outside and really enjoy it! Yesterday Dad took me to the park - just the two of us. We had a great time playing together, but he kept trying to put these things over my eyes - sun glasses? I did not like those much at all! They kept getting in my way and making me mad! Luckily Dad gave up on those pretty quickly.

Then today Mom and Dad both took me out to the park. We had a little picnic and I got to have my bottle while basking in the shade, it was quite nice. Then I got to walk around in the grass, it tickles my toes! I love it!

7 Months Old!

Today I turned 7 months old! I'm so excited to be 7, I think it's going to be a really good month for me. To celebrate the occasion we of course had a photo shoot....

First up the naked pics! These are my favorites!

Then we added my new stool, it says K A T E! That's me...

And finally we have the Miami onesie shoot... I think my parents are trying to sell me on this place early.

I don't mind these photo shoots at all. Mom makes it so much fun!

Catch up blog...

So I'm almost 7 months old and I'm a little behind in my blogging so I thought I'd post some random pictures to get everyone up to speed. At this point, things are going pretty good for me. I've started eating real food, I love rice cereal, sweet potatoes, banana's, squash, applesauce, prunes and pears. I will eat but don't especially love peas, green beans, and peaches. I still get about 24 ounces of formula a day. I take 2, sometimes 3 naps a day. I go to be around 8 and I get up around 8, on the weekends I like to sleep in till about 9 or 9:30 though. I love to sign, roll around, talk nonsense to my parents, and take baths. And I'm about to start crawling! Watch out boys and girls!

The Walker, Part II

Mom and Dad tried to put me in the fancy walker again the other day. Sadly, just like the first time I'm still too short! My feet are about 2 inches off the ground still... I'm really hoping for a growth spurt soon because I LOVE sitting in it! This time my mom put books underneath it so I could at least stand there and play with all the music buttons and lights. If everyone could wish for me to grow a little taller though I'd appreciate it!

I Like to Move It Move It!

In addition to being able to get up on all 4's I have also discovered the thrills of dancing! Moving to the music is so much fun and it always gets a laugh out of mo and dad. Mom sings Shake Shake Shake, Shake Shake Shake, Shake Your Booty and I go wild! I find that I can't even stop myself from swaying to the music, it just takes over and I've got to get my groove on! I discovered this amazing piece of paper that plays music! Mom says it's a get well card from way back when I had surgery, I can't believe it took me this long to find it...

I like to move it move, you like to move it move, we like to move it move... MOVE IT!

Say What?

Oh no, you heard me...

Please excuse the hair, I was having a bad hair day!

Now or a longer video, where I take you through all noises, sounds, and random faces I make on daily basis.

Toys Toys Toys!

Over the past 6 months or so I've managed to amass quite a lot of toys. I know I'm pretty lucky, not everyone has as much stuff as I do, and I do share with Joey, Henry, and Ella whenever they come over. But I really like playing with them all! My mom has them in baskets, cabinets, drawers, buckets - everywhere! I like to spread them out all around me so that I'm surrounded by toys, then I can give equal attention to them all. Sometimes I get so overwhelmed by all the crap - oops! I mean toys! My dad sometimes calls them that! - that I just scream!

Recently my mom's college roommate's mom (did you follow that?) bought me my new favorite toy. It's a step stool that with fancy letters on it. It spells K A T E. That's me! They come out, I saw my mom do it once, but I can't figure it out on my own yet. I'll get there though! I like to sit at the stool and play with my toys on it, pull myself up on it, and of course, eat it! mmmmmm!!!

Move over Mariah Carey

Do you like to sing? I love to sing! My mom and dad keep telling me I'm going to be the next Mariah Carey, whoever that is. I have quite the high range and if you give me anything that vaguely resembles a microphone I will belt out a few high notes for you. I think I'm actually quite good, but you be the judge...

Getting into position

Exciting news people! I'm starting to figure out this whole crawling thing. I got so excited today about my new Elmo microphone that something sparked inside me and I was suddenly up on all fours! I'm still confused about how to move forward... but I must be close! Watch out mom and dad... here comes trouble!!!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day to my Dad... and all the dads out there! I love my daddy so much. We have so much fun hanging out together, taking walks, playing in the park, watching PTI, and working on my hand eye coordination so that one day I'll be an amazing golfer. No one could ask for a better dad. I love you sooooo much!!!!

Mom and I picked out a special card just for him...

And then we spend the day hanging out together (with my new paddington bear from my grandpa)!

Mama!

I'm a babbling fool these days! Ma was my first syllable. mamamamamama. it's really fun to say and whenever I say it around Mom she gets all excited! I'm not really sure why though...

Graduation!

Congratulations Daddy! All that hard work paid off and on Friday we got to see my dad graduate from Kellogg. I'm so proud of him.

All my grandparents and even my great grandpa came in for the big day too and then stayed to hang out with us all weekend long. We played with my all my toys, got dressed up to go to a birthday party, ate yummy rice cereal, oh and we also saw my friend Jada! One of my dad's classmates daughter again, she stopped over to say goodbye before moving to Texas. I'm hoping one day I can go and visit her. Anyway, it was so great to see everyone... I love them all so much!

Louie

Today I got to go see my friend Louie! Him mom Kim and their friend Diana were also there and watched us play. Louie is only 8 weeks old. He's still just a little guy and it was nice to be bigger for a change! He's not doing as much as me, but he looks tough and I'm sure he'll be sitting up and almost crawling with me soon enough. He certainly will be the only baby in Chicago that can rival my hair. Louie's got a ton! I can't wait for our next play date!

Down Book!

I really like playing with my new leap frog music table. It has all sorts of musical instruments on it and a music book in the middle. Mom and Dad keep annoying me though by flipping the pages up in the air. What are they doing that for! The page belongs down. down I say!

Mmmm Feet!

I'd rather eat my feet than those carrots again for sure! I've been working on my flexibility, Mom keeps telling me she's going to take me to yoga one of these days, she says I'll be a natural. I'm not really sure what yoga is, but look at how flexible I am, I really can eat my feet - and they don't taste that bad!

What the...

Carrots? Yuck! No thanks, let's go back to rice cereal please!

Mom and Dad are so tricky! I kept thinking that each bite would be rice cereal again, I mean could I make it any more obvious that I don't like these things called carrots? What the heck...

Rice Cereal!

Gimmie Gimmie More More More! Rice Cereal is amazing, why have mom and dad been holding out on me for so long!?!? I get to sit in my bebe pod while playing with spoons, putting gooey stuff in my mouth and making a mess... who wouldn't love this?

Dining Al Fresco

It's finally been warm and sunny in our fair city, which means dining al fresco! Do you like my use of Italian? Mom says I'm a natural, if only I could say her name! Maybe next week...

Anyway, mom took me to this place called Big Star for tacos and margarita's - that's spanish for a drink I can't have till I'm 30. I met up with Joey and his mom and dad and their friends Kristin and Josh and their little puppy Hugo! They were all super nice. Joey and I had our bottles and relaxed in the afternoon sun - what a great Saturday!

A Visit From Jack!

After music class, Jack came to visit with his Mom Angie! Do you remember Jack? I went to visit him in Columbus last month. I can't believe how big he's gotten! We met up with our friend Joey and his mom Katie and we spent all day together. We had so much fun...

Music at the Zoo

After memorial day weekend my mom and joey's mom took us to see Mr. Singer at the Lincoln Park Zoo! We met up with Henry and his mom Beth there too. Henry had a guitar, it was awesome! I really wanted to play with it, but Mom said I have to wait till I'm a little older.

Mr. Singer sang us lots of songs like old mac donald had a farm, 5 little monkeys jumping on the bed and 5 little ducks go Quack Quack QUACK! That one was my favorite. You might also notice something a little different about me in the pictures below... can you see it? Do you see what I'm doing all by myself?? Yes, that's right, I'm sitting up all by my self! I'm not sure why it took me so long to figure out how to do this, but it's like a whole new world now that I don't have to lay on the floor anymore! My mom still has to watch me closely because sometimes (okay a lot of the times) I fall over, but it doesn't hurt!

Oh and Betsy my nanny came too. Here you can finally see a picture of us, we have so much fun together!

Colorado

Daddy had to go on a golf trip over memorial day weekend so Mom and I decided to go to Colorado! Have you ever been to Colorado? I highly recommend it - we had so much fun! It was sunny and the mountains were so beautiful! I loved it there and can't wait to go back.

My Mom's brother, my Uncle Joey, lives in Denver and also my Great Aunt Cheri and Uncle Phil and their daughter Jill (or cousin Jilly as my mom called her) live in the area too. They all came to have lunch with me on Thursday when we flew in... oh yeah that's right we flew to Colorado on an airplane! It was my second flight so I wasn't nervous or anything this time. It was just a lot of fun hanging out with Mom and napping.

After lunch in Denver Grandma & Grandpa Stoltz drove us up to Steamboat Springs where we stayed all weekend long! Uncle Joey and his friends Cara & Layla (the dog!) also came up to visit. We went on walks with Grandma's dog Maggie and Layla, listened to the stream and the waterfall in the backyard, had lunch and dinner in town and did a little shopping, and just hung out. It was great! Here are some pictures...

After all that fresh air I was pretty pooped on the way home. Here I am chillin at the airport...

Thanks for a great trip!!!

So Big!

Wow, can you believe I'm already 6 months old? This is crazy. Here's a few facts about 6 month old Kate...

• I sleep through the night - from about 8 - 8. Sometimes I even sleep till 9 or 9:30, just to be nice to Mom & Dad (although sometimes I still wake up in the middle of the night too). 
• I love my pacifier, but usually only for sleeping! I'm really good at picking it up off the floor and putting it back in my mouth!
• I have 4 bottles a day - 6 oz at 8:30am, 12pm, and 3:30pm then 8oz at 7pm. As you've already seen, I hold the bottle by myself too.
• I weigh 14.4lbs
• I love to stand! I'm really good at standing on the couch and over tables all by my self. Also when Mom & Dad hold my hands I can walk across the floor. 
• I can almost sit up and next week Mom & Dad are going to give me rice cereal. I'm so excited!

Here's the pictures from my 6 month photo shoot!

Also, here are some flash backs to show how far I've come. Check out those skinny chicken legs I had at 2 weeks!

My Last Few Days of Being 5 Months Old

I spent my last days being 5 months old having quite the good time. First, I got to go to work with my Mom! It was so much fun, I met so many people and everyone was so nice to me. We tried to leave like 5 times but every time we would get close to the door someone new would show up and be so excited to see me we had to turn around so I could say hi! It was great, but also exhausting. Mom forgot to bring the camera to the office, but she did take a picture of the aftermath... a crapped out baby Kate!

I also worked to improve my hand/eye coordination in my bebe pod!

Oh and I forgot to tell you, I decided to start rolling over again. You may remember that back when I was like 5 weeks old I would roll over all the time, well once I got some baby fat back on those chicken legs of mine it got a little harder to roll over. So I took a 3 month hiatus... but now I'm back in the game!

And finally, I've grown quite attached to my 2 favorite blankets! I take them with me everywhere...

I Only Have Eyes For....

Ah back in Chicago after my long weekend in Ohio; it feels good to be home. I have to admit I really did miss my boy friend JOEY! He came to visit me the day I got back. He's so sweet. I told him not to worry about those Cincinnati boys... I only have eyes for him.

Well maybe not just Joey...

I love my daddy!!!

Family Family Family

Going to cincinnati is all about family - and I love it! It's like a giant family reunion every time I come into town. I love being able to see everyone and get caught up on everything I miss being so far away.

Here I am with my Great Grandpa Roehr (Grandma Roudabush's Dad) - I love his shiny head, Great Grandma Roudabush, My Awesome Grandpa - he got us those nooks we have (mine says "nugget" and Will's says "Bull", our nicknames), my youngest second cousin Ross (who's already volunteered to babysit me), Cool (and very tall) Uncle Billy, and Grandpa again at his work and at home (in my pretty bonnet)!

Some more play time with Cousin Will (look at how cute he is smiling!), my Dad and Will's Mom (my Aunt), Great Grandma Roudabush, the whole gang, my Great Grandpa Roehr's sisters Delli & Ruthie and Celeste, and the twins (the youngest of my second cousins) with Will (the youngest of the new cousins)!

All in all it was a great trip to Cincinnati and I can't wait to go visit again! I love you all!!!

My Professional Photo Shoot

I almost forgot! My mom's best friend is a professional photographer! She lives in Cincinnati too and was nice enough to come over on Sunday to do a little photo shoot with me and Will. It was so great to work with her, she was so fun and easy going! Here's my favorite picture from the day and a link to her blog so you can see them all (and contact her if your interested in setting up your own session - she's Amazing!)...

http://michellesavagephotography.blogspot.com/2011/06/will-kate.html

Charlie

Remember Charlie from my last visit to Cincy? He was one of my many suitors at the Kate meet and greet. Well we got to hang out again during our visit and I've got to tell you, that hair still drives me wild! I'm hoping that mine will fill out like that...

All Smiles In Cincinnati

I had so much fun in Cincinnati at Grandma and Grandpa's. I even got to stay up past my bed time, mom says it's because sometimes I'm too cute to say goodnight to!

I don't know about cute, but I sure do love staying up past my bedtime! I also worked some more on my standing and jumping. Don't you love my bonnet?