Kaitlyn's 1st Birthday

It has been a week since Kaitlyn turned the BIG 1! And, it has been almost 2 weeks since her birthday party. I thought it was time that I wrote a blog about it. The party was crazy busy. It was a luau theme with shishkabobs and waterslides. Kaitlyn loved her cake. It took her a few minutes to totally dive in, but she did it. Cake all over. She loved the attention that she got in the spotlight. On her birthday Steve and I took her to the zoo and then out to eat at Macaroni Grill. It was the night before the big move and so it was only fitting to go out to eat since all of our stuff was already packed. Soon I will post the pics

1 week left

In one week from tomorrow we will be house owners and our daughter will be 1! The whole process of buying a house has gone so smoothly. There have and still are some stressful parts to it, but we have had no problems with our loan or any problems show up with the house we are buying. We are so excited to finally get into a house and be able to have more room. The packing is coming along nicely. The only problem is that we have run out of boxes and I can't seem to get any. By this time next week we will be completely packed up and ready to move.

I can't believe Kaitlyn is already almost 1! It is so crazy to think of last year at this time and anticipating her arrival. These are some of her milestones since I last updated. (Mostly so that I can remember after our move when I finish her baby book.)

9 months:
-walking along furniture
-says uh oh, mom "mum", hello
-loves to play with the telephone

12 months:
-still walking along furniture but also now with her walker
-standing for short periods on her own
-says mom, dadda, hi, hello, milk "mill" (as she is pulling down my shirt), bye, uh oh, yum yum, mmm, more, yeah!, poo poo, probably more but that's all I can think of for the second
-claps at her own accomplishments
-very active and loves to always be getting into trouble by emptying out all the cupboards and drawers

Our New Home---well, almost

It is official. We are under contract! We are expected to close on Kaitlyn's 1st birthday! This is such an exciting time for us. I just hope all goes well during all the inspections and the rest of this process. This house hunting process has been very stressful for me. I just get so worked up over everything. Things are getting much better though. This house seems perfect for our family, and it helps me to feel much better. Steve and I have spent a lot of time praying and trying receive direction in buying a house. It seems the Lord has answered our prayers. Here are the specs on the house: 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms (master bath!), just over 2400 square feet, everything updated, a peach and apricot tree in the backyard, and the backyard neighbors are horses. When we went to the house to take a second look we brought Kaitlyn and she about died when she saw the horses. She was so excited. It was so cute to see her get so excited. I know that she will love being in a house. She will have more room to move around. Our place now is just so small for the 3 of us. It is amazing to think of everything that has happened in the last year of our lives. Last year to this exact day I was hoping and praying to deliver. I thought it would be so cool to have Kaitlyn on 08/08/08. That day came and passed, so I thought 8/18/08 would be cool, but that day passed too. By my due date I was working minimal hours and I was getting anxious about using all my PTO up and not having as much after I delivered. So, I set up my induction for exactly one week later not realizing it was 8/28/08. I was actually kind of excited that it was still a lot of 8s. I am not obsessed with 8s, it was just that I thought it looked cool to have them all there. When I had Kaitlyn, Steve and I had no plans to buy a house a year later. However, we have been able to pay off all our debts and the economy has made the housing market much more affordable. Last January we decided to really set our minds on preparing to buy a house, and now we are where we are at today! Our apartment has been perfect for us, but a baby has really made it cramped. I am excited to be able to do whatever I want to our house. I just hope and pray all goes well as we are under contract and no big issues come up that we aren't able to fix. Wish us luck!

Easter Sunday

For Easter we went over to my parents and did an Easter egg hunt and had dinner. Steve took Kaitlyn on the Easter egg hunt, but I am not sure you can say she was so excited for it. She did love picking up the eggs though. On Easter morning Kaitlyn woke up to her Easter basket which she absolutely loved. When she saw it, she hurried and scooted over to it. She got a bunny and two books. It was a beautiful day and definitely a fun Sunday with the fam. With all the Easter fun she missed her last nap of the day, so she wasn't quite the smiley girl for pictures as usual

Family Date Night, Cousins at the Park and Standing Up

This past week we have done a ton of fun things. On Saturday night we planned a family date night for the 3 of us. We took Kaitlyn swimming for the first time. At first she just kind of sat in our arms as we went around the pool. Then, she started kicking and splashing in the water. She absolutely loved it. After swimming we went out to eat and then got home in time for bedtime.

On Monday of this week we took Kaitlyn to the park. My brother is in town with his family, so we took their daughter Kyla to the park also. Kyla didn't love the swing too much if you went too high or fast, but Kaitlyn seemed to enjoy it. I think the park days will get more fun as they get older and can move around more on their own.

This morning Kaitlyn got up at her usual time around 8am. Sad not to talk her into sleeping in, Steve and I got up and played with her. She has been trying for about a week or so now to pull herself up, but has been unsuccessful. This morning she was able to do it twice! I can't believe that she is already pulling herself up. Now we just need to help her master crawling. She can't quite seem to get the coordination and so gets frustrated and goes back to scooting. YEAH FOR KAITLYN!

6 months

I can hardly believe it! Kaitlyn is already 6 months old. Time sure flies with a baby. We have grown a lot as a family these last 6 months. Kaitlyn has surely learned to love life! She definitely has her moms temperament though. On her birthday we played together and then she spent some time with her Nana and Papa while Steve and I went to the Jazz game.
Some of the things she has accomplished so far are:
-rolling like a maniac all over the place
-scooting
-gets up on all fours, but hasn't quite figured out the coordination of crawling yet
-babbles
-sleeps 12-13 hours at a time at night
-still sleeps in some days until 10-1030 in the morning
-an absolute cuddle bug just like her mom. She will sleep as long as you want her to as long as she can cuddle with you
-become the happiest baby ever!

I am sure there are other things, but I can't really think of any of them right now. She is an absolute joy and we are having a ton of fun. This week we will go to the pediatrician for her 6 month appointment. After that we will start feeding her some solids. Get ready for some fun pictures of that!

Kaitlyn's First Babysitter

Well, we did it. Steve and I finally broke down and hired a babysitter to come and watch our precious baby Kaitlyn. We have had family and a close friend watch her, but never anyone else. Definitely not a teenager. However, Kaitlyn is to the point where she doesn't sleep well at other peoples' houses and it ends up throwing her off schedule for a couple of days. By the time we have her back to her routine, it is the weekend again. None of our family was able to come over and watch her tonight, so I called a girl from the ward I grew up in to come and watch her. She is absolutely amazing. We were able to leave and go out and have a great time. When we came back Kaitlyn was in bed fast asleep. I don't think Kaitlyn had the greatest time because she was so tired, but from what I was told I think it went okay. I am glad I got the first time over with so that maybe next time it won't be so crazy. I am just so lucky that we know someone I can feel comfortable leaving her with. I don't really trust a young teenager with my little baby, so it is hard to find an older teenager that is willing to watch her.

PS No new photos of Kaitlyn. So, you are going to have to settle for an older one from when she was just a newbie