Kate is 9 months old

This month we celebrated Kate's first Christmas! We had so much fun with family and enjoyed some yummy festive baking, food, music, laughter and lots of playing. Kate has been having lots of fun playing with cousins and dogs. She loves older kids.

I forgot to mention this the last three months that went by but Kate has been wearing the same size diapers as Luke (size 4), it's crazy! It's also really convenient when I shop for diapers or even when I'm just trying to make sure I remember to refill the diaper bag.

This month was another month of ear infections and colds. Poor Kate just got done finishing up her fourth round of antibiotics and third ear infection. Her last round of antibiotics consisted of three rounds of shots that had to be taken everyday for three days. With it came a nasty butt rash. We just had an appointment with a pediatric ENT and more then likely we'll have to get tubes put in Kate's ears. We're waiting until the end of this month to see if the fluid has cleared. Poor Kate! She does seem to have a pretty high pain tolerance though. The doctor said the ear infections were bad and the only fuss Kate gave us were during nap times and bed time. During the day we would never have thought she was in pain.

This is what you have been up to this month!

• You are starting to wave
• You clap on command
• You like to "run" {crawl} and hide in the corner of chairs when we say "fee-fi-fo-fum"
• You play peek a boo with sheets and pull the blanket over your head
• You've become quite the flirt and turn away quickly when people look at you and then turn back to look at them with a bashful look
• You love love love to eat. You eat so much more then your big brother actually. It's really cute and you have really good pincer grasp skills
• We've had to go to the doctor several times this month and you've been so cooperative with them checking your ears.
• You stood alone to balance for the first time
• You still like to try and keep up with Luke and you're pretty feisty when it comes to you and him competing for toys
• You've learned how to fake laugh from Luke
• You and Luke play in the car together. He'll try and cheer you up when you get tired of sitting in your seat
• You did much better on our road trip to Florida, thanks to Luke helping entertain you.
• You're still very attached to Mommy lately. You usually do fine when you don't see me unless you actually see me leave the room, then you flip out! I have to sneak out of the room so you don't make a scene.
• You have the sweetest most contagious smile

Katelyn is 8 months old

Another month flew by, I'm a little late with the Christmas hustle and bustle. It's hard to believe we're just 4 months away from celebrating Katelyn's first birthday {sniff, tear}. We had such a fun time with family this month, celebrating Kate's first Halloween and Thanksgiving. However, the last couple months have been a little rough for her. Last month she was teething and since Halloween she had a really bad cold that turned into RSV and a double ear infection. Just this past weekend the pain of the ear infections has subsided and she is returning back to her sweet and cheery self. The poor thing had to have breathing treatments during the day for over a week long. Any moms with small babies, if you hear the word RSV run in the other direction! Now that Kate's had it they've told us it will effect her when she gets the common cold and she may have to have breathing treatments again if she wheezes.

There has been such a big change going from one child to two. With Luke, Mommy and Daddy did the entertaining. This time around, we entertain, but Luke has been doing most of the entertaining. I've been loving the evening time when I get dinner ready and I can hear Luke and Kate giggling in the family room. Luke and Kate crawl and chase one another as well as play hide-and-seek. Luke really likes to throw blankets over Kate and say, Where's Kate? She likes it too:).

Here's what are sweet sweet girl has been up to this month.

• You clap, it's adorable!
• You may know the "more" sign. I've been noticing you bring your hands together when you want more food in your mouth.
• You love, love, love table food. In fact, we're pretty close to cutting out baby food completely.
• You love playing with other kids and light up with big smiles and squeals when they play.
• When you're excited you twirl your feet.
• You also kick legs and arms when you're excited.
• You like to be apart of the excitement and don't like to miss out on anything.
• You can muscle your way through things and are pretty feisty. Even though Luke may be bigger you're not shy if getting what you want from him.
• You are always pulling yourself up to standing on furniture and toys and you are even starting to furniture walk.
• You love bath time. Luke likes bath time with you also. When I take you out he's always begging me to put you back in to keep playing.
• You got teef! You got your first couple of teeth on the bottom and I think you may be getting a top tooth in.
• You like to grab and pull hair.
• You like to touch peoples faces. It's your way of saying hi to people. It's really cute:)
• You are a Momma's girl. I'm really enjoying this one. Luke was a Daddy's boy at your age and always wanted Daddy. But you are wanting Mommy right now. I have to hide from you sometimes:)
• Luke tries to make you laugh and scrunches his eyes and face when he does. You copy him and now close your eyes when you smile sometimes. Some of the pictures below show it.
• You've been saying "ba ba ba"
• Luke likes to help and teach you new sounds.
• You make cute sounds and squeals.

And here we are again. You are so adorable. We love you so!

These last ones were taken to show the personalities of Luke and Kate shine through. This is how they interact on a daily basis. So cute:)

Katelyn is 7 Months Old

What a month it has been. Katelyn started crawling two weeks ago and hasn't looked back. In fact, the contrary. She has been pulling herself up on anything and everything, She can't stay still! The dynamic between Kate and Luke has been pretty interesting to see since she's been crawling. She quickly wants to get to all his toys {she can care less about her toys}.

Not that Luke isn't sweet and gentle with her anymore but he is having a hard time adjusting to Kate taking his toys or knocking down his blocks. We're having to work on the whole sharing with sister thing. I think Luke has picked up on the fact that Kate isn't quite so baby anymore too. He's been playing rough with her {literally rolling her on the ground, laying on top of her, giving her tight hugs, etc} but she's been able to take the heat. She's going to be a tough girl. I've also noticed some teasing going on. I caught one act on video. Luke has this dump truck that when you press a button it rumbles and starts driving. Well, he set that thing up to drive right into Kate {let's just say she wasn't happy}.

Kate has had a rough month with teething. I almost forgot what she was like before teething. She's been really fussy and is quite the screamer. Whew, it's loud! I'm thankful Luke is able to sleep through it otherwise I wouldn't catch a break! I'm looking forward to some pearly whites popping up hopefully real soon.

I don't know if it's the teething {because it's been a whole month of it} or if it's just her, but I'm starting to wonder if  Kate may not be much of a sleeper. Most the naps she takes are short and she wakes up periodically at night. I'm not positive but I also think Kate may be weaning herself of nursing. It's been a struggle to keep her on for longer then 5 minutes. So needless to say, a lot was going on this month!

Here is what else Katelyn's been up to:

• You're a little chatter box. We don't know what you're saying but you love to say it.
• I never once had to consider "baby proofing" the fireplace or coffee table with Luke. But they're like magnets to you.
• You like to try and keep up with your brother and Daddy when they play rough and you try and join in on the fun.
• You really really like Luke's toys especially his legos.
• You and Luke play so cute and you think he's really fun and give cute belly laughs when he talks to you and crawls around with you.
• You like to pull his hair and hold on to it tight.
• You squeal when you're excited
• You've been making cute sounds with your mouth.
• You make this vibrato sound {it's hard to describe but very unique} when you get excited.
• When being held, you like being passed around quickly from one person to the next.
• You stayed in the nursery at church for the first time this Sunday and did really well. 
• It's been fun watching you pick little things up with your little fingers. We went out to eat and the restaurant served crushed ice so you were able to pick up the little pieces and put them in your mouth. 
• We're starting to see how stubborn you really are. You were protesting your nap one day and I looked at the monitor after you finally stopped crying and you had fallen asleep standing up and leaning on the crib.
• You pull yourself up on everything. You like to get into the toy baskets and pull things out. 
• You like to crawl under the coffee table.
• You've started to explore other parts of the house other then the family room. It's fun to watch you.
• You like to chew on shoes {your shoes, we keep our shoes out of reach}
• Despite your teething you still are a very happy baby and your smile and giggles are so contagious. You have smiley eyes. 

And here's our photo shoot. I usually take the photos when Kate wakes up from her afternoon nap but now that it's Fall the sun goes down sooner and I wanted to get good lighting still. So Luke was still up and decided to join in on the fun. I'm loving these photos! It really captures just how much they're relationship has changed since she's crawling now. Kate really wants to keep up with her big brother. These kids are everywhere now!