Kate Turns 1!

On Saturday, August 9th, our little Kathryn Reese turned ONE! I can't believe it! We started the day with pancakes and gave her a little doll house, and in the afternoon, we had some friends and family over to celebrate! It was such a fun and special day!

Kathryn Reese: 12 Months

Weight: 19 pounds, 3 ounces (20th percentile)

Length: 29.75 inches (65th percentile)

Head Circumference: 18.8 inches (98th percentile)

Clothes: 12 months

Diapers: Size 3 (Still!)

Ladybug, you are ONE! I can hardly believe I am writing that! What a year it has been...lots of ups, lots of downs, and lots of TROUBLE out of you. You, my love, are a capital T TROUBLEMAKER! Nothing makes you laugh more than when Mom or Dad tells you "No!" You also have started looking for my attention right before you intentionally do something you know you shouldn't be doing...I think we are going to have our hands full with you. Stinker.

You are down to just two small bottles each day - about 6 oz. in the morning when you first wake up, and about 4 oz. at night before bed. We are struggling to get you off of formula...your sensitive little tummy doesn't seem to be doing well with regular milk OR lactose-free milk. We are considering trying soymilk since you did so well on soy formula, but since you drink so little of it, we are just sticking with formula for now. As far as food goes, you LOVE to eat, although you like the "real" food a lot more than snacks. SO different than big brother! You love chicken in all forms, turkey, spaghetti, macaroni & cheese, meatballs, yogurt, all forms of fruit, corn, rice, and anything chocolate. (Yep, you're mine!) You are not a big fan of snacks truthfully...you'll eat crackers, cereal, etc if you're REALLY hungry, but you prefer meals to snacks. But don't let that 20th percentile weight fool you...girlfriend, you can EAT! You out-eat Carter at just about every meal. I used to think he'd be the one to eat me out of house and home, but lately, it's YOU!

You are still taking two naps MOST days. Every few days, you throw me for a loop and fight through one of them for reasons unknown to me. (Teething? Wonder week?) Most days, you are up at 6:30, down from 9-10:30, down from 2-4, and in bed by about 7:30/8. You are fierce sleep fighter, though, and most naps, you have to fuss a while before giving up. I think you just don't want to miss anything!

 

You made major strides this month in the gross motor arena - you are now a crawling, pulling up, cruising MACHINE! You are FAST and you adore your freedom. You love walking when I hold onto one of your hands and will push a walker across the room, so I think you are close to walking. I'd bet you walk sometime in the month of September, but time will tell. It was amazing to be filling out a development questionnaire at your check-up last week and be able to check off that you are doing EVERYTHING they expect of a 12-month old! Keep it up! 

 

As far as talking goes, you are a chatterbox. You clearly say Mama, Dada, Bubba (Carter), Emma, ah-da (all done), ma (more), nigh-nigh (night night), bye bye, and be-be (baby). Dr. Newton jokingly said you were a talking "genius", but I think you're just a girl. You LOVE the sound of your own voice. 

 

Your newest obsession is BABY DOLLS. You will beeline for them if you see them on the floor of the playroom while saying "be-be" over and over again on the way. You pick it up, cuddle it in your arms, and are just such a sweet little mama! There's something pretty special about watching you play with dolls that were once mine. :) 

 

Bug, that about sums it up! More posts coming soon about your big birthday...we love you, Kate!

 

Kathryn Reese: 11 Months

 Weight: 18 pounds (our scale)

Length: 29.5 inches (our measurement)

Clothes: 9 month, 12 month

Diapers: Size 3

Sassy girl, you are 11 months old! I can't believe you are a mere 31 days away from being ONE! How did that happen?!! You are officially mobile...better late than never, right?? You are crawling, pulling up, cruising, and loving walking around holding onto my hands. I think you are close to walking because you are starting to let go of my hands and standing independently for a few seconds. I am so torn about how I feel about you walking - I want you to be independent, but I'm not sure I'm ready to have two walkers on my hands. Yikes! 

On the schedule front, not much has changed. You are still up around 6:30am, down for a nap from 9-10:30 in the morning, down again for a nap from 2-4 in the afternoon, and in bed by 7:30pm most days. I don't think you're anywhere near ready to drop the morning nap...you are CRABBY by 9am, so until you decide to sleep later in the mornings, we'll hold onto the morning nap. I was hoping you'd drop it around a year, but I just don't see it happening when you are up for the day in the 6 o'clock hour. 

We had dropped down to just two 7-8oz bottles a day - first thing in the morning and at bedtime - but I noticed you really haven't gained much weight (if any) this month when I weighed you yesterday, so I'm giving you an extra 4oz after lunch. I think making sure you get enough nutrition right now is more important than taking the bottles away. You will NOT drink milk or formula from a cup yet and look quite offended when milk comes out of the cup instead of water, so I think the nutrition is the priority for now. We'll get rid of them eventually. Some of your favorite foods right now are red grapes, cantaloupe, turkey, chicken, any kind of cheese, yogurt, apples, crunchies, yogurt melts, and goldfish. You had lasagna last night for the first time and seemed to like it. :) It was messy, but cute!

On the activity front, some of your favorites are wagon rides, swimming/splashing in pools, going through any kind of bag or bin, exploring the kitchen cabinets, just generally being destructive, and anything Mickey Mouse. You are talking up a storm and babbling allllllllll the time. You still don't have many words yet, but you are talking constantly and experimenting with new sounds.

I guess that's really about it, ladybug! We love you to the moon and back! XO!

Breckenridge Photo Dump

We spent a wonderful 5 days in Breckenridge, Colorado, with the Ezell grandparents and our sweet niece, Kensi, over the fourth of July holiday. We had so much fun hot tubbing, hiking, playing putt-putt, eating great food, and just being together. The travel days were rough (to put it mildly), but we had a fabulous time there with the family!

Kathryn Reese: 10 Months

Weight: 17.8 pounds (pretty much a total guess)

Height: No idea

Clothes: 9 month, 6-12 month, 12 month

Diapers: Size 3

Sweet thing, another month has come and gone. You are SO close to being mobile. About ten days ago, you FINALLY figured out how to move from your belly into the sitting position and from sitting back to your belly. You spend a lot of time on all fours and are ALMOST a crawler. You understand that moving your arms forward gets you going, but you haven't quite figured out how to use your knees to help you yet. You still have some frustration when your little lunge move doesn't get you your desired toy, but we definitely have some progress.

Let's talk schedule - you are down at night from about 7:30pm to 6am (early bird!). I've tried everything to get you to sleep in longer, but it's just the environment you're in. Your room gets bright and loud around 6am thanks to the early summer sun, a family of noisy birds, and the cars outside on the street. We just deal with it. :) You are napping typically from 9:15-10:30am and 2-4pm. 

As far as food goes, you have cut back to just 3 bottles a day, as we combined the mid-afternoon and bedtime bottle since you didn't really take much at either feeding, so you are now getting 6-7 ounce bottles at 6:30/7am, 11:30/12pm, and 5:30/6pm...basically, you get a bottle before each meal. On the subject of food, you are a phenomenal eater and will eat just about anything we give you. Some favorites right now are rice, chicken, peaches, yogurt, crunchies, bananas, graham crackers, and pretty much anything out of a pouch. You are a little picky when it comes to textures and your hands - you don't really like to pick up things like bananas, pears, etc but will gladly accept them off a fork. You also love your snacks - yogurt melts, crunchies, puffs, Cheerios...if it's a carb, you like it. :) You also got two more teeth this month...I can't believe you already have all 8 of the front ones!

You have become a MAJOR talker this month! You have mastered the "m" and "b" sounds which have basically given you three words - "bubba" (what you call Carter), "mama" (me, obvi), and "ma" (more). We are trying desperately to get you to say dada, but no luck yet. You also discovered how to wave, high-five, and shake your head to say "no" this month. You are VERY social!

You are a momma's girl and still get quite upset when I put you down somewhere and walk away. God forbid I do anything other than play with you! ;) On that note, dropping you off somewhere is tough...you are NOT a fan of the hand-off, but fortunately, I am always told you recover quickly and move on. 

Since it is summer now, we have been doing a lot of swimming and splashing. Girlfriend, you LOVE the water! Water table, baby pool, big pool, splash pad...if it's wet, you're a fan!

I think that about sums it up for this month...we love you, baby girl! Keep growing! XO.