Fun Weekend in Valdosta!

We are home from a fun weekend in Valdosta with Julee and Parker and Grammy and Papaw!  We left early Friday morning for the ride down, praying that little Kate would travel well, and she did not disappoint.  Granted, she only slept for about 20 minutes total the entire 5-hour trip down, but she was an angel.  No fussing at all.  Just laid back in the car seat and played the whole way!  We gave her the bottle while driving in the car, then stopped at a Zaxby's to eat and feed her lunch.  She did great!

Friday evening we stayed in and ate steaks and baked potatoes.  Yum!  Saturday Julee took me for a little spin around Valdosta while Kate stayed in with Grammy and napped.  Then we suited up and headed over to the Lincoln's for swimming and homemade ice cream.  We capped off the weekend with a fish fry Saturday evening and headed out early Sunday morning for the trip back.  Once again, she didn't disappoint.  This time, she actually slept for a whole hour and a half, and did GREAT in the car.  We got to stop in Bartow to visit with Smokey, Patsy, and Todd on the way back and got to eat lunch with them!  We got back into town around 2pm, then went to Kate's buddy Emily's 1st birthday pool party Sunday evening.  We had a great, fun-filled, BUSY weekend!!!  Thanks to Julee and Parker for being such amazing hosts this weekend.  We look forward to going back!  

Laughing with Julee and Parker

Love my Aunt Julee

Julee had this fun Jumper set up for my visit!  Such a good Auntie!

With my Grammy and Papaw--yes, Grammy and I called each other so we could wear matching outfits:)

That Julee is so funny!

Swimming with Aunt Julee and Daddy

That silly Grammy!!!

Love you guys!  Thanks for a fun trip!

On a quick side note...Kate said "Mamamamamamamama" today!!!!!! Yay!!!!! After about 2 weeks straight of nothing but "Dadadadadadada," we finally got "Mama!"  Woohoo!!!!

Stinker....and Grandpa's 82nd Birthday

T.R.O.U.B.L.E.  Oh my goodness.  That's all this face says to me.  Everyone...meet our little stinker. 

Good week this week!  We are now starting to actually push up onto all fours and rock back and forth a little.  Could it be?!?!  Crawling?!?!?!?!?!  I think soon.  But gracious she sure is busy to not be mobile yet.  I can only imagine in the next few weeks just how much our world will change yet again...

Grandpa turned 82 yesterday so we all got together over at his and Jean's house to celebrate.  Kate had a good time visiting with everyone and playing in the floor.  That wasn't the only thing she did in the floor.  Yes, my baby girl peed on the floor at Grandpa's house like a little doggie.  She had a dress on (with no bloomers) and apparently had already wet which caused the front of her PAMPERS BABY DRY DIAPER (ugh...obviously not my fav. brand!!!) to sag down.  So when she peed for the 2nd time, out it came.  Luckily Nana had her by the hands standing on the wood floor when all of a sudden Nana grabbed my attention, saying, "Amanda, she's wet on the floor, she's wet!!!"  Ugh.  Only Kate.  I only wish I had a pic of that to share for her rehearsal dinner :)  Instead, these will have to do.

Pre-pee pee.  Dry and happy.

The whole clan with Grandpa

Will doing his newest trick - loving up on Kate.  He is so sweet and lovey!  

Grandpa with all his boys on his birthday

The Wallace Great-Grandchildren (Kate, Tyler, and Will)

Grandpa and Jean

For some reason, Kate wanted to dance with Tyler!

Kate and Will with Nana and Papa...Will is less than amused at the idea of yet another photograph

Kate with Papa

This morning Joe and I went to church while Nana and Papa watched Kate for us.  We went to go check out the nursery seeing as we're going to finally go try and brave it with her soon.  Everyone was super sweet and it was great seeing many of our friends there with their babies.  Comforting.  I seem to be having a hard time with the thought of leaving her in the nursery at church.  Oh my...what is actually leaving her for pre-school and kindergarten going to be like?!?  I think this is payback for all those times Mom and Dad said I would hang onto the chain-link fence at Wee Wisdom and sob as they drove away. They said they didn't know who had it harder...them or me!  Now I have an idea of what that feeling was like.  

We will go for our 9-month check up this week!  More shots then :(  and curious as to what she weighs.  This coming weekend we are headed to Valdosta to visit Julee and Parker!  Can't wait!

Happy 4th!

We had a fabulous 4th of July weekend this past weekend!  The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we were actually able to get out and enjoy the outdoors without sweating our hinies off for once!  We went out to the pool with Will on Saturday afternoon to swim for a while and went swimming again at Bobby and Margaret's house on Sunday.  Kate still LOVES the water.  But still HATES strangers.  Ugh!  Don't know what I'm going to do about this "stranger anxiety."  She puckers up and just pitches a fit whenever someone unfamiliar (particularly men!) get too close.

She sure loves her Uncle Bobby!! :)  Anyone have any advice on this??  I'd love some!  We are DREADING taking her to the nursery at church for the 1st time, which sure isn't good!  She's not really a "clingy" baby with us, just definitely not friendly with others!  Hmm....what to do, what to do.

Anyways, off on a tangent there....

We did have a great weekend.  Joe and I along with Kelly and Billy went to Kathryn and Jacob's Saturday night to see their new house.  It is beautiful and they are so excited to finally be in!  We had a good time visiting them and some other friends.  

On Sunday we went over to Bobby and Margaret's to swim and cook out.  Then everyone headed over to our house for the fireworks show at Patriot's Park afterward.  And yes, call us bad parents, but we did let Kate stay up past her bedtime (gasp!!!) so she could watch the fireworks.  She actually really enjoyed them!  I was a little concerned she might not like the loud "bangs" but it didn't seem to bother her at all!

By the pool with Papa.

Waiting patiently on the fireworks to start!

She liked the sparklers!

Laughing with Lori and Nana before the fireworks!

Our patriotic, color-coordinated family.

Kate and Daddy watching the show!

Kate and Casey

A few adults having a little too much fun during sparkler time!

Too good not to post.

Hope everyone had a great 4th! 

A Wedding....and 9 Months!

This past weekend one of my bestest and definitely my longest friend, Karen Hardin, got married.  We had a packed, fun-filled weekend!  It was so nice getting to visit with some old familiar faces and getting to hang out with Cameron and Karen!  I'm so happy for her!

Also, my baby girl turned 9 months old yesterday.  Wow.  I know I say this every month, and will soon say it every year, but WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?!?!?!?  I never knew how fast time could go until I became a Mom.  

I've been bad about taking pictures this past week.  Will try to do better this weekend (July 4th is Sunday!).  This is the only "9 Months" shot I've managed to get so far; pretty sad, huh?  She is still growing like a weed!  We go back to the doctor for her 9 month appointment in 2 weeks, more shots then :(  These days, she is sitting up very well on her own, still NOT crawling!!  And she really doesn't seem too interested in it either!  We put her on her tummy on the floor with a toy out in front of her and she just gets frustrated and fussy.  I'm thinking we may skip this whole crawling step and just cruise on to walking.  Maybe she feels crawling is just too "baby" for her.  Ha!  She will stand on her own while holding onto something, but can't pull up or push herself to a sitting position on her own yet.  She is so funny!  She's got this new "Scrunchy Face!"  It's hysterical!!  She gets to where she thinks something's funny or amusing and she just smiles so big and scrunches up her nose, it looks as if her face might pop off her head.  

Funny!!  She's laughing pretty hard these days (really thinks her Daddy is so funny!) and is quite ticklish.  We are eating Stage 2 baby foods with oatmeal in the morning and rice cereal in the evening.  Still haven't really found anything she doesn't care for!  She loves Gerber "Puffs" and has learned to feed them to herself.  They work great as a "time-occupier" for when Joe and I are trying to eat ;)  Feeding her bottles has been getting tougher and tougher.  She is definitely not one of those babies who is going to have a hard time getting rid of the bottle.  Is that a good thing or a bad thing?  I don't know.  Right now probably not so good.  We've started mixing her late night bottle into her rice cereal just so we can get some milk in her because some nights she just refuses to take any of her bedtime bottle.  Her two bottom teeth are coming in really strong and I don't feel like the top ones are far behind.  Still waiting on that hair to come in!  Mom can't wait to get more bows and do some pig-tails!  

We've got lots planned for the remainder of the summer.  Joe and I will celebrate 5 years of marriage next month! (This, too, is hard for me to believe...what is it about being an adult that makes everything rush so fast?)  And yes, call us horrible parents, but we did decide to take a little trip to celebrate.  We will be gone for 4 nights (don't think I could possibly stand being away from my lil punkin' any longer than that).  She will be in great hands and I know perfectly well she will be FINE, but it's certainly not going to be easy on her Mom and Dad.  Say a prayer for us.  

Also next month we are planning to head down to Valdosta to visit Aunt Julee and Uncle Parker.  We are excited about that as well...it will be Kate's longest road trip yet!  We'll celebrate Will's 1st Birthday in August and then Kate's of course will close out the summer in September!  And I think we may try to squeeze in a Brave's Game or two in there.  Busy, busy, but lovin' life! What a fun, crazy 9 months it has been!  

Father's Day...and a Visit From Grammy & Papaw

We had another great weekend spent with family and celebrating Father's Day.  I unfortunately had to work on Saturday, but Kate was in good hands with Grammy all day while Joe and Papaw went out and did a little Father's Day fishing.  Grammy and Papaw got into town Friday evening to spend the weekend with us.  We had a great time!  Kate had fun playing and reading and just getting to hang out with Grammy all day Saturday.  

If this face doesn't say "S.T.I.N.K.E.R." I don't know what does!!!  Oh my, trouble's a-comin'!!

I like your earrings, Grammy!

Hold me steady, Papaw!

Lovin' on Papaw.

And last but not least....Daddy and baby girl.  Great Father's Day!

We finished off the day with dinner at Grandmama's house.  Was great being able to see Grandaddy and Dad and wish them a Happy Father's Day as well!  Grammy will be back Thursday this week to help with Kate while I fulfill bridesmaid duties for Karen's wedding :)  We are looking forward to a fun weekend coming up!

SOOOOOO Big!!!!!!!!!!

The title of this posting is in honor of Kate's most favoritest book.....(drum-roll.....)...Baby Elmo's "So Big."  We probably read it about a thousand times a week it seems!  But it's such a sweet book, and to see her little face light up every time she hears it, it's worth it :)

It's really quite funny...we have some books she could not possibly care LESS for.  But when we bring these certain ones out (particularly Baby Elmo!), she just comes alive.  Too funny!  I am so amused by the fact that at this age they already have preferences as to what books they like to read.  I was telling Kelly and Mom about it and they decided to try out reading it to her.  When Kelly got to the big "So Big" finish, Kate started dancing and jumping up and down!  She is a MESS! 

Also this weekend, we took Kate swimming up at the pool, and yes, she still loved it!  We hadn't been swimming since we got back from the beach a few weeks ago.  I think she missed it.

Oh...and swimming is a GREAT prelude for a L-O-N-G nap.  We took her home and put her down for her nap and had to WAKE HER UP nearly 2 hours and 45 min. later!!  She was all tuckered out from all that swimming fun.  We've got a little fishy on our hands I think!  

Here are some recent pictures of Kate and Will playing.  So far they are playing pretty good together although they have their moments.  Most of the stories come from Kathryn and are hilarious!  She told us the other day Kate was sitting in front of Will with her paci in her mouth when Will just reached up, pulled it out of her mouth, and put it in his own mouth before Kathryn could catch him!  She went to correct them and get the paci back to its rightful owner.  After Kate got the paci back, Will decided he wanted it again.  When Kate saw him reaching up for it, she beat him to it.  She pulled it out of her own mouth and just handed it to him as if it say, "Here, you baby, you take it!  I don't need it," after which he proceeded once again to put Kate's paci in his mouth.  Oh my goodness these babies.  

Also these days Kate is REALLY loving her Daddy.  When he walks into the room, she just lights up and gets all giddy.  It's the cutest thing!  They are really loving their time together!

He is such a good Daddy!

We had a good, relaxing, low-key weekend after a long week at work for me (filling in extra hours this past week while my coworkers were out of town).  We went out to dinner with Kathryn and Jacob Saturday evening and had a great night.  We are so excited about their new house and can't wait for them to move in in just a few weeks!

This coming weekend will be Father's Day.  I will be working Saturday but we hope to be spending the day Sunday with family.  I can't wait to celebrate with all the special Dad's in my life, particularly the 'newest' Dad.  Love ya Joe!