Mommy and Eye

We think Kate is pondering if she could be any more of a Mama's girl in this picture. Well, 6 mos. is right around the corner and her eyes aren't showing any signs of darkening. The slate blue is still hanging in there, but we are thinking that she'll probably have the green hazel of her mother. What happened to brown being the dominant gene?

Peas, No More!

Can you believe that Kate has already found a least-favorite food? Much like her mom, she refuses to eat her peas. In fact, she has resorted to stuffing anything in her mouth to avoid the dreaded peas. Oh well, we'll have to sneak them in when she least suspects...

Bear Puppet!!

Did you ever have a favorite toy or a security blanket as a kid? Katie sure does! Whenever we need to get her happy or calmed down for sleep, all we have to do is show her Bear Puppet. She often has Bear Puppet wrapped in her arms or cuddled against her face when she wakes up. You can bet that Bear Puppet is going to make the upcoming trips to Pennsylvania and Michigan with us.

Crazy Uncle Brent

Our good friend, Brent, was in from Boston this past weekend. As you can see, we all quickly seized the opportunity to unload our kids at his expense. Either that, or he was seriously trying to impress his girlfriend, Lisa, with his mad-parenting skills! Nice work, Lisa. Looks like Brent is quite the katch.

Thanks to Eric and Kristina for hosting yet another delicious BBQ...

Roll Over? Are You Serious?

Geno decided to get in on Katie's a.m. tummy time session this morning. I think he figures, "if you can't beat her, join her." It's a rare photo op to catch the two of them together without staging the moment. But, this one is 100% legit. Even the similar poses. Very cute...

Grizzly Katie

Mike, Traci and Katie took a trip to Wardensille, WV today to visit with some of Mike's co-workers. Joanne and her husband, Dave, had the entire team out to their cabin for ribs and all the fixins. Beautiful day! Katie seemed to enjoy sleeping during the quiet drives to and from the backwoods, complete with a stop at the farmer's market for cookies and a homemade pie. Nice to get out of the city...


Our daughter would like us to point out that she visited her second state (just Virginia and D.C. before today). Can't believe she got to West Virginia before Maryland!

The Graduate

Katie's first diploma.

(we are so proud)

Jumping for Joy

Kate's buddy Max (11 months today!) and his mom stopped over today with a special delivery. Max handed over one of his favorite toys, his Jumperoo, since he has graduated to crawling. As you can see in the picture, Katie literally jumped for joy over Max's generosity. She got so tired from all of her bouncing that she fell asleep as soon as Asa and Max left. Thanks guys!!

Rock and Roll

In all of the craziness of Father's Day weekend, we forgot to tell everybody that Kate finally rolled over (from front to back)! Only Mom got to witness the momentous occasion because Daddy was sleeping in on Saturday. He woke up to a bunch of cheers and applause coming from Katie's room. Unfortunately, she has not rolled again since then, but we can cross off that milestone in the baby book. On to sitting up!

Tigertown, D.C.

Father's Day continued tonight with Mike attending the Nationals-Tigers game at RFK Stadium. The Tigers bullpen did their best to blow a 9-1 lead, but Detroit held on for a wild 9-8 win. Here, Carlos Guillen makes a bid to hit for the cycle, but comes up one triple short. In the 4th inning, Guillen hit the longest home run Mike's ever witnessed by a shortstop...about 450 feet into the upper-deck in deep left center. Trammell would be proud...

Happy Papa's Day!

Mom, Kate, and Geno gave me a fantastic first Father's Day...complete with lunch, treats, presents, and good company throughout the day. Most of the presents focused on a baseball theme. Kate bought her first T-ball mitt and tried it on for size in this picture. The festivities continue tomorrow, since Traci surprised me with a ticket to Monday night's Nationals-Tigers game. I'll meet up with our good friend, Eric, whose wife, Kristina, also surprised him with a ticket. Go Tigs!

A Day of Firsts

Our little girl amazed her mommy several times today. First, she actually napped in her crib for the first time in a loooong time! Of course, Mom had to do a whole song-and-dance to get her down (nursing, rocking, bouncing, swaddling, etc.), but she got her down!! The picture on the left is how happy she is just after her nap.

Katie also got into a swimming pool for the first time ever. Although the weather was a little gloomy and cool, our mom's group got together at a local pool to see how the babies would react to the water. Katie ended up being one of the only babies to dare go into the frigid pool. Not only did she get in, but she LOVED it! She didn't even protest when mom took her out without a warm, fuzzy towel on hand. Sometimes nothing seems to faze this kid.

Solids Gold

Katie did UNBELIEVABLY well in her introduction to solid food tonight. We have to admit, we went into it expecting an epic battle. Now, in hindsight, we wonder if we've been starving our little girl for weeks. She loved it! No problems gulping down the rice cereal...other than her mouth already opening for the next bite. Bring on the oatmeal...

My View of the World

Mommy let me take my very first picture today. This is the world according to Katie. Currently, I'm pretty obsessed with my feet, so it's only fitting that they were my major inspiration. Oh, and take note of my handsome big brother laying on the floor.

We Hate Standardized Testing!

If any of you are familiar with Traci's philosophies on education, you probably know that she despises standardized testing as a general practice. Unfortunately, Katie had to go through the first standardized test of her young life today. In order to "graduate" from physical therapy, she had to have her motor and cognitive skills formally tested by her therapist. The tests were actually kind of fascinating to watch. Katie had to do a lot of things, such as finding blocks hidden under a cup, that she had never done in her life. Her final results: Gross Motor Skills - average (since she wouldn't roll over!), Fine Motor Skills - above average, Cognitive/Social - way above average. Traci thinks that she could have come to the same exact results without the formal standardized tests, but oh well...

What's the Special?

An update on table training...Katie will be introduced to solid foods this week. Doesn't she look interested? Unfortunately, here, she's absolutely fascinated by her Mom's bottled water and not at all in the food being passed around. Oh, well. More updates (and messier photos!) later this week...

Another Baby?

Relax, it's not what you think. Thanks to Traci's brother, David, we now have an image of Mike using the new Weber Baby-Q. Not a very masculine image of a man and his grill, but it gets the job done. Size doesn't matter, right? No comments from the peanut gallery...

Hot Dog

Nothing like 95 degrees and high humidity to give Geno an excuse to take a quick shade break during his evening walk. Summer is definitely here. Stay cool, everybody...

A Pain in the .......

Katie's got some pain...some pain in the mouth, that is! Unfortunately, the kiddo is in the middle of some pretty bad teething pain. Contrary to what she is showing in the picture on the left, she's been in a cantankerous mood: whining, having trouble eating, gumming anything put in her path, and not sleeping. Let's just hope those first teeth cut through soon.

Man Alive, Look Who's Five (Months)

Katie turns 5 months old today! She's accomplished a lot in those five months - being born, meeting the parents and hound-brother, surviving colic, enduring physical therapy, finding her fingers and toes, and discovering more and more of her world each day. Here's to an eventful sixth month, filled with solid foods, roll-overs, and a first Father's Day!

Human Pretzel

We have no idea where Katie gets her flexibility, but here she is literally bending 180 degrees so that she can chew on her toes. Must be all of those yoga classes she takes with her Mom! She is so obsessed with getting at her toes that she will no longer practice sitting up on her own. Just another one of her quirks, we suppose...

Yard Work

O.K., so we don't have a yard, yet. We are at least trying to work with what we have. The last couple of weeks have included some trips to the garden store. Hopefully, we've learned from our mistakes last year and picked only those flowers that won't crumble in the D.C. heat.




And, yes, that is Mike's sorry excuse for a grill next to the flower pots. Rather demasculating, but hidden from the condo board that doesn't permit them. Mini-Weber still cooks a damn good steak!

Friday Night Dinner

Mmmmmm...nothing like home cookin' on a Friday evening...