Little Raggedy Ann

The little princess is still feeling under the weather, but she's showing some improvement today. She's drinking and eating better and playing with her toys again. We've been calling her Raggedy Ann because she has these two perfectly circular flushed areas in her cheeks. Perhaps we should also call her the Kitchen Faucet for the amount of leakage coming from her nose... We're sure she'll be getting back into trouble in no time.

UPDATE: We confirmed an ear infection (perhaps the hundreds of ear tugs were a clue). Prognosis for Katie: Excellent! She'll live. Prognosis for the sleep-deprived parents: Not so certain. We've already turned the phones off for the night to try to catch up...Sorry that we've already missed 3 calls!

Drag Racing

Due to an unfortunate convergence of events (high fever, nausea, cold, and two new teeth!!), Katie has politely asked the paparazzi to take the day off. In compliance with this request, we present a picture from earlier this week. Here's Katie "drag"-racing Connor's mom Mo across their living room floor. Katie started off strong, but she lost in the end when she was distracted by the cute boy across the room. You have to keep your head in the game, kid!

The Way to a Hound's Heart....

...is through his stomach! Katie has discovered that Geno will very graciously accept her company whenever she offers her snacks to him. (Perhaps this is why she is only 40th percentile in weight despite the amount of food we present her.) Here she woos him with a cheese-n-cracker.

Just a few minutes later, she's happily off to her toy bin. Her snack plate is left in the dust dangerously close to an always-ravenous hound.

Traci's Oscars Review

Since the Oscars are like my "Super Bowl," I thought I would list some random thoughts from the evening:

1.) I love Oscar day so much. Why? I get spoiled more on this day/night than my birthday and Mother's Day combined. When the Oscars roll around, I get a reprieve from cooking, cleaning, and all other duties. Last night, Mike picked up pizzas, vacuumed the living room, cleaned up the dishes, and put Katie down...all while I was parked on the couch watching red carpet coverage.

2.) Speaking of the red carpet, my pick for best-dressed was Heidi Klum (as pictured here). Others may not agree, but that dress left quite a stunning impression on me. Katherine Heigl, Jen Garner, and Keri Russell also looked great.

3.) On the other hand, what happened to my darling Nicole (Kidman, one of my all-time favorites)? What the heck was on her neck? She wasn't my worst-dressed, however. That honor goes to the frumpy-looking Ellen Page.

4.) Mike and I both thought that Jon Stewart hit the ball out of the park with his opening monologue. I laughed for about 10 minutes after his "Gaydolf Titler" joke.

5.) We have seen NONE of the pictures nominated for Best Picture this year. That's what happens when you have a small baby. But they are all on our Netflix queue. (Unfortunately, they probably won't get here for another three years because our queue is so long.)

6.) I was so happy when that beautiful French chick won Best Actress...she seemed genuinely delighted.

7.) How in the world did George Clooney's girlfriend win the lottery? She doesn't seem that spectacular.

8.) Last, but CERTAINLY not least...speaking of Clooney, did anybody catch his shout-out to Notre Dame during the red carpet coverage? I about died! He asked Regis Philbin how the Irish basketball team did yesterday (they won, of course). He said that he stopped watching when they were winning at half time. George, we'll take you as an honorary fan anyday.

Pacified

Katie has become quite addicted to her pacifiers of late. She's always enjoyed them at times, but has just recently started to call out for them frequently. We'll start phasing them out if it gets too out of control, but for now we're guessing some more teeth may be about to cut through...

Family Day

Every month, Traci's Moms' Group hosts a weekend Family Day to allow dads and working moms to join in the fun. We attended this month's Valentine-themed party at a local library today. Kate joined her buddies in enjoying festive food, music, and toys. The kids especially loved chasing after these bubbles. Meanwhile, the parents all talked about less exciting things like the housing market and the metro area's traffic problems. Oh, to be a kid again...

Our Baby's Baby

When we first learned that we were having a little girl, Mike was admittedly a little intimidated by the prospect. He felt like he was going to be entering a foreign land filled with pink frills, hair bows, and nail polish. Well, he breezed through the first year since baby boys and girls are pretty much the same. (They wear the same onesies, demand the same amount of attention, and play with the same rattles and blocks.)

Yep, he was breezing along until Grammy K. presented Katie with her first baby doll. Much to Mike's discomfort, Katie LOVES her "Baby." She sleeps with it, tries to share her pacifiers with it, and screams "BAYYYY-BEEEE" whenever she sees it. (She hasn't quite learned how to hold it like a baby, as seen here.) But, for some reason, we just can't get Mike to play with or carry it. C'mon dad, embrace the daughter thing...it only gets crazier from here! Barbies, anyone?

Between a Couch and a Soft Place

The kid is definitely forcing us to move quickly on our babyproofing duties. (Notice the soft ottoman has replaced the coffee table in the picture.) She's learning to move much more quickly with her army crawl. The change in speed and technique from the video below (in just two days) is amazing. You never know where you are going to find her when you put her down now. No, wait, yes you do - right next to Geno, a houseplant, or anything else that is forbidden. She's also cruising like there's no tomorrow. And, her favorite new game is trying to stand by herself, not holding onto anything. Geesh - we guess she's hitting her physical development stride.

Be All That You Can Be

Here's Kate's modified army crawl, with camouflage fatigues and all. As you can see, she hasn't really learned to use her legs yet. She must have amazing upper body strength, because she's basically pulling her entire weight with her arms and shoulders. Mommy definitely could NOT do this trick. It's pretty funny how much she can get around the room this way.

Kid vs. Greyhound (Round I)

Here's Katie, seconds away from crossing the finish line on a short 40-yard dash during this evening's walk. She absolutely loves motion (aside from self-imposed motion, of course) and giggled the entire way. We decided to let Geno off-leash to see of sibling rivalry would inspire the old man. He started strong, but like all good big brothers, let his little sister win in the end.

Rockville Rendezvous

Here's a blast from Mike's past (with some new little twists added in). Tonight, we were able to visit with friends Amy and Matt (in from Detroit), Melissa and Andy (living in Rockville), and Amy and Melissa's parents (in from Grand Rapids). About as close to a second family as Mike had growing up, it was great catching up with all of them. Matt and Amy, and Andy and Melissa, are both proud parents of two newborn baby girls, Addyson and Lia, respectively. The visit gave us a chance to meet the little ones, and gave Katie her first chance to be the BIG girl in the room. Thanks, Melissa and Andy, for hosting, and sorry we couldn't stay for dinner. Kevin's Chicken, was it?

Caption Contest

Katie (far right) and her playgroup buddies are thinking ______________________.

(Post your best guess in the comments below!)

Romantic Dinner for Three

Happy Valentine's Day! Mike has to work this weekend, so he was able to take V-day off for the second year in a row (Traci is getting spoiled). We spent the day relaxing around the homestead and then ventured into Old Town Alexandria for an early dinner. Katie was well behaved and even put up with a stroll down King Street to check out the wedding boutiques (Traci), confectionaries (Mike), and toy stores (Katie).

Valentine's Tree? Katie was very excited to be reminded of her favorite Christmas decoration upon leaving the restaurant...

Coincidentally, Alexandria was just named the most romantic city in the United States. This fact impressed Katie greatly as she surveyed the grounds for eligible suitors.

The Newest Gilmore Girl

So far, Kate has not become too attached to television viewing. She wouldn't sit still for the Baby Einstein videos, and she hasn't watched more than five minutes of any kids' programming like Dora or Elmo. However, she does make one major exception. Every day when the theme song of "Gilmore Girls" (one of mommy's all-time favorites) comes on our television, Katie stops everything she is doing, starts bopping to the music, and stares vacantly at the screen. There's no stopping her from getting her GG fix. She even pays attention to particular scenes throughout the hour-long episode. (She's partial to Lorelei-Rory banter, for those in the know.) Hey, Mom can't help it that the girl has good taste.

Only 17 More Years

Kate proudly shows off her "I Voted" sticker, borrowed from Mom. Today was Virginia's turn to help decide the presidential nominees. Of course, Mike and Traci did their civic duties and got to the polls. We'll be watching tonight to see if our votes made a difference.

In other (BIG) news, Katie started to "army crawl" today! Picture a soldier creeping on his or her belly under barbed wire and you've got the concept of army crawling. She only does this if you entice her with something cool, but she's finally moving from one spot to another. Nothing like a late bloomer finally catching up with the curve!

Tasmanian She-Devil

Much like "Taz" (the Looney Tunes character) used to leave quite a mess in his wake, our little tasmanian she-devil sure knows how to un-tidy a room. Sometimes when we need to get something done in the kitchen, we leave Katie with a bin full of toys. When we come back out five minutes later, she has just about everything spread out to the far corners of the room. She's just starting to get the concept of putting things back INTO the bin. We'll have to keep practicing that.

Just Another Dinner with Katie...

Here's a couple of pictures from tonight. Katie never fails to entertain us with her silly faces. This first one was actually after Mom asked her where her ears were. Smart girl!
I don't know what Katie was thinking here, exactly. Perhaps she was sucking every last delicious morsel off her fingers. Dad actually cooked tonight. And he didn't even use a grill. Shocking!

Please Don't Go, Daddy!

I cannot tell you how much Katie adores her daddy. As you can see in the picture, she loves her little play session early in the morning before dad leaves for work. She never wants to see him go. Later, at about 5 or so in the afternoon, she starts to point to the door and screams "da-da" every so often. (Even if mom steps outside for the mail or something, Kate yells "da-da" when she comes back through the door!) Of course, her whole face just lights up when he finally makes it home. Yep, she's a daddy's girl already.

All Fours

Finally caught the Kate-meister attempting to get up on all fours with this shot. You put the right thing near her (her toy balls, Geno's tail, some forbidden food), and she'll now lunge, slither, or get up on all fours toward it. Baby steps, right? It's kind of humbling to brag about these little things that our 13-month-old does after receiving an email from a friend in Chicago whose 6-month-old is crawling already...Go Gabi!

Our Little "Lady"

With our weather unseasonably warm, Kate and Mom spent the entire afternoon at an area park. They watched a pick-up soccer game, swung on the swings, and tried to cruise on some playground equipment. Unfortunately, our proper, little "lady" discovered how fun the dirt at her feet could be. She became so enamored with it that she was soon covered in dirt and wood chip shrapnel. And, of course, she demanded a snack not too long after, so she had dirt-covered grapes, cheerios, and milk. YUMMY!

Cruisin' for a Bruisin'

Kate has finally started to "cruise" around our furniture. (For those out of the loop of baby lingo, that's walking by holding onto something.) Of course, she's decided that she will ONLY move right and ONLY at a snail's pace. Hey, she has to start somewhere, right? And, she doesn't discriminate as to where she cruises. This weekend, Traci placed her against a round shelf at Gap; and Kate proceeded to cruise around almost the entire thing, much to the amusement of some other customers.

Kate has also really started getting into things, like cabinet doors. This picture illustrates our need to crack into that babyproofing project.

Super Sunday

Brian, Maureen, and Connor came over tonight to watch the big game. The kids had fun playing with Geno and the toys while the adults enjoyed the football, commercials, pizza, and a few drinks.

Oh, and for Ben and Tom, Traci was elated with the G-men victory. It was all Mike could do to keep her from calling to see how it feels to be beaten by Peyton's younger brother. Don't worry...Tom Brady is still pretty!

Don't Laugh Over Spilled Milk!

Slowly but surely, we are trying to teach Kate how to be a more independent young lady. For example, we are trying to wean her from the bottle to a big girl cup. I think we're going to have to be quite patient with this one... Just look at what happens when she gets hold of a cup without a stop-valve! We're not sure if more milk ended up in her mouth or her bib.