10 Months Old!!

Yep, that's right.. I can't believe it either. As of yesterday Katelyn is TEN months old! It still seems at times like I just had her yesterday. Each day I'm learning something new and each day I learn to be more patient and loving. She makes me such a better person, wife, and MOM. My future children are lucky because Katelyn has taught me a lot about being a good mother!

She is doing so much now and getting so big and independent. Honestly, I don't remember very well the times when she couldn't move. I think now... what would I do when she just sat there? Not being able to roll or anything? It's just a COMPLETELY new adventure having to go around and watch her every move. I love it though. I hear a lot of people saying they want their baby to take their time to learn to walk, but when she started crawling and now that she is walking I fell in love with this stage of her life. It is so fun to see her explore. To call her over to me. To have her help me with different things like the dishes (well she doesn't really help she just loves standing there holding on to the rack and laugh and keeping me company, which I love :) ).

Seriously, walking is such a fun thing. Taking her outside is so fun for me. We were outside playing soccer the other day. I would kick it and she would scurry to try and pick the ball up.. she still doesn't have the kicking part down, but she loves to carry the ball and set it down. There are just so many things we can have fun with now that she can walk.

Here are some things about Katelyn now that she is 10 months old:

-Walks everywhere. I don't think I've seen her crawl very far at all since she learned to walk.

-Eats some table foods, bread, sliced banana's, potatoes, chicken, etc.

-STILL NO TEETH! That doesn't really bother me though. She's always happy and I've heard some horrible teething stories.. so I'd hate to see those little teeth bothering her!

-She knows how to say HI, she just won't say it that often.

-She claps! It's so cute, she'll just walk around clapping sometimes. Or when she does something really good she'll start clapping when I say yay. The other day I was talking to someone and I said, "Oh yay! Good for you." and she started clapping, haha it was so cute.

-She goes to bed and naps SO easy. One day she just didn't need a bottle, didn't need anything really, I just walked to her room and she was basically asleep by the time I got there. Ever since then I don't think I've had her put up a fight with napping or bedtime. She knows when it's time and everything works out perfect.

Well, there's so much she does I know I can't think of everything. She is just so sweet and we love her so much. I feel like the year has gone by too fast. In 2 months she will be a year old. I can't believe it.

Well, Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you enjoyed your weekend :)

Katelyn 10 Months

Storybook Forest

Last night we went to this really fun Halloween event for kids. It was at a lake nearby and they set up a trail through the trees. The trail was lit up with orange lights and along the trail they had different scenes and characters from storybooks. They had the three little pigs, the little old lady who lived in a shoe, the.. ok now my mind has gone blank and I can't remember all of them. It was really fun though!! Adults were free, kids were charged. Even though Katelyn wasn't going to eat the candy we still collected it and had her go up to each person and grab one. It was cute. She didn't want to let go of each piece she got and got mad every time we took it away, but soon after she was getting another one so that made her happy.

Here are a few pics from the night. We went with some friends, their little boy is the cute little fireman! Then we were also there with another couple and their ADORABLE little twins. I wish I would have got a picture with them because their outfits were so cute, little giraffe and a zebra!

Before it all began:

 We dressed Katelyn up as a BYU cheerleader! We already had the outfit and I thought, why not since I don't want to go out and buy another expensive little kids costume.

 Surprisingly she loved the little pom pom. I was a little hesitant making it thinking she'd destroy it and eat it all up, but she didn't eat it once! And when I gave it to her as soon as I told her to shake it she did. It was so cute!

 She is ready for a FUN night!

 The gang.. minus the other parents and little twins :)

 She was SO happy

 The little pig who made his house out of hay!

 The other two little pigs

 Hansel and Gretel the witches' home made out of candy.. (that's the right story right?)

 Daddy and Katelyn and the big black cat

 Oh boy, you woulda thought we gave her some of that sugar, but she was just happy to see everything!

 The after party.... we enjoyed ice cream after and I took Katelyn's pigtails out and her hair looked so funny

We have another fun little event for kids coming up this Friday. It's similar except they decorate our zoo! So that should be fun, and  there may be a future blog post about that too. :)

I really, really enjoyed dressing Katelyn up and taking her to this little activity. It was a lot of fun to watch her be so happy. It's amazing how many fun, new, and exciting things you get to do as parents. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I'm glad she is able to do these things now and be happy about it. I sure do love her!!

I Hate Goodbyes.. :(

Well, my mom and little brother left this morning. Their trip was short and sweet. Unfortunately I didn't get very many pics from their trip out here (why does that always seem to happen, you forget to take pictures when the exciting things happen?) My little brother's camera died too while he was here so I don't think he got very many either! I can tell you we had a good time though. I really enjoyed them being here. And although it was just a few short days with them, I already don't know what to do with myself. With Nick gone at school and just me and Katelyn in the house again it's really quiet.

I'm glad my mom and little brother were able to come and I can't wait to see more family during the holidays! :)

Here are a few pics I got from my phone with them here:

 At the Zoo. Isaac comparing the width of his arms to the span of a female bald eagle's wings.

 Comparing his hand to a grizzly bear paw.

 At the store. Katelyn didn't want to be sitting, she just wanted to be out helping push the cart.

Last night here. We went to the park and were just having fun. :) It was really dark, but it was only 7:30 p.m.

Well, that's all for now!

What if I told you...

I was going to make our blog private?

For those private bloggers, how do you feel about it? Is it a hassle? Is it hard to get everyone emailed an invite?

I just hate not knowing who is looking at/stalking my blog. I'm also kind of hesitant putting pictures of Katelyn up because random people can just look at my blog.

So.. most likely this will occur. I know a lot of people read it that DON'T have a blog, so what do they do? Do they need a google account or can they sign in with another account? A lot of people read it who I DON'T EVEN know they read it.. doesn't mean I don't want you to :) just let me know you are reading it!

Please give all your input! I'd really like to know how it is having a private blog and how to make it easy for people who aren't very familiar with blogger to be able to log in to read and leave comments.

Thanks!

Time is Not Going to Stop.. or Rewind.

I put away my favorite little bunny pants of Katelyn's yesterday. Why? Because she is too big for them now. I was so sad putting away more clothes of hers. This is the second time I've had to go through, empty and restock her drawers. Surprisingly I don't cry, but I do get very emotional. Especially since yesterday while we were in there she would bring her book up to me and put it in my face like she wanted me to read it to her and she would get on my lap. I thought "How are you already this old? Where has time gone?"

This morning I also was trying to show Katelyn some pictures of herself on Nick's laptop and I stumbled across this video:

This is a video of her the first day she was born in the hospital. I realized yesterday that Katelyn is not ever going to get younger, she won't ever be my little newborn again, she won't EVER be this age again, and that I should be doing everything I can to make the most of it. I sure hope I am. I take a million pictures of her. We could do better on the video recording, but most importantly am I spending the most time with her I can rather than doing other things like Facebook, browsing the internet, or watching tv? That is something I want to always remember because time is still moving. Each day she gets older. I hope you all take the time to be with and appreciate the time you have with the ones you love!

Although I do feel this way sometimes, I AM so excited for her to be getting older and I sure do love watching her grow and learn and do new things, but it is always sad knowing she's not going to be your little baby forever. She is so cute at every stage it makes me want to see her grow and what she'll be doing next.

You Ready For This?

Ok, so the title is mainly for my little brother because on his blog he titled his last post "Ready?" so I'm copying him and asking him the same QUESTION! ha

My Mom and little brother get to come visit us this week!! I am very excited. You don't know how much I miss having family around. Nick and Katelyn definitely do keep me satisfied in Oklahoma, but I'm sure many of you know how it is not to live anywhere near your family. :( sad.

I'm so excited that they can come see Katelyn. Come see my home. Come stay in my home. That I can cook for them, clean for them, show them around Oklahoma, etc, etc. My whole family has only been here once so I've been waiting for someone to come back!

I'm also glad that they are coming NOW because I feel like they don't get to see Katelyn as much as they should. Most of my family probably won't see her until she is just about to turn ONE year old and to think about that seems crazy and sad at the same time. So I'm thrilled they can spend time with her and see her more before she gets older. :)

My little brother is absolutely one of my best friends (I have many). We are nine years apart and I feel like I grew up raising him. I talk about him to people A LOT and I'm sure they can always tell how much I just love him! He is such a funny, outgoing (when he gets to know you), energetic, loving, little guy and I can't wait to see him.

I can't wait to see my mom either. I love talking to my mom. And being able to talk to her in person is better than any old skype session or over the phone conversation. So I'm very excited for that! I love her advice and help she gives while we are together. I especially love all the diaper changes she offers to do also! Ha just kidding. Actually I'm not, I really do love it.

I really wish my whole family were coming out. I miss my brothers, my one and only sister, my Dad, but soon enough I will see them. :)

Can't wait to see you bubba! (Me and Isaac at Alpine Valley.. I think?)

Another exciting thing is that Nick's parents are coming out shortly after my mom and little brother leave! I'm sure Nicholas would express how much this means to him and how very excited he is (we both are), but unfortunately he doesn't blog all that much ;) We are very excited for them to come and also welcome them into our home! Again.. they've only been here once too! We love having family in town, so we are excited for this month to SLOWLY go by and enjoy our time together!

Can't wait to see everyone!

I Made Something

I guess when I'm proud of something I post about it. I love to sew I just never have good projects or time it seems like. However I've been wanting to make these chair covers for SUCH a long time because now that we have a little kiddo that can walk, grab, make things dirty I figured off-white chair covers (the original color) probably aren't the best idea. ;) So.. I changed them up and gave them a little twist.

 Original chair cover

     New chair cover

And I actually really like them. I still have a few more to do. I like to take it one day, I mean one week, at a time. They take some work to put together!

 I think the red table runner and the new black and white colors all tie together really nice. Hopefully I can finish the 4 other covers I need to do!

If you guys are looking to spice up your house a little bit, chair covers, pillow covers, anything small like that can give a new look to a room and it just takes a little work! Try it out. :)