Applewood Farms

We visited Applewood Farms last night. They have sort of a winter wonderland during the holidays. There are real-life reindeer. And there are some of the animals that would have been in the manger with Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus; a donkey, some goats, a horse, a pig, and a duck (not sure if a Pekin Duck would have been in Bethlehem).

Our goal was to ride the train and see the Christmas light display. Although she was very serious, Katherine enjoyed the train ride. She also enjoyed her first taste of hot cocoa in the barn following the train ride. They had some toy trains set up in the barn everywhere you looked. We all had a good time.

Here are some pictures from our evening. The seats on the train were quite cold, so Katherine was initially taken aback. Mommy and Daddy soon buffered the cold seats for her.

Halloween

The big day came and Katherine dressed up as a pink leopard. We tried to teach her how to say trick or treat but it came out sounding like "tee tee". Sometimes she would growl on cue if we asked her what a leopard says.

Here is a picture of Katherine and Mommy at the beginning of trick or treating. I think Katherine was growling for us. The second picture is of Katherine discovering the full sized candy bars at my parents' house. They had a total of 2 trick or treaters, including Katherine. I guess we know what Dad will be snacking on until Christmas!

We hope everyone had an enjoyable Halloween!

Fashion Show

Katherine was in the Halloween spirit in the days leading up to the actual event. Luckily, the weather turned cooler and she was able to wear her sweater. The only shirt that wasn't captured on film (memory card) was the one that says "Ghouls just wanna have fun!". As you can see, she wasn't happy with me during most of the photo shoots. The was tired and cranky and I kept taking her binky out of her mouth.

There is also a picture of one of Miss Jen's hairstyles on Katherine. Miss Jen is our daycare provider and she loves to do Katherine's hair. There are some days she comes home with 10 rubber bands in there. (no exaggeration!)

Pumpkin Picking

K-dog has discovered pumpkins. She carries Mom's pumpkin decorations all over the place and continually shows us the pumpkin in her Halloween book. We took her to a pumpkin patch today to pick out her own. We all got to ride the hay wagon back to the stand!

Here is the beginning of her pumpkin search and her final choice.

Ravens Gear

Even though Katherine isn't a big fan of the Ravens' mascots; Edgar, Allen, and Poe, she likes putting on her jersey and hat. I think it has something to do with the fact that they're purple. Here she is wearing her team colors.

Philadelphia Zoo

We went to the Philadelphia Zoo with Aunt Lori and Uncle Rob last weekend. It was a lot of fun! Katherine took a while to warm up to the animals, but seemed to enjoy it. By the time we left, she wanted to walk by herself and check out the sights on her own. So independent!

Playtime

We took Katherine to the school playground on Labor Day. We thought it would be fun for her to use the slides. Unfortunately, the slides had been baking in the sun and were too hot for little legs. Katherine had packed her big blue ball in the wagon, so we played with the ball in the field for a while. She likes to carry that ball all over the place. I think she considers it too precious to kick.

Katherine was buried in a tub of beanie babies at Aunt Lori and Uncle Rob's house. I think they used to be Courtney's, but she didn't mind Katherine playing with them.

15 Months

Katherine had her 15 month check-up yesterday. She got two shots and two cool band-aids! One was care bears and the other was Dora the Explorer. Too bad Katherine doesn't know who either of them are yet.

Katherine is 33 inches tall and 23.8 pounds. Her weight gain has slowed down. I guess it's from all of that running around she's been doing!

Katherine loves any kind of ball and has developed quite a throwing arm. While it's neat to see her throwing the balls, we're trying to discourage her from throwing all of her other toys. She also loves going for walks in her red wagon.

Bruiser!

Our little girl has her first big boo-boo. She was running around at daycare and took a header into one of the toys. It's hard to see from the pictures, but it might turn into a little shiner. I guess we should be happy that she didn't get it from a fight.

Katherine seems to be quite proud of herself. She was telling me all about it in the second picture.

"Doe a Deer"

We had some visitors at the house this evening. The deer may have been lured by the cooler weather or our extra-long grass/weeds. Either way, it was neat to see them. The view is from our back sliding glass door.

Harford County Farm Fair

Katherine went to her first Farm Fair. There were lots of animals to look at, some to touch, pig races, sheep wrangling, story tellers, etc. She also had her first ride in a school bus as it shuttled us to and from the parking lot.

Katherine wasn't quite sure about the horses and pigs at first. But by the time we left, she had made friends with some ducklings, a donkey, and a cow named "Beef". She also had her first snow cone which was a much-needed treat on such a sweltering day.

Sarah and Scott Fitzgerald

Scott and Sarah were married on July 21, 2007 at the Vandiver Inn in Havre de Grace. The weather was clear and temperate making a perfect day for an outdoor wedding. The bride and groom made a handsome couple...fit for a magazine.

Everyone enjoyed the beautiful ceremony and reception. Katherine enjoyed the reception as she was napping under the supervision of the babysitter during the ceremony.

Here are some pictures from the special day...courtesy of Aunt Jenny.

Brayden Drew Perry

Our newest nephew!

Brayden Drew Perry
Born: July 16, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
Weight: 6.9 lbs.
Length: 19 3/4 inches

Congratulations to Dawn and Billy! You guys make cute offspring!

Walking!

An announcement for all of you that have been anxiously waiting for Katherine to walk...

She's walking!

Katherine started walking about 2 weeks ago. There's always the question, "do a couple of steps count as walking?" We got past that point, and it's definite now. She is walking all over the place and is getting pretty darn fast. She also likes to show us how she can climb up the stairs.

All of her motion makes it difficult to get a non-blurry picture, but here are a few.

12 Month Check-Up

Katherine had her 12 Month Check-Up on Wednesday. She got three vaccinations, was weighed and measured, and had the normal exam. She is 22.8 lbs. (75th percentile) and 31.5 inches long (97th percentile!). There was the normal crying with the shots, but she did fine.

In Maryland, children have to be screened for lead poisoning and anemia. They do this by drawing blood from their arm. We got this over with yesterday. As you can imagine, drawing blood from a 1 year-old is not an easy task. The lady that drew the blood was great and successfully drew blood on the first stick. I held K in a tight bear hug while Rob entertained her. Let's just say that she was NOT happy. She screamed, cried, and fought to get away. By the time it was finished, we got her sweater on, and went to Panera Bread for dinner, she had forgotten all about it.

Katherine is cruising around everything and is pretty darn fast. She will take a couple of steps to get to people or things she wants. Once she decides that she can walk, she's going to take off. Her eating is back to normal as her molars have stopped hurting. I think she has three out of four in. She has also graduated from her bottle and using cups (sippy, or with a lid and straw) exclusively with real milk or juice.

K is starting to say words like "cat", "duck", "bug", "Mama", "Dada", and "more". She started daycare three days a week and "Grandma and Grandpa-care" two days a week. We've noticed that being around other kids has really increased her babbling and talking.

Here are some pictures of Katherine being goofy. One is in the bathtub, the other is her giving a cheesy smile while playing in a box. The third picture is Katherine in her favorite position...upside down!

First Birthday!

Katherine's First Birthday was last Sunday. She had a good time and enjoyed being around close family and friends. Here are some pictures from the party.

Sailor Girl

Katherine has had two maritime "firsts" recently. She went sailing with us during my birthday party and she attended a boat christening. K is having more experiences during her first year of life than some people ever do!















She enjoyed sailing, with all of the sights that go with it. To our surprise, K tolerated the lifejacket well. It got a little warm and we took it off for a break. But she didn't mind putting it back on for the ride back to the marina.
















We attended a christening for my company's new articulated tug and barge unit. It was an impressive party with thousands of people, good food, pirates, music, a sandbox barge, and golf driving range. Katherine enjoyed all of the activity and was a complete doll during the 6 hours we were there.

Molars

The past week has been a challenge. Katherine is cutting at least 2 molars. I think I may have spotted a 3rd one this morning. They look painful. Katherine is handling them like a champ, but seems to be bothered when she eats. She had been eating chicken nuggets, meatballs, chunks of cooked veggies, and whatever she showed an interest in. For the past week she's been on basically a liquid diet. We're back to baby food and anything else she doesn't have to chew. Even the small pieces of carrot in the baby food meals appear to be painful. Poor baby!

The bright side is that she'll be able to eat even more of a variety of big-girl food once her chompers are completely in.

Mother's Day

We had a wonderful Mother's Day. I was on-call for work and stuck at the house. So Mom-mom, Pop-pop, Mom, Dad, and Scott came over for a cookout. The boys did all of the cooking and we had a lot of fun visiting with everyone.

New "do" / 11 months

Katherine has a new hairdo. The pigtails keep her hair out of her face and is a little cooler when the weather is hot. Besides that, they're adorable!

She is 11 months old and well on her way to walking. She cruises around while holding onto couches, chairs, or whatever she can reach. Occasionally Katherine will let go and stand for a few seconds before losing her balance. She does "so big" and points at everything. You can bet that "why?" and "what's that?" will be her favorite questions.

New Car

I recently bought a new car. It is a 2006 VW Jetta TDI. It has a diesel engine and has great gas mileage. On average, it gets 45-50 mpg!!! I just filled up on gas for the first time after clocking in 500 miles on one tank of gas! To make this car even sweeter is that diesel is cheaper than regular these days.















Katherine likes the new car too.