We had a great time on our first Halloween! It sure is a different
experience being down on the street versus in the house handing out
candy. We called on cousin Angela again to be our candy distributor and
we took off around the block for a brief taste of trick-or-treating. So
far, the concept is a bit lost but it was funny to see Katy's reaction
to seeing the other kids do it.
First we previewed the costume at nana & papa's house...
Then we officially headed out for our first trick-or-treating experience! Angela helped us get ready and took care of Riley as she always goes nuts with all the bell ringing and street traffic.
Afterwards, we enjoyed the animal crackers we got from our neighbor Lisa and sat outside until it was too cold to sit anymore.
It sure was fun but I'll be glad when she's walking more so I don't have to carry the little strawberry from house to house. Man she gets heavy! I figure I got paid in candy at least :-)
We've had a few milestones in the last month. First, we turned two! Katy woke up cheery as usual, sporting an interesting look with her shirt (which has since been retired as sleepwear)...
Shortly after her birthday we had an open house to celebrate with friends and neighbors. (not sure if I can make the invite graphic work but I'll give it a try)
Menu was hopefully both grown up and kid friendly:
BBQ meatballs
Cocktail weenies (old family favorite-at least of mine!)
Prosciutto & Gruyere pastry pinwheels
Cheese pastry sticks
PB&J cutout sandwiches
Red pepper feta spread with pita
Herbed goat cheese with crackers
Spiced nuts
Ranch oyster crackers
Veggies & dip
Cupcakes (fancy butterfly cupcakes in place of cake)
Salted caramel brownies
The dahlias were in full bloom for the party.
Thanks to our good friend 'cousin' Angela, we have a few pictures from the actual party. It was too busy for me to remember the camera. Special shout out to Kathee, without whom I would have collapsed and not enjoyed any of the party. She was such a rockstar coming over early to help clean and prepare food and cleaned a bunch before she left. Amazing. So thankful for good friends like her!
I think we had some fun! It was great to see everyone.
Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the cupcakes. They were very cute with pink frosting and butterflies on top made of M&Ms and pretzels. I thought for sure I had a picture of the tray before we handed them out. hmm. We all enjoyed them anyway!
We had the 24 month checkup too. We found out that in addition to getting taller (from 1% to 18% for her age) Katy moved from 5% to 25% in weight! Oddly, her 50% head is still the same. Current tooth total is still 4, but there are two more broken through and coming soon. Feels like she's growing before my eyes. We went from the pediatrician to the ear doc and she'll be getting tubes next week. Her hearing has gone down since we arrived home due to fluid but I'm a little skeptical that she might just be more distracted. In any case, the tubes procedure is very quick and if it helps her with her talking, I'm game to try it.
And as we pass through the four month home mark, winter is decending. I'm still trying to figure out how to keep her hair from getting dry with all the hat wearing. She loves her mittens so that's good anyway.
Next post is halloween, I thought I'd let that one live on it's own...
So
many posts in my head, sadly nothing getting out to my computer. I did
manage to take a picture near to our three months home mark. Similar to
the first two months I chronicled here, I tried to match the pose we got on the first day home.
Katy
has been growing so much it's almost visible to the naked eye! At our
last checkup, they measured her height at 32", a full 5" taller in just 3
months. Amazing. I look at this month's photo and she seems so lanky
and yet sturdy, compared to the big belly and little legs she had that
barely held her up. She's also walking all over, when the mood strikes
her. (Special thanks to Doda Susan for the cute skirt and Max & Adam for the Cars crocs in the video)
Real words are still yet to come but even though she's not saying anything recognizable, she's talking all the time.
And
tomorrow, she turns two! I'll have a birthday post for her if I can get
my act together. We'll have a little party and of course some cake.
More to come on that.
Since it's difficult to find a
snack that the day care can accept, I thought it might be fun to make
something that they could use whenever they celebrate birthdays. Once a
month the kitchen bakes a cake for everyone who has a birthday that
month. My idea was to have birthday bibs with fun birthday fabric! Then
it turns out that the fabric store didn't really have flannel or
terrycloth in fun birthday patterns. grr. They did have a cute dinosaur
pattern, which worked out because they are the dinosaur room. And so, I
made bibs.
Lots
of them. What was I thinking!? I haven't sewn really much of anything
since high school. I think they turned out ok. Definitely glad to have
them done. I'm discovering how creative you have to be to get everything
done in the hour after she goes to bed before I collapse into mine.
We've been home two months now. I've been sorting through photos and found this one, taken the day after we arrived home.
So I thought it would be fitting to take another shot, two months later...
I didn't do so well on re-creating the pose but she doesn't sit still like she used to :-) It's funny how you don't notice it but she's starting to fill out and of course her hair is getting so long! I do need to figure that out for real, soon.
In the last two months...
• Measured at the clinic 50th percentile for head circumference, 20th for weight and 1st (1th?) for height. At least she's on the chart!
• Gained 4 pounds to a whopping 24 pounds
• Started daycare and is loving it
• Possibly said two words (not repeated so possibly not actual words just sounds that sounded like words) "all done" at daycare and "up" at her 'baby' shower yesterday
• Most often sleeps all the way through the night
• Still eats like a truck driver, only turning down baby oatmeal. And if you ask me, that's a good choice. ick.
Last week we went to an open house for the friends in Nana and Papa's neighborhood. It was fun and Katy had a blast playing with the girls and crawling around all over. Here we are after the party...
And yesterday, my mom and my godmother, with the help of my sister from afar, held a baby shower for Katy. It was great to see family and friends and watch Katy having fun with all the ladies. And the toys. And the cake!
Oh, how I wish I could get back the two weeks I was not ready to enjoy my time with Katy. Sadly, we have only one more week before I go back to work. The rest of this year will be tight on vacation time since we took two trips to Ethiopia and time off afterwards. I am definitely looking forward to getting back my vacation time in January. So long from now!
So for now we are going to enjoy the rest of our time together...
Visiting Nana and Papa...
Playing inside when it's too hot or too rainy!
Visiting the park and splash pool...
And just plain having a ball in our own back yard.
We hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are...now, that is :-)
Check out the rest of the Sunday Snapshots at Ni Hao Y'all
