Sweet Pea

Last Friday we took Cate to the Trick or Treat Path at the community center.  She looked so cute in her sweet pea costume, but I don't think that she was all that happy to be in it!  

Baby Love

My friend Mandi is in town again (yay!) with baby John.  We hung out with the babies all day today and after getting over the shock of realizing that we've known each other for 18 years (we are old!), we took some adorable pictures of the babies together.  In case you haven't figured this out already, this blog is simply a shameless way for me to show off Cate being adorable with her adorable baby friends!

Gansta Babies!

Telling Secrets?

But mommy, I want to hold his hand!

Mandi and I worked hard for these smiles!

Photo Shoot Take Two

When we had Cate's picture taken about a month ago, we got some great shots, but Cate was just starting to smile back then so the photographer wanted to come back a few weeks later to get the rest of the pictures.  It was such a beautiful day last Friday that we got Cate dressed up in a Fall-ish outfit (again, compliments of Mrs. Benesh!) and took her out to the park behind our house.  We got so many great pictures that I don't know how I'm going to choose, but here are a few of the ones I really like!

Fall is Here

I'm still hoping for a few more warm sunny days, but the temperature has seriously dropped this past week.  The good news is that Cate can now wear her adorable winter hats.  Mrs. Benesh has knit her two hats (and a sweater) and they are SO cute!  She reminded me of a little Russian girl sitting in her stroller wearing this on Friday.

My Boyfriend's Back!

My friend Mandi arrived in town yesterday for a visit, so that means that Cate's boyfriend Johnny was here too!  Here they are in Cate's rocking chair!

Three Months Old!

Time is going too fast.  My baby is already a quarter of a year old! I tried to get a decent picture of her on her three month birthday, but she was not very cooperative.  I really love this little purple onesie/dress and I think it will be her last time wearing it.  Sad.  

This morning Cate and I went to her baby class, "Jeepers Creepers."  She's really too young for it, but it's fun anyway.  Here she is rolling on the exercise ball with the teacher.

Cate's Favorite Pink Chair

College Roommates

This past weekend our friends Dan and Jamie, who now live in Phoenix, came to visit and to meet Cate and her friend Casey.  Jamie, Tracy and I lived together for a year at IOWA and Casey is  Tracy's baby who is just two days older than Cate.  Just to round out the roommate baby boom, Jamie and Dan are expecting their first baby in March.  Cate thinks it's going to be a girl because she already has too many boyfriends to choose from!

Roommate Picture

Mark, Tracy and Casey

Jamie, Dan and ??????

Cate wanted to wear her Bears cheerleader outfit, but it was too hot on Sunday

Photo Shoot

Cate had her first photo shoot at the house the other day. It's so hard to get a good picture of her smile because she responds to your face and then when you step back to take the picture or get out of the way, she immediately stops smiling.  I think that my face is still sore from smiling at her!  She was fairly cooperative, but the photographer very nicely offered to come back and finish up another day when Cate let us know that she was done for the day!  Here are just a few of my favorites!

Lazy Weekend

This weekend Cate and I went with my mom to the Farmers' Market and strolled around the downtown for awhile.  It was such a nice Fall day.  Cate slept the whole time, but still got to enjoy the nice cool air in her stroller!

On Saturday Night we went to Twin Lakes to eat dinner outside and celebrate (really late!) my dad's 60th birthday.  It ended up being kind of chilly, but Cate didn't seem to mind!

Labor Day in Des Moines

Cate made her first trip to Des Moines last weekend to visit Grandma Diane and to meet her two Great-Grandmothers and many Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.  On Friday, we had lunch with Great-Grandma Joyce and then dinner at Uncle Dennis and Aunt Nadia's house.  Cate did have something of a dinnertime meltdown there, but it had been a long day for her!  On Saturday we got to just hang out at Grandma Diane's house and go out for Mexican with Uncle Don and Aunt Lori.  We all sort of ate in shifts because of course it was time for Cate to eat as soon as our food arrived.  On Sunday it was back to Pella to have a big family dinner at Great-Grandma Zee's house and in the evening, we had a Labor Day BBQ at Doug and Susan's new house.  On Monday we got our act together and got on the road to go and visit Auntie Jenn at IOWA and then stopped to visit our good friends, Jenny and Jason, and their THREE babies at their new home in DeWitt.  We didn't take nearly enough pictures of the weekend, but here are a few!

Two Months Old!

Cate had her two month visit yesterday and did really well, even after getting way too many shots! She still slept through the night and has been smiling today! This is a picture of Cate as I type, sleeping in her crib...well...sort of. She now sleeps in her carseat, in her crib. The Doctor said it's no problem at this point, so the car seat it is! We can work on getting her out of the carseat after we've all slept a little bit more, right?

Here's a little e-announcement for Cate....

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Cate has a Cold

We haven't been taking many pictures since we've been home from the wedding because Cate must have picked up a cold on the plane.  She hasn't really been in the mood for photo shoots, but here are a couple of pictures of her.  

I really love this purple top and khaki capris that go with it and although she's never worn it, the pants are already pretty small on her.  Of course it was hard to get a picture of her in the pants because I had to wash them twice yesterday due to a few unfortunate incidents!

Cate's First Trip!

We had our first big plane trip this past weekend to see my cousin, Joseph, get married in Baltimore and to visit our friends Mandi and Grey in DC and Suzanne and Mathias, who were in town for the week.  Cate did great on both plane rides, sleeping the whole time, but we had a few rough nights in the hotel.  All in all it was great to see everyone and it was so much fun introducing Cate to friends and family.  She also got to meet one of her boyfriends, John Patrick, who is Mandi and Grey's baby and is just a few weeks younger than Cate.  I realized that we didn't take any pictures of them together, but we have another chance this week while they're in Chicago visiting.

I'll post a few pictures below and the rest are in the slide shows.  I think that you can view all of the albums on Google's Picasa website.