Cate is One!

We had a fun first birthday party for Cate this past Saturday.  We ended up having it at Grammy and Pop's house because it was supposed to be so hot and they have much more room inside, in the air conditioning, to hang out.  It ended up being not so hot, but oh well.  We cooked on the grill, hung out, opened presents and Cate had chocolate cake for the first time. We did a pink and green caterpillar theme because most of the time we call Cate, cater pillar.  

It was a really relaxed party with just family except for Cate's boyfriend Casey who is two days older than she is.  Here are a few pictures from the party.  There is a slideshow on the top right of this page where you can see the rest of them and for those of you who were asking, it is from the slideshow view that you can order prints.

Cate got 3 great riding toys!

She was very excited opening this present

Casey's mom told him to give the birthday girl a kiss...

denied!  Daddy said, "No no"

Our Caterpillar's caterpillar cake

Father's Day and Pre-Birthday Party In Des Moines

This past weekend we went to visit Grandma, Great-Aunt Nadia and Great-Grandma Joyce in Des Moines.  Cate had a great time playing at Grandma's house with the new toys Grandma picked up for her and got to have a special early birthday celebration in Pella.  Grandma Joyce and Nadia won't be able to make it to Cate's family party in Chicago this weekend, so they had balloons, gifts and a beautiful pink polka dot cake waiting for Cate.  Here are a few pictures of the weekend.

A Girl and Her Dog

You might gather from these pictures that Cate and Zeke are best buddies.  Cate might think so, but Zeke does not.  She just thinks that he is hilarious and loves to crawl after him and try to grab a handful of his fur or his tail (not that we let her).  He, on the other hand, I think still wonders where this little creature came from and when she's going back there.  Although he is warming slightly now that she drops food on the floor.  

She's just laughing at him, saying "Guh Guh" and getting ready to try to "pet" him.  He's getting ready to run.

She followed him to the window

He left.  I love it when she stands on her tiptoes to try to see out the window.  She likes to look for other dogs.

Making a Mess

I think that Cate's new favorite thing to do is make a mess.  She found a 12 pack of diet coke next to the cabinet and squealed while she rolled them across the kitchen floor.  I needed to finish getting ready, so I let her...I figure that I can get away with that for a few more weeks at least.  She also loves to just chuck anything that she finds in her path as she's crawling.  It might not really be in her way, but it's still fun to throw it behind  her and let out a yell of delight.  Then this afternoon, I was trying to get my things together to take her  down the street to the library to see what  she could play with there and she found my basket of Cooking Light Magazines.  She happily unloaded them while I put my shoes on.

In bigger news, Cate has been saying a few actual words.  She's been saying "Mama" and "Dada" for a while now as well as "Bye Bye" which she prefers to whisper for some reason.  In just the last week, though she's added, "Baby" "Uh oh" and she kind of repeats "Peek a Boo" which just sounds like "Uh oh" with a Boo at the end.  Her word for dog is evolving too.  She started out saying, "Gum" and now it's just the G sound when she sees him or hears him bark.  She kind of yells it like we do when we're trying to get him to come in.  I know that all babies are like little sponges, but it is so fascinating to see this little personality come out of her and to get to interact more with her.

New Toys

After Cate's morning nap, we packed up her lunch and headed out with Grammy to a friend's garage sale.  Before I had Cate, I wouldn't even notice the signs for garage sales that are on every corner in the summer.  Now, I understand why people like them so much.  There's always the chance to find a new toy to entertain a little one for just a few dollars.  So we headed out to look for something new for Cate to play with and some clothes for baby boy.  We found a bunch of great stuff.   Here are a few pictures of Cate with her new musical mirror in the backyard.  It plays music continuously and she just bopped up and down and moved her head to the beat.  She was also fascinated to look in the big mirror and wave to herself, saying over and over, "Baby, baby".

First Week of Summer Vacation

The weather has not been summery at all this week, but it has still been a great week of doing what we want, when we want.  So far this week, after breakfast, Cate and I have been taking Zeke for his first walk of the day in the park.  This morning, it was drizzling a bit, so I was kind of dragging my feet, waiting for it to clear up to take her out.  

Here they are, just waiting, hoping to get out.  Cate is just sitting there saying, "Gum, Gum" over and over.  That seems to be her interpretation of "Dog"

So proud of her standing abilities.

Now she decides to crawl toward me to speed things along...she cracks me up when she crawls because she lifts her arms really high when she's on a mission.  She also stopped to work on unfolding her outside blanket that she played happily on yesterday for such a long time.

How can I say no to that sad, teething little face?  

We got our raincoats on and braved the morning drizzle.   I can imagine people who saw us walk by might have had something to say about me taking her out in the (very) slight rain, but oh well.  You can only play with blocks on the floor for so long, right?

Tim's Birthday

Today was Tim's 32nd birthday. Being that it was during the week, we had a pretty low key celebration of his favorite Lou Malnati's pizza, salad and an ice cream cake. Here's a picture of Cate's first time seeing candles on a cake and hearing everyone sing Happy Birthday. She was so tired but stayed up to see Daddy blow out the candles. Happy Birthday, Tim!

Sunday Afternoon with Friends

Today we got together with our friends the Stettners and the McNeils.  It's been way too long since we've gotten together and we had a great time catching up.  It's funny how difficult it is to have a social life when you have a baby.  The babies had a great time playing together and checking each other out.  Cate had her adorable new purple summer cardigan on that Mrs. Benesh knit for her.  I love her in purple!  Here are a few pictures from the afternoon!

Cate and Griffin...Cate is about 1 month older than him

Cate, Elizabeth S. and brothers Griffin and Bennett

Tim playing the role of photographer and baby wrangler

Tulip Time!

This past weekend we travelled to Des Moines to see Grandma.  We spent Friday and Saturday in Pella, where Cate's great-grandmothers live.  This weekend was Tulip Time, a celebration of Dutch culture and history and the whole town was decked out for the occasion.  On Friday we saw a parade with all kinds of traditional costumes and people pushing carts representing the trades that they or their ancestors practiced.  We would have taken pictures of the parade, but it was so hot that afternoon that we were more concerned with slathering Cate with sunscreen!  On Saturday the weather was much more comfortable, so we strolled around the town, took tons of pictures with the tulips, took Cate to the park and shopped a little bit at the outdoor market.  Cate had a great time seeing everybody.  Here are just a few of the million pictures that Tim took!

On the Mend

I don't have any cute pictures to post from the last few days, but I thought I would write quickly to say that Cate is feeling better.  She's not herself yet, she's really tired and still has a bit of a rash from her virus, but she is much better than last week when we were home with her Wed, Thurs. and Fri.  Of course she gave me her flu before she was done with it, but that's the way it goes!

In other news, not really related to Cate, Tim and I got out and got to take part in a fun serving opportunity with our church and some friends this weekend.  We spent two hours on Sat. afternoon with lots of other volunteers packing meals for children in Zimbabwe.  Our church partnered with an organization called, "Feed my Starving Children" who have researched efficient ways to get high quality, nutritious food to children who desperately need it.  At the end of our two hours, I think that they said that we packed enough food to feed 76 children for a year, and of course ours was just one of many 2 hr slots in one of many sites in the area.

One of the  volunteers for FMSC said that often, in Zimbabwe, mothers are forced to give their children "dirt cakes" made of dirt, water and maybe some shortening (if they have it) to make their little bellies feel full.  That provides a lot of quick perspective when I'm worrying about whether or not Cate has had the "right" foods for the day or whether or not we're going to be able to ever sell our house to move into a bigger one for her to grow up in.  I would never be in the position of having nothing to offer her when she's hungry other than the dirt I find outside.  

So, one of my friends, Taylor (her blog is listed on the right, "We Are Wises") wrote about compassionate consumerism and using our buying power not just to buy, but to help those living in extreme poverty to improve their situations.  She listed a few websites/organizations on her blog, but another one that our church has been working with is www.tradeasone.com.  It's a really cool website where you can buy jewelry, purses, stationary, housewares etc and the money is actually benefitting the person who worked to make the product.  When you click on a product, along with all of the other info  is a picture of the person who made it and a brief story about his/her situation.  I haven't purchased anything there yet, but I think that the next time I have a gift to buy, I'll give it a try.

Tuesday Afternoon

When Cate came home yesterday, she was unusually snuggly.  She almost never just rests her head on us and cuddles.  So I took these pictures of Tim and Cate after work yesterday b/c I thought they were cute.  Cate ended up falling asleep on Tim and when she woke up, she seemed kind of perked up, so I thought that she just had a big day of playing at daycare.  Unfortunately right before I put her to bed, she threw up for the first time.  Poor baby.  She didn't even know what was going on...she just sat there, stunned while we cleaned her up.  She slept well all night and her fever (which was 103) was lower before we went to bed.  Hopefully she'll be on the mend today.  Poor little Cate!!!

Happy Easter!

We had a quiet Easter weekend which was nice.  We went to church on Saturday and went out for dinner with Grammy and Pop.  Cate did great in church (we haven't braved the nursery yet...it's just hard when she's in daycare all week) and did great at the restaurant afterwards.  The nice thing about her starting to eat table food is that you can entertain her by giving her cereal, pieces of cheese, pieces of turkey etc. for quite awhile.  Of course the only downside of this is that now whenever she sees a little piece of lint on my clothes or on the floor, she thinks it's a Rice Krispy and tries to put it in her mouth.

I had all these great plans to take pictures of Cate in her Easter dress, propped next to her Easter basket, but she has a really bad cold and just wasn't really in the mood.  We did get a few shots, but I think I'm going to have to go and have her picture  taken in this dress because I really love it and I think it will probably be one of the last really "baby" style dresses that she gets to wear.  When we were shopping for her dress, all of the styles in the next size up looked like such big girl dresses.  Here are a few of the pictures; I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Tim thought that we should get a picture of her in her new basket since this is the only year she'll be able to fit in it.  The basket was already creaking and groaning with her in it.  Actually, come to think of it, this will be the only Easter that she will be having her picture taken by herself since by next Easter she will have a little brother or sister!  I know that the word is pretty much out, but if I haven't gotten a chance to talk to you yet, baby number two is due Oct. 8th 2009!  We are hoping to find out in about 5 weeks if we are having another girl or if it's a boy this time.  We'll keep you posted!