Walking!

The big girl that you see in the picture below is officially walking!  It is amazing how one day she was just taking one hesitant step without reaching for the couch or the table and all of a sudden she can walk across the room.  

A Weekend with Casey and Norah

Cate got to meet her new friend Norah this weekend.  Norah's parents, Dan and Jamie, are staying with us for a few days (while Dan and Tim rip our basement apart...literally)  Norah is 8 months younger than Cate and it has been so much fun to finally get to meet her since she lives in Arizona.  Tracy and Mark came up for the day (Jamie, Tracy and I were college roommates) and their little boy Casey ran around with Cate.  We took the babies to the park, the playground and then Dan and Jamie made us all dinner outside where we put my patio furniture, a birthday gift from my parents, to good use.

Yum!  Grilled teryaki chicken

Cate and Casey were sporting "sweathawks" but Norah's hair wasn't quite long enough

She loves her cheerios

Climbing around with Daddy

Casey on the slide

Happy Norah!

Big Girl at the Playground

We have a really great playground right out our back gate but up until now, Cate has only enjoyed the swings.  At first she LOVED the swings, but lately, she's seemed a bit bored.  She's not walking yet, so it's hard for her to do much else there, but today we decided to put long pants and shoes and socks on her (it wasn't very hot this morning) and just let her crawl around and explore.  

She loved going up and down the starts and went down a couple of the smaller slides with some help.  There's something about her wearing little pink tennis shoes that makes her look like such a big girl to me!

Cate and Pop

Cate is very lucky because today, like many days, she got to see her Grammy, Pop and Auntie Jenn.  Although we complain about a lot of things about our house, one of the best things about it is that Grammy works right down the street and can just  stop over for lunch and our house is now on Pop's way home from his new job so he often stops by to break up a long afternoon.  This afternoon was especially long because Cate refused to take a nap and then was quite cranky.  She loves to sit in her backyard, on her blanket and look around.  Then, while I was making her dinner, Pop brought out her new Elmo and some Cheerios to share.  Cate likes nothing better than to have a little snack while she plays.  She's also a very generous girl and like to put her food in her mouth and then offer it to someone else.  Oh well.  The last picture demonstrates how tired she was.  She is usually much to "busy" to cuddle or  give hugs, but Pop got one from her today!

A Trip to the Zoo

Since the weather has been so nice and comfortable lately, we decided that it was a good time to take Cate to the Zoo.  She's kind of young for it, but it's nice to walk around and this zoo is free (except for the ransom that you have to pay to get your car out of the lot).  For the most part, Cate was more interested in people watching than looking at the animals.  She liked the monkeys and the giraffes the best I think because they were moving.  It was hard for her to see the lions, who were just perched on rocks to sunbathe.  Be sure to check out her cool yellow sunglasses that Grandma sent her!

Swimming?

Cate seems to have developed an aversion to water.  This now includes the bathtub which is a problem but it also means that she hasn't been in her new swimming pool from Grammy and Pop and we haven't been to the nice pool right behind our house.  

So this weekend we decided to do some pool training.  I didn't bother to get the swim diapers out or one of her cute bathing suit/coverups either because it's a lot of work and I didn't really think she'd get in anyway.  Cate's Grammy sat with her on a blanket (b/c she also hates grass) and tried to get Cate to put her hands and feet in the pool.  She was interested in splashing some but she also periodically let out a yell if she got too wet and she did not really like having her feet in the water.  Most of the time she played with some measuring spoons that Pop brought out and got Grammy completely soaked. It's supposed to be nice all week, so I guess we'll keep working on it...

Happy Fourth of July!

We had a very low key Fourth of July this year.  After Cate's birthday party last weekend, we were just in the mood to hang out and relax.  Cate was quite overdressed for hanging out and relaxing, but I had to get this adorable dress from the Celluccis on her for the occasion.  I think she'll wear it again when we go out for my birthday.  It has a really cute red white and blue hat to go with it, but the weather was so uncooperative yesterday that there was no need for a hat.  It rained just about all day and when we went home to make s'mores in the fire pit and watch the fireworks, we couldn't even get a fire going because everything was so wet.  Don't worry though, we still made the s'mores over the gas flame on the stove.  Not festive at all, but very effective!

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?