Getting Caught Up

Getting ready for Christmas! 12/18

December 14th Christening

Helping Mommy decorate the tree

Matt's 22nd Birthday 11/14

Weekend in the mountains before Thanksgiving

Hey everybody, it's good to be back! We are busy getting ready for Christmas as I know everyone is! Katelyn loves all the decorations and lights and seems to grow right before our eyes. She stands all by herself now, but is too shy to take that first step ~ besides, crawling is faster! She is very independent, and at 10 months, already likes to do everything herself without help from anyone (especially mommy) until the peak of frustration has been met. I've heard this is a girl thing, so I'm just going with the flow...it's fun to watch her figure things out.

Wrapping presents has taken on a whole new challenge though. She loves playing with the paper and bows and ribbon which is great, but she only wants the ones I'm trying to use, and when I hand them over, she tries to imitate me and use them on the present I'm trying to wrap...and she doesn't like me to touch it when she's doing her thing...so it basically just turns into playtime, and the presents get wrapped after Katelyn goes to bed!! Really when I think about it, nothing gets accomplished around the house until Katelyn goes to bed!

Looks like she's keeping her blue eyes, and her hair is getting much thicker and longer this month ~ fun with bows since they stay in now! She's working on getting her two upper front teeth, but the teething doesn't seem to bother her as much as last time thank goodness.

Katelyn got christened last Sunday at our home church here in Smyrna. She did wonderful! She was so cute playing in the water and loved getting held in front of the entire congregation and getting serenaded with "Jesus Loves Me". Thanks to all our family and friends for coming out and making it such a memorable and special day!! Here are some pictures from the last several weeks to get everyone caught up. Love to all! Melissa

Long time no post...

Hi there! We are still alive I promise! Sorry it's been so long. Our computer is down and out right now but we should be back up very soon. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Katelyn got a taste of Thanksgiving home cooking thanks to Grammy ~ real sweet potatoe casserole, squash casserole, and bread. She tried some mashed up turkey but still not crazy about the texture. She loved it and had a big day! I will have pictures soon! Love to you all!

Melissa

Lil' Pumpkin

Our lil' punkin! There is a pumpkin patch at our church, and I took Katelyn there to get some pictures of her sitting with the pumpkins for the first time. She was so cute! At first, all she wanted to do was pick up the straw and dirt and eat it. I don't know if it was all the pumpkins, the cars going by on the nearby street, or me calling her name a gazillion times and making silly noises to look at the camera, but she had a dazed look on her face the whole time ~ but I got some good pictures none the less. After awhile, she started patting the pumpkins and clapping ~ so sweet!

We are looking forward to Halloween this week! Our great friends Robbie and Tracy and their baby Grayson are coming to visit this weekend. Katelyn is going to be a butterfly and Grayson a monkey. Our friends the Smitty's are dressing their baby, Brody, up as a skunk and we're all going to trick-or-treat together ~ more like dress the babies up and show them off around the neighborhood! It's so fun experiencing all of Katelyn's "first times" this year. I haven't been this excited about Halloween since I was a kid, and thinking of the holidays gives me the anticipation butterflies!

We went to the doctor this morning for Katelyn's 9 month check up (I can't believe it's been 9 months already) and she weighs 20lbs and is 27inches long! 75th percentile for height and weight! Doc says she looks perfect and she was blowing raspberry's at him the whole time this morning and made him laugh! He said she has a very sweet face and a very sweet demeanor...I asked him if he would like to stop by our house between 6-8pm to see if he'd change his mind Lol, but of course he's right!

Some new things with Katelyn this week:
1) 2nd bottom tooth is coming in

2) She says DaDa appropriately; I'm so jealous!

3) She climbs stairs...and we're installing baby gates; fun for the whole family!

4) Favorite veggie is squash and favorite fruit is still bananas

5) Her new favorite game is to play peek-a-boo behind doors and crawl after her, then hide and pop out when she's looking for you. She gets so tickled! Oh, and she'll shut doors now too ~ then cry because she can't get on the other side. Then I open the door and bring her into the room with me, and she'll shut the door again and cry because she wants to be on the other side again...yep, she's all girl! And we love every inch of her!

Hope everyone has a great week, a safe and Happy Halloween and I'll be sure to post costume pics!

Love,

Melissa, Brandon, and Katelyn

On the Go!

Boy have we been busy! Katelyn started crawling about a month ago and 2 weeks later started pulling up and standing every chance she could get. She is very independent but is always glancing back to make sure someone is watching her for approval. Katelyn had been playing with the walker at Nana's house and loved it so much, Brandon bought one for our house too ~ she loves it! She zips all over downstairs and loves to peek out the windows and watches Charlie when he's outside.

She has become obsessed with TV remotes! She likes to hit the buttons and watch them light up ~ not even noticing she's changing the channels, turning the volume up all the way, mute...so cute.

Katelyn has learned to clap her hands these past few weeks as well ~ Here she's clapping because I got so excited about her bow staying in her hair and smiled really big at her, and she started laughing and clapping! Then it was off to money jar we keep next to our dresser. She loves clapping on it and sticking her fingers in the top. Brandon tells her all the time it's her piggy bank, and I swear she knows it ~ look at that grin! She loves being outside and looking out of windows. From this view, she can spy on the neighbors and their cat. I've been lucky to get some things done around the house, and Katelyn is content to watch me fold laundry, play with her toys, then unfold everything I've done the second I get up. Patience....I'm learning to laugh more and be patient and that it's more important to catch "the little things" than keep the house spotless.


Brandon's doing great too! Working hard and being an awesome daddy! We had a great weekend and got to see our favorite band Widespread Panic Saturday night. Katelyn spent the night without us for the first time. Thanks so much Grammy and Grandpa! Hope everyone has a great week!

Love, Melissa

Welcome to our family web page!!

We are so excited to have our page complete! I have not been able to open the family website at work (the website gets blocked)....so I wanted to start another site for Katelyn so my coworkers/family and friends could keep up with her pictures and "happenings." I know it has taken me awhile...hey, 7 months, but I started with a few pictures from day 1 up until now to catch everyone up. I plan to post pictures and update weekly, so please visit often and hopefully it will become one of your favorite spots!

Love you all! Melissa and Brandon