I will not walk on camera, people

This little girl is getting such a big personality. She's got her own taste and interests and she lets you know how she feels about everything. She's a huge cuddler, but she is more than happy to play with Dylan for hours without Mom or Dad. And don't even think about walking by her without picking her up if she has her arms outstretched or you will hear the wrath of Katie. She throws mini tantrums by lying as flat as she can face down on the floor. She'll swat you if she doesn't want what you're offering. She's really sweet and silly and fun.

She's taking even more steps today, but of course she won't perform as soon as I turn on the camera. Even so, she is quite entertaining. Here she is making me laugh until I snort:



And when she gets bored of pretending to walk, she inspects the camera:



Dylan is watching Transformers in the background. He loves the RescueBots. I'm so thrilled that he's not watching Caillou or Barney or the Doodle Bops anymore. Transformers are awesome and I can totally watch this show with him and not feel like giving the main character a noogie.

One step at a time

Maybe I should play the Lottery. I dropped my iPhone in the bathtub yesterday and after I finished panicking and managed to fish it out of the water, I realized that it still worked just fine. The speakers weren't working but that was nothing that couldn't be fixed by wearing headphones. And then this morning I woke up with a fully functional phone. Speakers and all!

What are the odds?

I've been taking way too many baths. Since my father-in-law brought me gourmet soaps and my aunt gave me a heavenly muscle soak, and since I'm already constantly freezing, I take at last four baths a day. Really hot baths.

Since my TSH levels were so damn high as of last Monday, my doctor put me on the fast track to getting them from a 15.34 down to a 2.5 or less by doubling my Armour levels from one grain to two grains. So I've been feeling pretty lousy, as usual, but it's a different lousy. I'm still overly fatigued and pretty much bed(couch)-ridden but now I'm absolutely freezing on top of that. I cannot warm up no matter how many layers I've got on or how many baths I take or how many blankets I'm under. Last night as we watched Dexter on the couch Sean tucked me under my fuzzy bathroom, in a sleeping bag, under a fuzzy blanket, and then he laid his legs on top of mine and I was shaking I was so cold. This will be a huge benefit to me come summertime on those tropical 80° days. I'm constantly on the THYCA forums and "cold" is a pretty common symptom oddly enough so I'll just be glad that it isn't anything worse. Cold, I can handle.

Little Miss Katie Rhea has been trying to walk since yesterday. She's so cautious, unlike her big brother who was plowing through everything at 11 months and climbing up the ladder of our swing set not long after. She has the muscles to walk but not the confidence. You should see how proud she was last night as she kept taking one step and then another step before sitting herself down. Katie does things at Katie's pace.

Here she is taking one small step for mankind, one giant leap for a baby:



Pardon the boys playing football in the background. She's been taking more steps than that but I haven't been able to catch it on video, mostly because I'm busy helping her to not topple over.

It's her party!

Today we celebrated Kate's birthday with our family. Rather than post all of the photos, here's a short video of our day:



Thank you to everyone who came out and made her first birthday extra special. She's a lucky little girl to have you.

Happy birthday, Katie!

One year ago today, Kate was born. 4:33PM, weighing 8lbs 6oz. She was born on a Tuesday, full of grace. She hasn't stopped smiling and bringing unmeasurable joy to all she meets since.

Grandpa called and offered to take Dylan to school for me so that I could spend the morning with the birthday girl. So she had cupcakes for breakfast!



I took a bunch of photos.








She took a bath.






And Mama pushed her luck a little trying to get Kate to sit still for photos of her wearing a dress, it was way past her nap time.







Kate spent the rest of the day with her grandparents, reading her new books (thanks, Aunties!!) with Grandpa and shopping for a birthday present with Grandma.



Kate picked out a fancy mathematical doll called an umizoomi that sings about shapes and measuring things. I had no idea what to get Katie but she saw this doll on the shelves and reached for it and hugged it, so a $30 mathematical doll it is! But she seemed to like the free balloon from Toys R Us better anyway.



We just had a special birthday dinner, while wearing party hats, and Kate and Dylan are enjoying another birthday cupcake. They have bedtime in twenty minutes. I have a feeling there will be a lot of laughter coming from their room tonight.

Happy birthday, my sweet, sweet baby girl.

The last day of babyhood

Today began with a crying Kate at 5AM, followed by the news that a good family friend has passed away. It continued with an entire cup of coffee spilled on the couch, a snow storm, and running out of paint after painting half of a wall. And then Dylan finger painted on one of the dogs. But all and all we still had a really fun day filled with laughter. And playing in buckets.



Poor tolerant Dylan:



Today is Kate's last day as an eleven-month-old baby. Tomorrow is her first birthday. I'm desperately sentimental about such a big milestone. I don't remember feeling this sad about Dylan turning one, but I'm sure I did. I've been busting my butt to give Kate a really sweet first birthday party. I did the same for Dylan but we had his first at his favorite park and it was so windy and cold and rainy that my plans to decorate the gazebo were completely scrapped. I know that a one-year-old doesn't care about what kind of party they are thrown, but this means a lot to me to make it really special for her.



Here she is dancing a bit:



And talking:



I just looked back at Dylan's photos from the day before his first birthday. He seems so much bigger. He was walking by then. Look at this boy!!! Oh, I love him so much!



As sad as I am for my baby to grow up, I will be so glad not to have to photograph her everyday for her 365 project. I may not take a single photo on Thursday just to feel rebellious.

Generations

My grandmother called and asked if we could come and visit her. She hurt her back a few months ago and told me this morning on the phone that she would rather die than live with the pain she's been having. We drove right over to cheer her up.

Kate said her fourth word--"truck"--while playing with Dylan's toy cherry picker in my grandmother's living room. Grandma was so thrilled that she kept exclaiming, "She said 'truck'! She must love it here!" She beams with joy around the kids.





Here's a sweet video of them together:



We had such a fun time today that Kate made sure to take an extra long nap.



Oh my sweet little angel baby.

My Fussy Valentine

One of Kate's top teeth has popped through the gum today so she's been extra sore and quite cranky. We played with snow when we woke up hoping that eating some would give her some relief. She didn't feel like smiling.




Dylan ran into his playroom and found a funnel and shoveled the snow into his cement mixer. He was thrilled that he thought of the idea and was highly entertained until his Tupperware of snow almost completely melted.



And when he was done he asked if he could do one of his favorite activities. Googling "trucks" and telling me that he wants pretty much all of them. Not the toy version, mind you, the reeeeeaaal life-sized trucks.



By ten Kate was insistent on taking a two-hour nap on the couch.



Can you see her? Me neither. She's under the green sleeping bag. Every time I uncovered her she hibernated deeper under the blanket.

She was much happier upon waking.





We painted a bit, made Valentines for Daddy, ate lunch, and Kate tried a sippy cup for the first time. She seemed quite proud to be drinking like a big girl.



We did a bunch of projects after lunch. I rearranged our bedroom. If I think to take photos later I'll post them. I'm a moron for doing it by myself. Yesterday I could barely walk. Today I felt pretty good so I decided to move a giant dresser, loveseat, and bed by myself. Way to take it easy. Also, two pieces of advice for those of you who are in the market for new furniture: never buy black, every little particle of dust shows up on it and you'll be forever dusting to keep up, and don't buy a canopy bed if you have dormered ceilings. Ours are barely dormered, slanted just about a foot, but it severely limits where I can put the bed and our taller furniture. If only I knew then what I knew now...

Here's a video of Dylan singing the opening to Garth Brook's The Thunder Rolls:



He's been so good today. Not perfect, but he's having to show lots of patience for being stuck at home with a mom who is too busy doing house projects to play with him. He'll be glad to have Sean home soon so they can play soccer in the basement.

And now that Kate's medicine has worn off, she's back to feeling miserable.





I'll have to run to the store to get her some more. There's no way I can expect her to go through this pain of teething without some sort of relief.

We'll be celebrating Valentine's Day tomorrow by stocking up on a ton of candy on sale. I can't wait to get stockpiles of chocolate. Happy Love Day, all!

The mega teether (and snow)

The boys have been outside for about forty minutes now, shoveling our not-so-big driveway in blizzard conditions. This is the stuff Dylan lives for: purple cheeks, working hard, just like Daddy. Sean came home from work at 1PM and there was already anywhere from 5-9 inches of snow on the driveway depending on the height of the drifts.

Dylan and I had gone out to measure at about 12:30. His face was covered in Fun Dip, a Valentine's Day gift of glorious sugar from a classmate.











I was thrilled to see Sean pull in, not only because lunch was hot and ready for him and I was happy to spend the day with all three of my loves, but because my legs haven't been working well today and these poor kids were mostly entertaining themselves while I sat or laid down. I just don't understand how I can still have such crippling days a full year after having my thyroid removed. I was hoping to have this figured out by now.

Kate has been a horrible sleeper for the past few weeks, mostly because we've all been fighting a death cold and she kept croup coughing herself awake and we spent a lot of time sleeping while sitting up on the couch together. I knew she was teething, but I was beyond shocked when I looked in her mouth this morning. Look at this poor baby!

She is getting 4-6 teeth in all at once on top and possibly 2-4 on the bottom, although the bottom is half as bulgy as the top set. She spent a lot of the day on the couch with Sam, who is now barely limping from his partial torn ligament and strict bed rest.



It's 2:30 now and Kate is sleeping right through the incessant dog barking as the dogs pant and yelp at Sean and Dylan from the window. Jasmine and Sam have some pretty severe separation anxiety and don't handle the thirty feet separating them from their family very well. Sam is so sensitive that if you don't pet him long enough when you first come in the door he will find something--today it was one of Kate's Little People princesses--to chew until he feels better. Jasmine has been sticking her head in my lap all day because she is afraid of snow plows. Avery is our only normal dog. I sneaked out in my feetie pajamas to snap some photos of the boys.











Mr. Dylan boy just came in with Sean and said he needed a drink. A juice box? "No," he said, "muscle juice." Where does he get this stuff? He found a pudding Snack Pack instead and when I asked him if he was going to behave after having all of that sugar he replied, "Mommy, I'm gonna be wild and so crazy in this house. 'Cause, Mommy, I'm going to be running around and playing and eating and cooking and playing upstairs."

And look who is awake!




Ha. That face!



Dylan is now glued to the front window watching all of our neighbors snow blow their driveways. You know, I'm not even really sick of this snow right now. It's been pretty awesome today.