Little Miss Personality

Not only does she play peek-a-boo, Kaitrin also plays a version of hide and seek as well as chase.

As I change her diaper, I put a cloth or her pants over her face for her to play with. She grabs it, covering her face, and giggles. As she pulls it away from her face and sees me, she squeals...then doing all over again.

Kaitrin and Jacob play hide and seek/chase around the recliner...which has Kaitrin howling so hard that I just know that she is peeing in her diaper! She goes one way and Jacob goes the other and they both end up head to head, yelling and laughing, and going back the other way. A good 20 minutes of fun!

And whether it's in the playroom or just in the hallway, Kaitrin begins to crawl and then looks back to see if someone is watching her. When she catches your eye, she squeals and crawls as fast as she can...the chase is on!

Such a little personality is coming out of her!

Team Kaitrin's Klub

13.1 miles

26.2 miles

Soreness

Pain

Beer, lots of beer

Kaitrin and Grandpa Max

Grandpa Max not only brought toys, but brought rocking chairs! Well, one rocking chair. In all of my memories of Max, wood working is a definite. Whether it was a stool or rocking chair or just raw wood and nails in the Dasha, woodwork and Max go hand in hand. And now Kaitrin can join into the woodworking memories - she got a rocking chair from Max this weekend. She was pretty excited...as was Jacob because he won't have to share his! Hopefully we will be able to get Christmas pictures in this chair, just like Michael and I did when we were little.

Me and Grandpa Max

Grandpa Max came to visit with mom and dad for Marathon Weekend. And just like all grandparents, TOYS were involved. Max brought this cool balloon pumper that sent long skinny balloons screeching through the air. Jacob got to hold the balloon, count down until lift off, and chase after them. Such fun! They are all very colorful and make a crazy noise, reusable too...good toy pick Max! These balloons kept Jacob busy for about 20 minutes, which is hideously good for any toy, cartoon, or food!

All Kind Of Hurt!

I was debating - between mile 18 and 22 - what to name this entry: All Kind of Hurt or Human Salt Lick. Both seemed to be totally true at the time, but hurt won out.

Everyone did a fabulous job on their marathon runs. Mom finished the half marathon. Dad finished the half marathon in great time. And Michael finished the full marathon under 4 hours. And now we are all sore, but it was for a great cause. I believe that we raised $1,500 for Kaitrin's Klub. With RSV season just around the corner, this money will go to great use for medicine to protect preemies...which is our main cause!

Bad Dog, My Butt

It seems like everytime I go out on a long run, something happens. Whether it starts to rain, it gets dark early, I have to pee, or I go into a coughing fit...something always happens. As a more than perfect example, on Sunday I left for a 10 mile run when 3 miles into it - something happened. The house at the end of the street has a dog. The dog is on an electric fence collar. Every other day that I run by this dog (some sort of Lab) he barks and follows me and then runs back to the house when I have passed. This time, well this time he didn't have the collar on. This time he came over the once safe barrier and right to me. Hating big dogs, I stayed calm...until he bit my butt! What on earth! He continued toward my other cheek as I yelled for help, owners came running, I'm in shock, and the dogs continues to wag his tail. Fabulous.

After a few "I'm okay's", I walk directly home to find four bleeding teeth marks. My wonderful husband - who is worried, but just dying to laugh - drives to see if the dog has had it's shots.

To save everyone the horror, I promise not to post a picture, but assure you that my rear end is not the most aesthetically pleasing. I always thought that the color purple was supposed to be soothing...

Yep - she is my child!

For those of you who did not know me as a child, I was a mashed potato freak. My mom had to stock the cupboard with boxes of instant mashed potatoes. I'd dive into a bowl for lunch or dinner...and really wasn't ashamed at all to eat them for breakfast. LOVED THEM! So when Jacob started eating soft foods, I was the most excited to try some good old mashed potatoes. Imagine my sadness...he gagged on them. Gagged! Even though he ate the filling to Babe's pierogies off of my mom's finger when he was a baby, these he gagged on. Such a bummer. Now Kaitrin is getting pretty picky about the items that she wants on her plate. And she gags on everything, not because of texture though, but because she is such a little piggy that she shovels too much food in. After her dinner, I sat her in my lap at the table and she began to play with the left over mashed potatoes on my plate. She tried a bit. She liked them. She REALLY liked them. Oh heavens, how happy am I...my daughter eats mashed potatoes!

Little Miss Social

Well, after our fun-filled trip to the hospital, Kaitrin has come out of her shell. She loves her teacher, she loves going to day care, and she is just noticing everything around her. Her little pointer finger goes to nose, hat, ear, hair, eye, mouth, tree, elmo (mo-mo), kitty, mickey mouse, and baa-baa sheep. She even picked out the moon last night for daddy.

Talking? Not yet, but we are making progress. She is making sounds for a few things - or so I think. "Kit" is kitty. "Dk" is duck. And dadadada is babbling, but we 'say' it's Dadda.

One Fish ~ Two Fish ~ Red Fish ~ Blue Fish

I thought maybe Jacob was just memorizing the books and stories that we have read him for the last four years. But as he reads signs, boxes in the grocery store, and pick words out of emails on my computer...the boy can read! He is sounding words out, putting sentences together, and pretty much reading his own nighttime book.
Little genius...

Unattractive Color of Gray

Little Miss has had the same cold for three weeks now. Just in the last day it has turned to a runny nose and lots of snoring at night. Last night, around 9:00, I was washing my face and heard Kaitrin start to cough. The coughing turned to hacking which turned to wheezing. I ran into her room and opened her PJ's to find her struggling really hard to breath - not necessarily the type of night time happenings that I was hoping for. After calling my mom, the doc, and my husband - I made the decision to call 911.

We headed to Children's with a O2 mask and breathing treatment on her, more breathing treatments and steroids in the ER, x-rays, and last but not least - admission! Although I was dreading the sleep on the hospital couch, I think Kaitrin was so happy to have people stop poking her until 2am that she crashed in her little cage (if you haven't ever seen a hospital crib then you are probably thinking that I took her to the vet).

We were discharged this afternoon on breathing treatments, which she is taking much better in the comfort of her own home. She is sleeping peacefully now. I am hoping that this will be our last ambulance ride. For a claustrophobic, motion sick, freaked out mom - it's not something that I would recommend as a roller coaster substitute.

However - trying to make a negative into a positive, sort of, I would like to say how wonderful the response time of the paramedics was, how helpful and calming they were, and how awesome the docs and nurses were at Children's.

Almost Made Me Pee

So I'm playing "ball" with Kaitrin tonight, which consists of me giving her the ball and her throwing it where ever. Then I decide to mix it up a little and I throw the ball from my left hand to my right and back - a game of keep-away. She giggles. She laughs. She starts to get frustrated. Then - with all of her strength she goes after both of my hands at the same time, whether the ball was there or not. Very strategic! Yes, I have an athlete on my hands. After the little strategic thinker got the ball on the first try - no more keep-away.

Rock Climber

I posted a while back that Kaitrin can crawl up the two stairs out of our playroom - mental note: buy gate. Well, we haven't been pushing her too hard...no long training hours or anything, but the girl can climb the whole staircase - mental note: buy two gates. She climbs the recliner, the coffee table, the bean bag chair, the couch, and the high chair.

Little Pointer Finger

Little miss has been pointing at everything lately. It used to be just at Mickey Mouse...loves Mickey Mouse. But she now knows 'baa baa sheep' (which hangs in her room), and 'nose' (which she will most likely pick if you aren't paying attention), and 'mouth' (where you can taste whatever she has picked up last)!

Moving Day

Well, I finally found the cord to download my pictures - I hate moving!

Here is a picture of Kaitrin on moving day. She was so tired...and the first time that she had ever fallen asleep in her high chair!

Can you say Hand Sanitizer?

Just too cute!

Grandpa and I took Jacob and Kaitrin to the Twin Lakes Festival over the 4th of July. And of course, they had to put the petting zoo at the very beginning! Jacob had a blast chasing the ducks...poor things were terrified. And then he spotted a baby lamb, which to my surprise he was incredibly gentle with (considering he was pulling the ducks' tails).

Two Peas in a Pod

With a tired mommy in the background, the two little ones are getting along! A brief moment between fighting over toys...a mom's dream.

Blue Ducky Outfit

Just wanted to post the picture because it was cute! Blue ducky outfit courtesy of Aunt Helen.

Well, we now know where little miss gets her curls! It's Grandpa. This picture was taken over the July 4th weekend (and her birthday) in PA. We now have to pull her hair into pig tails to allow her to see!

Birthday

For those of you whose 'know' me, I just turned 28 on Saturday. For those of you who can do math, you know that I am not 28...but will keep your mouth shut away.

My husband and I had a nice evening out - thanks to grandma and grandpa who braved my children for a night. We came back early, we got some sleep, we must not have had enough to drink!

It figures...

After 3 days in her new day care, little miss caught a cold, which - of course - turned into an ear infection. Lovely. But after a weekend of daddy love, medicine, and lots of apple juice...she is feeling better and her smile is back on!