Happenings

So life around here has been busy with fixing up our house and getting it ready to move in. I haven't taken much time lately to take pictures of Kate, or to post. So here is a quick update. (mostly just pictures, cause I've just told you what we have been up to! We are THAT exciting... it only takes one sentance to get you up to date!) Kate has started eating baby food! Above is her first try. She's so funny. Now she does open her mouth when I get close with the spoon, so we are making progress!

She is such a happy baby, when she isn't crying/fussing! lol.

This is Kate on the floor at our new house. She hangs out while we work. Sadly, she doesn't stay happy long, and I usually end up carrying her around while I try to get wallpaper down. Not the easiest task...
This picture just makes me happy! My Aunt sent Kate this shirt, and she looks so cute in it! She does really love when people talk to her. Her favorite is when kids play with her, she squeals with laughter. She doesn't laugh that hard for just me!
And finally, she is getting close to growing out of her little car seat! My arms sure get a work out when I go out....She is not a light little girl! She is wearing lots of her 12 month clothes already! I would say she is mostly in 9 month sizes, but still, she's growing so fast! I wish she would slow down a bit, lots of her cute clothes don't fit anymore!

That is our life in a nutt shell. Hopefully soon I will have pictures to share of the house...right now it is kinda trashed!

BIG Day at the Walter House!

Today marks a very important day in our little family's history. We are now OFFICIAL home owners, AND Kate rolled all the way over by herself!

We closed on our house today!! YAY! We get to start tearing down wall paper and painting! I'm acutally very excited to rip off wallpaper.....prolly won't be so excited in a few days when I still have days of work ahead of me....but for now yay! It is going to be amazing to have a garage, yard, no one sharing walls with me, color on those walls, and all the other benefits of having a house. (Pictures to come)

Today was Kate's 4 month doctor's checkup. So we got the sad shots (She only cried while they did the shots... as soon as i picked her up she stopped crying! Such a good baby!) She weighed in at 16.8 lbs. She is now back on the charts! She is in the 92nd percentile. Her length was 25.5 inches.....70somthing percentile. So she has slowed down with her growth, but the doctor was happy about it. And now we get to start rice cereal and stage 1 foods! Yay for DAD being able to feed her sometimes! That will be FUN for me! While at the doctor's office, Kate decided she wanted to look at the wall, and rolled herself ALL the way over. I was pretty impressed.

So overall today is a good good day!

4 months old!!

Holy Cow! My little girl is 4 months old today! Here she is in her jumper...she was amazed at all the colors and noises.

And 2 more pictures from today to make it an even 4.

She is so great! Sleeps all night long, laughs all the time, loves her bumbo, plays/eats all her toys, wears 6 month size clothes, watches tv a little, laughs at chance, and loves her mom most (when she is grumpy I'm the only one who can make her happy!) We have a doctor appointment in a few weeks so we will see her stats then! These 4 months have been great! Kate is such a blessing in our lives.

Easter

Kate's First Easter

She got to meet the Easter Bunny. She actually really liked him...I thought she would be scared. But we had a hard time getting her to let go when the picture was done.

She got to wear 2 Easter dresses. Dress 1, just too cute. This might be one of my favorite pics yet!

Dress 2 with family shots. We had a hard time getting her to smile at the same time as us... this is as close as we got!

Her SWEET easter pj's. The bunnies on the feet are too fun... she stares at them and tries to put them in her mouth.

Big smile for Easter. She is so fun! Next year we will have fun with the basket and all that.

Kate LOVES Tigger. She tries to eat him, and hugs him. It is also the best tool to get her to smile. I've had the best weekend ever, family, food, fun. Now I have to detox: no more cadbury mini eggs....and I am addicted. It's a good thing they only sell those during easter, or I'd be FAT!

Look Alike!

I have decided that Kate sure is my daughter. While my mom was here she reminded me of the above picture of me at Kate's age. So we put Kate in my dress to compare. I think we look pretty similar! Good for her that she is even more adoriable than me!!

She is just too cute!

Grandparents are GREAT!

So my parents found cheap airplane tickets for spring break and decided to come visit! We were so lucky to have them come! Kate just LOVES her grandparents. She had fun getting all the attention. Here she is with Grandma.

Then chatting with Grandpa. She is starting to LOVE being talked to. And she stands up while you hold her (as you can see from the picture!) She is so strong!

While my parents were here, my Young Women's president gave us free tickets to the South Texas State fair (Thanks so much Gena!). So we had to go check that out! My dad decided that he HAD to taste fried gator..... let's just say the taste combined my hatred for chewy chicken and fish. NASTY! Dad and Jon liked it.

Kate slept for most of her first fair experience. Jon actually didn't drop too much food on her.... just some ice cream to the forhead! He really enjoyed his turkey leg....maybe a little too much!

BUMBO really stands for:

Big Ugly Mess By One-too-cute-to-get-mad-at! (ok so I'm not as creative as I thought!)

Why is it that almost every time I put Kate in her BUMBO seat that she poops. Let me clarify, when I say poops, what I really mean is explodes a runny, pooy mess! I have 2 outfits soaking in oxiclean as I type, with one more to go when I get a free minute (aside from my time spent complaining about the massive amounts of poo Ive cleaned lately).

Some Ramblings

I don't know exactally what to title this post because I have several things on my mind. So here they are-- in no particular order:

1) The Apostles really are inspired men. This weekend our stake was blessed with a visit from Elder L Tom Perry. He is such a sweet man! During his testimony, he told a story from his own life. When he was 7, President Jospeh F Smith was staying at his home for a conference in his stake. The President had overslept and was late for the meeting. His dad sent him in to wake the President (because he was too embarassed to do it!). What stuck out to Elder Perry was that even though the President was late, he took the time to sit down with the young Elder Perry and bear his testimony to the boy. During the story, Elder Perry asked a 7 year old boy to volunteer to come to the stand. He then bore his testimony to that boy. I was deeply touched by this act. That boy will have such a great memory of that day for the rest of his life. It reminded me that the Apostles of the Lord really are mindful of each of us. They are called of God, and spread the love of our Savior everywhere they go on the earth. We live in such a blessed time to have the Priesthood restored. I am so grateful for our Apostles! Now I'm extra excited for General Conference.

2) Totally unrelated to 1, I am determined to lose some weight. As you know, the insurance company has labled me obese and charging me extra money.... so I'm going to lose some weight and show them! I also want to get back to how strong I was before getting pregnant. My pregnancy really drained my body, and I want my strength back! So I'm posting this in the hopes that someone will ask me later how my weight loss is going. Since I am still nursing, I can't diet much, so I am determined to work out every day.

3) Does anyone know how long it takes for stretch marks to lighten? Im SICK of looking like a bleeding raisn.

4) Kate grabs toys now! It is amazing how excited I get when she grabs her toys and trys to eat them! She is just too fun! She also loves to 'talk'. Yesterday she was repeating EVERY noise that Jon made. Oh it was the best moment....but AS SOON as I got the video camera out she stopped and just looked at us like we were nutts. Silly girl! But here is a cute picture to show off her smile!

3 months!!

Wow time flies....and then feels like it stands still all at the same time. I can't believe my baby is already 3 months old, but on the other hand I feel like I've changed a million diapers! I feel like I've been Kate's mom for ages, but yet I still feel inexperienced. So I'm writing her 3 month update a day early because I just got home from the doctor. Thankfully I found another doctor! The office was nice, had fast service, and got Kate her shots! Oh I felt just aweful when my poor little girl got those shots! She was smiling and talking to the nurse, and then her face just dropped and she started screaming. I wanted to cry for her. Poor girl. But she only cried for like 2 minutes, and was just fine. I hope she keeps that up! And for her stats: she is huge!! She is 16 pounds! (99.9th percentile!!) I forget how long she was... but she is in the 92nd percentile for her age. But her poor little head is only in the 30th percentile. lol. It is so good to hear that she is doing great and knowing she has those shots taken care of. Kate is just the happiest, best baby I could ask for. She is still sleeping through the night (from 10pm to 7 am), smiles and talks to anyone who will look her way, tries to suck her fingers ALL the time (my full time job is putting her pacifier in her mouth instead of those fingers!), laughs and squeals when she is really excited, and she is reaching for and grabbing some toys now! We just love our little baby.

Happiness is....

...sitting in a Bumbo while mom works on crafts.

To bad mom didn't get anything done because I'm so distracting!

Excuse me while I rant

What am I doing blogging at 9:30 in the morning, when I was supposed to be at the doctor's office for Kate's overdue 2 month appointment? Well I'm letting out some of my anger! The doctor's office won't see Kate. I made a million phone calls since we moved here to find a doctor who would take new patients and get everything squared away with a new insurance company.... and I get to the doctor and they won't see Kate because I dont have the official insurance card in hand. The insurance company said all I had to do was give them the number and they would verify to the doctor that we have coverage. The doctor's office called and said that it didnt work. The nurses at the office we SO RUDE and made me feel like I was an aweful mom. I seriously got to my car and started BALLING MY EYES OUT because I was so frusterated and hurt. I swear Im not a bad mom at all! I can't help that my husband changed jobs right after Kate was born and we moved accross the country!!!! I can't help that despite my best efforts the insurance company takes 14-30 days to send you your official cards! And I can't help that some people are just plain rude and shouldn't be aloud to talk to a first time mom like that. I'm doing my best! I cant help that after calling 6 different doctors in my new town I found only one that would take a new patient! I don't know what to do now. I don't want to go back to that aweful office.... but what do I do if they are still the only place I find who will take new patients?! I guess Kate will be 3-4 months old before I can get her 2 month shots done. Monday I guess I'm off to find the local health department and get her shots there....(since the vaccination clinic is only open mon and tues) AHHHH IM SOOOOO MAD! Anyone in the Beaumont area know of offices I could go to? All of the referals I've gotten wont take new patients. Is it possible for the human body to explode because anger levels are too high?? I hope not....

Depression Hurts

Today I think I feel the fattest I have felt in my entire life. Just call me fatty-mcFatterson. I called my new insurance company this morning to ask them why our rate is higher than the quote we recieved...and I almost died when they explained the answer. I'm too fat. On the BMI chart I am officially obese. Thanks to me our family has to pay $26 more dollars a month for health insurance. Sweet. I've always been a bigger girl...Im no size 2...but I've gotten to accept that and appreciate my more athletic build. SO thanks to this depressing news I no longer feel like I'm doing good. Forget all the pride I felt that I was back in my pre-pregnancy clothes and getting better at getting my work outs in (when nap time schedules allow me 30 min of free time). I guess it is time to get obsessive about exercise.... but how when I am busy with 2 kids all day! Plus.... how does one work up a really good sweat when it hurts the 'girls' to jog?(sorry if that is TMI lol) If anyone has any ideas on how to workout when stuck in an apartment and not always having the ability to do workout videos let me know! Hopefully in a few months I will be able to post about all the weight I dropped....Im not feeling too optimistic. I blame the weather... it is cloudy and pouring down rain...perfect day to feel like crap. Too bad we don't have any icecream....that would cure my depression....