Following the Fobarts

Our sweet Kate is 11 months old today!  She now weighs 19 lbs 8 oz and is 29 inches tall.   Walking is her main source of getting around these days.  She has gotten pretty good and can make it nearly across the room before falling.  She is still not real steady, but she gets better every day.  She loves to clap her hands, give high fives, and is starting to give kisses!  Of course, her kisses mean she basically licks your face, but that’s okay with me!  It is too sweet to pass up!   She loves Bailey and occasionally they will play together.  This consists of Kate holding Bailey’s toy and Bailey grabbing it from her and running away.  Then Kate goes and grabs another toy and the cycle continues.   Her hair is getting so long that it can be tucked behind her ears.  On a humid day her hair curls at the ends and it is so cute.    She has mastered the sippy cup and has gotten very independent when it comes to eating.  She loves to feed herself and will only let us feed her certain things – like her favorite thing ever,  oatmeal.   She is mostly eating normal “people food” these days.  I can’t remember the last time she ate something pureed.  She’s a fairly picky eater, but is trying new things often.  Kate is starting to imitate things we do – for example, I’ll comb her hair and then hand her the comb and she’ll try to comb her hair also.  She’ll also put her toy phone up to her ear.  She’s so much fun and keeps us laughing daily.   She is such a blessing in our lives!!!!

Hard at work on her laptop.

I love it when daddy pushes me around on my cow!

So, the past week our house has undergone our version of an extreme home makeover.  No, the TLC crews were not out making crazy themed rooms and making our house so large and nice that it outdoes every other house on the street.  BUT, we did have the whole house exterior painted and boy did it need it!!!!  I’m almost embarrassed to share the pic of the house “before” cause it was *that* bad.  The good news is that it is pretty as can be right now.  We love the new look!!

Before…..

After!!!

We celebrated Jeni’s 30th birthday on Monday the 15th – the day after her actual birthday.  This gave me a whole day to make sure she knew she was no longer in her twenties!  Thankfully she’s a good sport and I didn’t have to sleep outside.  We met a small group of friends for dinner and fun at The Cheesecake Factory.  We had a great time!  The evening ended with cheesecake, of course!  Jeni got a huge slice of her favorite cheesecake all lit up with candles (see the pictures – the candles say “Oh No The Big 3-0!”).  Kate, baby-to-be-named-later, and I are so blessed to have Jeni.  She is such a wonderful woman, wife, mother, and friend.  WE LOVE YOU JENI!  Happy 30th Birthday!

Can you believe our little Kate is already 10 months old?  And, in only 2 months we’ll be wishing her a happy 1st birthday?!!

She is *almost* walking.  She gets more and more confident every day.  She has started walking between toys – she can get about 6-7 steps in before falling down.  Before we know it, and I bet before next month’s update, she’ll be walking all over the place.   Her two top teeth have broken through, so she now has 4 teeth -2 top and 2 bottom.  She has recently found it fun to use the crib rail as a teether.  This morning I went in to get her out of bed and she had paint specs all over her face.   I guess she thought her crib needed a little distressing.   Kate also loves to dance to music.   She is always bouncing up and down to tunes with the biggest smile on her face.   She has also become quite a monkey – climbing up on things, in between things, under things, etc.  One other recent development is that she is now starting to play with toys instead of just chewing on them.  She loves to push her little toy car around.    She’s growing up too quickly!!

did I make this mess???

i love my valentine monkey

kate’s newly distressed crib

i didn’t do it mom, you can’t prove it!

of the end.  The end of immobility.   We’ve actually crossed that point a while back when Kate started rolling and crawling, but we could at least keep her contained somewhat.  Two days ago Kate realized she could take steps on her own!  4-5 steps at a time, actually.  She can walk and walk and walk with no trouble as long as she is pushing the stroller, or even just has a hold of my finger.  She doesn’t need the stroller or my finger, but she still thinks she does.  At least for now.  But this is all ending.  She will be fearlessly walking any day now.  And there’s no turning back.  I will be a preggo and tired mommy chasing after Kate.  (YES – for those of you who don’t know already, I’m pregnant, again! Baby #2 due late August).    So I guess all hopes of my bedtime becoming later after I get through this first trimester might be wishful thinking.  On the bright side, at least she’ll keep me in shape!

Here is a link to a video Ryan put together of Kate walking…..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKpB1_MAZu0

About two weeks ago, Dad, Kate and I met up with Tracie and Nick at Baylor.    It was Kate’s first trip to Baylor!  She sported her green and gold and was the cutest Baylor Bear on campus!  We started at the Maybourn Museum, then ate lunch, walked around campus, and then dropped the guys off at the Baylor Bears basketball game.  The girls went to get frozen yogurt, get our toes painted, and do a little shopping!  We then finished the day off with dinner at Ninfas.  We wore Kate out so much that she literally slept through more than half of dinner in my arms.  It was cute.

Kate turned 9 months old on Sunday!  Boy, how time flies.

She currently weighs 18 lbs 8 ozs and is 28 inches long.  She is as talkative as ever – and especially likes to give speeches with both arms raised.  It is quite cute.  She turns pages in books, drinks from a sippy cup, loves smacking her lips, and her favorite toys are ones that make noise when you shake them.  One of her favorite games is peek-a-boo.  It puts a big smile on her face every time.   Kate now knows what “no” means and almost always behaves!   She can stand on her own and will be taking steps any day now.  She loves to walk around the house pushing her doll stroller walker and it is SO cute.  She still only has two bottom teeth, but we can see 2 teeth about to pop through – one on top and one on bottom.

We keep saying she just can’t get any cuter, but she keeps proving us wrong!

Texas weather is so unpredictable.  We haven’t had a white Christmas in 80 years, and this year it not only snows on Christmas eve, but again 4 days later!   We missed the snow on Christmas eve, so we were excited to get to take Kate out in the snow this time.   She wasn’t quite sure she was having a good time out there, but I know that in a year or two we won’t be able to keep her out of the snow!  She’s the cutest little snow bunny ever!

Back in 1983, Aunt Linda started a Christmas tradition with her two nieces, Tracie and me.  The tradition was making Christmas sugar cookies.  I’m not sure whether we had more fun showering the kitchen with flour, or actually making the cookies, but we had fun nonetheless.  This year Aunt Tracie was so excited to restart the tradition with Kate.  She was so cute!

We want to wish all our family and friends a very merry Christmas!

We are very blessed with loving family and wonderful friends this season.   We thank God for the awesome gift of his son, Jesus, and that through him we have eternal life.   We hope this Christmas is as joyful for you as it is for us.