4th of July recap

Besides one little mishap, we had a great 4th of July weekend!

Kate discovered the adult-size rocking chair (she's been hanging off of the back of it for a long time, but never tried to sit in it until now - what a new perspective walking can give!).

This rocking chair belonged to James' Great-Grandmomma Lil, and it was a very special gift to us from Grandmomma Kathy.



Speaking of Grandmomma Kathy, we got to visit SC over the weekend. Kate was given a box of music makers!! She loved them. She especially loved the jingle bells, which she carried around the house for hours.
Jingle-jingle

We also got to hang out with our friends, Margaret and Tod. Kate was not having any of the pool (am I surprised?), but we enjoyed it!

Kate enjoyed playing with Josie the cat.

Kate also got to try chocolate ice cream for the first time. It was a hit.

And the mishap had to do with me... getting bit by a tiny kitten outside of the office. I shouldn't have picked it up.. long story! Regardless, I got bitten, and I was told by my doctor to go to the ER! I thought it was a little excessive, but it's a good thing I went - as I was sitting in the ER, my swollen finger (that had been hurting all day) started showing advanced signs of infection. I got a red streak going from my hand up my arm! Tetanus shot and antibiotics were given. Because the cat was not captured (and we weren't sure if it had rabies), i had to go back this week to get rabies shots. No fun!! If the cat is captured this week, I may not keep going back as it takes forever.. My finger is much better, and I learned my lesson about messing with wild animals. :)

Hair

We have had our first official haircut!

It was getting really long. I've been cutting Kate's bangs myself, because that hair just goes forward into her eyes.. we really had no choice about bangs. School doesn't promote wearing hair clips in Kate's class, and I appreciate that because I don't want Kate to choke on someone's hair bow. :)

She must get these curls from the Carlyle side. My hair is wavy now, but it was stick-straight as a child.

We've had some crazy hair in the mornings... haha

1 year ago - there was hardly any hair!! But what was there has hung on and grown out. Her hair had all different lengths. I wanted to get it cut to even it out some.

You can see some of the scraggly hair below (still pretty though!).

We took Kate to Salon Red Kids in Decatur, recommended from our friend Juliette who has 2 girls.

We had Ms. Debbie, and she was very friendly and FAST. Kate had a fit when James tried to put her in the car-chair. He ended up holding her. :)

Ms. Debbie knew exactly what we were going for - avoid the dreaded mullet hair.

I think it looks really cute!! This was just 2 weeks ago, and already it has grown out so fast.

BTW, Kate's new obsession is looking at photos. I'm in the process of making her a little photo album.

That's all for now. I have probably 300-400 photos to download from 2 cameras.

Ridiculous!!

Happy 4th everyone!! Be safe.

She's walking!!!

Kate is officially walking!!

She has taken her time.

She has been walking between me and James or from furniture to furniture, but we haven't seen a lot of just walking alone. Last week, when I picked Kate up from school, I knew that

she knew how to do it - she walked across the room to me, about 8 steps.

She could have walked before, but she just wasn't ready.

At school, they didn't let her move up to the next class because they said they had to be able to walk from their room to the lunch room. I thought: no way! I know she isn't ready (can you imagine - little 1-year olds walking in a little line down the hall to go eat lunch?? Crazy).

There were 3 kids that moved up from Kate's class, and 2 more that joined... the 2 that joined are Kate's age and not walking just yet either. I was a little bummed that she didn't move up, but I did understand why.

I think Kate's teachers have really taken a special interest in her. She's the oldest in the class, so they have known her the longest. And of course, her favorite teacher Ms. Sadia tells her everyday how much she loves her. We love Ms. Sadia.

Anyway, back to the walking - over the weekend, Kate took more interest in walking while holding our hand. She walked laps around the house. We went to Target, and she walked laps around Target! She's especially exhausted by the end of the day.

Today, at school, she walked!!!

We are SO excited. SHE is excited.

Her teachers are just as excited, too. When I came in the office today to drop off the check, Ms. Barbara was on the phone and said, "hold on a minute: Susan! Kate walked today!! Down the HALL!!" When I got to Kate's room, she was drinking from her sippy with

Ms. Samaria. Ms. Samaria put her on the floor, and she just walked over to me, like she had been doing it all along. :)

I can't say that I haven't thought, why hasn't Kate walked yet? But I knew she would do it when she was ready. I have really enjoyed her staying a "baby" at the same time! There is no rush.

Tonight, James said, "yesterday, she was crawling, and today she is walking".

Before you know it, we'll be saying, "yesterday, she was riding her bike, and now she is driving!" You laugh, but I know it is true. :)

Video Post

I know Mother's Day has long past us, but I wanted to share this sweet video that James made for me and all the mom's!!

(just click on the title, Video Post, to go to the youtube link)

Look out for photos of baby Susan and Baby James mixed in with Kate!