Rolling into a New Year

It's almost impossible to believe that 2011 is already coming to a close. It must be true that time speeds up as you grow older, and even more so when you have children. Katherine is sure ready to roll into the new year:

This has been one of the most wonderful years of our lives. Katherine brings our family much joy, and a new perspective every day. Here are our family highlights from this year:

Daddy: Katherine saying "Dah-dee" for the first time
Mommy: Getting to have lunch with Katherine and Ted every day
Katherine: Being born.

Katherine is fast asleep right now, and hopefully won't wake up before 2012. Mommy and Daddy aren't too far behind.... So Happy New Year from our family to yours!! Zzzzzzzz you next year!

Baby's First Christmas!

Katherine had a wonderful first Christmas. We enjoyed wonderful time with family, and we were all spoiled with gifts!  Katherine loves all her new toys, books and clothes. We're incredibly grateful for everyone's generosity.

We unfortunately forgot our camera at the Christmas Eve celebration, and our camera wasn't working on Christmas Day. We're in the process of stealing pictures from more responsible family members (any donations can be sent to: julie.m.block@gmail.com) ;-) and we promise pictures soon!
(Update-- we're currently babysitting Luke, so we've been able to snag some pictures from the Romitos, but we won't turn down any additional donations!) :-)

 

Luckily for us, the Christmas season has just begun, so no one can complain about our post being added late ;-)

We pray your family has had a safe and joyful Christmas. May Christ's joy fill your homes during this happy time!

A Good Report

We have a lot to report! Here's a news summary from the last few days:

We had a great time on the Polar Express with Grambie and the Berna clan. Katherine got to meet Santa Clause (she loved his curly white hair), and enjoyed watching the other kids on the train ride.

Katherine also had her 9 month check-up. The doctor reported she was in great health, and all the nurses ooh-ed and aah-ed over her. Katherine was happy to share big smiles, and did a great job at the check-up! She's 16 1/4 pounds and 28 inches.

Last, but CERTAINLY not least-- Oma, Opa, Aunt Mary Beth and Casey are in town! We're very grateful for a safe trip up from Texas, and we're looking forward to a fun-filled week!

9 is so fine!

Katherine reached a landmark today-- she has lived outside the womb as long as she lived inside the womb! (Give or take a couple days).

We celebrated this morning with "cake" (pancakes). Katherine loves pretty much all table food, and was happy we shared with her. If you look closely in the first picture, you can even see her two top teeth poking through:

uh oh!!

Over the last week or so Katherine's first word seems to have emerged... one of her new favorite games is to drop something, then look down at it and say "hmm-ho!" She sometimes practices in her crib before and after naps, singing "hum ho!" over and over again.

Of course, every time we bring out the video camera she gets shy, but you can sort of hear her saying uh-oh in this clip before bath time:

Other sounds are less distinguishable... She seems to be using the term "ma ma ma" to mean "I want something (Mommy, Daddy, milk, or "I want out of the carseat...").  And she seems to razz when ever she wants to say "no."

Right now Katherine "ma ma ma" play, so we'll post more updates later!

Getting the "Block Party" started

Over the last couple months Mommy has been working on her party planning business, and it looks like things are finally good to go! Many pieces have fallen into place, and the plan is to begin delivering meals in the Pittsburgh area at the beginning of next year. 

You can check out the new site here:

www.block-parties.com

There are still many pieces to work on. The next goal is to add party planning resources onto the website, and to add more pictures all throughout the site. It's a bit intimidating to try starting a small business, but you only learn by taking risks! We're all excited to see where this Party goes, so be sure to check out Block Parties and spread the word!!

Deck the Halls

We've slowly been preparing for Christmas with decorations around the house. Katherine particularly loved some garland we put on the stairs, so this afternoon, Mommy decided to set up the Christmas tree. As you can see, Katherine was more than happy to help:

Hopefully Katherine will have just as much fun helping us put ornaments on the tree (we're a little worried that she'll have too much fun "helping" to take them down)!

Happy Birthday Grandpop!!

Happy belated birthday to Grandpop and his twin sister, Aunt Kathy!!!

We hope Grandpop has time to get a great nap in for his birthday, and we look forward to celebrating with Grandpop and Mommy's family tonight!!

So much to be Thankful For.

Our Thanksgiving post is long belated, but we realize it doesn't have to be a national holiday to celebrate our gratitude.

We're extremely thankful for our family-- our little family, as well as the tremendous support we receive from our extended family. We're also thankful for having a safe home. We have plenty of food and so many luxuries. We have good health and most importantly, we have our faith.

We certainly enjoyed our Thanksgiving celebration. Katherine sampled all the traditional foods. Her favorite was mashed potatoes with gravy, with cranberries as a close second.

We pray your family also had a great Thanksgiving, and we look forward to continuing to celebrate family during this holiday season!

Eight is Great!

It's hard to believe that Katherine is 8 months old today!! To celebrate, she committed to crawling with her belly off the floor all day! 

When putting Katherine in her PJ's for bed, we remembered looking at these clothes a couple months ago thinking "she'll never be that big at 9 months old." Now her 9 month clothes are actually already tight on her, and she mostly wears 9-12 month clothes! 

One of Katherine's favorite things to do right now is to dance. We turn on the "toddler" Pandora station, and she starts bouncing up and down. She also loves it when we dance around the room with her. Here are some pictures of her snuggling and dancing with Daddy and Mommy:

Happy Birthday Opa!!!

Katherine sends Texas sized hugs to Opa on his birthday! We wish we could be with you to celebrate your special day, but know you're in our thoughts and prayers! Just a couple more weeks 'till we get to see you for Christmas, and you can see how excited Katherine is to give you a great big hug:

Wonder-Fall

Over the last week or so we've been lucky to enjoy relatively warm, clear weather, which has helped us savor every moment of fall. The skies have been clear and sunny, and since Mommy gets off of work pretty early we've been able to take a couple afternoon trips to the park before it gets dark.

Katherine is amazed by the leaves and trees. She demanded that Mommy put her down and let her "walk" (holding onto Mommy's fingers) and sat playing in the leaves for close to an hour this Monday. She giggled as they crunched and loved it when we threw leaves up in the air at her.

Here you can see the beauty of her wonder. It's such a blessing to see a child explore Fall for the first time. Katherine's enthusiasm is contagious and helps fill our days with joy:

Splish Splash!

Over the last few weeks we've officially moved Katherine to the big bath tub instead of her infant tub. She loves to splash around and chase her duck! Here she is making a splash:

Where'd we go??

If it seems like we left our blog and went out of town for awhile, it's because we did!!

We recently got back from a wonderful trip to San Antonio, visiting Oma, Opa, Aunt Mary Beth and Casey. Our trip was super relaxing (Mommy and Daddy both got to sleep in almost every day thanks to some great babysitting :-D ), delicious (we got to fill up on Kolaches, Mexican food, BBQ and our favorite Texan treats), and fun!

Here are some highlights:

Playing in the Pumpkin Patch:

Sweet and Spooky Halloween treats:

Dogs!!! (A definite favorite for Katherine on the trip):

All dressed up for Halloween:

Sharing lots of snuggles with Oma and Opa:

Every moment of the trip was absolutely perfect, but without a doubt the best part was the company! We were so blessed to be able to visit our Texas family, and we can't wait to see them again soon!!!

Busy Day

Katherine is clearly feeling much better today-- she hit three developmental milestones in one day! This morning while getting ready, Katherine rocked back and forth on her hands and knees and right onto her bum. This was one of the first times we've seen her get into the sitting position from laying down on her own.
Next, when Daddy went in to check on Katherine after her morning nap he found her standing up after pulling herself up on the side of her crib:

Finally, while our running some errands over Mommy's lunch hour, Katherine started waving to people in the store. She consistently waved to people at least four times this afternoon!

Katherine doesn't quite seem ready to perform these tasks consistently (at least not consistently enough that we've caught them all on camera), but we're super proud of her-- and she smiles and giggles showing how proud she is of herself! All her hard work has her tuckered out, and hopefully we'll all sleep well tonight!

Under the Weather

Katherine came down with her first cold this week. There are few things in this world that sound more sad than a baby coughing. :-(

Daddy's also feeling under the weather, so this weekend we're all focusing on resting and nursing everyone back to good health (literally for Katherine-- when she has Mommy's milk she gets lots of antioxidants and immune boosters). 

Luckily, despite not feeling too well, Katherine has continued to sleep relatively well. We have a humidifier set up in her room, and we gave her a long warm bath and baby chest rub before bed last night. Does anyone have any tips for making a poor sick baby feel better?

Hats off to you!

The cooler weather has given us some great chances to try out some cute hats on Katherine. We hope you get a "hoot" out of these pictures:

Lucky 7 Months

Katherine is officially 7 months old today! To celebrate she's going to share her favorite 7 things that she's enjoyed since arriving to the world:

Daddy Snuggles:

Moments after birth

Visiting Mommy at work:

8 weeks old

Playing with cousins:

Luke sharing his cars - 3 months old

 Seeing Grandparents (in person or in video chat-- just a couple weeks 'till our next visit to Texas!):

Oma and Opa's visit - 4 months old

Sleeping (this counts as one of Mommy and Daddy's favorites too):

OCNJ, August 2011

Chasing Buttercup (or sharing her spot with her...):

September 2011

Eating "real" food:

October 2011

Our lives are so greatly blessed by our baby girl, and we're sure lucky to have had a great first 7 months!