Good-bye July!

It seems like each day goes by faster than the one before it... maybe that's because Katherine seems to get faster each day. Looking back, we've had a great month! Katherine has sure done a good job soaking up every minute of summer:

She and Daddy have been taking daily runs through the park. Every once in awhile, they have something particularly interesting to share (like this goat that they ran into from a lady who owns a petting zoo):

This week we're particularly lucky to have Mommy's cousin John, his wife Sarah, and their kids Benjamin and Breanna visit as well! Katherine thinks her new big cousins are pretty cool and she loves chasing them all around Grambie and Grandpop's house.

Yesterday we took a trip up the Incline and got to see some great views of the city.

Katherine thought the experience was pretty sweet:

It's wonderful to experience summer through the eyes of a toddler again. Katherine is eager to try EVERYTHING, from chocolate ice cream, to fresh picked tomatoes, to running through the sprinkler or slipping down the slide. All of her little joys bring us so much joy every day!

Blockburgher happenings!!

Sorry we're so far behind on blogging. Believe it or not-- working, fixing up our house, raising a toddler, and growing a baby can leave you pretty exhausted! ;-)

First and foremost-- happy VERY belated Birthday Daddy!! Even though we're late posting about it, we certainly enjoyed every minute of the celebration! We love Daddy and pray this year is filled with abundant joy.

We were also fortunate to have a great visit from "Aunt" Beth this last weekend! We took Katherine back to the zoo, and this was the first time she really appreciated the animals. She giggled and giggled with each new exhibit. 

The flamingos especially tickled her pink, and she kept pointing and saying "duck duck!" (close enough...)

While Aunt Beth was in town, we also enjoyed the Strip District, and much of Pittsburgh's cuisine. Aunt Beth treated Mommy and Daddy to a night out and we enjoyed dinner at BD's Mongolian Barbecue.


It's been a great, fun filled week-- ruined all too well by Mommy being stuck on Jury Duty (that truly hasn't spoiled our week, but it certainly isn't a highlight). Tonight Mommy and Daddy are off to see the opening of Batman, while Katherine has a special sleepover with Luke at Grambie and Grandpop's house.

SO.... you can see that our sparse blogging isn't from lack of news, but more so, lack of energy. :-) We hope you enjoy these updates, and we'll be sure to write again soon!!

Making a Splash!

With as much as Katherine likes her bath, it wasn't a huge surprise that she LOVES the pool. She has no fear of the water being cold (she's much braver than Mommy and Daddy), and loves making a splash.

Mommy's been taking Katherine to "swim lessons" (which is mostly just a bunch of chaos with a lot of parents playing with their kids in the pool). Katherine has worked on "floating" (of course with Mommy holding her the whole time), and just last night in the bath learned how to blow bubbles!

As you can see, Katherine also loves playing in backyard baby pools. Here she is having fun at Grambie and Grandpop's:

We hope the whole summer is filled with happy, splashy moments like these. :-)

battle of the naps.

Over the last several weeks, Katherine's naps have become more and more difficult to plan around. She often wants to down for her morning nap right after breakfast, then will be very tired in the afternoon, but will talk, play, and cry in her crib for over an hour before falling asleep. Yesterday was a bit of a turning point for Mommy-- during Katherine's afternoon nap, she spent more than 2 hours alternating between talking, crying, and almost falling asleep before Mommy gave up and took her for a walk (which she fell asleep on in less than 5 minutes).

We spend most of our days scheduling everything we do around Katherine's sleep schedule, as a well rested baby makes for a happy baby. This has been particularly challenging on Sunday mornings, as Katherine's nap schedule interrupts almost every available Mass-- although we're now experts on almost every available Mass time in the Pittsburgh area as we've gone to a different church almost every week).

Today, Mommy made the decision to cut out Katherine's second nap. I pushed her to stay up until after the 8am Mass, and we played until almost 11. She then took one long nap, and had a great time playing with her cousins at Alex's birthday party:

She was pretty tired this afternoon, and repeatedly asked to "go night night," but she remained happy until her 7:30 bedtime, and will hopefully sleep well tonight. :-)

This weekend Daddy's been enjoying some camping in Michigan with some friends. Mommy and Katherine have sure been missing him, and can't wait to see him tomorrow! Mommy has loved all the extra-special Katherine time, and sure appreciates all the extra help from Grambie and Grandpop, but I'm quite exhausted and ready to catch some extra sleep myself!

Happy Birthday Alex!!!

Happy Birthday Alex!! We all hope you have tons of fun being 3!!

Katherine thinks you're super cool.... she also thinks you're super old (more than twice her age!) Baby Marie can't even imagine being so old, but she knows you'll have lots to teach her about how to keep out of trouble.

Sorry we missed your birthday post yesterday, but we hope this gives you an excuse to celebrate again today. :-) We look forward to celebrating as a family this weekend, and we're sure this year will be filled with tons of fun, and trouble! ;-)

meet Marie :-)

In case you haven't heard, we're thrilled to announce that Katherine has a little sister!

We had an "announcement" party at Uncle Tom's on Sunday, complete with cake balls to announce our little girl. One cake ball was dyed pink in the middle-- we forgot to snap pictures before Aunt Mary ate it, but it was fun to celebrate with family.

We've decided on the name Marie, although her middle name is still undecided. Now that we've seen some good photos of Marie, she seems ready to announce herself a bit more too. She's been kicking for a couple weeks now where only Mommy could feel her, but lately her kicks have been big enough that Daddy can sometimes feel them too!!

It was also a lot of fun to see all the progress Uncle Tom has made on his house!! It's almost ready for the market as you can see in these pictures:

We're very proud of Uncle Tom, and we're of course very excited about our baby girl (although to be fair, we'd be thrilled with a baby boy too... or even both)!! ;-)

guess who!

Mommy and Daddy got to see our little Baby on the ultrasound yesterday! The ultrasound tech said that Baby looks great and is right on track for a November 22nd birth.

The ultrasound tech also said that baby was very stubborn! He/she sat up breech (which isn't a birthing concern, but apparently makes it very difficult to get a good look on the ultrasound) and had his/her legs crossed for most of the appointment, making it especially difficult to get a gender shot.

BUT-- the tech was able to get a "good estimate," and called in a more experienced tech for a second opinion. They both agreed that Baby is a................................

we won't give it to you that easy!! ;-) We're having a "reveal" party tomorrow at Uncle Tom's, and we'll post it on the blog after that. Until then, happy guessing!!