Naked time

Katy has been really enjoying naked time. Here are some pics from this morning. Check out her 4 teeth!Also, an update on her latest triumphs. For those of you who haven't heard already, Katy has been making some forays into language learning! She understands and responds to full sentences like "Mommy has to go bye-byes," "Give Daddy the keys," "Where's the moon?", and "You want num-nums?" She tries to say a lot of words, such as dog, moon, book, Wolfie, Katy (when looking at pictures of herself), and Daddy. Her most frequent word is "DAT?" which means "Let's go explore that thing!" or "What's the name for that thing?" And then she tries to repeat the name of it. The word she pronounces best is "boob," but she thinks that any marks on Mommy's skin are boobs. Like my moles. I *think* she tried to say "mom" this morning, but it is probably just wishful thinking.

Life's a Beach and Then You Dry

Sorry for the long blogging hiatus. We were working really hard with breaks for the beach... we've had like NO time. Here are some of the highlights from our recent adventures. In order to get these pictures to you as quickly as possible, we've omitted captions. By now you all know Grammy, G-Pop, Aunt Anna, and of course Katy, Mommy and Daddy.

Big news! (and other stuff)

Katy has a new cousin! Jessica Lynn was born this morning at 6 a.m., weighing 7 lb. 1 oz. She is doing well! I haven't spoken to proud parents Brian and Shelly yet, so the only info I have is from Brian's voice mail message. We are so happy for the growing family!

Katy's got her own shades now.

And a wagon.

And let me tell you why I'm glad I'm not a mama bird.

1) They eat their babies' poo right out of the bum. I witnessed it.

2) They build a nest, give birth to those eggs, sit on them forever, meet their babies, take care of them, feed them, protect them, etc. for a couple WEEKS, and then those babies MOVE OUT!! I am so sad for Mama and Daddy Bird. Did I mention that Daddy Bird is a very involved father? Perhaps it's all Zach's positive modeling.

porch time

One activity we always make time for is porch time. This is our time to sit outside before dinner, enjoy the weather, and enjoy the company of our neighbors. We live on a lively one-way street in town, where people like to come outside and socialize. Here is Katy, being so irresistably adorable that the two boys down the street (ages 6 and 5) had to come visit her.

Then we all went over their porch for awhile. They have a 3-year-old sister and a baby brother who is turning 1 this weekend.

This morning, we went visiting some friends in a nearby town. They have 2 little girls, ages 2 and 8 months. Katy is learning all about having friends. There's a lot to learn, like: We leave the other baby's pacifier in her mouth, instead of pulling it out of her mouth and sucking on it. Or, we touch our friends nicely, instead of biting their arms and making them cry. Or, we need to take turns when everyone wants to play with the same MagnaDoodle. Whew - tough life lessons to learn!

poo happens!

Yay! This morning we tried a... suppository. And it worked! Yay! However, Katy did not seem to be a big fan of the process. Wonder why.

And then we had our friends Missy and baby Morgan come to play. Katy was SO excited to see them. Morgan is 7 months older than Katy, so she's walking and talking. Katy loves to crawl around after Morgan, touch her on the arm, or just watch and listen to her. And the best thing about playdates is chatting with other mamas. I learn a lot from Missy about what to expect in the coming months.

Katy's finally learning what it means to be gentle. "Soft," we call it. She petted Wolfie this morning really softly with NO intervention from Mama.

This afternoon, we're going to meet some other friends (Gwen and baby Carl) at a park. Katy's a social butterfly!

no poo!

I won't even tell you how many days it's been since Katy poo'ed. Let's just say, it's been too long, and she went to see the doctor today. On his advice, we're giving her milk of magnesia, prune juice, and all sorts of new foods that help to "move things along". Which is killing me, of course, because Zach and I prefer to introduce one new food each week, in order to track any allergic reactions. But yesterday she tried 2 new foods at once (chicken and broccoli), and today she tried prune juice and whole wheat bread. I KNOW! She's allergic to wheat, right? We don't know though. Ever since the weather got warmer, her eczema is just completely gone, even if I eat wheat (and she gets it through my milk). Anyway, the bran part of the wheat grain is supposed to help you "go". I'm getting desperate here. I'm afraid she's just going to pop!

Here she is her drinking her prune juice, which she actually likes!

And here are some pictures from days past.

Anna and her laptop bag! Front, then back.

Daddy lending Katy his shades.

Katy eating bananas, before I learned that they are binding, and might be one of the causes of her no poo problem. Not smart, mommy!

The baby birdies that were born underneath our deck roof!