Summer Fun

And so began the summer of high hopes. As most people do, I had grandiose ideas about what this summer would look like. There were visions of the projects we would get done around the house -- work on the yard, stain the fence, build a new gate, clean the shop... The list goes on... There was also talk of camping and other trips that we might make. I guess there's just so many weekends to divvy up...

That's not to say we haven't had a very enjoyable summer so far or that we haven't gotten *anything* done. We have!! Since the last post, we've been to birthday parties, played in the annual Care Cup golf tournament, gone to the zoo, taken in a nice weekend at the beach, attended the local 4th of July parade as well as caught a few baseball games. I've also been traveling for work a lot more this month, but that will hopefully settle down a bit real soon. It all adds up to make it seem like we haven't gotten anything done. I know we have, but maybe my todo list is just too long, so it never seems like I'm making any headway. I'll have to work on that :-)

Katie is doing well. We've had a few minor sleep issues as of late, but that could be because of cutting new teeth, the heat, or a variety of other reasons. She's really walking on her own quite well now. I'll try to post a video of this soon, as she's pretty darn proud of herself as she struts back and forth across the room. She's already trying to multitask as she walks -- holding a book and a ball, clapping them together and watching her Signing Times video all at the same time. Yes, it's a recipe for disaster, but so far she's only had minor bumps and bruises.

Katie's one year doctors appointment was full of more shots, but she took it pretty well. She's now down from 80-90% ranges in height and weight to around 50%. It's about time as I thought those cheeks were going to explode if they got any bigger.

She loves spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, and has been pretty snuggly this month. We live for the times when she curls up on our shoulder and tucks her little arms under neath her chest. I'll really miss that some day. She's picking up a ton of new signs right now, and can say please and thank you, cereal, cracker, water, sleep, hat, dog, cat, baby, frog, wash hands, among a host of others. It's fun to see her sign something new out of the blue that we hadn't even been working with her on. Verbally, she's still making a lot of noise, but not actually saying many words. She'll occasionally say "da da" or "ma ma", although I'm not sure really makes the connection yet. The one word she seems to have down pretty well is "Hi"... She can also quack like a duck and moo like a cow.

Here's some pictures from her latest escapades.


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