Kathryn swam in the pool for the first time yesterday! She really enjoyed it and did lots of 'frog' kicking and hand splashing!
Swimmin with Grandma:

Pool boy:
Swimmin' sibs:

"Froggin'"
Splash-splash!
"Flying Frogger"
Proud Daddy!

Kathryn's first swim in the pool

Pics from Boo's 27th Birthday Party!

Ya... I didn't take too many.

Kathryn had her 6-month check up today.

She is now 16lbs, 10 oz and 26 inches long!

She had 2 shots, but only cried briefly for the second one. The rest of the time she was her happy, smiling, jumping & laughing self!

As for milestones she reached by 6 months:
- she can now sit independently
- she eats cereal twice a day
- she is almost sleeping through the night

I love this age. She is so interactive!

But the best part is watching her 'play' with her older brother. He makes up games for everything - he's a very creative boy - and he's made up a game that he calls 'peek' that they play while she is in the jolly jumper. He'll get around behind her, and wait for her to 'chase' him and turn to where he is, then he'll laugh histerically, say "peek" and run around to her back again. She'll laugh and then work her hardest to get the jumper turned around to him again. It is the cutest, most heart-warming thing to watch. We have tried to get it on video, but as soon as the camera comes out, Patrick tries to run towards it, and thus the game is over.

Kathryn loves her big brother. She wants to be with him all the time. She isn't happy unless she can see him from where she is. She won't eat her cereal unless he's eating a snack, and if she's close enough, she'll try to 'steal' his sippy cup. When I get them up in the morning, I lay them side by side on P's bed so I can get him dressed, and she'll reach over to grab his arm or his hair and then gasp and smile happily as he turns to smile at her.

Patrick thinks Kathryn is pretty cool too. He gives her toys and says "Hi Kat-run" (or sometimes "Kat-rik"). He'll hand me something and say "Kat-run" meaning he wants me to give it to her. He gave me his favourite backyardigans book the other day and 'asked' me to read it to Kathryn - then he went back to playing with his laptop.

I've heard it said that the best gift you can give your child is a sibling and I must now agree. They love eachother - and its wonderful.

Its Kathryn's 6-month birthday today so we had a little photo shoot! When Patrick turned 6 months old, I did a series on his 'body parts'. So we captured Kathryn in the same fashion!

Here you can see how strong she's getting - look at her push up on chest! You can also see her strawberry birthmark!
Pretty little princess.
Close up profile: Love those chubby cheeks and button nose.
Patrick, of course, wanted in on the photo action too! Unfortunately, he rarely stays still for photos, instead he runs towards the camera. This is the only one of about 20 that actually turned out well.
Here are the "sibs". Mr. maxed-out-relaxed and Ms. Serious.

I had to share this photo of K and I as well - I love how she's smiling at me!

Daddy decided it was time for some Mommy & Kathryn pics since generally I'm the picture-taker in this house.

Here we are hanging out on the floor, after much piano playing. Kathryn loves to bang away on the fisher-price piano. We got some really great footage of it too - but only Shaun knows how to upload videos.
A token picture of Kathryn's second favourite thing: The kitty. Her favourite thing is her brother, who she adores.

And of course, a lovely shot of my sexy man and my beautiful little girl.

Kathryn keeps trying to steal Patrick's juice cup when she can reach it so I decided to get out a smaller one and wash it up for her. She really liked holding it and even put the spout in her mouth!!

Kathryn and her Daddy. Don't they look cool in white together?
Story time with Grandpy Paul:

These pics were taken when Caleb came to visit!! I took the top one and Char, and her amazing camera abilities, took the second one!

Aren't they adorable?????????

This picture is a re-creation of a picture I have in my babybook. Kathryn looks so much like me! Even the fish (same one - it was mine as a baby) is in the picture! I took a picture of my picture (because scanning takes more time). The quality isn't the best but you get the idea! MY picture is also when I'm 5 months old! Check out the comparison!!

Pool Pics!



Those pictures are from when my parents came for a visit yesterday.

Today we had Patrick in the pool again while K was napping. I actually went in too - and under! Shaun found a way that Patrick likes to be IN the pool - he likes to step onto the first step of the ladder and then 'jump' into the water. Shaun pulls him for a quick trip around the shallow end, and then Patrick climbs back up the ladder. We think it gives him a feeling of control! And we so glad that he wants to be IN the pool as opposed to just playing with the ball and watering can on the edge of it.

Its a miracle!

Kathryn has now proved that she can sleep through the night. She just had night 4 of sleeping through! I am so proud of her. And I am feeling like a whole person again! Yay Kathryn!!

Daddy managed to get Patrick in the pool by chasing the ball.

Kathryn is 5 months old today! Getting so big, so fast.

She can sit by herself for up to a minute or so before toppling over!
I don't think she's impressed that I decided I had to dress her up for her photo shoot. Please note the frilly socks.
Happy 5 months Kathryn! You're growing so fast!

Post Haircut:

We forgot the camera (BOOO) so we didn't catch any 'first haircut' shots for Kathryn. She got her mowhawk trimmed and her mullett thinned. Much better.

At least we were smart enough to keep some of her first trimmings for her scrapbook! She looks like such a chub in this picture.

Pool Boy!

Patrick loved the pool but refused to go in! Prefered to watch daddy and grandma swim.

Kathryn is having a week of firsts!

Today she rolled over, from her tummy to her back, ALL BY HERSELF, for the first time! Way to go Kathryn!

Also today, she is getting her first bottle of pumped milk. I need to know that she will take a bottle if necessary so I can get a bit of freedom and not worry the whole time that I'm 'starving' her! Wish us luck!! She's been really sucking on her NUK at night without issue, so hopefully she won't reject a "nuk" that has milk in it. The bottle nipple is a different shape, but I'm hoping that won't be a problem.

I was trying to get a nice picture of Patrick in his 'preppy' duds. He looked so good today! I was having a hard time getting a good posed picture though, so I got sneeky about it... and got this one! lol. What a little 'booger'.
And here he is, concentrating and just looking like his cute self:
And here is a face shot.... he kept running towards the camera... so that was the best I could get.

Kathryn had her first serving of rice cereal!

Here she is getting ready:
Here she is wondering what the heck is going on! Thats Grampy taking video footage.
Yummy?
Well that's different!! I'm not convinced though, mom.
All done! She did really well too - and ate almost all of it (1 tsp rice cereal, 3 tsp breastmilk).

Unlike Patrick, Kathryn has learned to enjoy tummy time!

Kathryn is starting to like the jolly jumper!

I couldn't decide between these pics so I posted them both!

Thanks Grandma!

Grandma Dorothy bought Patrick a proper-sized waterproof 'apron' to wear when he plays in the water at the sink! It worked great and he stayed completely dry.
Now.. if I can just convince him to keep the water IN the sink instead of washing my countertop, the piano bench and the floor, we'd be doing great!

Grandma and Grandpa Al bought P a watertable for outdoor water play. I can't wait to get it together because I think he'll just love it! Common warm weather!!

Kathryn had her 4-month well baby check up today!

She is 13.4 lbs and 59cm long!

She also got 2 needles, one in each leg, and cried a bit, but recovered quickly!

Way to go Kathryn!

"Playing" together! Kathryn loves the ball popper and Patrick still enjoys it too!

Pics from a trip to see my parents! Here's K with Gram;
And here she is playing Yahtzee with Grandpa Al:

Don't ya just love my Dad's 'morning hair'? lol

Kathryn is 4 months old today!!! Here she is with Daddy and Patrick.
I'm getting to be such a big girl!!
Kathryn holding Daddy's hand. Her fingers are so small by comparison. Daddy will always keep you safe in his big hands, little girl.