I guess she doesn't want to be in her swing...

The other day, I woke up at 6:30 and hoped to be able to get some stuff done, since Kate doesn't usually wake up until 7:30 or 8. So I quietly got up and carefully picked Kate up from our bed... and the minute I set her in her crib, she freaked out. Ok, ok; so we went downstairs and I got her back to sleep by nursing her. I waited awhile so that she would be lulled into a deeper sleep... and the minute I put her in her swing, she woke up. *sigh* this wasn't really going how I planned! But, since she wasn't fussing, I took that opportunity to eat my breakfast and do some work. It was completely quite in our living room, so I thought she had gone back to sleep, but when I peeked over at her, I saw this:



Guess she's not too happy with my decision to put her in the swing!

11 months!

It's getting harder and harder to take pictures of Kate by the bear; whereas at two weeks old, she laid there calmly, now she's moving around and laughing and getting into everything. But hey, I tried!

This is Kate at 11 months, 1 week.




Hmmm... well, I can see the bear pretty well. Kate, not so much.


This one is kind of blurry because I had to hurry and keep her from leaping off the bed... *sigh*




I think this may be the best we can get...







Here are the other bear photos:


Nine and a half months


Eight and a half months


Seven and a half months


Six and a half months


Five months


Four months


Three months


A month and a half


Two weeks

Silly Girl!

On Tuesday, I gave Kate a bath after her swimming class, and I just had to laugh at how her hair looked when it dried.


Playing with my phone; her new favorite thing!


Look at that Mohawk




Such a cutie!

Kirsti's Jazz Cabaret

On Friday, we went to Kirsti's jazz cabaret, which was held at the Madison Marriott West. Kate of course loved it--anything with music is good with her! All the bands were phenomenal; there were four high schools (East, West, Middleton, and Verona), and you would have thought you were listening to professionals, not high school musicians. The dinner was pretty good, too; I had chicken with mustard sauce, and Dan had a sirloin, I believe. Kate ate a few of my green beans, but she was mainly just so excited to hear the music that eating wasn't really on her radar.


In her "fancy" outfit before we went to the show






This is what I get when I say, "Kate, smile!"--a cheesy grin :)

She loves Tuesdays...

I think Tuesdays are going to be Kate's favorite days, hands down. We had her music class this morning, and once again, she loved it. She happily banged on the tone bars and looked so proud of herself. We sang a lot of songs and she bounced along to the beat, and when it was her turn to strum the guitar, she was so thrilled. She's such a funny girl.

Then this afternoon, we had her first Little Dippers swimming class. Some of the other kids were afraid of the water (which is understandable; they're so little) but Kate is clearly a little water lover! She was splashing and smiling and laughing, and even the teachers commented on how at east she seemed. We even did a lot of singing in the class (I know, singing in a swimming class; who would've thought?) so that was just an added benefit for Kate. When I tried to get her to blow bubbles in the water, though, she just tried to drink the water. *Sigh* I guess we'll have to learn that skill a little later.


Relaxing in her swing today after her morning nap


Pretty smile; too bad it's half-hidden by her jacket!


I love how the blue of her jacket brings out the blue in her eyes.

Our second music class

Kate & I had music class again today, and once again, she loved it! One of her favorite things to do was shake these "bell sticks" (little mini-drumsticks with jingle bells on the end); she had so much fun making noise, and she actually kept the beat remarkably well; even better than the 2-year-olds in the class! The teacher even said, "Wow, Kate is doing a great job keeping the beat!" She's so funny, my little music-lover.

She also liked the part where we played the tone bars (I talked about those last week; they're the big "xylophone"-looking keys with an A note on one and a D note on the other). I didn't even have to help her like I did last week; she just took the sticks from my hands and started tapping on the tone bars. She looked so proud of herself.

Afterward, we went to the nearby coffeeshop, and it was fun to hang out for a bit with the other moms. I felt kind of bad for Kate, as I could tell she really wanted to join the other kids in the play area, but she's still just a bit too young. Luckily, there were some toys that I could bring over to where the adults were sitting, so she just played there by my feet.

Then--and perhaps this is the highlight of my day! (ok, not really)--she napped for two hours. Yay! I got a lot of work AND housework done. (Although you couldn't tell by looking at my living room floor right now; Kate's taken all the toys out from her toybox. Silly girl!)

Here are some shots of her playing this afternoon.




So happy playing with her kitchen that she got from Nana & Grandpa for Christmas













Maybe becoming a baker is in her future?


Silly!


I love these Robeez shoes; she can't pull them off! They make her feet look so big though, since they're 12-18 months, but hey, as long as she leaves them on in this cold winter weather, fine by me!

Completed our first New Year's resolution!

I am so excited; today we made the final payment on our car, so we can check our first New Year's resolution off the list. That frees up an extra $344.47 a month, so it will be nice to start throwing that money towards our student loans. Just had to share my excitement!

Music Classes

Kate & I started her Musikgarten classes at the Sun Prairie Music Academy yesterday. She loved it! There were four other kids; two boys, two girls, although they were all about 18-24 months, so Kate was the youngest one there. It didn't matter, though; Kate absolutely loved it! She has a fantastic sense of rhythm; she was bouncing along to the beat of the teacher's guitar, and I could tell that the teacher was quite surprised that this little 10.5 month old was keeping the beat so well!

We sang a bunch of songs, and each child had the opportunity to play these two xylophone "keys" (I don't know how else to describe them; big blocks of wood, like an oversized piano key, with an A note on one and a D note on the other). I of course had to help Kate, but she looked so proud that she was doing what the other kids were doing, even if I had to help. There was a lot of dancing, too; overall it was just so much fun and I could tell Kate really enjoyed it. It will be even more fun when she gets to the age when she can run around and dance like these kids do!

Plus, it's nice for me because all the other moms seem really nice, and the teacher said that most weeks they all walk over to the coffee shop down the street and hang out for a bit, so that'll be a fun way for Kate and I to meet with new people. We didn't do it yesterday, though, because it was snowing pretty heavily, and I think most people just wanted to get home! (Plus, it was Kate's nap time, so I didn't want to risk a meltdown!)

Family Swim

This morning, Kate & I went to the Princeton Club for their Family Swim time. She had so much fun; she loves splashing around and being in the water. I'm so excited for us to start our Little Dippers class on the 25th! After we were done with the Family Swim (we caught the last 45 minutes of it), I changed into my exercise clothes & Kate into her regular clothes, and then dropped her off at the free childcare on site. Dan was home sick (otherwise, he would have come swimming with us), so I had him on standby to come and pick her up in case she freaked out when I dropped her off at the childcare. Luckily, Kate LOVED it. I mean, she was still excited to see me when I came back (I'll be a sad mom the day she doesn't seem to care if I come back!) but the caretaker said that Kate had a lot of fun playing with the blocks, and she was completely fine during my 40 minute workout. Whew; I'm so glad! I had wanted to start taking daytime classes at the club, but I was always worried about how Kate would do in the childcare. So Dan's been going early in the morning, and I've been going at night, but now I feel more comfortable leaving her in there for an hour while I take an aerobics class or whatever.

Here she is this morning in her pink tutu swimsuit, coverup and pants:

Our New Year's Resolutions

I know, everyone says that they will do XYZ at the start of the new year, but rarely follow through. However, I'm one of those people who finds that writing goals down makes me more likely to keep them. So, here are our realistic, attainable goals for 2011:

Financial (in order):
1. Pay off car (balance of $1,280.25 as of 1/1/2011)
2. Pay off my smallest student loan ($2,178.75 as of 1/1/2011)
3. Pay off Dan's smallest student loan ($4,099.02 as of 1/1/2011)
4. Pay off my last student loan ($4732.81 as of 1/1/2011)
5. Beef up emergency fund to $2,500 (currently at $553.00)

Personal/Family
1. Read at least one book for entertainment every month
2. Spend at least 1.5 hours a day playing one-on-one with Kate. Obviously I spend all day, every day with her, and we do play and read a lot, but it's so easy to get caught up in doing the dishes, or vacuuming, or playing on the Internet, and I don't want her precious babyhood to slip by because I was doing housework. I mean, yes, stuff like that needs to be done, but I want to keep it at a minimum and make sure that we get that good quality playtime in every day.
3. Take Kate on at least one outing a month (to the zoo, the museum, etc.) as a family
4. Journal three times a week.
5. Work out at least three times a week. We joined the Princeton Club, and we really like it so far, so hopefully this'll be an easy one to keep!

Well, there you have it; my New Year's resolutions! I'll keep everyone updated as to how they're progressing!

New Year's Eve

Naturally, having a 10.5 month old meant that our New Year's Eve was pretty low-key, but that's ok. We still had a great time. We ate dinner with my parents and their friends they always have over for NYE, and then Josh (Dan's best friend from high school) and his date came over, and the four of us hung out waiting for the ball to drop. Austin & Nancy joined us at around 11, so it ended up being a really nice evening with family/friends. Kate actually slept in her playpen from around 9:30 to 4, which is practically unheard of for her! Of course, I didn't go to bed until 2:30, and Dan didn't go to bed until 4, which means that her 4 AM waking was not very pleasant for either of us!

On New Year's Day, we slept in until 11 (thank you, Kate, for letting us sleep that long!) and then Kate, my mom and I went to Dillards. We found some fantastic deals, both on Christmas decorations and regular stuff, so I'm glad we braved the crowds. We then all hung out at home and watched the (disappointing) Rose Bowl; I'm not into football at all, but when it's your alma mater playing and you lose by only two points, it's like, really?!? Then we just packed up our stuff in preparation for the early morning flight the next day, and spent the rest of the time playing games & hanging out with my parents, Austin, and Nancy. All in all, it was a wonderful vacation!


Such a pretty outfit!


Mama and Kate on New Year's Eve









On New Year's Day, opening our gifts. This sleeper is for Kate when she's 2; I can't imagine my baby being that big!


Truer words were never spoken... er, printed


On the morning we left (January 2)