My 29th birthday

We had a lot of fun on my birthday on Sunday. It was very relaxed and low-key; just the way I like it. We went to Red Lobster for lunch, because I was craving seafood, and then for dinner we got takeout from Buffalo Wild Wings (I love their Honey BBQ sauce) and ate those while we watched Monk (one of our favorite shows). I tried to get some pictures of Kate and me; she's so wiggly that it was hard to get a good one! But I think they're cute anyway.
















The beautiful flowers my mom and dad sent me; they're gorgeous! I love the container, too; very French.


The flowers kind of look red up against our red wall, but they're really the most gorgeous pink.


A close-up of the flowers Dan got me. So beautiful!

Kate Walking!

Well, not quite on her own. But, she's doing a good job with her scooter!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day today. Kate and I spent the day baking and preparing for our little dinner (even though it was just the three of us, but I like to make special occasions festive even though it's just our little family). I feel so lucky that I get to stay home with my little girl; we always have so much fun together! Today, we read a bunch of books together, just like we do every day (currently, her favorite books are Five Little Ladybugs, A Garden of Opposites, and The Littlest Kitten), and we played together for awhile, and then she sat in her high chair while I prepared our St. Pat's dinner. I love spending time with her; I wouldn't have my life any other way! (And, let's be honest, it's nice that I can do all my work when she's sleeping and still bring in my regular income. I get to be a stay-at-home-mom, which is my dream job, AND still be an editor, which I also enjoy.)

How did I get on that tangent? Oh, yes, I was thinking about luck since it's St. Pat's day, and I just thought once again about how lucky I am :)

Our menu tonight was:
-Irish Soda Bread
-Corned Beef with Veggies
-Sugar Cookies




In her "lucky to be me" shirt




The Irish soda bread; it was quite good!


My shamrock sugar cookies


The table, decked out in green


With her scooter that she loves so much!








Love the curls!




Concentrating... This walking stuff is hard work!

The Spring Flower Show

On Sunday, we went to breakfast with my aunt Chris, cousin Matthew and Grandma at the Original Pancake House. I always love that place. Afterward, we went to the Spring Flower Show at Olbrich Gardens. It was so beautiful; I love winter, but I'm definitely ready for spring, so this was just what we needed. We then went to the conservatory, and Kate, as always, was fascinated by everything. The quality of these pictures aren't the best, because they were taken from my phone, but oh well.




In the conservatory


Clearly, Kate is entering the "stranger anxiety" phase, where she won't let anyone but Mama or Daddy (or someone she knows quite well, like Nana or Tracy) hold her!


Pretty shamrock girl!


Kate and me sitting in one of the displays at the flower show

Helping Me Bake

Today, after we went to storytime at the library (we usually never go on Mondays, since it's at 10 am and that's usually around naptime, but she seems to be transitioning to only one nap in the afternoon), I made some raisin bran muffins (which turned out fantastic, if I do say so myself), so I put Kate in her high chair so she could watch me while I worked (and she could be contained, since she tends to go everywhere). I gave her some bowls and spoons and cups and whatnot to play with, since she always likes that, and I thought she just looked so cute sitting there "helping" me bake.












With her new favorite item; her sippy cup. She loves this thing; she'll hold it and just laugh hysterically, like it's some amazing toy instead of just a regular old drinking apparatus!


The sweetest sight of all; a sleeping baby (especially when it's MY sleeping baby, since she hates to sleep!)

Baby & Me

Kate & I had so much fun at Baby & Me today. She is such a smart little baby; every Baby & Me session starts with all of us sitting in a circle, where we all grab onto a big strip of fabric that lines the circle. We then "bounce" the fabric, row with it, shake it, etc. Well, today as soon as we sat down (we were there about 5 minutes early, so it hadn't started yet), Kate picked up the fabric and started bouncing with it, just like we're supposed to! What a smarty pants.

Afterward, there is always time for free play, and Kate plays so nicely with the other kids. There is this little boy, Brevin, who is 9 months but Kate's size, and he seems to like her, which is funny. Today, during free play, Kate grabbed these two "shakers" (kinda like maracas) and was standing there shaking them... without holding onto anything! She had such good balance; I was amazed. Normally I'm proud if she can stand on her own for any length of time at all, so this was exceptionally good that she was standing there AND shaking her maracas. She'll be walking in no time!

Here are a few shots of her before we left for Baby & Me today; I love this purple outfit she's wearing.






Look how long she is in this car seat now! (Don't worry, she still is within the height/weight limits). But still, she looks like she'll outgrow it any day now! As a comparison, look how little she was LAST March; the car seat looked like it was going to dwarf her!

More photos

Creative title, isn't it? Or not... Anyway, here are some pics of Kate in the "Auntie Loves Me" onesie Tracy gave her. She looks adorable!










Blurry, but still cute :)

"Irish You Would Kiss Me"

Here's a few photos of Kate in her new St. Patrick's Day outfit from Kirsti, which she got for her birthday. It says "Irish you would kiss me," and I think Kate looks great in this green. She's wearing the hat my mom gave her for her birthday; she loves to wear that thing, even in the house! Go figure; she won't keep hats on outside when it's below freezing, but she'll keep this hat on inside.

These were taken on Tuesday; I actually had a lot of work to do at the office that morning, so Dan didn't go into work until 10 so that he could take Kate to her music class, and then he dropped her off at my office afterward. He said they had a lot of fun; I'm glad that his job is flexible so that he can do stuff like this with his little girl.

Kate & Addy (for real!)

Today we went to lunch with some friends at Claddagh Irish Pub in Middleton; they (with the exception of Meghan) hadn't seen Kate in awhile, so it was fun to all get together. They couldn't believe how much she had grown! Afterward, Kate & I went to Meghan's house and hung out with Addy for a bit; this time I remembered to get pictures.


Funny girl; she put her hat on by herself and was so proud of herself.


Two sweet babies in the backseat; we picked Meghan and Adelaide up because they were car-less today.


Two sweet girls! Addy's outfit says "Playdate Potential" which is appropriate, since this was their first real "playdate." Before, one or the other of them was always sleeping, so there wasn't much playing going on between the two of them!


Ahh, I remember when Kate used to lay nicely like this on the floor!


I love Kate's outfit; I thought it was very appropriate since it's now March, and as Nikki pointed out, it was the perfect outfit for our Irish restaurant lunch!


Having so much fun together!








I love the shamrock pockets!


Playing so nicely together!


Kate's new favorite thing to do is hand things to other people, which I'm sure Addy appreciated!