Dining Room...Finally!

As of about two months ago, our dining room finally looks like a place where you could possibly enjoy a nice meal!  Of course, we still haven't actually had a meal in there yet, but it's nice to know we could if we wanted to.  :)

Let's back up about 18 months to when we first moved into the house.  We sold our kitchen table from our last house and plopped our old dining table down in the kitchen of our new house.  That meant we no longer had a dining table to go along with our large china cabinet.  So for months our dining room consisted of just the china cabinet and a couple of leftover chairs that we didn't have a place for.  (These pictures were taken before we had the hardwood floors refinished.)  (I just looked through the pictures from that old post and man, our house has come a long way since then!)

Like I said, the room sat like that for months.  It had grey walls, a chocolate brown ceiling that I love and that ties into the walls of the adjoining kitchen, and that hideous shell chandelier.  And some of those boxes may still not be unpacked, but at least they're up in the attic now!

Shortly after we moved in, I found a table that I immediately fell in love with.  Like, capital L love.  But I didn't buy it because A) it was expensive and B) it didn't come with chairs and C) we were focusing our energy (read: money) in the living room instead.  About a year later, though, the table was still for sale and I could get a deep discount on it if I bought the floor model with the so-small-no-one-would-ever-notice-it imperfection on it.  Um, yes please.  Mama likes a good deal. :)

With the table purchased, I felt motivated enough to start pulling this room together!  I usually don't drag my feet so long on things like that, but the table was ordered in early September and we didn't get it to its current state until this past February.  Life just kept getting in the way, I guess.

Also, I painted the room twice.  After picking out a rug and fabric for curtains, I decided the existing grey walls wouldn't work and that green might be nice.  I wish I had a picture of the first shade of green I painted.  It was like a green screen that the weatherman stands in front of to give his report.  Way too limey and way too bright!  My mom took pity on me and helped me repaint it in January.

With the new table that I capital L love, a new light fixture that is WAY better than the seashell monstrosity, the freshly painted chairs, and some homemade chunky floating shelves, the room now looks like this.  Still not complete, but much further along than before!  (Crappy photos, sorry.)

I love the way the fixer-upper chairs turned out and look with the table.  We have seven of them so one end of the table remains empty right now.  The plan is to find a pair of affordable chairs - upholstered? wicker? - to use at the heads of the table and then that 7th chair would just be extra for when we're feeding a crowd.  

The bar is something I found at Pottery Barn Outlet a while back; it was a deal I just couldn't say no to.  :)  So far our sweet toddler has only thrown down and smashed one martini glass, despite our repeated "no touch!" warnings.  We made the floating shelves one afternoon in the woodshop.  I didn't take any in-progress photos or I'd type out a quick tutorial for you.  They were super easy though!  When I took the photo below in February, I had to borrow a few pitchers from my mom.  Now I've upped my collection size thanks to some birthday gifts so they've since been rearranged.

The table top shows all kinds of pretty wood grain in shades of brown and grey and even some red.

Even with all this progress, there's still lots left to do.  I'd like to get a sidebar of some kind for the big empty wall and then there are lots of places that could use some artwork.  In time, I suppose!

Our dining room opens up into our front entry hall (the first four pics were all taken from standing in the entry hall if that helps give you a reference?) and while we still haven't really done anything to it yet (we're painting it tonight though!), I did get one new project up on the wall.  I copied off several friends and had all of our Christmas cards framed to display.  I dug out all the ones we've sent since we've been married (5 Christmases) and then, since I wanted a fuller display, also found all the ones my Mom has sent since we're pictured in them too.  All ten cards got a white mat and a coordinating silver frame.  I can't wait to add to this gallery as the years go by!  

I'm glad to finally have this Dining Room update post done so that I can move on and show you the progress we're making in the new nursery.  Things are coming along nicely in there and I hope to have some progress pics for you soon!

Spring Break 2014

Still in catch-up mode here; hopefully I'll get caught up someday soon!

The last week of March, we decided to head to the beach!  We have been wanting to squeeze in one more beach trip before baby brother arrives since we don't know when we'll be able to go again, and spring break sounded like the perfect time.  We hit the road bright and early one Saturday morning and I'll be honest, it was the most trying road-trip with Katie Wynn so far.  She was not too keen on sitting in her car seat all day!  We finally arrived in Florida around 3:00 in the afternoon and were all very ready to get out of the car.

Among the many, many things I forgot to pack (I literally fell asleep on the packing job) was my camera so any and all pictures from the trip are straight from our iPhones.  Which means there aren't a ton (compared to last June!) and they aren't that great.  

Our friends Sarah, Charlie, and Gus joined us at the beach.  I guess since Charlie is the only teacher in the group that he was the only one technically on Spring Break, but the rest of us like to pretend we still get Spring Break too.

It's crazy how much these two little friends have grown since our last meet-up at the beach!  Here they are hanging out in the bike trailer...on the left is the most recent picture and on the right is from last June.  Can they please stop getting so big??  (Also, on the left is when we had just gotten to the outlet mall.  Doesn't Gus's expression show a typical male's feelings about a day of shopping??)

Katie Wynn and I went for a short dip in the pool that afternoon.  The water was freeeeeezing when we first arrived...thank goodness for a heated pool!  We cranked up the heat and it was good to go by the next day.  

And of course our matching swimsuits are intentional.  :)

I think it was that first night that Charlie made gumbo for dinner and it was delicious!  You really can't beat having guests over that cook dinner for you (twice!).  :)

The name of the game for this vacation was definitely RELAX.  We had a slow start to the next day, with everyone kinds doing their own thing.  Katie Wynn and I hung out on the porch until her daddy finished working and could join us.  She was in a great mood!

That afternoon we biked down to a cool little playground.  Wish we had this in our backyard!

Gus was brave enough to climb up and slide down himself!

Just like last June, the swings were a big hit with our little people.

Here's another set of Then and Now pics.  Isn't it crazy what a difference 9 months can make??  Sarah, our babies are getting too big!

KW is so big that she wanted to try the big kid swing.  She may think she's ready but her mama is not!

Katie Wynn had zero interest in getting out of the bike trailer when we got back home.  She played hide and seek in there for about thirty minutes by herself!

Even Gus couldn't convince her to come out!

Of course, she finally came out when she realized there was a pile of rocks she could play in.

Later that night, poor Gus got put into time out - probably for something that Katie Wynn did.  She didn't like that he couldn't play anymore so she sat with him and kept him company.

When they were released from time out, they played a mean game of chase up and down this little pathway in the kitchen and living room.  I know the pictures are blurry but they were so funny running after each other.

The next morning is when our Spring Break vacay really started to go south.  Both kids had arrived with snotty noses so we'd already been wiping constantly, but on this particular morning, Katie Wynn woke up with crusty-sealed eyes.  Yuck!

I had actually taken Katie Wynn to the doctor right before we left because I thought something might be brewing, but the doctor told us it was just a cold and there was no need for anything more than Mucinex.  When she woke up with goopy eyes, we figured a trip to see a doctor was on the agenda for the day.  On his third attempt, Matt found a walk-in urgent care clinic that would see her and, after a forever long wait, got the dreaded diagnosis of double ear infections.  Not how I saw our vacation going!  Thankfully he left with three prescriptions so we could get to work knocking them out.

It was a nice sunshiney day so as soon as they got home, we went to eat lunch at a restaurant where we could sit and play outside.  The kids enjoyed running around in the grass!

Like typical spring breakers, these two did a LOT of drinking!

After lunch, Katie Wynn and I took a very quick dip in the pool while her daddy went to pick up her presecriptions.  I had to do something to keep her awake because she was fading fast!

After everyone had napped, we decided to take a quick trip down to the beach.  We couldn't travel all that way without actually laying eyes on it.  Plus, Charlie had brought a kite and it was a perfectly windy day for it.  As it turns out though, lots of wind on a sandy beach doesn't make for happy sick toddlers, and their daddies miiiight need to practice their kite flying skills before our next kite-flying attempt.  It was a short trip that didn't necessarily leave a good impression on poor Katie Wynn.  :(

We had contacted a local babysitting service so that we could go out for an adult-only dinner on our last night, but with KW's ear infections and Gus coming down with something too, we decided we better hang around the house.  Sarah cooked us all some delicious spaghetti for dinner and then we were probably all in bed earlier than any other night of the trip.

Charlie had been getting sick over the course of our vacation and the next morning I woke up with the beginnings of a sinus infection.  Gus took a trip to the doctor we'd seen the day before and got an antibiotic and steroid to help him feel better.  With four of the six of us sick, we hit the road for home and called it quits on our vacation.  I really hope we get a re-do soon where we can actually get out enjoy the beach and warm weather!  Except next time, we'll have an additional kid in tow...

Children's Museum

Playing catch up here...

A couple of weeks ago, I had to take Katie Wynn to her first ever dental appointment.  I know it's way early for cleanings; she has a tiny frenulum on her top lip that we wanted to make sure didn't need any attention.  It doesn't, thank goodness.

Anyway, I was fully prepared for that visit to be quite the disaster based off her last couple of doctor's appointments, so I had already decided we'd go to the Children's Museum afterwards to hopefully replace the bad memory with a fun one instead.  Thankfully, the pediatric dentist we saw was fantastic and she let him look in her mouth with hardly any tears.  We were in and out in 15 minutes with a good report!  So, not as traumatic as I had expected but there was no point in cancelling the fun plans so on to the museum we went!

Katie Wynn and I went by ourselves but my mom met us there soon after we arrived.  Thank goodness because I didn't realize how involved it would be for me!  KW is not yet to the point where she will just run off and play, so I had to be very hands-on and show her all the fun things.  That was totally fine, I just wish I'd worn more comfortable clothes and rented a locker for the heavy diaper bag.  Rookie mom mistake, I guess.  I was pretty exhausted by the time we left!

She started off very shy since there were quite a few school groups there.  We went to the dentist area since it was nearly empty and we could play alone (and fitting since we'd just left the dentist!).  I had to peel her off me to check out these dentures but she soon got a little curious.

Wanna know what really got her to come out of her shell?  When Mimi put her up on the motorcycle!  I'm glad she enjoyed it because that's as close as she'll ever come to being on a real one as far as I'm concerned.  She was all about pushing all the buttons and revving it up!

The coolest attraction to me personally was this fun air tube maze.  It had all kinds of twisty tubes with air running through them and you could insert fluffy balls or scarves into it and watch it work through the maze of tubes.  Eventually it would spit it back out at the top.  It was fun!  Katie Wynn couldn't really keep up with watching it go through, but she loved pushing the fluffy balls into the shoot.

Let's see...we also did lots of firetruck driving.  She drove in my lap in the first one but had to do it herself in the second one.

We built some towers - and then knocked them down! - on this little block table.

We saved the grocery store for last.  I had a feeling she was gonna love it and I was right!  The grocery carts were very similar to hers at home and she knew exactly what to do.  The big kids were all gone so we had the store all to ourselves.

TWO cartons of ice cream on top...that's my girl!

As she scanned her items at the checkout counter, Mimi was a big helper and put them all up for us.

And then, as Mimi put away the last couple of items and I returned the shopping cart so we could leave for lunch, we turned around to see that she had already gotten another cart and started all over!

Boy, did she throw a fit when we said it was time to go!  I tried coaxing her out with a banana since I knew I had one in the diaper bag and she outsmarted me by running and getting a fake one off the produce stand.  She was not happy about having to leave her (second) grocery cart!

After a quick lunch, we hit the road to head home.  It came as no surprise that she was sound asleep before we even made it to the interstate.  So much fun!  I have a feeling we'll definitely be returning to the Children's Museum sooner rather than later.

The Joke's On Me!

Remember last year how I fooled a bunch of you on April first with a fake pregnancy announcement?  Well, Karma came back to bite me.  This year I was the butt of a very, very bad April Fool's Day joke.  Last year I was faking a pregnancy; this year I was in the hospital praying that my real baby was ok and not about to be born 9 weeks early...

Monday evening after work I was feeling great.  So great that I went to the hospital to visit my friend Jenny who had just delivered her precious little boy, Henry!  He really is just the cutest little guy ever and I'm so glad I got to meet him.  He and his mama both seem to be doing very well!

I left the hospital around 7:00 and ran through the Burger King drive-thru to grab some dinner on my way home (the fact that I can actually type that sentence without dry-heaving means I've come a long, long way in the last 24 hours).  I made it home just in time to spend a few minutes with my pajama-clad little lady and help put her to bed.  I ironed my clothes for the next day and went about my normal night-time routine.

I was brushing my teeth and getting ready for bed at ten o'clock - just two hours shy of April Fool's Day - when everything started to go downhill.  I'll try to be vague here to spare you the details, but there was an urgent need to use the restroom.  Just a few minutes later I climbed into bed and hoped that was the end of that.

Spoiler alert: it was not the end of that.  I never turned my light out that night because I never got the opportunity to lay down and go to sleep.  I got hit by the meanest, ugliest, most violent stomach bug (or was it food poisoning?) ever that had me held hostage in the bathroom ALL night long.  There were times when I thought the fun might be over but could only sneak out of the bathroom for about ten minutes before running back in.  It was bad.  Number of clothing changes during the night: five.  Number of pairs of pajamas that just had to be thrown away: one.  Number of very necessary middle-of-the-night showers taken: one.  It was a super special kind of hell that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.  

Around 5:00am, I crawled into the bedroom and told Matt I didn't think I could do it anymore.  Yes, 5:00am...and it started at 10:00pm.  That's seven hours straight for those of you who struggle with math.  :)  I knew I was dehydrated.  I was scared out of my mind that it would never end and what it was doing to my baby.  But my biggest worry was how to get somewhere for help.  I wasn't sure I had a big enough window to actually travel anywhere.

Matt called my mom who rushed over so she could stay with Katie Wynn.  Bless her heart for not only taking care of KW, but also for exposing herself to me.  While Matt loaded the car with towels and garbage bags and outfit changes, she got to pass me some wet rags as I hugged the porcelain throne.   

We have a local hospital about 15 minutes from us and another bigger one in the city about 20 minutes away.  The hospital I wanted to go to, though - the one where I delivered Katie Wynn and will deliver this little boy - is at least a 45 minute drive.  I was terrified I wouldn't make it but told Matt to head that way anyway.  I knew the care would be better there, especially for the baby.

We arrived at the emergency room right at 6:00am and couldn't have had better timing.  We walked straight to the front desk and - thanks to having already preregistered all of our information for our upcoming delivery - were able to be taken straight back to a room.  I don't know that we could've planned our arrival any more perfectly.  The ER was quiet so we had a room of our own and lots of attention right away.  I was immediately hooked up to a bag of fluids (after having blood drawn) to start getting hydrated.  

Picture taken while receiving first bag of fluids.  This was taken for proof that I was not playing an April Fool's Day joke to get out of work!

If I thought the seven hours in my bathroom at home were hell, well then, I don't know what word to use to describe the first five-ish hours in the ER.  I'm really trying not to go into too much detail here (I'm sure you can use your imagination though) but there are definitely two words you don't really ever want to hear while in the ER: bedside toilet.  And here's another tip: if you ever find yourself heading to the ER with a stomach bug, they won't give you anything to stop it.  Nope, they'll give you fluids to rehydrate but if there's a bug or virus inside you, it's "best for it to work its way out on its own."  So then you'll just be having your twenty-minute-interval exorcisms in the presence of others.  Super, I tell ya.

I received three bags of fluid very quickly - I'd guess about a bag an hour - and was still completely dehydrated.  I also received three doses of zofran that did nothing to stop my nausea and vomiting.  Around 11:00am is when I really broke down.  My mom had texted and said that Katie Wynn had thrown up and all I could think about was how I had given it to her and I wasn't even there to take care of her.  The tears came quickly.

And then, miraculously, the nausea and vomiting stopped.  Matt says the bug just wanted my tears and that's why it finally stopped.  I say it could've had my tears a heck of a lot earlier if it had left me any fluid to produce them. 

Shortly after 12 I was finally given permission to try to drink something.  You have no idea how excited I was to hear this!  Even with all the vomiting, I just kept feeling so dang thirsty.  All I wanted was gatorade and, as luck would have it, the vending machines were all out.  Poor Matt had to hop in the car to run and get some.  (Let's just all take a moment to give him a huge shout-out for actually coming back and not leaving me throughout this whole ordeal.  He's a really good man, I tell ya.)

Things finally started looking up from here.  I was able to finish a 12oz bottle of Gatorade and keep it down.  The ER doctor told us we were ready to be moved to the labor and delivery ward so they could monitor the baby better.  I have completely left that out of the story but the baby's heartbeat was checked when we got there and seemed to be fine and I wasn't feeling any contractions.  We didn't get checked into the L&D room until about 3:00pm.  They had done more urine analysis by then and decided more fluids were still necessary so I was hooked up to bag #4, but this time it was a much slower drip.  My obgyn was out of the office for the day so we were admitted under the care of one of her colleagues.  They hooked my belly up and monitored the baby for an hour and everything checked out fine.  Thank the Lord!  

Around 4:00pm we learned that I would have to stay the night.  My heart rate was still high and they wanted to try to get it lowered.  I have a high heart rate on a good day - which we told them numerous times - but the lowest it had been all day was 123 (which is apparently high...) and they were concerned.  I had had an EKG done before leaving the ER, though, and everything was normal.

At 6:00pm I moved into ante-partum room for the night.  I was starting to feel a lot more stable.  Matt had run home to get clothes and to get Katie Wynn and Lolli settled at my parents' house for the night.  Thankfully, Katie Wynn had not been sick any more throughout the day so I was assuming her morning episode was a fluke.  Matt and I hung out and watched TV before bed - a rare treat for us, actually!  I did spike a slight fever that night so I took tylenol before going to sleep.  It was short-lived though because when I woke up for my first bathroom break of the evening, I was drenched in sweat.  Bag #5 of fluids was started at some point during the night after my IV machine started beeping like crazy at me.

I was pretty much convinced that I'd gotten food poisoning from Burger King until I talked to my mom the next morning and learned that my Dad now had it.  Thankfully, she got Katie Wynn out the door to daycare without coming into contact with him.  By then I was feeling much better, mostly just sore and tired.  I was allowed to eat bland foods which all stayed down and I even got to take a shower - I was thrilled!  

My doctor came to check me out around 1:00 that afternoon and said I could be discharged!  By then, I was on bag #6 of fluids and my fingers looked like little sausages.  Matt had gone to work for the day so Mom came to pick me up and take me home.  I made quick work of lysol-ing our entire house before collapsing into the chair for another nap.  Having a stomach bug is exhausting!  

Now I'm feeling much, much better.  The biggest complaint I had at discharge was a sore chest and painful cough.  Apparently that's a parting gift you can get from the dry air in the hospital.  Hopefully it'll clear up soon.

So that's my very long-winded excuse for not having blogged at all this week.  I don't have an excuse for the week before it but the good news is that since I'm being forced to rest and take it easy, maybe I'll actually have time to get caught up on some posts!  We'll see...just typing this one made me ready for a nap...

The Week of the Shiner

I wrote the bulk of this post last night and then, with one simple wrong click, deleted the whole thing.  I furiously googled to see if there was any way to recover, but to no avail.  I am so sad to have to start all over!

I have been thinking it was about time to do another Katie Wynn update and since I've been snapping pictures of her (and her shiner) all week, I figured I might as well post them together.

The shiner incident happened around 10:20 Sunday morning, just fifteen minutes before we were supposed to be at church.  It was my fault; I take full responsibility.  Not "my fault" as in I slugged her in the eye, but "my fault" as in she was under my supervision when it happened.

Here's how it [literally] went down: I had just finished changing her diaper and, like after most diaper changes, stood her up on the changing table.  She loves to stand up there and play with all the shoes on the shelf that hangs on the wall.  I stepped back to grab her bloomers off her wardrobe, literally just two steps away.  And as I turned back, I watched her lose her balance and tumble down.  The contact with the changing table actually happened at the top.  She rolled forward, hit the top lip of the piece of furniture, and then her body flipped over off the table.  She landed on the ground on her bottom.  Sadly, my hands were just out of reach and I just had to watch it all in what seemed like slow motion.  I scooped her up and held her while she wailed, not realizing that she'd gotten a black eye until I pulled her back and saw the redness and swelling.

I'm guessing this has disqualified me from the Mom Of The Year contest.  But hey, we still made it to church!  I have since ordered one of those bunny boo-boo things since Katie Wynn seemed pretty terrified of the frozen bag of peas I tried to put on her face.  

The picture to the right is the first one I took of her new shiner.  It was right after church, so about an hour and a half after the accident.  Do you see the tiny bruise across the bridge of her nose?  That one actually came from daycare on Friday.  When I arrived to pick her up, no less than three employees - including the owner - came to tell me about how Katie Wynn tripped and there was a bruise but no blood and blah, blah, blah.  By the time I finally saw her I was like, "That's it?"  Pffft.  I showed them how to put a real bruise on her face.

(I'M KIDDING.)

By  nighttime, she was back to standing up on the changing table again.  We do a good job of learning from our mistakes around here.

Our nighttime routine has gotten interesting lately.  Usually, Matt and I take turns reading a book (or two) to Katie Wynn after her bath and before bedtime.  The last few nights, though, Katie Wynn has decided that she should get to do the reading.  It makes for some interesting stories, to say the least. 

Monday morning marked Day Two of the shiner.  I don't think it looks as bad in these two pictures as it did in person.  Poor Matt had daycare dropoff duty so he had to explain to everyone what happened.

Since the weather has been getting nicer, our little girl has wanted to spend a lot more time outside!  Every day when we get home, she refuses to go inside.  She'd much rather stay out and play.  And every day, she pulls out the same three things.  First, she goes for the basketball.  Maybe we have a future baller on our hands?

When she tires of that (or it rolls too far away for her to go get), she pulls out her ladybug "bike."  You can see in these pictures that her shiner was much more noticeable by Monday afternoon.

Finally, when she's done riding her bike, she pulls out her little pink chair.  Gotta rest after all that playing, ya know?

The fun really starts when it's time to go inside.  Katie Wynn has no problem putting away the basketball and the bike.  But the chair.  Oh, the chair!  She gets so mad that it can't come inside.  So she sets it down right by the back steps, sits back down in it and refuses to come inside.  Is this the first sign of pouting?

This past week, Katie Wynn has also REALLY gotten into splashing in the tub.  She's known how to splash for a while, but she has just discovered that she can make a huge mess if she splashes hard enough.  Bath time requires two towels - one for her and one for the floor/walls.

Here's a pretty good picture of the shiner as of Monday evening.

I have said more than once that I don't think Katie bug looks very much like her baby pictures.  But I think this one has made me rethink that statement.  Here's her sweet little profile from four months old (on the right) and from Monday night (below).  She still has that same round face and those chubby cheeks that I love to kiss on!

On Tuesday, the bruise was a little bit darker.  Just like on Monday, we had to play outside after school.  And we had to start with throwing the basketball.  (Check out her left leg in the picture on the left.  Weird?)

Then more bike riding.  Did I mention that she only knows how to go backwards?

When you only know how to go backwards and reach the end of your path, the only thing left to do is pick your bike up and walk it forward so you can start over.  Clearly.

After a few minutes of bike riding, playtime was over.  And you know what that means...

As I was trying to get an updated picture of the shiner on Wednesday morning, Katie Wynn put the lens cap back on my camera.  Point taken.  No pictures that morning.

I did get some that afternoon though!  Excuse the messy hair, it must've been a super fun day at daycare.  The bruise is finally turning green which means it's starting to go away.  Yay!

I didn't get a new picture of it this morning, but it's looking SO much better!  I think by Saturday that silly shiner will be ancient history.  Maybe this weekend we could work on a busted lip or something fun like that.

Here are some general updates on Katie Wynn at nearly 18 months old:

• Stats: weighs 22-ish pounds, size 3 diapers, 18 month clothes, and size 5 shoes.
• Takes two naps a day; bedtime is around 7:15pm and sleeps until about 6:30am.
• Can say a handful of words: mama, dada, night-night, ball, no-no, uh-oh, choo-choo, nana (banana), bye-bye, bow, and others I'm sure I'm forgetting.  Definitely tries to imitate things we say and chatters ALL the time.
• Can identify her belly and belly button, toes and hands, nose and mouth.  On a good day she can get ears and eyes too, but sometimes those are backwards.  :)
• Knows what a puppy dog says and the noise a train makes.
• Knows that a bow goes in her hair.
• LOVES to dance!  If music is on, there's lots of bouncing and clapping, and occasionally some spinning!
• Can follow simple instructions and help put things away, especially her toys.  She is great at cleaning up!  
• Knows all about the trash can which is both helpful ("Throw your banana peel away.") and scary ("Has anyone seen the remote?").
• Also knows things can be thrown in the toilet.  Nothing valuable so far.
• Can open the doors in our house (we have levers instead of knobs).  Thank goodness our alarm beeps when exterior doors are opened!  She has only tried to escape once.
• Likes to pick up napkins and "cough" into them.  Can sorta wipe her nose.
• Could easily survive on just fruits.  Bananas, blueberries, and mandarin oranges remain her favorite.  Will eat any vegetable in pureed form (yes, still) but isn't crazy about them in their regular form.  Loves bread and crackers.  Might have a sweet tooth like her mama...
• LOVES to take care of her babies.  She holds them and pats them and rocks them and will put them down for night-night.  Also uses q-tips to clean their ears and changes their diapers (gets a clean diaper out, sets it beside them, and then wads it up to be thrown away).
• Still sleeps with a paci but is mostly paci-free during the day (unless she spots one out somewhere!).  Also has a blanket that she's attached to.  Each morning when it's time to leave, she gets to put them both back in her crib so they'll be waiting for her at night.  She is very proud of herself for putting them in and this has worked GREAT for making sure the blanket doesn't travel out of the house.  She even happily throws in the paci.  :)
• The first thing she does when we get home is run to Lolli's cage so she can be let out.  She still needs help with the kennel door though.
• Lately, she has been all about the single head nod.  Just one solid nod down.  "Hungry?" Nod.  "Wanna play?" Nod.  "Is it yummy?" Nod.
• She loves daycare now!  (This is such a huge blessing and relief!)  She gets excited to see Ms. Antinette and, from what we're told, really loves "Music and Movement" time.  No surprise there.  She insists on holding her daily report paper each day on the car ride home.  We often have to un-crumple it or piece it together to read it.
• OBSESSED with taking her shoes on and off.  If you ever see her with her shoes on the wrong feet, I promise that's not how we put them on.  She will often put on her church shoes with her pajamas for story time before bed.  Also loves to pull our shoes out of the closet and wear them.
• Has had three hair cuts.  As you can maybe tell in the pictures above, her hair is just about the same length all over now...much more bob-ish and less mullet-y.  I'm hoping for pigtails this summer!
• Loves to play on our bed after it's been made up.  She pulls down all the pillows and loves jumping into them.  (This is probably how we'll get the next black eye...)
• Is still incredibly shy around people she doesn't know.  She will not go to many people, especially if we are around.  She even becomes very clingy at our own house if we have guests.
• Melts down in any place that even slightly resembles a doctor's office (person behind a counter, maybe?).  Last weekend it was the UPS Store.
• Loves to scribble with pens and pencils.  She's definitely a righty.
• Can give fives and fist bumps.
• Can finally make a real "kiss" noise when she blows kisses!

Katie Wynn makes us laugh on a daily basis and we are constantly amazed at all the things she is learning!