Crazy Christmas

Christmas 2009 has been rather CRAZY! We've had multiple celebrations, some health issues, and one more celebration remaining. I apologize for not posting sooner, but my dad has spent the past several days in the hospital recovering from a small stroke. Needless to say...his health has taken priority - even over Katie updates.

Our Christmas began Christmas Eve night when Bob, Coral, and Jake joined us for dinner at 1903 Colgate. We had a nice meal together and said our goodbyes until the next morning. Below are a couple pictures from the night. Christmas morning was very special to Matt and I...Katie's first! We decided to take a picture of our favorite present...for future memories! :-)

After opening presents at our house we headed over to Bob and Coral's for Christmas breakfast and celebration #2 of the day. Katie spent most of the time in her bouncer, trying to chew on most of her gifts.

On our way home from celebration #2....we decided to crash another family's Christmas morning. Matt's friend Trevor was only in town for a couple of days and only available on December 25th. So, we stopped by his house Christmas morning so Trevor and his wife Natalie could meet Katie. I just had to post a picture of Trevor and Miss Katie together! :-) Thanks Trevor and Natalie for letting us crash...
On December 26th we packed up and headed to the farm to see Ganny, Rob, Kat, Claire, The Eisenburgs, and the Rozakis family. It was quite the crowd at the farm and I was so excited that Katie got to see everyone!

Finally, on the evening of December 26th we arrived at my parents house. Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of the evening because our celebration was cut a little short. I hope to have some good pics in the new year with Grandma and Grandpa Brammer!

Winter Wonderland

Winter is officially here! Katie's first snow turned out to be one of the largest storms Richmond has seen in the month of December. I don't know what the "official" totals were, but we had about a foot at our house. Here are some pictures of the weekend.

Katie and I didn't venture outside on Saturday although Matt did. Instead, she and I stayed and played indoors. Couldn't resist posting this one....she looked so sweet holding her rattle and looking up at me with with those baby blues.

Me and Katie in front of the house. Her poor little nose is so red here....she went inside immediately after this one was taken!
Popa and Uncle Jake came over to help us build a snowman. Since I was about 12 the last time I built one, I was quite out of practice. It took us about an hour to build the body...then I realized we didn't have all the items to complete Frosty's face and arms. We improvised and used lids from a Coke Zero bottle for eyes, a pine cone for a nose, a lid to an ice cream container for the mouth, and some twigs from our trees as arms....haha!!! Frosty is wearing a UVA Dr. Seuss hat and orange scarf for these WAHOO men...and 1/2 Wahoo girl.
Family photo with Frosty! :-)
Katie in her snowsuit in the snow. Matt kept saying "she looks like a tic about to pop!" HAHA!

The one negative to the snow storm is that this weekend was supposed to be our annual Southard Family Christmas gathering at Caitlin and Jeremy's new home. Unfortunately, we had to postpone due to the storm. We are really looking to seeing everyone at a later date! Merry Christmas and love to everyone!!!

4 Months Old!!

Oh my, how time flies! Our little girl is now 4 months old!!! On Friday Katie had her 4 month well baby check-up. She weighed in at 13 lbs. 1 oz. and 24 inches long......approximately the 50th percentile. Not bad for a baby who was in the 8th percentile when born!

Katie has changed tremendously over the last month. One of the best developments is that she is now laughing out load. We've tried several times to get her laughing on camera and finally succeeded last week. As soon as I figure out how to get the videos off the Video Camera...I'll try and post it! :-)

Katie has also learned to roll over from her tummy to her back. Her motivation for crossing this development milestone is directly attributed to her sincere hatred for tummy time! Seriously -she may never crawl now that she is learning to roll off her stomach.

Stay tuned everyone....lots of Christmas updates are coming next! :-)

Turkey Day, Birthday, and Football Day

What a busy Thanksgiving weekend! Not only did we celebrate Kathleen's first Thanksgiving, but it was also my 29th Birthday on the 26th. This was our year to spend Thanksgiving with my family. Since my parents are now in Richmond on a more permanent basis, they joined us for Thanksgiving at our house. Grandma Philpot came too! Oh...and Thank-you to Popa and Abu for my Thanksgiving outfit! :-)

We decided to break in Katie's high chair on Thanksgiving Day. She didn't eat in it, but she was content playing with her toys while the rest of us had a nice meal. Thank you to Aunt Sally for the high chair!
Apparently Katie was also feeling the effects of the Turkey....she and Daddy napped together on the couch after our Thanksgiving meal!
On Friday, we had the family over to celebrate my birthday, cut my cake, and open cards and presents. Below are a few pictures from the celebration...

One of the best parts about my birthday was that Katie got to spend some time with her cousins. Uncle Rob, Aunt Kat, and Cousin Claire joined us....as well as my cousin Angie and her two kids Brayden and Ali.

Each year, the Saturday after Thanksgiving the Hokies battle the Wahoos....one of mine and Matt's favorite traditions. Normally Matt and I spend the week of Thanksgiving placing bets/wagers on which one of our teams will win the game. This year we spent the week arguing over which team's colors Katie would wear on game day! My, my how things have changed in the Barnes household. We decided that the only fair thing to do was let her wear both! :-)

This is the ONLY time that I will ever say that UVA clothing looks cute....

Matt, his dad, and his brothers all headed up for the game around 1 PM. My dad, Katie and I watched the game together from our house. See Grandpa and Katie hanging out during the game....

A Special Day...

Today is an important day for our family because seven years ago Matt lost his mother, Kathleen Southard Barnes, to breast cancer. I never had the chance to meet Kathy, but in this time of Thanksgiving I'd just like to say a few things to her...

Thank you Kathy for raising such a wonderful son, who I'm so lucky to have as my husband. And thank you for giving me a little peice of you in Miss Kathleen Marie.

3 Months Old!!!

The past month has been a busy one! Matt and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary and Katie had a month full of firsts! She got her first helmet, her 1st visit with many Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and friends, her first Halloween, and her first trip to Maymont Park.

Monday I go back to work and this weekend has been a bit emotional for me. I'm going to miss my little girl so much! But - I know that Grandma, Grandpa, Popa, and Abu will take great care of our Katie Bug. Below are a few pictures marking some of the milestones of the last month....and some of the new toys/games Katie is enjoying these days.

This first set of pictures show some of Katie's family and friend who have visited over the past month. First is Katie with her Cousin Brooke.

The picture below is of Katie and her friend Libbie. Can you believe these two were born on the same day?!?
Below is Katie and her friend Danny (who is about 3 months older than her). During their play date Katie took over Danny's play gym, Danny tried to eat the foot of her sleeper...and at the end of the day they called it even. :-)

Happy Halloween - NOT!!! Katie wasn't very cooperative in letting us get a good picture of her in her Halloween costume. She appears to be saying...."Please stop taking my picture and get me out of this outfit!!!"

Me, Matt, and Katie on our 5-year Anniversary.

Me, Matt, and Katie at Maymont Park. You may notice I'm "wearing" Katie in the Moby. Thanks so much Uncle Joe, Aunt Tara, and Cousin Brooke....Katie spends a couple hours each day in the Moby! :-)

Love the pic below....Katie and Daddy during bathtime! Bathtime is - BY FAR - one of Katie's favorite times of every day. She's never cried in the bath...and we hope she continues to enjoy this nightly ritual.

Within the last week we started letting Katie spend some time each day in her Bumbo Chair. She is still a bit wobbly, but she's getting used to it. Its a whole new way for Katie to view the world! :-)

Another new development is that Katie is now "playing" with her toys. She can bat at her animals and try to grip and hold them. Her hands hit what they are aiming for about 50% of the time.....we are still working on the whole hand-eye coordination thing! :-)

Our Pumpkin Picks A Pumpkin

Last week in preparation for Halloween, Katie and I took a trip to the pumpkin patch with Aunt Katherine and Cousin Claire. The weather was closer to summer than fall, but we all enjoyed ourselves. By enjoyed ourselves I mean Katie was indifferent, Claire had a blast, and Katherine and I spent more time trying to position a 2 year-old and an infant for pictures than we did actually picking out the pumpkins! :-) Below are a few pictures from our adventure.

Here's Katie in the car seat just before we left the house. This little grin says - I think we are getting ready to do something fun. Am I right mommy??

We found a goard shaped like a Boppy Pillow and used it to prop Katie up for this one. I have to say Thank You to Katherine because this Halloween outfit is a hand-me-down from Claire. We even went back to Rob and Kat's house and looked at pictures of little Claire in the outfit from 2 years ago! :-)

About the picture below, Katie says thank goodness mommy got her hair cut and her roots done 2 days after this picture was taken...she looks kind of rough....maybe I should let her sleep a little more at night. Mommy agrees!!!Aunt Kat, Cousin Claire, and my little chunk Katie!

Helmet Head

As part of Katie's post-op care she will be wearing a helmet for the next 9 to 10 months. A little over a week ago, Katie got her first helmet. The first few days were tough, but she is finally adjusting.

The helmet makes Katie's chubby cheeks look even chubbier because they are smushed together. We titled this picture Lips and Cheeks! :-)

Katie likes to stare, coo, and smile at the animals in her bouncer. In fact, that's the only way that her mommy and daddy get ANYTHING done around the house when she's awake! :-)

The two pictures below were taken during Katie's helmet free time. She is allowed 1 hour each day helmet free. One picture is from tummy time....one is in her bedtime outfit and hat.

2 Months!!!

Katie is officially 2 months old! Our little girl has grown so much in just 2 short months. She's smiling and cooing and changing daily. Below are a few recent pictures of her to keep you all updated.