Mohawk Bathtime Fun

Tonight during bathtime I got a little out of control while shampooing Katie's hair. The result was a mini mohawk - or as much of a mohawk as I could make with her limited hair on top. Can you tell that her attitude matched "the do" tonight??

This last picture is just to show some of her hair. What little hair she has barely shows up in pictures because its so blonde - plus she always has her helmet on. When its wet its a little darker, making it easier to see. 90% of her hair is in the back. Yep, she's got the best looking mullet in town. :-) As her hair gets longer we will know for sure, but I think its going to be curly like Matt's. I hope so because I hate my straight hair.

Niagara Falls

Neither Matt nor I had never been to Niagara Falls. When we travel, we like to experience new places together. So, when we started discussing destinations for a 30th birthday weekend getaway for me - it was naturally one of our options. In September we made our plans, booked our flights and said - boy, I hope Katie will tolerate us disappearing for 2.5 days. Better yet - can we make it an entire weekend without her? The good news - we all survived! :-)

Matt and I had a wonderful trip. The falls are absolutely one of God's amazing creations. Matt and I went to the Winter Festival of Lights when we arrived on Friday which included fireworks over the falls. Saturday we toured as much as we could including Rainbow Bridge, Skylon Tower, Journey Behind the Falls, and dinner at a restuarant overlooking the falls. It was a jam packed day that we thoroughly enjoyed.

I found myself in awe most of the weekend. The thunderous sound of the falls is intimidating, the mist is both frustrating and beautiful (frustrating because it prevents you from seeing all the falls - and beautiful because its mysterious nature), and the size of the falls is just overwhelming. I know the pictures cannot do it justice, but below are some of my best efforts.

Fireworks from Friday night.

View of the full moon over the falls from the window of our hotel room.

Horshoe Falls from the top of Skylon Tower. To give you an idea of the size of the falls, look at the size of the cars on the street.

The US Falls are smaller, but still very impressive!

The two of us splitting the falls. US Falls on the left, Canadian Falls (aka The Horseshoe Falls) on the right.

The US Falls - with Bridal Veil falls over to the far right.

Before our dinner out on Saturday Night. The Hotel was already in full Christmas mode! :-)


Canada is so similar to the US culturally that its hard to tell you aren't in your home country. One dead giveaway is that "restrooms" aren't "restrooms" in Canada - they are "Washrooms."

Back in Richmond - Katie spent Friday with Matt's Dad, Popa - and Aunt Katherine and Claire stopped by for a little play date. Then my parents had Katie for Saturday and Sunday until Matt and I arrived home. According to all reports - it went relatively well.

My parents brought Katie to the airport. When I saw her I rushed over to get her out of her stroller. She first looked at me as if she was totally confused. Then she said "mama" and put her arms around my neck for the biggest hug in the world. For the next 15 minutes, she wouldn't let me put her down - not that I wanted to. We were both so happy to see one another. She hasn't let Matt or I get very far away for the past couple of days. I guess its a good thing I took vacation this week and Matt is home most of the day.

I just wanted to say thank you to all the grandparents and aunts who helped out this weekend. Also the biggest thank you to my husband for giving me a wonderful birthday weekend. It was nice to just be a couple again - away from the stress of work, home, and life with a 15 month old.

Way to Go Aunt Katherine!!!

Today, Katie's Aunt Kat competed in her 2nd Suntrust Richmond Marathon. Matt, Katie and I went out to cheer her on. Katherine set a personal record with her time of 4 hours and 13 minutes. We are so proud of you Kat......CONGRATS!!!! :-)

Something is Different

Notice anything different about Katie's helmet?? It took me about a year, but I finally got around to adding some "bling" to her helmet. We found a website called BlingMyBand.com which specializes in helmet decor. For the record, there is NOTHING you can't find on the internet.

Anyways, I saw the Ladybugs and Butterflies design and decided to go for it. I think it turned out pretty cute and now regret not decorating her helmet sooner. We go back to Katie's neurosurgeon on December 15th and I'm hoping the helmet will be gone by Christmas. But, that may be wishful thinking. The orthotics doc says her head shape is "perfect" but that regression is always a concern with Cranio kids. So, we wait and pray for the best.

15 Months Old

Today was Katie's "well baby" 15 month check-up with the pediatrician. Unfortunately, she is NOT well. She started getting a cold last weekend and it has officially progressed to an ear infection - her first ear infection. My normally happy-go-lucky baby was not so happy today.

I'm attempting to do a better job of writing down Katie's milestones and interests as she grows. With that in mind, I thought I'd share some of Katie's 15 month physical and developmental milestones.

• 20 lbs and 30 1/2 inches long (15% and 75% respectively). She's long and lean....which she gets from her daddy. I often worry about Katie not weighing more - especially since she's such a picky eater. Her pediatrician says active toddlers don't gain as quickly as tiny, inactive babies and that I shouldn't worry. I'm still working on the "don't worry" part.


• Walks, Runs, and Climbs like crazy. The climbing is getting out of control - she treats household objects as her personal stairs/ladders. About 2 weeks ago she learned how to climb from the floor into the kitchen chair, then from the kitchen chair onto the kitchen table. Matt and I are trying to find a careful balance between encouraging exploration while also maintaining a safe environment for her.....its a careful line to toe.

• Words, Words, Words!!! Nana would say Katie has 20-25 words she has used at one point in time or another. However, she only uses about 10-15 on a regular basis to include: Mama, Dada, Nana, Hi, Bye-Bye, Bubbles, Uh-Oh, Woof-Woof, No, Yeah, and Diaper. In addition to the "words" we get LOTS of Katie babble. I actually enjoy the babble more than the words.....its so cute to hear here babbling to herself while she flips the pages of a favorite book.


• Imitating Others. Katie has started imitating all sorts of adult activity. She likes to put a purse on her arm, wave, say bye-bye and walk to the door (which I do everyday leaving for work). She also helps clean the house, brushes the hair of her dolls, "talks" on the phone, "mixes" food in mixing bowls, etc.



• Self Feeding. The self-feeding with spoon/fork is a bit of a work in progress. I honestly have been slower than I should to start this. Its a terribly messy process to let her feed herself - I'll try do a Self-feeding post at some point to give you a full understanding of what I mean by "MESS."


• Personality - Lots of personality! I love catching the glimpses of her developing personality....its probably my favorite part of this stage.


• Push, Pull, and Carry Toys.


• Music and Dancing. Katie LOVES to dance and listen to music. Matt and I have considered finding some sort of musical activity for toddlers, but haven't done enough research to determine what's available here in Richmond.

Halloween - A little late

This past week has been busy, mostly because of some unexpected doctor's appointments for Katie (I'll try to explain more thoroughly in another post). As a result, I didn't get the Halloween pics up as quickly as I had hoped. So here goes...

On Saturday, Katherine, Claire, Katie, and I headed to our church for Trunk-Or-Treat. Its basically trick or treating, but its in the church parking lot. And instead of visiting homes, you visit people's trunks. Claire and Katie seemed as happy as a couple of clams....

When we got back from Trunk-or-Treat, Daddy and Katie carved our pumpkin. We elected to go with a Friendly Face, instead of a Scary one. :-)

Finally, we were ready for Sunday and the official Halloween celebration. She was really good at taking things from the bowl and putting them into her Lady Bug Basket. The problem was, she didn't understand that you were only supposed to take 1 piece of candy (Its all about repetition for her....). Fortunately, almost all of my neighbors have small children too, so they were understanding.

The shirt for her Halloween PJ's is hard to read in this picture, but reads "Daddy's Under My Spell." :-)