AKA Wallpaper Paste

In the last week or so Mary Kathryn has become increasingly interested in food.  She has suddenly taken notice of our food and started reaching for it and watching what we do with it.  So, we decided that it was time to start solids.  Tonight we gave her rice cereal for the first time.  It's not quite the consistancy of wallpaper paste yet, but soon enough it will be.  Right now it's more like REALLY watery oatmeal, but even more bland (yep, I tasted it).  Mary Kathryn seemed to like it though...she was quite the eater.  And, she didn't even make a huge mess, like I expected...but, I'm sure that's coming.

Happy New Year!

On January 2nd, we took a road trip to Kansas.  Mary Kathryn and I stayed with GG and Grammie in Hutchinson, while Chris went to Manhattan for the week  to start graduate school!  It was a REALLY cold week in Kansas (actually all over the country) and we managed to only leave the house a hand-full of times.  It was great to relax and have no responsiblities.  MK had a hard time sleeping and I thought it was just because of the new environment, but turns out, she was working on a tooth.  No wonder everything went straight to the mouth.  One day before her 5 month birthday, her bottom middle right tooth popped through! She's growing so fast!

Changing her diaper has become quite a challenge with the discovery of TOES!  She loves them and they

provide endless entertainment.

Next adventure, RICE CEREAL...I'll let you know how it goes.

SANTA!

We finally got to Bass Pro to see Santa!  We didn't have to wait that long, but next year, we are going sooner than the Monday before Christmas.  He was a great Santa and Mary Kathryn was a great sport!

(nice of Daddy to have on a red shirt to coordinate)

Ryann, on the other hand, was not too sure about him.  She was holding on to Tom's shirt for dear life, but we managed to get a cute picture (the pacifier was the saving grace).

Sleeping Beauty

I am THRILLED to report that Mary Kathryn has started sleeping though the night!  It all started 2 weeks ago when we went to visit Ryne in the Hill Country.  I thought it was probably just a fluke and that she was just enjoying being out of the big city, but she has slept between 7 and 9 hours each night since then, except for the night we stayed in a hotel, of course! it is SO wonderful for US to get that many hours of sleep in a row as well.

last friday, Mom, Laura and I had a Christmas bake-off...apparently it wore MK out!

tonight we will attempt to go see santa (for like the 3rd time). hopefully this time we will actually go and i will have some precious pictures to post tomorrow.

Baby Bella

Mary Kathryn and I went to visit our friends Bonnie and Bella yesterday.  It was not our first visit with them, but the first time we actually remembered to take pictures.

Bella is 6 weeks old and Mary Kathryn is almost 4 months.

Before we know it, they will be running around causing all kinds of trouble, just like we did.

Thanksgiving

A week later, I'm finally getting to the pictures from Thanksgiving...

We had a wonderfully relaxing day at MiMi and GMax's house (those are the Gotcher grandparent names - at least for now - we know they will really be whatever Mary Kathryn decides to call them). Grammie and Grandpa (the Witt grandparents) and Uncle Ryne were there to celebrate with us. (Walla and Uncle Shane were with the Collins'.) We ate and watched football. It was a perfect day!

I bought this in October and was so worried that it wasn't going to fit anymore, but it did! WHEW!

She loves GMax's fish! She could watch them swim for hours...and, she talks to them! =)

BEDDING!!

We got the rest of Mary Kathryn's bedding today! It is BEAUTIFUL!!!

(i tried to make the pictures XL so you can see just how beautiful, but they won't fit in the space on my layout. if you click on them they will open up bigger so you can see more detail.)

The piping and the ties on the pads are my favorite parts, but I absolutely LOVE it all!

I'm such a happy girl! I immediately took her bed apart to lower the mattress so the bumper pads would fit. It was quite an ordeal, so we just went ahead and moved it to the lowest spot so we don't have to go through all that again.

Now, we just have to get some window treatments done and pictures hung and her room will finally be finished.  That whole bedrest and preemie thing got in the way of getting it done before she got here.

Also, MK loves her little seat that my class gave me at the end of the year last year. I think she likes the new perspective on the world that it offers. She was very content to sit in it and watch me while I cooked dinner.