Hey Katie, wanna get a picture with me?

So, I fully understand that I looked terrible. I can own that. It was late. I had worked all day. Odds are I had a baseball hat on until I came home from work. My makeup needed some work (let's be honest - a LOT of me needed some work, lol). But you'd think my one and only kid could smile with me for ONE little picture (ok, so it's never just one picture. It's as many as I can shoot before the camera battery dies, but still). There was NO getting Katie to smile...and I could have even lived with a serious face. But no. The little ham had to make a face. I am in serious trouble when this little jokester gets older. :)

Hey wait...that reminds me of a picture I took a few years ago with another person living at my house... Katie is definitely her father's daughter!

This picture is for Aunt Amy - who so lovingly purchased the pj set that Miss Holmes is modeling. I think she looks like a little British girl with that cap on. Katie loved the pj's, Aunt Amy!

The next three pictures are some of my favorite "Katie pics" of all time (well, so far anyway). Apparently her activity gym was SO much fun, it knocked her out cold on the mat. I only wish I looked this peaceful when I slept.

"I give up! I can't play any longer! ...must...have...sleep...!"

"zzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

Still growin!

Update: November 7, 2008, Miss Holmes had a visit to the pediatrician. She now officially weighs 15 lbs., 6 ozs., and is 25 inches long. The poor kid got FOUR shots AND to add to her pain, a tooth (her second) broke through that day. She was MISERABLE all weekend long (so were we, for her sake).


Campaign commercials were SO very prominent this year, that Katie couldn't help but get into the election process. This is her watching Guiliani at the Republican National Convention (yes, we know it was past her bedtime, but she begged to stay up and watch).

The next night she watched John McCain accept the nomination for the Republican party. Too bad he didn't realize then that the media had no intention of him winning the election. When Sarah Palin was there with her family, Katie asked if she could meet Trig one day. We'll see.

It seems hard to believe that Katie is 6 months old already. I can't believe how quickly time has passed and how much she has grown already! Although, her feet apparently didn't get the message about growing. She is STILL wearing these newborn shoes that Aunt Amy bought her.

The bottom of the left shoe says "pitter" and the bottom of the right says "patter" which is kinda crazy considering Katie's legs are still like jello and her feet don't "pitter patter" anywhere.

Katie in one of her most favorite outfits (thanks to my cousin Phillip & his wife Lori).

Zzzzzz...

Apparently during the month of August, all Katie did was sleep!

This picture especially makes me laugh. She looks like one of those police outlines you see on tv. lol

She's sleeping, but cannot give up the keys!
She is just like her dad - able to sleep anytime, anywhere. :)

"Smoochable" or "Kissable"

Katie and her Aunt Amy have a thing they do called "A thousand kisses for Katie." While I have never actually counted, I'm positive Amy gives Katie no less than a thousand kisses. :) But, it leads me to this question:

Is Katie more "Smoochable" ...

...or is she more "Kissable" ???

You can answer in the survey to the left of the page!

And for those of you who are wondering: No, I did not get "hello, my name is" stickers and put them on her tummy. I bought those outfits like that. I wouldn't have mentioned it, but I have had a lot of people ask. lol

Sister Katie Lauren

So after Katie gets a bath, I put her on her changing pad to get lotioned up (which she HATES, btw). This particular time struck me as funny because I thought she looked like a tiny nun in a Habit.

*I don't intend to offend anyone with this post - my sincere apologies if it offends you.*

When the picture is not enough...a video of the same event. :)

Bunnies

Katie has some bunny slippers that she absolutely LOVES. Ok, well she probably doesn't care - but we like them, mostly because they stay on her feet better than socks do. Our only problem? The dogs think the bunnies belong to them.

This pic makes me laugh - I think it looks like she's holding her tummy (maybe she just got finished eating a big meal, lol)

"If I had teeth, I'd be able to make a bunny face too!"
Kevin & I had a debate over the onesie. He insists it's a mouse, and I say it's a bunny.

Any thoughts?

Posting after the storm...

Last week our power was out. ALL week. And not because I forgot to pay the bill (at least I think I paid it!). :) The remnants of Hurricane Ike hit Ohio causing wind gusts up to almost 80 mph! All told, almost a million homes in Ohio and Northern Kentucky were without power for some period of time during the week. Ours was out from Sunday, September 14 at 2 pm until the next Sunday, September 21 at 4:30 pm. THANKFULLY the wind brought with it cooler weather, so it was not unbearable living conditions, but we did lose most of the food in our fridge and freezer (although I did learn that you can cook a lot more on the grill than just hamburgers and hot dogs - my mom made french fries and baked beans and scrambled eggs. She did NOT figure out a good way to make coffee though, so it was a rough week for her, lol). We were also very thankful that we did not suffer any major damage to our house or property from the storm.

Praise the Lord we only had to replace one section of privacy fence from our neighbor's tree falling on it.

All afternoon while the wind was blowing, we'd hear different trees and limbs cracking. At one point we kept hearing these cracking noices getting louder and louder, until I realized it was the HUGE tall tree across the street from us. Eventually it fell, but didn't hit any of the houses around it.

Same tree, different view. We thought for sure our neighbor's house was hit when the section of tree fell, but it didn't. The city street department came and removed MOST of the tree (what was in the road), but Kevin and some guys down the road ended up clearing it from the power lines on Sunday, September 21 - because by then, poor Kevin was so tired of having no power, he wasn't about to let trees delay the power company from getting it turned back on! :)

Did you know that Katie is STILL this smiley, even when the power is out???
You just have to use a flashlight to see the smile. :)
The blanket she's laying on was made by my awesome Aunt Bobbie. Aunt Bobbie had never seen the colors of Katie's room, yet matched them perfectly. Aunt Bobbie, Katie said to tell you she loves this blanket and appreciates you making it for her (can you believe she already knows the word "appreciate" ??? She's a smart kid!). :)

The quilt she's laying on in this pic was made by my Aunt Charlotte (who is also awesome to take the time to make such a nice quilt). I wish I had a picture of the other side of it, because it has outlines of my mom's hands, my grandmother's hands, my sister's hands, and my hands all around the edge of the quilt. Aunt Charlotte surprised me with this at my baby shower, and told me that the little space left around the edge is for Katie's hands. It's really a sweet idea for a quilt.

Fashionista

I know I am VERY behind. I think I fell off the face of the internet for a month!

As for Miss Holmes, after celebrating 4 months of life on August 29th, we visited her doctor on September 5th. She weighs 13 lbs., 7 ozs. and is 23 7/8" long. She is in the 50th percentile for her weight, and between the 25th and 50th percentile for height (but did anyone really expect her to be very tall???) Her feeties are beyond tiny - her newborn-size shoes are just now fitting without falling off.

Katie at Grandma Starr's house...she's wishing she could have a cupcake to eat, instead of one to wear.

What happens when Daddy helps Katie get dressed. I put the onesie on her, and the socks. Daddy added the slippers. She's on the cutting edge of fashion.
What happens when you have dogs: finally get the perfect happy smile, and the dog gets in the way.
She's obviously upset about another Cincinnati Reds loss.
Fashion show. Aunt Amy came over, and Katie wanted to show off all her hats. Amy & I took the first pic to prove to Katie that yes, bald IS beautiful!

Reminder

In case you forgot, this picture reminds you why we call her Ziggy (but we think she's a very cute Ziggy, so it's ok).

"I think it's HILARIOUS that they call me Ziggy!"
Family pics...too bad the photographer couldn't get Zigs to look the same direction as us!
Kevin and Katie...she looks serious because she was thinking it was about time to eat.
This time she's not thinking about food, she's just thinking "don't these two get enough of kissing me???"

Nothing special...

I would like to add some pictures that DO NOT include ones of Ziggy on her changing pad, but she's just so happy there! A friend of mine just saw Katie for the first time last week and said "oh she's so smiley!" Most of the time, she really is. She's SUCH a good girl (although, I'm wondering while I'm writing this if I'm jinxing myself! lol).

Check out these cheeks! When Katie was born, the nurses were taking her to be weighed, and the first thing my doctor said was "look at those cheeks!" The cheeks haven't changed. This is Ziggy watching the news with me.
Ziggy later that night. Her new official bedtime is 10 pm. She was up late partying and obviously couldn't handle it.

Growing like a weed!

Update: August 4, 2008 - Katie officially weighs 12 lbs., 8 ozs. The pediatrician said she's gaining approx. 3/4 oz. every day. It seems impossible our 8 lb. newborn is already a 3 month old baby! Katie is a sweet girl, quite the social butterfly, and very smart already (we assume she can tell time, because she gets fussy if she's not in bed by 10 pm). :) We love our little muffin!

This picture is from her 2-month doctor visit. She's smiling in this pic because she didn't know she was about to go get 4 shots (poor little thing!).

Katie's first 4th of July! We ate dinner and spent the afternoon with Grandma Starr, Grandpa Roger, and Aunt Amy (though somehow she got out of having a pic!), then went to see fireworks (Katie fell asleep RIGHT before the fireworks started, and didn't wake up until the finale - then she just STARED...I don't even think she blinked!). :)

Katie is smiling in this pic because someone told her she looks a lot like Grandma Starr.

Katie with Grandpa Roger - obviously he's telling her a very interesting story.Yet another picture of Katie on the changing pad.
So the color isn't great in this pic, but I posted it because I think it's a great smile. Katie had just gotten finished telling me how much she liked the fireworks on her first 4th of July.

Pics that make me laugh

Katie is such an independent girl; when she's awake, she likes to sit up so she can look around. I think she looks so funny sitting in the corner of the couch.

"Oh man could I use a nap! It's rough being 2 months old!"
Kevin called me upstairs the other night and this is what I saw...
Let the video games begin!

Cousins

Aunt Kendra took her son Haden and Katie to get pictures together (I was working so I couldn't be there). Turns out neither Haden nor Katie wanted to smile that day. lol

Haden & Katie ALMOST share a birthday - he was three on April 21st.
If there's one thing Katie can do, it's sleep! (even in a basket of flowers, lol).