One In the Oven: Busy, Busy, Busy

April has turned out to be a very busy month for us! We've had lots of changes and firsts. Kate continues to work towards crawling, and she is mastering sitting up and playing. She loves to hang out in the kitchen with me and play with measuring cups and spoons. Sometimes, they even make it upstairs to her room for her to play with.

-- Some of my favorite toys --

-- Copper supervising my play --

My new job has allowed me to go onto a compressed work schedule, which means that I work 9 hour days and get every other Friday off. I used to work a similar schedule, but have been unable to do so for the last two years. Brandon and I talked about whether it would be better to continue to work 8 hour days so Kate was at school less, or to have her stay there one extra hour a day so she got one full extra day at home. And the extra day at home won out. We've been adjusting to the new schedule, and so far, we've been able to take advantage of one Friday together. Kate and I went to a mom-to-mom sale--basically, a huge baby and kid focused consignment sale. And man, did we come home with a lot of stuff! Then we had lunch with Brandon and went for a walk, and later that evening we all went to a going away party. It was a very nice start to the weekend for us, and I felt so very lucky to have an extra day with Miss Kate.

-- Copper is pooped after an extra day of play...hooray for compressed work schedules! --

Because she's really starting to move around, it's so much fun to watch Kate play. When she's held for too long she gets squirmy and wants to be free to move around. She loves to play on the floor and to chase after Copper, although she is still slow enough that he always gets away. She also loves to play in the Exersaucer that her cousins lent her, and she's been having fun with a certain present from Papa John too.

-- Remember the Dora balloon that Papa John got for me? I'm still playing with her at home --

-- And guess what? She's still kicking, one week later... --

-- Dora is one tough cookie! She's still hanging around (just a little closer to the ground) two weeks after Papa John got her for me...and I still love to play with her! --

On April 15, Kate moved from the 6 week room at daycare into the 6 month to 12 month room. It was kind of a bittersweet day for us. We're so happy to watch Kate grow and thrive, but everything seems like it happens so fast! It feels like we were just getting ready to take her for her first day at the CDC, and she's already moving rooms. We really liked the girls who took care of her in Room 7, where she started, but we were able to have a sit down with her new teachers to ask questions and get comfortable with them. They seem very nice, and we know that Kate will enjoy the room. But my, what a change! Most of the babies in Kate's old room were fairly stationary. She was the oldest, and the most mobile. Not so anymore! These kiddos are moving around like crazy! The teachers went over some of the skills and functions we can expect to see Kate learn while she's in the room, and it blew our minds! This is such a fun time as she's growing and changing so much, and she learns so fast.

We've started doing some baby sign language at home. They use this at school, mostly for mealtimes, and we've decided to use it at home too. For those of you that aren't familiar, we'll basically teach Kate signs for simple things, like milk, more, bath, etc., so that she can communicate with us before she can talk. In theory, this should cut down on tantrums and frustrations by helping her to tell us what she wants or needs. We know it will take a while for her to sign back to us (six months might seem a little young, but the reading I've done says six to seven months is the prime time to start...just don't expect any signs back for a while), but we've started signing to her like crazy, particularly doing the signs for daddy, milk, more, and bath.

It didn't take Kate long to pick up something new from all of her new classmates--a virus. Our little bug came down with a fever, cough and stuffy nose on her third day in Room 1. When I went to pick her up, she was sleeping, which tipped us off that something was wrong. And sure enough, she had a fever. So we kept her home the next day to take her to the doctor. We decided that I would keep her in the morning while Brandon went to work, then he would come home in the afternoon so I could go in for a meeting that I had to attend. We were supposed to get some bad weather as a front moved through--the meteorologists had been calling for strong storms. Instead, it just rained and rained and rained. They ended up evacuating my building at work, canceling the meeting, and shutting down the whole base. So we really got a free afternoon to spend together as a family. Kate's fever had gone away, and she was smiley and giggly for us (until it was time for bed...then she seemed pretty miserable), and we really enjoyed the day.

-- Napping on the couch before my doctor's appointment. Being sick stinks. --

-- Home sick with Mama...but I feel good enough to play. --

-- I even feel good enough to crawl around some. --

-- And to smile! --

-- Daddy got to come home from work because his office was about to float away...this was his parking lot at work --

-- I learned a new game while I was home sick--Copper and I played tug! --

Here are some other pictures from April....

-- This is what happens when Daddy puts you on his shoulders, but he doesn't give you enough time to digest your dinner first....you spit up on his head! --