One In the Oven

Twelve Months Old! (Well, Almost)

We cheated and took Kate’s 12 month pictures two days before her birthday so we could include them in her birthday banner. She was in quite a mood and it took as longer than usual to get one that was usable although I think the pictures of her melting down will forever memorialize her baby tantrums.

Picking a Pumpkin

Over Columbus Day weekend we decided to take advantage of the warm weather and venture to the pumpkin patch to get Kate a pumpkin. There's a place not too far down the road that has orchards and greenhouses. In the summer you can go there to pick your own peaches or blueberries, cut down a tree at Christmas, or pick pumpkins and apples in the fall. We went a little later in the afternoon once Kate woke up from her nap. It was still pretty busy, but we were able to get on a wagon pretty quickly to take us to the pumpkins. Kate enjoyed exploring in the patch and checking out all of the different sized and colored pumpkins. She picked a pretty good one and we took it back on the wagon with us. There were all other kinds of activities to do like a petting zoo and rides, but everything was winding down by the time we finished in the fields. We took a quick stroll through the animals so Kate could see them. We've got lots of books with animals in them, but she'd never seen a sheep or a goat up close. In fact, she was checking out the sheep when one of them let out a very loud "BAAAAA" and she jumped about two feet in the air. She liked looking at the goats until they got too close to the fence--then she wanted to get the heck out of there!

-- It's a perfect Kate-sized pumpkin! --

-- The first of many photo ops. --

-- With Mommy. --

-- Trying to get away from Daddy. --

-- He caught me. --

-- So many pumpkins! --

-- These pumpkins weight 3x as much as me! --

-- Going to get in line for the tractor. --

-- There are pumpkins everywhere! --

-- So many to choose from. --

-- Finding the perfect pumpkin is hard work. I'll just take a seat and rest for a few minutes. --

-- I found it! The perfect pumpkin! --

-- This little piggy went to market... --

October Happenings

We had a lovely visit from Grandma Brenda and Grandpa and Grandma Jay the first weekend in October. It just happened to be our annual neighborhood garage sale weekend too. The ladies did a lot of shopping, while Brandon and Grandpa Jay minded our sale. We ended up making about $200, but, more importantly, we got rid of a bunch of stuff that we didn't need. We didn't come home with too many buys, but Grandma Brenda found a few things that she liked. Once the sale was over we just hung out and relaxed. It's not very often that we get to have all those grandparents to ourselves!

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On October 7, Kate had her follow-up with Dr. M who checked to make sure that her new ear tubes were working correctly. Dr. M was pleased, and we’re happy to report that we haven’t had a fussy or uncomfortable baby since the surgery. Kate also had another hearing test to ensure everything is in order and the results of that were also good. There are times when our little bugger acts like she doesn’t hear me telling her not to climb the steps or to put something away but I’m not fooled—I know those ears are working. Her hearing test confirms it. I did not, however, realize that one was able to deploy selective hearing at such a young age, but Kate seems to have a particular knack for that skill J

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Kate’s looming first birthday is bringing about changes for the whole family! We are officially done with bottle feeding and am just about finished pumping. When Kate was born, I set the goal of providing her with breastmilk through her first birthday. I was able to do that, and we’ve got enough frozen in our deep freeze to continue providing her with breastmilk (and all of the benefits of it) for a bit longer. We have her officially weaned from bottles, and she now drinks exclusively from a sippy cup. I spent a Saturday evening cleaning and sterilizing all of our bottles so they could be packed away to await the brother or sister we hope to give Kate someday. I’ll admit, I was a little sad, but seeing all those clean bottles lined up and ready to go in the cabinet was pretty liberating!

-- Such a bittersweet moment. No more pumping means no more baby...and WAY more free time! --

Buctober

After years of waiting, it seemed the impossible was happening…the Pirates were good!! Brandon and I took in a game one afternoon while Kate was at daycare. We had the chance to do it again as a family a few weeks later when the Pirates played the Cardinals in the NLDS. We scored tickets through the same guy we had used before and we able to sit in the same awesome seats—first row, looking down on the Pirate bullpen. We got all decked out in our Pittsburgh black and gold and headed downtown. Kate went on her first metro ride (and she liked it!) that took us from the IL side across the river to Busch Stadium. Within a few minutes of arriving at our seats, the Pirate’s bullpen staff had already thrown us two balls for Kate to play with. Because our seats were in the outfield bleachers, we were in direct sunlight, and Kate as a bit antsy for the first few innings. But she was a big hit with all the Cardinal’s fans around us, especially the two very large, very loud guys behind us. They ended up getting thrown out about halfway through the game but before that, they were all about making Kate laugh.

-- I'm excited for my first game! --

-- Taking in the via from the metro platform. --

-- My first metro ride...holding on for dear life! --

-- Ready to get this show on the road. --

-- The view from our seats. --

-- My bullpen friends. They each threw me a ball because I'm so cute. --

-- Hanging with Dad. --

-- And spending a few at bats with Mommy. That's my friend in the background. He got thrown out for heckling the bullpen staff. --

It turns out that the Pirates didn’t really show up to play on the day that we showed up to watch. One of the great things about living in the Midwest, where everyone is friendly, is that no one really talks trash to you if you support the visiting team at a sporting event. And they are especially friendly if you have a supercute baby with you. In fact, as we were slinking out of the stadium in shame, I was stopped by a guy decked out in head-to-toe Cardinal gear who said to me “Ma’am, I know that you’re a Pirate fan, but I wanted to tell you that you have the cutest baby I’ve ever seen.” I think that’s a win for Pittsburgh.