Tuesday, June 26, 2012

14 Months


Kaitlyn has done a lot of growing up since she turned a year old! It seemed like as soon as she had her birthday she was doing new things all over the place! We are also seeing more of her personality.
Kaitlyn…
*started walking! She took her first steps when she was 12 months but wasn’t really a walker until 13 ½ months. And then when my sister and her kids came to visit, Kaitlyn stopped walking and she kind of started all over.
*walks on her knees. She started this a few weeks before she started walking and still does it.
*says three words: Her first word was “hi” (which was also my first word :), then came “ya”, and most recently, “no”. For the first few days she would respond with “no” no matter what we asked her. Now she responds with “ya” or “no”.
*likes to wrestle! However, Aaron and I take most of the beating. :) She likes to body slam Aaron’s head and she straddles me at my stomach and bounces as hard as she can.
*loves her teddy bears.
*seems to be a picky finger food eater when it comes to fruits and vegetables. It’s not that she doesn’t like stuff, she won’t even try it. She only eats the same 4 vegetables and only sometimes eats pears. If the food pyramid only consisted of milk and carbs, she’d be the best eater ever! If anyone has ideas on how to get a child to eat certain foods, let me know!
*has 9 teeth- The 8 front ones and she just popped out her first molar!
*is very much a parallel player. She just wants someone to play alongside of her, not necessarily with her all the time.
*loves books! We read books to her constantly throughout the day. I hope that love continues as she gets older!
*likes to push buttons- the actual kind of buttons, although I’m sure she tries to push my buttons sometimes.:)
*will not show emotion for people she doesn’t know well. She won’t smile, she doesn’t even cry, she just stares at them straight-faced.
*has been crying in the nursery lately. They tell me they can control it a little if they stuff her with Cheerios, which brings me to my next bullet…
*she still loves Cheerios!
*finally started crawling in the grass last month! It only took her 4 months to get used to the grass. :)
*understands so much! I never thought I would have to start spelling words this early in her life. :)
*still sleeps great at night, usually 11- 11 ½ hours. She’s also been taking longer naps, usually around 2 hours or more.
*thinks the ducks at the lake are her pets. She gets excited when she sees them, like she does when she sees our cat.
*helps me put my shoes on by handing them to me one at a time.
*can drink from a straw.

*likes to go on bike rides in the bike trailer.
*her favorite toys are books, teddy bears, foam number puzzle, Berenstain Bear figurines, blocks, and balls. She also likes anything that she can open and close. It’s so fun to watch her come up with a way to play with something and how the simplest things can entertain her.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Happy Father's Day!

We had a great Father's Day on Sunday! Aaron's family was busy so it was just the three of us to celebrate. Kaitlyn got him a personalized photo card, a flag pole for his Cardinals flag to hang in the front of the house, and a 3-picture frame with these photos.

After Kaitlyn woke up from her nap we went to the park to play disc golf. Aaron played while Kaitlyn and I followed. :) We had a great time!

For supper we went out to eat at Mings, a Chinese buffet in East Peoria.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

That's a Whole Lot of Kids!

This past week my sister and her three kids came to visit for a few days. Her husband was gone for work for those days so she loaded up the van and headed our way early Wednesday morning. They got here at 9:30. Here's a little bit of what our time together looked like:
Wednesday
*played at home
*toured the church/played in the gym
*naps/rest time
*played at the park

Thursday-Aaron took the day off so he was able to be with us all day!
*miniature golfing
*naps/rest time
*swimming
*s'mores
*Aaron set up the tent in the basement for the boys to sleep in

Friday
*played at the park
*they left after lunch

We had such a great time! It was so nice to be able to talk once all the kids were in bed. Kaitlyn was good the whole time they were here. Although, she wasn't herself. She was very straight-faced all the time, showing no emotion. She mostly just watched everything going on around her. I think she liked the entertainment though!










Mission Trip/Visit from Mom

At the end of May Aaron went on a mission trip for a week to Aibonita, Puerto Rico with a group of 10 teens and 3 leaders. They worked on a house called Casa Ulrich. Here is the blog that Aaron used to post updates. You can read some things they did as well as some pictures. http://ebcpuertorico2012.blogspot.com/
Here is also the Casa Ulrich blog. (The June 10 post is about when the team came to work.) http://casaulrich.blogspot.com/

So Kaitlyn and I didn't have to be home alone all week, my mom came to visit for about 4 of those days! We had a great time! Kaitlyn showed mom all her new tricks and behaviors and she really let mom love on her. Here are some pictures of our time together!



 We spent Memorial Day at Grandpa and Grandma Rocke with Aaron's family.