I'm a Big Girl Now!

Hi everybody! So it finally happened...I finally turned 1!!! 

None of us can believe it, but it's true! On August 7, I turned the

big 1! Mommy and Daddy threw an amazing duckie themed birthday

party for me with all the people who loved me. I got lots of fun gifts and

got to play with all of my friends. I even got to eat (and wear!) cake

for the very first time! I had such a great time and am really glad 

we had such a beautiful day for the party. 

Before I turned 1, Mommy, Daddy, and I were really busy!

On the day before my birthday, we all went to the Baltimore Zoo.

We had such a great time and I even got to pet a giraffe named

Angel! It was a pretty hot day, but I just loved looking at all the different

animals, that I called "dog".

During the week, Mommy and I kept busy by visiting with some

friends. We went to North East, Westminster, Shrewsbury, and York on

our travels.  Aunt Holly, Zachary, and Olivia invited us to their pool

one day and we had a super fun time! I also got to meet Audrey,

who is just a little baby and Landon and Maddie who are older

than me.

Two of my cousins had birthdays really close to mine! We went to 

Zachary's third birthday first. He had a Cars themed party and a

bounce house, that I loved! Then we got to celebrate Cameron's

third birthday with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese!

We also asked Aunt Holly to take some family pictures and some

special "one year" pictures of me. She did an amazing job and we

can't wait to hang them all over our house! Here are some sneak peeks:

I have also been perfecting my walking and am expertly cruising around

the house and walking up and down the sidewalk in front of

our house daily. I don't need to put my hands up for balance nearly

as much as before and am feeling more and more confident everyday!

I am also expanding my vocabulary and am saying lots of words. 

Mommy and Daddy can't believe everything I can say. I say words

like, "dog", "belly", "bye-bye", "block" and I'm getting really close to saying

"bottle" instead of "ba-ba". I am also starting to identify Daddy just

by hearing the door open in the evenings!

Finally, I finished up my Mommy and Me swim classes! An extra

special treat was the day that Daddy got to swim with me! I am still

not a huge fan of going underwater, but I'm MUCH better than

when I first started.

If you have been a devoted reader of my blog, you can see that I have 

had an amazing first year! I just can't wait to see what fun I can get

into this year too!

Eleven Months!

I am 11 Months Old Today!!!!

That's right everyone, only 1 more month to the big number 1!!

We are all super excited, and have already spent lots of time making

the plans for my big day! Invitations have finally just gone out, so make

sure to check your mailbox! It's gonna be an awesome day! 

So much has been going on around here. As you probably saw from the

last post, I AM A WALKER!!! I have been getting better and better

everyday. I can pretty much make it all the way across the house. I also

love going up and down the steps (with parental supervision of course).

We have been super busy!  Mommy is off work now so we have 

been living it up all day long. We have started going to Baby Boosters

at the library every Monday and follow that up with about an hour

at Storyville. Daddy even got to come with us last Monday!

I am also still doing my Mommy and Me swim classes and am 

still not totally sure if I love them yet. I do enjoy my new baby

pool that Mommy and Daddy set up in the backyard. Sometimes

Mommy even gets in with me and we play with all my water toys

and try to stay cool in this heat!

We have also gotten to visit with lots of my friends and have

even gone to a few birthday parties! Last week, Mommy and

I went to visit Grammy at work for an ice cream party. That

was pretty awesome!

In our downtime, we have been enjoying the park. I have even started

to use the equipment on the playground and have lots of fun! We have also

been playing in my playroom on the really hot days. I have gotten lots of new

fun toys to play with and am much more interested in actually playing

with them!

Hmmm....what else?? Oh yeah, I got a new tooth in also! It was not the

most fun few days we have all had over here, but now that it's in, I'm

feeling much happier.

The 4th of July was awesome! We got to go hang out at my friend

Jules's house and I got my first up-close look at fireworks and 

sparklers. Mommy and Daddy were really surprised I wasn't

scared by the big booms, but I just loved looking at the pretty colors

in the sky. I was totally amazed!

Oh, one more thing! July 1st was a special day at our house. It was

Mommy and Daddy's 4 year wedding anniversary! They went out

to celebrate on Friday night and I got to have an awesome

sleepover with Grammy! They went to the place they got married

(even though they said it wasn't the same anymore) and had a nice

dinner. I, for one, am glad that they got married 4 years ago, cause

now I'm here! Congratulations Mommy and Daddy! Here's to many

many more!

So I guess thats the long and short of it. Of course I have added some

pictures of my "kapades", and I can't wait to see everyone next month!!!

Making a mess eating carrots and my new favorite,

avocados!

Just crawlin' around in the giraffe tunnel

Hangin around with Daddy!

Watching Daddy leave for work in the mornings

Perfecting my teenager attitude

Me and Mommy and Daddy above Rash Field

in the Inner Harbor after Mommy's 5K

I Can Walk!!!!!

(well, pretty good anyway)

And as always, some photographic evidence.

A little of Katelynn's walking skills!

Let's Go Out to the Yard!

On Sunday, Daddy finally got the rest of his Father's

Day present! Mommy and I took him to the Orioles vs.

Nationals game at Camden Yards. It was my very first time

at an O's game and we sure do know how to pick em!

The temperature at game time was 99 degrees and it was our

second trip downtown in one day (The first was to see Mommy run

her very first 5K! She did awesome by the way!). The day had all the

makings of a mess, but we ended up having a really good time!

We also went to the game with Uncle Rich, Aunt Holly, and Zachary.

Thankfully, Uncle Rich scored us some great seats under the over hang 

so we were nice and shaded the whole game. 

I had a really fun time at the game and even got a certificate

for it being my first ever game! Mommy and Daddy think

it may be more fun for all of us to wait until next season for me

to come to more games, but we are all glad that we did it!

P.S. For those of you keeping tabs on the O's this season, the game

we went to was actually a win! We swept the Nats! Not that it means

much with the season we are having, but a win is a win!

Posing with Daddy next to Cal's number

Watching the action

Staying hydrated, hangin with Daddy

Me and Mommy

Water Baby

On Thursday, Mommy and I started our "Mommy and

Me" swim classes at Kids First Swim in Perry Hall! I had only

gone in a big pool one time before and liked it, so Mommy

was pretty sure things were going to go well. 

When we got to the pool, Mommy carried me in and I didn't complain

once! I was really liking getting carried around and feeling the warm 

water. Then class began...

Apparently, this teacher likes to hear babies cry, because right out of

the gate, she told our mommies to dunk us underwater! Well, I was not 

at all prepared for this and Mommy did not follow directions very well.

I ended up choking and gagging for a few minutes and then decided

that this pool thing may not have been that cool after all.

After a bit of crying and whining, the games started to be fun

and I was enjoying floating around with the noodle and holding the...

wait for it...RUBBER DUCKIES (!) that were floating all around the 

pool.

The next time the teacher told Mommy to dunk me under, I was 

more prepared, and Mommy followed instructions and guess what?

It wasn't that bad! 

All in all, I think that swim class is not going to be that bad. It helps

that my BFF Jules is also in my class and that I get some special

Katelynn and Mommy time! Daddy came this week to take

some pictures. Check them out!

Getting ready to leave for class

Warming up to the water

After the dunking incident...starting to come

around

Not enjoying the floating

Starting to like it!

Trying out the noodles

Holding on for dear life!

Floating with Mommy in my noodle

Super exhausted after class