2009 Recap...Thus Far....

So it has been brought to my attention that I have been slacking off on the blog and that people want to see updated pictures of Kaitlin....so I will start off by simply saying I am sorry. I have been very lax in blogging and thought that would change when I went part time...but alas...not so much. Now that I know people have been patiently waiting for a new blog I will do my best to keep more current.

Since my last blog....Happy New Year! We stayed in and rang in the new year with my brother and his girlfriend. It was really quite lovely. Kaitlin was not awake to see the calendar change, however I still managed to find a photo opportunity:

February brought forth our First Family Vacation. Kaitlin and I drove to PA to meet up with Matt and Uncle Steve, who were attending a work function. After a horrible night in the hotel (in which none of us really got any sleep at all...and will probably be the last time Uncle Steve ever shares a room with us) the three of us continued on our road trip to FL while Steve headed back home to a peaceful bed :-) The remainder of our trip was uneventful and Kaitlin did VERY well considering the amount of time spent in the car. She absolutely LOVED FL and the time she got to spend with Babci and Grandpa. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the vacation:

March was quite uneventful and April pretty much was also. Kaitlin celebrated her first Easter and was showered with multiple Easter baskets and other fun toys. She started, and perfected, sitting up for long periods of time (when placed in a sitting position). She also began a rather amusing repertoire of sounds. We received some really positive news from both the genetecist and the cardiologist which was quite delightful! We do not need to return to the cardiologist for a whole year and so far, all of the tests from geneticist have come back negative so it appears that the doctors are learning what we have known all along....which is that Kaitlin is perfect in every way!! Here are some Easter pictures:

May was a very special month for our family because I became employed on a part time basis so that I could spend more time at home with Kaitlin. I work for a wonderful company that was willing to work with me and allow me to move into a position that is just 3 days a week. This is something that took 7 months to put into motion, but patience paid off and everything worked out for the best....for all of us involved. And I am very grateful for everything and everyone that made it happen. It also was my first Mother's Day, which was hectic but very very nice. Here is a picture from the brunch we attended:

Of course at the end of May was Memorial Day and we were fortunate enough to be able to bring Kaitlin to her first real parade (not counting the mini bocci ball parade she attended in FL). The Cheshire Memorial Day Parade lasts all of about 11 minutes but it was enough for us to gauge if she will be up for the 4th of July Parade....and the verdict is....I believe so! She LOVED it....here are a few of my favorite pictures from that day:

Which brings us currently to June...and although we are not even half way through the month yet, there are already many things to report! Kaitlin has finally decided it is time to sit herself up and has been doing it for about a week now! She also has been crawling backwards and trying to stand herself up when holding on to various objects. She is doing so well!!! Also, she sprouted her first tooth over the weekend!!!! And has seemingly done so with little pain. She is so good!!! She is progressing to more solid, solid foods and feeding herself things like sweet potato cubes which are currently her favorite.

Lastly, in the continuing list of Firsts.....Kaitlin welcomed in her very first cousin this week. Aria Lillian was born on Monday June 8th and I want to give a very warm welcome to her and a big CONGRATULATIONS to my brother and Tisha!! She is such a beautitul baby, fitting for such a beautiftul family!!!

So, that was the baby dilly for the past 6 months. I will try to keep this more current now that I know people are actually checking in on it :-) Lots of Love to all of you.....

Merry Christmas

Here we are on the other side of Christmas 2008 and what a wonderful Christmas it was!! Kaitlin got to experience every aspect of it and she did amazing with all the new things!!

We first celebrated our Merry Mott Christmas on Sunday, December 20. We also happened to be having a snow storm and took the opportunity to let Kaitlin experience snow for the first time. This was not our first snow storm, however she has had a pretty bad cold and this was the first time we thought it was OK to have her out in it. Needless to say she appears to be like her mom in this respect...and is not terribly fond of the snow. She sat for a few minutes without any reaction and then started to cry when we took her hand out to touch the snow. Below is one of the few pictures I got of her. I was also video taping the event.

While we were celebrating our Merry Mott Christmas, Kaitlin decided to show off her new skill of rolling over from her back onto her tummy....which she had been doing for about a week. She also showed off that she can roll from her tummy back over onto her back....which was the first time for that! YAY!!! She was a very good girl all day long and thoroughly enjoyed spending the day with Babci, Grandpa, Uncle Steve (whom she absolutely adores) and Auntie Lisa. She received lots of wonderful gifts from everyone, her favorite being this learning dog from Steve & Lisa. This was the winning gift all around!!! Despite the fun gift bags Lisa picked out (one played Christmas music and another had flashing lights that had everyone else in awe) Kaitlin was most entertained by the plastic table cloth that she could put in her mouth without getting in trouble!!

The next celebration was Christmas Eve at Dziadz's house (Wigilia). This was generally low key and Kaitlin was pretty good for most of the evening. Because of a later start (since we had to work during the day) she ended up staying up a little later than normal, therefore being a little fussier than normal. And of course she didn't want to go down to sleep because of all the excitement!!! Preview of things to come I guess....

Next we had Christmas at our house, on Christmas morning. Mom and Dad were so happy to sleep in!!! Possibly the last Christmas morning we will get to do so for many years!! Santa brought many good books to Kaitlin and a fun dog that promotes crawling. As you will see in the slide show, Kaitlin pretty much likes anything she can get into her mouth!!

After her morning nap it was off to Meme's house for Christmas Day Dinner with Uncle Nate, Tisha, Brady, Dan & Jen. We had to make a quick stop to say good bye to Babci and Grandpa, as they are leaving for FL and we won't see them for awhile. At Meme's house we had to make sure we got plenty of nap time in so we wouldn't be too fussy. It worked out perfectly so everyone could enjoy dinner and Kaitlin could still help open all her Christmas presents. The hit of the day was a fun guy from Uncle Nate, Tisha and Brady. Kaitlin was definitely ready to go home and go to bed by the end of the night....and spent a good portion of the day after Christmas sleeping as well. It was a perfect day for that!!

All in all she had a great first Christmas...with a special thanks to all of her family for making it that way!!! Please enjoy the quick slide show of pictures from all the festivities!

PS

The "Handprint that wasn't" is a funny story...Meme wanted to surprise Mommy and Daddy with this very cute Handprint ornament. She was babysitting Kaitlin one evening before Christmas and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to do this. So she called in Back-Up (thank you Sally for your efforts) and together they tried to do this simple project. However, Kaitlin was not going to make it easy....and would not keep her hand open so they kept getting "fist" prints. After a few attempts at this she just was unhappy all together so they stopped trying. We were unable to try to do it because the mixture was drying up when we got home and Kaitlin was in bed....but I thought it was necessary to take a picture of the Handprint That Wasn't for future reminiscing.

We hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that you will have a safe and happy New Year!!