Our Chicago Trip

Last week Kate and I headed to Chicago and had quite the whirlwind of a week. It was filled with wedding tasks and culminated with Katie and Ben's engagement party. We all had an awesome time.The bride and groom-to-be.

Brian joined us for the party and Kate was so excited to see her Daddy.

We made the cake above for the party. Everyone thought it was very funny.

We also celebrated Michael's 25th Birthday.


Kate adored seeing Ashlinn (Kristen and Andy's little girl) and loved playing with her.

Our little Kate, quite the party girl.

Kate even got to watch Cinderella on Grandpa's new TV.
It was a great week and we can't wait to return.

Away We Go

Kate and I are off to Chicago for a week of wedding planning. Brian is going to join us on Friday for Katie and Ben's engagement party. My blog posts may or may not be updated. Here is some video of our little girl to tide you over. Kate is changing by leaps and bounds and has added many new words to her repertoire. The cutest of which is more. She walks around holding her bowl and saying,"Mo, mo" (especially for ice cream.) She is very communicative and very cute as you will see below.

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate at 13 Months!

Kate Meets a Special Friend

Last week was a busy one for Kate, Brian, and I. Monday was a very special day as a local restaurant who has characters for a kid's dinner night brought in Mickey Mouse. As soon as Mickey arrived Kate could not keep her eyes off of him. She was a little leery at first but certainly warmed up to him as you can see in the video below. She is such a friendly and brave little girl. She has recently gotten the Miss America wave down and at church or out to eat she walks around smiling and waves at everyone until they wave back. Also last week under the umbrella of MOPS we started a new class at St. Peter for pre-preschoolers. It will be every other Friday and it was a real success. We sang songs, read stories, played with the equipment, used the parachute, and blew bubbles. I was pretty nervous as to how it would go, but the 15 kids and parents that attended seemed to have a good time. On Saturday we attended the Deteroit Sympony Orchestra for their Tiny Tots concert (video on that later) and had some people over Saturday night. Our little girl was a little tuckered out on Sunday from her week of fun.

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate Meeting Mickey!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our little girl would like to wish everyone a very happy Valentines Day!

Brian and I have never made too big a deal out of Valentine's Day. I think it originally started because our dating anniversary was January 30th (10 years ago). Considering we had just celebrated a big event, we decided to simply go out for dessert and it has since become a tradition. One of my best Valentine's Day memories actually involves my Dad. Every year on cupid's day he would come home with a heart shaped box of Fannie Mae chocolates for my Mom, my sister, and myself. It was so exciting to get the beautiful box, and I for some reason loved the surprise of what the chocolate would be filled with. It was such a nice treat and is a great memory. Thanks Dad! Happy Valentine's Day!

Kate's First Year Video

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I was able to make a montage of pictures and video from Kate's first year. I was having trouble sharing it via the web, but I finally found a site that could host it. We prepared the video for Kate's first birthday party, and it was so fun to create and see how much our little girl has changed over the year. Enjoy!

Wednesdays Gymboree

Our Winter weeks have been very fun-filled. I mentioned to Brian it has been the best winter I can remember (though one of the coldest), and I know a lot of that has to do with all the joyful things I get to do with Kate. I'm going to do a couple of blogs coming up to give you a slice of what life is like for us Michiganders. Thursdays is our Library day, but we also have a great activity for Wednesdays with Mommy and Saturdays with Daddy, Gymboree. Gammy and Pop Pop gave Kate a Gymboree membership for a Christmas gift and boy do all three of us enjoy it! Kate gets excited as we walk into the door, and really recognizes the structure of the class. She loves to explore, climb, sing, and even bosses some of the other kids around as to what toys they can and cannot play with. We have met some great friends at Gymboree as well, Abby Gorney being one of them. It is truly a gift that keeps on giving.

Kate's 1 Year Photos

Last week we took Kate to get her 1 year pictures done. After a few recommendations, we used a new place called Portrait Innovations. I was thrilled with them! They were very attentive, helpful, and creative in getting smiles. The best part is they didn't make me feel like the crazy, overbearing Mom I know I can sometimes be. Not to mention we got a lot of great pictures at a great price. Carrie, Brian especially thanks you for all the money we saved! :)

A Night Out

Before we had kids Brian and I didn't fully understand the anticipation of a date night. We obviously enjoyed a night out together, but let's face it- before kids every night is date night. Well, last Friday we had the date night of all date nights. (We even called in my Mom from Chicago to babysit.) Honestly, we looked forward to this like it was Senior Year Homecoming, and it more than lived up to our anticipation. We were invited to Jason Gottschalk's Suprise 40th Birthday Party. The Gottschalks are friends from church and it was awesome to spend a night with them and their family and friends. The night included a wonderful dinner, a comedian/mind reader, Vegas tables, good drinks, and even late night coney dogs. Although Brian smoked me in blackjack, being together and spending the night with a great group of people really made for a memorable evening. Here are a few pictures from the awesome party . . .

Dressed to Party

Our fellow partiers Gretchen and Chris Carlin

Francesca and Rob Keller

Sarah and the Man of Honor!

Story Time

I thought I'd give you a little taste of what things are like for Kate and I during the week. On Thursdays Kate and I go to our local library for 1 year old story time. It is possibly one of the most adorable half hours of my life. We read individual books, sing songs, look at the big picture book, see the puppets, and enjoy a finale of bubbles. Kate LOVES the library and the librarian. She is captivated by the books and is starting to do the motions to the songs.

On Kate's birthday we brought some treats to share with her class strawberry yogurt burst Cheerios!

Kate with a mouth full of Cheerios walking away as we tried to take a class picture.

It is certainly a highlight of the week as we go to open play time for another half an hour after where Kate takes all the books out of the bins to be read.

Our 1 Year Old

Our little girl is growing by leaps and bounds. As each day passes she is getting steadier on her feet and more communicative. She pretty much always walks, sometimes runs, and seldom falls. In the last few days her language has been growing rapidly. She has added ball, nana, bye-bye, bubbles, night-night, and dog to her repertoire. We were at a birthday party the other night and she chased their German Shepperd around the house most of the evening screaming DAW(dog)! She is such a friendly little girl and smiles at almost everyone. She loves singing songs and doing the motions that go along with them. She can clap her hands, pat her head, and tries to tip like a tea pot. She also tries to run to her Daddy at church, which makes things a little complicated for Mommy. Kate LOVES reading books! She will sit on your lap and read as many books as you can tolerate. And my favorite of late, she LOVES to cuddle. She is genuinely so sweet. It has been an amazing year together! We have all survived and really look forward to all that lies ahead. Below are some pictures of Kate since Christmas. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE for Kate's 12 Month Pictures!

Birthday Video

I fixed the link to the video of Kate blowing out her candles and eating her cake.

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate's 1st Birthday!

Kate's 1st Birthday!

It's hard to believe our little girl is 1 already. The past year has been amazing, and we were able to celebrate it on Sunday with a great group of friends and family. Gammy and Aunt Kathy made the trip from NY. My Mom, sister, brother, Ben, Tom, Alina, and Cousin Tommy made it from Chicago. Everyone's effort was much appreciated. For the party, my Mom and sister helped make stuffed shells and we served Italian beef. We also made Kate's birthday cake and the little bear cupcakes for the kids. The unofficial theme was a little bear party for our little bear. We had goody bags for the kids and an overall great time. Kate opened many generous presents and we were so appreciative of all of our great family and friends that could celebrate with us!

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate's 1st Birthday!

Somebody's a Big Girl

In the last few weeks Kate has gone through some major developments. Her walking is improving by the day and she is now officially on the loose. Her listening vocabulary is also really increasing, and she just seems so big to us. We have some videos below that start to capture this growth. Enjoy!

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate Walking!

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate Waiting for Daddy!

CLICK HERE for Video of Kate and Her Books!

Our Christmas Extravaganza

We had a wonderful Christmas for a number of reasons. One reason of course being it was our first Christmas with our little girl, but we also got to spend treasured time with family and friends so dear to our heart. Christmas started out with our Chicago contingent coming for a visit.

Sleigh Number One arrived early in the week carrying Katie, Ben, and Nana. Mike and Grandpa in Sleigh Number Two made the trip on Christmas Eve. Despite some bad weather on both ends of the trip everyone made it for a great Bundalo Christmas. The train brought by Nana and Grandpa was certainly a highlight for Kate and the adults. Then it was off to NY to continue the Christmas Extravaganza.

Despite six hours in the Detroit airport, running between terminals, and hoping for standby seats we made it to NY safe, sound, and in good spirits. Kate really enjoyed playing with her NY cousins and made much progress on her walking with the help of Michaela. Brian was so excited to give Wa the replica Christmas Story lamp, I really enjoyed our Wiiza Night (Pizza and Wii), and the adults enjoyed a little nostalgia with The Groove Tube. It was just great to spend a little family time together. From there it was off to Greenville, SC.

Despite 4 hours on the runway in the midst of an Albany snowstorm, and our chances of making it to SC on New Year's Eve looking bleak, Kate was all smiles. She kept Brian, myself and the people around us quite entertained. She could not have been better! We did manage to take off and actually made it to Greenville to ring in the New Year. We spent it with friends of ours the Winterhoffs. Mark is a good friend of Brian's from childhood, and his wife Carrie is an equally special person. Carrie and I were both pregnant together and have had many chats on pregnancy and motherhood. It was so nice to see Mark and Carrie, and meet their 8 month old Luke. We have teased for quite some time that Kate and Luke will, of course, turn out a couple. The Winterhoffs were wonderful hosts. They have a beautiful home and made some great meals. The kids played together, and we certainly enjoyed the break from the Midwest weather. We went on a few walks, relaxed in their backyard, toured downtown Greenville(which is adorable), made it to the zoo, and even tasted some southern barbeque. It was fun to be with others who are in "baby" mode, but it was also just fun to be with them!

Now that we are home, we are recovering from our Christmas Adventure. I am learning that as a Mom Christmas is a lot of work. Everything is just a little bit more with a baby-- more work, more preparation, and MUCH more fun! Thank you so much to everyone that made our Holiday so special!

Happy 29th Birthday Brian!

Today is Brian's 29th Birthday and hopefully he has had a good day. Kate gave us a decent night of sleep, Brian had lunch out with colleagues, then presents, dinner, and cake at home, and lots of wonderful calls with birthday wishes. I hope he knows how much he is appreciated, especially by me. Happy Birthday to a wonderful father and husband!