Busy, busy!

The last two  months have been so busy! In late November we went to North Carolina and Max got to go to his first football game (also my first of the year). We enjoyed walking around Chapel Hill and watching UNC beat Maryland. Max was worn out from all the excitement.

We also went to the Army-Navy game in Philly. It was unseasonably warm so we got to enjoy the game from our seats for at least the first half instead of just hiding in the club level.

In December, there were two birthday parties...Cate doesn't care the theme (Mustache Bash for one of them) she just loves to party! Cate also visited with her friend from Atlanta - sharing toys, chasing each other, going to the Natural History Museum ("rarrr!!"), and eating Mexican!

Getting ready for Christmas was lots of fun. First, we went to pick out the perfect Christmas tree.  Cate even helped decorate the tree.  On the weekend, Cate enjoyed hitting the Chick-fil-A and seeing Santa Cow and Elf Cow. I think she actually enjoyed them more than the real Santa in Old Town, although he was a pretty impressive Ole St Nick. She did seem partial to Mrs. Claus, though.

 On Christmas Eve, Cate got to pick one gift to open. Then we went to our friends' house for a traditional Polish dinner (Cate ate bananas...not so Polish!). Cate wore herself out early and passed out on the couch (only to roll off a little while later...whoops!)

We enjoyed sleeping in on Christmas (for the last time, I imagine!)  When Cate finally did wake up, she got to see her kitchen, Elmo Potty Book, and Abby slippers from Santa. Then she went through her stocking, followed by opening the rest of her gifts (and Max's, too!).

Max is already starting to get a tooth...so early! He is also rolling onto his side, but can't quite get all the way over. Cate is trying to start potty training, but still won't use the toilet at school because she wants" Mommy, Daddy, Baby Max". In addition to her great cleaning skills, Cate has become quite the little helper in the kitchen.

Happy Holidays!!

Merry Christmas! It was this time last year I started the blog. I have been behind over the past month, and will try and do better!









We got to spend lots of quality time with both friends and family over the past couple months. Sometimes this even meant she got to open gifts early! We are lucky enough to have some friends with small kids, so Cate got to play with some little ones and stay entertained. We also got to go see Santa Cow at Chick-fil-a!!

Christmas Eve day, we went to the Aldersgate Christmas Eve candlelight service.  Cate was being a little rambunctious, and we banished ourselves to a room in the church where they were televising the service. We were the only ones in there, except another family with a one year old, so Cate had free reign of the room. Later that night we headed into DC for a traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner with friends.

Cate had a blast opening gifts on Christmas morning. Some she stole out of the bags before she was supposed to, and she has already fallen in love with several of her new gifts.

Cate still loves daycare, and soon will be moving into the toddler classroom. Right now she is the oldest in her room, and likes to take care of the other babies. She is frequently seen high-fiving the teachers, kissing babies on heads, and checking other diapers to make sure they are clean. These skill carry-over at home too...when we saw a friend's 11-month old recently, she tried to push her in her car, and kept taking the baby her bottle whenever she dropped it. You should have seen them chasing each other!

Apparently, the teachers love to spoil her. When pondering why she thinks I am taking her for a walk when I come to pick her up, the teachers commented "Well, we do take her out for a walk everyday. She expects it." They teach her so much! She can do sign language for more, milk, please, and water (kind of).  She also picks up some signs that aren't really official (apparently I wag my finger when I say "dirty" and "no"!).  Her vocal skills are also improving, now saying mama, dada, aqua, wa-wa (water), ba-ba (bottle), hi, bye-bye, up, ight (light), buh (book), and nana (banana).

Everyday, we are more impressed as Cate moves from being a baby to a little girl. She finally let us put sunglasses on her (once summer was over, naturally!).   She loves to go grab socks and shoes and sit down for you to put them on.  She helps you put her jacket on (especially with the promise of going outside!). If you give her a towel and tell her it is dirty, she will take it to the dirty clothes hamper. You can tell her to put something away, and she will put her toys, socks, shoes, etc back (of course, this is after she took everything out to begin with).   She for some reason loves to play with post-it-notes and wipes!

Baby's First Christmas!

Cate woke up early this morning, excited to see what Santa brought her.  That energy lasted until the stockings were opened, and then she was zonked out!

She was awake long enough to take some great pictures with mommy and daddy, and to see some snow...it didn't really stick, but I think we will still say baby's first Christmas was a white one! We think she made out pretty well in the gift department (as I am sure all babies do). She got lots of books, a playard, swim diapers, leg warmers (you can never have too many!), a musical table, lullaby cds, a glowing/musical sea horse, an old school stacker, and some monkey onesies (picked out by her daddy, naturally).

Overall, it was a very Merry Christmas, with lots of relaxing, good food, and some time spent at the Beyer's.  As I sit here typing, Cate is cooing away, tell me what a great day she had!