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  1. What a Difference a Year Makes

    January 10, 2012 by Katie

    Hope everyone had a wonderful end to 2011, and a positive beginning to 2012. I realize I’m a bit late posting a new year’s post, but when have I ever been on time for anything?

    Never. {Ok, not completely true. Last weekend I worked in nursery at church and was there 2 minutes before the recommended time!}

    I think I’ll go out on a limb and say that 2011 was my most favorite year of life to date.

    Yes, there have been great years before—2008 comes to mind, since we got married and all that jazz—but the year our first child was born trumps them all. In fact, I think it was a little over a year ago that we announced to the world {i.e.: Facebook} that we were expecting. So, basically the entire year was spent preparing for and caring for little Elise, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

    Each month in 2011 had its very own ‘favorite’ event that I will always look back on fondly:

    january

    baby makes first official appearance…{via bump}.

    february

    enjoyed a ‘babymoon’ in Hawaii, including hiking up Diamond Head….{exhausting}.

    march

    apparently a pretty uneventful month as we have few pictures….ooh, but I did get my favorite childhood book sent to me!

    april

    baby shower in KC with some of my best friends….{and babies!}

    may

    2nd baby shower that both Grandmas attended.

    june

    we waited ever so (im)patiently for baby to arrive…{and waited…and waited…}

    july

    best. day. of. my. life.

    august

    took the wee one on a very memorable {and long} road trip.

    september

    met my tiny nephew for the very first time.

    october

    visits from lovely ladies.

    november

    Thanksgiving on Orcas Island with friends.

    december

    our first Christmas as a family of three.

     

    So much has changed over the past year, it’s actually kind of difficult for me to remember what life was like when I had all that free time to do whatever I wanted to do.

    I’m not a resolution person, but I do like to have things to aim for in life, so here’s what I’m hoping 2012 brings:

     

    1. Help Elise learn to crawl, walk, and talk.

    2. A vacation for just the hubby and I. {Somewhere warm, perhaps? And somewhere I can just relax. We’ve gone on vacations this year, but not a single one has been relaxing for me. :) }

    3. More visits to see Grandpa & Grandma H in Idaho.

    4. Spend some quality time with Grandpa & Grandma S, my brother, sis-in-law & nephew. And have Elise meet the rest of her great aunts & uncles at some point.

    —possibly take Elise to spend a week on the farm during the summer.

    5. Run {at least one each of} a 5K, 10K & half marathon.

    6. Read the bible more and get back into a SHARE group.

    7. Learn how to do something new {and do it well}:

    —sign language, French/German/Russian, sewing with a machine, and/or yoga.

    8. Develop the perfect quiche recipe.

    9. Start up my design biz, for real this time. (http://www.etsy.com/people/sweetonedesigns …..sitting idle for 3 years)

    10. Turn 30 with a smile on my face.

    Yeah, I think that’s a solid starting point for me. At some point I’ll merge these with my ’30 before 30′ list.

    Thank you for letting me share 2011 with you. Cheers to 2012, and all that lies ahead!


  2. Best Friends

    December 19, 2011 by Katie

    Every Wednesday, Elise and I escape from the confines of our house and go to school for a couple hours. Our area technical college runs a Toddler Group/parent education course, so Elise gets to learn fun songs and interact with other babies while I get college credit. Yaaay.

    Plus, it’s wonderful for me to have time with other moms & dads and carry on an adult conversation.

    As much as I love being a stay-at-home mom, the downside is that many days the only conversations I have (other than with Todd) are the ones in which both parties involved don’t even understand what the other is saying.

    We started classes when she was about 2 months old. Being one of the youngest, she wasn’t quite sure what to think about all the songs, activities, and older kids, so she got overstimulated very easily. I’d usually spend the second half of class listening to the teacher while I walked around with Elise, trying to keep her calm.

    But now, she loves seeing the other kids and learning new songs with me.

    In fact, this is where she also met her very first best friend—whom we’ll just call, ‘little N’. They were born 5 days apart, so they’re at the same developmental stage. While the other kids crawl or run around, these two girlies lay beside each other and ‘talk’.

    {and apparently sometimes Elise’s jabbering puts her friend to sleep. :) }

     


  3. Holiday

    November 22, 2011 by Katie

    I’d show you pictures from when Grandpa & Grandma S were here, from our fun evening out this past weekend, and general cute pictures of Elise, but our website seems to be having issues with uploading pictures. Go figure. I actually have things to post, and wordpress decides it’s already on holiday (yep, I’m totally being European with that word).

    I’ve contacted my tech support computer genius guy (um….husband) to resolve this problem, so hopefully we’ll be back up and running soon. I could write a bunch to entertain you, but everyone knows the pictures are always the best part.

    In the meantime, I guess I’ll go pack our suitcases. Off to the islands we go! Don’t be too jeal—they’re cool & rainy islands, not warm & tropical ones.


  4. Social Butterfly

    November 14, 2011 by Katie

    Isn’t this blog titled ‘toddandkatie.com’? :)

    Despite the fact that Elise has taken over the blog postings for the past 4 months—err, longer actually, even while I was pregnant she was the star of this show—it’s not like our social life has totally gone by the wayside. We still get to enjoy non-baby time, it just doesn’t get documented as well.

    Recently though, we got to help Ryan celebrate his 30th birthday with a surprise shindig that Aubrey organized. Lots of cheese & wine, and cake! (okay, technically Elise was there, but she was asleep upstairs the entire time)

    Love those two.

    I’ll spare him the embarrassment and not post the video of him walking into the surprise. But there is this:


    .   .   .   .   .   .   .
    And my good ol’ friend, Kaddie, came for a visit recently with her husband. They stayed with other friends downtown, so we didn’t have them as house guests, but we were able to enjoy some time together on a couple separate days. Not as much time as I would’ve liked, but I’ll take whatever I can get when there’s a sweet little baby’s life to revolve around.

    Oh look, there’s Elise (she goes wherever I go)! I think she enjoyed getting some cuddle time with Auntie Ping Pong. If only she lived closer, I’m pretty sure I’d have someone to hold Elise 24/7. No?

    Plus, she got to go on her very first ferry ride. Yaaay!
    .   .   .   .   .   .   .

    Most recently, I participated in my first running event post-baby. Our friend Jason works for one of the sponsors of the Get Your Rear in Gear 5K, so he easily convinced me to run the race with him & Aubrey. It felt good to be back in an organized event, and running with friends made the 3 miles fly by.

    We even beat our goal—I think we came in around 28 or 29 minutes, which is good considering the only free time I have to run is once a week, on Saturday mornings (that’s not entirely true….I could run after Elise goes to bed for the night, but that’s when I fix dinner and finally get to relax and it’s too dark out and blahblahblah).


    Oh, hey, there’s little Elise again. She didn’t run with us, but Todd bundled her up and they came out to cheer us all on.
    Our littlest (and cuddliest) fan.

    I just realized that there are no pictures of just Todd & I together. So…..maybe we actually don’t have that much non-baby time out and about amongst society. :) Elise still seems to be hovering around wherever we go, but that’s perfectly fine with me. She’s the best accessory I’ve ever had. Plus, it’s a proven fact (done by my own scientific research) that you become 100 times more popular in public when you’re with a baby.

    Also, we have a babysitter lined up for this weekend so that we can enjoy some time out with our friends. The challenge I’m extending to myself (other than to enjoy some wine) is to take at least 1 picture of us. And no matter how blurry/gross/distorted it looks, I will post it here.

    Challenge accepted.

  5. And we shall call you

    September 29, 2011 by Katie

    Bubbles.

    It’s a favorite nickname these days.

    Runner-up is Droolie. Because she’s really good at doing both of those things.