Ready for Football Season!

We are getting excited about football season being just around the corner, as I'm sure many of you are too! This weekend we decided to take Kate to visit Mike the tiger at LSU. It was the middle of the day and it was HOT so Mike was in a corner taking a nap but Kate was still happy to see him! She loves to be outside! Here are some pics from our visit with Mike.

Kate and the Mike statue

Checking out Mike's habitat with Daddy

Kate, Daddy and Mike (you can see him laying down behind the leaves taking a nice nap)

Kate and Daddy in front of Tiger Stadium

We made a trip over to the LSU store right beside Mike's habitat. Found a cute game day outfit for Kate and tried out a few other fun things in the store...

Now, you all have to remember that even thought Momma is a good sport and cheers for the Tigers too (except when they are playing Alabama), this is a two team household so Kate has to have her time getting ready for Alabama football too. Here's Kate in her Bama duds...

I think she looks happier in Crimson than in purple, don't you...

This is Kate's tough football face

Kate's Daddy would not be happy to know that Kate and I spend little of each day like this...

Turn up your volume and you can hear the Alabama band playing on the computer as Kate cheers along.

9 Months Old!

Yesterday was Kate's 9 month birthday. Our unofficial growth reports are that we still have an above average busy little bee. Kate is bigger than most 12 month+ kids that we've had her around lately. She weighed in at 24 lbs yesterday and we'll get some official growth stats from the doctor on Friday.

As you would expect, Kate is busier than ever. She is all over the place crawling. One of her favorite things to do is take off into another room so that someone will chase her. She's pulling up and cruising a little and the latest is that she will let go and stand on her own for a few seconds. This is still very new though and we've only seen her try it a few times, but if it is like everything else Kate's learned so far, she'll have it mastered in a week or so. Kate is dancing all the time. It is so cute! She knows exactly how to play the songs she wants to hear on her toys and she'll get them going so that she can shake her booty! We are up to 4 teeth and it seems like they are just going to keep coming. As you can tell by the unofficial growth stats, our girl is still a good eater. She's been self feeding some small snacks for a few months and she's starting to eat some "regular" food. We give her baby food most of the time but I am now fixing her a serving of whatever we are having for dinner (as long as it's appropriate of course) and she's doing great! She's loved chicken spaghetti, chicken stew and even some of Daddy's jambalaya. I think we are going to have a very vocal girl on our hands. Kate is jabbering more and more. If people are talking (and not paying 100% attention to Kate) she will just start joining in on the conversation to make sure that she's not forgotten about. She's regularly saying Mama, Dada and Nana, but of course doesn't always use them correctly. She waves bye-bye and loves to clap her hands in praise of herself (she knows that if she claps then we will excitedly cheer "Yay!"). We are having a blast! It just keeps getting better and better! We are so blessed! Here are some recent pics

There are very few moments where Kate will sit still enough for us to get some cuddle time in. Here's some rare cuddle time with Daddy before Kate went to bed.