16 Months Old

Kate is 16 months old today! We are having fun and staying very busy around here. Now that it is consistently nice outside, we are spending a lot of time with Kate outside. She loves to go for a wagon ride, walk or stroller ride around the neighborhood. She's also happy to swing or just play around and explore outside. She usually cries whenever it's time to go in.

Kate is also starting to try out more words and is doing better at trying to repeat things we are saying. She finally added "ball" which is usually one of the first words for most kids but Kate decided she'd do things a little differently and wait. But now everything that's round is a ball...apples, grapes, you name it. Some other new words are, "cuh-key", with a big emphasis on the hard c sounds, for cookie. She uses this for actual cookies as well as Cookie Monster on Sesame Street. It's either "chi-chin" or "kick-kin" for chicken. "Ddddss" for beads, as in Mardi Gras beads, which she loves to sport around the house. "Ock" for socks, "book" for all her books that she loves, "nigh, nigh" for night, night.

A few funny facts about Kate...first, she LOVES shoes!! Typical girl, I know. We bought her some new shoes fairly recently and after trying them on in the store (which she was happy to do) she insisted on wearing them out of the store. Her old ones were definitely NOT going back on her feet! I also ordered her some flip flops from Old Navy that have been in my office as I try to decide whether or not to keep them or get a bigger size. She brings them to me all the time wanting to put them on. Kate also LOVES Wheel of Fortune. She has for a very long time now. When she first learned to clap, she loved to clap when the audience clapped, and she still does that every now and then. Her big thing recently is that she knows when the show is about to go off, before Pat and Vanna even say good-bye, Kate starts waving to tell them bye-bye. She also has to know and be in the middle of whatever is going on. If I am working on dinner, she wants to be up to see (and have her hands in) what I am working on, if I am doing the laundry, she wants to be up on the counter so she can watch as I throw clothes in the washer. In her role as sous chef, she likes to sample whatever I am cutting/chopping. Some recent favorites are yellow peppers, sweet potatoes and zucchini, all raw of course.

Cheeeese

Ready for a wagon ride around the neighborhood

Swinging at the playground

Notice the pink flip flops. These are the ones I talked about above. She brought them to me one morning while she still had her pj's on and insisted on putting them on. Since the pj's had feet in them, I had to strip her down to let her sport her shoes.

1 Trimester Down, 2 To Go...

And now for an update on baby #2. The newest Speyrer seems to be doing well all snuggled away in my belly. He/she is growing (along with me) by the day. We went to the doctor on February 2 for my 12 week appointment and got to get another peek at the little one. We have quite a mover and a shaker on our hands already! The baby was pretty much as busy as it could be for its size, waving hands and kicking feet. It was hard for the ultrasound tech to get the measurements she was trying to because the baby was so busy! And we thought Kate was busy! I specifically remember this same ultrasound with Kate (because it's such a drastic difference from the 8 week ultrasound...at 8 weeks it doesn't look like much other than a little flickering heart, at 12 weeks it looks like a real baby) and she was as laid back as ever. She looked like she was reclining and taking it easy but not this next one! So we are already getting prepared for another busy body :) But then again I know it could have just been the time of day, what I ate, who knows as to why this one was busy and Kate wasn't....guess we'll find out this next one's personality in a couple more trimesters! Everything looked good. The baby is measuring right on track and the heart rate was 168 (Nick still says that means girl all the way. Kate's was 158 at this point and the old wives tale is higher means girl). This pregnancy is flying by in comparison to my last. I guess we have Kate keeping us busy to thank for that! At this point just 6 more weeks until we can maybe catch a glimpse at whether this baby is going to be a little brother or a little sister.

Looks relaxed in the picture but those little legs and arms were moving!

This one shows the measurement. I was actually 11 weeks and 5 days and measuring 12 weeks and 1 day.

I thought this one was a cool picture. It is both hands. The one on top looks like it's reaching and you can actually count all five fingertips. The lower hand is folded some so you just see a top view of a few of the fingers. Amazing that it just takes less than 12 weeks to form a little baby with fingers and toes!

15 Months Old...

Well I guess at this point Kate's about 15 1/2 months old but at least I am finally getting to this post! We've been a little busy around here mostly with the usual stuff but Kate and I also had a trip to Florence a couple of weekends ago. Once again she was a great traveler even with a pretty long and interesting trip there. We got a deal on a flight on Southwest from New Orleans to Birmingham and this was the day that Baton Rouge was supposed to get ice/freezing rain. We ended up good on this end but got surprised by ice north of Birmingham trying to make our way back to Florence. Put a couple extra hours on what should have been a 2 1/2 hour ride from Bham to Florence. Thanks Nonna and Papa for picking us up and braving the ice!!

Nick and I have said recently that now we totally get when everyone has been telling us that it just keeps getting better and better the more kids grow and learn. We are having the best time with Kate! She is fun and sweet and learning new things everyday! Still jabbering all the time but continues to add new recognizable words (at least recognizable to me anyways) and seems to be trying out how to say new things more and more. Some of the newest additions are "Duh-cuh" for duck and "cack, cack" for what the duck says, Nick is proud that he taught her to say "dog-guh" for dog...big emphasis on the g, "Nah-nah" for her Nonna but also a "nah, nah, nah!" that is her no, no, no!, Nick gets to share his name with Dora, Kate calls her "Dada" too. Kate has also become a big hugger and kisser. She does share her hugs and kisses with us but really shares them the most with her books and toys that she loves most. She has a couple of books where she will kiss every page sometimes when she's looking at it. Kate also picks up her favorite stuffed animals and toys, will put them on her shoulder with one and hand and slowly and gently pat, pat with the other hand. The funniest thing is if its something pretty small, for example her rubber ducky in the tub, she will perch it on her shoulder with one hand and then she doesn't reach all the way up with the other hand to pat, pat, she just gives herself a pat, pat on the tummy. Pretty cute!

Here are some recent pictures of our growing girl

Our 15 month old! I did take this picture on her 15 month birthday...just didn't get around to posting it until now :)

Checking out the iPod with Daniel at Nonna and Papa's

Sitting with Nonna and Liza playing with the Box / Simmons new puppy

Much to Nick's dismay Kate is a dog LOVER! I mean she thinks they are the greatest thing ever! When she has been around any of them she's pretty sweet with them but she also follows them around barking at them the whole time.

Kate playing with her friend Adi. Kate's in the background about to bust through the roof of her tent. She and Adi were playing hide and go seek in the tent. The girls have had a ton of fun playing together recently!

Hide & Seek

Right now Kate LOVES to hide from us! We are getting to where we have to keep doors to a lot of our rooms in the house closed so that it easier to find her once she decides she wants to hide. It's all about being pursued though so she really won't stay in hiding too long if someone doesn't come looking for her. Her favorite spots to hide are in the curtains (in various rooms) and in the back of mine and Nick's closet. Our closet is an L-shape so there is an area where it bends where we don't have any clothes hanging. Kate discovered this area and will scoot back there and often when I'm looking for her she gets excited and will pull some of our clothes in front of her to try to hide better. It's hilarious!

This is how I will often find her...waiting patiently for someone to come find her.

Peek-a-boo!

And she didn't figure this all out by herself. My older child (aka Daddy) taught her about hiding in the curtains.

In the closet frantically pulling jackets in front of her so that I won't find her

Peek-a-boo!

Kate's Got a Secret!

We have been sitting on a BIG secret around the Speyrer house for several weeks and Kate's here to tell you all about it--

If you can't read her shirt it says "Guess whoo has a secret?"

And on the back "I'm going to be a Big Sister!"

Yes, that's right! We are expecting Baby Speyrer # Deux! We are all very excited! Well Kate doesn't exactly know what she's in for yet but we think she'll be a great big sister! I am still pretty early in the pregnancy at just 8 weeks but we have been to the doctor and all things are looking good! The estimated due date is August 20, which will make our 2 little ones 21 months a part. Should be interesting! The heart rate was 173 which, according to the old wives tale, means that # Deux may be a girl! Nick was quick to point that out before we were even out of the doctor's office. He's quite certain that it's a girl but we'll just have to wait a few weeks and see! Here's a picture of the newest Speyrer

Baby Speyrer # Deux (we thought we'd call it #2 in french to go along with our cajun-ness just until we find out the sex) Doesn't look like too much yet but we saw the flicker of the heart and it even gave us a little wiggle. We love it so much already!

We told each of our families over Christmas using Kate's T-shirt as our big announcement. It was fun! Kate didn't know why she was getting so much extra attention all of a sudden!

This was at Pop Pop's on Christmas Eve. She looks kinda crazy because we just took her dress off and put the T-shirt on with her bloomers and tights.

Here's Pop Pop getting in close to check out what it says.

We are glad to have the news out in the open! Please say a little prayer that things continue to go well for our little bean.

14 Months Old

Kate was 14 months old on January 2. She's now pretty much running all over the place. Kate loves to play peek-a-boo and hide from us. Lucky for us that she can't stay in hiding too long before she comes running out as fast as she can with her hands up in the air and a huge smile on her face waiting for us to scoop her up and swing her around. She talks ALL THE TIME...but we still can't understand the vast majority of what she's saying. I have become a Kate interpreter though and understand several things that she says. Kate calls her beloved blankey "Haydey" I think it may have morphed from saying "Hey blankey!". She is very good with her S sounds. She LOVES peaches and will point to them and say "Sssss" like a little snake. Kate also says "Chsss" for cheese, "Jsss" for juice and "Ish" for fish. She's obsessed with the phone and anything that remotely resembles a phone she will point to, put her hand by her ear (if she can't get her hands on the actual phone) and say "Hoh?". She also either understands a lot of the questions we are asking or picks up on the inflection of a question and if she doesn't know the answer she will cock her head to the side with both hands up like she saying "I don't know?". As always we continue to have a blast with her! Here are a couple of recent pictures.

"Hoh?"

Christmas (Part 3) at Nonna & Papa's

We traveled to Alabama for a long New Year's weekend. We left Baton Rouge on Wednesday evening and drove to Jackson and stayed with friends Paul, Julie and Annie Grace Laperouse. It was nice not having to tackle the whole drive in one day and we had a great time visiting with Paul and Julie and Kate had fun playing with Annie Grace! We made it in to Florence on Thursday and had our first family gathering that night. Then we had our Christmas on New Year's eve day. No big New Year's eve plans. We ate Mexican and were in bed by about 10:30...boring I know but Kate wakes up between 6:30 and 7 no matter what so I get my sleep in while I can! We gathered again for another great meal on New Year's day and then headed back home to Baton Rouge on Sunday. We have had a truly blessed holiday season! We have been able to spend great time with all of our family!

All of the cousins

Kate ready to open presents with her Mardi Gras beads on. The beads were by far her favorite thing to play with at Nonna & Papa's house. She put them on herself all the time and wore them most of the weekend.

Opening gifts with Daddy

Everybody ready to get started

Mary Emma and Camden

Connor, Daniel and Liza

Langley very happy to have gotten her purple pillow pet

Harper playing with her tea set