Swimming, Crawling, Talking & Smiling....

...well almost. Kate is hanging out in her baby pool, doing a sort of scoot/army crawl, jabbering and spitting like crazy and smiling...but of course she's been doing that for a while...she showed her gummiest (still no pearly whites) smiles for her 6 month portraits. We got her a baby pool a couple of weeks ago and due to schedules and weather she hasn't spent a whole lot of time splashing around in her pool yet but she did get to take a quick dip about a week ago. Here are some pics from her first swim...

Thursday May 13th, which coincidentally was Nick and I's 4th wedding anniversary, Kate decided that she would figure out how to go places. She's not completely crawling, as she hasn't figured out how much better off she'd be if she'd get up on all fours, but she's definitely able to get where she wants to go.

Kate's recent conversations have consisted more of spitting than anything else. Here's a couple of different takes of her jabbering. I love how when I ask her to say "Mama" or "Dada" she thinks about trying it out for about 1 second and then goes to the good ole standby...spitting as much as she can.

Yesterday we took Kate to have some 6 month portraits taken by our good friend Nicole Colvin. Kate was pretty cooperative for the most part and Nicole was fabulous!! She's already given us a sneak peak at a few of the pictures she snapped yesterday on her blog. Go to http://nicolvin.blogspot.com/2010/05/kates-portraits.html

Happy Half Birthday!!

Kate was 6 months old on Sunday May 2. We cannot believe our little girl is already half way to her first birthday! We went to her 6 month check up today and she is 19 lbs, 13 oz and 29 inches long, which continues to be off the growth charts. Kate is getting so big and learning so quickly. She has now mastered sitting and prefers to be sitting up unless she needs to get somewhere and then she'll lay down so that she can roll to her destination. We are also starting to see the early signs of making her way towards crawling. We know it won't be long before she figures that out too!! Kate still does not have any teeth but continues to "work" on them. She constantly has anything and everything in her mouth and on her gums. Here are some recent pics of our growing girl...

She's got a future so bright she's gotta wear shades

Couldn't resist posting one with her tongue sticking out. Looks like her Daddy.

Kate and Momma also recently made another trip to Florence to stay with Nonna and Papa. As always we had a fantastic time visiting with family! Kate and I flew solo this time and had a great trip there and a bumpy one back. Kate was just worn out from so much fun with her cousins, aunts and grandparents so her patience for all of the plane and airport hoopla was pretty short. But we survived and were so glad that we got to spend some quality time with the Alabama relatives!

Nonna gave Kate a carrot to chew on to try to help her sore gums.

Kate was so happy to see her Granny

The boys continue to be so taken with Kate. Here's Daniel and Connor holding Kate and Nonna was helping to entertain.

Sitting Pretty

Kate continues to amaze us with the things she is learning and mastering so quickly. We began trying to hold her up in a sitting position a couple of weeks ago and just recently she has really gotten the hang of it. Of course, like all things she learns, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

Now we sit her up for a few minutes of her bath and she has discovered how fun it is to splash

She is now shopping with Momma like a big girl...sitting up in the shopping cart. Here she is with me in Target

We also hung her swing outside. It's hard to tell from the serious look on her face here, but she loves it!

Showing off her skills in her crib. Kate says, "Look! No hands!"

And here's a few other random recent events...

Eating and laughing - she just started chuckling one afternoon while I was feeding her oatmeal. You may have to turn up your volume a little to hear her.

We are also working on some teeth (none yet). One night while Nick was feeding her she snatched the spoon out of his hand because she thought she could handle it herself and she liked the way the spoon felt on her gums

Kate also has a hard time slowing down long enough to sleep these days. She's still a great sleeper at night for the most part. Every once in a while, she'll wake up ready to play about an hour after we put her down. This is one night when Nick and I were about to eat dinner after Kate went to bed. She thought she wanted to play so we just let her hang out for a few minutes.

Kate and Daddy on the back porch

Walking Around the Capitol

Ever since the weather has begun turning nice, Nick has been begging Kate and I to come meet him at his office downtown to walk around the Capitol. I think we ended up with the perfect day to be able to actually go meet him. We went on Monday after work and the weather was perfect and the scenery was absolutely beautiful. The azaleas are in full bloom and we had a great walk and snapped some great pics.

Easter

Happy belated Easter to all! We hope that all of our friends and family had a wonderful holiday. Ours was great! We were still in Port Barre with Pop Pop. We went to church Easter morning, took some pictures in Pop Pop's yard, ate a great meal and just relaxed for the day.

Our little bunny

The Easter Bunny found Kate at Pop Pop's house and knew just what to bring her...baby food (since we've just made it to the world of solid foods...a long way from candy), bath toys and a stuffed bunny.

Kate was very cooperative for her photo shoot, especially considering she was way overdue for a nap by this point

The family

With Daddy

With Momma

With Pop Pop

Happy Birthday Daddy (and Kate)

Friday April 2 was Nick's 28th birthday. It was also Kate's 5 month birthday. We don't have any updated stats on Kate, other than a weight of almost 19 lbs, since she didn't have a doctor's appointment this month. We had a great time celebrating the birthdays! We spent the morning in Baton Rouge and then traveled to Port Barre to dye Easter eggs with Kate's aunts, uncles and cousins, have a good ole Good Friday Fish Fry at Pop Pop's and celebrate Daddy's birthday. We all had such a great time visiting with family!

Playing in the back yard at home with Daddy

Kate with her Parrain, Marcus

And with her Nanny, Lori

All the boys--Derrick, Marcus, Nick, Kevin and Stewart (and Anne Marie)

Pop Pop, all his boys and grandchildren--Derrick and his baby, Miller (Lite that is), Stewart and Anne Marie, Nick and Kate, Pop Pop and Amelia, Kevin, Karoline and Braxton, Marcus, Pierce and Caleb

The 3 most recent girls with their Daddys--Stewart and Anne Marie (turns 1 this month), Nick and Kate (5 mos) and Kevin and Karoline (1 year). We know these girls will be great friends!

Mama Speyrer, Kate and Pop Pop

Abbie and her Godchild, Karoline

Nick and Kate enjoying the great day!

Kate and Pop Pop

Nonna was still in town and got to join in on the festivities. Here's Kate and Nonna checking out the sheep on Pop Pop's farm

Party Animal