11 Month Portraits

I am late (do I start every post that way???) taking Kate's 11 month portraits. So, instead of waiting any longer, I decided to take her outside at my parent's house today & snap a few. We're going to get the cousins pictures taken also, but here are some of my favorites...

Playing at Nana's & Poppas!

We are having lots of fun playing at Nana's & Poppa's!

Cole, Kristin & Connor came over on Saturday night for dinner & playing. The kids are really starting to interact more. Kate gets so excited when she sees Connor! He walks up to her with this cute scrunched up face (hopefully I can get a picture of it!) & she (of course) screams with glee each time. It's too fun. They hold hands a lot & she tries desperately to keep up with him!

So sweet!

Christmas Affair

Kate & I came down to Austin last Wednesday to spend some time before David joins us on this Wednesday for Thanksgiving. It's been nice to have plenty time to relax & not feel like we have to pack everything in!

One of the reasons I wanted to come early was to go to the Junior League's Christmas Affair. The shopping is great & it's fun to get into the shopping mood. (pretty sure I'm always in that mood). Well...the day before we went I found out you weren't allowed to have a stroller inside. Mmmhmm. I have an 11 month old & no stroller. So...I sent mom to pick up a baby carrier that I could wear on the back (since I figured she was too big to wear on the front). Well...turns out it hurt to carry her on my back...
I saw a few other girls carrying their little babies on the front. Not me. I carry my 20+ pound 11 month old! Doesn't she look so big??

She was great - She slept for an hour like this and the rest of the time my mom or I just held her. Such a trooper!

My grandmother met us to shop - 4 generations of daughters!

Afterwards we met my brother & nephew to eat some yummy Mexican food - can't come to Austin without eating Chuy's!

Stay tuned for 11 month portraits, visits to Santa, & videos!

A Mitchell Baby...

..or does she look like her mommy?

Fighting the Good Fight

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. - Prov. 22:6



David & I have been talking lately about it's probably time to start disciplining Kate in some areas. She really hasn't done much that required response from us - she doesn't know how to open cabinets, etc. Lately though, she has started screaming at us when she wants something (usually food). Well, that's just not ok with us, so after polling a few more experienced moms we came up with a plan to attempt to stop the behavior. We decided what would work best for us was that when she yelled, we would tell her "no" the first time, then if she did it again give her a thump on the leg.



Well, we decided this on Sunday afternoon, and she gave us our first try on Sunday night. She saw waffles on the table, pointed, and let out a good yell to let me know that she wanted some. I told her no, and asked her to say (sign) please or more. She did not, and yelled again. So, I thumped her. She did not like that...so she yelled again and began throwing a fit, which resulted in yet another thump. This time, her big bottom lip came out, and big tears started to flow. I was so glad David was there. I naturally want to give in when I see tears, but I know I wasn't hurting her, and in the end giving in to her every want would just hurt her more, so I was glad to have his encouragment to keep working through it. She would cry, I would ask her to say please, she would cry, I would ask her to say more. I am sure this only lasted about 3 minutes, but it felt like forever!



Finally, she did it! That sweet little hand went to her chest and signed please!I was cheering, she was smiling. It was so great! I was so glad I had stuck to my guns. The next few times there were a few little grunts when she wanted it, but after me saying no, she would sign. No more thumping required!



I'm sure we'll have many more battles to fight, and when she's in junior high and yelling back at me a small thump on the leg with a few tears will seem like nothing. Tonight though, it was a great victory in my long road of parenting.

Happy 11 Months Kate!

Kate turned 11 months on the 12th and I'm just now getting this post up. Well...better late than never, right?

I know I have said it every month for the past 4, but I just CANNOT BELIEVE my BABY is going to be 1 NEXT MONTH! SOOO FAST! This month has been so fun!

This month Kate...

--has taken single steps a few times, but falls right after the one. Maybe walking this month?

--has blossomed in personality - this is SO FUN is so many ways - but also more difficult (our first discipline story coming soon!)

--tries to mimic everything we say

--uses objects for the purpose they are meant to - puts brush in hair, puts phone to ear, etc.

--FINALLY GOT MORE TEETH! HOORAY! KATE DOESN'T NEED DENTURES!

--Is mostly just at 2 naps (2 hours each), but if we're home doing nothing will still take that third 45-1hr nap in the early evening.

--blows kisses (video coming soon!)

--got better at the "pincher" when picking up objects

--has gotten even busier, as evidenced in my attempt to take her picture this month...

--points at pictures in books

--calls me "Ma" when trying to get my attention but can say "ma-ma", "da-da", "ra-ra" when asked what a dog says, "hi". I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it right now.

--added the sign for "please" - (need to get this on video too!)

Seriously. At this point it's less than a month a way. A One-year-old. That's what I'll have. It does fly by. But it is so fun flying!

Halloween 2009

I am a few days behind on blogging about Halloween. But, I guess better late than never, right?

Kate was the most precious lady bug this year. I couldn't decide what she would be, but I found this lady bug for really cheap at a consignment store, and decided it would be a good back up if I didn't come up with something else. Well, it turned out even cuter than I could imagine. Her little chubby face sticking out of that black fabric was just too much for this mom ;).

I didn't realize how many pictures I had until I started putting them on here... but I just couldn't choose :)

Love them!

Is that not the sweetest face you've ever seen?

mid-sneeze! priceless!

After snapping a few pictures at home, we headed up to the Farm Fair at our church. At first it was a little overwhelming...but we finally found the baby area and the Bergmans & things were much more fun!

They had filled baby pools with balls. Kate & Jackson LOVED it!

He would kick the balls around & she would just laugh and laugh. Such a flirt ;)

the cutest little horse

Kate liked pulling his tail ;)

Poppa & Daddy playing with Kate

The Bergmans & The Mitchells

After the big kids left, the little ones got to try out the little bouncy house.

Kate loved the slide.

It was a fun first Halloween!

Afterwards, my parents took me out to dinner for my birthday...more on that to come soon!

My husband is AMAZING!

Y'all. I have been BEGGING for a new desk for months now. I look everywhere - Canton, craigslist (EVERYDAY), consignment stores, furniture stores, Target - everywhere! I hadn't found one that I thought David would be willing to pay for or that I liked well enough. In order to have a place for said desk, I would also need him to find a place and move our piano. That's right a HEAVY piano!

Well, I just got home from Bible study.

This is how my "study" used to look when we had just bought the leather chair (no decorations yet...)...

We had decided to change the room into another "den" - there's a TV to the left. Well, since having a baby, I've been dying to have a place where I knew she could have all of her toys & I could work (I do data entry for my Dad) in the same place. I've been doing it off of the kitchen table & I was SICK of leaving our laptop out when people came over.

So...when I walked in tonight, David told me he had to give me my birthday present early. (It's on Friday) When I walked into the "den", this is what I saw....

Isn't he AMAZING??? He went TO A FURNITURE STORE - BY HIMSELF - and picked out a desk, organized friends to move our piano, had another friend come over to watch Kate, and had flowers, a Starbucks gift card, and a pedicure gift card all sitting on the desk to top it off. AND it was all a surprise!

I can't wait to get it all put together now, figure out how the drawer is going to be organized...where everything is going to go...so excited!

I have the best husband ever!