Kate's Party

So I realize she's only one, but it is her first birthday! I enjoyed throwing a big party for Danny on his first birthday, so I wanted to do the same for Kate. And I have been having a lot of fun with cakes, so this is an original Rebecka creation.

I made two cakes in cookie sheet pans, made a delicious pudding-y icing for the center, then cut the cakes into the shape of a one. Then I frosted it with a homemade butter cream icing. For the blocks and letters, I colored fondant and rolled it out, then cut out the shapes I wanted. Just to cover up my icing "issues" I placed Skittles around the perimeter of the cake. If I were to do it again, I don't think I would have used the Skittles. I don't know if it needed anything around it, but I definitely would do something different in the future.

I love this picture, because Kate had three of her cousins AND her brother, all 2 and 3, desperately wanting to help open her gifts. They were so excited they couldn't help but rip the paper every once in a while. Or a lot in some cases.

One happy birthday girl.

Kathryn Hawley

WARNING: Cheesy post ahead.

So Kate has officially completed the first year of her life! I've been thinking about her a lot as we've crept up onto this date and I'm amazed with all the things she is able to do at this point.

For the past few weeks I have been keeping a running list of the things I love about her and that make me smile.

• She loves finding any opportunity when the gate for the stairs isn't up. She then treats it as a race to see how fast she can climb up the stairs. When I come racing up behind her, she giggles so much she can barely continue.
• She has an obsession with my cell phone and the remote. Holding it isn't enough, she HAS to push buttons.
• I have to be sneaky when I unload the dishwasher. If she is in the general vicinity, she makes a mad dash to start pulling things out of the utensil holder and the bottom rack.
• She can unroll the toilet paper with the best of them!
• I love seeing her excitement for new foods. In the beginning, she had the most delicate little fingers as she picked up foods carefully with her thumb and pointer finger. Now, who needs delicate!?! Kate's an eating champ and is currently in the lead over Danny.
• Her walking has improved a lot over the past couple weeks. She still isn't ready to take the plunge and give up crawling, but her cute little, not completely balanced steps are so fun to watch. You can tell she gets enjoyment and satisfaction out of her new found ability.
• I have enjoyed the summer because she has more skin showing than over the winter months and I love it! Her soft, snuggly skin just invites lots and lots of kisses!
• I love her piercing, blue eyes. She really looks at you. It almost feels like she's looking at your soul.
• And I can't get over her scrunchy nose when she smiles. It's one of my favorite things about her.

Kate is an absolute delight. I am so happy that we are lucky enough to have her in our home.

Love Summer Time

Danny and his cousins playing at the park trying to catch fire flies.

They were really getting the hang of it.

This is Danny's "cheese" face. At least I got his eyes opened in this picture. Usually he squints them as he yells "cheese!"

Growin' up!

Kate is turning into a big girl! It all started when she got her first tooth in Hawaii and it's been nonstop ever sense!

Soon after the life changing moment of cutting her first tooth (on the bottom), the two top ones began poking thru as well!

Then she figured out how to crawl overnight! She had been getting up onto her hands and knees for a while, but wasn't showing much interest in really c-r-a-w-l-i-n-g. But then, WHAM! All of the sudden she shot accross the room like she had been doing it all her life.

And now, she is a fast little bugger. Tonight, she had been playing under my feet while I was preparing a lesson and then all of the sudden she was gone. So I left the kitchen to see if she had gone into the family room to play with Danny, but no, she was climbing up the stairs! She was already up four steps by the time I got to her!

How did this happen?! :)

Snugglin' Siblings

Lately I have not felt much like blogging for some reason, but last night provided me with the most perfect opportunity to return. Dan went to check on the kids before tucking into bed ourselves and he comes back into our bedroom and motions that I follow him into Kate's room. I walk into her bedroom only to find Danny snuggled next to her in her crib. Both of them looked as peaceful as can be, which is unusual for Kathryn when Danny's around. :) I have no idea when Danny climbed into her crib, neither of them made a peep. I wonder at what point in the night Kate would have "realized" Danny was around and made his presence known...

Kate's blessing Sunday

After about twenty shots, this is only one where everyone was looking at the camera, Danny had his hand out of his mouth and Kate wasn't crying. So this is our little family on the day Baby Kathryn was blessed.

Proud Grandma Norton Daddy and his little girl Here are all the Norton cousins. Even though I miss my family desperately and I'm sad Danny doesn't get to spend much time with my side of the family, I am so happy we at least have Dan's family close. They are really starting to play well together and they love GrandDad's hammock!

In the last week or so...

I always check on Danny right before I go to bed and the other night this is what I found. Could a mother be more proud?! :)
Although, the pride stops whenever I find that he has climbed up something again and has gotten into something (again) that he shouldn't. Dan loves seeing his son with make-up brushes and powder all over himself. But Danny couldn't be happier.

Danny loves balls and plays so hard his cheeks get all blushed. This week, he spent a day with his Grandma Norton at a farm on a field trip and he found pumpkins, which he insisted were balls.
His favorite thing to do right now is instead of holding my hand, he wants to put his hands in his pockets like a big boy.
Kate was a bit disgruntled the other night when we took her and Danny to James Wood's football game. (The high school where I used to teach.) Danny had a blast, but Kate wanted to go home. This picture cracks me up!Contrary to what one might believe after having seen the previous picture, Kate has begun to smile!

Pure Cream

At Kate's doctor appointment yesterday, I nearly died when the nurse told me that Kate weighed NINE pounds and TWELVE ounces!! I had no idea! I thought she was getting a little chubby, but she has put on nearly two whole pounds in almost three weeks. And she's grown just about an inch and a half. I was shocked! My mother-in-law teases me about having not just milk, but pure cream. But my babies like it and they sure do grow! I love to see the chub that she's starting to accumulate.

Dan put together the double stroller for us and we went on our first walk all together. Danny was thrilled about being able to see his little sister the entire time and look out for her, as he's doing in the second picture by trying to buckle her in. But let me tell you, this is one mother of a stroller. I feel like I'm pushing around a boat! Even though it does ride smoothly, with the two kids, it is heavy and quite a workout.

I love this picture because I think it perfectly depicts their relationship. Danny innocently enjoys to torment his little sister. He's oblivious to it all. He loves being a big brother!

Welcome Kate to Our Family!!

Wednesday started off like any other day and ended with us having another member to our family. On July 30, 2008, Kathryn Hawley Norton was born at 5:38 p.m. She was 20.5 inches long and weighed only 7 pounds 13 ounces. I can say only because Danny was over 9 pounds. And what a difference a pound and a half makes!

This labor was much quicker the second time around and with the aid of only four contractions, I was able to push her out! It was awesome!
This was taken minutes after she was born. We were amazed with her VERY long and skinny fingers and toes. Danny has blocks for feet, so it's interesting to see her very different build. Dan's dad was able to come over shortly after the delivery and take some great pictures!
I was worried about how Danny was going to react to having a baby sister around, but it was a delightful surprise when all he could do was smile and want to kiss her. Although he's "a bit" rough and still trying to learn how to control all his strength, all he wants to is kiss and touch her and be with her everywhere. I can't turn my back for a second, only to find out he's trying to climb into the pack 'n play with her, for example. But he's been really good and is excited to be a big brother.
As many of you know, we struggled with picking out a name for this child and we didn't have a name until just a few days ago. Dan and I would like to try to name our children with names from our family, so that they know where their name originated from and why they were named what they were. So we chose the name Kathryn, my mom's name, and will call her Kate for short. There will be no confusion, since my mom is very much a Kathy and never uses her given name, which I think is beautiful. The name Hawley (pronounced like Holly) is Dan's grandma's maiden name. So Kathryn Hawley Norton it is!