Kate is 2

Kate turned two this week and we have loved every day that we’ve had her in our lives. She’s a unique and beautiful little girl and here are some of our favorite things about her.

Her hair is still the best.

She loves the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and when she wants to watch it, she’ll sing the “Hot Dog” song to let us know it’s time to turn it on.

Her aunt and uncle bought her a baby doll for Christmas and she loves being a momma. She even helps it go to the potty.

Her favorite song is “The Wheels on the Bus” and we have to sing it every time we see a bus, which happens every time we go anywhere in the car.

She likes salty things rather than sweet things. She would rather have potato chips for breakfast than cereal (no, we don’t let her) and her favorite foods are pepperonis and pickles.

She’s a very active little girl. She runs everywhere and has to jump off everything she can climb up on. She is in a movement class and a gymnastics class and loves both. She often tries to do gymnastics when the mood strikes, which includes the floors of restaurants, the back seat of the car, church etc. She also wants to run up and down our basement in the evening before bed. She’s gone back and forth for more than a mile on multiple occasions (I have a vivofit so I know) and she makes mom and dad run with her.

She loves putting pennies into her piggy bank. She doesn’t really know what money is, she just likes watching it fall and hearing the clink when they land.

She loves books.

Kate really is the best.

Kate's First Year

The time has just flown since Kate came into our lives. She turned one last week and we're so proud her. Here are some of our favorite things about the little girl who completely changed our lives.

She's a great traveler. We've taken her to Boston, Chicago, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Maui, not to mention the many car trips to southern Utah to visit family and she handles it like a champ.

She's got the sweetest smile and the greatest laugh.

She's an active little girl. She started walking and moving around so early and hasn't let up at all since. It's been so fun to take her to swim lessons, to the park, and even just to play outside. She was in her first race before she turned one, and was definitely the cutest runner there (it was a kids 1K, untimed and completely laid back which was nice because I had to carry her most of the way, but they still gave her a medal).

She growls.

She loves to be held and cuddled. From the first day that we met her, we have been able to enjoy her sweet little self in our arms and she enjoys it as much as we do, maybe even more so since she still wakes us up in the middle of the night for some mommy and daddy time.

She laughs in her sleep, a lot.

She doesn't mind having her picture taken. This is a big one since we've had to send pictures to her birth mom every month. She will often look right into the camera so I can get the best shot and she loves to see the camera when I'm done so she can see the picture. And she's incredibly photogenic.

Her hair is just the best.

She loves books. She will sit and let me read one or two to her and she loves Pat the Bunny. She has already destroyed one copy from overuse and is working on her second copy. We think she will be a reader.

She squeals with delight whenever she's close to a dog or a cat.

She is very happy and smiley when she wakes up from a nap. She doesn't need time to wake up completely, she just opens her eyes and smiles like she's happy to see us.

She bites her upper lip.

She loves pulling things out of the cupboards in the kitchen even though she knows she's not supposed to and when I walk over to stop her, she grabs something from the cupboard and laughs and runs away like it's a game.

These are just a few of the wonderful things about our daughter. We are so lucky to have her.

Kate Is Walking

Kate started walking at 8 months and 5 days.  We don't know when babies are supposed to start walking, but this seemed a little early to us.

I'm Boring Now, But I Like It

Last year at this time I was working at a college helping the faculty get settled into a new school year, Chris and I were traveling to different cities to see baseball games or to visit friends, we going out every weekend to see movies or concerts, or to run races or to see things we hadn't seen before. It wasn't always the most exciting life to lead, but it kept us entertained and it felt like we were more interesting people for it. Now we spend our time closer to home, not wanting to disrupt Kate's routine or to haul her many necessary things around unless it's for something really worth it. We still get out occasionally, taking Kate to a football game or to the bowling alley or shopping so that people can tell us how adorable she is and can admire her almost as much as we do, but for the most part, we're much more homecentric than we used to be. And this is just fine. It's oddly compelling to see the progress she's making in small things, like picking up objects and putting them into her mouth, or sitting up for long stretches without falling over, or laughing her beautiful body shaking laugh when I make funny faces at her. Who knew that she would be so entertaining (besides every other mother out there on the planet)? I'm absolutely certain that no one else, except possibly Chris, finds her behavior as interesting as I do, so I have very little to talk about when we actually do make it out of the house to where the people are congregating these days. But that's okay, I was never much of a talker anyway.

Life Has Changed

My world had undergone a huge change over the last three and a half months and it's all Kate's fault. It's a great change, but change nevertheless. I've had to work on putting together a new daily routine because I'm a creature of habit and I need some continuity in my life. So Kate and I have worked really hard on her napping and eating to get her to the point where I can predict what she's going to be doing for the day and work around it. I'm not getting much done, but I feel a lot better about myself when I can say that at least I knew that I wouldn't be getting anything done because I planned it that way. And she too seems to be benefiting from the organization I've added to our lives. She now gets to sleep during my runs on the treadmill instead of getting angry that she has to sit in her bouncy chair, crying and making me stop my workout to calm her down. She now knows that we will be having an afternoon nap on the couch and seems to have a favorite position, me teetering on the edge enough that I could fall off at any moment (but of course I have to be that close to the edge so that she can stretch out her arm if need be without waking up). All in all, we're doing well learning how to adjust to this new life that we both have. I should probably mention that she's so cute that this whole schedule was thought up and approved by her without my input at all.

Boston

I realized that I never posted about running the Boston Marathon, which is kind of a huge oversight because I had been posting about it for so long. So here goes. It was an incredible weekend! I think that a lot of what made it so special was that I got to share a lot of it with my family who came along to cheer me along during the run. Chris and Kate and my parents and two sisters and brother in-law and Chris' parents were all there. My family had never been to Boston before so we took them to do all the touristy things which was so much fun. We went to Lexington and Concord and did the Freedom Trail and took them to the North Side to get cannoli from Mike's Pastry Shop and saw a game at Fenway. They also came with Mary and me when we went to the Marathon Expo to pick up our packets and numbers. It was so fun to be a part of the group of people who had all worked for the same thing I had. We walked around with our Marathon gear and noticed all the other people in the city who were doing the same thing and I felt a sense of kinship with them. The actual marathon was an experience. Mary and I got up early to catch the bus out to the Athletes Village where the runners waited until it was their turn to line up and start running. When it was our turn, we joined a huge group of people and walked for about a mile from the village to the start line, and there were already a ton of spectators lined up cheering us on, before we had even started running. The actual course was a little more challenging than the one I had used to qualify, so we ran a bit slower and Mary slowed down around mile 15 and told me to leave her, so I ran the last 11 miles by myself, but it was still great to just run along that historic course, to see all the people who came out to cheer on the runners, even if they didn't have anyone in particular to cheer on. A lot of the athletes put their name on their shirts so that strangers can cheer for them. Mary and I didn't do that, but people still found a way to cheer for us, calling us the pink ladies or calling out the last few digits of my number. And I got to see my family twice along the course. I stopped to kiss my daughter and it energized me to see them. And there was no greater feeling than crossing the finish line. I was pretty exhausted after that run, more so than many of the other marathons I had run, so it felt really good to stop, to collect my medal and go to find my family. And even after the race, I had that exhilarating feeling that I had done something great. My family wanted me to wear my medal around, which many of the runners do. I don't like to draw attention to myself that way, but I did it at the airport because they were letting people who had finished the race skip to the front of the security line and not wait and also board the plane first. That was a nice little perk. I may never run that race again, so I'm so happy that I was able to do it at least once, to have that experience.

My Daughter

My daughter. These are words that give me a secret thrill every time I say them. After our long wait, there’s almost a relief, a release at being able to use them, as though all the uncertainty, misery and hopelessness we felt as we struggled with our infertility are washed away a little every time we refer to Kate. And we use them all the time. My daughter came into our lives on March 17th. My daughter is one of the most beautiful babies I’ve ever seen. My daughter isn’t sleeping at night but the happiness at having her makes it a pleasure to feel sleep deprived. My daughter is dozing on my lap right now and I have been watching her thinking how lucky I am. Will I ever get tired of using those words, when she’s a teenager and thinks we’re idiots, rebels and causes us anxiety? When she makes mistakes? When she leaves us to start her own journey? No.