11 months

2 days before turning 11 months, Kaitlyn started walking on her own- with better balance and standing to initiate it. (She had taken a few steps before then, but mostly while falling forward.) She has taken up to about 10 steps now by herself and it's so fun to watch her. I'm not worried about chasing her yet though- she's still faster at crawling.

Kaitlyn is enjoying Sophie more and more. Today she learned how to throw the ball for Sophie. I use the term "throw" loosely, more like drop really. I've been impressed with how gentle Sophie has been with K. Usually schnauzers are not known to be good with children. Sophie's favorite thing to do is to get Kaitlyn up from her nap. I say, "let's go get the baby" and Sophie runs to her room and barks at the door.

Kaitlyn seems to be going through her "attachment" phase again. She cries more when I lay her down for a nap and has been a little more whiney than usual. I'm not sure if it's because she's teething or because I worked all weekend and she doesn't want me out of her sight. When K doesn't get her quality time with mommy she becomes a bit grumpy. At least she is making it through the church service without crying. Kaitlyn is such a "quality time" person- so I think she really likes me being home more. When she spends more time with Micah on the weekends I work, she seems to prefer him more as well.

Speaking of teething, her top 2 teeth are coming in- the one on the right has broken through the the other is trying hard. She's a pretty mild teether- thank goodness! K may have a random night that she wakes up a few times whining, but otherwise, it's mostly hard to tell.

We look forward to taking Kaitlyn on her first (real) vacation this Friday. We are going to Canyon Lake as a family, staying in a time share condo my parents graciously let us use. I'm SOOO excited to get away and have my first vacation (not counting going to a family's home) since October of 2009.

New words include: thank you, diaper, dog (her favorite word), hello, all done and uh-oh (her other fav). She is talking much more than signing these days. When Katie becomes frustrated lately, she has a form of talking that is absolutely hilarious. You can tell she is fussing at you in baby talk. I hope I can get that on video. Unfortunately, I have been unable to get the walking on video yet because it happens so randomly and she's always coming towards me quickly.

In the grocery store, Kaitlyn gets compliments on her "pretty eyes." It seems to be the one thing she didn't get from me or Micah. She has blue eyes, he has hazel and mine are green. I guess the blue eyes were a gift from God based on her mama's prayers!

Kaitlyn continues to be a joyful, peaceful child. She is content much of the time and good at entertaining herself. I realized the other day that sometimes she simply wants a "hug break," and afterwards, she's happy to continue playing with her toys for a bit. (Don't worry- she gets plenty of one-on-one time that is interactive!) Favorite toys now include: any books, hair brush, holding socks/ shoes, ball popper, blocks. For you personality guru's, Micah thinks that Kaitlyn is an ENFP- Extrovert, Intuitive, Feeling, Perceiving. It's the only type of extrovert that requires alone time to re-charge. We'll see in a year or two if he's right!

At the Mayborn museum with the Lloyd girls. I couldn't believe K sat in the chair and played tea party for about 5 minutes.
Swimming at aunt Crystal's house. Kaitlyn went swimming for the first time on Mother's Day weekend and loved it!

Kicked Out

So yesterday, on my first Wednesday off from work, I was called by the office. I was dreading listening to the voice message because I thought they were going to ask me to work for the month of May or something. Anyway, it was the secretary asking me if I had removed all of my personal items from the office. I said "not yet, I was planning on doing it next Friday- which is the next time I work." I knew they had not yet found a replacement, so I thought I had some time to gather my things. She said it would be best if I could do it sooner, so that she could get the room cleaned out. The good news is that they have a traveling therapist coming in June and another full-time who will also start around that same time. I'm so thankful. I knew I was supposed to leave and had to trust God that he would provide a replacement for my therapy clients.

So today, my sweet mother-in-law went with me to watch Kaitlyn while I packed up. I had about 25 textbooks, most of which I haven't opened in the past 7 years. I kept all of my class notes from every undergrad and grad class having to do with speech path. What I thought was going to take me 20 minutes, took about an hour and 1/2, but I did get it down to 2 large rubbermaids, 3 medium sized rubbermaids, and a few bags worth of stuff. So all this work I have done cleaning out our closets is almost counterproductive when I fill it up with this work clutter!

As I left, I gave the office one last look. I spent countless hours in that place with numerous different patients- some of which I loved and others who were more challenging. It's bitter-sweet. I'm very excited about being home more and not being torn between work and Kaitlyn, but at the same time, I'm sad to leave some of the children and families I've grown to love. All in all, I have no complaints about working at Providence hospital. It really was an ideal place to work. I made many friends, helped many patients (or at least I hope that I did) and grew as a therapist there. I'm thankful for the 7 years that I had at Providence and look forward to continuing there on an occasional (PRN) basis.

Joyce Meyer book

I just finished a book by Joyce Meyer that a started a couple of months ago. I'm proud of myself for finishing a book considering how many I'm in the middle of currently.

Here are main points from the book that I thought I'd share with whoever reads our blog:

1. Eat the cookie- buy the shoes! The cookie is only a symbol for doing something that you like, enjoy and don't feel guilty about it. Don't let the workaholic in your life make you feel guilty either.

(For me, I want to read more, get back into my music, be there for my daughter, possibly write a children's book, learn to stop and smell the roses)

2. If you don't know what you enjoy because you haven't taken the time to enjoy much of anything in your life (this is me apart from vacation)...then start experimenting and find out. You may even have to develop interests, but whatever you need to do, do it and refuse to live w/o celebration.

3. Reward yourself for progress and stop punishing yourself for failure.

4. Learn to lighten up! Don't be so intense about life's problems or challenges. Learn to co-exist with them joyfully, as they aren't going to go away.

5. Celebrate discipline because it is your friend, not your enemy.

6. Discipline yourself to celebrate, because God loves a party!

7. Celebrate you because you are worth it!

8. Celebrate Jesus because He is the absolute greatest and most awesome gift that we have.

Family Fridays

On Fridays for lunch, a group of moms from our lifegroup get together to either go to the zoo or park. Of this group of 4 couples, we have 7 girls, 1 girl on the way, and 0 boys.

We love our girls, but a couple of us are thinking that maybe it's time to add a little boy or two to the group. Can you imagine what it's going to be like when all these girls are teenagers together?!

Royal Wedding Party

Last Friday night, I thought it would be fun to host a royal wedding watching party. I recorded 10+ hours of footage on the royal wedding (don't worry, we only watched 4 hours of it!) and invited my closest friends to attend.

We had a 6 course meal that is similar to what the Brits would serve with their afternoon tea. On the menu: tomato basil soup, spinach strawberry salad, chicken salad sandwiches, broccoli quiche, cantaloupe (my addition), chocolate chip scones, and homemade shortbread cookies. We had a variety of teas as well, but most people were too full after all the food to think about tea!

Even the skeptics, who only attended for the food/ fellowship, seemed to have a good time watching the wedding. It was quite an elaborate affair. I was super excited to use my china for the second time ever!

I think that deep down, in every girl's heart, we have a desire to be a princess, like Kate.

Spring Cleaning

So I'm in my cleaning mood and thought I would take advantage of it. There is something inside of me that just gets thrilled when I throw things away. It sounds weird- but it's true.

I've discovered that I'm a "closet hoarder." Ever since we lived in a 500 square foot apartment with just 1 closet, I learned to stuff closets to the brim. I try not to keep the rest of the house too cluttery (with the exception of the baby toys in the living room), but I sure know how to fill up a closet. The other day, I was at a friend's house and saw her daughter's closet. Everything was neatly organized and the closet was more of a sanctuary for toys/ clothing than it was a stockpile. I realized that something has to change and the skeletons need to come out of my closets (so to speak!) I got started in our master bedroom closet. I just got rid of about 20 outfits and probably need to get rid of another 30 before this is all over. I organized the desk in our room that has been piled high with papers etc. I got rid of 12 shirt boxes that I think I may someday wrap up for someone (although I've used gift bags at Christmas the past few years.)

I've discovered that there are a few things I have trouble parting with: picture frames (I have found about 25 unmatching picture frames that I've kept), and Christian books. As I have discovered some of these books I'm not ready to part with, I've also discovered that for a task-completer, I'm horrible at finishing a book. I'm in the middle of about 10 books that I've started since I've been working full-time (about the past 7 years.) Maybe I should start reading in my spare time instead of getting on facebook, checking e-mail etc..

So far, I have 4 bags of garage sale/ Goodwill items, 5 trash bags of junk that needs to hit the curb, a small pile of items to give to people, and a whole lot more stuff to go through. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed by this process and know I'll feel better on the other side.

I'm trying to remember the rule that if I haven't used it in a year, it's time to get rid of it. I did finally throw away a purse that I haven't used in 20 years.