Five Months

Well, I'm a few days late posting this, but with the holidays it was bound to happen! Cate turned 5 months old on Wednesday and I think the pictures pretty much sum up what she's up to these days! Cate is grabbing EVERYTHING to put in her mouth, including attempts at our noses, cheeks and mouths. She continues to grow, I'm not certain on height and weight this month, its the first month we've not had to be at the doctor's for a weigh in. She's wearing 6-9 month clothes right now, though a few outfits are getting a little shorter! We're trying to integrate rice cereal more regularly into her daily diet, and some days go better than others. Cate goes to the sitter once or twice a week, and she does pretty well,

she doesn't like to nap much, but she doesn't like to nap at home either. She still loves bath time each night, and is sleeping pretty well (though we had a little bump the other night, it appears to be a random occurrence). Cate is also rolling over a bit here and there, she still hates tummy time, but is rolling from her back to her stomach, we know this means she's going to be all over the place in no time at all! We really are lucky to have such a happy girl.

Cate and her elephant, but the sign didn't make it......

Cate reaching for mom.....

The end of our "shoot"....Cate eventually tried to eat the sign......I'm afraid these pictures are only going to get more challenging!

Texas

We headed to Dallas last weekend for one of Lanny's interviews and to see family and friends. Cate was such a great traveller, she slept for most of the flight and played so well when she was awake, which was great since it was just she and I meeting Lanny who was already in Dallas.

On Friday Cate and I had lunch with several girlfriends in Dallas, which was so much fun. We got to see Aunt Sarah P's belly (Eloise arrived the following Tuesday), Parker, Aunt Trudy, Aunt Sarah R and Mr Easton (who's getting so big). Friday night we got to spend some time with Aunt Rosie and Uncle Brian, who are always fun and entertaining!

Sunday we went to the finish line for the White Rock Marathon. Grandma and Grandpa Bodemann were in a relay and did a great job! Aunt Kim and Uncle Don both completed the half marathon (like it was no big deal!). Lanny and I both want to participate in some way next year!

Thankful

Cate got her own "thanksgiving" dinner this year as we retried rice cereal. We had tried several weeks ago, and it did not go well, but she did great this time, lots of it ended up on her bib, but she was trying to eat, so she'll get eventually!

Evidence of a good meal.....

We just think our little turkey is too cute here!

We weren't able to travel this year because of work, but Cate did get to talk to Nana Julie and her aunts while they were in California for the holiday, and she also got to talk with Grandma Peggy and Grandpa Mike at Aunt Julie's house in St Louis on Thanksgiving day via iChat. We are so lucky to have such a loving family, we can't wait to see you all!

Cate during Mom and Dad's dinner.....a little worn out.

Hope your holiday weekend was wonderful!

Four Months

Cate turned 4 months old today.....where is the time going?!

Our little "turkey" is getting bigger everyday, as we proved this morning at the doctor's office! Cate weighed in at 16lbs 15oz (98%) and 25 1/2in long (87%)

We thought she wanted to eat all the time, apparently she was!

Cate is so much fun these days, especially in the mornings, she usually lays contently in her crib waiting for us to come get her....and when we do, look out, she's nothing but smiles!

She loves her activity jumper and standing on her legs while you hold her up.

She puts EVERYTHING in her mouth, from her hands to our hands, anything she can get ahold of is going in her mouth, regardless of what it might be!

She's sleeping at least 7 to 8 hours per night, and usually

goes back down after an early feeding.

She is going to Ms Rita (the sitter) 1 to 2 days per week and is doing great.

We tried a little rice cereal a few weeks ago, didn't go so well, but we're going to brave it again this week, perhaps Cate's own Thanksgiving dinner!

Daddy helped us with our "monthly" picture today, and things went much smoother, even a few good smiles!

Hotdog it's Halloween!

Last weekend we headed to Texas for Halloween and TCU Homecoming. The trip included a Halloween party at the Baade's house, which was a great way to meet everyone's kiddos and catch up. A TCU tailgate, which is always a great time and of course of little time at the TCU football game-Go Frogs!

The Hall family went as chefs and a hotdog.....Cate wasn't terribly fond of the hotdog costume, it didn't include a lot of room for leg kicking....but she came around!

Our adorable hotdog, with paci of course!

My college girlfriends....first time we've all (minus Jenny) since our wedding!

Charlotte and Wilbur (The Baades) our great hosts!

Pirates (The Nichols), Superman (Jackson) and the Lobster (Malin, sans costume)
by the by....Malin is two months younger than Cate and they're the same size!

The Fitzgeralds

Kenny and Liz Lemon from 30 Rock (The Butlers)

John Lennon and Yoko Ono (Uncle Brian and Aunt Rosie)

Electrical Plug and Outlet (The Pittmans)

Parkerman (Parker Pittman)

H1N1 (The Rehwalds, minus Easton)

Wonder Woman with her mini and Superman with his mini (The Bonjours)

Cate, Mom, Matt, Sarah and Easton

Bode, Betsy and Cate

Aunt Julie and Cate before the TCU game

Cate and Mom with Courtney and Michael Anne (Tri Delta pledge sisters)

Cate wasn't interested in watching the game.......

At the game, Cate and Dad's first TCU game.....and tailgate!

Cate and Grandpa at the tailgate

We had a great time seeing everyone, hopefully we won't wait two years for everyone to get together again!

Happy Halloween

(this was supposed to be posted last week........more to come soon)
Cate wanted to send her family Halloween cards this year, so we took a few pictures a couple weeks back. These are the photos we used to wish everyone a "screaming" good time this year!

The "screaming" picture

I just think this one is funny....she's got a "what are you doing mom?" look on her face.....

Happy Halloween everyone! We'll post pictures of Cate's first Halloween next week!

Aunt Callie Visits Cate in Carolina

Aunt Callie flew all the way from California to meet Cate last weekend. We had a great time visiting and playing with Aunt Callie. Nana Julie wanted a picture of the 3 of them together, but Cate was being a little stubborn.....

Aunt Callie and Cate

Cate's hair.....this happens EVERY day, the back just stands upright and looks pretty crazy, especially from the back and side.

Thanks for coming to see us Aunt Callie, come back soon!

Happy Birthday Dad

Cate and Dad with her new activity jumper....she's not quite tall enough for it, but very close!

We celebrated Lanny's birthday last week....he's 29 and something now....it was good day, Texas/OU game during the day, which was actually televised here on the East Coast for a change! We had dinner at our favorite mexican place and some cookie cake too! We finally got Cate a baby bjorn carrier, so Dad carried Cate around the house for a bit, as you can see she had a great time! Happy Birthday Dad, we love you!

Three Months

Cate turned 3 months on the 23rd....and it is amazing how quickly she is growing and changing! We got her weight rechecked this week and we're back on track as she now weighs 13lbs 15oz (up nearly 2 lbs!). Cate is very 'vocal' these days, making a lot of noise when she's happy, mad, frustrated (usually about needing to poop) or playing with Mom and Dad. She's sleeping 6-8 hours per night, which is helpful since Mom started back to work last week. Cate and Dad have had a fun filled, yet exhausting two weeks, I think he has a new appreciation for stay at home moms! Cate starts at this sitter this week, so another new experience for her!

Cate loves her floor mat, she has found her hands and is pulling on all the toys that hang above her. She loves when the music starts to play.

After an exhausting day......

Cate's trip to Arkansas

We took Cate to Arkansas a few weeks ago to meet family and friends. While we were in town, we also had Cate baptized at St. John's (my church growing up) by Father Erik who married us two years ago. Cate was lucky to have so much family travel to Hot Springs for her big day including Nana Julie from Atlanta, Uncle Brian from Dallas and Aunt Julie was able to come from St. Louis to be Cate's godmother, while Uncle John, her godfather had to stay behind to work. Cate also got to meet her great grandparents on both the Bodemann and Hall sides of the family. It was a great visit, we didn't get near enough pictures of everyone she got to meet, but hopefully we'll make another trip soon! Below is a link for a slideshow of pictures from the trip (they're in reverse order...sorry!).

slideshow

Two Months

Cate had her 2 month check up on Monday and here are her stats:

Height: 23 3/4 inches (90%)

Weight: 12 lbs (84%)

Head: 15.7 inches (80%)

The doctor wants to keep an eye on her weight since she dropped to the lower 80%, but he wasn't overly concerned...just means we'll go back in a month for a weigh in. Cate also got her shots and she did great! She was a little fussy that night, but she was great by Tuesday morning.

Other milestones she's hit this month.....

-she grew out of her newborn sleepers, so we're on to the 3M sizes

-holding her head up well on her own

-tracking mom, dad and Maggie

-sleeping in her room now

-still eating frequently, at least every 3 hours

The picture didn't go so well this month, we were headed to Arkansas later that day and Cate was just not wanting her picture taken when I was ready to do it. She did great traveling though, more to come on that later!