Katelynn loves me

Last night I went to Denny's to scrapbook with Beth and so other ladies. Before I left Katelynn was all ready for bed she just needed her bottle when it was time. Kevin was working on our car and Ben was over there with the car. So, after I got organized myself. I took Katelynn over to Beth and Kevin's while I went to scrapbook. I assumed everything was okay until I got a call at 9:30 from Ben saying that Katelynn won't go to sleep and she is hysterical. The thing is, Ben has probably gotten her to bed maybe two or three times. She will take naps for him and everyone just fine she just has gotten used to me putting her to bed. So, I pack everything up and head home to get her to sleep within five minutes of getting home. I guess it is just nice to know that she needs me at some points and I know that she needs and loves me at many other times too. I was just nice to know that she wouldn't go to sleep without me.

9 Months

This has been a huge month for Katelynn. She is crawling everywhere now. If she slides to her belly then she just picks herself back onto her hands and knees and keeps going. Her first crawls were on January 20th. After the practicing session she had with Tara this weekend she is now pro. As she has become stronger with her crawling exercises she has began to pull herself up onto everything. Her favorite places to pull up are the bathtub and the exersaucer. They both have great hand holds that are perfect for her little hands. She hasn't quite figured out cruising along the furniture yet but I am sure that will come within a few days. Now that she is all over the floor I have to be more aware of what is left on the floor. She picks up every little piece of anything that is on the floor and puts it in her mouth. We found a carpet fiber in her mouth the other day and some food she has dropped from her tray while eating.

She now has two teeth. Her first came on the 9th and the second came on the 20th. And she is starting to use them. She has been open mouth kissing us for months now but now that she has teeth she is starting to bite when she kisses. So, we are trying to figure out how to stop that. She also loves to grab Ben's hair with both hands and give him kisses. It is pretty darn cute.

She is starting to head bob to music now. The toy Grandma B gave her for Christmas plays quite a few songs and when she hits the music paw she start head bobbing to it. I also was singing the ABC's to her one morning and she was doing it then. She hasn't quite progressed much noticeably in her speech, but I do think that da-da will be her first recognized word. She just whimpers when he leaves and when he comes home she starts charging for him.

I am grateful for the days when she sleeps past 6:30. She is an early-bird. She can be up for the day at 5:40 and that is not the time to be up for the day. I know that Ammy has some crazy sleep troubles at her house and I am grateful that it is not 4am when she wants to start the day.

I am starting to do her hair now. It is getting into her eyes and so we do a comb over and put a bow in so she doesn't look like a boy. I don't want her to have bangs yet since if I cut bangs now it would be all her hair that is bangs. So, we just wait for her hair to get longer.

Ben LOVES when her hair is wild. She had just woke up from her nap and had done her hair especially for daddy.


Out back


Under her crib


Under the futon


Playing with her pop up pals


Her new hair do


Getting ready for her bath


Playing with Uncle Kevin


She loves to watch the dogs from our arms or behind the window


Giving daddy kisses



Crawling with Tara

It's Finished

Remember I was making a book about my pregnancy?? Well, I finished it and have uploaded it to Shutterfly. Here is the finished 32 page book for your sliding pleasure.

Now I need to start a baby book.

Anna

Meatloaf Schmeatloaf, I LOVE this meatloaf!

Last night Beth and Kevin and the girls came out for dinner and to hang out and we had a great time with such wonderful down home food. We had meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy and canned corn topped off with a from scratch chocolate cake Beth and Kevin brought. Even though we live just 25 min away from each other we hadn't seen each other since the beginning of December. The girls just love coming over and playing with Katelynn and Katelynn is beginning to love the interaction too. Tara was doing a great job of teaching Katelynn how to crawl, which I have a video of but the camera battery is dead. So, it will have to wait.

Back to the meatloaf. So, for the past eight years Ben and I have been looking for a good recipe for meatloaf and I think that we have found it. Others have just been not so good. This is Paula Deen's Basic Meatloaf. There is even a video. Beth wanted the recipe so I thought I would share it here too just in case someone was in the same predicament we all were in with not so good meatloaves.


Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped bell pepper
1 egg, lightly beaten
8 ounces canned diced tomatoes with juice
Minced Garlic (whatever you like)
1/2 cup quick-cooking oats or old fashioned

Topping:
1/3 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon prepared mustard

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Mix all meatloaf ingredients well and place in a baking dish. Shape into a loaf.

Topping:
Mix ingredients for topping and spread on loaf.

Bake for 1 hour. Meat Thermometer to 160 degrees F.

I hope that you all try it and enjoy it. It really is good.