One year pictures

Here are the pictures of Katie with her lamb, one last time. 

Here's a reminder of what Katie looked like at one month old.  She's changed so much!!  I hardly even remember her like this.

I thought I'd give a headband a try...

Maybe she'll actually keep it on!

This is how she feels about having that thing on her head. Ha!

Success!

She'd much rather carry it around like a toy.  She pulls out her ponytails and clips too after just a few minutes of having them in.  I hope someday she'll like having her hair done! 

I thought the little lamb deserved it's own picture after all it's been through this year.  After all, it has been sat on, stepped on, chewed on, and squished by a growing little girl.

Katie's 12 month checkup went well.  I was holding Katie when the doctor first came in and started asking questions.  She asked if Katie could stand by herself yet, so I set her down and let her show the dr. how she can not only stand, she can walk, and has been for two months!  But it's just been about one month of walking without assistance.  Katie cried pretty hard when she got her shots, but she calmed down faster than I thought she would once I got her all dressed and held her. 

Her measurements are:

Height: 29" (44th %)

Weight:  19 lbs 12 oz (50th %)

Head:  17 3/4" (55th %)

Katie is drinking whole milk now, and we are working on getting her switched over to sippy cups.  It may be a slow process as she is pretty attached to her bottles.  I'm trying to have her drink milk in the sippy at least once a day to get her used to it.  Anybody have some tips for weaning from the bottle? 

A new thing she learned lately is how to fold her arms when we pray.  We've been helping her fold her arms during prayers for a couple of weeks.  I didn't know if she had any idea of what we were doing and thought maybe she was too young.  But last night we were at a friend's house for family home evening and when my friend told her daughter to fold her arms for the prayer, Katie folded her arms!  She seems to catch on quickly to things we teach her now.  It will be fun when she starts to talk more too.  Being her mom just gets better and better! 

Katie's 1st Birthday!

Katie turned one on February 16!  It's really hard for me to believe that I have a one-year old now!  Everyone warned me that the year would fly by, and it's true.  Sometimes it seems like it hasn't been very long since we got the call that our baby girl had been delivered.  I'll always remember the first time I saw her and held her in my arms.  All my nervousness melted away, and I loved her from that very first moment.  When I think back on the past year, I'm amazed at how much our beautiful daughter has changed our lives.  Although it has been a year of adjustment and change (and sleepless nights), I have been tremendously happy to finally be living my dream job as a mother.  Jacob and I have learned more about each other and grown closer as we've been on this new journey of parenthood together.  We have been enormously blessed to have Katie as a part of our family.  I am thankful every single day for her amazing birth mother and the choice she made.  If you ever doubt that miracles still happen, just look at Katie's sweet smiling face, and you'll know, miracles haven't ceased.  She was worth all the heartache, tears, and waiting.  She is our dream come true!

 Here's the birthday girl on her big day. 

I hung up all of her lamb pictures that I've posted each month.  It was fun to see how Katie has grown over the past year.

She hated the party hats!  This was the best picture I could get.  Of course she's taking it off! :)

It was okay if Daddy wore it though.

So sweet.

Kosters (except Todd) and Cheneys came over for pizza, cake and ice cream.  Cheneys had to leave after dinner.  (And Stacie doesn't have two babies; she's holding our niece, Tylee, while Ben holds Ada.)  :)

I made Katie her own little chocolate cake and a Better Than Everything Cake for the rest of us.

We stripped her down to her diaper so she could make a mess. 

 

We took a video of her eating the cake, and then I took pictures afterward.  She was tentative at first, but once I gave her a bite of the chocolate, she dug right in!

She did quite a bit of damage!

After I gave Katie a thorough cleaning in the bathtub, it was time for opening gifts.  But first we did a little game that we had read about that some families do as a tradition on their child's first birthday.  It's supposed to be a fun way to predict what they'll be interested in or do in the future.  We set these four items out on the floor and stood behind them.  A bottle, a toy, a piggy bank, and scriptures.  Then we had Katie walk over to us and choose one of the objects.  I thought she'd choose either the bottle or the piggy bank.

She chose the piggy bank!  Maybe she'll be an accountant someday?  Or just love shopping? (Hopefully not!)  We're not counting on this silly prediction, but we may have just started a new tradition.

Katie wasn't much more interested in opening presents than she was at Christmas.  Her cousin Kaden and I opened them for her. 

I'm happy that Katie already seems to love books as much as I do.  Although, it may just be that she likes to eat them... We'll have to keep her new books away from her little teeth.

Her new toys, books, adorable clothes...and a box.  She enjoyed riding in her box (from the Cheneys) with her new car keys while Kaden pushed her around the house.

She received two pianos (gotta start young), which she already loves.  Thank you to family and friends for the gifts!!

Happy birthday Katie!  We love you!!!

Valentine's Day

This was Katie's first Valentine's Day!  (It was her last first holiday.)  We had a simple but wonderful day.  I cooked salmon and asparagus for dinner and then we exchanged gifts.

I love my sweeties.

gifts from Jacob and his co-workers

My gorgeous tulips from Jacob.  They are my favorite flower.

One of Jacob's co-workers made these delicious treats for everyone in the office.  They tasted so good!

And they're beautiful too.

Jacob's surprise gift to me:

We've been wanting to go get massages for a while, and we finally went on Friday night.  It was wonderful and so relaxing.  (Although my sister Louisa, a massage therapist in Utah, does a better job!)  We stopped to eat some frozen yogurt before heading home.  Hope y'all had a happy Valentine's Day too!

Katie leaves her mark

See those cute little teeth I always talk about?

We discovered that Katie loves to use them to chew on our furniture. 

I first noticed a while ago on my piano.

Then one day I was on the floor playing with Katie and saw that she'd left teeth marks all along the front of the tv stand!  This is just a portion.  (I'm glad the piano is not this bad!) 

And, of course she had to chew on her crib too!  The little stinker. 

It's a good thing she's so darn cute...and that the furniture is replaceable. :)

We also find her toys everywhere now.  She carries them around until she finds something more interesting to play with.  I can follow her trail through the house...ball in the cupboard...baby food jar by my shoes...my shoe in her toy basket. 

We love our sweet pea.  Only 6 days until she turns one!!!

Grandma Angela visits...

Jacob's mom just left today after visiting for almost three weeks.  She was here to see her new granddaughter, Tylee, who was blessed this past Sunday.  She stayed with Kosters for most of the time and with us the last few days.  We loved having her here, and are sad she had to leave.  Hopefully she can come visit again soon!