Videos of Kate

Here are three videos of Katherine that were shot today. She was in rare form at dinner time! Kate is definitely full of energy and has already begun to develop her own opinions and wants.

Pre-Dinner Playtime (2:29)

Here I am--Spillin' the (Green) Beans (2:08)

Me and My Sippy Cup (2:00)
I thought that these things were supposed to keep the water from spilling all over!

Splish Splash--I was takin' a Bath!

Well I think Kate enjoys her baths. What do you think?

Moving Around--but not quite crawling

Kate is really getting interested in things around her these days. She is quite observant and wants so much to touch everything around her. She is always reaching out for things, and when she does actually get something in her hands, it invariably ends up in her mouth.

It took Kate a while to learn to lay on her stomach. She really resisted rolling over a few months ago, preferring to just lay on her back. These days, however, she loves to sleep on her belly. Another thing that she is resisting learning is crawling. We've tried to encourage her to crawl by scooting her around on her hands and knees, but she just thinks it is fun that we're playing with her. About two weeks ago, she was sitting on the floor playing with her toys when she fell over onto her back. At first, she just looked around, but then she started rolling over to a toy. Since then, she hardly sits to play with her toys, but rather loves to roll around in them.

This video was filmed a couple days ago when we moved the coffee table out of the way and opened up the whole floor for her to roll around on. She loved it! Shayla really loved it too--she's figured out that Kate is fun to play with too.

Rolly Kate with Shayla
(6:20 minutes long)

Dinner and Music

She's a cutie even if she is covered in peas!

I'll let the video tell the story...

When Kate is not elbow deep in green veggies, she can usually be found at the piano at some point after dinner. Since Kate has been born, Josh has been wonderful about making music a part of Kate's world. Kate loves the piano; currenlty, she is working on a percussion style of playing.

Florida...the rest of the story

Well, I started out really well blogging every day. But before I knew it it was time to go, and I had not updated the blog in a few days. So here's the quick rundown and some final photos. We had a wonderful vacation.


Josh arrived on Wednesday and Kate was overjoyed to see him again! The weather had taken a turn and cold winds moved in the for the rest of the week. We managed to get Kate into the pool one more time while Josh was here. She enjoyed it, but she wasn't nearly as animated as she was earlier in the week. She's a natural in the water though, kicking away!

Tradition annually brings us back the fabulous, luxurious Breaker's Hotel in West Palm Beach. We can't afford to stay there, but they have a wonderful family oriented restaurant on site that we look forward to going to each year. This year we enjoyed a stroll along the water and through the gardens. It was a beautiful (but windy) evening.

Here's a cute video of Kate's hair blowing the wind. She just woke up from a nap, so she's a little more serious than usual.

Josh, Kate and I departed Florida on Saturday and headed off to chilly Massachusetts. Kate met her great grandfather, great aunts and uncles, and little cousins, Tommy and Joey, for the first time. Kate loves kids; it's like she knows there is a connection to other little people. She played for hours with Tommy. We also stayed with my childhood friend Michelle. Her little girl, Jillian, had fun pushing Kate around the kitchen in a doll stroller-- Kate had fun too. It was great to see family and friends again. I wish we could visit more often.

Let's Laugh

Katherine has only recently started to play with her toys. She's always been drawn to the bright colors, but now she is reaching for her toys (only to put them in her mouth) and learning to play with them.

Much of the time Katherine is a very serious baby. It seems that whenever we pull out the camera to try to take pictures, we have to jump up and down and wave our arms to get her to smile. Just yesterday, Papa G worked for at least an hour trying to crack a smile (without any luck I might add). She has this new skeptism when visitors arrive that says, "I'm not sure I'm going to relax-- Mommy and Daddy might be leaving again". Fortunately, there are numerous times that she can't stop laughing. And we just happen to catch it on video for you.

So this video is dedicated to the Ross clan: hit play as many times as you want! Cousin Kate can't wait to play with you all in person.

Here's another video to remind us all to laugh more often.

Happy Birthday, Grandma Ann

Today is February 5th--Grandma Ann's Birthday.
We hope it is a day filled with joy and blessing.
We thought we'd contribute to your joy with a little song,
and well, Katherine had her own surprise to add in.

Happy Birthday! We love you.

Dinner is Served

Today was a good day. It comes as a welcome respite after a long, hard week with Kate. Kate and I ran some errands this morning with a good friend who is expecting her baby any day now. Kate was delightful, and we had our first successful shopping experience. Also, it was a good day because Kate ate well! Kate hasn't eaten well the last few days - much to my frustration. So in order to increase her calorie intake and help her reflux we introduced oatmeal cereal this week. The doctor said it could take quite a few attempts before she gets the hang of it...

First Day: Kate wasn't too sure about this stuff.

Second Day: Kate really didn't like it!

I don't think she swallowed any of the cereal.

Day Three: Well, why don't you just see for yourself...

Along the same line of thinking, I bought a high chair for Kate today when we were out running errands. She has really been trying to sit up a lot lately, and we wanted her to have a place to sit and play while we ate. And now she has a place to eat too. We all had a wonderful dinner tonight...full of smiles and laughter.

The shiny glow on Kate's face is Aquaphor...

she just had a bath and she was all greased up and ready for bed!

An afternoon Chat

We have the luxury of having Josh work at home. His job has perks; one of which is he often gets to pop upstairs throughout the day for a quick hello. Lately he's been lingering a little longer. As Kate spots him from across the room and immediately smiles - Josh just melts. He often declares, "She just melts my heart". Kate loves her daddy. She laughs and laughs as Josh talks to her and makes funny faces and noises. It's amazing the bond a father and daughter have, even at this young age. (Isn't that right, Dad?)


So as any good parent would do, we grabbed the video camera to capture the moment.


P.S. The spot on Kate's nose is a scratch...her nails get long so fast!

12 Weeks Today!!

Well everyone tells me that life gets better once the baby hits 12 weeks, and whether it was coincidence or development, we had a fabulous day today. (And those who have kept in touch know that we haven't had too many of those since August!) Kate has been all smiles today and has been eating today too. Eating has been a big issue for us - our daily prayer is that she would eat.


After weekly visits to my pediatrician and medications that seemed to make Kate more upset than comforted, I opted to try some alternative routes. We took her to Dr. Tedesco, a chiropractor who specializes in pediatric care. After the first visit, some improvement was immediately noticeable; Kate was a new baby. Today marked the half-way point in our treatment plan, and we keep making more strides toward improvement. It turns out Kate had a significant amount of trauma in her lower back (probably from her spinal tap at 2 weeks) and even more muscle spasms at the base of her neck (either from the birth process or perhaps the virus she had at 2 weeks settled in her neck). For the last 3 months Kate has resisted being held, hates being touched along her arms and neck, and prefers to be in a bouncy seat rather than in my arms, but today she let me hold her for quite awhile -- I was in heaven. I hope we are turning a corner.


Thanks to everyone who has offered us advice, support, and babysitting so we could get a break from a lovely but often fussy baby. We love you all!!

We wanted to share a video clip of Kate being happy. Enjoy!