7 months - Week 3

Cate moved up to Stage 2 foods this past week. So many more flavors to try! Beef macaroni and veggies (smells like ravioli sauce), chicken and rice, chicken and apples, corn casserole, ham pineapple and rice. So far she has finished up the beef macaroni and veggies and the turkey and sweet potatoes. We also started taking a jar of a fruit flavor to school with her. So now she does a bottle in the morning, cereal, fruit baby food, bottle, a meat/veggie baby food and a fruit baby food, then a bottle before bed.

Cate had picture day at school on Tuesday. I dressed her in a light pink dress tank and matching pants. It's a really sweet outfit from Meaux. The outfit is 12 month clothes! She's getting too big! I attempted to clip her hair back, hopefully it still looked okay by the time she took her picture. I didn't think to get a pic of her in her outfit, we'll just have to wait when I get the pictures.

Tuesday evening I tried working with Cate on crawling. I sat her on one side of the living room and I got on the other with one of her toys that lights up and plays music; something to tempt her with. She had all the right movements, just not at the same time! Wednesday night we tried again. She made a few little moves toward me, started looking around and caught a glimpse of another toy she'd rather have and shakily crawled to it! I put her back in her starting place, grabbed the new toy and tried to tempt her from across the room with it and she crawled to me! We then lost the toy and put her down to crawl and she did! We now have a crawler on our hands! She's still a little slow moving and I think she forgets she can crawl and move around sometimes, but she's getting the hang of it and will be everywhere before long, I'm sure!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4_RC18wtgs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiU7iHr7I1w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuc6rkXxFfc

I picked Cate up from school on Thursday and was informed that Cate has a boyfriend! His name is Ben. He is in her class and their cribs are right next to each other. Apparently that day when the teacher was trying to feed both of them they were holding hands and talking to each other. The teacher said it took so long to feed them because they kept talking to one another. When I went to leave with Cate after hearing the stories of the day, Ben got very upset Cate was leaving and started crying. It was very sweet. I later told Mike about Cate's boyfriend and his only response was "No." :)

Cate and I went grocery shopping this morning and went in search of baby proofing products! We also found teething biscuits! She seems to like them. Cate has been doing very well with cutting teeth this time around. Maybe she's used to it? I still only see one of her top teeth coming in, but I can see it a little more than last week.

7 Months - Week 2

Cate survived her first full weekend of football. College ball all day Saturday and pro all day Sunday. She played really well while we were upstairs watching pro ball on Sunday last weekend. She played so much she even tired herself out and needed to lay down for a minute.

She was not wanting to eat most of this last week. We have tried peas and carrots several times but have given up for now. I will go back to carrots again after we can get her eating again. I think the peas are a no go. We went back to green beans again, and she was not a fan at first but finally finished them. I realize now I should have given her all the containers of that flavor of food before moving on to the next. She really like dthe green beans when we first started but then didnt want them when we came back to them. I was just too excited to try the different foods. Oh well!

Cate is becoming more independent in playing by herself for longer periods of time. She can hang out in one place and play for a lot longer than she used to. She is so close to crawling now too. She gets up on all fours and has moved both hands forward a few times. She hasn't figured out how to move her legs just yet. But the rocking still persists and she has started head-banging too. haha!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8gfA-Iubbs

She's getting stronger though with the head-banging and rocking. I even caught her trying to pull herself up in her bouncy chair!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmD7rVpVgbk

We are no longer allowed to sleep in on the weekends. Cate is so used to waking up at 530 during the week that her internal alarm clock goes off at 530 on the weekend too. She is mostly quite in her bed when she wakes up. Mike tried this weekend leaving her in the bed and seeing what she would do. She kind of lightly talks to herself and moves around a little for about 30-60 minutes then falls asleep again for about 30 minutes. Then she's really awake and ready to eat.

She has been pretty consistant in taking a good nap mid-morning and a good nap in the afternoon. Towards bed time she's pretty tired too. Somestimes takes a little time to actually go to sleep at night, but eventually gets there. We have been putting her in her bed and walking away immediately, to get her used to calming herself and getting to sleep on her own. We only have to go back in a couple times to give her her blanket back or her pacifier back.

We have noticed that one of her top teeth is poking though now. So we are battling crankiness and fussiness more often now. We have been trying to beat her diaper rash before it gets too bad. She has a runny nose alot now too because of the teething. But for the most part, it's been going okay. We tried soothing her with a frozen waffle, but it got too mushy really fast. My MIL suggested teething biscuits, but I haven't seen any at the store. If anyone knows where I can find some, please let me know! Her bottom teeth are more visible now. When she grins you can seem them easily.

We bought some new baby food this week but haven't tried any yet. It is Stage 2 food so this means we have alot more flavors to pick from. Chicken and apples, Turkey and sweet potatoes, Ham, pineapple and gravy. Yum? Can't wait to have her try them out.

Cate's Uncle Danny and GranCat came for a visit this weekend. Danny came to get his computer that Mike built him and Cathy came along to spend more time with Cate. We had a good weekend with everyone. Unfortunatly it rained most of the weekend so we still couldn't go outside to try out Cate's new outside toy.

Picked back up eating well again. Last three nights for dinner Cate has eaten half a veggie container and a whole container of fruit and half a 6 oz. bottle! She's a growing baby! One evening while eating she also discovered my wedding rings and was too dsitracted to eat while she played with my rings. She's already attracted to diamonds! ha!

I have decided to try my hand at knitting a hat. I think my first hat went great! Here's Cate showing it off. :)

7 months - Week 1

Not much new stuff in Cate's world this week.

I did finally catch her rocking in her chair and took a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3lIbNaPLl8

She did get a new "toy", but we haven't put it together yet.

She won't get to do much with it right now other than swing.

She also got a couple new outfits from New Orleans.

She has not worn her new LSU dress yet, maybe tomorrow :)

Today is, however, it's all about OU. When I was 8 months pregnant with her, I made a trip to Oklahoma and bought her a game day outfit that she would be able to wear at the beginning of the season. Her first game with be today!

Cate is 7 months old!

Cate was running some fever last Saturday, so in an attempt to help her fever we let Cate take a longer bath than usual. We decided to fill up her tub and see if she would splash around some. Boy, did she! She soaked the kitchen! She really enjoyed playing in the water!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4KudLz4568

Cate was good to go on Sunday, no more fever, but still has a cough. During the week she began holding her toungue differently and discovered she could make new noises. She started with "ca", "ca". It sounded like she was trying to sey "Cate". But it soon turned into "da" "da" We are not counting it as "first word" since she does not associate saying "da-da" with Mike yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfl_yZQTLvg

Cate has learned to put her pacifier in her mouth. It's not a completely mastered skill yet, but she has done it a few times. Only a matter of time before she has it down. 

A bunch of family came in over the weekend to visit and celebrate Mike's sister's (Courtney) 21st birthday! Meaux, Banta, Cathy, Bill, Courtney, Danny and Jennifer all came to stay for the weekend. We think Cate is teething again. She's been grabbing at her ear and been a little more fussy lately. But overall is doing pretty good with it.

With the family in town, Cate stayed on track for the most part. In the evenings it was alittle more difficult to get her to bed with all the excitement of the day. We all went to eat at Floyd's one night and Cate got a hold of a cracker. She seemed to really like it. She mostly gummed it until it got soggy. I'm not too sure how much if it she actaully ate.

Cate has started throwing her head back when you hold her so she can see things upside down. It's really funny and she enjoys being upside down to see. She laughs and thinks it's funny. She will continue to throw her head back repeatedly until you get too tired holding her upside down.

We moved on to peas this week after finishing the bananas. We tried to peas twice while out to eat, so she was either very distracted or did not care for the peas at all. She did make a few nasty faces when she had some. I decided to pull the peas and try carrots instead, which went much better.

The last night everyone was here, we all went out in the back yard, I tried to see how Cate would do sitting in the grass herself. She was not a fan! We tried to make it more fun for her and she did come around some, but she doesn't really know what to think of the grass yet. I look forward to when it cools off some more and I came get her on a blanket in the yard. We did stand her up and she is wanting to take steps. So she and Mike "walked" around the yard some.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3rYC5tx3Ys

We also got her in the tub to play again for everoyne to see. She played for a little while and then remembered how tired she was. Bath ended soon after and we tried to put her down for bed. It took much longer than normal. So much going on it was hard to get her to settle down.

Today after everyone left, we did a little shopping for some bigger 9 month clothes for Cate. She's getting too tall for her clothes! After shopping she took an extra long nap. She has been playing in her activity center and has finally figured out how the penguin toy works! She has now mastered all the toys on her activity enter now!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAnrDOCfxyw

6 Months - Week 4 Part 2

Wouldn't it figure that as soon as I get everything posted that Cate would do something new! I sat her on the floor to play, in the sitting up position, just to practice and see how long she'd last before falling over...she sat there and played and never fell over! This is a first!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Cd6DATd8JY

6 Months - Week 4

At the beginning of the week, Cate was still a little cranky from teething. She didn't do too bad with it though, only teething tablets a few times this week. Her two bottom teeth have completly broken through and are gradually growing tall. SHe has not been very cooperative in us getting a good picture of her teeth. See below.

Cate has finished her two containers of peaches. It has been the only food so far that she has made a sour face at, which surprised me considering she's chewed on peaches in her mesh teether before. As of yesterday, Cate has also finished her two containers of squash. She really liked it. In fact, she ate her cereal and a whole container of the squash last night. She will start bananas today.

Cate has been gigling and laughing alot more. It sounds different than before, more of a deep belly laugh now. It's really funny. She is also rocking more in her high chair, in her activity center or anytime she is sitting. I guess this is a sign she is closer to crawling. We must get cabinet locks, plug stoppers and a gate for the stairs soon!

Cate has discovered her rattles. These were a couple of her very first toys but I was nervous to give them to her early on since she had no control of her hands and arms. I was worried she'd smack herself in the head too much. She now loves them because of the noise they make. She has also discovered more toys and how they work on her activity center. She is hitting things more seeing what kinf od noise it makes and how it feels against her hands. She has started hitting the buttons on her activity center that says she color it is in English, Spanish and French. It's very funny to watch her do this. She hits it repeatedly and very fast so the noise is very funny.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbIJXkyP45I

My Uncle Steve was in Houston for work from Singapore. He was able to make time to come over and meet Cate. We went to a late dinner and visited with him. Cate however was very tired and didn't get to visit much. In fact, I didn't even get a picture of them together. :( However, later she did try her best at her Uncle Steve impression ;)

We have all had a slight cold this week due to the small chance in the weather. Cate has developed a cough as a result of the cold. She isn't really stuffy or snotty this time around, just has a cough. She has also had red eyes and more gunk needing to be cleaned out of her eyes. Shes has felt slightly warm a few times, but no major fever. She has had a fever this afternoon and we are trying to get it back down. But she seems to be in good spirits. Only a few outbursts. She has been pretty good during the day, but the nights have not been good for her cough. I guess her laying down for the long period of time has aggrevated her cough. She has been having coughing fits in teh middle of the night for about 30 minutes to an hour. So our sleep has been much interrupted the past several nights. Last night was the worst so far. We got her to bed a little late, then she was up at 11:40 coughing for about 30-45 mintues, then was up again around 2am coughing for about 15-20 minutes, and then woke up at 6am. I tried ot get her to go back to sleep, but she was wide awake. Going from Friday to Saturday is usually hard for her to adjust to when it comes to sleeping in. Cate is used to being woke up at 5:30am to leave for school. So she thinks she needs to wake up early on Saturday too, when she doesn't. Hopefully tonight she will sleep better and sleep in a little tomorrow morning.

After grocery shopping this morning, we decided to take a walk since it felt really nice out this morning. We have been putting her baby sunglasses on her to get her used to them, she does pretty well with them on. I was worried she was grab at them alot and she doesn't. I had been wondering if Cate was big enough to try her stroller without the car seat, so we gave it a try. She did really well in it. We went to see the ducks and feed them bread. We also got to see a few catfish in the pond. Cate fell asleep in her stroller before we got hom to head out and run more errands. She woke up again as soon as we got to grocery store number 2. But later fell back asleep again with her foot propped up in the side of her seat. It was pretty funny!

The rest of our weekend will likely consist of cleaning the house to prepare for Mike's parents, grandparents, sister, sister's b/f, brother, brother's g/f to come in town Labor Day weekend for his sister's 21st birthday. Next weekend is also the start of football season! yay! Very excite dto see Cate in her gameday outfit I bought her last year in Norman!

6 Months - Week 3

Cate is 6 and a half months old now. She now has a second tooth. She has been less fussy the past two days since the second tooth has completely broken through. Her two little teeth are very cute on her.

She has completed her two containers of sweet potatoes and did very well with it. We started Peaches yesterday. I knew she would like it since she has had peaches before in her mesh teether.

She has been very happy and playful today. She slept until 7am, had her bottle, played in her activity center and then we all went grocery shopping. After shopping she had some cereal and she and I left to do some shopping. She took a short nap while at Target but then woke up and played while we did some more shopping around town. She took another nap when we got home. Cate had her lunch bottle after her nap then played on the floor with her new cell phone toy. We got this because it lights up when she hits the buttons. She loves to play with the TV remote because it does the same thing, however when she mashes the buttons she changes the channel, adjusts the volume or attempts to order on Demand! haha. So we got her something else that lights up. We considered getting her a little laptop since she's so intrigued with mine, but thought it would be too much right now. Maybe later :) After playing for a while, she had a snack and took her afternoon nap. I managed to finish dinner a little early so Mike and I ate while Cate finished her nap. Once she got up, she ate dinner (cereal and peaches). She played in her high chair for about an hour, then on the floor for another hour. She's settling down now, we'll get her bathed and to bed.

Cate is still attempting to crawl, but she only seems to move backwards and in a circle. She still gets on all fours and rocks back and forth.

She has also started rocking in her high chair more. She was doing it after dinner tonight and thought it was very funny!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-QeG3KUFwI

She has been incredibly talkative today. "Ba-ba-ba-ba", gurgling, screaming, blowing raspberries and her typical baby talk. She has a very sweet voice.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DOMWHnlAko

She has gotten alot better at entertaining herself lately. She will play on the floor or in her bed alot longer than she used to. She played for a whole hour in her high chair after dinner tonight before needing to get out. She is sitting up better for the most part, however she tends to spread out her legs in weird positions. We also got her a new cup today with a straw to see if she would take to it over the sippy cup. I couldn't find one with a straw and handles, so I'm not sure it'll work out. But she certainly tried.

She hits her hand on everything now trying to see what kind of noise it makes. She hits her hand on the floor, the couch, herself, you, her chair, her bed...everything. If she finds it makes a loud enough noise, she'll giggle at it and continue to hit it. It's very funny when she slaps her tray on her high chair when I'm feeding her as if she's saying "Service! Where's my food!"

It's now bath time then bedtime! Cate says "Goodnight"