Happy Pi Day!

I'm writing a long post today because I'm not taking a nap. And I'm not taking a nap because Danny won our paper-rock-scissors match. The match was to decide who had to wake up when Kate woke up from her nap. I lost, so I decided not to nap at all, expecting her to wake up soon. It's been almost 2 hours and she's still not up, so I guess I could have slept after all. At least I have this post to show for it...

She's walking! I'm not sure the exact day she started walking because she went from one little shuffle step to six little shuffle steps all over the last week. Is one step considered walking? When is it official? Today at church she was doing her shuffle step and Heather Ann Johnson and Emily Pittman both said it's amazing she's already walking. Yeah, she's pretty amazing. I think what they actually meant was that I'm such an amazing mom for having taught her to walk so young. I'm sure that's what they were thinking...

Kate also cut her first tooth. Unlike walking, I can almost pinpoint the minute she officially cut that tooth...midnight on March 10th. So her sleep has become unpredictable again, thanks to said tooth. Amber told me once that whatever problem you're going through at the moment, it'll be over before you know it. Even if at present it seems like it'll never end, give it a week or two and...tah dah...gone. And while that particular problem does in fact vanish, it is quickly replaced with another equally brain numbing scenario. It's like taking all these little tests back to back, only you don't get to finish the test before it's taken away and replaced with a new one. Well, these 10-month-old-baby tests aren't too bad. I bet the teenage-girl ones are going to be doozies (I had to google this word to make sure it's spelled correctly).

I currently have 2 callings: Relief Society Meeting Coordinator, and Ward Organist. Both have been challenging and interesting to me. The RS Meeting coordinator has gone great because I work with two very with-it people: Robin Hall and Heather Ann Johnson. Our children's class has been the one constant glitch in an otherwise smoothly running system. We've tried having sisters sign up to help (only 1 sister signed up), we've tried having those who bring kids being the designated sitters for a fraction of the meeting (got very negative feedback), we've tried just winging it (leaders ended up in there the whole time). It just isn't going great, so my next idea is to ask all the sisters to take 1-2 turns per year by signing up for 30 minute slots when they arrive at the monthly meeting. That way the burden is very evenly distributed amongst the entire Relief Society. It's a job no one wants to do, so everyone's going to do it. The sisters want to bring in the YW or Elders to do the babysitting, but they're all busy with their own responsibilities so I think we can do it ourselves.

I've felt pretty productive lately. I've sewn 3 baby blankets for friends-all military digi blankets, that have turned out pretty cute. Also, I got some of my frames up on the wall finally (with Mary Jo Brown's help) and got mine and Kate's passports in the mail just this week (Not that we'll need them any time soon. The trip to Germany to visit Danny's sister has been postponed until next year when his whole family plans to go together). Also, I got Danny's "Honkeytonk Man" record converted to CD-a project I've been meaning to do for about 3 years now. It feels good to be getting things done, especially with Danny gone and Kate to take care of on my own. It's comforting to know I can be self reliant and productive at the same time.

I'm off to CO this week to visit the parents and in-laws. It should be fun.

Babies and Dogs

I get to hang out with these two all day. So fun! It helps that they're both really cute and playful and fuzzy (Oscar's a little more fuzzy than Kate I guess).

Conquering the stairs

Fingers are Delicious

A blanket and 3 fingers are all Kate needs to drift off to dreamland.

Cousin Time

Since Danny's been at Camp Pendleton all year (except for weekends), we've spent a lot of time over at Amber's house. Kate's cousins Sam, Lucy, and Ben are her very favorite playmates. We're so thankful that they live close!






Kate and her cousin Ben had a great time playing with this dart gun. From the level of enjoyment she got out of this gun, you'll agree that she is definitely Danny's daughter.