Roll Around Girl

If Kate isn't too tired, she just love to roll around, grabbing at toys. Occasionally, she'll do this magic trick where when I turn my head, she ends up 3 feet away from where I last saw her.

Early Vote

Grandparents visit

Sorry for the delay in blog entries. Last weekend, Mom and Dad came to visit. I could say they were here to see Doug and me (we DID play a lot of pinochle). But really, they were here to see Kate. Both got down on the floor to play with Little Miss Roll Around.
I love this bug outfit!

"Can I stick my fingers up your nose? How about grabbing your eyebrow?"

4 month stats

At Kate's 4 month appointment (officially 4 months, 1 week) she was adorable, as usual. Nurses and doctor agree! Even when she wailed after her shots, she was still a sweetheart.

17 pounds, 5 oz - 98th percentile

26.5 inches - 98th percentile.

Looking to be a tall one!

And I need to take more pictures - as she isn't really making the best smile in this picture.

Whale Noises

Kate's new trick is to make noises that I call "Whale Noises". You can catch a little of it in the middle of the video. Along with a good smile at the end.

Enjoy!

4-month self-portrait

Kate turned 4-months old yesterday, so we did a series of self-portraits. Take the best of each photo, and you'd have an amazing picture! Alas, if she would smile when the red-eye reduction grabs her attention.

4-month self-portrait

Kate turned 4-months yesterday. We took a series of self-portraits - combine the best from each picture, and it would be smashingly wonderful!

Play Time

Kate playing with dad. Testing her strength.
Kate playing with Blitz. Just didn't catch her this time with his nose in her mouth.
In the saucer. She's really taken to this. Fascinated by all the parts.

An on another note, she's officially rolling over. I'll try to catch it on the camera here soon!

Last M's game of the season

On Tuesday we went to our last Mariner game of the season. Alas, we were NOT present for the team's 100th loss of the season. It was actually a very good game, though most of the players were with the AAA team earlier in the season. Kate and I enjoyed a couple of self-portrait moments. Doug bought her the 2nd hat after getting one-too-many comments about what a "cute boy" she is. It cracks me up. He's opposed to flagrantly pink clothes, but will buy her something pink so that others know she is a girl!

Damn Yankees

We have two more baseball games to attend this season. And although we didn't see the Yankees play this year, Kate already knows how she feels about them. (Thanks Greg and Nikki!)

Barack Obama

If Kate could vote, she's shown her preference in a few ways. First, she has this onesie. Second, last time she was listening to Sarah Palin she spit up. I think that's all that needs said.

Mascots

As we've been going to different sporting events, Doug makes sure that Kate has the appropriate mascot to join her for the car ride. True, the Mariner monkey is not the Seattle Mariner's mascot. But the Moose is a little bit too big for the car ride.

Kate's personal favorite at the moment is Blitz, the Seahawk. There has been a lot of saliva shared with that bird!

Microwave Popcorn

Most of the time, when Kate goes poo, it smells like microwave popcorn. Not such a bad deal!

This is a small visual sampling. Most of the time there is MUCH more volume. Hee hee, a picture of poo for you all to see!

3 month self-portrait

Here's our 3-month self-portrait! Enjoy both views.

Other weekend news

Our post-Seahawk game Labor Day weekend has been pretty low key. Storing up the energy for the start of school. As usual, I'm in complete denial about having to go to work tomorrow. And will continue to be so until the alarm goes off tomorrow morning.

However, there are a few things of note about the weekend.

1) I'm on a nectarine mission. Couldn't help but buy a flat of 11 nectarines at Costco on Saturday. And Doug doesn't like them, so I'm on my own. So far, six down, five to go.

2) My right triceps hurt. Yesterday was fan appreciation day at the Aquasox. Doug won a fan appreciation pack, sponsored by the Washington State Lottery. Got a hat and water bottle that we will never use. And 5 scratch tickets, netting us a profit of $2. Let's start Kate's college fund with that!

But that's not why my arm hurts. After the game, they were giving away a 1995 (yes 1995!) Chevy Blazer. And 12 other fabulous prizes. To win a prize, you had to pick up a plastic tent stake on your way to the warning track in the outfield. Then start digging, as the car keys and other prizes were buried in the dirt.

I tried my best, but cried "Uncle" after about 15 minutes. The dirt was very compact, and the stake is not the best instrument of digging. But the whole event just reminds me of why minor league baseball is great.

3) Wardrobe update. Okay, I'm not actually going clothes shopping, but I need to put maternity clothes away, and pull out the bin of 'normal' clothes so I'm ready for school. T-shirts and shorts can only get me so far . . .

4) Here's another picture of Kate. She's three months old today (but not in this picture), so when she's awake, I'll get that picture and put it up in another post.

Strong girl

Kate has been testing out her leg strength by pushing off of most anything. The couch, the floor, the saucer (okay, the phone book at the bottom of the saucer), the bouncy seat, the car seat. Here she is doing a work out with Doug.

Go Seahawks!

Katie and Will had extra tickets to a pre-season Seahawks game, and we were more than willing to be a part of the action. Kate took it all in stride - didn't mind the noise or the breeze. It did wear her out, though, as she slept a lot the next day.

Evil Genius?

Kate has taken to doing this great pose. Hands together - and various facial expressions. We call it her "Evil Genius" pose. Not that she's evil. But it's another one of our funny family moments. These two pictures don't portray it at it's best, but babies just move so darn fast.

And then, one a cutie smile caught on camera.

The Dish

Kate spent some quality time in The Dish today. Her legs aren't quite long enough, so we put a Seattle-Metro phone book underneath them. She was very faciniated by all the various attachments.

Jetta News

My beloved 2000 VW Jetta is again showing its age.

First, about a week ago I got yet another rock chip in the windshield. As you may recall, my windshield has some sort of magic attraction to small flying objects.

This attack was something special. It didn't just ding the windshield. Or cause an ordinary crack. Nope. The crack forms a near perfect circle around the chip. It's the size of a half-dollar coin! Fortunately, it's near the lower passenger side, as I feel my friends at the repair shop would say this injury is cause for retiring this windshield.

Onto other Jetta news. I am one of those people who, when getting a new item, will read the owner's manual cover-to-cover. And boy, did it come in handy. On Saturday, when it was brutally hot, I opened the sun roof. Decided, when the sun was beating down on me through the sun roof that perhaps a better option would be to close it and begin running the A/C.

However, the roof would not close. I could hear the little electronic mechanism trying, trying so very hard, but to no avail. Little images of cash-registers of money going to the repair shop floated through my head.

Then I remembered that somewhere in the owner's manual, it described how to close the sun roof in just this type of situation. It involved popping a little panel with a screwdriverand using the hidden allen wrench to manually close the roof. I did this not a moment too soon, as it rained that very evening! Crisis averted.

And now, your Kate picture of the day (enjoying having Doug whistle fun little songs to her):

Blankie?

At what age does a kid decide which item will be their "blankie"? If the imprint is at 11 months of age, we could be coming upon an embarrassing choice for Kate. She really enjoys holding onto the pre-fold diapers that we've been using most of the time as burp cloths.

Can you imagine her being 5 years old, and needing to have "blankie" with you - and the looks you get when it's a diaper? I've been trying to get her to hold other blanket-type items. Sometimes I'm successful!

Regardless, she still looks cute when she's holding it.

11 weeks old

Today we did informal measurements to get Kate's most recent stats.

Weight: (Kate + mommy on the scale) - (just mommy on the scale) = 15 pounds.

Height: Lay Kate down on a blanket. Fold the top and bottom of the blanket to match up with her head and heals. Have daddy redo it, because apparently, mommy didn't do a good enough job. Length = 25 inches.

Kate, meet Saul

Jade, my best friend from high school, is another one of the women who was due within one month of when I was due with Kate. She, her husband Aaron, and new babe Saul came up for a visit.

Here, they are both asleep in their bouncy seats. Remarkably, their sleep - eat - play schedules were within 30 minutes of each other the entire time they were here.Other cutie-pie pictures.

Jade & Saul makeing faces at each other
One of the things I find amazing in talking with Jade (and Marla and Elizabeth) is just how many hours we can spend talking about new mother experiences. And how similar they are. It sure is fun to share this journey with them. I look forward to hearing Suzi's stories with new ears this November - and until then will continue to seek her motherhood wisdom.

IKEA

The new IKEA catalog is out. And to promote it, there is a commercial on TV. In the house, chaos abounds. But in the center of the storm is a moment of calm, where the mother/wife is reading the IKEA catalog. Clearly transported to the faraway land of Swedish make-believe.

The part that gets me is in the fine print at the bottom of the screen.

"Some items require assembly"

And while this is true (I don't think the vase or rug will need to be put together), it doesn't convey the whole truth.

What truth, you may ask. That it's no treat putting items together using directions that don't have words and I swear the pictures are in a foreign language. No Swedish bliss here.

Minor League Fun

If you've never been to a minor league basehball game, I'd highly encourage it. If only for the between-innings entertainment. Little kids racing the mascots. Grown ups rolling gigantic dice to try to get 5 of a kind. "Guess What's in the Car". Or the one that Doug participated in: ride a large tricycle from 1st base to 3rd. He one the race and free trip on the commuter train to a future Mariner's game. In the picture below (taken on my phone, as I forgot to bring the 'real' camera), he's in between 2nd and 3rd base. Go, Doug, Go!

That was at Wednesday's game. While Doug was waiting to ride the trike, he was chatting with the A-Sox promotion director. He was the guy who wanted us to have Dan Wilson sign Kate. Well, the result of this conversation on Wednesday played on on Friday.

This was when Jay Buhner (former Mariner and part owner of the Aquasox) was sponsoring Buhner Buzz Night. Used to be a yearly event when he played for the M's. You see, Jay is shaved bald. When he'd come up to bat, they'd play "Bad to the Bone".

Doug, in anticipation of this night, has been growing out his hair hippie-long. Probably at least a month over due for a hair cut. Here are 2 "before" shots.

Part of the deal made with the promotion guy: Have Jay shave Doug's head. And have Jay sign Kate. Then have a group picture of 3 'bald' people.

This is Jay signing Kate's head. Yes, it's a water-soluable marker.

Doug with Kate, signature in full view. Doug getting the buzz done byJay.
Two of a kind!

Three of a kind!

Jay was super cool to meet, with a wicked sense of humor, and appreciating the goofiness of the whole thing.