Kate's first photography & Sunday morning conversations

I'm not sure Kate has a photographer's eye just yet, but she did take her first photo this morning. She composed the shot (well, she said, "I want horse and bear") and pushed the button herself. We are going to the Marine Life Center later today for a last visit before we move, and it will be a welcome change from packing boxes and moving details. Kate's been a trooper this last week, being toted to such fun places as the accountant's office and the insurance agent. I forgot what a pain moving can be! Every day also seems to bring a good-bye of some sort, which is sad. I'll be sad to leave friends and I know Kate will miss all the little buddies she's made. I'm sure we'll make wonderful new friends, but I'm also sure we'll keep in contact with some of our fantastic P.A. friends!

You know you're a mom when...

...you almost look forward to a dental appointment because you know it will be an uninterrupted period of sitting! I can't say I'm TOO excited about having my teeth cleaned today, but there is a tiny part of me that will enjoy the quiet. I had an early ultrasound yesterday to be sure of the baby's due date so the c-section can be planned at the right time and, although I really couldn't tell what I was seeing, he/she apparently has all the right parts. It's always a relief to know that! There is nothing like hearing a professional say, "now I see that the face is put together correctly." We don't want to know the sex, so she didn't even look for that, but she did comment that the baby was "very, very active." That sounds familiar!

Play date & too much information

Kate had a play date with her buddy, Kevin, today at the Olympic National Park visitors' center. It's a fun place to take them when the weather isn't cooperating because there are lots of activities and--best of all--lots of large, stuffed (real) animals. Kate loves the elk, but staunchly refuses to call it anything but a goat. There's also an enormous lawn in front where we let Kate and Kevin loose once the sun peeked out. They love running and spinning, and Katrin and I love it because it wears them out. While we were out there, Kate proved to me that toddlers will repeat anything and everything they see and hear you do. She kept running up to the edge of the grass, where it turned into weeds and bushes, and squatting down. After a few seconds, she'd pop back up, move a few feet and do it again. When I went to see what she was doing, I could hear her saying, in a very sing-songy voice, "mommy pees in bushes." Hmmm...yes. As anyone who has been pregnant knows, you're bladder becomes measurably smaller, so when I'm out running with Kate I sometimes have to stop at "unofficial" stops. I've told her what I'm doing because she asks and because, well, it's obvious anyway. But now I know that soon most everyone she sees in any proximity to a bush will know too! Ah, the joys of having a verbal child are just beginning.

Big news!!

As if having a second baby (which, incidentally, seems to be growing at such a rate that I'm wondering if we are going to have an enormous child!) wasn't enough big news for the year, we now have more: WE'RE MOVING. Yes, it became official on Friday when Ryan signed the contract for his new job with the Warm Springs Indian tribe. It is a wonderful opportunity for him and it means that we will be moving back to Central Oregon. We are so excited to be moving closer to family, and are so lucky that we have Bob & Starla coming to help us move and Bill & Connie hosting us while we look for a new house. It's a bit mind-boggling to think how fast it is happening because we are moving in just 2 weeks!! It is definitely what we want in the long run, so we are happy. Of course, that happiness is also mixed with some sadness at leaving the place that has become our home. There are quite a few things I really will miss about P.A., especially the friends I've made, and it will always be a special place to us because it is where we had Kate. We have a lot to look forward to, though, and we can't wait to see what new adventures await us!

Happy Easter!

After days of Kate asking to "hunt eggs," the big day finally arrived. I'm fairly certain she had no real concept of what "hunting eggs" actually entailed, but she knew it was happening on Sunday. I tried to explain that the Easter Bunny would come when she was sleeping and hide them, but when I asked her who would be hiding the eggs, she replied with about a 50/50 split of "Easter Bunny" and "Curious George." I suppose a monkey hiding eggs is about as logical as a bunny, so I'll give her that. I hid a few (11 to be precise) plastic eggs at home, and once she found 10 I seriously could not remember where the last one was. WHY is there always one left? I remember the same thing happening when I was younger. At least the plastic kind won't stink up the house...I suppose I'll have to start writing down the locations once we make the leap to real eggs. The home egg hunt was preparation for a little party we were going to in the afternoon, where there was a big egg hunt. It was actually geared more toward adults so the eggs were filled with all sorts of things (I learned to check when Kate pulled out a small firecracker out of one of them!!), but Kate loved the hunting itself. She was the first one to the door, saying "HUNT EGGS" as if it were a matter of life and death. She got so excited each time she found one, and was very angry when we had to leave. She got to join in, though, and I think she is showing some promise in the egg-locating arena. At home, she was happy to hide her plastic eggs again and is perfectly content making them into egg-shakers filled with Cheerios and dry pasta. She'll have many years of candy, I'm sure, so I'm glad that she's not interested yet. A sugar-highed Kate is not high on my list of things I need to see soon!!

What's old is new again

Today Kate wore a dress that was mine when I was little. I thought she looked just smashing in it, so I guess it's true that trends really do come full circle--either that, or just that little girl clothes are ALWAYS cute.

Have boots, will get VERY wet

Kate is now the proud owner of rain boots! Buying them was a surprising experience to me because it was the first "girly" thing I've really seen Kate do--she loved trying on shoes! She was definitive in the ones she wanted, and I tried a couple different sizes on her. When I put the smaller size on, she told me, "take off. Don't fit." When we got the right size, she refused to take them off and proudly wore them out of the store. We went straight from the store to the puddles, and she wasted no time in getting extremely wet. There was quite a bit of water inside her boots by the time we were done, but it's still better than wading with her other shoes!