10 Months

It's official! Cate's spent as much time in this great big world as she spent getting ready to come into it (she was 10 months on the 24th so this is a few days late)....I do believe she's loving it so far!

She loves sitting in this rocking chair (it was my dad's when he was little - I painted it and recovered the seat) because she thinks she's such a big girl....

She loves drinking water out of the faucet in the bath tub (something she figured out on her own, she's never seen any of us do it of course)...

She loves helping me unload the dishwasher (excuse the diaper shot, classy, I know)...

She loves feeding herself....

She loves being outside checking out the new things around her...

She loves trying to copy her sisters and their stunts....

She loves going for a dip in the pool....

She loves to read books...

She loves showing us that's she's big enough to stand up only holding on with one hand while she has a toy in the other hand. She'll look at you and grin until you tell her how great she's doing....

She loves trying to stay right in the middle of her sisters to make sure she doesn't miss a thing (I love this picture of the three of them all lined up playing together)...

She loves getting a bath in the sink....

She loves being wrapped up in a towel after her bath and me holding her tight to keep her warm, although these days she usually won't stay still very long like she used to....

She loves her daddy like crazy....

And she loves giving me that sweet smile every day which totally and completely melts my heart....

Happy 10 month birthday to you, Cate Bug! I LOVE YOU!!!

In other news, Cate got tubes put in her ears this past Friday. She's had ear issues off and on since December and I knew it was coming...last Tuesday her ENT told us that we couldn't put it off any longer. We'd been trying to wait a little while because of how small she was. I know plenty of babies have them done when they're tiny, but I just couldn't do it to Cate. J and I both finally felt she was big enough and ready for them and I'm so glad it's all over with. It was immediate relief for her and by Friday afternoon we could tell she was a much happier baby. And she's been that way ever since. We were supposed to have our pictures made for our church directory Saturday afternoon and I ended up rescheduling them at the last minute because I wasn't sure how she'd be feeling (and she'd also fallen off of our bed {first time for her, by this age Towns had done it several times and she turned out just fine so I know Cate will too} so she was sporting a huge bruise on her head and a scrape beside her right eye...didn't want her to look back at those pictures one day wondering if she was mistreated!). Should have kept the appointment though because she's been all smiles since Friday! My personal favorite part of the whole deal was that she couldn't have anything to eat or drink after midnight Thursday night...being that she's still eating almost every 3 hours and her surgery wasn't until 7:45 Friday morning, I didn't know what on earth we were going to do with her. I prayed and prayed and prayed. I knew that the only way she'd be able to go that long without eating would be for the Lord to take control and keep her calm. And He did. Not once did she cry for a bottle. Never in her life has she been that long without eating. You have no idea how thankful I was...when she's hungry she lets the whole world know about it. And I nearly died when we walked into the surgery center at 6:45 a.m. and it was completely dark. I thought to myself surely I've got my dates and times right. Turns out the power was out and the receptionist politely told me that there was nothing they could do, have a seat, and they'd get everyone registered when we could. I'm thinking you don't understand...I have a 10 month old who hasn't eaten in almost 12 hours who also happens to be a baby who normally would have had two or three bottles by now, and unless you want to hear how she feels about not eating all morning you better find out how to get that power back on so she can have her surgery and EAT!!!! I didn't say that, of course, I only told her that I hope she and her co-workers had a set of ear plugs. She laughed and said it wouldn't be the first time they'd had a baby scream so they understood. I don't think she really did. This is Cate. Not just some baby. Anyway, I went and found a seat and sat there and prayed for about five minutes straight for the power to come back on so we could get moving. And low and behold about 30 seconds later the lights flickered and we were good to go. I said "thank you JESUS" out loud before I realized it and turned to see everyone staring at me. And I couldn't have cared less!

Pictures from waiting for Cate to go into surgery....everything is always a family affair and I've always got my camera....I just can't help myself! Poor little Cate looks pitiful here, but at least she wasn't screaming!