Zoo

I got to check one more item off my list of New Year's Resolutions today when Mommy and Daddy took me to the zoo!

Actually, Mommy and Daddy took their Little Brother (from Big Brothers Big Sisters) to the zoo and let me come along for the ride. As evidenced in the following pictures, I was mesmerized by all the sights and sounds of the zoo. There was no looking at the camera for me! (Just in case you're wondering, Mommy did get permission to post our Little Brother's pic.)

He looks tiny in this picture, but that lion behind us sure did have one big roar! We heard him roaring lots today.

We had perfect zoo weather today! I even got to bust out my sunscreen and this super cutie sun hat.

Daddy was a little disappointed with our combined weight. He really did not expect to weigh as much as 40.5 chickens. That a lot of bawk, bawks!

Mommy just notified me that we somehow managed to miss every primate but the gorilla. Guess we'll have to plan another trip to the zoo soon!

Collections

This week's Show Us Your Life feature on Kelly's Korner is centered around collections. We have quite a few of those in our house!

As most of you know, I collect bows. Big bows, feather bows, flower bows, medium bows, korker bows, and (a few) small bows.

What isn't so well known is that I also collect children's literature.
Here we have my shelf of board books.

And this is my shelf of big girl, non-board books. For some reason, this shelf is out of my reach.
There are boxes and boxes of more big girl books in our attic. They used to live in Mommy's classroom, but she brought them home at the end of last school year. When I get a little bit bigger, they will join me in the house. I'm not sure where Mommy is going to put all of them, though. There are quite literally over 1,000 books up there!

My Mommy, along with about 75% of the Mommy population, enjoys collecting Willow Tree figurines. She normally doesn't have all of the figurines in one spot, though. They are spread out throughout our living area. Mommy remembers the giver of and story behind each figurine!

The next collection is one Mommy and Daddy have worked on together. It may be a rather small collection of crosses, but it serves as a constant reminder of the sacrifice that purchased our freedom from sin.
At first, Mommy and I didn't think Daddy had his own collection to add to this post. As we were cleaning the house this week, though, we started noticing these all over the place.
This guy loves his remotes! Daddy insisted that his iPhone be included in this collection, since he has an application that allows him to use it as a remote.

Well, that about covers the collections of the Bug family. Unless you want to count dust, dirt, and diapers as collections...in that case, we could go on and on!

Ultrasound Results and My New Toy

This morning, Mommy had an ultrasound of the lump in her right breast. As soon as the tech saw the spot on the monitor she said, "Oh, it's just a cyst!" Mommy and Daddy were super relieved.

It is actually one cyst with a septation (dividing wall), so it looks like two cysts. Because of the septation, the tech asked the radiologist to take a look at the ultrasound results. He said it wasn't problematic at all, and Mommy doesn't need to worry about a mammogram until she's 35.

Big thanks to all of our family and friends who were praying for Mommy and Daddy this past week!

While my parents were at the hospital this morning, I was hanging out with Poppy at my house. Since it was such a beautiful day outside, Poppy decided that it was time for him to buy the bicycle seat he's been wanting to get for me. Daddy and I are going to have a blast with this thing!

Don't worry... Daddy didn't do much riding with me since I don't have a helmet yet. We just rode enough to make sure the seat fit and to snap a few pics. This weekend, we're going to hit up a bicycle shop in our area to try on a few toddler helmets. Once we find the helmet for me, Daddy and I are going to ride like the wind!

Big Doggy!

I got to meet a real big doggy tonight! Most people would say that Remus is only a medium dog... but compared to the Miniature Yorkie and Chorkie that live at my house, he is a giant!

Remus' owners, Phil and Brenda, had my family over tonight. After a yummy dinner and dessert (in which I was given my first taste of ice cream!), the four grown-ups played a game of Wii bowling. I loved watching Mommy and Daddy swing those white sticks. They looked so funny!

Unfortunately, Wii time had to be cut short when I made it abundantly clear that I was ready for bed. I take my sleep very seriously!

Movie Monday

You can't tell from these videos, but I was a real Kate-a -saurus today! I'm still fever free, but not yet back in true Katie Bug form.
"Aunt" Tara says it took Preston a good 10 days to get back to normal after his MMR...so maybe tomorrow will be my magical day!

One of my better moments today. I am a dancing queen.

Playing and reading with Daddy. If you're not one of my Grands, I apologize in advance for boring you to death.

This one is actually from last week, but I wanted to show off my mad signing skills.

I also know the signs for 'diaper', 'water', and 'please'.

Obviously, 'book' and 'cat' need a little more work.

Sunday Best

I am pleased to inform you that MMR vaccine fallout appears to be over! My body no longer feels like it's on fire, the sparkle is back in my eyes, and I am once again capable of being out of the arms of Mommy/Daddy for longer than 30 seconds.

Today was our church's annual Missions' Banquet, so I decided to wear my Thai outfit to morning worship. Grammy Joy bought this pantset for me when she visited Thailand in May of 2008. Joy didn't even know that Mommy was (barely) pregnant when she left for Thailand, but she did have an inkling that a baby Moss would be on the way soon. I sure am glad she acted on that inkling when she saw this outfit!

Mommy thought we could get away with forgoing the bow this morning. Not the brightest idea when I'm wearing all blue, let me tell you! Mommy was holding me in the church foyer when someone asked, "Where's your little girl today?"
Hmm, guess we should stick with the bows for a while yet.

Mommy really wanted to take a family pic after service, but I just wasn't in the mood.

Notice what made its way onto my head?

I did a wardrobe change for the banquet tonight. Here you have Mimi and I modeling our Mongolian finery.

These clothes came from Baby Karsyn's grandparents, who serve as missionaries in Mongolia. They gave me some Mongolian boots, too, but since my feet have grown at a much faster rate than the rest of my body they had to stay at home.

Mommy got a good laugh out of this scene. Danielle and Auntie were mixing (coffee) drinks at a church banquet!
Seriously, though, our family loves the fact that we are part of a very missions minded church. We support over 50 missionaries/missions organizations in the US and countries around the world. About 20 of those missionaries came right out of our own congregation! Every year our Missions Banquet serves as a reminder for us to support our missionary family through prayer, meet their personal and ministry needs through our financial giving, and ask God how we can further partner with them in expanding His kingdom.

Rough Day

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and He will make your paths straight.
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
Proverbs 3:5-8

This has been one.rough.day for Mommy and me. Here, in a nutshell, is why:

1. Mommy's (new) Ob/Gyn found a lump in her right breast. Given Mommy's age, Dr. Watson is fairly confident that it isn't anything serious...most likely related to lactating. Mommy is waiting on a phone call from the radiologist to schedule a sonogram for a closer look.

2. My body is not liking the MMR vaccine I was given last week. Dr. Hull warned Mommy and Daddy that kiddos often respond to the MMR with a high temp 7-10 days after the vaccine is administered. My temp was nearly 103 tonight. Motrin has been my good friend.

3. Apparently, I am allergic to Boudreaux's Butt Paste. We ran out of Desitin a few days ago, so Mommy decided to use up some BBP she was given during her pregnancy. The result? A bright red, splotchy, bumpy circle right on my bumbie. Of course, when Mommy noticed it yesterday she thought it was just a diaper rash. So she slathered more BBP on it. Thank goodness Mimi and Auntie were able to shed some light on this situation before it got any worse!

Lest I leave you with too bleak a picture of our day, though, I must tell you that there was one bright spot. Mommy, Auntie, and I met up with Cooper and Kelly at Abby's Playtown! This was the first time for Cooper and Auntie to meet each other, but they hit it off right away.

Cooper and I enjoyed playing in the bitty baby area, watching big kids fly down the Step 2 roller coaster, and taking our own turn at the wheel.

I wasn't much of a (play)date, however. I think my fever was starting to rise about 20 minutes after we arrived at Playtown, because I entered one of those dreaded "everything I do and see makes me cry" zones. That's when Mommy decided it was time to go home.

The rest of the day was pretty much spent like this.

Snuggle time + singing hyms = instant comfort

Daddy/Daughter Day

Daddy and I had a fun Daddy/Daughter Day today while Mommy subbed at her old school.

Look at this cutie outfit Daddy picked out all by himself!
He would like the record to show that I would have been wearing my skinny jeans, had he known that I own a pair.(I'm sure as you look at this picture you're thinking, "That sure is a cutie outfit...but the back of Bug's hair is cuh-razy!" Well, you're absolutely right. It is cuh-razy. But that's not Daddy's fault. No one in my family has been able to tame that beast.)

Here I am chomping on some chicken, cheese, rice, beans, and one teeny piece of tomato at Freebirds. Daddy wanted to order the Super Monster burrito for me, but I convinced him that I needed to work my way up to that one.

Things Daddy and I accomplished during our DDD:
Played in my nursery
Read books
Bought a huge box of diapers from Babies R Us (the 10th box is free at BRU, so we buy our dipes from there)
Ate lunch at Freebirds
Bought K-cups for Daddy's coffe pot at Bed, Bath, and Beyond
Opened the front windows of our house for better Crime Watch patrol
Went on a wagon ride
Made dinner (okay, that was all Daddy)
Chainsawed the huge branches we lost during last week's snow fall so the city will pick them up (all Daddy, again)
Kept the house looking as good as it did when Mommy left in the morning

With accomplishments like these, I'm willing to bet that Mommy is looking forward to the next DDD!

Bottle Bowling

Since Mommy is staying at home with me this year, she has been trying to save money by thinking of creative ways to repurpose items our family no longer uses.

Daddy has apparently been in the same frame of mind, because this evening he thought of a new purpose for my old baby bottles.

Not Me Monday!

This is my first foray into MckMama's world of "Not Me" Mondays. I thought everyone in my family had a "not me" moment or two this week, so sharing just seemed like the right thing to do.

I'll spill Mommy's beans first: It is not Mommy who has left up my birthday party decorations for over a week. She would never put off undecorating for that long! She knows exactly what she is going to do with the monthday pics, paper lanterns, and photo banners she put up around the house last weekend, so they all came down a loooong time ago.

And as for Daddy...he certainly does not care about the Winter Olympics. Seeing as he doesn't care for this every-four-years event, he did not put me in my Bumbo so that he could feed me dinner in front of the TV tonight while Mommy attended a meeting. Nope, that was not my Daddy!

And me? Well, I did not pull the cover off the photo book that Daddy gave Mommy for their anniversary 3.5 years ago. I am always super gentle with everything my little hands touch, so that could not have been done by me.

I also did not force my Daddy to add this piece of hardware to the kitchen pantry.

Since my little hands do not touch things after the first time I hear Mommy and Daddy say "No", this was a completely unnecessary precaution.

Sunday Best

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope your day was filled with as much love as mine. As soon as Mommy and I pulled into the parking lot at church today, I was greeted with this handmade Valentine from Preston and Ian.
I see Mommy smile every time she glances at this guy. She has promised to keep it in a safe place until I'm old enough to safegaurd it myself. Won't this be a great piece of memorabilia to pull out when Ian and I graduate from high school in 2028 ? I can already see the tears in Mommy's eyes!

Speaking of tears in mommy's eyes, take a look at this picture from Valentine's Day 2009. What a difference a year makes!

Here's another pic from last Valentine's Day.

Uncle B and Aunt Di had stopped by our house to see me on this day of love. They were talking about how special it is to be a parent, when Mommy shared (with tears in her eyes) that she hadn't been prepared for the feelings of love she was greeted with as a new mom. Her heart almost stopped beating (and the tears nearly became a tsunami) when Aunt Di told her that the way she felt about me right then was the way she'd always feel about me. Mommy just wasn't sure she could handle a lifetime of such intense emotions!

I'm happy to say that one year later, Mommy is even more in love with me than she was when I was only ten days old. She is, however, learning to balance the heart crushing adoration with laughter inducing moments like these:

I mean, seriously, who can keep a straight face when faced with such adorable laziness?

When all was said and done, our little corner of the world received one foot of snow in a 24 hour period. That's more than we've ever had in that amount of time!

Our neighborhood woke up to a beautiful mess yesterday morning. There were big 'ol tree branches everywhere.

Daddy had to take a saw to this guy. He spent quite a bit of time chopping him up so that he could get him out of the street.
He also discovered that his New Balance tennis shoes are not water proof.

Once Daddy made the street clear for motorists, he grabbed a shovel and headed back to our driveway (after changing into his waterproof Columbias, of course). He shoveled and shoveled so that we could make it to our lunch date at La Calle Doce with our friend, Charity.

Charity teaches English in China, but she was able to come home for a nice two week break. She is one of the sweetest people I have met ever, ever, ever in my long legged life.

She even let me cuddle on her shoulder when nap time was approaching!

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me the News...

Even though we had a major "snow storm" here yesterday, our little family did manage to make it to the pediatrician's office for my 12 month well-baby visit.

This is the second time we have been in the Solar System room, so I think I've just about got all of the planets memorized (in order).

After measuring, weighing, and plotting my stats on the growth curve chart, the pedi confirmed Mommy and Daddy's suspicions about my size: I am one skinny minny.

I measured 30.75 iches long and weighed 17 pounds, 15.5 ounces. That puts me in the 90th percentile for length and 6th percentile for weight. At first, Dr. Hull seemed a teeny bit concerned about my weight. Once she checked my current stats against my past stats, though, she reassured my parents that I was A-OK.

On a completely different note, take a look at what's been happening with the ends of my hair.

Mommy would be more than thrilled if these little curls turned into big curls. She kind of knows what to do with curly hair, but is more than lost when it comes to syling the straight stuff!

Let it Snow, Let it Snow!

We have had a beautiful day around here! Take a look at what I woke up to this morning.

This photo was taken at 7:30 in the morning, and the snow didn't let up until the sun went down. By the end of the day, the Dallas area had accumulated about 9 inches of snow!

At first Mommy wasn't sure she wanted to brave the great outdoors with me, so she brought a snowball inside for me to play with instead. I had fun breaking it apart and eating it piece by piece!
By the afternoon, Mommy decided she couldn't keep me indoors all day long. She really didn't want me to get soaking wet, though, so she asked Daddy if he could fashion a snowsuit out of a trashbag. If you know Daddy, then you know he didn't have to be asked twice!
Once I slipped on my onesie, socks, tights, fleece pants, fleece jacket with hood, winter coat with hood, pink wool mittens, and designer snowsuit, I was ready to go! Too bad I didn't know what I was supposed to be doing in this fluffy, white stuff.

I crawled around in the snow a bit while Mommy and Daddy practiced rolling and throwing snowballs. About 30 seconds into their snowball fight, they turned around and saw me leaning up against the fence, as still as can be.

We spent some time warming up inside, then headed back out for a few quick pics.

How funny are these snowmen in Mexican football jerseys?

Apparently, our neighbors enjoyed the snow day every bit as much as the three of us!

Broader Horizons

After a 2.5 month hiatus, Mommy and I finally made it back to Baby Bookworms story time at the library. We met Kelly and Cooper there for some reading fun!
It just so happens that yesterday's BB theme was "Red", so I was certainly dressed the part. The librarian taught us a finger play called "Five Red Robins" and read two very clever books. The books were titled A Lemon is Not Red and Red Truck. After teaching kindergarten for 6 years, Mommy thought she was familiar with just about every color book known to (English-speaking) man. Boy, was she wrong! Mommy had never even heard of these two books...or most of the other red-themed books that were on display. Way to broaden your horizons, Mommy!

And speaking of broadened horizons, take a look at what I have been introduced to this week.
Yup, that's real cow's milk in my sippy! I've got to be honest and tell you that I'm not completely sold on this stuff yet.

So far, Mommy has only forced it upon me in place of one of our regular nursing sessions. Her plan was to drop one nursing every few days, but at the rate I'm going it's gonna take a whooole lot longer than she initially intended. And if this video is any indication of things to come, it's gonna take a whole lot more outfit changes, too.

Sunday Best (one day late)

I was all fru-frued up again yesterday morning. This cutie dress was a gift from one of Mommy's students last year.

Ian and I have already figured out that platform play is one of the joys of being a pastor's kid. As soon as the worship service was over, we hightailed it up those maroon carpeted steps!
We checked out "Uncle" Oscar's guitar gear...

and peeked in on Preston playing in the drum cage (he's got a few years of platform experience on us).
This is Ian's "attack mode". He loves to tackle me, confiscate my bows, and tug on my little red locks. I don't mind at all, though! Daddy already told me that's how boys act when they think a girl is pretty.

The After Party

My friends and family showered me with many fabulous toys, books, and clothes at my birthday party. Even before the wrapping paper had settled, though, this was what I wanted to play with most!

When all the partiers had gone home, I discovered that I can craw quicker than Mommy can clean. This is a very practical skill when there are cake crumbs on the floor, I tell ya'!
When Mommy got tired of party clean-up, she and I took a break in my ladybug tent. Can you believe my Mommy forgot to put this super cutie diaper cover on me when I dove into my smash cake?

Oh well...maybe I can wear them to all of the first birthday parties I have yet to attend this year (under a dress, of course).