11 Months of Life!

Dear Kacie Jean,

11 MONTHS!!??!!??!!

That's a long time.

You are so spunky these days.

You love Minnie Mouse! Especially grandma's giant Minnie Mouse.

You move a lot and constantly… making it difficult to get a good picture of you with the sign in place!

You poop in the bath almost every time.

It's awesome.

Except when grandpa bathed you. You didn't poop for him.

While we were in AZ you really perfected your walking skills. You are basically running now! And you mastered climbing up the stairs, just not going back down. 

You really are happy most of the time.

You still aren't clapping, but you are starting to recognize your own body. It is really fun to see you understand that you have control over your hands and feet.

Your hair is still just getting longer on the top. I'm not sure when we will see the sides get longer. That hair is veeeeery sloooowly growing.

But that's ok because your little top ponytails are adorable.

Everyone comments on them anywhere that we go!

You do love to run around in your diaper and luckily in AZ it was warm enough that you could!

Your smile and laugh are the best thing. It is so wonderful to see you happy. You like to put smaller objects into bigger ones, you know, motor skills and stuff.

You enjoy dancing and that is the best thing to watch. Just bobbing up and down and waving your arms around like a crazy person!

We love you so much and continue to enjoy watching you grow!

Love,

M&D

The Final Days

Dear Kacie,

Our time in AZ is coming to an end at this point.

You really had a great time with your Grandparents, aunts and uncles!

One night we put you in a hamper and you LOVED it! You were shaking the edges and smiling and we pulled you around and you were laughing!

One afternoon I laid on my bed and let you explore our room.

You had a great time!

This is you smiling with your mess all over the floor!

I got Uncle Jerm a sugar cookie for watching you one night. You kept trying to steal it from him.

Luckily he gave you your own bite of it and you guys bonded over that!

You really enjoyed sitting on the recliner by yourself.

This is you Skyping with dad and giving him kisses.

Aunt Ang and I got to go to the temple. It was wonderful to spend some time with her. It was also awesome because we got to go in the Gilbert temple that just opened earlier this year.

Hanging out with grandma

Skyping with dad

The night before we went home we got some Gecko Grill.

It. Was. Amazing.

Then we had a mustache party!

And after our party, we attacked grandpa with our mustaches.

You were asleep during all of that, but we had a great time!

I love seeing these flowers in my parents bathroom. These are from your Aunt Angela's wedding and me and dads weddings. They have been hanging in there for so long!

It was so hard to leave (but also we were ready). This was the morning we were leaving. You cuddled right up next to grandma. It was heart breaking to have to pull you away!

Uncle Jerm and Aunt Aub took us to the airport and made sure we got to the gate ok.

Then we sat by the window and waited for our plane to arrive.

I was so ready to see your dad again!

You, of course, did great on the plane again.

You're just perfect.

Love,

Mom & Dad

First Swim!

Dear Kacie,

One thing that was kind of lame in AZ was that we were sharing a room and I didn't have the video monitor. So I couldn't check up on you during nap time and I couldn't do anything in the room after the lights were out!

The good thing though was that I got to wake up to this!

It was so cute to watch you peer over the edge of your crib looking for me!

Grandpa and Uncle Jerm were trying to fix a broken plug and you were just helping them out

You really like to run away from us after we take off your diaper!

Grandpa was just admiring his work...

Me and Uncle Jerm

One morning we went in to grandma's room while she was laying in bed. You discovered her nightstand drawer and all the fun things inside of it!

You got into one of the cupboards in the kitchen and pulled out a glass vase. It fell and shattered on the ground. You managed to pick up a piece of glass before I got you (and I was standing right next to you) and you cut your finger and got blood on your cute dress!

So you were watching baby einstein (of course) and sitting on grandma's lap. She was scratching your back and then stopped. You reached back and put her hand back on your back. She would scratch and then stop and you would lift it up again. It was soooo cute and another one of those really smart moments!

When we got to AZ I told everyone that your motto is "If it's not on the floor than it should be." Because you like to set everything on the floor.

Daddy let us take you swimming for the first time without him there. We had to run to the store to get swim diapers and I saw this swim cap. We obviously had to try it on you, even though we didn't get it!

Side note: When did my sister become so old!!??!!?!?!?!

We had such a fun time with your aunts (and Uncle Greg for a minute - he made dinner)

Your little ruffle bum!

And you loved the pool! It took a few minutes to get you into it but you did eventually!

Towards the end we got you in all the way up to your waist!

We Skyped daddy for a few minutes so he could see you your first time swimming. He LOVED it because he loves swimming too!

And he loves you!

Love,

Mom and Dad