What a difference a year makes!

It was a year ago today that Ken and I went looking for fall colours.  I wanted a pregnant picture - even though I didn't look very pregnant yet!  I can't remember what we talked about as we walked but I remember it was a beautiful day.

Yesterday was a beautiful fall day.  After church we went for a walk down by the pond.  It's funny to think about pregnant me from a year ago, it's funny to think that I didn't know it was Kate.  And now that she's here it's getting harder to remember life without her.  I'm so happy that I get to be Kate's mom.

Kate's First Thanksgiving

 I meant to take a picture of Kate eating Thanksgiving dinner however that didn't quite happen.  So here's my little pumpkin all turkeyed out, even though she didn't really eat that much turkey, she was more interested in carrots.

I'm so thankful for my family - for Ken and for Kate, and for my parents and sister and brothers.  I'm so thankful for the gospel of Jesus Christ and the peace it brings to my life.  I'm so thankful to live in Canada.  I'm thankful for year long maternity leaves.  I'm thankful for beautiful fall colours.  And right now I'm thankful for pumpkin cheesecake - yay Ken!

Kate is Nine Months Old

 My sweet Kate!

Kate enjoying some light reading before breakfast.

Enjoying yummy yogurt and apple sauce.

She often puts her foot up and I find it very cute - of course I think most things she does are cute...

She likes to put her fingers in her food.

After breakfast we took a nap, I showered, we ate lunch and then went to the library for books and babies.  It was a glorious, delicious, beautiful day and after books and babies we went on a walk.

This is Kate and Marisol.  Marisol is the daughter of Michelle.  We met at Kindermusik.  I finally have a Tottenham friend - YAY!!

We parted ways and Kate enjoyed a nap.

My sweet babe.

After her nap I did dishes and she played in her exersaucer - after nursing of course.

Then I let her feed herself cottage cheese and pears.  She made a moderately good sized mess.

Then she played with her toys - I like this action shot - mid scoot.

Then Ken came home so I could blog!  Yay for Daddy time!

There you have it, a day in the life of nine month old Kate.

If you look really hard...

If you look really hard - or even better, double click on the photo and you can see one of her teeth.  So far there are three, although two of them are still only partially out!

Kate and the Bear

Watch the bear...






































... it is shrinking!

Who does she look like?

My first response to this question used to be, she looks like my baby pictures. However as time passes and more and more people tell me their opinions I'm finding that my opinion is changing. It seems that people that know me better tell me that she looks like me, and if someone knows Ken better, then she looks like him. Aside from the fact that she is Kate, and she looks like Kate, I'm starting to answer, she's a good combination of the two of us!

Discoveries

Lately Kate has been crawling over to the laundry room when I go in to do laundry. Tonight she sat and watched the laundry in the washing machine. She also stood and watched the laundry. I'm not sure but I think she was trying to figure out how to play with the water.



















But, most scary discovery of today... stairs! Thankfully she hasn't quite figured out how to climb them... yet!

300,000

Today was a momentous day for Petunia. It was a moment that I had intended to share with my sweet Ken, however it was not to be... we shared 100,000, but that's another story**.

Monday started out with a visit to Ruth Plumb. I took the scenic route through Kettleby and then south on Keele, determined to have a beautiful drive to accompany such significant event. I even phoned Ken but there were still 42 kms to go. I had my camera at the ready to capture the historic instant, but as I got closer to Ruth's I realized it wouldn't occur quite yet.

After a lovely lunch and visit I travelled on to my Mom and Dad's, camera still at the ready. This picture was taken two kilometres from their house. Can you feel the excitement?















This is the street we were driving on, Green Lane, just west of Leslie.














Kate was in the back seat, so excited... however you can't see her face in the rearview mirror, just the camera, sad... but I was driving... I mean the photographer was terrible!



















Here I am, can't you just see the enthusiasm bursting out of me?














It was 2:11 p.m.














TA DA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!














**Back in 2002, at the end of another fun date with Ken I noticed that the odometer was at 99,960 km. We both thought it would be fun to drive around until we hit 100,000. Forty kilmetres isn't far we thought, and that is true, however forty kilometres is far when you are in Friday evening traffic, downtown Toronto. To be fair it wasn't rush hour, but it was cruising hour. We drove and we drove, we didn't know where to go and the kilometres slowly turned. I don't even remember where we were when we finally got to 100,000 but I do know that our patience was wearing thin and the fun was gone and it was just mostly stupid! Now 200,000 kilometres later I was driving around the country side (near our house that we own - well mostly the bank owns it but you know) with our daughter. I love you Ken. Here's to the next 200,000 kilometres, I love sharing the road with you!