Kate has become quite the little smiler and she smiles and giggles away right now. Whenever she's in a dress, like below, Jana and I are struck by how weird it is to see a baby Mark in a dress. Kate still has very little hair, but she does bald pretty well. It's like seeing what I could look like in forty years!
Being the second child, Kate doesn't always get as much attention as Drew did, but she'll happily lie on the floor after a diaper change or feeding and chat away.
Whenever we think Kate is getting bigger, I hold her for a little while and next to me she looks tiny! She is growing and putting on weight, but she's definitely not a very big baby. We'll have another doctor's appointment for Kate in the next couple weeks and we're very curious about her weight and height.
I don't have a great picture of it yet, but after months of putting it off, I've finally got Kate's room somewhat ready for her. We're excited that she's got her own room and that we can start getting her settled into it. Jana and I took over our guest bedroom, which required some new paint before the move, and with that completed, we gave Kate our bedroom and we moved to the guest bedroom. If anyone wants to visit us now, they get to sleep on an air mattress!
Here is Kate in the bathtub with the washcloth to protect her modesty. Kate loves being in the bath, but she does NOT like getting out. She'll smile and coo and laugh while in the bathtub, but then howl like we're hurting her when it's time to get out. Once her clothes are on, she settles back down again, but it's pretty amusing how much she doesn't like that transition.
Drew loves to "help" with Kate's bath. He helps with washing her feet and with supervising the bath process. Drew usually enjoys his bath, so it's been fun to see how excited he gets about Kate's baths.
The other week my parents rented a cottage and Jana took Kate and Drew up to spend a few days there. I came up later in the week. Drew was very excited about going to a cottage again, which must mean that his experience was good earlier this summer when our family rented a cottage. Uncle Todd and his girlfriend, Kelli, were at the cottage too and in the picture below Todd is reading to Drew. Grandma Sue brought up some books for Drew and within the few days he was there he had the names of all the books learned and a lot of the stories memorized. It's fascinating how quickly kids pick stuff up at Drew's age! Thanks to Jana for most of these pictures. I usually take a lot of the pictures, but with me being back in Lansing, Jana picked up the slack for me.
Grandma Sue was very excited that her granddaughter came to the cottage for a visit and Kate spent a lot of time with grandma.
Grandpa Bill and Uncle Todd were very excited about beginning to teach Drew how to fish. Grandpa Bill found some worms and they caught some bluegill for Drew.
Drew also had to try out the seats in the fishing boat. If you look carefully, you can see the fish that Todd is showing.
Whenever Drew was down by the docks he wore his life jacket. He did a nice job of keeping his lifejacket on and he hardly noticed it while he had it on.
Drew takes his nap in the afternoon, so beach time was in the morning. The beach had a little stream flowing into Lake Michigan, and Drew enjoyed playing in the water of the stream and Lake Michigan.
Below Drew is running through the water of the stream. He likes to go around with that rake, doesn't he?
This particular morning the lake was very calm and Drew marched right in. In order to protect Drew's fair skin from the sun we continue to encourage him to wear his hat and keep his shirt on. Just like with his life jacket, he tolerates both those requests pretty well.
It looks like Kelli managed to sneak in some time holding Kate. Kate's a very nice size for holding and demand is high (and there's only one Kate to go around).
Drew will probably be embarrassed someday by these pictures of him in his diaper, but we think they're pretty cute. He wanted to go in the water by Uncle Todd and who needs a bathing suit when you've got on a diaper?
Drew's diaper quickly absorbed a lot of water, as you can see in this picture. I like how his soggy diaper contrasts with how long and leggy he's getting.
See, Kate got passed around from person to person. Grandpa Bill got in a turn holding her too, but I think Grandma Sue managed to get the most turns! When we got her home Kate had to adjust to not being held because Jana and I don't have the time to hold her all day long.
Another day at the beach and in this picture you can see how big the stream is that flows into the lake. The water was much colder in the stream than in the lake, but this day was windy, so the water was a lot calmer for Drew in the stream. He wades around in the water like it's no big deal.
To get him more comfortable putting his head in the water, Drew was encouraged to blow bubbles in the water. It was pretty cute to watch him lean over carefully to put his face in the water.
After a little while at the beach, Drew got tired and was very cuddly. It was so cute and unusual for him because most often he is on the go. Jana didn't seem to mind holding her boy!
Grandma Sue enjoyed the use of the kayak at the cottage and on this occasion Drew went for a short ride with her (in about a foot of water). Drew thought it was pretty cool to be in the kayak with grandma.
Drew was happy and content riding along in the kayak.
We continue to work on getting Drew to smile nicely for pictures. Often he'll have his eyes closed or a goofy look on his face, but every once in a while he gives us a nice smile for the camera.
Drew got in the water again and was enjoying wading around and splashing the water.
There isn't a story to go with this picture, I just liked it and decided to share it with you!
Drew asked Uncle Todd if he would join him in the water. Uncle Todd picked him up and spun him around in the water while Drew squealed with delight.
Drew also got on his back in the water and kicked. He's not a swimmer yet, but he's starting to get more comfortable in the water. We're now starting to look for more opportunities to get him in the water because up until now it hasn't been something we've emphasized.
That's the end of the cottage pictures and now I'll move on to the next big event, which was a visit to Battle Creek with Uncle Todd. Jana, Kate, and I drove him down to Battle Creek, and he spent the night at Uncle Todd's apartment! Our most important visit of our trip down to Battle Creek? . . . Going to Uncle Todd's fire station!!
The first time he visited the fire station Drew was cautious around the fire rescue, but this time he clambered all over it. It was hard to get Drew to sit still for a picture!
Drew was all over every seat in the fire rescue, driving the fire rescue, and climbing on the back. It was fun to see how much more comfortable he was in the fire station.
Look at our little boy taking off! He was much more independent and wandered all around the fire rescue. In case you missed my first post on the fire station, Todd works in a fire station that uses a fire rescue. It has ladders, tools, hoses, and a pump in it. The rescue itself is gorgeous and is full of cool compartments for all the tools.
Since the last time we visited, Uncle Todd got his own turnouts (B.C.F.D. T AUPPERLEE). We thought it was very neat to see his name on the jacket. By the way, Todd's "pants" are hanging down there because they were all wet from a fire!
Todd took out a nozzle to show Drew (and me and Jana). We had fun checking out the gear and tools on the rescue.
Firefighters do lots of practicing and these cars were used for them to practice vehicle extractions. The car on the left Todd used tools to remove the roof. They peeled it off like a sardine can top. The minivan on the right was upside down to simulate an extraction from a vehicle that had rolled over. We were all impressed.
After spending the night at Uncle Todd's apartment in Battle Creek, Todd and Kelli took Drew to the Binder Park Zoo. What fun!!
Drew got to see lots of wild animals, and one of the best areas of the park was the wild Africa area. You can barely make out a zebra and a giraffe in the background.
Drew also got to drive a safari jeep (not for real, don't worry!). As any of you who regularly read about Drew know, he loves all things mechanical, so he thoroughly enjoyed driving the jeep.
Drew loves to drive anything with wheels. Actually, he enjoyed steering Grandpa John's sailboat, so I guess he probably loves to drive ANYTHING. One of his favorite things to do is sit in our driveway and "drive" our car. I sit in the passenger seat and he "drives" me to Home Depot and Meijer and church. Whoever thought to put this jeep out for kids to get in is brilliant!
Drew walked some, got to go for a ride on Uncle Todd's shoulders, and saw the zoo from a stroller. There was a lot to see!
Drew liked watching the monkeys and saying "Hi you!" to them. Apparently, he was quite vocal in greeting some of the animals.
The highlight of a trip to the Binder Park Zoo: feeding the giraffes. They come right up to this deck and you can feed them biscuit/cracker things. You can tell that they're used to being fed there, can't you?
Drew got in on the action and fed the giraffes himself. I'm impressed because those giraffes are pretty big!
Look at the size of the head on that giraffe! Drew looks tiny in comparison, doesn't he?!
Drew also got to go in with the goats. They look like they're all coming to nibble on him, don't they?
Backtracking to the cottage, here is a video of Drew in the water. It's not all that exciting, but it gives you an idea of how comfortable he was running around in Lake Michigan.After getting some pictures of Drew feeding the giraffes at the zoo, he didn't want to cooperate for Todd and Kelli on a video at first. However, they returned to the giraffes and Drew did a nice job of feeding them again for a video. Aren't the tongues on the giraffes amazing?
This ends one of my longest posts in a while. Phew!! I need to take a rest after all that work.
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