jean skirt and sandals

Kate has been enjoying her newfound freedom with walking around and she's climbing up things and into things. The other day Jana captured this picture of Kate after she hopped into one of our storage bins and was playing in it in the living room. We finished up celebrating Kate's birthday with Jana's family this past weekend. We've thoroughly celebrated Kate turning one now! :) Upon arriving at Grandma Lynn and Grandpa John's house, Drew immediately went to find the toys. Kate joined him in taking the balls and putting them down the ramps. They did a great job of each having a ball and sharing this toy.

Kate rocked her jean skirt and sandals for the occassion. She has started to shoot up lately and she's thinning out a bit as she gets taller. She's looking more and more like a little girl and less like a baby! We love this new picture of her.

Kate enjoyed this little rocking chair. All day she was getting up on it and getting down and getting up and getting down. It was the perfect height for her to explore without us having to worry about her tumbling off it.

Drew helped us open Kate's presents. He did a very good job of understanding that it was Kate's birthday and the presents were hers. It helped that he got one puzzle present of his own!

Kate was most interested in a clothes hanger and the tissue paper from her presents. She's real tough to shop for.

Kate's little hair-deficient head will be protected this summer at the beach in this new hat. She did very well with keeping it on, but we'll have to see if that happens outside.

Kate sat in this chair for stretches of time like a big girl and looked around the room at us like, "What are we talking about guys? I'm just sitting here listening. Talk to me."

We distracted Kate with a little book when her cake came out. She did a great job of checking it out and not touching it (while the candle was lit).

Kate enjoyed our clapping after singing Happy Birthday and blowing out the candle.

Kate was stylin' in her coat tonight after we got home from daycare. She loves to climb up Drew's little steps and to play on them. As she gets more mobile we have to keep an eye on her because she's fearless!

Drew and Kate did a great job of playing together. We continue to be thrilled with how well Drew interacts with Kate. He does a great job of sharing toys with her, even with navigating the new situation this first birthday with Kate getting presents that are hers and not his. He's never had to watch someone else get toys that aren't his, but that he may play with if Kate isn't using them. Both of them will take turns getting toys for each other. What fun!

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!! This past weekend we took many pictures, so I'm going to share quite a few of them. Everyone is healthy in our family (for now) and we enjoyed our health-filled weekend with the kids.

On Saturday we were in Grand Rapids to celebrate Kate's birthday with my side of the family. At my parents' house Drew and Kate both gravitate to the fireplace and set up all their toys there. Now that Kate is mobile, they cross paths and play around each other all the time. That mostly goes well! In this picture you can see Kate's barrette, which was held in place by her wisps of hair. Jana found the smallest barrette available and I thought about adding a little super glue to get it to stay in place (just kidding).

Kate took a seat on Great-grandma's lap for present opening. I think she was looking past the card at this point trying to figure out why she wasn't opening the present yet.

Kate was thrilled with her new shopping cart. She immediately took off across the room pushing it around as we all watched with amusement.

Kate's shopping cart had some condiments in it, and Kate immediately tried them out . . . by putting them in her mouth.

Kate's play continues to get more and more appropriate. She knows that the mustard has to be turned in the right direction and that you squeeze to get it out. She's watching everything and soaking it up!

Kate enjoys standing next to this rocking chair. Our theory is that she enjoys the height of it and the instability. It presents more of a challenge than a solid object. Kate continues to be a nicely solid little girl and we enjoyed her slimming black leggings. This past week Kate had her one year doctor's visit and she continues to develop well. She's dropped off a little in weight and now weighs 21 pounds 1 oz and she is 29 inches tall. Kate is very average: about the 50th percentile for height and for weight.

Grandma Sue had hard boiled some eggs, which Drew helped her color and decorate. Drew's eyes lit up and the mention of a project!

This is Kate in her Easter dress from church this morning. She got a purse for her birthday, and she's holding the cell phone from it in her hand (that will be in more pictures). Kate wore a pink and white dress with flowers, a pink cardigan sweater, a barrette in her hair, and her new silver sandals (they have flowers on them too). I had the privilege of dressing Kate this morning, and it was surprisingly fun to put our little girl in a dress!

We got such a kick out of Kate wandering around her in dress. We don't wear dresses around our house all that often, so this was a special occassion!

Hello? Hello? Kate likes to talk on her cell phone. Someday we're going to have to be wary of that!

Jana tried to pose Kate for this picture and she immediately tossed off her sandal. As I mentioned, we don't do dressed up very often!

We had fun this afternoon romping around in the living room with Kate and Drew. Jana took most of these pictures of Kate, and Kate cooperated very well. Drew, on the other hand, didn't want to be photographed, so we didn't get many pictures of him. He was also very cute, but not willing to pose for pictures!

Kate chilled in the living room making some calls to her friends. She was getting tired and ready for her nap, but she couldn't put down the phone.

This afternoon we had an Easter egg hunt for Drew and Kate. Kate got into the eggs first and ate the Cheerios and Goldfish crackers she had in hers.

Kate needed another dress after a little leakage problem, so we pulled out another pink dress for her. She hunted Easter eggs in this dress.

Kate was pretty excited about finding Easter eggs. Look, she's getting hair (and it likes to stick up sometimes). Even mom spit can't keep it down :)

Look at this, a picture of Drew! As he raced around collecting eggs Jana was able to capture the elusive Drew Aupperlee on film. It's a rare "normal" picture of him from today. Drew, by the way, also had a doctor's appointment and he's a pretty big guy. He's currently 41 inches tall (95th percentile) and he weighs 35 1/2 pounds (75th percentile). Drew is still gaining back the weight he lost during his illness this past week, so he should be back near the 95th percentile for height and weight soon. Drew's current size for clothes is now 5T!! He's working on out-growing a pair of kids size 10 shoes. He's going to be a big guy someday.

By the end of his hunt, Drew had quite a haul in his basket. We've never done an Easter egg hunt with Drew, and it was a lot of fun. He did a nice job of finding the eggs, and I think next year we can make it even trickier. Just like with puzzles, Drew is very focused and he doesn't stop until he's found all the eggs!

I was so amused by this picture of Jana and Drew eating chocolate at the same time. At the doctor's office Drew was asked his favorite food. He replied, "Ice cream." He's definitely Jana's son!! In case you were wondering, his favorite fruit was pineapple and his favorite vegetable was cucumber. He's DEFINITELY Jana's son!

Kate has started pushing cars around and making car noises. It's so cute!! Vroom, vroom!

Like I mentioned earlier, Kate is getting the hang of what to do with things. Lately, she's been into putting on shoes. After taking off her sandals, she knew that they go back on her feet and she tried to put one on each foot. As you can tell, we're still working on sitting modestly in a dress!

With Drew being sick, we didn't get a chance to celebrate Kate's birthday as a family. We did that now too, and Drew helped Kate with blowing out her candles. Happy birthday again Kate!

Happy First Birthday Kate

Yesterday our beautiful daughter Kate turned one year old!! Happy Birthday Kate! We didn't do anything exciting as a family as Drew was still recuperating, but Kate brought a treat that Jana made to daycare and it was her special day.

In the evening, Jana pulled out the camera to get some pictures of our little girl on her first birthday. In the picture below, Kate is holding onto the remote control, which she loves to do. She likes to hold it up to her ear like a phone and say, "hello? hello?" Kate has been patiently waiting for Drew to start feeling better, but every once in a while it was hard to keep her away from him. She missed her older brother making her laugh and interacting with her.

Kate walked over to Jana's shoes, knew they should go on her feet (she even got the correct foot), and spent a few minutes messing around with the shoes trying to get them on. What a cutie in her dress!

Kate is still learning how to sit in a dress, but she didn't do too badly in this picture :)

This isn't the greatest picture of Kate, but I wanted to show off our new kitchen floor. Last weekend while Drew was sick (it was great timing), I was busy installing a new floor in our kitchen. It turned out well, and we're thrilled with how it looks.

Last night Drew wanted to read with me before bed and Kate decided to join us. Jana snapped some great pictures of the three of us reading on the couch. Kate was especially captivated by the book and she did a great job of paying attention and helping me turn the pages.

Kate's still little enough that moments when both of them sit still and listen to a story are fairly rare. What a treat!!

Drew's still getting his strength back, so he eventually started to fade and leaned in for a snuggle with me and Kate.

Kate has been doing a great job with table food. She eats dinner with us now and is getting more and more of her nutrition from "grown up" food.

Kate still has six teeth, although the seventh one is starting to pop through. She does very well with chewing up food.

Drew started to feel better today. Yay! He was goofing around tonight and chatting away. It's great to hear his voice and see his silliness after several days of illness. In this picture he was pulling on his hood and making his ears look funny.

It is so nice to see Drew smiling, making jokes, and narrating his world again. It's rough when either Drew or Kate are seriously ill, and we're happy to be heading toward a healthy family again.

Kate has beautiful dark eyes with a hint of blue at the edges. They're such an interesting color (at least Jana and I find it interesting) and I think this picture actually came close to capturing her eye color. While it's still short, you'll also notice that Kate continues to work on growing some hair! Eventually she'll have some hair :)

I just took this picture tonight of Kate sleeping. She's a very light sleeper, so Jana and I crept in to check on her, snapped this picture, and then briskly left the room. We have been thrilled with our first year with Kate. She has been wonderful!

Tonight Drew was breaking off pieces of his roll to feed Kate. It was adorable. He loved feeding her and Kate couldn't get enough of the roll (she loves bread). We captured this video of the two of them in action.

Drew drummer

We've had another round of stomach flu at our house (for Drew and Kate), and we're looking forward to better health! The kids continue to do fun things though, so I'll take a break from caring for sick kids to give you an update.

Kate is getting close to transitioning to a sippy cup. We're almost done with breastfeeding (yay for Jana!) and we're working on getting rid of bottles too. Kate is growing up! Kate was in the kitchen the other day looking cute in her spring coat and her new shoes. She looks like she's ready to go out, doesn't she?

The other day I had a rare moment when both kids were sitting in my lap. Drew started out in my lap and then Kate wanted to join us. It was highly unusual to have both kids want to be on my lap!

In case you forgot, Drew has blue eyes!

We're looking forward to more of this as Kate gets older: Drew and Kate playing together. They were doing a great job of interacting and playing together the other day when we snapped this picture.

Drew put this shirt on his head and then went over to give Kate a hug. He likes to move her around when she's in an area he doesn't want her to be.

Drew loves to drum. He bangs on things all the time, and it makes such a wonderful noise. Here he is in action with the shirt still on his head. Drew looks like a drummer, doesn't he? :)

Kate continues to walk around, but we've struggled to get a picture of it. In this picture she's standing . . . look, no hands!

Kate was looking out the door the other day and it reminded us of how Drew would also go to the door and do the same thing.

Poor Drew has been very sick. He's been lying on the living room floor (with a puke bucket close by) for the past two days. Kate has been concerned about him (as have Jana and I) and she went over to make sure he was all right. It's been cute to see how she recognizes that something is wrong and wants to make it better.

Kate loves pizza! The other night she ate a half slice of pizza. She's got a wonderful appetite now that she kicked her own bout with the stomach flu.

Kate chats away and although Jana failed to get video of her walking here, you can hear Kate's chatting, which is fun to hear. Kate was walking before and after this video was taken. Apparently, she will not walk on camera!