What a Difference

It's amazing what a difference a few days make in Katherine's development. One tooth has finally broken the surface of her bottom gum. You can barely see it, so there is no picture yet. Katherine had not played with her walker since Saturday. That day, she still needed us to help her with it. Last night, we stood her up behind it, and she took off! Here's a little video of the action!

Happy Easter!

I wasn't really ready for Easter this year with it being so early and us just getting back from a vacation. But, by the time the day was over, it definitely felt like we had celebrated the resurrection! We had a wonderful service at church today. The music was great, and several people accepted Jesus as Lord of their lives. Katherine looked so sweet in her Easter dress. These pictures are in our yard - our irises are starting to bloom.Of course, the wood chips must be tasted.
Yes, she is standing on her own!My mom said Katherine really reminded her of me (as a baby) today.We had Easter lunch with Mimi, PopPop and Matthew at their house. Katherine's first Easter basket. The car thing wouldn't fit in the basket.Yummy plastic eggs!This chicken is hilarious - it is wearing bunny ears and sings and dances the Chicken Dance.

Spring Break!

We headed north for spring break to visit friends and family. Friday night, we drove to Nashville and spent the night with Aunt Linda and Uncle Jimmy. Saturday, we contined to Indianapolis where we spent the afternoon and evening with The Brucks. Carrie is one of my best friends from college. Andrew & Nathan had some good bonding time (Nathan is a teacher also), and the girls played together well.

Having a big head is good for at least one thing!Katherine, Macy & Anna.Katherine is 6 weeks older than Anna.

A Long Sunday

Sunday morning, we were up and out by 6:15am. We picked up Paige at IWU and then drove another two hours north to hear Devin sing with His Instrument. It was so fun seeing him sing.Then we drove back to Marion and spent the afternoon with the Lo family. Roxy fixed us lunch, the girls played together, and...surprise.. the guys watched basketball!

Andrew, Katherine, Eliana, Larissa & Matt.
Larissa is 1 month older than Katherine.

Cold Indiana

Monday & Tuesday we walked around Indiana Wesleyan, visiting with college professors, current students from Alabama and "older" adults from the church we attended there. We had a fabulous time seeing everyone. We spent time in the mornings and evenings just relaxing at the house where we were staying. We stayed with friends, the Gaffords, who had let us live with them the first few weeks after we got married before our house was ready to move into.

It was pretty cold and very rainy, so Katherine got a chance to bundle up in her snow suit, which still swallowed her up.Visiting can wear a girl out!Steak and Shake was one of our favorite "Indiana" places to eat. Ivanhoes was the other - we took Devin and Paige out to eat there.

Cincinnati

We spent Wednesday - Friday visiting Rachel, Acha, Ike & Ingam (Andrew's sister) in Cincinnati. We mainly just hung around the house to relax. Katherine enjoyed playing with her cousins.Of course, no Maxey gathering is complete without a game of scrabble.Jamming on the keyboard.
It snowed for a couple of hours!
We went bowling one night. Katherine thought it was both very serious...

... and very fun!If you look closely, you'll see that I creamed everyone with a score of 154.
We went to see "Horton Hears a Who" on Friday. Katherine shocked us all and watched the entire movie (minus a 10 minute nap). She was fascinated.

9 Months

At Katherine's 9 month checkup, she weighed just over 18 pounds and was 27 inches long. Both of these measurements are in the 50th percentile. Her head continues to grow at amazing rates, measuring in the 90th percentile. Katherine still does not have any teeth, but we did get the go ahead from her doctor to start trying new foods. We haven't done that yet, because we were on vacation, but we'll start soon. She is pulling up on everything and regularly lets go to stand on her own.

Katherine is holding her own bottles now, which saves us a little time getting ready in the morning.
Lucy decided since Katherine was asleep, she could try to find some room in my lap.

A Message for Uncle Jimmy

Dear Uncle Jimmy,

Sorry about the football. Arwen helped me understand that people who live in Tuscaloosa are not supposed to cheer for Tennessee.
Love, Katherine

Pots and Praise Baby

There is no story for this picture, just a cutie pie ready for church!

Andrew took the next four pictures and provided the narration. Katherine loves exploring our house. She has figured out how to open the cabinets in my bathroom and likes to pull out the towels and wash rags as I'm getting ready in the morning. Books and magazines are also quite entertaining right now. Here she is in the kitchen:

"I love to pull out the pots!"
Arwen asks, "Hey! What are you doing?""I'm taking the pots out of the cabinet!"
"My work here is finished."
We have three Praise Baby DVDs. They are the same concept as Baby Einstein with music, puppets, numbers, letters, etc. But instead of classical music, it's praise and worship. Katherine is usually content to play on the floor while we get ready in the morning. But occasionally, she gets upset when Andrew leaves for work, so I put in a Praise Baby DVD for her. She loves them and will sit and watch for a good fifteen minutes. She's even started laughing at and "talking" to some of the animals on the DVD. I also like this picture, because you can really see her curls.If you look really closely, you can see that Katherine is not holding on to anything. She's started standing on her own for a few seconds at a time the last couple of weeks. It's really hard to get a good picture, though.