The State Fair cont.

More pics! Here is Kate milking a cow!

Kate has her first official "crush" on Wyatt from the PBS show Super Why!  You can see on her face how excited she was at getting her picture take with "him.  It is seriously like an 11 year old seeing the Jonas Brothers.

Oh Boy! It's a Boy!

We're having a boy and he's a Tarheel already!  Everyone is very excited, including Kate who is happy about having a baby brother.

Fall Festival Time!

Nana and Papa Tom took us to Hill Ridge Farms today as an early treat for Mommy's birthday.  We had a fun time looking at all the animals and watching Kate explore lots of different things from a fort to a hay maze.  We even had a hayride and picked out pumpkins at the pumpkin patch.  Thanks Nana and Papa Tom for a fun day!  Here are the three pumpkins getting ready for a train ride.  Don't they look cute in their orange!?

Kate loved the HUGE slide.  She and Daddy were going so fast they almost flew onto the gravel.

Here comes Papa Tom...

Here is Nana going through the hay tunnel with Kate cheering her on.

Even I got in on the action by racing ducks-Kate won every time!

Time for the hayride...

Here are the lucky pumpkins Kate chose to come home with us.

We are ready for Fall!

Baby Update-Week 16

I'm borrowing this idea from a friend who is also pregnant, thanks Christy, who borrowed it from a friend of a friend.  I've made a few of my own modifications, but all my girlfriends out there who are also pregnant-feel free to use this too!

How far along? 16 1/2 weeks
Total weight gain/loss: not sure, probably about 10 pounds
Maternity clothes? sometimes, it's still mix and match, but a full maternity wardrobe is fast approaching!
Stretch marks? not from this baby
Sleep? I'm up a lot at night between the backaches and bathroom breaks-already using a body pillow
Best moment this week:  finally, not feeling exhausted all the time
Movement: not sure, hard to tell
Food cravings: anything salty-especially french fries
Gender: we'll find out on Tuesday
Name: no-this will take a while
Belly button in or out? in
What I miss: getting a full night of sleep
Weekly wisdom: Eat iron rich foods, even though some of the foods on the list are not very appetizing.  I've been anemic most of this pregnancy (that didn't happen until much later with Kate) and, until recently, it has certainly affected my energy level.
Milestones:  We're into the 2nd trimester-energy level is up.
What Kate is saying this week:  "Don't squish my little baby sister or brother!"  (this is when Jeff hugs me or when other little kids climb on me-except, of course, when Kate is the one climbing on me)

Saturday Mornings

 We received a few emails indicating that many of you out there did not really enjoy Kate's injured toe.  Sorry!  She was insistent about recording the injury.  So here is a cute picture to make up for it.  There is nothing better than a lazy Saturday morning when there is no rush to get out the door.  On mornings like that, we usually cook a big breakfast, followed by a few cartoons while Mom and Dad read the paper and enjoy some coffee.  Here is Kate doing her imitation of her parents-watching tv while working with a laptop on her lap and the newspaper right beside her-talk about multi-tasking.  Notice that the tv remote is to Kate's right and the ceiling fan remote is to her left.  Does this girl have it made or what?????  Thanks for the ballerina pjs Grandma!

Bugfest!

We went to bugfest downtown a couple of weekends ago.  Kate loves going to museums, but she wasn't too fond of the bugs.  I guess a two year old might not be too impressed with a lady who has a beard made of bees! (see below) She did have a great time showing her dad all the dinosaurs (she and I had just been to the museum of natural history a few weeks before).  She loves dinosaurs, I know every child has that phase, but its extra, extra cute when it is your child!  Kate and her parents also enjoyed the unhealthy lunch of ice cream and funnel cake that we indulged in after we saw all the exhibits.

Happy Labor Day

Hope everyone enjoyed their Labor Day Weekend. Jeff and I mostly did a lot of labor-cleaning out closets and fixing up Kate's room. But we did get a chance to visit with Nana and Tom. Jeff's mom and I went to see Julie and Julia-pretty good movie-makes you want to get in the kitchen and cook new recipes. I tend to stick to my tried and true dishes. We did have one slight injury. Kate dropped a wooden bowl on her big toe. She insisted I take a picture of it (I think under Daddy's influence), so here it is below. Isn't it lovely? It seems to be healing just fine.  I just hope the toenail doesn't come off because that will not be a fun day!

Just to prove that Kate is fine to you worriers out there...here she is playing outside while Jeff worked in the yard on Monday.  We have just discovered moon sand-great stuff.  It is a little easier than play-do for Kate to use and great to entertain her at soccer games.  Therefore I don't hear, "Can I go see Daddy, now?" every two minutes while at Jeff's games.  I just hope she doesn't one day turn around and start running across the field and get knocked over by some 16 year old kid wearing cleats!

Yes, I know she is wearing a Duke shirt-I can't help that she was born into a mixed family.  Don't panic, her first love has always been the Tarheels (as seen below!).  After all, Carolina did beat Duke in a friendly basketball game the night she was born.

Kate also had a tea party with Jack wearing her first "tea party" dress.  It's actually a sleeping beauty dress she picked out.  She loves it.  It is not an easy task to get her out of it once its on!  Jack and Kate are eating cookies Kate made with Ms. Gail (the sweet lady who keeps her for us during the day).  Jack is holding up his headless duck, while Kate has a munched on pink pig-she had to match her pink dress!

                                    

Biker Babe

One of Kate's new favorite things is to ride in her new bike seat with her Dad. They ride around the neighborhood while I walk. Helmets are important-we have to be safe! Off they go...

Great Grannie

We were able to spend some time with Grannie over the summer and since she is so dear to many of you, I thought you would enjoy this picture. We took Grannie out to the Campbell Pro Shop for lunch one afternoon. It is a place of fond memories for my sisters and I because Grannie always took us their to play. Kate even got to ride on her first golf cart.

First Haircut

Kate received her first hair cut this summer. She did a great as she enjoyed watching The Little Mermaid while sitting in her airplane. This was a before shot, of course my battery ran out before I could get an after shot! It was a bitter-sweet moment for mommy. My little one is growing up too fast!

Summertime Fun!

Well, I didn't accomplish my goal of a post every calendar month-skipped the whole summer-but we have been doing lots of fun things instead like... going to the pool, the beach, Indianapolis for a special wedding, and having lots of fun with family and friends. So here's a big I'M SORRY for the delay. I think my favorite things to do this summer were to watch Kate eat ice cream and see her running around in her bathing suit. It's absolute joy watching children eat ice cream and having fun with total abandonment.

Baby Costa #2

We have exciting news...Baby Costa #2 is on the way. Here is the latest ultrasound picture. Baby is due on March 16th and we are almost through the first trimester. During our second ultrasound, the doctor said we have a very active baby-the baby looked like he/she was dancing around like crazy. Jeff and I couldn't stop laughing. Kate is excited about being a big sister. Here is a sampling of the conversation when we told her that there was a baby in mommy's tummy.

Kate: "Can the baby come out now?"

Mommy: "No, the baby has to grow bigger and bigger first."

Two minutes later...

Kate: "Can the baby come out now?"

Mommy and Daddy: "No, the baby isn't big enough yet. After your birthday the baby will come."

Two minutes later...

Kate: "Is it my birthday now?"

It might be a long 7 months! She also asked if the baby would come exploring with her-you know our Dora the Explorer has to have her partner with her!

Another New Addition!

Kate got her first swing set a couple of weeks ago. It was her "back to school" present. She is thoroughly enjoying it. We were out there one evening for two hours swinging. When Kate got down, she promptly threw up on Jeff. His response, "You haven't thrown up on me since you were 3 months old!" Ah, the joys of parenthood. Here she is eating a popsicle (she calls it a pop-pickle) in her tower. She is such a big girl. She is also now officially in a "big girl" bed and is doing great. We are in the process of redoing her room, so hopefully I'll have pictures of that soon.

To the Beach!

Be prepared-I'm going back in time to fill you in on the Costa summer fun.


We went to beach several times this summer. Early in the summer we went with friends of ours and their son Jack for a long weekend. Kate calls him "my Jack". They are such cute kids. Kate and Jack even had their first kayak ride, although the mom's were a little nervous about it. Off they go...

Below is a bit of a power struggle playing out because Kate insisted on rowing.
Of course, Daddy won that battle and everyone returned safe and happy after exploring the island across the sound.