That's it for now, folks!

It has been over a year and a half in the making and I hate to say it but I'm going to have to take a long sabbatical from updating this website. I just have so little free time on my hands these days (juggling between taking care of Kate, being on the road for work, getting in shape, reading, watching junk on TV, etc.) that I'm going to have to give up on updating our little website for now. As much as it pains me to admit it, most of you can find me on Facebook (if you haven't already) where I'll be posting up current photos of Kate periodically. Thanks for being a loyal reader of this site and I hope to get back to it someday, but that'll be it for now.

Stacey

Here's to '09!

I apologize for the extended hiatus, I can't say that I haven't had time since I've been in Colorado for the last 3 weeks without work travel. I guess it is the holidays and the relaxation mode that comes with it. I sure hope you had a great holiday and a very Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe that Kate is 16 months old already, while we are aware that it is completely cliche Jeff and I were talking today about how her life is flying by. She's such a dream. She is signing and talking more and more everyday, which is a joy to establish the two-way communication that life is made of.

Christmas time was fantastic, we were up in the mountains with Jeff's parents and brother. We had a very relaxing and enjoyable time. Santa was very good to Kate, she received lots of pull toys, which are her current favorite toys. She's also become a bit addicted to reading. It is book after book in this house. She brings one over and reaches up to you to bring her on your lap and start reading. After that book is done she scrambles off your lap to go find another to read. I have to replace the 10 or so books in our living room with new ones every 3-4 days so that at least we have some variety in the board book marathons!

Now we are back to the routine of things in 2009. I'm leaving for my first business trip of 2009 tomorrow AM, which will entail leaving the house at 5:30 in full business-suit style. It'll be an early morning!

Kissing and Signing!

Kate's been making all kinds of progress lately that I thought you might be interested in hearing about. She is now hugging us when we ask for a hug. She will also attempt a kiss when we ask for one, but it varies between a lean forward with a wide open mouth and an actual kissing noise that goes along with the lean forward - either way it is too cute!

She also has finally begun to communicate using hand signs! This is a long time coming, as we've been showing her signs for "hungry" and "more" and "done" since she was six months old (that was 9 months ago!). Lo and behold she began to perform the "done" sign when a couple weeks ago and within the last week she's begun doing the sign for "hungry" (mainly when she is really hungry and trying desperately to get her point across) and she also is doing the sign for "more" half way through each meal. It was pretty rewarding for us to see the signs and I think it is thrilling for her to be communicating successfully with us.

The good news too is that she is also talking a bit. The words she can perform with various levels of proficiency are: mama, dada, nana, night night, doggie, coal, bye - I think that's about it.

Our little cutie is coming along and we're thrilled to see the progress.

5 Pounds Happier (and heavier)

The week of Thanksgiving is officially over and now it's time to get back to life, and the gym. We had a fantastic week-long trip to Milwaukee to visit my parents along with the rest of my sib's and their "lovers". We had a good week and Kate being the only kid in the bunch was spoiled rotten; we've had to endure a few crying fits since our arrival back in Denver to remind her that we don't indulge her as much as when there are grandparents, aunts and uncles at her disposal.

The highlights of the week included a gingerbread house decorating contest, of which the winner has not been determined - if you have a favorite, please vote in the "comments" section! Joe got all of us to pitch in to make firewood, each couple put on a family meal, we were "treated" to venison that was sauntering in the woods the morning before dinner, a 1000 piece puzzle was completed, ping-pong domination, and a cute little under-the-stairs closet for Kate to sleep in (very Harry Potterish).

My folks were nice enough to watch Kate one afternoon while Mike, Kristin, Jeff and I went to the Lakefront Brewery tour in Milwaukee. If you're ever in Milwaukee wondering what to do with an afternoon I highly recommend this tour - it was interesting, hilarious and complete with Kristin and I standing on the conveyer belt leading the group in the Laverne & Shirley theme song as Kristin dropped the rubber glove on a beer bottle - good times.

Have I mentioned the food and wine of the week? There's nothing like a week in Wisconsin full of pies, apple crisp, cinnamon roles, pumpkin bread, and your usual meat and potatoes to put on the couple of extra pounds I'm carrying around with me. Was it worth it, absolutely - I wouldn't trade it for the world. I figure that it took me one week to gain it, I get two weeks to lose it - now I'm headed to the gym! Enjoy the slideshow!

Halloween Tricks!

This Halloween was a particularly good one at our house, our friends Lisa and Mark teamed up with us to host a Halloween party at our house. A good time was had by all, there was a tie for the "best costume" between Jeff for his Dr. Phil impression and Keith for his Roy Munson getup. Here are some of the photos of the evening!

A Wooden Block and Half a Fry In My Shoe

Kate's latest and greatest hobby is to move things from one place to another. It can be anything, from toys to food to clothes. She LOVES helping with the laundry: she pulls every piece out of the laundry basket and then either hands it to Jeff or I or it goes on the ground (it never ocurred to me until right now that because they are on the floor they made it to the floor they probably aren't quite as clean...). This is all well and good until I was putting on my tennis shoe to go work out and as my foot smooshed a week-old french fry (which goes to show how long it has been since I worked out) I also bumped up against a wooden block - both were in my shoe. It did make for a good laugh.

Trip to the Pumpkin Patch!

We went out to the pumpkin patch last weekend and Kate was in HEAVEN! All of the pumpkins were close to her size, so she had tons of fun walking around and checking out all the pumpkins. Now we just have to carve them up!