Kate: 8 Months

Another month has flown by, and it has been a busy one! Here is Kate at 8 months:

I feel like Kate has grown up a lot this month (as well as out. Her thunder thighs are impressive!)

Right around 7 months, she got up on hands and knees for the first time. She spent most of this month practicing hard on her rocking skills. She knew she could get somewhere, but she couldn't quite figure it out. This was while she was practicing in the foyer during a training with Elder Neil L. Anderson that she got to attend with me.

Kate has been eating all the things this month. She has pretty much given up on purees in favor of table food. She likes basically anything we give her. I hope this means we have another good eater in our future.

Salmon and broccoli were delicious! Kate gets very excited when she sees the food coming to her tray.

 First trip to the swimming pool. I was worried about how to deal with everyone at the pool by myself if she didn't want to get in, but she loves it! She starts kicking her little legs as soon as she gets in the water.

 First camping trip: ward campout at Phillips Lake. There was very little sleeping involved until she got to come in Mommy's sleeping bag. Then she was happy to sleep. Sleep has been a troublesome issue in general this month. Kate has suddenly decided that she wants to wake up multiple times a night and be awake for hours before she will go back to sleep. She is in danger of losing her Best Baby Ever title.

 Practicing those hands and knees skills at Grandma Judy's house in Spokane. She would get on her tummy and sort of pivot around to get to anything within her radius. 

 Happy vacation baby

 Kate had her first ophthalmologist appointment this month. She has anisocoria, meaning her pupils are unequal. I noticed it a few months ago, so we made an appointment to have her checked out. She passed with flying colors. Apparently it is a normal condition in 1/3 of people. Who knew? 

 Learning about new textures in the grass

 First trip to the zoo. We went with Grandma, Aunt Katy, and cousin Anne. This was taken in the butterfly exhibit. Right after this was taken, I looked over to see she had a huge, blue butterfly clasped in her hand. She didn't kill it, but it may have been maimed. She was quite proud of herself.

 Grandma's yellow swing - a popular summer pastime among Hindman grandbabies

 1st Fourth of July celebrated in Baker City and Haines with the Hindman

 I was afraid she would hate the fireworks, but she didn't seem too bothered. 

Hanging out at Uncle Jeremy's house

 2nd (and probably last until she decides to sleep better) camping trip. Phillips Lake with the Hindman crew. She loved playing in the lake and trying to eat all of the rocks and weeds.

 Lake time with Aunt Katy

Doing some reading with Sarah. Kate is lucky to have an extra mommy around.

 Kate has some impressive noises right now. Her most common one is squawking like a pterodactyl. She also yells Dadadada a lot. We are going to work hard on Mama before she realizes that she is actually saying Daddy's name.

•  Big milestone for the month: Kate is crawling! She had moved forward a hand or knee a couple of times earlier in the month, but she finally got the hang of it at Grandma's house over the 4th of July. Something about Grandma's house is encouraging for learning new things. As soon as I got the camera out to take these pictures, she crawled across the bed at top speed to get me. 

 Could she be any cuter?

 Yep, Kate is officially mobile, and the honeymoon is over. She is figuring out how to crash her siblings toys and generally be a menace. She doesn't like having her knees on cold surfaces, though. She does an impressive splits move. 

Sleep or no sleep, I guess we will keep her. She is just the sweetest baby (as long as it isn't bedtime)!

Spokane Trip 2019

One of our favorite trips to take is visiting Kelson's family in Spokane. Sarah has asked constantly when we were going back since the last time we were there. We love visiting Grandma Judy, Aunt Barbara, and Dixie, and there are so many fun animals on their farm! We drove up to Spokane through the Tri-cities and stopped at the candy factory for lunch and treats. (Another of our kids' favorite things!)

 The 2-week old puppies were so cute! Chris was actually more interested in the car collection, though.

 We spent Monday night at Fish Lake, playing in the water and having a barbecue. My little crew of fishies was in heaven. Even Kate enjoyed the water.

 Checking out the chicks

 The kitten crawled into my lap and started purring. Chris wanted to hold him so bad, but the kitty wanted nothing to do with Chris.

 Lady, on the other hand, was determined to lay her whole giant self in Chris's lap. Chris just wanted the kitty. He was a little overwhelmed with all of the big dogs.

Having some fun relaxing on the trampoline

 Kelson spent the day rebuilding Judy's chicken coop. The hens had a nice new home by the end of the day.

 Highlight of the trip: Sarah got to ride one of Aunt Barbara's horses! She was ridiculously excited. 

 Chris was much less excited about riding the horse. By this point, he was just terrified of all of the animals. 

 Riding the horse with Dixie

 After the horse, Aunt Barbara brought out the 4-wheeler. Sarah kept begging her to go faster.

 Chris may not have loved the animals, but he was right at home on the 4-wheeler. He wanted to go again and again.

 Puppy!

 Thanks for the great visit! We love you!

We spent Wednesday morning playing in downtown Spokane. We went to Manito park, which has a big duck pond and a beautiful botanical garden. The kids loved the ducks. One duckling kept nibbling Sarah's fingers. 

 Then the duckling and his mother followed us along the path for a while.

 There were several big trees that had places to hide inside.

 This garden was so beautiful!

They had a playground with a really fun climbing structure. Sarah is pretty fearless.

 Kate and Mommy hanging out while the big kids played

 The next item on our agenda was to hike out along the shore of Lake Couer d'Alene and go swimming in a spot that we found the last time we were there. Unfortunately, it started pouring down rain ten minutes into our hike and we had to hurry back to the parking lot.

 We took shelter in this really cool swing at the park.

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 Kate wasn't bothered by the rain.

 The rain pretty much stopped by the time we got back to the park where we had left the car, so we played on the most amazing playground. 

Playing some music.

After the playground, it was still pretty drippy, so we spent the rest of the afternoon swimming at the hotel. The kids never complain about swimming time.

We drove home through Lewiston and down through the mountains of Idaho. In Lewiston, we stopped at the Lewis and Clark visitor's center, which was very interesting. The rest of the drive ended up taking much longer than we expected, but it was beautiful, and the kids were troopers. We were glad to make it home at the end of the day. What a fun trip!