All in Orange

Someone was a bit angry that I failed to mention some football game that took place on Oct 8th...I believe his exact words were "We're talking about cinnamon waffles but not the end of a five year drought against OU for her future school". I am not sure what school he is referring to in that Oklahoma is not scheduled to play Harvard this year??

We did watch THE game and Kate wore her burnt orange. Football central is alive and well here on Wampton and we are doing our best to pass on the traditions (Kate already LOVES remote controls).

Last week was Kate's first encounter with a field full of pumpkins...

She refused to smile for the camera but we managed to get a few good ones...

Little Bubba...

A New Vice

Ok so I am not going to win Mother of the Year but Kate sure does love me. A mom from Strollerfit recommended we try these frozen waffles with cinnamon. Kate will never be the same.
They are not THAT BAD for her and it is something I know she will eat when all else fails. AND since she has started eating them(daily) three teeth have sprung up(two on top and one on the bottom for a total of 7 teeth!!). Coincidence...???

Kate's Beepee!

Kate has a very thoughtful Great Aunt named Julie who has been working to give Kate a beepee. The term "beepee" comes from the blankets that all three Wood children cherished(made by their Grandmother Mimi) when we were growing up (although we suspect Laura still carries hers around with her.... )

Julie sent three great blankets but Kate fell in love with one(the pinkest one in the picture). It pretty much ranks up there with her "kitty" and will likely be another object we have to kiss good morning to everyday. From the pictures you can tell that she is feeling better. Her throat still bothers her a bit but she seems to be on the road to recovery. A sign that she is back to normal is that naps are once again a battle and she is not as eager to get to bed at night...and for once, this does not bother me in the least. I have my baby back!

"When do you want her to get sick?"

When Kate was still in the NICU we asked her doctor when we might able to take her out in out in public. His response was "When do you want her to get sick?". "When can we take her to Target?" we asked and his response was "When do you want her to get sick?". What we did not ask was "When can we take her to My Gym?" since his answer would explain what we are going through right now.

Tuesday morning was our first time at My Gym. It is a gymnastics type place for little kids that allows them to climb and crawl on all sorts of things. She loved it and we signed her up for weekly classes. However, we are now reconsidering because Wednesday morning she work up with a high fever (up to 102.6) and clearly did not feel well.

After two trips to the doctor(Wed&Thur) it looks like Kate has a horrible sore throat(negative strep test thank goodness!) and possibly bronchitis or pneumonia. We have her on meds and I think she will be a new baby once she wakes up tomorrow.

This is our first true illness since coming home from the hospital and boy did Kate chose a tough one to start! I will post more about how she is doing in the coming days...

TV Debut!

Kate and I had to get up pretty early this morning. We were LIVE on KXAN(NBC) during their morning broadcast. Shelly set it all up and we were just there for the demonstration part but it was so neat to see the "set" in real life!

So far so good this week. We have hit two Strollerfit classes and I feel fine. I think I may start teaching one class as early as next week. I love that we are back in a schedule and Kate seems to be learning when nap time is...

Spending today cooking and stocking the freezer for when I don't feel like cooking. We are glued to the TV about Rita, though, and hope that it decides to head south and avoid the Texas coast!
Here's a little bath time from last night....


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Home again, home again

We are back in Texas! We had such a great time and already miss my folks and the cool weather! Kate and I are still trying to adjust to the time change.

Spent today at my doctors appts. It is so strange sitting in a waiting room NOT having to pacify Kate while we wait-I actually got to read magazines and just be quiet for a while...Everything looks great with little Baby #2. In fact, the ultrasound person put a 90% bet that we are having a boy. If the way I have felt during this pregnancy is any indication of what type of child we are having, we are in for it! They are keeping my due date at March 23rd but I measuring about a week later than that right now. I will enter the second trimester officially on Monday.(those are two of the ultrasound scans-sorry-imagine seeing his head, nose, body and one leg...)

Great news at Patton Medical! They got FDA clearance and I could not pass up an opportunity to bake something. Both are new recipes and I am not sure how they were received. The first is a take off on the Central Market Chocolate Chewy cookie that I love. These turned out a little more like meringues than the ones at CM...next time I may use a better cocoa than Hersheys and maybe add some mini-chocolate chips.

The second recipe was the caramel brownies that are just so easy but I realized I had no caramels after I had started so I substituted Rollos. I think they may not be all that the original brownie was and likely not a repeater.

And I must end with a picture of Kate and her new baby(guess we need to think about finding the baby a blue outfit...)

PS I did get the all clear to teach StrollerFit again-yea! I am starting with only one class a week to see how things (and little Bubba) are...

Did someone say SNOW???

We have had quite a weekend! Dan joined us in Idaho on Friday. He and I went to dinner at the Henry's Fork Lodge to celebrate our anniversary-fabulous dinner!

Saturday was the first official day of college football and we had the weather to match(and great fire in the fireplace by Grandad)!

There was also this little football game that we just happened to tune into...
Apparently the excitement of the victory carried over into Sunday. Here is Kate and Dan trying to stay awake for more football on Sunday.... Well at least one of them is trying....

Moose Sighting at 2 o'clock

Just as I was finishing up that last post along came our friend the moose...

First to Eat

Then to Nap

Just another day here at the Wild Kingdom.....

This little piggy...

Sorry we have been out of touch lately but the beautiful weather and river are such a distraction! We said goodbye to two of my favorite babysitters, Aunt Funny and Julie. Both made it home safely but the house is almost too quiet now...

On a drive home from Jackson Hole Kate began to get a little tired of being in her car seat. Queenie and Grandad started up with their rendition of "This Little Piggy" and it seemed to quiet her down. BUT soon after they heard her laughing and turned to see her touching her toes and "singing" This Little Piggy all by herself!

Kate continues to try and say some words. "Key" for kitty is a frequent one but the other day she said "eenie" "eenie" "eenie" when my mom left her for her nap. Some tears are shed each and everytime Queenie tells that story(and you know we have already heard it a FEW times).

We have seen MOOSE! Three in total, one cow and two bulls. The big bull comes right up to the house to eat and is one of the most beautiful creatures I have ever seen.

We did spend Labor Day in college football mode and here is the proof... Her dad was most happy with the win and loved that my alma mater was responsible for the Sooner loss. Go Frogs!

New Words

Kate has had a great time so far in Idaho. Although her dad was worried that she might start walking (not so far) she has seemed to pick up some new words. Kate has Dada and Mama pretty much down but the new words are kitty (which sounds a bit like key) and no (which is nenene).

Her top two teeth are definitely in and we tried to get her to display them for us as she sat with her Grandad at the Lake Yellowstone Hotel. No luck but we did get a good picture of them.

Secret's revealed

Where have we been?? It has been over a week with no posts!!! I will get to that but first I need to say a bit about where we are now. Kate and I flew into Jackson Hole on Thursday with our traveling partners Aunt Funny and my Aunt Julie. This is the second flight for Kate and once again she braved it like a champ!

We are staying at my folks house near Idaho Falls, Idaho and right on the Henry's Fork river. It is absolutely beautiful up here and the weather could not be any better. Sunny skies and highs reaching only 70 degrees. We wake up to frost on the deck and the heaters going full strength.


Getting to what has been happening to keep me from posting. We had been preparing for our arrival in Jackson for weeks. In-flight I had changed Kate's shirt to

Quite a shock when you first read it! Needless to say things have been a bit crazed for us for a while. The worst part was keeping it a secret from all the grandparents until we could tell them in person(Dan's folks got to see the shirt last weekend when they came to Austin). I also had to "edit" the posts so that there were no hints or clues as to the upcoming "reveal".

To backtrack, we found out about the baby about 5 weeks ago(July 24th) and were totally in shock-not planned or expected especially after trying for so long the first time! And at first I was in denial but three positive pregnancy tests later and some "symptoms" made me a believer. Since then I have been scrambling to find a new OB who delivers at St David's. Our friends the Robertson's also insisted that we find a new perinatalogist and we did that too(and are so pleased to have found him!). There have been cravings and other "symptoms" I had to keep quiet from my folks. I have almost slipped many times and I am just relieved to finally be able to talk about it!!!

Aunt Funny has been a champ throughout all of the doctor's appts and early moods of pregnancy. Dan has also been a huge help and I know it will be a relief when he joins us in Idaho just as I hit the second trimester. My due date is set at March 23rd and I am currently 11 weeks and three days.

Kate and I are surrounded by great babysitters and they are all helping us get through the final week of my first trimester. Kate continues to eat solid foods and especially likes her Queenie's Mac N Cheese!

Yesterday we hit Yellowstone National Park and today we are fishing. Aunt Funny has been cleaning out the Henry's Fork of trout and so far the fish refuse to take the pregnant woman's fly!

On a side note...We are also glued to the TV and Hurricane Katrina. Our hearts ache for all of those people and the beautiful old city of New Orleans!

Busy girl

Kate has had a big couple of days. When she learned that we were not going to StrollerFit for two days this was her reaction...

Instead yesterday was "outlet day". Her Aunt Funny and I decided to take her shopping at the outlets in San Marcus. Kate did great-made it through the day with only one episode where apple juice was used to stop the tears (a last resort). None of us came home with great purchases but Kate did get the "footie" pajamas we wanted. MOST importantly, Kate slept through the night after a very long day(the second night in a row!!).

Today has been a whirlwind. Kate's grandparents, Nana and Bieboo came in from Dallas. I got to spend the afternoon out while they babysat Kate. This is the result, post bath...

Dan's mom (Nana) said that Dan used to play with his ears when he ate (my response was "Used to??"). She is already asleep and I have a feeling we will not hear from her until morning.

Love the new cookbook!

I had a huge surprise in my mailbox yesterday from my Granny. A cookbook but more importantly Rebecca Rather's, The Pastry Queen was inside. I have coveted my mom's copy for a while and was ecstatic to get my own! The book is filled with sweet treats as well as good dinner stuff(my mom made the King Ranch casserole for us a while back-it was fabulous!).
With such a great addition to my kitchen, what better reason than to spend this afternoon baking something from the book.
Called Peanut Buttercups with Peanut Penuche Icing, these babies are rich and really rich. It is your basic peanut butter cupcake with a chocolate center and a fudgy peanut butter icing...you need milk to survive it. And to be sure that they were good enough to be sent to Dan's office, I had two "testers" on hand to sample.
(Note: to qualify as a "tester" you must visit your sister and niece-hint hint Barrett...). Today's "testers" were Aunt Funny and our other brother Shady (aka Howard). I have to say for a bachelor he has some pretty good babysitting skills!

New Trick...

After a few good nights of solid sleep, we have had two nights of mulitple "wake-up crying" sessions. We were unsure what might be causing this new round of sleeplessness until tonight when we spotted it....her third tooth! Top right and just barely breaking the surface.

She and her dad learned a new trick this weekend. Dad wanted to start practicing for future UT pep rallies and here is the first glimpse of what is to come...

Kate could not stop smiling as she sat on her dad's shoulders!

Where have we been?

Ok I understand I have been a little neglectful of the blog lately. Do I have a good excuse? Well....Kate's sleep schedule is still pretty iffy. One night we don't hear a peep and the next she is up at 2:30am. Last night was a good night-not a peep and she is still asleep now. Best tip was from Queenie-"put books in her bed"...usually the first thing I hear is her talking(reading) her books.
Rather than go into all that we have done for the past week I will just provide you some bath pictures and a little about yesterday(Wed)...

We did go see a Speech therapist yesterday. The pediatrician and I were worried about her inability to take in solid foods(real solid foods with texture). The therapist was very helpful and encouraging and said that we need only make minor changes in how we feed Kate and she should soon be eating everything. Yesterday afternoon two whole graham crackers were consumed and neither came back "up"-yea!!

Last night Aunt Funny babysat while Dan and I tried a restaurant by us, Giss Cafe (great peach cobbler but so-so on everything else....). These pictures are from the bath that Aunt Funny gave her...such a clean baby!

Bye-bye Somer

This week was Somer's last in Austin and Kate and I are so going to miss her! Starting in June, Somer has been spending one or two days a week with Kate while I get some time to myself. Never have a met a more poised, responsible, smart, and pretty person all rolled into one! I can not say enough good things about her and above all, Kate loved having her here! She is headed back to dental school where she is in her second year-we wish her all the best and if dental school doesn't work out (haha) we always have an extra bedroom....
(yes that is a Sooner T-shirt she is wearing...born and raised in Oklahoma)

Thursday's Sleep(or lack there of) Report

Kate decided that it was playtime last night-starting at 1:15am. I finally got her back to sleep at 3:15am but she felt that she still needed some quality time with mom and proceeded to wake up at 3:45am. It was a long, long night...But who could be upset at this face....
Especially when all I am seeing lately is more and more of this...

Cool despite the kitchen

Aunt Funny is in town and we thought we were headed to the outlet mall today. Plans changed so we decided to stay inside where it is cool. What better to do than cook (and get the oven roaring...).

Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" cookbook is one that I really want to like. I love her writing style but so far have been unimpressed with the stuff I have cooked from it. Today I was looking to use up some ripe bananas and decided to try her muffin recipe. It is an odd one-no eggs and uses honey. The batter seemed a little baking powdery to me so I added cocoa powder and chocolate chips to try and mask it. Regardless these muffins were not as good as Tyler's so I won't post the recipe...here is the resulting image though.

On the adjoining page was a recipe for Peanut Butter Snickers Muffins-what good "domestic goddess" could pass up that title??

SNICKERS AND PEANUT BUTTER MUFFINS
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
6 tablespoons chunky peanut butter
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg, beaten
3/4 cup milk
3 1/2 full-size (2.07 ounces) Snickers bars, chopped
Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and line a 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the peanut butter and mix until you have a bowl of coarse crumbs. Add the melted butter and egg to the milk, then stir that mixture gently into the peanut butter mixture. Mix in the Snickers pieces and dollop dough into lined muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes, at which time the tops should be risen, golden and firm to the (light) touch. Sit the pan on a wire rack for 5-10 minutes before taking out each muffin in its paper cup and leaving them to further cool - if you can. Makes 12 muffins.

Not as rich as you would expect but pretty good. I should note that the entire package of mini Snickers was used but not all of them made it into the batter....

Last but not least I made dinner. A new recipe that I saw this weekend on Everyday Italian, Baked Angel Hair. I tweaked it a bit by adding mushrooms, hot Italian sausage and put it in two 8 in square dishes(so I could freeze one). I also only put the pastry on top.

I thought it was really good. It will be even better to make this winter when it truly is cold outside versus a "simulated (A/C at 65degree's) summer cold front".

Is it already Wednesday???

Some may have wondered-why hasn't Kelly posted in a while? Two words...

SLEEP DEPRIVATION.

This so called "No cry sleep solution" book has now proven for us to be the "No sleep cry solution". Kate went from sleeping through the night to waking up every night for hours on end. We so wanted to get her on a good nap schedule but this is not worth it. A little bird (let's call her my mothers) told us not to buy the book because Kate's sleep schedule can be boiled down to one word...

PAYBACK.

So what have we accomplished this week. I taught StrollerFit on Monday-my first class as a "certified"(I passed my certification! got the results on Saturday!) aerobics instructor.

Tuesday, Kate and I went to her pediatrician where she weighed in at 19lbs, 14oz. and is 28 1/2in long. We are now starting to supplement whole cows milk for formula and really push those solid foods. Someone should probably alert Elsie....