Katie for Cook!

Congratulations to David Cook for winning American Idol last night! Katie is a big fan of Cook -- I can tell because she danced to every one of his songs Tuesday night, as you can see in the video above.

John and I first became Cook fans when we watched him sing the coolest rendition of "Billie Jean" since MJ did it himself. Footage below.

The Bespectacled Baby

Well, the day has finally come. Ten months after a team of great doctors miraculously discovered our five-week-old child's vision problem, Katie is old enough for glasses.

I had been both looking forward to and dreading this day. I was looking forward to being able to work toward FIXING her problem, rather than just keeping it from getting worse by using eyepatches. But I also knew that keeping glasses on a girl who's less than a year old would be a 24/7 battle.

And at first it was a battle. Especially in the eyeglasses store. (incidentally, email me if you want a recommendation of a GREAT glasses store) So I took the glasses off, got her home, and put her down for a nap, hoping a bit of rest would make her more docile during the next battle.

Daddy was home by the time she woke up, and he was great in helping me to distract her in her highchair while we started the next battle. And you know what? Within 2 minutes she stopped the constant fighting. A minute or two later, as I took a few photos, she even gave me a smile or two. And a few minutes later she stopped fighting altogether. In fact, she only reached for her glasses a few more times over the next few hours. Only when she started getting sleepy did she start grabbing at the glasses again.

I'm constantly humbled and amazed by God's mercy to me. You'd think after 20-odd years of following Him, I would know better than to worry about such things. He always takes care of me, whether His Will lines up with mine or not. And I'm truly grateful.

So is Katie seeing better now? Hard to tell after just a few hours with a barely verbal bespectacled baby, but I did notice a few things tonight. I found her examining her wiggling fingers as if she was seeing them for the first time. And when I took the glasses off just before putting her in her crib, she looked at her fingers again, as if to notice the difference. Also, when I turned on the end of American Idol, she seemed to be able to see the TV better than she could before.

Thank you all for your prayers and care for us.

A Day in the Life: Eyes, Goodbyes, Kai, Hi, A.I., and New Things to Try

Yesterday was a long, busy day in Katie World. We started the day off with her eye doctor, and got news I wasn't quite ready for yet: She needs glasses immediately. I knew the day would come, but 11 1/2 months seems awfully young to be wearing glasses. I have to admit I struggled a bit through the day as the news settled in. So I spent a few hours last night on the site "Babies With Glasses" and was comforted to read stories from other moms in similar situations. Of particular interest to me was the photo gallery of babies with glasses. It was hard for me to imagine until then what exactly a baby with glasses would look like. We'll be getting the glasses later this week and I'll post a photo then.

Until then, here are some fun photos of Katie enjoying the tiny couch in the doctor's waiting room.

Afterwards we caught the last 15 minutes of Mommy's last Bible study of the year. Community Bible Study has been such a blessing to me this year. Katie and I have been in a "small" group of 23 nursing moms and their babies. When we started, Katie was 3 1/2 months old and would sit quietly in her car seat while we had our discussion about Genesis. Those days are ancient history!! Now she climbs all over the other babies and their toys. It's been fun to see all the babies grow up this year. So it's sad to say our goodbyes.

We went home for a few hours of "quiet" time (Katie napping, playing, eating, and getting her patch time in; Mommy watching her, working and doing laundry; both of us walking the dog), and then Katie's good friend (aka potential husband) Kai came over with his mommy. I didn't get any good photos of them together yesterday, but here's one of them playing together last week:

Daddy came home shortly after Kai left, and Katie got to try two new things: grown-up lasagna and her new walking toy. She couldn't get enough of the lasagna, and neither could her clothes. Needless to say, we carried her straight to the bathtub after dinner was over.

Then we pulled out her new walking toy, a hand-me-down from my friend Betsy (thank you, Betsy!). In no time flat, she was running across the living room with it. Here's the video.

After cheering her on, John stepped outside to finish mowing the lawn (can I tell you again how much I LOVE having John home before sunset?!!). I took Katie over to watch, and Katie enjoyed waving HI! to her Daddy. See video below.

Finally we started settling down for the night, but not until we enjoyed our favorite Tuesday night family pasttime: American Idol (A.I.). John and I are cheering for David Cook, but Katie enjoys cheering for everyone. She has always been fascinated by American Idol -- see this former blog post and this video taken last week:

Katie was more than ready for bed by her 9 pm bedtime!

Katie at 9 months

(this photo is of Katie with my parents and my grandma, who celebrated her 85th birthday on Sunday -- Happy birthday, Grandma!)

Katie turned 9 months old this week and we're still having a blast!

We had our 9-month dr's visit today and she is 18.8 lbs (50th percentile) and 28 inches (60th percentile). She's getting better at crawling, especially when she sees something she's not allowed to play with across the room. She's also becoming proficient at pulling herself to standing, and stood for a few seconds today without me holding her.

She's making me laugh this evening -- I'm teaching her to clap for the American Idol contestants. She made everyone at my dad's office laugh today when we stopped by with birthday presents (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DADDY!!!) and she danced and laughed and cooed at everyone.

We had a rough weekend last weekend -- she had (at the same time) a bad cold, a 103+ degree fever, major teething issues, and a touch of the stomach virus that her daddy had had a few days earlier. Poor girl. But she seems to be all better now, and has 5 teeth now with 4 more about to pop out any day now.

She has no interest in baby food anymore -- besides nursing, all she will eat is Cheerios and whatever Mommy's eating. The doctor says it's ok to move her to adult food, and my friend Katie M. is lending me her food grinder, thank goodness.

Her big obsession right now is animals. You saw the earlier video with her meowing and mooing. She's now roaring like a lion as well. She loves dogs and cats and we go on walks everyday to try to see dogs in the neighborhood. We also visited the local animal shelters last weekend to try to find a dog for our family. We've put in three applications (see here and here for the doggies we've applied for) so we're hoping the right doggie comes our way!

Thanks to all of you for your support of our family.

Winner of American Idol 2024

Katie and I were watching American Idol clips tonight on YouTube, and Katie decided that it's never too early to start practicing for her turn. (After all, 2007 champ Jordin Sparks has been wanting to audition for AI since she was 12 and had to wait until this year to try out -- and win!)

Katie and I were watching Fantasia Barrino sing "Summertime." Nothing like a little Gershwin to inspire my future Broadway star!

Speaking of American Idol, watching it was my biggest guilty pleasure while I was pregnant with Katie! I was glued to the TV every Tuesday and Wednesday night this spring, sometimes redialing with a cell phone in each hand, voting (and even praying) for Melinda Doolittle to win. I know, I'm a real loser. I even shelled out $60 to go see the Idols on tour in September! (Totally not worth it.) But I'll be one of the first to buy Melinda's first album whenever it comes out.