6 Months of Cuteness

Life has just been wonderful lately. I am loving being a mom more and more every single day. My heart grows all the time. I absolutely love the 5-6 month stage! It's the most fun so far, in my opinion. 

Katherine is just too cute to handle sometimes. She's a chatty little girl who loves to giggle and smile.  She loves vegetables, especially peas and squash. She likes bananas, but isn't too fond of apples surprisingly. She still doesn't have any teeth, but they really should be poking through anytime now. She drools like crazy and chews on her bottom lip all the time. She's about to crawl all over the place too! She hasn't figured out the hand and knee crawling, but she does scoot all over the place. She is happy most of the time (although I wouldn't call her an "easy" baby). I just love seeing her little personality shine through.

We've been doing a lot of fun things lately! Check it out!

Greg's birthday was on May 30. He turned 26! It just seems so old, considering we met when he was 21. We put Katherine in some tissue paper and a bag as a gift for daddy.

We went on a hike in the Aliso and Wood Canyons Wilderness Park for Greg's birthday. Katherine loved being in the carrier walking around!

After Greg's birthday dinner that night, we went to K1 Speed Racing and went go-karting. It was a BLAST! Greg got 1st place out of like 6 of us. I..... didn't do too well. Haha! But it was still so much fun!

We've been able to explore some of the beaches around Laguna. It's just so gorgeous here.

One night in early June, we went over to my sister, Steph's, house for dinner. Davy and Kelly and their kids were there too. It was the first time we met little Daphne. She's such a cutie! We had a lot of fun being with family!

More beach fun at Salt Creek!

We put Katherine in a swing at the park for the first time. SHE LOVED IT SO MUCH! At first, she was a little hesitant and unsure...

But then she realized it was something fun and squealed and giggled and just absolutely had the time of her life! I love watching her experience things for the first time and love life. It really makes me feel like I'm experiencing those things for the first time too. It's amazing.

My little precious babe.

Ann Marie came down for a few days. We were able to go to the beach with her. It was so much fun!

So cute!

Katherine loves reading stories! And eating them. She seriously tries to eat every single book we read to her.

Our little one trying to crawl.

We went up to Southern Utah to a little place called Duck Creek to go camping and dirtbiking with my parents over the 4th of July. It's about 45 minutes east of Cedar City, near the Brianhead ski resort. Greg's parents came down from Park City and camped with us too. It was so much fun! Camping with a baby was a TON of work, but so worth it. Kate loved it. Her favorite part of camping was watching the campfire. She was mesmerized by the flames. It was really cute. 

We went to Brianhead on the 4th with Greg's parents and little Sam. There were a bunch of little tents up with food, crafts, art, etc. There were also some fun activities (ziplining, a big slide, and some other stuff) for Sam to do. It was really fun!

The boys wanted to go fishing on the 4th of July.

Sam is seriously SO CUTE with Katherine. You can just tell that he really loves her.

I made a flag cake (gluten free for my mom). It turned out pretty cute!

Nana Diane loved being with little Katherine!

Katherine was also mesmerized by my dad playing the harmonica. She just stared and stared.

It was SO FUN to be with Greg's family!

Greg took Kate for a mini ride around the camp on the quad. She was LOVING it! She smiled and just loved looking around. She put her cute little feet on the gas lid the entire time.

She didn't ride on the dirtbike. Even though she probably would've wanted to.

Babe and me!

On the 4th, we went into Duck Creek Village for dinner, and we made it right in time for this awesome little parade! The people in the parade threw a bunch of candy out to the kids, so Sam got a TON of candy in a little bag. It was really fun. Katherine just loved watching the whole thing.

We went on a little ride on Lance and Diane's last day with us. We rode to this little place where we hiked to a waterfall. Kate fell asleep basically the whole time, but it was gorgeous!

Precious sleeping angel.

Cutie pie!

Just chillin' with Uncle Sam.

I just love my little family!

Nana Diane and Grandpa Lance! Love it!

Katherine was not too sure about the bath in the trailer. It was totally out of her element. She wasn't very happy about it.

Hey, cutie!

Playing with daddy!

Fun times

She is so stinkin' cute!!

Katherine sure loves her daddy.

Still trying to crawl.

One of the best things to happen this past month has been that Katherine has FINALLY slept through the night! HALLELUJAH! It is about time. She usually sleeps from 8 to 6:45, eats, and then sleeps for another couple hours. It's been a lot of hard work to get here, but she's starting to be more consistent about doing it. It's been soooooo nice. Let's just pray she keeps it up!

She also has been taking the sippy cup with formula! That's HUGE progress for this little baby. I am one happy mamma!

Having a baby is amazing. It's life changing. It's crazy. It's unbelievably fun. It causes anxiety. It's undeniably the best thing I've ever done. I absolutely love it. A couple of days ago, though, I posted an article on Facebook that talked about things you are unprepared for about motherhood (here's the link: http://www.scarymommy.com/articles/9-things-i-was-unprepared-for-about-motherhood). There are good things and bad things that you are unprepared for. For example, the love you have for your husband changes (in my case) in such a good way. I love Greg more than I ever have now that we have Katherine. But you also aren't prepared for the fact that your life is no longer yours, which isn't always fun. I find myself sometimes thinking about how I miss my old life, where I could do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. I sometimes look at my friends who are single or married with no kids and I envy their lives. I get jealous that they can just go out and get ice cream at 9pm if they want. Or they can go play soccer together as a couple. Or they can go on dates whenever they feel like it. But I can't do those things anymore. I mean, I can do some of them, but it takes WAY more planning and preparation. I can't really just do things on a whim. Anyway, I look at those people and just think, "I really wish I could do whatever I want and not be tied down so much!" But then I think about the fact that I was just tickling my little baby and getting the loudest little happy squeals out of her, and I realize that I am the luckiest person in the whole world to be able to know Katherine and to be her mommy. It's the best feeling. And when I think about little moments like that, that envy or jealousy goes completely away.