project 365: ready, set, shoot

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2011 is the year I'm finally going to participate in Project 365: taking & posting a picture each day of the year. 


Here are my goals:
1) Not to worry too much about each pic being a work of art
2) To notice the little things each day that will capture our life; to recognize what sweet moments define our day
3) To practice photography
4) To keep it fun & not stress over it

I'm going to see about adding a tab to my blog so that I don't have to clog up the main blog site with so many tiny posts. It may end up just being a set on my Flickr account. 

I also know that in late May when Baby comes, there may be a brief intermission from posting. I still hope to take a pic a day, though! (We'll just have to see how that works out for me!)

Post 1/365 coming soon...

Kate's First Christmas

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I remember telling Nick last Christmas (all big and pregnant) how strange it was that next Christmas we would have an almost-one-year-old celebrating her first Christmas. Now it feels strange that next year we'll be a family of four.


We celebrated with my family here in town. There was even one night where all four Purcell kids were together with our families (minus Nick b/c he was out of town for work). What a huge crowd we were! We enjoyed having Matt, Shay, Jackson, and Adelaide stay with us. It was fun to see Kate and Adelaide interact (which mostly comprised of Kate constantly taking whatever toy Adelaide was playing with). Kate loved chasing Jackson around the house, and consequently, she slept VERY well while they were here!

Santa brought Kate a new Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair which she's not really into yet, but I figure she will be in the coming year. He also brought her a smattering of other small toys including a giggling little Elmo that kind of freaks her out. Gram and Grandaddy got her a Cozy Coupe, Great Grandmother gave her her very own stroller to push, and Nana and Pops sent a Radio Flyer wagon! Kirby (never left out) got several packages of "cookies" for her treat ball, as well as other bones and treats. Nick's big gift was a set of cast iron pots and pans to use on the smoker, and I got to order my new camera! Woo hoo! (It's on back order, though, so I'll have to be patient a little while longer.) I'm looking forward to improved focus and better low-light pictures.

And speaking of pictures...




quick photo op this morning

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We were going to see Santa today, but thanks to Web check-in, I was able to see that the wait was 2.5 hours. So, I just took a few pics of Kate in her cute outfit sans Santa. Maybe we'll get to see him later this week.


Gram and Grandaddy tagged along... we scoped out the spot for the family pics we'll take later this week. It was nice to have my mom's help with her as my dad and I snapped pictures. Photographing Kate is getting a lot harder... she's zooming all over the place now!



Kate is 11 months old

in


Dear Kate,
I cannot believe you are just one month shy of your first birthday. It was this time last year that I looked like a whale! Little did I know what a treasure God had in store for Daddy and me. You've changed in some significant ways these past few weeks, Little One, but you've stayed the same in others: your sweet demeanor and easy going spirit have not changed a bit! Here are some things you've been doing:

* Walking!! Just after you turned 10 months old, you took your first steps. After just a few short weeks, you've become a pro! You're even able to change directions or stop to pick up a toy without falling. Your motto? Why crawl when you can walk?

* You'll come to me when I call you. I think it's because I usually throw you up in the air and make you giggle when you get to me!

* Being such a busy bee, you don't lie still for diaper changes anymore. This makes things tricky. 'Nuff said.

* You caught your fourth cold. You still have it. You strongly protest when I try to wipe your nose. You're so congested that you can't drink your bottles. We're trying to push a lot of solids to make up for your calorie loss. Not fun.

* You're making a little bit of progress with eating more textured food. You love puffs now, and you'll even eat Cheerios pretty well, too. We have to be careful serving you table food because so much of what we eat contains dairy. It'll be another month before we have you allergy tested to see if you've outgrown your milk allergy. Anyway, I tried to feed you some scrambled egg, but you gagged and spat it out. We still have a long ways to go!

* You figured out how to drink from a sippy cup, but like your bottle, you won't hold it yourself. It would really be nice if you'd take over that duty!

* Last month I think you were saying your Ds and Bs very well, and now you've added M to your repertoire. The last few days have been nothing but "ma ma ma ma ma." Now when are you going to realize that Mama means me? I don't recognize any "words" yet. You don't seem to consistently call anything a name.

* Your fourth tooth came in! It's your top right one. I think the other one is coming through, too. We sing, "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth!"

* You love to explore the house to find what you can get into, play the piano, mess with Kirby's tags (they make a fun jangley sound), eat books, and chew on toys. You are good at playing by yourself for a few minutes. You don't need me constantly next to you.

We love you very much and can't imagine life without you.
Love,
Mama (and Daddy)


Stats...
Weight: forgot to do this. Will add tomorrow.
Length: 29 inches
Clothes: 12-18 months
Diaper size: 3 (about to switch to 4 when we run out)
Sleep: 6:45pm - 7am
Naps: 9/9:30-10:30am and 1:30-2:30/3pm
 Food: 4 bottles per day, totaling about 28 ounces (when you don't have a cold). You get three solid meals of stage 2 and some stage 3 foods that aren't too textured.




Because Kate has a cold, I just took some pictures inside today of her playing.









This monthly elephant picture is awful! It's the best I could do, though. Kate kept climbing up over the back of the chair, plopping down, then laughing and laughing. Then she repeated that over and over.


kate is 10 months old

in



 Dear Kate,


You have grown up so much over the past month. This is such a fun (and tiring!) stage as you're more interactive with us and intentional about your actions and play. Here are some things we've noticed about you lately...

* You found your consonants, and you're babbling away! You like to practice yelling and whispering these sounds. You regularly use Bs and Ds and sometimes Ms and Gs.

* You're getting very steady on your feet. In fact, there have been several times you have stood unassisted for several seconds. Once you even stood for about 30 seconds by yourself. You looked like a little surfer as you tried to keep your balance. Today you did this time and time again... you're getting good!

* Holding our hands, you love to walk to get around. Although you were doing this before, you now do it very quickly, easily, and for much longer distances. It's crazy to think you'll be walking on your own before long!

* You are a busy girl! This was the case before this month, but your skills in crawling, pulling up, and cruising have improved, so it takes no time for you to get from one thing to the next. We follow you around as you pull up on the TV cabinet, drop and go to the sofa and pull up, reach over to the coffee table to cruise around, drop and go stand to play the piano, drop and go to the dining room table, etc., etc., etc. You never stay with one task very long. It's all about exploring and finding something new to get into! (Which leads to the next point...)

* The word "no" was introduced to you this past month. You go for the stairs, "No, Kate." You go for the outlets, "No." You go for the fireplace screen, "No, no." You're a smart cookie, though. As you go towards these items, you look over your shoulder to see if I'm really watching you or not. You want to know if we're really serious about these boundaries we're setting! Once the "no" is said in a (slightly) stern voice, you cry. We then try to redirect you to something that is allowed! You're learning!

* We're making progress with feeding you textures. You will eat puffs without gagging now. You still spit them out, but you end up swallowing more than you reject. You are using the "pincer" grasp to pick up the puffs and put them in your mouth. What fun it is to feed yourself!

* While you still won't drink from a sippy cup or straw cup, you do like to drink from a regular cup. We tip the water into your mouth, but a lot of it gets spilled on you! You don't seem to mind; you enjoy copying us!

* Your third tooth actually arrived this month. What I thought was your third tooth all along was actually just a calcium deposit on your gums. I wondered why that tooth didn't seem to be getting bigger!

Your happy personality and easy going nature make you the sweetest baby ever! You're growing up so fast, and I look forward to each new stage with our darling girl.

We love you lots,
Mama and Daddy

Stats...
 We know I'm not too great at taking these measurements, so take these estimates for what they're worth.
Weight: 20.5 pounds
Length: 28.5 inches
Clothes: 6-12 months, 12 months in Carter's brand
 Diaper size: 3
 Sleep: 6:45pm - 7am
Naps: 9:30-10:30am and 1:00-2:30pm
 Food: 4 bottles per day, totaling about 25 ounces. You get two to three solid meals of stage 2 and some stage 3 foods.




This month's elephant pic...



A few others from today...









kate's dedication

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On October 24, we participated in baby dedication at church. Kate had quite the crowd supporting her, but unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of the whole group. (After the service, Kate was in need of a nap and was in the works of a meltdown!)

Watch the dedication video and scroll down to see some sweet pics of Kate in her dress!















Here's the Flickr slideshow for the rest of the photos in this set: