Katie Gets Ready for Christmas

Katie has been busy getting ready for Christmas. She's flipped through every catalog we have and picked out Christmas cd's for us. She got to spend a night with her Aunt Sue last night while Nancy and I went to my office's holiday party. Poor Sue had to endure 2 hours of a full-volume Katie meltdown. Somehow she managed to get her to go to sleep in the process.

The holiday party was at the historic Willard Hotel next to the White House and was a lot of fun. Some interesting facts about the Willard Hotel:
* Abraham Lincoln lived there for a month before his inauguration,
* Every president since Franklin Pierce has visited the hotel.
* Martin Luther King, Jr. finished writing his "I Have a Dream Speech" in the hotel.
* Ulysses S. Grant would sit in the lobby smoking cigars and drinking brandy while President. He popularized the term "lobbying" after people approached him for favors.
* Julia Ward Howe wrote "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" in the hotel.

Katie does some catalog shopping...




"Whew! Shopping is tiring!"


Katie picks out a Christmas CD.


Katie veges on the couch.


Rusty wants to know if he's on the nice list.


After my office Holiday party, Nancy and I went to see the Capitol Christmas Tree. This year the tree was from Vermont. It's our favorite tree in D.C. and we make sure to go see it every Christmas.

Katie Meets Santa

Today Katie met Santa Claus for the first time at Pentagon City!

Old Town Christmas

Tonight we went to Old Town Alexandria to see the Christmas tree at City Hall and to enjoy a nice meal at Chadwick's. During our dinner, a choral group came in and sang Christmas carols to all the diners. They were really good. A waiter gave Katie a balloon which she LOVED! I'll try to post some video tomorrow of her playing with it. She grabs the string and wiggles her arms to make the balloon move back and forth and then squeals with delight. So cute. Click here for all the photos.















Click here for more photos.

Sleepy Katie

Katie was so tired last night that she fell asleep in her high chair for the first time. Her eyes kept closing and she fought it for a bit but finally gave in. We let her sleep for a while but then, of course, she was wide awake at bed time.

Katie's First Day of Christmas

Katie kicked off the Christmas season by going to the Scottish Walk/Christmas Parade in Old Town Alexandria with her friends Sophie, Cooper, Randy, and Nikki. She saw lots of bands, bagpipes, dogs, and men in kilts. She even saw Santa Claus riding on a firetruck. You can check out last year's video of it here.

We all then decided to go warm up and eat lunch at Clyde's. It was very yummy -- especially the spiced pumpkin bundt cake! Katie enjoyed some Cheerios that her Mom thoughtfully brought for her.

We skipped the boat parade of lights this year because it was cold and Katie was tired but we did go for a walk around the neighborhood to see the luminaries. Every year at this time our neighborhood lines all the sidewalks with candles in bags. It's a nice touch during the holiday season.


Katie enjoys the Scottish Walk/Christmas Parade in Alexandria with our neighbors Randy and Cooper.


Cuddling with Dad.




Hanging out with the boys on the couch.



Trying to stay warm while going outside to look at the luminaries (candles in bags) in the neighborhood.

Katie's New Tub

Katie's new tub is a splashing success.

Standing!

Katie shows off her newest trick -- standing! She can pull herself up with the help of a rail or table. She always looks so proud of herself whenever she does it. She hasn't started walking yet but it looks like that'll be happening soon.

She went to the doctor today and got a flu shot and cried. She weighs just under 20 pounds and has dropped to the 75th percentile in weight (she was in the 90th percentile). She's in the 80th percentile for height.

In other news, her dad helped write Celebritology today.

Thanksgiving in Naugy

We had a nice Thanksgiving at Nancy's mom's house in Naugatuck, CT. Katie spent it with her parents, her godparents, her grandmother, and her three favorite dogs. We enjoyed yummy food prepared by John and Katie experienced her first black Friday (her dad took her to two stores looking for a new camera). We watched Naugatuck High lose to their rival, Ansonia, 44-0 and then watched UConn lose to West Virginia 66-21 and then watched Georgia Tech lose to the dreaded Bulldogs, 31-17. Oy. At least the UConn women's basketball team won. Despite all the losing, we had fun in Naugy. Click here for all the photos.


Katie watches Naugatuck High lose to their rival Ansonia (and defending state champs), 44-0. On the bright side, a guy on the other team broke the career rushing record in Connecticut.


Daddy's little girl learns to stick her tongue out at people while Nancy wonders what went wrong.


Katie does her situps before bedtime.


Aunt Sue helps feed Katie.


Introducing the first female Cy Young award winner in baseball history.


Frank gets Katie to fall asleep and thereby gets assigned to bedtime duty for the rest of the year.

Click here for more photos.

C&O Canal

It was a beautiful fall day today and we went for a long walk along the C&O Canal in D.C. Rusty had a great time and got to see some ducks (including some that were sleeping), a great blue heron, and some other dogs. He also got to smell all sorts of new scents including probably some deer.

Katie was a little more subdued but seemed to enjoy it. She kept trying to kick off her blanket and take off her socks despite her parents' instructions not to.

We ended up walking for about 4 miles. We're fully expecting to be sore tomorrow. It was nice to return to the spot where we spent so much of our time going for long runs in the middle of summers long past. It has been at least 2 years since we last went running there together. It almost makes us wish we were training for another marathon. Almost.

During the walk, an airplane flew overhead that had just taken off from National Airport. Suddenly we heard a loud boom and rumbling sound from the plane. It seemed to be ok but we kept looking up to make sure an engine or something wasn't about to land on us. Luckily, nothing did.

This Week in Photos

Katie calls her friends to go to the baby disco.


Reads the Washington Post Magazine (actually just the Dilbert cartoon) in bed with her Dad.


Ready to attend her friend Sophie's baptism.


Meeting Audrey for the first time.


Baby wrestling, the next big sport.


Photo by Kathy Zecca (Audrey's mom)



Audrey and Katie, B.F.F.


Katie parties with the girls.

Katie Crawls!

Katie crawled! Her first time was Thursday at baby yoga. She did it again today and we captured it on video. Our living room just got a lot smaller.

Happy Halloween!

Our lil' pumpkin flashing some sort of gang sign.


Katie watches the penguins and the rest of the costumes go by during the Del Ray Halloween Parade.


Katie and her dad at the parade.


Our cute gourd.


Katie's either trying to take Cooper's helmet or is posing as a cheerleader.


Katie's enjoying Halloween with her friends Cooper, Randy, and Sophie.

For more photos of the Del Ray Halloween parade (not taken by me), click here.