Thursday, July 9, 2009

kate had a birthday, hip hooray!

Kate turned 7!

Kate is such a fun part of our family. Each of the girls have their own special and unique personality and Kate is no exception. While we were still in the hospital with her after she was born, I remember telling Courtney, "She is so different than Ryenne. I can just tell." And it is true. I love seeing how different they each are and what a fun dimension each of them add to our family.

Right from the start, our Kater-bugs has been loving and cuddly. I never really heard her cry for almost the first two weeks of her life. She loves hearing the story of how good natured and mellow she was as a baby. She NEVER cried. In fact, when they gave her the PKU shot as a newborn, she never even flinched. I remember the nurses looking at each other with a funny look and asking, "We did get it, didn't we?" and "Yes, she's bleeding, I guess we did it right." It was at that point I decided that something was terribly wrong. After all, what kind of baby never cries? Especially after shots? I thought she must have a brain injury or be deaf. (Why exactly I related deafness to this, I'm not sure.) I spoke to the pediatrician and explained my worries, expecting him to relay some kind of terrible news. Instead he laughed. "Is something wrong?" He asked. "No, nothing is wrong. It's called being lucky. Just enjoy it." We laugh at this now, because these traits still continue. Still mostly happy, Kate loves shots. And being deaf? Well, no one can tune me out quite like Kate!

We had a great time on Kate's birthday. She had been planning for weeks that she wanted to go to dinner and a movie with Mom and Dad. As it turned out, she was a little bummed because her Dad had to go out of town the week of her birthday. I tried to think of something special, but didn't know quite what to plan because I knew her Dad was trying really hard to make it home by Thursday, her birthday.

The morning of her birthday, the girls were asleep in the playhouse. We woke Kate up with donuts and candles and a lovely rendition of the "Happy Birthday" song. I was a little worried, because her wish as she blew out her candles was that her dad would be home for her birthday, and I didn't want her to be disappointed. After a little breakfast picnic, we whisked her off to gymnastics and then to swimming lessons with Aunt Kerri and all the C cousins. We ended up planning a spontaneous birthday party with all of the cousins after swimming, which turned out to be a fun night. And to top it all off, Dad made it home just in time for the party. In the end, Kate said she ended up having a fantastic birthday!

(These pictures are in reverse order, so we'll start from the end of the day and move backward!)

Kate got a t-ball stand, bat, and mit for her birthday, and we had a rip-roaring game at the party. Nothing beats playing t-ball in the moonlight!
Kate and her polka-dot cake. (She picked polka dots because she thought both boys and girls liked polka-dots!)
Claire was a party animal!
Kate and her cousins, admiring her new purple mit.
Only at the W house do you get a life size hamster wheel to play on (aka a gigantic cable reel).

Trying to master her new hula hoop.
Enjoying our birthday donut breakfast. . .
Making a wish. . .

Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you!
Happy Birthday, dear Kate! Happy Birthday to you!

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