Some things never change....... or do they?

Katrina last fall
Katrina Jan 6, 2009

Katrina Jan. 9, 2009

Finally, a clean face, dry bib, and beautiful smile, after 2 bowls of soup!

Now there is a face that is "kissably clean"! Here Katrina proves she is capable of eating without a huge mess, it is the same meal she had on the previous picture soup and peanut butter crackers.

"Snow Mama, Snow"

When the snow started falling just before Christmas, Katrina was battling an asthma attack and as we found out a few days later pnemonia. Due to her sensitivity to cold air she was not allowed to go play in the snow. For days she ran to the window, looked outside and yelled, whined, or exclaimed depending ont he mood, "Snow, Mama, Snow". This is the first big snow day and her first glimpses....

UH MOM? What happened?
Not sure if she should laugh or scream she did a combination!

It was so cool she had to show Baby

Christmas with the Cottons

This year was our second Christmas with the Cotton's! Although the snow, and illness kept us from celebrating Christmas until this past week (Jan. 8) we dressed in our Christmas best (jammies) dined on the highest class breakfast delicacies we could make (pigs in a blanket and Caramel Pecan Sticky Buns). Played, exchanged gifts and rejoiced in having such great friends!

3 peas in a pod!

It is great to have friends to share shoes with.....

Don't tell me what to do, I know how to unwrap gifts mom!

All the festivites led to one sleepy and worn out girl! At least she is still smiling from all the fun, even in sleep she is a joyous one.

Random Kat photos

Lately, Katrina can't seem to get enough of her baby doll. The doll is very high maintenance! She is constantly needing to be wrapped, but takes her blanket of as soon as it is on her, she wants to be rocked and is always looking for a bottle. Katrina does a great job caring for her, now if only she would learn how to wrap the baby I may get a break.

Rock a bye baby......

Sometimes katrina even sits down to sing to her as she rocks. It is so cute!


Who could resist that face?????

Even while riding her car baby has to be with her... (baby rides under the seat)

Katrina loves crawling into tight places and "hiding" a new skill she has learned from the boys at work. She was getting frustrated here because she couldn't fit in and I apparently didn't count long enough for her to hide better.

Tis the Season

Christmas is coming so fast so I thought I should post a few of our pictures before we miss it. Katrina is really enjoying the festivities this year. She drops her jaw in awe as we pass houses all lit up. She giggles and starts dancing when she hears the Christmas music and has decided she is quite fond of the cookies of the season. So, far her favorite seems to be the sugar cookies that are covered in green sprinkles!
Last weekend we took advantage of the warm December night and went out to Redmond Lights with Auntie Laura. The city of Redmond does a big tree lighting at one end of town and set up some light displays along a bike trail lit with luminaries through town to the mall. Throughout the walk were varying musicians and Katrina enjoyed listening to them all. Especially the hand bell choir. This was one of the better light displays, it's a train, Katrina's picture was taken and it may appear in the Redmond newspaper.

When I started decorating the apartment Katrina had to be involved. I would hand her a non breakable decoration and she decided where it went. Here she is putting a little nativity in the bathroom. Apparently she felt I was not decorating an important room or something because she was adament that it had to go in there!

She also enjoyed these wooden carolers. They were so cool that they had to go on top of her toy shelf.

She couldn't make up her mind if they should stand together or on opposite sides of the shelf. here she is trying to tell me that the carolers don't close there eyes. She was a bit confused by this and kept touching the eyes to see if they would close.

Happy Thanksgiving! ....

For Thanksgiving our plan was to go to Auntie Laura's and have a fabulous Turkey dinner for 3. Laura and I picked out all new recipes to try and did the grocery shopping. However, on Tuesday before Thanksgiving Katrina decided it would be a better idea to hitch a ride to the hospital with the ambulance. So, we got to spend Thanksgiving in Children's Hospital in Seattle. We had some great friends come to visit us and Laura being the trooper she is made ALL of the new recipes, and turkey by herself and brought Kat and I a home cooked Thansgiving meal.

Katrina really enjoyed the squash (not sure how it made it on the menu since I hate it!) and was so pleased to have some of the monitors disconnected so she could sit with me and read books.

We were so grateful for the real food after 3 days of little to no hospital food. Katrina was trying to convince auntie Laura to feed her the last bites on her plate.

This was not the Thanksgiving we had planned but it could have been much worse! We are hoping that the list of Holidays we have spent in the hospital is now complete and we can enjoy the rest with our friends and family!

A day at the park..... skatepark that is

About a month ago Katrina and I had the pleasure of joining the Burkes at their favorite local park. We all had a great time and played hard.

Leah demonstrates that no mtater how old you are it is always better to "get a push" while Gary proves that if your wife is small enough you can do the ever tiring one arm push to gain great height!

Ethan is so great playing with Katrina and Avery. I'm not sure if he was trying to hold her back to get ready or if she was just not in a good position, none the less, they enjoyed the slide!

Gary takes Avery for a quick "ride" through the skate park. She was really enjoying this. I am very impressed with the skills Gary must have to keep his balance, still do the ramp all the while bending over to hold his ever so petite daughter on the board.

Katrina, in typical style, was completely interested in what Ethan was doing. In this case, it was riding his bike on the ramps doing his own tricks! She was very excited to have a chance to be like Ethan.

and she sleeps, finally she sleeps

For the past two months Katrina has been fighting a battle with her asthma. In early Sept. she had a one night stay at one of our favorite get aways (Seattle Children's Hospital). After that she endured 6 weeks of high doses of her oral steroids and inhalers. She is such a trooper and very cheerful throughout these stints of meds. Unfortunately, they make her completely wired and for weeks we were lucky to get 3-5 hours a sleep total in a day. About 2 weeks ago the meds finally ended and finally she crashed.

Of course, she wouldn't sleep in her own bed for the first day so here she is lounging in mommies big bed. When she awoke she hopped down and came scampering into the kitchen where I was and had the best smile ever! I think she too was happy to get some sleep!

Like mothers like daughters......

Katrina and I have had the good fortune of sharing very good friends! This comes in very handy when us moms (Carrie and I) want to get together for coffee, pastries, and a stroll in the park. Katrina and her very good friends Elyse and Kaelyn enjoy their croissants as we stroll through the Bellevue Park. What a beautiful autumn we are having! Too bad it seems the rain has finally caught up to us.

Good News!

Katrina had a Dr. appointment today with her new Pulmonologist. Although nothing is certain and only time will tell for sure it appears that she may be making some headway with her asthma. We get to back off on her daily medicines and if she hold strong another 6 weeks we will be able to drop her daily inhaled steroid back down to a lower dosage. We appreciate all the people praying for her and ask you to continue!! As for now, we will take this as a success and plan to move forward from here!

Family Fun!

So, last week Katrina and I were able to have Ethan and Avery hang out with us while Leah went to choir. We had so much fun playing that I didn't think the giggles would stop long enough for sleep (which they didn't until they were seperated) but it was a blast!

Since we don't have a kitchen table yet in our new place I lined the kids up and hoped for the best! Soup is a tricky thing to eat without a table and my floor was proof of that!
Note to self- buy mop!

This is a favorite toy right now. You turn it on and it plays music and shoots balls up into the air. Katrina and Avery were so excited by it they actually shared, which is a hard thing for toddlers to do.
How fun to share such excitement!
All the while Ethan dutifully helped them capture the escaped balls and return them to the toy. He was not having fun at all! I promise!

A Day at the Beach

Last week I had a house sitting job in Edmonds. We were only a couple minutes from this beach so we invited Leah, Ethan and Avery to join us for a day in the sun.

Katrina loved wading into the water but wasn't quite ready to run in like Ethan (turquoise shirt in back of picture)

Ethan and good friends Bella and Cameron take a moment to contemplate the day!

Ethan is a great big brother and practices his skills redirecting Katrina back to the picnic. She will follow him anywhere!

As the mom's packed up lunch to move closer to the water the kids explored the sand.

The beach had great strategic driftwood to form little boxes that the young kids couldn't quite get out of. Katrina attempts an escape anyway.

Fathers Day

On Father's Day Katrina and I met up with the Burkes and Laura for a fun day of relaxing. We went to church, stopped by the cometary to say "hi" to Grandpa Larry and then enjoyed a sunny day at the Burkes.

Visiting in Walla Walla

A couple of weeks ago Scott asked Katrina and I to meet him in Walla Walla to visit with his grandma before she went in for surgery. It was a quick trip but we enjoyed the visit and Katrina loved seeing the grandmas


Grandma Irene looking gorgeous as ever

Katrina and Grandma Jackie contemplate the seriousness of the moment.

Ever the beauty Katrina tries to show off after her bath

With those long legs she will be scaling fences in no time!

Dad and katrina

my apologies

Due to technical problems I have been unable to add new posts. I have plenty of great pictures and will post as soon as I can get my computer online! Hopefully that will be soon!