Sarah Martin's swaddling techniques

So Aunt Sarah came up from KY for a nice visit, and Katie got swaddled, Mama Martin style!

Clueless in the kitchen

One of Jackie's friends from Alabama sent an entire meal in the mail. A mail-meal, if you will. Like a paint-by-number drawing, all the ingredients and spices we needed were ready to be assembled. This, naturally was my job. I did my best.



It turned out okay, if I do say so myself.

Parent's lunch date

So while the Dobsons were still in town, Jackie and I thought it might be wise to have a "lunch date" while the G-Parents watched the little sprout.

So, while Charlie got Katie all tired out...




We got dressed up for a glamorous date at a fancy restaurant...




Said our good-byes to Katie (who was asleep by then):




And took off to enjoy the finest dining New York City has to offer:




Jackie peruses the gourmet menu...




When she SUDDENLY REMEMBERS she can have caffeine again--here comes her first Dr. Pepper in 9 months!!! (look at that elation on her face!)



Without any shame, I ordered a burger that made the top 10 Worst Foods in America list:



Meanwhile, back at home...



We finished up, having stuffed ourselves...




And we came home to find this little angel...

Kaite in her Natural Habitiat

NATURAL HABITAT...

As we study the wild Katie, which is obviously the purpose of this blog, I thought it would be helpful to devote some mega-pixels to her living quarters. Random note--when one calls this room "the nursery" it somehow seems less real that I TOTALLY HAVE A KID than when one calls it "Katie's room."

I mean, a sterile hospital has an nursery, and churches have nurseries (by the way, if you have ever volunteered to help in your church nursery, MAY GOD RICHLY BLESS YOU), but this will be...HER ROOM.

Think about what that means..HER ROOM. Like, when I say "GO TO YOUR ROOM," (not that I will ever say that, but...) this will be the destination she and I have in mind. Yikes. How will she decorate it? This is where she will hang her first poster...who will a kid-friendly celebrity be when she is in grade school? Will it still be Hannah Montana--(Daughter of a KY native)? The Jonas Nephews? Who knows? Katie knows, and, well, she is not telling.

Oh man. I just thought of something. 

What if KATIE becomes famous? What if she is the poster child? What if this very blog is the spark that ignites her blazing path to stardom? 

Yikes.

Well, anyway this was supposed to be a post about her natural habitat, and the delightful transformation my wife made in it. Jackie (with help from the Dobsons, and our countless uber-generous friends and family) made Katie's room look great.

Here are the BEFORE AND AFTER pics to prove it:

Starting with the floor, here is the floor to start with:



Then we began painting the floor…



Finally, we put down a big green area rug that matched the floor paint nicely:



With the floors done, Charlie and I moved the furniture into place:

Rocking Chair (with hutch behind it)


Wooden Rocker:


Dresser:


Slight personalization on the dresser to maximize cuteness:


And of course, the crib:


So the room looked like this at this point:


and





Next it was time to work on the walls...

Charlie built shelves:


And one with a rod to hang clothes:


With the "hardware" in place, it was time to decorate and fill up the room:

It started with one outfit...


...and became...well:



And this blank wall...


...became this tree:



This space...


...became:


The crib...


...became:


And finally this space...


...became:




Woo-Hoo!!!

Katie playing with Charlie

This clip is a little on the longish side (41 seconds)

It's also a little on the adorable-ish side.