November

November was an exciting month for us! We had Susan and Reagan come in town to meet Colin, Kate had her first "party" at school (Thanksgiving Feast), we had a wonderful visit from Great Grandma and Grandpa Kratzer, and Colin turned one month and had his first Thanksgiving. Here are some pics from this month...

Family Photoshoot

We had our family photo shoot with the amazingly talented Laura from Studio Bloom Photography. But Kate is in a really hard stage for taking pictures and by the end of it Zac was swearing we weren't doing this again until she is at least 10!

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year! Kate actually understood the concept of dressing up and we practiced saying Trick or Treat. We went to a party at our friends' house and walked around with a bunch of Kate's/our friends to get some candy! I think this might be the last year she doesn't actually care too much about getting the candy = )

Getting Settled In

Kate really adjusted to well to having Colin around. She kind of just ignored him = )
We just spent the first few weeks hanging around the house and letting people come over and admire our boy....

Colin Layne Peden

On Thursday October 7th at 12:19 pm we welcomed Colin Layne Peden to our family. He was 8 lbs and 20.5 inches.

The labor went smoothly and we just instantly fell in love with him!!!
We stayed at the hospital for just one night and were so anxious to get him home and start our life as a family of 4...

Fall Happenings

We've had such an enjoyable last few weeks trying to spend quality time with our little girl before we become a family of four. Don't really think she knows what she is in for! But in 2 days she will be a big sister! We can't wait to meet our new little one....

First Day of "School"

Did I say once a week? Maybe I meant once a month...

Since my last update Kate started Mother's Day Out. She goes twice a week (T and TH) from 8:30-2. I think she likes it although she cries when we get into the parking lot and pretty much all the way into the classroom and if I'm not the first person in the line to pick her up she usually cries too. I know it will be such a lifesaver once I have the baby though so I'm hoping she cheers up after awhile!

She is getting so big and has so many new words and phrases every day. She knows most of her colors and can count to 10 (ok not really, she says 1,2,5,9,10). The only new thing I'm not enjoying so much is that she has to be the world's worst sharer. No matter where we are everything is "Mine" and if another kid even looks at the toy she is playing with she shouts "No!". Makes it not so fun to take her to playdates and birthday parties. Hopefully she'll grow out of this soon! We just keep saying "We share with our friends" and we make her share her toys at home with us and if she wants to play with something of ours we make it clear that we are "sharing" it with her!

Baby Boy Peden (yet to be named) should be arriving on October 7th if not sooner. I keep having this feeling that I might actually go into labor this time but after today's visit I think I may be headed for induction #2.

Here are some pictures from Kate's first day of MDO and from her friend Evan's 1st Birthday Party