Bountiful Blessings!

Warning: Long Post!

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we have had! It's been a time of play, rest and family time - all which have been a blessing to us. We've been in Jasper for the long weekend. David's family is big and most of them live here in town - we had several visitors and even a welcoming party for us when we arrived on Thursday - here are a few pics from Catherine Ellis's first Thanksgiving (you will notice she is still recovering from the croup, but she was a trooper!):

Are you for real - I'm not in the mood for pictures!

My Thanksgiving outfit

Aunt Stace feeding CE

I love sweet potatoes

Meeting cousins Jackson & Jake

We were so excited about the Iron Bowl - as many of you know Catherine Ellis is the product of a divided household - Daddy is an Alabama graduate and Mommy is an Auburn graduate - so she's a fan of both teams. We started off with a hearty breakfast - cheering on our teams is not for the lighthearted - and then we started our First Iron Bowl with Catherine Ellis:

Playing at breakfast

Trampoline jumping with a nervous Daddy

We are jumping high

Hey Mommy!

Getting loving from my Gran during the pre-game

Yay Auburn - Thank you Aunt B & Uncle C!

Future AU cheerleader??

Divided baby

Yay teams!

Go teams...Go!

Look at that play...

Irresistible

Working on bye-bye

Future college student - but which college?

Today (Saturday) David, Catherine Ellis and I packed up and headed to camp to see the new Chapel and visit some old friends. It was a red letter day - perfect weather, perfect time and Catherine Ellis loved every single minute! We're so excited about her upcoming baptism at camp on January 10th!

These next pictures are from our day but are also for all my dear camp friends that check this blog that might be wondering how our old stomping ground has changed - so bare with me on all the pics!

My first Camp McDowell visit - 7 months old

Front of St. Francis Chapel

Side view

St. Francis of Assisi

Swinging with Daddy

Swinging with Mommy

Just a swingin'

Pooped from my Camp trip...

And if you're a Camp alum you know no trip to Camp is complete without a trip to:

Fill your Gizzard at the Slick Lizard

In front of the neon lizard - CE is thrilled....

Goodbye Nauvoo - oh how we've missed you....

And to end our great day we stopped by one of David's best friends - Joey - parent's house - Karen and Chip. It was so wonderful to see them - Catherine Ellis loved her visit and the gorgeous Globetti Christmas trees were a big hit with her!

Catherine Ellis & Miss Karen

All things great and wonderful....

Happy Thanksgiving from the Cains - we have so much to be thankful for this year and want to be sure and praise God for all that he has given us. David and I have jobs that we love, friends that we cherish and family that we are thankful for everyday! Not to mention the newest addition to our family, Catherine Ellis! We hope you all have a blessed Thanksgiving and get to spend quality time with those you love! Thank you to each of you for being a part of our lives.

This past weekend we visited my Dad in North Alabama - this was Catherine Ellis's first trip since she was nine weeks old - she's changed a lot since then!

9 week old visit

7 1/2 month visit - John Deere Girl

Hey there!

These boots were made for walking - not yet!

We stopped by my grandparents best friends - Cat & Lec - again and Catherine Ellis was way too active for these two 80 somethings - but they loved every minute and she loved just being out and about.

First Visit in June

November Visit

It's amazing what a difference 5 months makes for a newborn - the last visit she was content just sitting and slept a lot. This visit there was no sleeping, no sitting still, and she clapped, talked, and laughed! Growing up is hard to do, but we sure are having so much fun watching her do it!

In addition to her first time wearing cowboy boots, we tried the sippy cup! She played with it mostly and managed to get about an ounce out of it - but it'll just take practice!

Learning to be a big girl

Another special memory we had was Catherine Ellis being the fourth generation to sleep in the Bates family crib. My grandfather, father, brother and I all slept in this crib as newborns. She didn't seem to mind at all and it was much cozier than her 'big' crib at home.

Fourth generation crib with my nap quilts that my Memaw made for me as a little girl as bumper pads

A better view of the crib

One tired and happy puppy dog

We had a great trip and a wonderful time visiting with family and friends - a big Thank you to Aunt B and Uncle C for babysitting Saturday afternoon - even after a long trip back from Portland the night before. We are so thankful for all of our many blessings! Happy Thanksgiving!

A Few of Our Favorite Things

One of Catherine Ellis's favorite things is being outside. Nothing calms her, soothes her or makes her smile like good ole' fresh air and glorious sunshine. We've had a wonderful break in the rain and two of the most gorgeous weeks we've had in a long time here in Birmingham. Fall is in full effect and it's gorgeous around here!

After church on Sunday we headed out to hike Ruffner Mountain - one of our favorite places here in Birmingham, just a few miles from our house. David proposed to me at Hawk's View and it's been a staple outdoor activity in our lives for years. We thought it was high time to introduce Catherine Ellis and enjoy the sunshine. A co-worker passed along a fabulous baby backpacker and we tried it out for the first time today. At first during our practice run-through at home, she was not so sure she liked it, but once we got her strapped in and on my back, we were in business.

The dogs were elated and so were we to be able to enjoy an hour or so on the trail. Let me just say I sure got a workout - carrying 20 lbs of baby and gear on your back is no joke, but I need the exercise! We did a short hike - about 1/2 a mile and plan to work our way up over the next few months. Here are some pictures from our hike:

Leaving the neighborhood - ready for our adventure!

Trying to catch Emma's tail in the breeze - this tickled her and Emma even played along!

Cain, lips blowing in the wind, can hardly believe his good fortune....

Where are they taking me now? (and thank you Brittany for my monkey - I love him!)

Getting started on our hike...full of energy

The rest of the family....

Self portrait

Taking a break with Cain - Emma is busy hunting...

Hey! This is fun!

Gorgeous gal....

My new teething toy...

We hope this never ends

Praise the Lord, we made it....two tired girls

Great hike! Can't wait to do it again!

I'm tired too...

I'm ready to go again....

Pooped, but happy!

While being outdoors is certainly one of our top ten favorite things, another favorite that ranks high on the list is bath time - this little lady loves the water! We thought we'd show you how much she's changed since we last gave you a glimpse of bath time - she can babble, clap, splash water and sit up on her own - our kitchen turns into a splash pad every night! Fun times!

7 Months

Catherine Ellis is 7 months old today! It's a big birthday - David and I are realizing that our little baby girl is growing up fast. The days of her sitting still are over and she's more vocal than ever! This is such a fun age - 6-9 months - it's wonderful to experience life through the eyes of a baby. Everything is interesting, everything is funny, and everything deserves attention!

Who is 7 months? I am!

In honor of her 7 months I'll list 7 great things (and one to grow on) that Catherine Ellis is doing these days:

• Almost completely sitting up on her own - she's still a little off balance, but she's getting better every day!
• VOCAL! She's making new noises every day - the newest one is the smacking sound - she'll do it several times in a row and then laugh at herself.
• She's got the wave down-pat - she doesn't always respond when you say bye-bye or hello -but she'll wave.
• She's eaten prunes, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, peas, apples, bananas, and pears. We've switched from rice cereal to whole grain oatmeal. She eats a breakfast snack and lunch time snack. She's still breastfed, but this past weekend I stopped pumping and I only feed her first thing in the morning and last thing at night before bed.
• She can clap and when you say "Yeah!" she responds with clapping.
• She can roll completely over - her favorite is tummy to back. She hates tummy time and has figured out how to get out of it by rolling over. Smart girl.
  
• She LOVES her passy - I think it will be a very sad day for us all when we have to 'lose' it.
• Her sleeping habits have improved - the past week she's almost back to normal. She's been waking most nights only once and usually goes right back to sleep. Last night she slept through the night from 8:00 - 6:15 this morning without a peep! We were thrilled and scared - at 5:15 I woke up and thought "Oh no, somethings wrong!" but when I went to check on her she was just fine. It felt AMAZING to have such a wonderful, uninterrupted night of sleep. We hope this trend will continue.
  

We thank God everyday we are so blessed with such a happy baby. She's a great eater, very social, and loves life in general. We look forward to the next set of milestones that we're approaching. Happy birthday to my sweet girl!

Football & Friends

Catherine Ellis and I visited Auburn this weekend for Homecoming. It was the perfect kid-friendly weekend - the weather was great, the crowd was small and it was so good to be back in Auburn. David didn't join us, instead he headed to Tuscaloosa for the big game against LSU. We certainly missed him! This was the first football game we've all attended this season and it was a great weather weekend to make the trips.

Catherine Ellis and I arrived early in the evening Friday and had a play date with one of my great friends Allison and her son Hill. Allison married David and me and we've been great friends for over 10 years - it's so wonderful to see her when our schedules allow and I hope our little ones will be great friends as they grow up.

Allison, Catherine Ellis, Hill & Me

Allison & Catherine Ellis

Playtime in the RV

Of course we had to eat a bite after our visit, so Aunt B fed Catherine Ellis her peas - she loved every bite! We are so thankful we have a good eater.

I love peas!

It got cool after the sun set, so we pulled out our tailgating blanket that Miss Susan's mother made for us - it's a fabulous gift and much used this time of year. One side is Auburn and the other Alabama. Of course we used the Auburn side this weekend.

Thank you Robinson Family!

I left Catherine Ellis with Aunt B and Uncle C while I attended Summer's baby shower - I don't have any pictures - but hope to steal one in the next day or some from some of the other girls blogs. It was wonderful to see all of my college gals and catch up. Congrats to Summer, Gary and Henry! We are so excited for them!

Saturday started off with a stroller ride to Heritage Park for all sorts of food sampling - Catherine Ellis decided she needed a morning nap - so nap we did.

Morning siesta - preparation for the big game!

Aunt B and Catherine Ellis

Drying out - Catherine Ellis had her first Bloody Mary (Uncle C left his in the stroller cup holder and the rest is history!)

Aubie Dress (Thanks Nancy!)

Catherine Ellis's ride to the stadium

First Football Game

Touchdown Auburn! (amazingly the noise never bothered her)

Thank you Andrew and Kim for our tickets and to Aunt B and Uncle C for hosting us! We had a really wonderful time!

We didn't forget about David and the Alabama game - we supported both teams Saturday! Alabama played a great game against LSU and we are happy that our house is a happy house again this week:)

Go Bama!

After the Alabama game we headed home towards Alex City and spent the night with my mother - it was so wonderful to see her! We attended church this morning and Meme had a great time showing Catherine Ellis off - it's always so wonderful to go home.

Happy November!

I ended the weekend with a birthday lunch for my dear friend Amanda - she turned the big 30! What a gorgeous day for a birthday. I'm so blessed to have Amanda's friendship - she's one in a million!

Happy Birthday Amanda!