These Shoes Were Made For Walking

Since she's become quite the walker, I began the hunt for some shoes. Babies should learn to walk in bare feet, so the can keep better balance, and so the muscles in their feet can flex and extend properly.  Kate has been walking around in just socks, but as the weather gets a little warmer she'll soon be outside, an will need some protection for her little feet.

Target has some cute options, but at $22, I passed. (though I see that online I can get some for $16.. maybe I'll have to look again)

I was at Tuesday Morning (looking for a teapot) and found two adorable pairs for $15.

Unfortunately, the little bow didn't have any stretch and we discovered Kate has some fat feet. So those didn't work out.

The next place I looked was TJ Maxx... no dice. There were a lot of cute shoes- even little Hello Kitty mary-janes- but they weren't right. They all had cloth bottoms, which don't work for walking outside.

Ross had an even smaller selection; Literally two pairs of sandals. Kohl's online had some really cute ones, but didn't have any wide shoes.

As I was praying I wouldn't have to go to StrideRite and pay $40 for Kate's shoes that she will wear for a few months,  I remembered Payless. I wondered if they would have any toddler shoes and- TaDa!- they did! 

They are soft leather, flexible, rubber pieces on the bottom to protect the shoes from being scuffed, and the best part- they were only $10.

Hooray for cute, cheap shoes!

Toddler

Kate is a true toddler now. Her balance is pretty good and she gets a little faster everyday. She began picking up toys, one in each hand, and walking longer distances than before. Now she doesn't need toys to hold, and she can walk, stop, turn around, and walk some more.

Soon the weather will warm up and I'm sure she'll want to play outside. You know what that means? Shoe shopping time. More to come when we finally find a pair that works.

Homemade Baby Blocks

We registered and received some great foam blocks for our baby shower, but I really wanted Kate to have some larger blocks to go with them. But, those nice, big, cardboard blocks cost around $30 (or more depending on how many you get).

Luckily we didn't need to buy any. We had everything we needed to make our own.
Some card boxes from Adam and some tape (I used book tape because it is thicker/stronger than regular packing tape).

That was all. Basically free blocks for Kate. And as Adam gets more cards for work, Kate gets more blocks for play :)

10 Months

So much has changed since last month.

You're walking. Not very well, not very often, but you can do it.

You're becoming more expressive:  pointing to things, waving 'bye-bye', giving the cheesiest smiles, and becoming increasingly more picky about what you eat. Baby food is out, and you want fruit or bread over meat or veggies, but you prefer whatever it is that I am, or any other person is, eating.

Over the next month we'll be finalizing details for the birthday party I am so excited to give.

Baby Steps

She's almost 10 months old and she took her first steps last week!
I might have squealed a little loudly  (some thing like "OHMYGOD!").
It was not a fluke- she did it again a few more times- but every time we picked up the Flip to record it, she would get so excited to get the camera that she would crawl over to it.

While at my parents house Sunday I was finally able to record her steps.

Way to go baby!