Sam got into the post-baccalaureate program at Lincoln Memorial University in Tennessee! Way to go babe! It is a one year bridge program that really prepares you for medical school. Sam will be applying to actual med school this coming summer for next August 2013 (you apply a year in advance and he didn't have all of his classes done last year to apply for this coming fall). He will apply to multiple schools but if he does well in his post-bacc program in the first semester, he has a big chance of getting into the school they have there at Lincoln Memorial called Debusk College of Osteopathic Medicine (pictured below). Sam has done quite a bit of research on schools and he really likes this one so it would be a great thing if he ended up going there.
The school is located in a small town about an hour north of Knoxsville named Harrogate. He starts the end of July so after graduation, we will be moving down to Pheonix, AZ to sell for the first part of the summer and then head out to TN! We are super excited to start a new adventure in a completely new part of the country. We have gotten so used to the west so it will be interesting to see how we like the east. :)
My baby girl is already 8 months old. She has grown up so much in the past couple months (especially in the past couple weeks!) and just keeps changing so fast. I love how her little big personality is starting to show more and more. It's been a while since my last post about her so just wanted to record some updates..
We got her ears pierced back in December after we got home from mine and Ivy's trip to Houston! Sam and I decided to just stop talking about doing it and just go do it. She was funny. It took a while to mark the dot's in the right places bc she is such a wiggler.. but once those were done, it was pretty easy. They did one ear, Ivy became immobile from silent crying (the kind where they are so shocked and exhale for a while until they finally inhale and scream hahaa), then they hurried and did the second one, lol.. She didn't scream though. She was a little shocked and cried for a few minutes but after that, she was completely fine and never knew what hit her! I'm so glad we did it this way. Now she will never remember it hurting and she just looks so darn cute with her studs. :)
Ivy finally started sitting up on her own over Christmas break. It's taken her a little while to get it down because she is such a mover.. We had been practicing and trying to get her to do it for a while but I guess she just had to decide to do it on her own. One day while we were in Durango, she just started rolling from her army crawl into sitting position and eventually got the hang of it and found her balance. It's soo nice that she can finally sit and play with her toys instead of always rolling to her tummy or back.
First tooth! A bottom one came in December 31st, 2011. I remember the day because it was New Year's Eve and Sam felt something sharp poking through her gums! We had just driven back from Durango the day before and it was a miserable drive because Ivy cried pretty much the entire way. Poor girl was teething! Good thing there was an explanation or else I don't think I'd ever want to take a road trip with that girl again! haha! (This past weekend to california was a much better driving experience)
I wouldn't say Ivy is strictly a "daddy's girl." I'm pretty sure she has quite a preference for her mama but boy does she just love him to pieces! Her face lights up when she sees him and her eyebrows perk up and she starts looking around for him whenever she hears his voice. He's just so darn fun! And Sam is certainly smitten by her, that's for sure. I love the relationship they have together. It cracks me up...
Ivy has been army crawling for a long time, ever since around Thanksgiving, I would say.. but just in the past week or 2 has she finally figured out how to crawl for real. It still looks a little funny because she sometimes goes back and forth between real crawling and army but she's using her knees a lot more these days. Always been a real mover though, no matter the method. ;)
So I guess with the sitting up comes standing because ever since she has figured out the sitting up bit, she has started to pull up on things! I'm not ready for a walker yet! Oh and this also includes learning to stand up in her crib as well. The first couple days she learned this, naptime was nearly impossible. She was so fascinated and proud of her new trick that each nap took around an hour for her to finally give in and go to sleep lol.. and she hasn't quite figured out how to sit back down from standing so this just presents the problem of her yelling out for me to come help her each time, lol.. Hopefully she will learn soon..
Ivy just looves her jumper these days! Jump, jump, jump! It's hilarious to watch. before she would just kinda rock in it or sort of move but since she has figured out how to jump, she just goes on and on. It's a always nice change from playing on the floor. :)
Baby girl is finally starting to babble a lot more. She's been a pretty quiet baby thus far so it's funny when she get's going.. And she had her first word a little over a week ago! She was in her jumper and was sort of whining to get out and we were both sitting there and heard her say "mamaa!" (yeah!!) We both looked at each other like "whaat?" so I turned to her and said "Ivy, say mama! mama! If you say mama, I'll get you out.." I guess she understood because after a little whining, she said mamaama again. haha.. that whole night we were trying to get her to say it and she kept saying bababa, mamaam, and other variations haha.. but I'm pretty sure she knows what mama means because she says it when she wants me. usually happens more when she's whining about something but I'll take what I can get, lol..
A couple cute things she has started to do are give kisses and nod her head. The nodding her head is still pretty rare but if you catch her doing it, it's so funny to watch her because she is just starting to figure it out.. And her kisses are so sweet. When we went to Houston was when she was doing it the most.. She must really love her aunt's because she gave each one a big slobbery kiss goodbye on their cheek. It was so sweet. I just love those baby slobber kisses! When we were in California this past weekend, Lillian would lean over and try to give Ivy baby kisses on her head (bc Ivy is quite a bit shorter than her, lol) They were so cute!!
And finally, another fun little video I put together. I made it pretty quick so I'm sorry if some of the music or audio is a little too loud or what not:
So crazy to think that 10 years ago today, was when I decided to go hang out with some guy I knew named Sam Robinson and a few of his friends at his house in Friendswood. Little did I know that holding his hand that night would lead us to where we are now, hehe. I wouldn't have it any other way. Love this guy...
Sam and I decided to spend Christmas with his dad this year at his new cabin in Durango, CO. Sam's brothers Jeff, Joe, and Dan met us there with their families as well... This was my first Christmas away from Texas and I have to say, I sort of loved being in a winter wonderland for the holiday. I think after living in Utah for so long, we are both becoming a little more partial to the mountains and snow. Crazy huh! Anyways, it took me quite a while to sort through all the pics because I realized that when it's your first Christmas with a baby, you end up with a gazillion pictures. So I will let the pictures to the talking.. er, typing.
Activities at the cabin included snowmobiling, snowshoeing, hot tubbing (not pictured) as well as a nearby ski resort for your snowboarding needs (which sam took advantage of for one of the days we were there).. I'm not too sure I liked the snowmobiles all that much. Sam seemed to like them, though. There weren't a whole lot of trails so it was mostly powder carving around the nearby meadows, which I'm not very good at, lol.. Snowshoeing was pretty fun though! We were able to explore the land a little and it was cool to be able to see the house up on the cliff above us:
I think I got a little camera happy on both Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I guess you can't help it when it's your baby's first Christmas, lol.. Had to get a few with her in front of the tree.. And later on she started doing baby yoga for us so had a snap a few of that too, hehe. After finishing our last minute shopping earlier in the day (that seems to keep happening these past few years lol), Christmas Eve was nice and low key. We had dinner, played a few games, then had a wonderful Christmas devotional about the real meaning of Christmas. :)
Christmas morning... Ivy loved opening all of her gifts from Santa and mommy and daddy.. at least for the first hour or so. By 9:30 she was pretty wiped out and already ready for her morning nap haha! Guess all the unwrapping and excitement got to her. She was hilarious though. Mostly wanted to just eat the paper, of course (see pics below)... Oh and had to include a few good pics of the fam that morning. It was a nice relaxing day spent with those we love! Perfect!
Lol.. The girls decided to call this her "stamp of approval." If she tries to suck on it, she approves. haha. guess she liked her new toys:
Yes, more photos of my cute girl! ..playing with her new toys, and looking cute in her Christmas outfit:
Photos taken with Jeff's camera. These are a few of my favorites from the whole week (I took the one of Ivy.. not bad, eh?):
The day after Christmas, we rode on the Durango Polar Express! Such a fun experience. Waay better than the one in Heber City (sorry Heber Creeper, lol).. They were super organized and even had a little skit with actors before and afterwards. It was so cute! They had a "North Pole" with tons of lights and Santa/reindeer that you could see out your window. And each kid got a bell from the real Santa who came to visit. So fun! Ivy got a little nervous at times from all the loud noise and excitement going on but she looved that bell. ;) Thanks Dad for taking all of us!!
Later on in the week it got quite warm outside so we took Ivy out to play for a little while. We will have to get a snow suit for that girl soon. Pretty sure she loved it!
It really was such an awesome Christmas this year! Durango was so beautiful and we had so much fun seeing everyone! Thanks Dad and Trish for having us! We had a blast with you! (and thanks Trish for many of the photos in this post!) And to those friends and family members we weren't able to see this year- we miss you tons and hope you all had a very merry Christmas filled with love and the spirit of our Lord and Savior! Love you all!
Here is my 7 month old baby girl in her pretty Christmas dress. I'll post more about her updates later but just wanted to wish all of you a Merry Christmas! We hope you have a great holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior! We are so thankful for all of you this season and hope you enjoy this time together with family and friends! Love, Sam, Kat, and Ivy
PS- Thanks to Tyson for taking these adorable photos. My bro is awesome. :)
SO I was originally waiting to write this post until I made a movie of some videos I took down there but with the holidays and what not, it might be a while before i get around to making the movie lol.. I mainly wanted to do the movie because I'm not sure the pictures do the trip justice as to how much fun we had laughing and being the completely obnoxious sisters we are. OK, maybe they do a little bit. haha!
Anyways, Ivy and I flew down to Houston a few weekends ago for my sister Kelli's 30th birthday on Dec. 2nd. My mom watched Ivy overnight for me while us sisters took off to go shopping and to stay the night in a hotel. Kari and Kristin flew in the same day I did, and Meghan already lives in Houston.. Valerie even came into town to hang with us too, which was awesome! She rode a greyhound bus from San Antonio to meet us, while pregnant. Crazy girl. ;-) We were just missing Sarah.. maybe next time, right Sarah? :)
The weekend was the most fun I've had in a long time. And I've never done that much shopping in my life, haha.. Pretty sure we shopped from 10am all the way til 9pm at 3 different shopping areas (plus another mall the next day!) What is wrong with us?? LOL! well, most of it was us just being goofs, really.. And then you bring Christmas shopping into the mix, and not to mention, Kelli wanting to get some good shopping in for her birthday... So yes. I guess you can say we did some shopping.. some eating, and a whole lot of giggling, lol. I love my sisters and miss them already. And now for picture overload:
First stop-Katy Mills outlet mall (the best!).. Then we headed up to Harwin for some bling and knock-off stuff. Had to stop at 20 Forever, of course. ;)
Next was Kelli's Birthday dinner at The Cheesecake Factory and then we headed out for some REAL fun, hehehe............. ooorr maybe we just ran into a teeny bopper bra store named Gilly Hicks in the galleria with little boy models standing outside their store. haha! it was hilarious. pretty sure they were all only 18 years old. They got a kick out of us (we obviously weren't one of the shy little 15 year old girls standing in line, lol) They asked Kelli if she was finally legal and if that's why we were out partying. Nice. Hope that made ya feel good, Kel. ;D After the Galleria closed, we headed off to our hotel right next door and enjoyed the rest of the night sitting in the hotel jacuzzi and eating Magnum ice cream bars. yum..
The next morning, we had to make one more stop at Memorial City Mall before heading back home to Kelli's house. After all was said and done, it was a pretty hilarious site to see. Like I said, I think there is something wrong with us. haha......
That day we were able to go watch Alexa in her first clogging performance (way to go Alexa! she rocked!) and then went to Pappasito's for dinner. It had been a while since I'd been to Pappasito's and it was ah-ma-zing. seriously. so. good. Later that night, Tyson drove into town and it was so fun to see him! We all went hot-tubbing in Kelli and Shaun's backyard. It was a blast. Then the next day we went to church, celebrated Kelli's birthday with family and just relaxed. (I did make it to Sam's niece, Whitney's choir concert at UofH where she had a solo! She was sooawesome!! Great job Whit!) Kari and Kristin flew home the next morning and I drove down with my mom to stay one more day with my parents. Mom Robinson came to visit Monday evening (and so did Tiffany later that night! love you, girl!). Then I hung out with my parents in the morning, went to lunch together, then I flew home.. back to reality.
It was quite a jam packed weekend but it was sure fun! I'm so glad I got to go visit because I knew I wasn't going to see anyone for Christmas. And it was nice that my mom was able to watch Ivy overnight for me so I could go have fun with my sisters. Thanks mom! It was my first night away from her, ever, and luckily she did great. Until next time, sisters! ;-)
Just had to include a couple final pics with some of my favorite people:
This year, we decided to go spend a few days up in Idaho with Sam's sister Amy and her family. We picked up Mom Robinson from the airport in SLC on our way up so she could spend Thanksgiving up there too. Then Joe and Emily joined us for a couple days somewhere in there (didn't get any pics with them). It was a continuous party all week long. And we had such an awesome time!
Ivy in her cute Turkey shirt (thank you pinterest, lol) on Thanksgiving.. Yes we take way too many pics of her. It's hard not to though. I'm sure you other mom's can relate...
I was a little nervous about how Ivy would do considering this was our first real trip since she was a newborn.. Other than driving in a bit late on that first night and Ivy thinking it's time to play at 11:30pm after her 3 hour nap in the car, she did great! Matt and Amy's house must have awesome insulation because she slept like a champ for almost every nap and during the night, despite there being lots of people around the house.. The only adjustment for us was sleeping the same room as her. I'm grateful we had a bedroom to ourselves but goodness, she is one noisy sleeper lol! Rolling around, scratching the side of the pack n play, grunting, farting.. her little noises went on all night long, haha! Make's me grateful we live in a 2 bedroom apartment.
Anywho, it was so fun to visit with Matt and Amy. The last time we had been up there was back in March so we definitely had some catching up to do. It was also fun to visit with Matt's family when they came to hang out.. Thanks Matt and Amy for having us!! I'm sure we will be back up to visit soon. :)
Just a few pics of Thanksgiving day- Matt stitching up the turkey in the morning (we let the doctor handle that one, of course).. Then the other pics are just from hanging out after dinner...
I just love her gummy smile.
And again, because she's cute- more random pics of baby girl from the trip.. She's discovered her shoelaces lately. oh and perfecting the army crawl. She is hilarious.
This year I am so grateful for families, especially our own little family. I think having a baby has really helped us realize what is most important in life and how blessed we truly are. I'm grateful that the Lord trusts us enough with caring for one of his special daughters and couldn't be happier in my life because of this... I'm also grateful for each of our own families- our brothers, sisters, moms, and dads with whom we feel such love and support from. I know that the Lord sends each of us to our own families for a reason and I'm grateful for the family that was chosen for me, and for Sam. I know this post was a little late but hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving!
Just a cheap little lunch date with daddy at the mall a few weeks ago. Gotta love Chic-fil-a around this time of year with their peppermint milkshakes. Mmm. Even Ivy got in on that action a little. ;)
