There's someone home!

Now that Kate is talking so much, she's really beginning to show us what she knows. She loves her magnetic letters and letter puzzles (and now even bathtub letters) but never seemed to know more than "O". Lately she has been coming up with more letters (some correctly) and sometimes replaces the letter with its associated word from her puzzles. U is "Bewa" (for umbrella) and I is "I-kee" (ice cream).

Last week she started counting along with me when I was counting something in the car. She has something against odd numbers though, as she only says two, four, six, eight, and ten. But, she also knows some Spanish numbers - "Kwako" (quatro) is my favorite!

She also will tell you her name, if you ask - "Khaki Mae!" (said emphatically, as I would say it if she were in trouble...)

It's so much fun seeing her catch on to all these new little things. But my favorite thing is her singing. She attempts the alphabet song (B,C,D,C,B,C...) and she likes doing the motions to "The wheels on the bus". But the best is her singing "God is so good", which sounds like "God i-good, God i-good" in this cute little falsetto voice. I love it! And God IS good.

Dollywood excursion

I realized when I was going through pictures that I never posted any of our Mother's Day Dollywood trip. Actually, the picture in the last post was taken at Dollywood, but I didn't mention it. We had bought discounted tickets through James's work and had to use them by the end of May, so we decided we would go the day before Mother's Day to celebrate. I really didn't know what to expect, never having been there. The day was overcast and not too warm or too cool, which made it easier to deal with the crowds - which were really only bad in the area with all the rides for small children. We had a lovely time, even with waiting in line to go to the bathroom, eat, ride rides, bathroom (pregnant woman here...). Kate had a great time riding rides. I think her favorite was riding the carousel. She was wide-eyed at all the horses. I told one of my friends we went to Dollywood and he said, sarcastically, "Happy Mother's Day to you!" but I actually had a nice time spending the day just hanging around with my family and watching Kate find excitement in all the new sights. It's hard to explain, but I often find enjoyment in unexpected places with Kate.

Hemricks = 3 + 1

Ok, so most of you who read this are family and already know about our exciting news, but in case this is the only way in which you receive news about the Hemricks (in which case I apologize), I'm pregnant! I'm in my 12th week, so I'm almost through the first trimester and it seems the tiredness is getting better. It's been pretty smooth so far, just one rough month of trying to keep up with a not-quite-two-year-old on top of being tired. I still usually take a nap when Kate does, but if it doesn't happen, I don't feel like I'm going to fall in the floor (though James might wish I would as I'm a little grouchy when I'm tired). I can't believe I'm almost one third of the way through the pregnancy already! It goes by much quicker when you have another one to take care of and it doesn't consume your every thought. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to keep the weight off when I'm ravenously hungry every 3-4 hours. I'll keep you posted on how things are moving along now and then. In about 2 months, we should be able to find out the sex, so stay tuned!