Baby Kate is 5 months old!

Can you just eat this up? How cute is she?

Yesterday our little Kate reached 5 months. We just adore this little lady and can't get enough of her. Someone is always doting on her and she is usually happy to oblige. But, she is also quite good at chillin' by herself when needed. She spends a lot of time going to soccer and gymnastics and wherever else the big girls have to go but she usually takes it all in stride and keeps a reasonable schedule through it all. Our formerly big baby girl is now 25th percentile for weight, 13 lbs 2 oz last week, so she is on the small side. Fine with us! We love our little girls - all 3 of them!

Hangin' out at her first Diamond Backs game. She liked it.

At the pool today. She loved me dipping her little feeties into the water. I think she was getting tired though...

The cooperative patient.

Speaking of feeties, this is how she spent this morning - getting casts of her legs for braces. Some of you know, some don't, that Kate was born with Metatarsus Adductus, a birth defect of the feet where her feet unnaturally curve in - normal from the heel to mid point then all joints and bones turn inward. Her feet and ankles all roll in. We call them her "curly feet." We have been on a "watch and see what happens" plan because current medical theory is that most babies with this condition correct on their own. Hers has not corrected and, in fact, it has tightened up. So we were referred to a Pediatric Orthopedic Surgeon and was diagnosed with a "moderate" bilateral case, meaning both feet. At this point we are doing physical therapy/stretching and will be bracing her feet and legs from the knee down. So, tiny casts were made to make molds to create her custom braces. She will wear them for the next several months, if not longer. I am keeping it in perspective and know that she is in good hands and the reccommended course of treatment should eventually lead to a full correction. It is not the worst problem in the world and is easily fixed so we are glad about that. This week I will be making imprints of her tiny "curly" feet so we can always remember them and their squishy curvy cuteness. By next Tuesday we will have her pink braces and you can know for sure we will cute those things up with some bling!