Where does the time go?

I admit I don't update this as often as I should. I think I get lost in facebook, myspace, policewives.org, justmommies etc etc... Its amazing I have time for any of those!

Currently Catherine is obsessed with the fan. We have a standing fan in the family room and one in our bedroom. Every morning she must run out and show me the fan. She then says FFF FAN. I was trying to teach her how to say the F properly and now she thinks she needs to say that along with the word! :) She cracks me up!

At the moment I have a pitiful cranky toddler sleeping in my lap... I am not positive what the problem is but hopefully she is just having an off day. She is also obsessively saying the word shoe and bringing me her shoes. Our days go like this Fan, fan, fan, shoe, shoe, shoe, shoe, puppy, puppy, puppy, baby,baby, baby, thank you, thank you, thank you and a few other random words. Okay this needs to be a short one because its hard to type with a toddler in your lap!

busy but fun week

I truly enjoyed having my mum here to help me for a week. I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to actually sleep in for the first time in I don't even know how long. We had a wonderful time showing my mum where my husband works. She LOVES that city let me tell you! She just went on and on about the cute homes and how wonderful his chief is. I have to agree he truly has a great group of people that he works with. We also went to lunch and did some shopping. It was a nice day but by the end of the day I was ready for bed!! The rest of the time she was there we did a day of shopping just us girls, went to church, and had a wonderful day where we sat around and watched movies.

While my mum was here she was able to teach Catherine how to say thank you. Now every time she hands you something she says thank you! Catherine is so cute that I just melt! She has also started to "exercise" with me or Zac. When we are doing push ups she will do her version of push ups which is beyond hilarious. Sometimes its extremely hard to keep on exercising because I am laughing so hard! It also appears that she is going through another growth spurt but is just getting taller and not chubbier. I have started feeding her more oatmeal and cheese in order to keep up!

We had to miss out on the fireworks this year because Zac had to work. I am not that worried about it since Catherine was in bed, cozy, and asleep before it was even dark. I don't think she would have been that happy with fireworks this year. Next year I wouldn't miss it for the world!! Well it is getting late so I am going to sign off!

waiting for my mum to come

Today was one of "those is it bed time yet?" kind of days. Catherine has started to do this wonderful screeching noise that she just LOVES. Mommy who has very bad ears and is sensitive to high pitched sounds does not love it. I think that she was in bed by 8:30 only because God heard me screaming in my head PLEASE LORD MAKE IT STOP. God listened and I was able to sit down and watch my wonderful Army Wives in peace. I cleaned up the toys first so I could have an adult hour without thinking about my child. I admit while I miss my husband when he is working a shift I am ever so thankful for Sunday night alone to watch my show.

Catherine doesn't appear to be feeling well but I can't really tell what the issue is at the moment. She acts like she is teething but she has a bit of a stuffy nose. She is just fussy but not really whiny and clingy. I can't really put my finger on what the actual issue is but I pray its some teeth. I am positive this child wants to have all of her teeth so she can eat whatever she wants. She wants to eat salad really bad but she doesn't have the back teeth that she needs. I have give her tiny bits of yellow pepper for now.

We are getting ready for my mum to visit and I can't tell you how excited I am. I am going to spend the next few days cleaning the house up really nice for her. (I know she could care less as long as Catherine is here!) My OCD brain wouldn't allow anyone to visit my house if it was less than perfect. Granted I could never get this house perfect but I do what I can with what we have! My husband has spent a ton of time getting his man room ready for her to use and he is going to get the yard looking nice. I am so thankful that he is willing to take the time out of his overpacked and beyond busy schedule to do this for me.

We are planning to do a movie night, a day where my mum can meet the Chief and see the department, then the rest of the time is spend at the park and shopping! (shopping is what my mum and I do best!) My mum hasn't been to Texas in a long time because I always go visit them in Florida. I am so excited I might burst! So if anyone is wondering where I am just know I will be spending every waking second cleaning before she comes and then talking to her when she comes! I know my husband is already plotting ways to work more just to get away from constant streem of chatter!

I figured out the pictures

Catherine apparently thinks she is a puppy! I have gotten used to how weird she is.
Here she is enjoying a juice box one of her favorite treats:


Reading a book....

still trying to figure this blogging thing out

I am new to this whole blogging world and I have yet to figure out how to deal with pictures. I figured out Myspace and facebook and all of those other kids sites but this one seems harder. I realized the other day that I was 19 before I got a cell phone and we were one of the first people on the block to get dial up Internet. I about to start high school when that happened. Most kids these days are raised on the Internet. Heck Catherine already knows how to play toddler games online! This is the reason why it takes me a tad longer to deal with the Internet that the younger crowd. I recall when we had computer labs at school and that was it. I recall getting taught how to research stuff on the Internet in my English class. Yep I am getting old...

Well regardless of my age I can still enjoy something that the younger crowd enjoys. Yes folks I have become a fan of Twilight. Sure its cheesy and most likely aimed at the teen crowd but for some odd reason I don't really care. Some of my friends think its silly and that I should grow up and yet I still don't really care! I admit Catherine started to get annoyed with all the reading I was doing as I read the entire series in a couple of weeks. I believe she is happy that I have finally finished them. I bought the movie and wait until my husband works a shift to watch the movie. I am positive I will be one of the first in line for tickets in February when the new movie comes out. Sure its silly and sure the books are extremely easy reads... I think I just enjoy the escape of it all. In the end it makes me a happier momma and that is something Catherine does like.

Catherine is doing extremely well with her sleep now. She lets me know when she is ready for a nap by grabbing her paci and Elmo then coming to sit on my lap. She also tells me when she is tired and ready for bed. She is currently napping at around 11 or 11:30am. She heads to bed at 8pm and now sleeps through the night. I cannot tell you how wonderful it is. I feel like a new woman! I love how happy she is go get all comfy and cosy in her bed.

She MUST go through the same pattern of events each night before bed though. Her rules not mine. We gather up her sippy, Elmo, puppy, paci, and her two bedtime books. The books are the Elmo Night Night book and Police Hurrying! Helping! Saving! We head to her room and I will read the police book first and the Elmo book second. The Elmo book must be read twice then she drinks her milk. Then we sing Twinkle twinkle, Jesus loves me, and ABC's. After that I put her to bed with puppy and Elmo cover her with her blanket and leave. Only my child would insist on a Police book about daddy before bed each night. She is so much like her daddy! I am truly amazed every day.

Catherine even does some of the same hand motions and looks that he does. Its truly bizarre to watch your husband as a child. The one thing that I am thankful of is that she is very loving. She loves to give hugs and love. I never have to worry about how she feels she ALWAYS is very clear how she is feeling at any particular moment! She only slept for 50 minutes I don't see the rest of the day going very well. Off to get my wild thing...

I am a walking zombie...

I only got about 6 1/2 hours of broken up sleep because Catherine is getting another tooth in. She woke up in the night and then was up by 7am. We headed out to Winters so Zac could do the career day booth which he really enjoyed doing. We just hung out all day with everyone and that was really a lot of fun. Catherine was a bit fussy with that tooth though. I felt so bad for her because on top of that she has a horrible diaper rash. The poor girl just catch seem to catch a break.

When we got home I fed her some dinner then she was just "doodle doodle doing" around talking to herself and her toys. I bathed both dogs and as I was drying off Sniper John she got herself into the tub even though I had just gotten her into a clean diaper and pjs for bed. Apparently she felt SHE deserved a bath too. I cleaned her up, got her into a new diaper, and pjs. I then needed a shower and I put her in her exersaucer.

It is obvious that she had WAY to much sugar in Winters (they love to spoil her) because she was up till almost 10:30pm. Yeah I will have to start saying NO, NO, NO, to them from now on. I am to tired to deal with that much energy that late at night. My house looks like a tornado! I found her passed out cold in that exersaucer after my shower. I put her right to bed and she snuggled up with elmo and kept on sleeping.

Catherine stepped up the curb from the street all by herself the other day. She is also starting to walk really fast and even attempts to run for a couple of steps. She is getting REALLY fast so you really have to watch her. I can't take my eyes off her for a second if we are outside. She is also really starting to talk to me about everything. I can only understand a few words here and there but at least she is really starting to express herself with something other than a temper tantrum. We still get a lot of temper tantrums but when I stick to my guns eventually she realizes its not going to go her way and she will start talking to me.

On a side note I started reading that Twilight book everyone is so darn crazy about these days. I am not far enough into it to know if its really worth all the hype yet. I will have to keep on reading I suppose! Well off to bed...

What a nice day

Catherine is currently sleeping... She woke up a bit early today and I could tell she would take an early nap. We played outside for a bit this morning because I had some stuff to put in the mail. She loves to push her puppy stuffed animal around in her stroller. The stroller is a doll stroller just her size and she is highly obsessed with it. In her mind anything that she can push around is the best thing EVER. She will attempt to push her high chair and any size stroller she comes into contact with.

We are working on how to say hello and how to wave. She figured it out fairly quickly. I am going to start with how you wave to say hello and say bye bye to leave. She loves to wave and say bye bye! She also does the hand motions that I have made up for twinkle twinkle little star! She also comes up to me and claps if she wants me to sing if you are happy and you know it. She is a big fan of Jesus Loves me which I sing to her before bed each night.

Catherine literally cracks me up on a hourly basis. She is a truly a bizarre child. I claim that she gets that from her father but part of me knows its a nice mixture from both sides. I think I enjoy her more now that she is walking and starting to talk. I just feel like there is more of a back and forth now that she is older. I seem to worry about her a little bit less. (just a little bit) Well lets pray that this day continues to be wonderful! God sure did bless us with amazing weather today!

Tired....

I have no clue why I am currently awake. I find it hard to sleep when my husband isn't home. I manage because that is part of loving the man that I love. I do plan to head to bed soon because Catherine has worn me out today. Phew the older she gets the more on the go she is. Today she was working really hard on running. Eventually you will see this wild toddler running like the wind with a wild looking, exhausted, mother a few steps behind.

Yesterday I told Catherine to say bye bye to daddy. I didn't really expect anything and out of her mouth came Bye-bye as she open and closed her hand to herself. WOW! I was so excited I almost fell over. I have tested it since then and she repeats this again and again! I have been working hard on teaching her the animals and their sounds. Last night in the tub she finally made a horse noise. I have to work hard to teach her other animals because she is so obsessed with puppies. She wants EVERY animal to be a puppy and she wants every animal to bark.

Catherine came home from her "day with daddy" with quite possibly the ugliest stuffed dog EVER. She found this dog and wouldn't let it go even for them to ring it up. She has been walking around the house barking with it ever since. My husband said she was even barking to this puppy at about three in the morning.

I just pray she sleeps tonight because I am heading to bed and praying I get some much needed sleep. I wish I could catch up on a years worth of lost sleep.

its been to long

I suppose I get a little busy and forget to update. I think in this day and age its hard to keep up with all the boards, blogs, facebook, and myspace stuff. I still have a life to live in between all of that! Not to mention I have a wonderful husband and a very busy little one year old to keep up with.

Catherine is now walking like a pro and this week she is attempting to run. She gets really excited and starts going as fast as she can before she hits the deck. She works hard to get back up and starts the whole process over again. This child is determined to get everywhere and to do it FAST.

As I write this she is spending time with her daddy. I think he took her to the toy store. His favorite place to take her. She loves running around there and getting into all the different toys. I suppose its a good thing we are friends with the owner!

Ahhh this time alone is bliss... I ate a full meal all the way through. I didn't have to get up and get a sippy, kiss a boo boo, or find a toy. I just sat there and ate in peace. I took a loooong shower and now I am sitting here writing without having little hands pulling on my pants fussing because she hates when I am online.

I suppose I didn't realize how different you life could be with a child. I don't have just any child either. My child is a mix between my family and my husbands. The only word I can think of is WILD and what were we thinking! LOL! Some people have no clue what its like to have a child this active. I notice the looks that I get because she is so BUSY. She never stops. The bizarre thing is I don't know any better. I am used to this constant motion and I just do it. I get up every day and just do it. As a result I am very tired. I am now starting to take naps when she naps just do I don't keel over.

I must say that I am thankful she can walk now. I believe this makes me life easier. We can go places and I just put her down and hold her hand and off we go. MUCH BETTER! Well I better go and relax for a little longer before my two favorite people come home.

I am using this to add to her baby book..

Catherine is 9 months and 3 weeks old today. Where did the time go? I wish I could just go back and review this past 9 months in slow motion. I realized today that she is starting to look more like a toddler and less like a baby every day. At this point she is crawling on all fours, clapping, pulling up, cruising, smiling, giggling, saying mama and dada, and getting into just about everything. Number one exciting place in the house? The PANTRY! I hope this means she will learn to cook really well! The second place is the bathroom. She has a serious love for watching the tub fill up with water for her bath and opening and closing the cabinet doors. The third favorite place would be the Garage and that is because she isn't allowed in there. She just enjoys staring our there knowing that there MUST be cool stuff out there is mom and dad won't let her out there. Oh and as we speak she is doing her fourth favorite thing: Getting into the dogs bowls because they make so much wonderful noise for her! The fifth favorite thing is to play with our cell phones and changers.