Last Post of 2009

It's finally here. The last day of 2009. Woo hoo! I'm definitely looking forward to 2010. Today, I was planning on vacuuming, but I may just return some stuff to Target and Victoria's Secret. Apparently VS has changed their sizing since this last time I bought their undies and the mediums I thought would fit, are unfortunately a tad small.....very interesting. It kinda made me go Hmmmm because my a** is smaller now than it used to be when I wore them years ago. Blasted skinny fit models! Oh well. They may have cuter patterns in the "other" size.....hahaha.

I'm a bit peckish so I may see what I've got lying around in the fridge. Oh! I just remembered I have ONE chocolate, chocolate scone left! Woo hoo! And on the menu for tonight? SUSHI!!!! I've been very insistent on that so I hope it happens. Dennis just had sushi on Christmas so he's not really into it.....but I will prevail!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Productive Day

I'm pretty happy with what I accomplished today...considering I'm on vacation....hehehe. First Caitlin and I went to the mall and cashed in some of our gift cards for some really cool stuff including new cutting boards! Then we went and visited some friends and Caitlin really didn't want to stop playing with the Little People to take a nap. But mean mommy made her and she crashed as soon as we got home. While she napped, I swept (this wasn't just a quick sweep....I actually moved ALL the chairs our of the kitchen!) and then I steam mopped the floor. I'd never used it before and it was pretty darn cool! After the kitchen, I decided to vacuum out the Fit and clean all the dust from inside the doors so everything would be shiny blue again. Then I hosed down the outside and did a quick rub down. Unfortunately, I missed a few spots so I'll have to get them tomorrow. And since I was on a roll I was going to vacuum the house....but then Caitlin woke up and we just played instead.

I hope to get the vacuuming done tomorrow and to begin taking down the Christmas decorations. I'm not extremely motivated, so we'll see what happens. After all, all my DVR'd shows are calling my name!

Princess

Today the princess and I did laundry, grocery shopping, and made meatloaf with mashed potatoes and salad. Although, she had a complete meltdown while I was cooking dinner....head thrown back, arched back, and HUGE crocodile tears. I knew she just wanted me to stop everything and give in to her, but one little slip up like that and she'll remember it for the rest of her toddler years! I actually thought it was pretty funny because nothing was wrong with her. She just wanted ALL of my attention (apparently holding onto my leg wasn't working for her).

Tomorrow the heating guys are coming out to clean our ducks...or ducts rather....and we won't be able to use our heater for half a day. I'm hoping it will be warmish tomorrow. Then we are headed to the mall! Woo hoo!!!!!

Happy Ho Ho

Reading her new book she found in her stocking.

Helping daddy open his stocking.

Christmas dress.

Christmas "piglet's"

Dennis, Caitlin, and I had a wonderful Christmas which began on the 23rd. After we exchanged gifts and Caitlin got an Sweet Pea 3 MP3 player from daddy, we headed for Y-town on Christmas eve morning. It only took 6 hours (ha ha) but we stopped and had an amazing lunch at one of our favorite spots. Around 3pm we went to my brother's house for a visit and then headed to my dad's for Christmas eve dinner and gift exchange with my other brothers, nieces, and nephews. Dinner was really good (BBQ shredded beef sandwiches) but my favorite was my brother's girlfriend's broccoli salad....I could seriously eat it every day for the next year! Okay, maybe not but I just LOVE broccoli. Thank you Sarah! On Christmas morning we headed over to my Nana's for the annual breakfast and gift exchange. One year we didn't have breakfast and that was a big mistake which we won't make again. Being the youngest, Caitlin loved being the center of attention and took every opportunity to laugh (incredibly LOUD) or dance when ever she saw fit....which happened to be the entire 3 days! And luckily for her, her cousin Tyler (who's 7) was there to play with her and hide balls of wrapping paper and tissue paper.

Papa and Caitlin cracking up!

Uncle Damon showing Caitlin a wooden truck.

Cousins from left to right:
Tyler, Shanna, Kris, Caitlin, Krista, and Kassy

Caitlin attacking cousin Tyler with a hug!

After a much needed family nap, we headed to Redding to J, K, B, and M's house. Since they didn't get home until 7:30 that night, Dennis and I took on the task of finding a restaurant open on Christmas! I saw it as a challenge and a fun adventure. After calling at least a dozen places we found one that stopped seating in 30 minutes. So Dennis got a napping Caitlin strapped into her carseat and off we went! When we got to the restaurant it was super packed and there was a 20 minute wait, so we opted to find something else. To our surprise, there were quite a few places open and it was just a matter of finding something that sounded good. We ended up going to a Chinese buffet and it was REALLY good! Caitlin had a great 'ol time and blabbed the whole time we were there. Thankfully, it was pretty noisy so she blended in quite well.

Brady in his Buzz Lightyear PJ's

We our Christmas with J, K, B, and M when they got home and we were all in bed by 11pm and ready for M's birthday the next day. Unfortunately, Maddie wasn't in the greatest of spirits on her birthday because she was still recovering from a cold and she was teething on top of that. After she had a really long nap, she was much better and thoroughly enjoyed playing with her cake on while sitting on top of the dinning room table. I just wish I had a picture of it! Because of all the excitement, Caitlin had a REALLY hard time going to sleep. She still wanted to party while the rest of us wanted to go to bed! Around 10:30pm she finally fell asleep and stayed asleep until a little after 6am. Mommy, on the other hand, really wanted to go back to bed, but we were on the road by 6:30am. Thankfully, Daddy did ALL the driving and mommy could close her eyes when she could. We got back home at 10 am and I went straight to bed. I didn't wait up until 1pm! Then I slept another hour this afternoon while Caitlin slept and after 2 cups of coffee, I finally feel awake.

The girls reading together in their matching jammies.

I was hoping to watch a movie with Dennis tonight, but now that I see it's almost 9pm, I don't think it will happen. There's always tomorrow. :)

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas!
'

Laundry

Caitlin has been helping daddy "fold" laundry these last few weeks. She's really good at pulling all the stuff out. Now if only I can teach her to sort the laundry after she pulls it out! Dennis and I have two very different ways of folding laundry and I wonder which one Caitlin will develop. Dennis takes one thing from the pile and then folds it. I, on the other hand, need to sort it all into different piles first. Otherwise, it's too overwhelming for me. Bizarre, I know. Plus, everything is better when it's sorted into it's own place....M&M's, Skittles, trail mix, Crunch Berries, etc. Although, I'm much better with the Crunch Berries now. I would usually eat all the crunches then tackle the berries. But I've discovered if I don't look at whats on the spoon, I can eat them both at the same time. Hehehe.

Alright, Caitlin's down for her nap and I must look for an empty storage tub in the garage. Oh, and we watched TWO holiday movies last night. Caitlin picked out The Grinch Who Stole Christmas and then later Dennis and I watched Elf. I may end up having to watch Love Actually on my own....oh, well. :)

Pigtails and Pork

Today was the day for first pigtails and first pulled pork. Dennis tried to give Caitlin pigtails last night, but my hair ties were WAY too big, so today we bought special ones for her. They turned out so cute and make her look extra grown up! And it was so much easier to put them in than I thought it was going to be. Although, Dennis was distracting her and I think that had a lot to do with it.



Caitlin also had pulled pork for the first time (out of the womb). We were having pulled pork sandwiches and I gave her some and she totally dug it! In fact, Dennis had to get the container out of the fridge so she wouldn't eat all of mine! She inhaled it! It reminded me of several dinners when I was pregnant with her.....hmmm, I wonder where she got that from? Hehehe.

Caitlin has also taken to standing up in her carseat so she can look at the people in the stores while we push the cart around. She does that at home too. In fact, she gets into all sorts of awkward positions in her carseat. The other day she played in it for 20 minutes! I'd love to get a video of it but every time she sees the camera she stops and heads straight for it. We definitely need to look into getting a new camcorder....one that isn't so big.

Well, it's off to convince Dennis to watch a holiday movie that isn't from the Die Hard set. Wish me luck!

Tick Tock

Time is surely running away from me these days. I finally got my Christmas cards but they won't hit the mailbox until Monday. They still have to be stuffed and stamped and since the mail lady was early today (for once) I thought I shouldn't stress about it. I finished the scrapbook that was ordered via phone last Tuesday...very exciting. I did very well at the craft fair too! I sold EVERYTHING I made, which included 11 scrapbooks and 3 journals! Next time I will be more prepared and have a wider variety of themes. I also discovered that I really need some business cards. Several people asked for them, and I had to resort to writing my info on a piece of paper...oops!

This is the scrapbook that was ordered.

I'm wrapping presents slowly, but surely. I actually got the gifts that needed to be mailed BEFORE we broke for Christmas vacation! Woo hoo! And if everything goes according to plan, all my internet orders should arrive by the 23rd! One major difference this year is that I'm not making any Christmas cookies. I really want these 2 weeks to be stress free and I know if I make them, I'm going to worry about getting them all done in a timely manner....so I'm taking a break this year.

As for our Christmas tree, it's still standing and fully functional. Caitlin could care less about it which I'm very happy about. She's perfectly fine playing with the LED snowflakes that change color and suction to the coffee table. Unfortunately, she developed a fever at daycare on Thursday afternoon and was pretty lethargic the rest of the day and evening. Dennis stayed home with her on Friday and she seems to be doing better today and no sign of a fever. Although, last night we had a bit of a scare. She woke up crying and Dennis picked her up and saw blood all over her face and he couldn't tell where it was coming from. It was really thick and he thought she may have coughed it up. It turned out to be a bloody nose and I called the 24 hour nurse line to see what they had to say. They said since she had had a fever and was stuffed up it could have been just a basic bloody nose or she may have put her finger in her nose in the middle of the night. Either way, if it happened again we needed to call our pediatrician. We also needed to keep her somewhat upright to avoid her swallowing a lot of blood so she wouldn't get sick. So I slept with her the first part of the night and then Dennis slept with her until they got up this morning. Thankfully, she never got another bloody nose and I'm really hoping it'll stay that way. It was a freaky situation and I'm not ready for a repeat performance.

This is what happens when I leave Caitlin alone with the wipes! Nice going mommy!

Tomorrow I'm going to finish all the Christmas cards and hopefully watch a holiday movie. I'm thinking Love Actually sounds really good.

Happy Saturday!

Busy

Craft fair yesterday and today (which I will be at least an hour late for, but thanks to my booth buddy, I'm so not worried), sister and family, and Christmas party.....stay tuned for more info.later.

And the results are in....

The cinnamon rolls were a huge hit today as well as the "Holiday Punch" I made for my staff meeting! I've made good progress on the craft front this evening. I borrowed a paper cutter and was able to cut out enough paper for 6 more scrapbooks and I finished putting one together too. So now I have 7 completed and 5 more waiting in the wings. I'm running out of paper so I may head to JoAnn's after work tomorrow. And if I can borrow the paper cutter again tomorrow night, I'll really be ahead!

Our new TV stand arrived today, so Dennis is currently putting it together. I'll have to post a pic once it's done.

It's off to bed now.....but after a few games of Bejeweled of course!

13 Month Old Caitlin, Ton Ton, and Cinnamon Rolls

Since it has been FOREVER since I've blogged, I should bring everyone up to date. On Friday, Caitlin turned 13 months old! She has 10 teeth now and 2 more are just waiting to pop through. She's really into pushing her car or little people bus all over the house and has graduated to a hard spout sippy cup. We changed her sippy cups because she discovered she could push the spout down on the floor and milk would come pouring out! And that really didn't work for me, thus the graduation to a hard spout cup. We decided to put up our Christmas tree this year and so far (even with the lights) Caitlin doesn't seem too interested in it. The presents will not go underneath of it however. As much as she loved opening her birthday gifts, I'm afraid she'd think ALL the presents were for her to rip open!


So, do you remember "Empire Strikes Back" from the Star Wars saga? Well there was this creature called a "Ton Ton" and they ended up making a sleeping bag shaped like one. And well, Dennis thought Caitlin needed one so they could take naps together in it. We've had it for several days now and the closest to a nap they have gotten is "resting" in it. This means Caitlin is still for only a fraction of a minute and then gets wiggly again....not to mention all the blabbing going on. I'm sure some day soon I will walk into her room and find them fast asleep in it, but until then, I think her crib will do just fine :)




On Friday, Dennis informed me that I needed to make cinnamon rolls for him to take to work on Monday.....but I needed to make a test batch first (he noted) because I hadn't made them in quite some time and he wanted to make sure he liked the recipe I used. Well, I over cooked them a bit and they didn't taste the same as he remembered. I thought he had said the same thing the last few times I made them and then realized what recipe he was talking about. About 10 years ago I had a cinnamon roll recipe that called for oats and honey. It was SOOOO good and came out great every time. Well, we had moved and I lost that recipe. I looked for it forever and never found it. I originally clipped it out of some coupon insert thingy and I tried going online to find it, but never could. So needless to say, he's come to terms with the fact that I can't recreate the AWESOME cinnamon rolls....although, I think I may begin a new search for that recipe.

Grandma Dea and Caitlin

Oh, and next week I have a craft fair so this weekend (because I procrastinate horribly) I've been trying to crank out as many items as I can. I'm making these fold out scrapbooks and photo/journal books. Plus, I'm selling purses and scarves my mom crocheted.

Off to watch Dexter!

Writer's Block

That is my issue. It's all stuck in my head and won't come out!

Black Friday

Caitlin was a trooper today! Dennis picked out her Black Friday outfit above (very appropriate I thought) and we were out of the house by 7:30am! We went to the mall, Costco, K-Mart, and Target. We didn't get much because we didn't want to take the time (especially with Caitlin in-tow) to wait in line. If my mom is up for it, we may go out tomorrow. During the whole day, Caitlin only took ONE nap. She fell asleep in her carseat while we were all strolling through K-Mart around 10ish. She slept for about 45 minutes and that was it. Apparently, she decided she didn't need a nap.....or it could have been all the excitement from the day that kept her awake. Whatever it was, she was crazy! She wouldn't even put her head on my shoulder to even attempt to calm down....and that was the second nap attempt at 4pm! She kept talking, and talking, and TALKING! I finally gave up when she got wiggly. Thankfully, she went down for bed just fine...whew! And I thought for sure she'd have several meltdowns during the evening because of her lack of sleep.....and I was completely wrong. She was wired! She played a LOT! By herself and with us. We chased and chased her and made her laugh so hard she started coughing......you'd thing that would tucker her out at least a little bit! The only time she was calm was when she decided she wanted to play with my hair for 15 minutes. She was actually pretty gentle the whole time and it was really calming for me :)

It will be interesting how tomorrow will go. I'm totally okay with a no or little nap day as long as she's happy.....it's a delicate balance that sleep thing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for so many things in my life...especially Dennis and Caitlin. This morning I woke up to a present. Dennis and Caitlin made a Thanksgiving sign for me! It's so adorable! I remember last year....Caitlin was just a few weeks old....just a little slug! Now she's mobile......and incredibly vocal! It's amazing how time flies!

And Dennis decided he was going to take pictures of me.....first thing this morning! Here is the most decent one:


Happy Thanksgiving!

Some Light

Later this evening I started to feel like I was getting better. The sudifed I took this morning helped a LOT along with the two naps I snuck in while Caitlin was napping. I realized that sudifed is the key to being able to breath through my nose, so I'm taking it tonight instead of NyQuil....I'm hoping for a better night's sleep that doesn't wake me up with cotton mouth from having to breath through my mouth all night!

Caitlin's back to herself (including her appetite). Although, I think she misses playing with the kids at daycare. I still wasn't very playful today and I think she was getting tired of playing by herself so much. Tomorrow I think we will try and venture into the outside world. I haven't been out of the house since Thursday night and I think we could both use some fresh air. I'm really keeping my fingers crossed I don't wake up with a fever again.

Still Down

I'm still in Miserable Land and it sucks. No signs of a light at the end of the tunnel yet either.

You know that feeling....

....when you get a sunburn and your skin hurts really bad if you touch it or even breathe on it? Well, that's the way I've felt all day with my fever. Caitlin is thankfully doing better, but I don't think I've made any improvement from yesterday. I think I may actually be worse. Alright, I think the NyQuil is calling my name.

Where have the days gone?

Most of them have been spent with Caitlin having a fever that started on Sunday and then being fever free all day Wednesday and Thursday, but then Caitlin and I woke up this morning feeling absolutely miserable! We both had fevers over 101 and I had to call in a sub (which I heard was rough day for her). We spent most of the morning just laying on the floor....every muscle and hair on my body hurt. Thankfully the advil I took earlier started to kick in and reduced my fever and aches a bit. Then around 2pm it all came back and fast too! And this time, it took a lot longer for it to work. Caitlin's day was rough too. Most of it was spent laying on my chest, fussing out of discomfort, napping, and then playing for a few minutes before having another meltdown. I'm hoping tomorrow we'll feel a little better.

Staying Home

Caitlin came down with a fever around noon today and she still has a slight one tonight even with Tylenol. The poor thing was so lethargic and just laid on our laps when she got up from her nap....SO not like her! After the first dose of Tylenol kicked in she seemed to be feeling better and was playing a bit on her own. She doesn't have any other symptoms and I'm hoping it's just a fluke fever. So I'm staying home with her tomorrow. Maybe I can actually work on some craft projects I've been putting off for the last several months!

MIA

With parent/teacher conference week and my "reformed" schedule at work, I feel my regular self is M.I.A. I'm in a funky place at work which is giving me writer's block. But with the help (and ears) of my awesome friends and wonderful husband, I will pull myself out of my ever deepening hole. Caitlin is doing great and becoming ever increasingly interested in playing with her toys which just melts our hearts. I'm so thankful to have such a wonderful family.

No Nap

Well, Caitlin decided she didn't want to take a nap today.....at all! I mean she's had days where she hasn't napped well, but I can't remember when the last time was where she didn't nap AT ALL!!! She's been pretty clingy all day yesterday and today, but she's eating EVERYTHING and not running a fever, so she's not sick. Tonight will be interesting. I hope she sleeps well. Anyway, Caitlin has something to add:

/V b g ggcfgnm`

Okay, I had to cut her short....all sorts of funky things were happening on my computer!

1 Year Shots

Oh, how awful those blasted shots are! This was the first time Caitlin screamed after getting all FOUR of them! Poor baby! Then she cried all the way home :( Thankfully, when we got home she was a bit better, but tiny things would send her into tears again. By the end of the night she was playing with all of her new birthday toys. I really hope she has a good night sleep.

The rest of the doctors appointment went really well. Caitlin was super hyper before the doctor came in which was really funny. She now weighs 17lbs 11oz (5th percentile) and is 27 inches long (9th percentile).

Happy 1st Birthday Caitlin Marie!

I can't believe it's here already! Our baby girl has officially become a toddler! To celebrate, we had a low key evening with baked acorn squash from my dad's garden and rotisserie chicken. Then Caitlin opened her presents.....and when I say she opened them, I really do mean that. She tore into them and handed me all the pieces of paper, big and small. Dennis had gotten her a music card from us and she kept opening and closing it and dancing to the music....completely adorable!!!! Then we got her in her birthday suit and took pictures of us at 7:20....her birthday time. After that, Dennis gave her a bubble bath and she got to play with her new bath toys. Now, she's in bed while we are enjoying her birthday dessert....a chocolate caramel apple from Costco....yum-O!

Happy Halloween

So on Halloween day, we celebrated Caitlin's 1st birthday at my dad's house. There were a few more people than initially anticipated....34 ended showing up......and it was awesome! I was a bit worried how Caitlin would do surrounded by that many people she didn't know, but she seemed to have a pretty darn good time. She tore into her presents and was covered in frosting by the end of the day. It was great having so much family around to celebrate. I just wish I had a picture of everyone piled in the living room watching Caitlin tear open her presents. It was an amazing sight and a heart warming memory. Thank you all!

I made both Caitlin's cake and the cupcakes. The flavors were a halloween funfetti and chcocolate, both with homemade buttercream.

Taking her first taste of the cake and deciding if she likes it or not....

And I think she did like it....she needed a big swig of milk to wash it all down!

The aftermath!

Caitlin wonders what's taking so long to get to the presents as a million flashes of light go off.

Mommy, just let ME do it!


Ooo, I really like this bag!

Dancing? Or is it an 8 second ride?

All ready to go trick or treating with Maddie, Brady, and Caitlin!

I CAN fly if I try really, really hard!