I promise it's not Slave Labor!!! (April 2008)

I promise, I'm not making my almost 2-year old do chores yet. Since she wants to help me, I know she's too young. :)

My sister Jennifer gave me the brilliant idea to use a dust buster to vacuum up the dirt on my floor after sweeping (instead of using a dust pan). This works great -(and it also helps pick up crumbs from Catherine's high chair!)! Anyway, Catherine loves when I use the dust buster and begs for "more" when I turn it off. So, I thought I would let her try it out. She is quite handy with it -- she used it one evening until the battery needed charging (which really isn't that long, but for a 2-year old attention span, I was impressed). So, while she wants to help and isn't hurting anything, I say, "why not!," right?! :)

Perfect Playmates! (April 2008)

Sophie came over to play one day last week. She and Catherine just adore each other!

As many of you know (and have seen) Catherine loves to climb into her toy boxes. Now, she's found a friend to climb in with her! :)

Little Chef (April 2008)

Whenever I'm in the kitchen cooking, Catherine often wants to "help." I have given her permission to play with a pan, wooden spoon and pot holder out of one of the cabinets. So, whenever I'm cooking, she'll hurry to her cabinet to cook, too.

Obviously, she was having a hard time getting to something. :)

What a great hiding spot! hee hee!

Enjoying the Outdoors (April 2008)

Catherine loves being outside. I recently bought some sidewalk chalk as another option of play-time for her!

And of course, we still love bubbles!

But nothing can beat swinging!!!

Catherine loves picking the flowers in our yard (dandelions). :)

No recent pictures thanks to Melanie!

Well, I realized I was a little behind in my blogging when I saw that ALL of my sisters and many of my sister-in-laws had updated their blogs. But then I realized I didn't have a lot of pictures to blog from the past 2 weeks. This week, it is all thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law, Melanie, and her daughter, Sophie!

On Tuesday morning, Melanie called and said that Sophie wanted to play with Catherine (she specifically asked for her!). So they wanted Catherine to come over for the day. The two girls play together so well! Then on Thursday morning (Sophie goes to Mother's Day Out on MWF), Melanie called again to see if Catherine could come over! I of course would never deny Catherine the priviledge of getting together with her cousin and aunt! So, off I sent her again! It was so nice to have some spare time at home alone. I worked on putting the nursery back together! Thank you so much, Melanie for giving me a little time off -- I owe you big time! :)

As for the other days of the week and why I don't have pictures:
On Monday, we were home all day, but I was busy with housework and having lots of contractions! For a moment, I started wondering if I should start timing them, but thankfully, I never had to. They were those lovely Braxton-Hicks contractions.
On Wednesday, we had a doctor's appointment for the baby. They actually checked me b/c of the contractions, but never fear, I have not progressed any --which at this point, I really don't mind at all! :) I've already told myself to assume that this baby will arrive late and if it does come early, it will just be a pleasant surprise! After our doctor's appointment, we toured another hospital here in town as an option for delivery. We left without a definite opinion on what to do. Guess we'll need to make a decision soon, though.

Well, it's off to play with Catherine --I'll keep my camera handy!

Catherine loves Mommy's baby (April 11)

Catherine has discovered and loves to point out "Mommy's Baby."

She loves Kissing Mommy's baby -- luckily she showed us here without lifting up my shirt! It is always a little embarrassing when she tries to kiss the baby while at a store -- she tries to lift my shirt! :) She likes to kiss the baby right on my belly button. I'm 32 weeks in these pictures!

Playing outside with bubbles (April 2008)

We've really been enjoying this beautiful spring weather. Catherine LOVES to go outside! She likes wearing her hat and sunglasses, too - by her choice! :)

I bought a bubble set for Catherine (and me) to play with. I've been impressed that she can actually make some bubbles, sometimes!

I hope bubble solution isn't dangerous, b/c I'm sure she's eaten a lot. I'm sure all kids have at some point. :)

Catherine loves running through the yard -- bubble wand in hand! :)

Big Girl Bed Update (April 18)

Well, I don't have any pictures to show you regarding Catherine in her big girl bed, but I've had many people inquiring about how things are going. So, I'll let you know that things are going GREAT!!!

Today marks Catherine's 2nd full week in the big bed. We've only had, I think, 3 incidents with the bed. One time, she just woke up crying really hard in the bed. The other two times, she was crying REALLY hard. The first time was actually the first Sunday night after we started the new bed. She was standing on the seat of the picnic table that sits at the end of her bed (she uses the picnic table to get in the bed). She had the worst look of terror on her face. I don't know what happened to lead her to this position, but she was scared to death. The second time that I found her out of the bed was earlier this week. When I opened the door to her bedroom, she was sitting on the floor right in front of the door. Once again, she was just scared. She kept asking for water, but never would drink any. I'm not sure what caused her to get up, but all three times that I've had to go in there, she eventually went back to sleep in her bed on her own --sometimes after Daddy had to go in there and reassure her that we were still there.

Nap times have gone well, too! I was afraid I would have more trouble with naps since it is not completely dark in her room. But so far so good (I hope I haven't just jinxed myself!) We've been so proud of her!

Big Girl Bed (April 4, 2008)

Well, it's official. Catherine is a big girl. She slept for the first time in her new room in her big bed! We surprised her with Dora pillows on the bed which she absolutely LOVED!!!

Here, Catherine is peeking through the mesh wall of the bed rail while holding on to her big Dora pillow/doll.

I always thought Catherine had a big head (she's always been in the 90% percentile) until now. Dora definitely has her beat! :)

We put her in her bed, prayed with her and told her not to get out of bed and to call us if she needed us. And that was the last we heard of her until morning!!! When we went in to get her in the morning, she was so excited about her Dora pillows. She LOVES her bed. Right now, she is happily taking her nap in her new bed. Hopefully, this will continue to be an easy transition, as we only have about 8 weeks (or more or less) until baby #2 will arrive!!!

Little Mommy (April 2008)

As I was cleaning up lunch dishes on Friday afternoon, I noticed that Catherine was very busy going back and forth through the room carrying new loads of toys. I soon realized what she was doing: setting the table for her dolls to eat. Dora sat in the chair on one end of the table and her baby doll sat on the other side (complete with bib!). She had her play dishes on the table and would go from doll to doll feeding them. :) What a good little Mommy! :)

Preparing the food :)

You can see Catherine on the other side of the chair moving around quickly trying to feed both dolls. :) She's beginning to realize that being a Mommy is hard work. Well, I hope she realizes it! :)