Triple birthdays

What an incredible weekend. All of the running around and long hours working on Friday totally paid off, as the party Saturday was a total success. It still wouldn't have happened without the help of Stephen, my mom and Val though - thanks guys! Hey, even supermom has to have help!

Catherine was great, as always. She had fun with the other kids there and liked being the star of the show whenever possible. The funniest moment of the day was when Auntie Val sat on the floor with a plate full of food - Catherine went over to her, eyeballing the food and looked up at her auntie with an expectant, pleading look. Val wasn't about to give in. Catherine brought a balloon to her. Val took it, thanked her, and Catherine upped the puppy dog look. It became really clear that she was trying to trade the balloon for some food. Val still didn't give in. So Catherine brought her a toy. Still no luck making a trade. She brought her a present off of the table - even her precious Elly. She was trying hard to trade for some of the food on Auntie Val's plate! We were all cracking up so much! Then I went to get her own snack so she would leave Auntie Val alone. ;)

I loved that so many people came. At the one point that everyone was there - around the time we did presents and cake - there was so many people that there were people hanging out on our front porch. Thank GOD for good weather that day. I felt bad though - I'm the kind of hostess that wants everyone to be taken care of and having a good time. So when there wasn't enough room for everyone in the main room I felt like saying "hold on, let me knock down a wall to make more room!" But everyone seemed understanding. It was a great day.

Once I get more pictures loaded I'll share the really good ones. My dad takes great pictures of his grandbaby, and naturally took the one at the top of the post! She's so gorgeous!

Happy birthday to all 3 of us! Yeah!

How I spent my birthday

6am - Woken up by either my sick husband grumbling and moving around or my baby crying - both happened around the same time, so I'm not sure which really woke me up.

7am - Drop off baby at grandma's

7:15am - Shopping, round 1 - Fred Meyer to get groceries for massive food I get to prepare for tomorrow's party
- Ooo... Easter candy already. Chocolate for breakfast - yummy. I'm allowed, it's my birthday.
- Stop for coffee on the way out - not my regular skinny latte today, caramel machiato instead - I'm allowed, it's my birthday.

8:30am - Arrive back at home, load groceries into refrigerator

8:35am - Grimace at my long to-do list

9am - straighten up as much as I can, begin baking cupcakes and hardboiling eggs

10am - Stephen stumbles out of bed and finds me cleaning the bathroom. I tell him that I got him some OJ to help him get better and tell him that his to do list is on the table. He thinks I'm kidding... I wasn't kidding.

10:30am - Put the last cupcakes in the oven and take a shower

11am - Run out the door to do errands and round 2 of shopping, an hour later than I wanted to

11:15am - Visit my favorite party store, get party stuff and order balloons for tomorrow AM

12pm - Linens n' Things (I bought some new serving trays! Wahoo!) and Target

1pm - Swing into work just in time, and told as I walk through the door that a meeting I'm in is about to start... and I'm wished happy birthday about 4 times before I'm there more than 5 minutes

3pm - Still at work, learn that we get free t-shirts, gourmet cupcakes, and our bonuses all in one day!

5:30pm - I get to go home early - wahoo!

6:15pm - Shopping, round 3 - quick stop at Safeway on the way home

6:30pm - Panic because I left my purse at the store

6:40pm - Whew! Picked up my purse - nothing missing! Now if I could only find my brain...

6:45pm - Finally home... just in time to be able to dress my baby in PJs and rock her to sleep

7pm - Clean, straighten, move furniture, fill party favor bags, feed sick husband and convince him to go back to bed

9pm - Begin to cook

11:30pm - Give up thinking that I'll be able finish all the prep cooking that I wanted to tonight

Midnight - Crash in bed

Whew! What a day!

Oh happy day

I can honestly say that I have had a great day. I got to sleep in... that's right - I slept in! Until 10am! Thank you, my dear sweet husband! And it was everything I thought it would be. After taking a long time to get up and get moving, I was super productive. I got the laundry started, did dishes, cleared off the table, and did some homework. I even had fun at work because I got to sit near one of my friends and we always have fun talking with each other between calls. I also made the move to call a couple of good friends who I have been dying to catch up with, and made plans to see them later this week. I got to chat with my mom and it sounds like she's doing great. And once I got home I worked on my homework some more. I'm getting to bed late, but I actually feel satisfied about my day. Yeah for me!
=)

All work and no play...

... makes mommy very crazy.

I don't know how it's supposed to be. But I get so frustrated when we're with Catherine at a social event because I spend 90% of my attention on her. Even if someone else is with her, it doesn't help. I'm always thinking - is she comfortable? Is she hungry, does she need to be changed? What on earth is that in her mouth? Is she going for the stairs again? And Stephen - bless him, he really does try to help. But that doesn't even help. If we're standing near each other, she'll more than likely reach for me anyways.

It's happened plenty of times before, but tonight we were at the Vancils' home for their birthday party. I was so excited to see everyone there. All of Catherine's gRodparents were there, even her godfather Matt (we love you Camille!). Great food, great company. And I feel like I missed out on most of it. I spent all of my attention chasing after her, making sure she was OK with the dogs, making sure she didn't eat the confetti, get into the candle or eat the coasters (I was too late - she took a chunk out of one of the cork coasters). I got tired way before Catherine did.

So how am I supposed to do it? Am I supposed to be able to turn off that mommy-sense? Or do I just accept that I won't be able to have fun for the next decade or so? There are times when we have a chance to go out without her - I'm fine then. But there are times that we want her to go or other times that we simply won't be forgiven if we come without her, and if she's in the vacinity, I am mom and not the fun loving girl that I am (don't laugh, OK? - jeez!). Moms out there? Any thoughts?

Isn't it romantic?

I can imagine that many couples heading to the bedroom on Valentine's night would be carrying various fun and romantic things. Candles, wine, maybe a Valentine's gift or two. Not us, not this year. When we headed towards the bedroom last night I was carrying my tissues, water bottle, vaseline, NyQuil and cough drops. Oh yeah, we had a smokin' Valentine's this year.

This cold has totally kicked my butt. I'm still recovering, but thanks to being able to find some pseudophrine in my medicine cabinet I slept much better last night and I am feeling a lot better already. I've been on almost 12 different medications (don't worry mom - I'm watching closely to be within normal dose ranges and to avoid interactions). Better living through chemicals - wahoo! Stephen got the cold for all of about 4 hours, and Catherine's had a slight fever on and off and a runny nose, but other than that - I'm the sickling in the family this time.

But last night wasn't a total loss. When Stephen got home from work he brought me a rose and some yummy chocolates. After visiting a family member in the hospital (Aunt Sue has been in and out of the hospital for the last couple of weeks with gall stones and bronchitis), he stopped at the Old Spaghetti Factory to bring home dinner for 2. We cuddled on the couch and watched TV, and then off to an early bedtime with said tissues and cough drops. I have a great husband - I'll have to make it up to him.

Funny Catherine stories, part 2

Stephen gets home with her last night, and he said she was so tired after having so much fun at grandma T's.

Stephen: "Would you like to play?"
Catherine puts on a pouty face, shakes her head and says "nooooooo".

Stephen: "Would you like to eat?"
Catherine puts on a pouty face, shakes her head and says "nooooooo".

Stephen: "Would you like to go to bed?"
Catherine: "mmmm..." she keeps the pouty face but mumbles a little and lays her head on his shoulder.

Too cute!

This morning:

She brings her plush pink puppy to me.
Me: "What does a doggy say? Woof woof! Doggy kisses!" And I make the plush pink puppy kiss her all over her face.
She giggles and takes the puppy back to where she was playing.

Then she brings me the cute plush bunny that her Auntie Val got her for her birthday.
Me: "What does a bunny do? Hop hop hop! Bunny kisses!" And I make the plush bunny kiss her all over her face.
She giggles and takes the bunny back to where she found it.

Then she continues the same game with her stuffed bear, elephant, monkey, ghost, and dragon. (Yes, she has a stuffed dragon and ghost.) And she even went all the way into her room to get the dragon to bring to me. That little girl was thinking hard!
Too cute!

Catherine update

Catherine had her 12 month checkup yesterday. The doc says that she is developing completely normal and that she's a keeper! Whew! She did really well duing the exam, except for the FIVE shots that she had to have. Ick!

Stats:
26.6 lbs (95th percentile)
30.5 inches (90th percentile)

She's a healthy little girl! She now has 7 teeth, 3 top and 4 bottom. And she has started saying some good words. First to come out: "no". Oh man, are we in trouble! She also says "go" now. Wahoo!

Party pictures

Pictures from the birthday party, as promised. =)

She was so excited about presents!

Playing with grandma Trudy and her new blocks

I was so proud of myself and the cakes I decorated. I'm such an amateur, but I managed to make a super cute princess hat cake and cute cupcakes!

The classic, traditional shot of the one year old covered in cake.

I found this great pink beach ball that says "It's fun to be one". So cute - and Catherine had so much fun with it!
The adorable birthday girl.

She may be a whole year old, but she still makes the best faces!

Birthday girl

"BG" = baby girl, beautiful girl, big girl... and yesterday it was BIRTHDAY GIRL!

It was a wonderful day. I couldn't have asked it to get any better. There was a little bit where I was stressing with the amount that needed to be done. As the guests started rolling in, I was still in the kitchen making food. I put my mom and sis straight to work (thanks again for the help, girls!). Stephen was a wonderful host and took care of the guests and Catherine in the meantime. And in the end the cakes were decorated, the food turned out great, and we had ourselves a wonderful party.

I was so overjoyed of everyone that was there. All of her grandparents, MY grandparents (WOW was that special), Auntie Val, Auntie Jenny and Uncle Phil, cousin Toby, friends Lynn and Steph, and even Uncle JJ was able to stop by. We definitely had a full house! Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, which probably was the best part of the whole day.

Catherine was a doll. She was a little overwhelmed at first with all the people, but she settled down and had a total ball. She had a bunch of energy thanks to adhering to her nap schedule that morning (thank GOD!), and outlasted many of the party guests. You go, little girl! She was pretty patient during opening the presents and absolutely loved the cool toys she got (and mommy loved all of the cute girly clothes!). And of course she loved the cake that we let her dive into, as per tradition. Until her bath that evening she still had frosting in her hair, all around her neck, in her ears, up her nose and up and down her arms.

I will post some pictures tomorrow. I don't have access to them now because I'm at work. So... more to come.

For now... my baby is one. The nickname that has stuck with her is "BG" - for quite a while it has stood for baby girl. Now she's one. I think it now needs to stand for big girl.

Cinderella

It's fitting that Catherine's getting a Disney princess party, because I've been playing Cinderella all day. On my hands and knees scrubbing floors, complete with a bandana crowning my head. As soon as I got the visual in my head, it wasn't long before I was humming to myself: "Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day it's Cinderelly - fix the fire, make the breakfast, do the dishes and the laundry". I laughed out loud when I realized what I was singing. Though I don't get to get dressed up and go to a ball - her party tomorrow will count for that. I do have my prince. I wonder - who is my fairy godmother then?

=)