World of comprehension

The most recent huge development that I've noticed with Catherine is her comprehension. It seems to have skyrocketed overnight. She recognizes so many objects and can connect the words with them. I almost cried with pride when we were reading a book together and I asked "where's the teddy bear?" And she pointed to the teddy bear. What? When did this happen? I turned the page. "Where's the apple?" She pointed to the apple. Over and over again.

She recognizes animals and will make the sign for them - if she can't say the word. She can say "dog" so when she sees a dog she'll sometimes say it.

When she was playing with her toys the other night, she picked up a big bouncy ball, deliberately pointed to it and said "ball". Then she peeked up at me, and I said "that's right honey - ball!" Her smile beamed ear to ear. So funny. And so amazing.

OK, so you may think that it's such a small thing. So the kid points to a dog and says "dog" - big deal, right? Maybe you don't see that - maybe you see the significance. If you're a parent, you really get it. It's such a matter of pride. And such a sense of accomplishment. You think "did I really impart wisdom on this little one?" There's nothing better in the world.

Another game is the body part naming game. "Where's your ear?" She points to her ear. "Where's your nose?" She points to my nose. "Silly - that's mommy's nose! Where's your nose?" She points to her nose. Our favorite is "where's your tummy?" because she lifts up her shirt and points to her tummy - and then she gets TICKLED! She giggles like mad and we do it all over again. She can be so much FUN!

Cousins

I can't say enough about how much I love that Catherine and Toby are so close in age. Not just for them, but being able to share the adventures of parenting with Jen and Phil is priceless. What's funny is that now that the two kids (Jen and I realized we're starting to call them "kids" instead of "babies") are getting older, into the toddler age, they are starting to act more like brother and sister. They get along so well, but they can really fight, too. They know each other well enough that they can really push each other's buttons to no end. It's actually pretty amusing!

The funniest "sibling" story recently is one of these last weekends when we were at Jen and Phil's and we were all out in their garage. Phil has a big stereo that happens to be at kid level, and in no time the kids were pushing buttons on the stereo and learned which buttons turn it on and off. Catherine pushes the button to turn on the stereo, the music comes on and she dances to the music (so cute - she kind of waddles her butt and has a big smile on her face!). Then Toby says "NO!" and pushes the button to turn it off. Catherine looks at him in disbelief, and promptly turns it back on. The music comes on, she dances, and Toby says "NO!" and turns it off. They did this back and forth for about 10 minutes. We were rolling on the floor laughing. These kids know how to entertain!

It was SO HOT this last Saturday that we went to get a kiddie pool. Before we got there, Toby was already sort of refusing to try it. He just really wasn't interested. But then Catherine gets there and bolts toward the water, splashes and squealing with glee. She nearly jumped in before I could even get her swimsuit on. Then naturally Toby wanted in on the fun. Funny how that works, huh?

We were loading some stuff in the truck, so the kids got to play in the cab. They both had sets of keys that they were playing with. And what do you know - they both already know that the key goes in the ignition. Toby even sat down by the steering wheel, put the key in the ignition (but didn't turn it of course), and put his hands up on the wheel and bounced like the truck was going. He is so freaking smart!

Here they are playing a B-E-A-OOtiful duet on Jen's piano. They were playing nice and actually played some pretty decent music next to each other. Hmm... budding pianists perhaps?

"Dear God, please send me a pretty pretty pink car."

3 months later....

"Hey chair - get out of my way JACKASS!!!!"

Happy mother's day to me and all the wonderful mothers in my life!

I was concerned that I wouldn't have any mother's day at all, knowing that I had to work full days both Saturday and Sunday. I was completely bummed. But Stephen said "leave it to me", and that was that. I wasn't allowed to ask questions or know any details whatsoever. I could tell that he was boasting with pride for his plans, so I knew it had to be good.

Finally I found out Saturday morning. He helped me get up and get ready (including watching the baby while I took a long shower!), and told me that a bunch of my favorite moms were meeting me to get mani/pedis, and then we would all come back here to play with our kids and have a full brunch, which the dads were making and serving. WOW!!!!

So I met with my mom (who drove all the way from Vancouver just to surprise me), Stephen's mom (also my godmother; double bonus), Jen (who has shared motherhood with me from the very beginning), Jen's mother-in-law, and one of my best friends and also a mother, Sarah.

And to top it off, a toast with mimosas. From Stephen: "To mothers and diapers, both of which have to deal with all of our shit!"

I thought I wouldn't have any mother's day at all. No way. I had the best mother's day EVER! And I officially have the best husband in the world (Sorry girls, I think this wins the prize!).

To all of the mothers who are in my life: I hope you had an excellent day, but more importantly I hope that you know how important you are and how much you influence and inspire everyone around you every day of the year. I would not be the mother that I am without learning love and compassion from my mom, wisdom and faith from my grandmother, patience and calm from my godmother/mother-in-law, and how to still be myself and have fun in life from my girlfriends. And thank you to Stephen, because without your support I would not survive motherhood. Period. Thank you to all.

I honestly don't know why she was upset. Probably because I stopped giving her food to take the picture.
Does this really need explanation?

OK, something must have been REALLY funny! Road rage in its early stages

'Nuff said

Wha??????

Soprano diva

Yesterday was the biggest event in my choral experience. Hands down. Exciting, thrilling, intense. A complete extravaganza!

4 choirs and 1 orchestra together in one performance. We all had our chances to perform separately, and then we performed Poulenc's Gloria all together - 200 voices and a full 40 piece orchestra. Incredible.

Even better was the venue. Benaroya Hall in Seattle. You know that fancy concert hall in downtown Seattle? Yup, that's the one!

I was so grateful for those to come, and sad for those that couldn't be there. But everyone that saw our performance completely raved about it. My BFF Dawn and my mom even got Jen and me flowers - I felt like such a star!

No experience like this comes without pictures:

Pictures of the 3 of us - Jen, Stephen and me

Concert program

Seattle Bach Choir on stage at Benaroya

Before leaving for the concert

Funny Catherine stories, part 3

Funny things that Catherine has been up to lately:

She'll find one of our sets of keys, will carefully pull out one key pointing out, and will go up to the front door and try to reach the doorknob to put the key in. Never mind that the key only opens it from the outside, but it's so cute!

She loves playing with this cute kecklace (actually a party favor) and will carry it around with her everywhere. The cutest thing - there's been a couple of times getting ready that we'll both have jacket and shoes on, and I say "ready to go?" and she will get the necklace, put it around her neck, and then follow me to the door!

When we're playing out in the living room, she'll pick up one of her books and bring it over to me. When I take it from her and ask "would you like mommy to read to you?", she'll climb in my lap (if she didn't automatically do so in the first place), and will sit with me reading the book. She points to pictures and turns the pages as I read. And when the book is done, she'll find another one and we do it all over again!

Catherine went into our room and brought back one of my shirts and handed it to me. I asked "do you want to wear mommy's shirt?" and she put her hands up just like she does when we're changing her clothes. It was so adorable that Stephen wouldn't let me take it off of her until he found the camera!

This is her most recent favorite sign, which generally means "want". Naturally, we usually see her do it when there's food around. She also learned how to sign "please" recently!

I love going to the mall with her and letting her play in this giant play area they have. It's so fun watching her interact with the other kids and have so much fun! This time really made for some adorable pictures!

One of the MOST adorable things she's been doing recently is she'll just lay down and rest her head in the middle of the floor. Her favorite thing is to pull out a pillow and lay down on it. She was cuddling with Elly this time, and there's that adorable necklace!

My Irish princess

Pictures taken on St. Patrick's Day -- I love her cute little shamrock dress!

Irish princess playing peekaboo.

Erin go bragh

Top o' the mornin' to you, me darlin'!

Yes, it's the day of the year that Irish around the world celebrate, and a few million non-Irish, too! (After all, everyone is Irish on March 17th!). Yes, it's St Patrick's Day!

Out of all of the craic (pronounced "crack", meaning "fun") that I could be having today, I've settled with having a nice Irish dinner at home with family. So I'm making a corned beef, cabbage, and Guinness stew-like dish (I obviously haven't thought of a creative name for the dish yet) and we will have a pint of good ol' Guinness along side. I've had plenty of years going out and having quite a few pints, dressing up in all green and dancing a few Irish jigs.

No matter how different every year's celebration is, one thing remains the same. I reminisce about my time in Ireland. 4 months going to school in Limerick and traveling around the country. I was so excited about having St Patrick's Day in Ireland, but it wound up being a different day than I had planned. It was during the foot and mouth outbreak in the British Isles. And the Irish, who were rightfully terrified of their agriculture being affected, had shut down many of the tourist spots all around the country. Including the parade in Dublin, and tons of St Patrick's Day activities. So we celebrated in the native Irish style - pup hopping! And man, was that a night. That was the night that I lost my camera - dangit. I don't even remember how many places that we went to.

By the way... an interesting article on the meaning behind Erin_go_bragh .

Some pictures to share from my Irish experience - forgive the blurriness - I really want to go through my favorites and scan them all to get good copies. But this is what I have for now.

The best pint of Guinness in the world - at the Sky Bar at the top of the Guinness Factory. Straight from the source, baby - it's amazing!

I love the turtle Guinness ads - just for me!

Cheesy and traditional but so much fun (but not for those who have a fear of heights; the grass you see is 3 stories below) - Kissing the Blarney stone!

One of the most spectacular places that I got to visit - both in beauty and history - the Rock of Cashel

Me overlooking the northern portion of the Cliffs of Moher

I'm having so much fun reminiscing about Ireland that I might share more stories and pictures, we'll see! =)

Catching up

My final was this morning - wahoo! Now spring break... a long spring break... lasting until fall actually. I need to start a 2 quarter class (A&P), which will be better to start in fall. And with the Europe trip in summer, it will work out the best for us if I can work some more. But now that I'm done, I have some catching up to do.
So now I have some pictures to post... from our triple birthday party and from our concerts last weekend.

She LOVES the books she got for her birthday!
The cute little birthday girl in her cute little birthday dress.
Remember the story of Catherine bribing her Auntie Val for some food? My mom caught a pic of it - yeah! The book in Val's hand is one of the things that she was bribed with.
The Seattle Bach Choir, singing at Trinity Lutheran Church last Saturday night.

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!

More from the year in pictures

Catherine is turning one in 3 days! This time last year I felt as big as a house and I was getting really impatient because it was past my due date. Now it's almost been a year.

Continuing with the sentimental mood I've been in lately, here are more pictures from the last year. This time, these are some of my favorite memories.

This is one great picture to represent an entire wonderful day - Catherine's baptism. The mass was beautiful, and it was so special to have so many people with us to celebrate. Of note, it was most important and special that her godfamily was there to participate. Matt and Camille, her godparents, are in the picture with us here. Greg, Nancy, Richard, and even Katie were also there, but I can't seem to find a great picture of everyone all together. But this picture shines. The greatest touch: Catherine's beautiful white gown. You can see it in this picture, but not the detail - it was made by my mom and the material was from my wedding dress. How incredible!

Any time that us girls get together is special to me. We are very lucky that it has happened a few times already. This was in June, when my mom and grandma came up for Stephen's concert. We couldn't miss an opportunity to get a picture of all 4 generations together!

Being a student and a mom has been a challenge. It amuses me to no end when Catherine is desperate to know what I am doing when I am studying. This was one of those days - and I turned my head for just a moment... the next thing I knew Catherine had my copy of the periodic table of elements! I had to take a picture before I took it away, but she still managed to eat a couple of the noble gases - xenon and neon if I remember correctly!

In July when the new Harry Potter book came out, a bunch of our friends got together and spent the WHOLE weekend reading it aloud with each other. Naturally, Catherine wanted to get in on the action. We're starting her out as a Harry Potter fan early!

This was such a great night. We spontaneously decided to go to the park one evening after Stephen got home from work. We only had an hour or two before sunset, but luckily it was August so it was nice and warm. We had so much fun! Catherine got to go on the slides and the bouncy horse, but her favorite - and ours - was the swings. To hear her giggle and watch her face light up as she swung back and forth - it was a priceless moment.

This was at a friend's wedding reception in August. Catherine was up for so long, but she was so good. But the poor thing was really tuckered out at the end of the night. She fell asleep on her daddy's shoulder! This is super significant because she's not really a cuddly kid - she prefers to sleep on her own. So when she leaned her head on his shoulder and fluttered her eyes shut, both of us had tears in our eyes - it was so special!

OH! So many memories!

Year in pictures

In anticipation of Catherine's birthday, I've been reflecting on the past year and how much she has grown. I wanted to share my FAVORITE pictures. Not the pictures of the favorite memories (not necessarily), but truly my favorite pictures. Maybe I'll make another post of pictures of my favorite moments.

My favorite picture of Stephen and Catherine - and she was only an hour old when it was taken.

Taken at the party after her baptism in April (2 months old).

Typical day of playing with tummy time - but look at that face! (June - 4 months old).

A day of family fun at a park in Tacoma (July - 5 months old)

At the wedding reception of a good friend. It was a gorgeous August day and she looked so precious in her fancy dress and bare feet. (almost 7 months old)

I know I've posted this one before, but I don't care. It's a gorgeous picture - the colors are outstanding and it makes the blue in her eyes really pop out. (October - almost 10 months old)