Cookie Decorating

We had some new neighbors move in last weekend, so Catherine and I thought we'd welcome them by making some cookies. Cutting out the cookies was great fun for her, but she was deathly afraid of the rolling pin. Who knows what goes on in the minds of toddlers?! I had to put the cookie cutting process on hold when I realized that she was eating the raw dough scraps by the handfuls. My attention was drawn to this activity by the word "Mmmmmm" several times. These are a few pictures of the final project.

Our Favorite Games

For a limited time only all of Catherine's favorite games can be seen in this one special video at no cost to you! Okay, so the time to view this isn't limited, but the time that these will be her favorite things to do will be.



1. The Dance
2. Sit the Cup on the Coaster
3. Point to Body Parts
4. Give out Kisses (yes even to inanimate objects like the camera!)
5. Pick out random clothes from her hamper and insist on wearing them over her current outfit. (I promise I did not pick those clothes out for her to wear!)

Wash Her Hair

Catherine has started mastering the fine art of washing her hair. In the tub, if we put shampoo on her hands, she can lather it into her hair (well, the front half of her head, at least). So I guess it won't be long before she has the excuse, "Oh, I can't, I have to wash my hair."

Videos and Photos oh my!

This is Catherine helping me make Bill's birthday cake. She was really into sifting the powdered sugar. We put on the bib to help keep the clothes clean during the cake making process. She has also been quite interested in dancing and self-feeding lately, as you are about to see...

She's getting too smart for us

Yesterday, Catherine and I were amusing ourselves by putting bracelets on Bast's tail. This morning, Catherine and I were sitting on the foot of the steps, and Bast came sauntering over. I said to Catherine, "Maybe if you ask Bast nicely, she'll let you put bracelets on her tail again." At that, Catherine stood up, walked into her nursery, and returned with two link-a-doos, which she proceeded to attempt to put on Bast's tail.

Pretty amazing how she understood exactly what I was saying to her!

Thanksgiving and the Dance

So I know this is terribly dark, but if you look closely there is a crazy, dancing baby! The song playing is one of her favorites from a Baby Einstein CD that came as part of a bath gift set we got when she was born. Her bedroom gets so dark in the evening, and our camera doesn't seem to think there is enough lights to take a good video. Unfortunately, evenings are her favorite time to boogie.

We also posted some Thanksgiving pictures to our Flickr site, along with some photos of what we call The Fennel Seed Incident. Here are a few to tide you over until you click the link!



Lets just say that there is a good reason they make locks for kitchen cabinets. Too bad for us we've been procrastinating!

What a difference a year makes...

I know, two post in one evening is silly, but I keep forgetting to put these two pictures up. What a difference a year makes!

Dinner at Grandma's House

Grandma took this picture and it was too cute not to share. Fyi, dinner was yummy.

Catherine meets her Grandpa

Last weekend Bill's dad and wife stopped by our house for a night on their way to South Carolina. Catherine was quite excited to finally meet her paternal grandpa. It was nice visit, and we took these priceless pictures to complete our family album.

Halloween...Finally!

So I have finally taken the ten minutes to get this post up! Halloween was so much fun. We tried taking Catherine Trick or Treating, but although she can walk, she's not very good at following parents, and didn't really understand that she was supposed to go to the doors to get candy. Instead, she kept trying to sit in people's driveways to collect leaves and rocks. Oh well, maybe next year! We took her by car to our friends' homes, and stayed for a little party at the last stop. Miss C was up way, way past her bedtime because she insisted on getting a bath when we got home. I'm sure the Reese's Cup and KitKat bar Jacob fed her did nothing to help her settle down! All in all it was a great night. There are more photos on the Flickr site. Notice the one where she is trying to make off with the entire cauldron of candy on our front porch. Also, the photos with the hat are a rare treat since we couldn't get her to keep it on for more than five seconds at a time.

New Layout

The Chinbilla blog has officially changed colors. We hope y'all like the new layout.

Halloween Decorations

The most exciting thing happening in our house is the arrival of Halloween decorations. We've been putting them up for about a week, and has Catherine been having fun! There are two ghosts/ghouls that we have that I thought would scare her, but no, she thinks they are funny. Especially when you chase her around the house with them saying, "Ooooooh!" She has also formed an attachment to a stuffed spider. She carries it all around the house trying to haunt the cats. Let me tell you, they love that. We've posted some new pictures to the Flickr site, and here are a few short videos.

New Pictures Finally

Bill and Catherine have been sick this week. Bill had it worse than Catherine, so I have been quite slow to update the photos. For the past two days Catherine has had only one 50 minute nap which is not enough time to do anything! I have put quite a few new pictures on our Flickr page, and here are some videos!


A shout out to the long distance relatives:




One day I will teach her to get coffee for mommy, but not until she is much better at this!



Here we were sitting outside on the deck, and she climbed up into the chair all by herself. She gathered all her favorite items: sippy cup, mommy's water bottle, camera bag, and bucket. While sitting there, she started imitating the birds, then she started dancing to them. I thought it was hilarious. It is difficult to hear her bird noise, but if you listen carefully, it is there.



Lastly, this is our favorite video so far. It is Catherine telling her first joke.

Fun Filled Weekend

We took Catherine to the Renaissance Festival in Charlotte this weekend. It was a ton of fun! The car ride was not so bad, thanks to Grandma Ellen and some McDonald's chicken nuggets! Eating fair food was a big hit, as was applauding for the performers. Catherine also realized that the best way to get a total stranger to look at you is to say, "hi" and wave. We took a few pictures, but I'm lazy and left the camera downstairs. They will be available on the Flickr page soon!

Welcome Toddler

We went to the park today with Grandma Ellen and had a picnic lunch. Catherine had a great time walking all over the playground and playing in the sand. She still isn't quite sure what to make of the jungle gym, but she thinks the swings are great fun. We were there all morning and finally left after lunch. She was one sleepy girl on the way home! I think it is official that she can walk now, but here are the videos so you can decide for yourself. There are also some more pictures on our Flickr page.

Official Walker...Maybe

I don't know exactly when you can say a child can officially walk, but Catherine has got to be close! Today for the first time, she stood up by herself without pulling up on anything and took off walking. Of course, she gets about 20 steps in then sits down, or falls down, but today, she kept getting back up. Official walker? I think maybe so! I have some videos to post, then you can be the judge.

Videos

Finally I have managed to upload some videos from our visit with Grandma Trish and Evy. This laughing one is probably my favorite. I watch it on days when she is being less than smiley to remind myself that it isn't always bad...so far today, I've watched it three times!






And here are a few more playing dress up.





What you can't hear in the last one is the garage door opening while she was sitting in the rocking chair. She knows that sound means Daddy is home, and she will go to the door leading to the garage and bang on it until he makes it inside. =)

Football has started

Last weekend we went over to Jacob and Andrea's to watch Ohio State play some football. We've not yet acquired any OSU gear for Catherine this fall, so we decided the next best thing was to dress her in scarlet and gray. She looked like such a toddler. This outfit is way too cute. It also works great as pjs we discovered. =)

Playing Dress Up

My mom bought this costume for Catherine, because in her words, "she just had to have it!" Honestly, it is something I would have never, ever, ever picked out, nor would I have ever approved the purchase of such a thing. Luckily for Catherine, she has Grandma Trish looking out for her because she LOVES this costume. She will go over to the closet and bang on the door to let me know she wants it open, then she will pull out the costume and try to put it on. I call her the Pepto Princess.

There are a bunch of new photos on the Flickr page, too. I'm still working on videos...

Happy Birthday Catherine Reese!

Yay, Catherine has made it through her first year! She's healthy, growing, and (for the most part) happy. Today Bill and I were discussing how the realities of parenting either matched or not with our expectations, and it was decided that he has more patients than he thought he would, and I have less.

Our friends came over for dinner and cupcakes, and we had so much fun. Lets just say that Catherine is going t be the most stylish little girl this fall, and there is no way she should be bored with her toys before Christmas. All of the gifts are wonderful, and such generosity is deeply appreciated. I've put some photos here on our Flickr site. Bill took some videos of her having her cupcake, and I will get them posted as soon as possible.

A few more videos

I've been hording the videos. Okay, I've actually been staying up late playing computer games with my favorite people, and have been neglecting the video updates!

This is my favorite activity of Catherine's. I think she looks like such a toddler sitting in her rocking chair listening to her "radio". Bill taught her how to do this, for the record.



More playing...I think those cat toys are more Catherine's than the cats' these days. Poor kitties!



And finally, more playing!

And Action!

Here are the current favorite activities in action.

Helping out with the laundry part one: folding



Helping out with the laundry part two: putting away

These are a few of my favorite things...

Here are some pics of Catherine enjoying some of her favorite activities: working a puzzle, listening to the "radio", and watching squirrels. It is amazing to watch her develop into a little kid now. Her favorite activities become more and more active each day.

And our latest news as of this morning: Catherine thinks cows milk from a glass is pretty neat. According to her, it goes perfectly with pancakes. Yum!

Big Girl Car Seat

Catherine has been upgraded from her Graco Snugride infant seat to a Britax Marathon big girl seat. She did nothing but coo and giggle the whole ride home from the firehouse. Our camera batteries are recharging, but we will get a picture as soon as we go for another ride.

While at the firehouse, Catherine sat on the back of a fire truck with Grandma Ellen while the fireman taught me how to properly install our new seat. It seemed simpler than the infant seat, however, I learned so much from Cliff the Fireman about car seat safety today. Even though it was over 100 degrees, and we were sweating like pigs, Cliff took lots of time to explain every thing and answer all my questions. Firemen rock! Although I probably could have installed the seat on my own correctly after reading the book (LATCH system is sooo easy), I definitely would have had Catherine in the seat all wrong! I'm so glad we took the time to stop by today.

Playing at Southpoint

I know these are all out of order...

This is a small video we took playing at Southpoint mall when Laura, Bryce, and family were in town. It is nothing too exciting, but I thought Grandma and Grandpa Coogan would like to see it for sure!

Trip to the Mountains

Last weekend we took Catherine to western North Caroline to visit with some of Bill's family. It was the first time Catherine has slept away from home since we brought her back from the hospital. She did amazingly well with the trip: no sleep issues at all! These photos were taken by Bill's cousin, Laura. They were so good I had to share them on our blog, too.

Basket Walking

I took this video a about a week ago. It shows one of Catherine's favorite past times...basket walking. She will frequently walk the basket around the house collecting items as she goes. As I watched this video again, I couldn't help but giggle at how fast she crawls at the end while chasing the cat. Poor Sable!

Meeting Cousins!

Last weekend Catherine was able to meet her great-aunt and uncle, Susan and Joe, and her cousins, Laura and Bryce. We spent some time at the play area of the mall, and here are a few pictures of Bryce and Catherine.

Couch Climbing

Here is a short, but cute video of Catherine trying to climb up on the couch.

Toy Box Fun, and Bubble Mania

So Catherine has two new fun activities that have been caught on film: climbing in the toy box, and sticking her face in the bath bubbles! She participates in each of these activities on a daily basis. You can see more photos on our Flickr page. Also today while we were out for a walk, she decided to push the stroller herself, and succeeded! She was standing up holding onto the basket, and pushed it around for about ten minutes. Unfortunately we did not have the camera with us, but considering how proud she was of herself, I'm sure it was not a one-time only performance.

New Shoes

I mentioned in the previous post that we got Catherine some new shoes, and she loves them, but I didn't really stress exactly how much she loves them. They day we bought them, she fussed, and fussed until I took them out of the box and put them on her. She was wearing them before we left the mall. This was Thursday. Every day since, when we get up in the morning, she grabs them off the shelf as I change her diaper, and starts trying to put them on her feet (often her attempts end with them on her head!) Saturday morning she was crawling around playing in nothing but a diaper and her shoes. She gets upset with us if we try to take them off for her nap, so she has been wearing them literally from the time she wakes up until she gets into the bath before bed. Yesterday we had some friends over for dinner, and she spent a good amount of time showing her shoes to each guest, then later in the evening she occupied herself by going through our friends purses and shoes. What can we say, she is a stereotypical girl already loving her shoes and handbags!

Birthday Gift Ideas

We've been having many requests for what Catherine might like for her birthday next month. It is hard to say, but here are some ideas. She is starting to walk pushing things around, so something like this might be nice. Also, she is interested in building things, so some mega-blocks or something like this would be a good idea. She is also really into shoes at the moment. We recently bought a pair of Pedipeds that she loves. We have them in Caroline White for 6-12 months, but additional pairs in a different variety or size would be much appreciated. She is also really into balls and would love anything light-weight and round. Catherine enjoys taking rides in the laundry basket or toy bin, so we thought a wagon would be a good idea. Lastly, she is always in desperate need of pajamas (12-18 months). If clothing is something you enjoy shopping for, she could most use things in 18 months for fall and winter. I hope this is helpful for those of you who have asked! Can you believe she is almost one?!

Animal Sounds

Today while folding laundry Catherine was being a bit fussy with me because I wouldn't let her "help" me with the clothes that were already folded. To distract her some, I started playing the animal sound game. You know, the game where I say, "Hey, Catherine, what does a duck say?" Catherine politely looks at me like I am crazy, then I say, "That's right, the duck says, quack-quack." We went through the four animals for which we have books: the duck, the horse, the frog, and the sheep. After doing this a few times, she looks at me, wrinkles up her face, huffs and crawls into her room. I thought she just had enough of my diversion, and decided to go play, but the next thing I know, I hear the book going "Quack-quack. Quack-quack." Then I hear, "Neigh-Neigh", then "Baa-Baa", then "Ribbit-Ribbit." She had pulled out all the animal sound books. Of course, this could have been a coincidence had she not done the same thing later this evening!

At the Park

We played at the park today with our friends, and here are a few photos. The photo of the girls in the crib is from a few weeks ago. All the park photos can be found here.

Some Videos

Here are some cute videos I wanted to share. This first one is just a short snip of some crazy baby play. She was laying down, scooting across the floor backward on her stomach, but stopped when I got the camera.




This second video is when she first learned how to come down off the landing the "safe" way. We had to sit and watch this for fifteen minutes the first day she learned to do it!

Some Photos

Yay I finally have my own computer again! As promised, here are some pictures from Catherine's new adventures.


Also, here is a video of her stair climbing adventures.

Playing with Big Kids

Today I took Catherine to an inside park at the mall with our friends Kim and Grace. It is supposed to be for smaller children, however there were big kids who shouldn't have been inside running around jumping on all the equipment. Catherine was a little shy at first, but after a few minutes she started cruising around, and with some help from Grace, figured out how to climb up on a small platform. She was having so much fun watching the bigger kids run and jump, and before we knew it, she started crawling all around the area. She wasn't being shy, nor intimidated by the older children. At one point, she decided to go climb the stairs to a very popular slide, and would not back down even when children that looked to be about eight were trying to push past her. The next thing we know, Catherine and Grace had commandeered the entire slide. She was not about to let those bigger kids deter her from doing what she wanted. Kim and I joked about how outgoing and adventurous Catherine is already, and that as they get older, Catherine is going to be the friend always encouraging Grace to do things she's afraid to do, perhaps even things she should not be doing! It was just so amazing to see her demonstrate such a strong sense of self at such a young age.

Climbing, Climbing, Climbing

Catherine has discovered that being able to climb the steps also means she can climb other things. She has climbed into her rocking chair, a basket of laundry, almost on the Exesaucer, and gave the couch a valiant attempt. In the past week we went from having this adorable, fun, sweet baby to having an adventurous, dare-devil, I love to scare my parents to death, not-quite-a-toddler-yet child.

I have some fun pictures of the laundry basket and climbing on and off the landing, but my computer is not working properly, so I will post them as soon as I am on my own machine again.

The Accomplishment

For a while now Catherine has been able to climb up the first step onto the landing of our stairs, but she never tried the rest of the steps, nor did she try to get off the landing. Three days ago, I showed her how to come down the step "safely" by going down on her tummy feet-first. She was angry at me for moving her body, but I saw the light go off, and for fifteen minutes we watched her climb up the step and down. We laughed so hard, and of course, when we tried getting the camera she stopped. She was so proud of herself for being able to do this. Yesterday Bill was playing with her on the stairs and I mentioned how she never tries going up the others, and no sooner did I finish the sentence, she started climbing the stairs. Bill was right behind her and she went up about half of them before getting scared and started whining for him to help her down. She did this a few times, then decided she had enough of that for the day. This morning, however, as soon as we got up, the first thing she did was to crawl over to the steps and start climbing. Bast was at the top of the stairs, and before I knew it, Catherine climbed the entire flight of stairs! So, in the course of three days she went from not even attempting to climb the stairs to getting to the top of the staircase in about one minute. There sure is never a dull moment in a home with children.

Crib Talking

Catherine was playing in her crib while we were waiting for Bill to get back from taking Ellen to the airport, and she was just talking up a storm. There isn't much action, but we liked these, and thought some of you might, too!

Catherine Playing WoW

Poor Catherine doesn't stand a chance of not being a geek! Look at her playing WoW with her Daddy at the kitchen table. She was so excited and kept laughing hysterically. This is something I should have caught on video!

Cake Decorating

My friend, Kim, does a lovely job of decorating cakes, and has begun to teach me. Yesterday despite having the fussiest baby in the world (I think the devil got to her!) I managed to finally finish my cake by midnight.
I must have made 60 of those flowers before I got a enough decent looking ones to use. This was so much fun that I hope to make it a regular hobby.

Wedding Photos

Here are a few of the photos we got on our camera.

This one is of the bridesmaids:










This one is of the ushers:










This one is of us:














The rest of the photos can be seen on our Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/laraim23/?saved=1

Congratulations Andrea and Jacob!

Two of our very best friends got married this evening. The wedding was so beautiful and the reception way fun. We snapped some candid photos that I will get up as soon as I sleep off all the fun. I was a bride's maid and Bill was an usher. We had so much fun getting all dressed up for the evening. It has been a very eventful past few days, and we have had so much fun!

Congrats Andrea and Jacob!

Playing with Sable

I'm not sure who is having more fun Catherine or Sable, although Sable isn't quite sure how he should react to the outbursts of laughter coming from the baby,

Raspberry Concert

Finally one last video for today: The Raspberry Concert. This one is especially dear, because this is sweet Catherine. She was sleepy and was trying to settle down for a nap. I love it when she gets like this!

Grandma Trish, how proud are you of your student? Has she surpassed the master raspberry blower?

Baby Soccer

Baby Soccer as we call it, is our family's favorite passtime: parents get a good laugh, baby gets lots of exercise and sleeps well, parents get happy. She will play this game for a good 30-40 minutes at a time which is a long time for a baby!

The Great Phone Chase Parts I & II

The Phone Chase Part I




The Phone Chase Part II




It is hard to believe that she can get around the table that quickly!

Elmo at Play

Catherine kept putting her Elmo doll in the activity station, and we thought it was pretty funny. Since I am still an amature with the video mode on our camera, I apologize about it being so dark!

The Camera Bag

In a battle of Catherine vs. The Camera bag, who will will win?

Video Killed the Photograph Star

Due to the adorable vidoes on Juliette's Blog, we decided to see if our camera takes video, and what do you know, it does! So we decided to totally copy off of Juliette's parents and post some videos of Catherine at play. Keep in mind that this was my first time using the camera this way, and didn't realize I had to hold it horizontally to get the picture to be the "right" way.

Summer Time Shades

Could Catherine be anymore ready for summer?!

We took her swimming for the first time this past weekend, and she really enjoyed the pool. Unfortunately we were all having so much fun playing, we forgot to get the camera out to snap some photos. There is always next time...

Playing with Daddy

Catherine was so proud of herself for figuring out how to stand under this chair. We were entertained for quite a while. We just love watching her become aware of the world, and learning how to interact with objects in it.

As Promised

So, as promised, here it is: The Tooth! I realize it is not the best photo, but she won't let me get a better one. I also loved the silly face she made during the photo shoot in which I was trying to get the tooth!

Some old photos worth posting

Recently some photos that had been imprisoned on Grandma's camera have been liberated. I am not sure of the dates for these, but they were cute and worth sharing. Please pay no attention to how terrible I look in the last photo!

The Tooth

It's happened! Catherine has a tooth through the gums finally. It has been well over a week since the bugger started making its grand appearance. Her behavior has been more or less normal. I hear some babies really have a rough go with the teeth. She won't let us get much of a look at it not to mention a picture, so for now, you will have to take our word for it.

The Pedicure

Look everyone: Catherine got her toes done! It went amazingly well, and looks so pretty.

Mother's Day

We went to the Durham Bull's game on Mother's Day, and here are a few photos from Catherine's first baseball game. She is officially an American baby!
















If you can believe it, she is actually NOT crying in these two pictures. She was laughing and singing, but the camera just caught her face in the worst possible positions! I think it is hilarious.















Finally, these are the roses that Catherine and Bill got for me. They opened up immediately the next day and seemed to bloom forever! It's so nice to be appreciated.