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!