We Miss You Daddy!

Hope you're having fun. We miss you! Make sure to check out the new photos on our Flickr site, too.

California Family Visit

Our family from California was for a visit last week, and we finally got to meet our niece. Juliette is such a happy little girl, with the cutest crawl I've ever seen. We had so much fun playing, and were pleasantly surprised by how well Catherine got along with her little cousin. You can check out all the photos we have on our Flickr site, and also on Juliette's site.

We were also privy to the arrival of Juliette's first tooth!

Finally, Christmas Pictures

It has been so busy with family, that I've just finally uploaded the Christmas pictures to our Flickr page. We had a fantastic time while Grandmas visited last week on top of having Great-Grandpa and Great-Uncle in town. Catherine has been thoroughly spoiled rotten with presents and treats. It is going to be quite the adjustment tomorrow when everything is back to normal. Who knows, perhaps routine with be welcomed!

Happy New Year, everyone!

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. =)