Baby Cate Is Grrrreat!

Weighing in at 18 pounds, 12 ounces and stretching to a whopping 27-inches tall...Baby Cate had her very belated 6 month check-up on Monday. She is in the 85th percentile in both height & weight. Her lungs are clear (finally!), but she may have allergies...so she will be taking a daily dose of Zyrtec to see if that will clear this congestion she has had since basketball season. (Her ears are all clear, so that is a relief!) She will be doing more food (because the baby girl likes to eat!) -- cereal & a jar of fruit/vegetable twice/day and cereal right before bedtime. She still drinks more than most babies her age (as I'm sure you've heard me saying upon inquiry if she is hungry, "Is she awake? Then she's hungry!") Most babies her age consume about 30-ish ounces/day. She's been over that mark for quite some time...more like 40-50 oz. (Piggy!)

I was told that she is about a month away from cutting teeth, despite drooling worse than a St. Bernard...and got a prescription cream for her eczema (which will help with the drool rash on her chest that is so well protected from her "Morton chin.")

Just two days shy of being 7 months old she hit not one, but TWO major milestones!

ONE: "Dada! Dada! Dada!" Can be easily heard/understood now. (And I was working so darned hard on Mama...dang it! Reid wins this race again! And I'm crying foul!!! No fair!!! She should have said Mama first -- especially since she is sooooo much a Mama's girl, unlike Elizabeth who was definitely a Daddy's girl at this age!!!)

TWO: Those darned Star Wars toys were on the other side of Elizabeth's "dance floor" (AKA: Candyland game board carpet)...and she crawled her happy action right across the dance floor to get them!

Awesomeness!

This picture was snapped a few days earlier as she was "kissing" Yoda. And my kissing, I mean gumming his ear/head/body...

Mad to Target!

I am mad to Target! (That's how my cousin Mike used to say it when he was a kid, now a dad of three..."I am mad to ___" when he felt he was wronged...)

I've thrown 5 birthday parties for Elizabeth. Five (sometimes over-the-top) themed parties:

1. Baby Einstein
2. Cupcake*
3. Candyland
4. Sesame Street*
5. Dr. Seuss*

I've thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of these parties, with the exception of the party favors for the Cupcake party coming late (3 days after the party). Reid has had a ridiculous amount of patience as I have really lost my mind with going over-the-top with a two-sheet-cake game board of Candyland or the Sesame Street-themed party...or going full-out complete with green eggs and ham for a Dr. Seuss party...especially since these parties have only had, in addition to the birthday girl, two other children in attendance... I love going whole-hog-over-the-top on this sort of thing...such wonderful memories I have of these events.

But now Target has foiled me again! I am mad to Target!

As you may have noted from the above listing of the birthday party themes, there are 3 themes with an asterisk (*) next to them. This is where me being mad to Target comes into play...

2nd Birthday Party - Cupcake theme: Two weeks, literally two weeks after I had procured all of the cupcake stuff I could get my hands on via eBay and other internet sites, Target released their cupcake line of "stuff" for Valentine's Day. Grrr!

4th Birthday Party - Sesame Street theme: A few months after I ordered everything from SesameStreet.org, eBay, etc. for this party, Target comes out with a bunch of Sesame Street stuff in their "Dollar Bins" right in the front of the store. Grrr!

5th Birthday Party - Dr. Seuss theme: For this one, I had to shop online as well at the Imperial Teacher's Store here in Wheeling for stuff... What did I find this evening when I ran into Target -- in the freaking "Dollar Bins" right in the front of the store -- rubbing my nose in this but Dr. Freakin' Seuss stuff! All sorts of it...cheap. Adorable stuff like awesome party bags, too...

I am mad to Target!


But not mad enough to start shopping at Wal-Mart - that's for sure!

Crap That Annoys Me...Addendum

More crap that annoys me:

1. Forgetting to Blog about crap that annoys me
2. This over-priced sewing kit that I purchased at Disneyland ($9) because a button fell off of my khaki pants that I was wearing...and I didn't have time to iron another pair of pants to switch them out...

What's wrong with this sewing kit -- other than the price??? That it would be perfectly fine if I were mending Mickey or Donald's costumes...but seriously, folks, who in the heck wears nothing but primary colors, white, & black? Where is the TAN thread? Or NAVY thread?

There is nothing magical about that place!

Crap That Annoys Me...

There is a long, long list of crap that annoys me, and I'll save you from the list in its entirety...here's just a taste of the ABCs that are me (you may want to give my darling husband your condolences the next time you see him):

1. The word "satchel" - unless, of course, you are referring to Satchel Paige
2. All of the Ohio and PA drivers that are dyslexic...thinking that the left-hand lane is the "slow lane"
3. Babies that used to sleep through the night. Yes, Cate, that would be YOU in which I'm referencing...
4. Delayed planes...22 hours from the point that I read the email (email was sent at 12:29 am stating my 11:15 am flight was "modified due to a flight cancellation/delay") to get to Anaheim -- via the airport I least preferred to fly into, LAX...ridiculousness...
5. Jet lag
6. Not being able to back up on a TV -- the DVR age has spoiled me, and there are many times when I'm watching TV in bed that I unsuccessfully attempt to back up my bedroom TV. Bummer!
7. Email issues...currently, I'm able to receive, but not send work-related emails...
8. Cheap tequilla
9. Dog hairs - everywhere (although I will save you, Kennedy, from Reid's ongoing threats to shave you!)
10. Bad coffee. It's not that difficult to make. Get some quality beans, grind them, add water, voila.
11. M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E...have a magical day! And here is the photographic evidence to support this case:

Seriously? A 3-fingered-Cousin-It-hand coming out of the wall in the bathroom? That's just plain creepy!

Trust me, this is NOT what you want to see when you finally get into your hotel room after a 22-hour commute...

And this headboard...don't EVEN get me started on this! All disoriented, at 4 AM PDT (7 AM EDT), my first night in Anaheim, I wake up in a slight panic thinking I have overslept some major event...I wake up and make the HUGE mistake of hitting the lamp on my bedside table. And if the chimes of "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" isn't enough to make your ears bleed, you have to watch out for the cheesy fireworks on the headboard which could make you lose your lunch...



Now these two fixtures...that's just tacky!

Just remembered that I needed to add to my list. (See item number 10 -- reliving these pictures from Disneyland made me remember...)







Do you have to put this crap everywhere...especially stuff that I'm about to put in my mouth???

Okay, this one doesn't so much as annoy me, but it is perplexing. "Digestive Biscuits"... mmmm... tasty... I think...

But is this the truly squeaky-clean message that Walt intended when he created Disneyland? Eat this - crap that??? Bizarre...







In general, all of the Mickey Mouse images EVERYWHERE. The carpet, the plates, the bathroom tiles, etc. every freakin' where you turn...

For the life of me I cannot fathom the people that go there on their honeymoons. Seriously!

I does pain me to admit that I do look forward to the day when we take Elizabeth & Cate there -- although my bank account doesn't.

Happy Father's Day

E might have summarized it best in her tribute to her Daddy...but I'll say it my way, Happy Father's Day!

Here's what E had to say (fill-in-the-blank style):

My dad's name is Reid. He is 12 years old. He is 21 feet tall, has brown eyes and black hair. His favorite sport is basketball. His favorite food is corn. My dad likes to read to me. My dad's favorite thing to do with me is play blocks. I love my dad because he loves me.

Happy Father's Day 2011!!!

Love,
Elizabeth

The Hat Trick

It's always difficult to three-peat. In hockey, when you score three goals in a game the fans throw their hats onto the rink, hence the "hat trick." The next time you see me, you may need to throw your hat in my direction - actually it might not be in bad form all together to just always throw petals in my foot path or your coat over any puddle in which I may step, but I digress...

My hat trick has involved 2 very special quilts, the first and last by Nana (AKA: Carol J. Amos) and the second quilt by Grandma Wine (AKA: Helen Wine) and 3 6-month old subjects...the latter, especially the third subject, is the reason why I am so deserving of your adoration. ;-)

I snapped Elizabeth's "quilt picture" on my crappy old camera that took every bit of three seconds to take the picture from the moment that you pushed the shutter button. I captured the magic while only snapping 8 pictures...no help, just the crappy camera, a beautiful cathedral window quilt and a happy 6 month old Elizabeth.

The following year, I got another wonderful picture of Alex on the quilt that his grandmother made. I had a far better camera (same one I use today -- the Canon Rebel XT)...Anne was there to help get his attention and fuss with the quilt. That day I snapped a total of 50 pictures.

Then along comes Cate -- and the pressure of filling the space on Mom & Daddy's living room wall with the 6 month old Cate on the quilt picture. Two photo shoots -- one at Rick & Carol's house with Carol doing all of the fussing. One earlier today here at our house with Reid doing the fussing and entertaining. A ton of fussing over the quilt...and "look here Cates"...188 pictures later -- and by Jones, I think we've got it! (Hopefully, this isn't an indication of second baby being a pain in the butt raising things to come!)

(Oh, and to Grandma & Nana, don't worry, you won't be getting this album on Snapfish any time soon...let me know what color frame and size you need -- as we're doing this for part of our Father's Day gifts to Papi/Papa. If you need multiple frames so that grandbabies are coordinating, just let me know!)

Elizabeth - 6 months - quilt by Carol J. Amos

Alex - 6 months - quilt by Helen Wine

Cate - 6 months - quilt by Carol J. Amos

Happy 1/2 Birthday, Cate!

Our tiny baby has plumped ups....and I can't believe she is 6 months old already! Where has all of this time gone? (My guess is a large chunk of it was spent at basketball games...)

Cate is chattering away these days -- I keep thinking she's going to say "Mama" at any moment...I'll likely lose out to "Dada" any day now. She's drooling like a St. Bernard going through multiple bibs each day, but still no teeth. She's liking her cereal much better - especially since I've introduced bananas. Some days she gets too tired to do much more than put her chin down on the tray of her high chair and open her mouth...that's just wrong. She still has the nasty cough, so I'm looking forward to our visit to the doctor next week to see if there is more that can be done for that!

Pictures are in order 1 week, 1 month, 2 month, 3 month, 4 month, 5 month, & 6 month: