Lazy Saturday

Last Saturday was mega productive, so it was only fair that this Saturday was the exact opposite. The only real thing that got done was the dishes.

We slept in until 9am and then our babysitter from down the street showed up at 9:45 so that we could say goodbye to Catie and take Andrew to the movie theater for the morning showing of Pixar's Brave.

We got a few treats and drinks since we were at the movies... and then thoroughly enjoyed the movie together. Andrew was so engrossed in watching the show that he barely broke into his treats until the very end. Meanwhile, I ate a box of Milk Duds far too quickly and felt sick the rest of the movie... AND the baby decided to have a dance party in my stomach from all of the sugar. 

Little dude asked if we could go see the movie again tomorrow, so I think he liked it.

After we got home, we played with Catie for a little bit and then she went down for one of her typical marathon naps (almost 4 hours). Kevin and I lounged and watched the Olympics and napped (and Andrew had quiet time) until late afternoon and then we had a family trip to the pool. It was lovely to have Kevin there so that I could swim some laps and have free arms a bit.

The highlight of the swimming trip was anytime I went close to Andrew and he would yell, "I DON'T WANT TO SWITCH!" I guess he thought if I was hanging out with him then his dad had Catie and couldn't throw him in the air as much. Him screaming and pushing me away made me feel so loved ;) Fortunately Catie did the opposite and was clawing for me at any opportunity... so I didn't feel too hated.

Andrew and I ended the day with some BabbaBox craft fun and then we watched some Olympics until he hit the sack.

I loved our lazy Saturday!

Weekly Excitement

We didn't do anything really out of the ordinary this week, but it was a lot of fun. Most days my only goals are to do something fun with my kids, exercise, and possibly attempt to organize an area in my house. Sometimes I add in chores :)

Having such simple goals make the days pretty easy. I am also attempting to sleep in as much as I possibly can. One day this week I slept in until 10am and the rest of the days I slept in until closer to 9am. At first I was thinking that I should feel really lazy... but I'm choosing to ignore that feeling and enjoy every single day. I have no clue how baby #3 is going to rock my world of sleeping... so I am saving up sleep now!

Catie is really into dress up lately. Now that all the dress up clothes are organized and in one spot, they are the "go to" play activity for both kids. Andrew puts on his space suit pretty much every day during quiet time and Catie is constantly finding new hats, jewelry, and costumes to make herself pretty. Andrew helped her get all decked out in his pirate costume the other day. It was adorable. He had pirate camp this week and made lots of piratey themed crafts... so both kids have been into pirates this week.

Catie has also been cracking us up with some of her talking. This was just a video Andrew and I thought was funny because she just kept saying "no" to everything Andrew said.

Andrew also did his first graffiti work on our walls yesterday. During quiet time he went into my bathroom with a pencil and drew all over our bathroom door. It could've been much worse. I was taking a nap downstairs and was completely oblivious. I had a hard time being mad when I found the artwork. It was actually pretty good... so my main lecture was more about how sad it was that his awesome picture had to get erased and how if he'd drawn it on paper we could've kept it. We obviously talked at length about all the things we are allowed to draw on our house... and then I made him scrub the bathroom wall with soap and water and it easily came off. Yay!

On Thursday we also had Japan Day as part of a Global Cultures themed week that I was participating in with my Toddler Approved blog. You can read about all of the activities we did here. It was fun to revisit some good memories from when we lived in Japan and share them with Andrew. He loved the silly fake sushi that we made.

Today we had a fun celebration to kick off the start of the Olympics. My friend Chrissie and I have been doing weekly "Camp Mom" activities and this week some of our other friends were able to join us. The kids did some Olympic themed crafts and activities and had fun just goofing around.

Aunt Jessie came up to sleep over last night and helped us at our Olympic celebration this morning. Catie LOVES her and even learned to say"Jess"... so having her around was so lovely... especially when she was feeling clingy. Jessie and I also had fun relaxing and watching shows and chatting during naptime... and then later in the afternoon we went jogging. I pushed the double jogger the 1.5 miles to the park and then she was nice to push it the 1.5 miles uphill home. :) Highlight of my day!

After she headed home, the kiddos and I went swimming. We've gone several days this week and now I am loving it even more because Catie finally decided to like her floatie. I gave her an ultimatum yesterday and said she couldn't go in the pool without it on (because otherwise she is super dangerous and is always trying to push me away). Somehow the fact that I was serious clicked and she enthusiastically wore the floatie. Victory! Swimming is now pure bliss.

Tonight the kiddos got decked out in their new Team USA outfits courtesy of Grandma Julie and watched a little bit of the Opening Ceremonies. Catie watched the NBC video highlights and a little bit of a the pre-show commentary and Andrew watched until 9pm.

Both were so cute decked out in their new outfits. Go Team USA! We are so excited for the next two weeks of Olympic watching!

This weekend we are looking forward to more swimming, organizing, and a Mom, Dad, and Andrew special trip to see Brave at the movie theater!

Trash Trucks and Cuddles

Catie's favorite new word is trash truck. She ran around the house all day today hoping to look out the window and see it come by. Monday is trash day. If she didn't wake up at 9:30am, she might have seen the trash truck earlier. She passed time by trying on every hat that she could find in the house.

I love this post-nap pic of her when I asked if she saw the trash truck and she grumpily said, "NO!"

To make her happier, we did a trash truck art project and read our favorite children's book on the subject called Trashy Town... it still didn't make up for only having seen the trash truck once. Fortunately we managed to see one again on our way home from getting Andrew at camp.

I love that she is so passionate about trash trucks and trains. Andrew was too, so I have her covered with books and toys!

The other favorite part of my day is Catie's bedtime. 

She is such a cuddler. I've started a bedtime routine with her recently where we'll just sit in her rocker in the dark and talk about her day before I put her to bed. I talk to her about all of the fun things we did that day and then I listen as she talks to me. It is so adorable how much she tries to say... even though I can't understand any of it (other than a few words here or there)! While we chat she will just snuggle up against my chest and suck her thumb when she isn't talking. We just rock and rock. It is positively adorable and so different from the energetic little personality that runs around the rest of the day.

I love it!

Bitten by the Organizing Bug

Somehow nesting kicked into full gear this weekend and I now have a desire to rid my house of every ounce of clutter. It is going to take awhile, but I made some progress.

Having a son who likes to save every random scrap of clay or paperclip makes de-cluttering a constant challenge... especially since he takes after me.

I've been taking some pictures along the way of my disasters... so then I can recognize how much I've actually accomplished. Catie and Andrew have been helpful with redoing all the organization as it gets done... so they spent most of the day swimming, napping, or out of the house with Kevin on Saturday so that I could concentrate :)

This is the land of lost toys. Andrew & Catie love to chuck random toys here when it is clean up time. You can't see it since it is behind the family room couch. I trashed a lot of it and shipped a bunch of it back to other parts of the house where it belongs.

So nice to have my sparse family room back!

We temporarily relocated a few things into this holding bin space for toys... but we'll probably replace it soon with something a little more stylish for a family room.

I cleaned and organized one of my three craft cupboards. I have an office and craft supply addiction and might need an intervention at some point.

Picture the before photo of an absolute disaster... that is what Andrew's toys looked like. I dumped all of the toys from his room and the family room onto my bedroom floor and sorted through them and dejunked. Then we finally put this IKEA bookcase into his room. It has been hanging out in our downstairs hallway for about 5 months.

I love the clean look of his room from the hallway and not being able to see all the itty bitty toy pieces.  

I still have a Google doc filled with things I need to do... but things are coming along. Andrew will be enjoying Pirate Camp this week and so I have 3 hours on some afternoons to work on house projects while Catie naps... or tries to help.

Pirate Andrew

and my little clothes sorting/organizing helper

Girls Night Outs in Utah

During our super short busy trip to Utah we did manage to squeeze in two girls night outs!

On Monday we headed off for a girls shopping trip to SLC. We hit up basically any and every maternity store in the area. We also got Mrs. Fields cookie sandwiches and had dinner at Z-Teca Mexican Grill- which I had never been to before and definitely plan on going back to.

I seriously inhaled that entire burrito and now want another one.

Cat and I were quite successful shopping and came home with several new purchases! Now maybe I'll feel less blah about my maternity clothes since I still have several months to wear them!

On Tuesday night I hit up Cheesecake Factory at City Creek with Angie (finally home from Turkey- hooray!), Heather, and Elise. We had a great time devouring our food while catching up. Of course I managed to snap a photo of the restaurant and not any of us! Next time!

I was so grateful to Scott & my dad who watched Andrew and Catie on Monday night... and my mom and dad who watched Andrew and Catie on Tuesday night. It was lovely to get to shop, chat, and eat without entertaining the crazies too!

Grandpa's Birthday

It was my dad's birthday last Saturday- Bastille Day- July 14th. We celebrated by heading to Utah to party with Elise, Dan, my parents, and Cat & Scott... plus all of the kiddos! Jessie was sorely missed!

 

Andrew started off Grandpa's birthday with a trip on the golf cart to Will's Pit Stop for slurpees and donuts. Then when Maddie arrived... they went again! 

After that, we headed over to The Provo Beach to climb, eat lunch, and do some bowling.

During naptime the guys went off to see Spiderman and the girls went shopping at Target and then helped Elise get handouts ready for the YW lesson she was teaching the next day (that she had just found out about).

When the kiddos woke up we played and played! Catie loved rocking "baby Olivia"... who actually talks more than her and is only 5 months younger... so not really a baby anymore.

Aunt Elise read the kiddos some stories, they goofed around and bounced on the love sacs, and then they had a popcorn party with Grandma!

Once everyone was home we headed to the pool for some more birthday fun and a Brick Oven pizza party!

Then we raced back to the house to open Grandpa's presents and eat cake!

He had two very helpful little assistants during present unwrapping!

Andrew and Maddie decorated Grandpa's cake and did an awesome job- especially with all of the leftover Easter decorations. They were very proud. :)

Grandpa even got to blow out his candles two times so that his little helpers got to assist!

Happy Birthday dad! We love you! Thanks for letting us celebrate with you last weekend!

Catie- 19.6 Months

Now that we're finally home, Catie got to go to her very belated 18 month well child doctor's appointment.

To say that she doesn't like new people (especially women) is a complete understatement. She is terrified of them right now. I think all the change and traveling over the past month has taken it's toll on this very clingy mama's girl.

When we arrived in the waiting room she started crying and wouldn't let me put her down. She finally chilled out enough to eat some snacks and throw them all over the waiting room.

Then, when the nurse said it was our turn to come in she started screaming bloody murder and ran down the hall away from us. You can probably guess that the rest of the appointment was equally as much fun. ;) I was sooo grateful to my friend Chrissie who let Andrew come over to play during the appointment. I knew Caitlin was going to be a handful, but I didn't realize how seriously terrified she was going to be. Poor little girl.

While I chatted with the doctor and held her on my lap with toys and snacks, she still cried... though occasionally would answer my questions or listen to me and the doctor talk. When the doctor checked her our and then when she got shots she just freaked out.

I was super glad to get her back to the car and going home... though even once we were in the car she just wanted me. It feels wonderful to feel so loved :) even if it is a bit extreme.

Here are her "18 month'" stats (a bit late):

Height- 35 inches- either 94 or 97% can't remember (give or take a bit... she was screaming and we had to hold her down)

Weight- 26.11 lbs- 70%

Head Circumference- 48.75- 92%

In prepping for her appointment I was looking through some pictures of when she was little and comparing them to now. She seriously looks like a different kid. One picture was at 3 or 4 months and the other was at 18 months.

Here are a few of the many words that she says...

right there

look mama

uh oh

jet

pool

yeah

no- in context and combined with other words to make phrases

choo choo

kiss

help/up

truck

doggie

duck

thank you mama/babboo

nigh nigh babboo

juice

toot

cheese

fire truck

papa

mama

dada

cat

baby

horse

But to be honest, I know she says a lot more and I don't know what they are because I've been really bad at keeping records for her. I was actually going to talk to the doctor about her speech and language skills today because I was worried that she wasn't talking enough... which was why I started writing them down in the first place. The doctor laughed at me today when I said I was worried. She said Catie is right on track, if not further along than she needs to be, so not to worry. 

Anyways, we love this little girl. She is darling even when she is being clingy. I love watching her relationship with Andrew grow too. She idolizes him and also loves to torture him. It is pretty funny to watch the two of them interact when I am in a good mood... when I am not, it can be pretty annoying how much they can fight and bug each other. I love that she sticks up for herself though and I really love how Andrew is very protective of her too. If anyone is mean to her Andrew will say, "Don't be mean to my sister" or "Give that toy back to my sister" or whatever. It is really cute.

Other facts about Catie right now:

• Wears size 2T clothes and size 4 diaper
• Takes one nap a day for about 2 hours
• Sleeps about 14-16 hours each night* (praying the new baby follows after her)
• Attends nursery on Sunday for 2 hours (still adjusting)
• Loves doggies, trains, and My Little Ponies
• Has never-ending energy- never stops moving
• Eats basically anything we give her and isn't too picky- loves fruit and anything dipped in ketchup or ranch
• Loves coloring and doing "projects" with Andrew
• Is a little fish and loves the pool and ocean... and is quite scary to spend time with in it because she doesn't want you to hold her.
• LOVES shoes, accessorizing, and dressing up! She hates when I brush her hair, but will tolerate it if I count for five seconds while I do it. Loves having clippies in her hair and will bring them to me to put back in if they fall out.

* With regards to the sleeping, the doctor also says that there's nothing wrong with that or her... even though that is a lot of sleeping! I was worried about that too! I just plan to enjoy every minute of it until we are under-slept again with a new baby.

This little girl is completely adored at our house and we feel so blessed to have her in our family!