My Friend, Baby Jesus

Yesterday we were having dinner with my grandparents, and we were having Caitlin's left-over cake and ice cream from her birthday party. Of course, that started the inevitable conversation about whose birthday was next. Someone pointed out that it was Mommy's next - and my sister then corrected us and pointed out that actually, Baby Jesus would be having his birthday in December. (See, always putting that Catholic-school education to good use.) My grandmother told Caitlin that when she wakes up Christmas morning and sees all of her presents under the Christmas tree, she should say "Thank you" to Baby Jesus, since he was the reason we have Christmas. Caitlin replied "Yes, I will say THANK YOU MY FRIEND BABY JESUS!".

Caitlin, age 3

Happy Birthday Princess Girl! It's so hard to believe that three whole years have gone by since you were born. I'm sure every parent says that to their child, but it is truly amazing. In some ways it feels like you were just born, but in others it's hard to remember our lives without you. You have brought so much love, happiness, joy and silliness into our lives. Every day you amaze us. Every day you learn something new about the world around you, and you cannot wait to share it with everyone around you. You are beautiful, smart, strong, kind...all of the things that we have hoped you would be and more.
Some of your favorite things these days are your baby dolls (especially pushing them around in their strollers), coloring pictures (and you are already getting good at coloring somewhat in the lines), and reading books (and then reciting the stories at random times throughout the day). You also say the phrase "pink and purple are my favorite colors" as many times as you can manage throughout the day. You love to go to gymnastics on Wednesdays and give Miss Ashley "high fives" whenever you do something new. As soon as class is over, you are the first to run over to the "listening mat" and put your hand on your head, awaiting your beloved stamp.
At night, after you have played hard with your friends and soaked up every possible second of the day, you love to sit in your rocking chair with Momma or Daddy and read stories before bed. After we read, you climb into your big girl bed and snuggle up with your taggies, Monkey, Froggy and whatever else you decide has earned a place of honor for the night. You fall asleep quickly and sleep deeply - resting up and getting ready to start a new day.
"...on the night you were born, the moon smiled with such wonder that the stars peeked in to see you and the night wind whispered, 'Life will never be the same.'..."-nancy tillman

Social Butterfly

Who knew that an almost-3-year-old's social calendar would be so demanding? Every weekend recently we (Caitlin) have had some sort of event...or 2, or 3. Her Auntie had a Halloween party for her and a couple of her friends, and we've been to a bunch of local festivals with some of her other friends and their families. Of course, Caitlin is loving life and enjoying every minute of it - and that makes her Daddy and I very happy as well.

Apples, Pumpkins, and Caitlin - Oh My!

Fall is here - and we've been busy doing all sorts of fun things. We went and got pumpkins at Tougas Farm one weekend, and then went back the following weekend and went apple picking. Caitlin really enjoyed picking out her very own pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, and deciding which apples to pick from the trees...the things we "made" her do before we let her go on the swings, which is really all she wanted to do in the first place.

See ya, Mom!

Caitlin and I went to our weekly Parent-Tot gymnastics class today. You know, our special mommy-daughter bonding time? Well today my loving daughter decided she could do it all by herself...and she promptly told me "Momma, I'm all set. You can go sit and wait for me."
Apparantly she didn't get the "mommy-daughter bonding time" memo.

S'mores

We were able to enjoy one last summer bonfire with the neighbors this weekend. Caitlin had a great time playing on the swings, running around like a maniac, staying up late and getting covered in marshmallow goo one last time.

Soft Pumpkin

That is the official color of Caitlin's new playroom. Whenever she tells people that we painted a room orange, the response is sort of a shocked...."Orange?!?!?....Oh...how nice....". No people, we did not paint her playroom safety orange, or even school bus orange. It's called soft pumpkin. I took some pictures to prove it.

The other big news on Shady Lane is that Caitlin got her first nightgown. Of course, it has princesses on it. And she loves to wear it because "it's fun wearing a pretty dress to bed."

The Last Hurrah

Well, it's official. Summer will be over in a matter of days, and it's back to school and our usual routines. We've been busy trying to cram in a few more summery-fun things while we can. Last night we took Caitlin out for ice-cream. She decided on the way there that she wanted to try coffee ice-cream. I have no clue how she even knew it existed. We ordered it for her, complete with rainbow sprinkles on top. And, she loved it. Actually, I was pretty sure she would. She has never met an ice-cream flavor that she doesn't like.
We also painted her playroom this weekend - the official color is "soft pumpkin". I'll post some pictures once we put everything back in there!

Summer Sickness

On Monday, Caitlin woke up with a stuffy nose. Fast forward to Thursday, when she started to tell me that her throat hurt. I took her to the doctor to get checked out, hoping it wasn't strep throat. Turns out her throat was fine. However, she does have a double ear infection. I'm sure the look on my face was a good one, since she hadn't said a word about her ears hurting, and I totally wasn't expecting that one. She wasn't too convinced that she wanted to take her medicine, but luckily it's pink. My girl will do almost anything for the color pink. And a pop :)

Big Girl Room

Catie's "big girl" room is finally, totally, 100% complete! (Mike doesn't believe me, but it's true. I promise). She's had her bed for about a month now and seems to really love it. This weekend we finally put up the finishing touches, and took off the changing table top - no more baby!

Life Lessons by Caitlin

I've learned two very important things from my girl this week:
1. Squirrels look for nuts, and also ham.
2. Hands are not for hitting. They are also not for hugging. They are for giving high fives.

Backseat Driver

So today while we were in the car, I was starting to take a right-hand turn at a red light. From the backseat, I hear a desperate "NO MOMMA - DON'T DRIVE YET!!". Then Caitlin proceeded to tell me that "Red means stop, wait for green to go."...duh, Momma.
I tried my best to explain the right on red concept but I don't think she was buying it.

Cheap date

Tonight as we were driving in the car, we somehow got onto the topic of ages, and birthdays. Our neighbor is having a birthday party soon, and Caitlin has become obsessed with talking about how old her friend will be. We had the usual conversation: she asks how old just about everyone in the world will be on their birthdays. Then we asked her our usual question: how old will Caitlin be on her birthday? Her answer: 69 cents.

The Next MaryLou

Today was Caitlin's 'nastics class. One of her favorite things there is the trampoline, and they had lots of jumping time today, so she was very excited. She also did a flip over the bars (with help, of course) and learned how to do a "tumble" (sommersault). She only has one more class left for the summer session, but we're thinking of signing her up for the fall session. She's really enjoying herself, and it's amazing to see how much she can do already.
After gymnastics, we went to visit my Grampy at rehab. He's doing well, and of course the princess was a huge hit. By the time we left, she had scored cookies and juice from an aide, and a necklace from the therapy dog, Nellie. Good times.

Blogs

Ok, so here I am in the wonderful world of blogs. I figured I'd give this a try, and it might be a good way for our family and friends to keep up on our oh-so-exciting lives. Or not. Whatever.