Two Years Old!

How could it be possible? How can two years have already passed?

One of Kate's favorite things is watching movies of herself, so this morning we watched a few short clips on my laptop of when she began walking last year. I could have cried. Okay... I did. A little.

On Wednesday, my baby turned two. Two. Two years. I am that sappy girl who all day thought about the different things that went on that day two years earlier. When we started counting contractions, when we called the family, when she arrived... it doesn't seem like that could have been that long ago. But, here we are, 2009 and two years into my beautiful daughter's life!

We celebrated on the 14th with a little Yo Gabba Gabba party, since that is her favorite. Here are some highlights :)









This is while everyone is signing happy birthday to her... can you tell she digs the attention?


I bought her birthday shirt from GoldenShop on Etsy... she is fabulous! If you're in need of a custom tee, bib or party hat, she is your girl!

It was a fun day and she is loaded up on toys for the year! We need a bigger house! And now Christmas is coming! Where has 2009 gone? As much as I am freaking out about another year being over, I am excited. 2010 is going to be a great one!

Who are you?!

The past few days, this is the question I have been asking my daughter. Who ARE you and WHAT have you done with my Kathryn?!

It started with the anti-breakfast movement. Waffles? No! Fruit? No! Cereal?! No thank you. Well, at least there was a thank you in there. So the battle raged on.

The other night, after being told (for the 100th time) that the remote isn't a toy, this child threw herself on the ground in a full-blown temper tantrum, complete with kicking legs and screams. I pointed at her, looked at Matt, and asked [all together now...] WHO IS SHE!?!?

The latest assault has been launched at bed time. We go through the same routine. Every night. We do not stray. Every night. Then suddenly, one evening this week, it was as if I'd left her in that room with a savage pack of lions or something. She stood at the end of her crib (we have a video monitor), armed with her blankie and her treasured copy of Guess How Much I Love You, screaming at the top of her lungs. As I recall, it goes something like, "Na-na-NA MOOOOOOMMYYYYY!!!!!" Throw "DADDYYYYY!" in there a few times, too. Holy love.

But hey, I still love her.

Time flies...

Ok, so I let another month slip by without updating. How did a month already pass? People always told me, "If you think time goes by fast now, just wait until you have kids." So true. It's like I blink and suddenly we're in the middle of a new month already. August 17th? We're even more than halfway through the month... summer is almost over and fall is quickly approaching. My birthday. Kate's birthday. Thanksgiving. Christmas... aahhhh!

Though it's been a busy month, its been a good one. We spent some time with Kate's cousin, Madison, at the beginning of the month. Kate just adores her... and I am looking forward to having a great babysitter in a couple of years ;-) We visited Zoomar's Petting Zoo down in San Juan Capistrano one day- always a good time. My little miss Dr. Doolittle loves any chance to play with animals (or 'ammals' as she calls them). She couldn't get enough of this giant rabbit- which I'm pretty sure could've devoured her if given the chance- and made friends with one particularly greedy guinea pig.





We also spent a little time this summer down at Lake Mission Viejo. It's really great for little ones, since they can play in the sand without risk of big ol' waves knocking them over. She is a water baby for sure; never wants to leave. While getting ready to go down there the other day, I put her swimsuit top on (the rash guard kind) and kept her in a regular diaper and shorts until we got down there. As I got her bag together, she grabbed her swimsuit bottoms and proceeded to put it on as her hat. Hilarity ensued:


I promise- she was in no danger of strangulation. Just wanted to make that clear. No need to call CPS.

Looking around our home, I've finally decided (after almost 3 years) that we need more pictures on the walls. I wanted to put one of Kate in the tub in my bathroom, so one night during bathtime, I snapped a couple of my bubbly little love bug. Both will soon be hanging in my bathroom because... well, because they're too cute not to do something with.





We have a huge blank wall in our living room that I am trying to make some decisions about. I think I had the attitude that we're just renting and that I didn't want to put a lot of work into it if we were going to end up moving anytime soon, but its looking like we'll be staying put for a while, so I am feeling the need to make our space more "homey". I have no clue what to do though... I am craptastic at decorating. Photos? Mirror? Shelves? A little of each? Ugh. Who wants to come design a cool looking wall for me?!

It must be one of those phases, because I am feeling like I want to redo everything in our home. Though I've wanted to redo Kate's room for a while now, we can also add to the list new towels, new linens for our bedroom and new lamps (ok, well... I've wanted those for a while now, considering they're the same crappy Target ones from college). I've got the itch, what can I say.

I've also decided that someone should nominate me for "What Not to Wear". Yeah, I know... it doesn't really work that way. While my wardrobe may not really be all that offensive, it would be stinkin' sweet to get a whole new one courtesy of TLC. I'm just sayin'- Stacy and Clinton can pick out a sleek new look for me anytime.

I think I'm in a rut. Hmph.

Catching Up

Let's see, let's see... I've been neglecting my blog a bit to keep from neglecting everything else in my life: husband, daughter, job, friends, hobbies... life is full of things that need to be done!

I'll try to recap since my last post. Where to begin?
We celebrated Father's day a day early, since our friend's planned their wedding on the actual day (which turned out to be pretty nice... very sweet moment for the proud father-of-the-bride). We spent Saturday at Matt's parents' house, hanging out and BBQ'ing. For Matt's gift, I set up all of his fly-fishing gear on a backdrop and tried to get a shot of Kate... didn't work. She screamed the whole time. Then, I took her to a lovely park to get some great pics for Matt... unfortunately, they didn't turn out, either. Parks + running toddler = no good.

Finally, I re-attempted the fishing gear on the backdrop and came up with a set of three pretty adorable shots... here is one we ended up with...


I can't think of anything else particularly eventful, so we'll fast forward to July. On the 3rd we celebrated with another pair of friends at their wedding in Malibu. We decided to book a hotel, to avoid a long drive home... glad we did! Kate was such a trooper, and proved how resilient she is by falling face first off of a chair. I know... mom of the year let her fall... way to go.

We spent the 4th up at my mom's place... Matt spent a lot of time these past few months totally redoing the front yard and patio and it is awesome! My mom's place has fantastic, 180 degree views of the ocean, so we spend our time in that front yard. Then, on the 4th of July, a woman in Palos Verdes pays for her own firework show (rumor has it that it is in memory of her son). Conveniently for us, those fireworks position themselves perfectly in front of the front yard. Woohoo! Here are some pics from the day!









I had my first go at trying to photograph fireworks... I learned a thing or two, and hopefully they'll turn out better next time!

All in all, good times for the C fam!

I heart fingerpaint.

While at the store a few weeks ago, I had the genius idea to buy some finger paints for K, thinking what fun it would be since she loves to color. Realizing what a disaster it could be, I'd hesitated to bust it out. So the other day, I taped some trash bags to the floor, pulled out the big paper and let her have at it. Oh how this girl loves a mess...





Lessons learned:
1) Taping bags to the floor = good plan (because the paper practically disintegrated because of that wet paint).
2) Use clippies in her hair... the paint on her face is due to her desperately trying to sweep her hair out of her eyes.
3) Have the bathtime stuff READY. Oops. Thought I had this nailed- cleared the path to the bathtub, had her in just a diaper... aaaand: forgot a towel. She was covered in paint, I was covered in paint and we didn't have a towel for post-bath needs. Good thing she is small- a hand towel did the job. I just prayed we'd make it back to her room before she peed on the floor. We made it- phew!

Last week we took a trip down to SeaWorld for some fun with family and fish. Matt's parents, aunt, sister and her two girls were in for the fun, too. It was a lot of fun and Kate was awesome (but definitely tired, since napping wasn't even on her agenda). I appreciate that she keeps life simple: every animal was either a fish or a dog (minus the penguins- they're boops [Kate speak for "bird"]). Dolphin? Fish. Whale? Fish. Sealion? Dog. Yep.











Lots of fun! It's been a busy month, and it probably won't calm down much until... well, maybe August?? But probably not. I feel like our calendar is always so full of stuff... church stuff, family stuff, friend stuff- which I guess is a good thing, but I get exhausted even looking at my calendar anymore. Phew! I guess I could just go ahead and get to bed now for some rest (since everyone else in this house has been asleep for at least 3 hours), but I'm sure I could figure something else out that needs to get done!

Piggies!!!

Okay, okay. So the very moment the ultrasound tech said, "Looks like it's a girl!", I began the dreaming. Dreaming of pink. Dreaming of tea parties. And of course, dreaming of pigtails. Who doesn't love seeing a little girl with two, precious tufts of hair poking out the side of her little head? I know I'm a sucker for them.

But months went by and my beautiful daughter had little hair. Very little. Not really even enough for a little clippie.

Then came yesterday. Oh, yesterday! I was admiring our amazing little creation while she was watching Sesame Street and thought, "Hmm... I bet I can..." So I grabbed the hair bands, a comb and crossed my fingers that she wouldn't fight me...
AND IT WORKED! PIGGIES!!!





Too stinkin' cute. It really is a big milestone ;-) She also had her 18-month well check yesterday. Her stats, you ask?
Weight: 27.5 pounds (80th percentile: chubba-roo!!)
Height: 32.5 inches (75th percentile)
Head: Big. Yeah... 95th percentile. "Lots of brains" is a nice spin the Doc puts on that one.

Doc said she looks great, is ahead with vocabulary and the best thing: we're done with shots until she is 4-years-old! Woohoo! I hate seeing her cry when she gets shots- it is so sad. Glad that is behind us for a while!

The other day, we came home from my mom's house in the South Bay and she fell asleep in the car. She was still beat when we walked in the door, so I laid her down on the couch for a little bit. I couldn't believe how long she looked! My baby, who used to not even stretch from one side of the cushion to the other, is getting so big!



Crazy. I wish time would slow the heck down.

One and a Half!

While I was pregnant with Kathryn, we received so many generous gifts from people... it was unreal. Among all of the amazing things, we received quite a bit of 18-month sized clothing- for her to "grow into". I thought it would be impossibly long before she could wear those- after all, 18-months seemed like such a long time; so far away.

And here we are. Kate turned 18 months old yesterday. 6 months away from being a 2-year-old. Even her 1st birthday had seemed so far away, and now the 2nd birthday is coming. Fast. It is very strange for me... I have to admit. I'm really not sure how time has slipped by so quickly.

We spent yesterday afternoon playing in her $5.99 kiddie pool in the backyard. It was hot and sunny- perfect day for a dip. It makes me laugh that the smell of water from the hose takes me back to when I was little, playing in the front yard and drinking from the hose (which we ALL did when we were kids, but as it turns out, modern science and medicine say is a poor choice; how did my generation and those before me ever live...).

She loves the water- definitely a little fish. Guess we'll need to sign up for some swimming lessons for the summer!







This last one kills me... she is a classy girl.



I sometimes catch myself staring and smiling at her like a total goober. She really just amazes me! She is so curious and wants to explore everything. She talks so much now- and it's often hilarious. The other day, when she woke up from her nap, I walked in to her room and she immediately popped up and said, "I pooped!" Sure enough. Nice. She is a dancing machine, too. She is so fun... I think I still have to pinch myself every now and again to make sure this is all for real!

Happy one-and-a-half, baby!