BLIZZARD 2011

Catch and I got to hang out all day from Tuesday to Friday. We had some good laughs, shed a few (or more) tears, and eventually went a bit stir crazy. Tuesday was awesome, Wednesday was pretty good, but by Thursday we were both ready to get out of the house. ;0)

The best way to recap our weekend is to show you some pics. Enjoy!

This is Catchers backing up to me so I can check his dirty diaper. He tells us "poo poo" now and when we ask him if he went poo poo, he always shakes his head yes and backs up to us to check diaper. Such a smart bubba! Now if only we can get him not be scared to go pee pee on the potty. He knows how to flush, and always says pee pee when he gets near the toilet, but when we ask if he wants to, he always answers with a whiny no. One day before bath we sat him on the seat and he had toilet paper. He didn't do anything but he still tried to wipe himself. It was so cute! It always amazes me how attentive he is of everything we do.

Typical scene in the living room. My stomach is getting a wee bit big (understatement?) and I didn't want to pick them up so I pulled out the vacuum. What a wonderful invention!

Hugging his panda. Sometimes when he watches his Baby Genius: Trip to the San Diego Zoo he will grab his panda whenever it gets to the part with the panda exhibit

I didn't even ask him to kiss panda, but he's so used to always giving us kisses after hugs that it's normal for him. :0)

He loves his racecar track from Granddad Manley and Grandma Gloria.

Finally he keeps his eyes open!

I tried to snap the picture before he could close them. My little nerdball. You'd think he just helped me with laundry, but really he likes to unfold everything and throw it on the floor. A bit frustrating at times. :0)

I love my bubba's coloring. He's always so focused.

Watching his video in his favorite chair. It used to shake and giggle when he'd sit in, but it scared him. We turned it off the other day, and now he loves it. He loves it so much that he tries to give it a "bite" of his food or drink. In fact, he does that to his stuffed animals as well. Anytime he wants a bite of our food, he'll get in our face, say "bite", and open his mouth wide.

Also, he says "Melmo" now anytime he sees Elmo on tv, on his sippy cup, on anything. At first I thought he was saying mama, but nope - just "Melmo".

Nerdball. :0)

I asked him how much he loved mama, and spread his hands wide. Everytime I ask him how much mama loves him, I do the same and say "This much!" He loves it!

Classic Catch right now. Everything is "mine" regardless of what it is. I don't have a phone, camera, nothing. It's all Catch's (according to him).

If this face doesn't sum up the weekend, I don't know what does. ;0)

Quick trip in the snow. He's had an awful cough, so we literally stayed out there for a few minutes.

Poor baby fell and got snow everywhere. I think the coldness scared him so badly that he cried. :0(

All in all, I feel blessed to get these days with him (even if I go completely crazy at times). I am always so busy, and I don't get to spend near as much time as I'd like, so I have to remind myself to soak up these times. He won't always be my little boy, and just thinking that makes me want to cry. Man, they didn't lie when they said time flies when you have kids. Sometimes I wish I could just push pause...

Just Dance!

I wish this wasn't so dark, but if you put your face up to the screen, you'll be able to see some it. Catch and I watched Shall We Dance? - one of my salsa dancing movies. If you know me, then you know how much I love any kind of dancing movie. Well, I've been dancing with Catch since he was an infant. That was one of the only ways I could get him to fall asleep. Now, he loves to dance. So here he is doing his best impression of Latin dancing. Enjoy!

Our Nighttime Ritual

The main reason I blog is so that Catch will have something to look back on and see what his life was like before he could even remember his life. I want him to know about the simple things we did together that meant so much to Chris and me. For instance, I love our nighttime rituals. Don't get me wrong, I didn't always like them. It used to be so frustrating when we'd lie him down, and he'd immediately stand up and scream for us. I honestly thought it would always be that way, but now it is such a special time for all three of us. This is how it goes.

First, we ask Catch if he's ready for nite nite, and he always says yes (in his yes whisper voice).
Then he always grabs his binky (that's his little bear blanket) and his pacy (pacifier) and marches off to his room.

He always starts in my lap. I read Brown Bear, Brown Bear. I make the sounds to each of the animals (except the horse - it sounds really weird, so Chris does that noise). He always giggles when I purr like a cat and sniff him like a dog.

Then we end in Daddy's lap with Chris reading Goodnight Moon. He always asks "what's that?" whenever he sees the little bunny asleep in the bed. Chris always replies, "That's the baby going nite nite." The only part I have in this story is saying "hush" when the old lady's part is read.

He's finally realized that the baby is a bunny, and today while playing with his stuffed animals, he found his bunnies from last year's Easter. He's even saying nite nite now, and I call the bunnies his "Nite Nite Bunnies." Before bed tonight I told him to grab his nite nite bunnies, so he scooped them up and trotted off to his room with them.

He had to get up and grab both bunnies for the rest of the story.

I told him that it was time to go nite nite with his bunnies, and he stopped to pose before getting in his crib. Poor thing - I need to retire these pj's.

After we bless him, hug him, kiss him, and say our "I love you's," we put him under his blankie, and lies down for bed. He usually waves bye to us and then we leave. :0)

The other day Chris and I were talking about how we never thought he'd get over the screaming and fighting during bedtime. Chris says it's because he sees the baby bunny go nite nite and isn't scared anymore. Hey, whatever works, huh?!

Another Christmas Post - and not the last!

Catch and I always have fun trying on hats and such at the store. Well, actually it's more me putting hats and stuff on him. :0)

He thought it was so weird when the Christmas tree started singing and dancing on top of his head.

Post Christmas lunch - Mickey Dee's. Catch was all about Auntie Da's fries.

Auntie Bunky and Catch sharing some yogurt. At least I can get him to eat a few healthy things every once and a while.

He couldn't stop giggling when she'd take a bite.

Two or three days before Christmas, we always get together with the Ertel clan at Spencer's BBQ in Choctaw. We always eat great food, play White Elephant, and all the grandkids open their presents. White Elephant wasn't that successful for me this year. I really wanted my own present, and ended up with something quite different. However, I thought it was PERFECT for Lisa, so I wrapped it up and gave to her for Christmas. Let me just tell you - Lisa was very grateful. hehehe...

Grandma Sarah got Catch a bee pillow pet. He loves it!

Look at how handsome he looks! He was rocking his outfit!

Here we go again - "posing" with Nana

Quick snapshot!

Family Photo

Naptime with Nana after Christmas lunch at Grandma Coonie's. He was wiped out! And this was only the beginning of the day. We still had to go to Granddad Manley's, and the Manley side celebration. By 9 pm we were in the car and Catch was already asleep.

Close up on my precious

Nana and Papa's present. You know our boy loves this!

Two Points!

What are you doing, Mom?!

What a Beautiful Day!

U2 couldn't have said it better! Saturday was such a beautiful day and we had so much fun with family and friends. When I'm not off at a tournament, I LOVE our Saturday morning rituals. We always go to Papa's donut shop and visit with Nana and Papa. Catch was so excited to see Papa and quickly ran up to him. He knows who has the goods. :0) Once we left the donut shop, we stopped by to see Great-Grandma Coonie. Coonie was so happy to see him and Catch is always sweet whenever he sees her. We headed to Nana and Papa's next, but since Catch fell asleep, we headedhome for a nap instead. Let me just tell you, I love my naps. Chris isn't much of a napper, but I'm a much nicer person if I can get one in every now and then. Brooks and I can use as much sleep as we can get these days.

Once Catch woke up, we met the Kesners at Chick-Fil-A for some lunch. Catch threw a bit of a fit and didn't want Chris to sit him down in the high chair, but once he saw fries he sure was fine. BTW - their chicken salad sandwich is AMAZING! Next, we headed to Regional Park. Everyone, their dogs, and extended family were out enjoying the weather. We got a good 45 minutes in before I couldn't take all the people anymore. We played catch (literally), threw the football around, and played on the playground. Half the time Catch was just checking out all the other children running around. He gets so amused with the bigger kids and wants to follow them around. Our last stop for the afternoon was to Pink Swirls. YUMMY - 'nuff said!

We ended our evening with Papa's side of the family at Johnny Carino's. Catch's favorite meal is spaghetti, and he ate plenty of it! By 8 pm, he was fussy and ready to go home. It didn't take him long to pass out once we got in the car. In fact, it didn't take me too long either.

After a great night's sleep, we headed to Gammie's for pancakes Sunday morning! Man, do I love my mom's pancakes.


May I just say, I love my weekends with Chris and Catch. Unfortunately, this will be my last weekend with the family until February 19th. Luckily, it'll be just in time for Christopher's 28th birthday. ;0) That's what Chris keeps saying. You all know the truth. hehehe...


Stay warm this week!

High-fiving Great Grandma Coonie

Coonie telling Chris about his Grandpa


Isn't this a sweet pic?! Too bad Catch's teeth have been hurting him. We couldn't keep his hands out of his mouth this whole weekend.

Headed to the park. Thanks for the book, Chick-Fil-A!

The Pose.

Time to play!

He looks like he's about to pitch it. He really enjoyed throwing to Daddy's glove.

My Gorgeous!

Time to throw (and kick) the football around

Look at the fro on Catch. Daddy won't let me cut it since it turned out so bad the last time. The next time will be on Daddy. :0)

I love my boys!

I tried to get Catch to take a pic next to me, but you can see how that turned out.

This is Catch's favorite thing at the park. He will stay on this forever!

Trying to take Daddy's glove from him. I wish I could have gotten a picture of Catch with his glove on. Catch kept throwing the ball into his own glove. He must have seen Chris do it so much.