Happy 2nd Birthday Miss Catherine!!

Yesterday our little bug turned the big 2. We can't believe just how time has flown. The fun day started with special instruction therapy at 9, then off to Shopko to get new frames for Cate's glasses. Yes, they broke again. We then had lunch at Jason's Deli with Barrie. Cate took a nap. Yesterday evening we had a BBQ with some good friends. Catie and her BFF Millie tore it up with the sandbox that Barrie build for a birthday present. Here are some pics to show off the fun!!

Cute cousin Ashley and Tia MaricelaBFF Millie and her daddy

I made an "Itsy Bitsy Spider" cup cake.A Pyro just like her daddy - "oooooo"

MMMMMMMMMM, Like it!!MMMMMMMM, Love it!!!!
And the best picture yet....

Happy Birthday Miss Catherine Jane!!!!

She finally walked!!

Catie took her first steps tonight! It is 4 days before her second birthday and we are blessed with steps. Barrie and I we getting her into her pj's tonight and both sat down with her to say our family prayer. Catie slid down Barrie's lap and started to reach for me. He guided her towards me and she took 2 steps - without help- to me. I picked her up kissed her and she said "walk". So I put her down and she walked 3 steps to Barrie. So for about 10 minutes she kept walking between the 2 of us. She was so proud of herself (not as proud as we are :) ). Everytime she get to one of us, she would say "walk" and turn around and start to go the other way. So amazing. It is making her 2 yr birthday that much older now that she is starting to walk. Barrie and I decided to practice this walk between every night till she is doing it all the time and everywhere. Yaaaaaaa Catie!!!

Quilt time

So I made a rag quilt for Catie when she was born. I fits her crib just perfectly. I then made a rag quilt for our bed - king size. That was some work. I had lots of fun with that. I bought the fabric from WalMart - their $1/$2 fabrics. I thought since I was learning, if I screwed up, then I wouldnt have spent lots of money doing it. Well I have had the erge to make another quilt. This time I want to make a real quilt. My coworker brought in a box of some FUN scraps. She said that she saves the all the scraps from whatever she is sewing/making and some day she would use them. She gave me almost an entire box of scraps. So I have been making 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 in squares and am going to make a "crazy" quilt. It has all colors, paterns, sizes and shapes. So far the squares are awesome. In this process of making my squares, I wanted(and still do) to make Catie a new quilt for her big girl bed (twin - which has not happened yet, she is still in the toddler bed/crib). I was back at Wally-world today and they had precut fabric in strips. The bundle I picked up is so much fun. It has cartoon bugs and bright colors on it. Prefect!!!! now I just have to decide how I want to play the quilt out. I am so excited!!!! It will be awhile but I will post a picture once I get it assembled/or partially assembled.

Any yet another surgery :(

Little Miss Cate is keeping us on our toes. She is going to have eye muscle surgery June 19th. She has been crossing her eyes and having even more trouble looking at objects. Her doctor tried strengthening the prescription of her little glasses, but no dice. Talking to many friends, I guess the eye muscle surgery is very easy and they go back to their normal routine the next day. To top things off, Catie failed her hearing test the beginning of April. We took her to her pediatrician who looked in her ears. She has fluid in both of them and as of a week ago -it is still there. We have an appointment with a pediatric ENT next week to see about putting tubes in her ears to help with draining the fluid and in hopes that will be the cause of her hearing test failure. Her Optomologist said that both surgeries could be done the same day. So that is what we are looking at going through now.

Mother's Day Weekend recap

This weekend had been, by far, the best Mother's day weekend. I felt totally lost. I woke up early Saturday am and went with a great friend to the Jordan River temple for a 6am session. It was super early but totally worth it. I got home at about 830 and noticed the living and kitchen were massively cleaned!!! The laundry was started, and my peanut was still sleeping soundly. Barrie was so good to me.

We got Catie up and spent the morning at Wheeler farm, for a PIP(vision) activity. It was a hoot. Cate started off calling all the animals "dogs". She signed dog and "woofed" at everything. When we corrected her, she would look at the animal, look at us, then look back at the animal and make their respected sound. We went over to the sheep and told her is sad "baa". She made then sound, then the sheep did. She looked so startled as if to say - " what the heck was that?"
It was so funny. We took a wagon ride and had a great picnic lunch in the shade.
After the farm, we went and bought plants for our garden - carrot seeds, 4 kinds of bell peppers, cilantro, onions, scallions, pea seedlings, zucchini, yellow and butternut squash, and lots of tomato seedlings!!! Cate played in her rice box and little tykes jungle gym while Barrie and I transplanted plants, planted, fertilized, and spread mulch on the garden. It looks so good!!
Sunday is where I felt lost. Barrie made us breakfast and grilled an awesome dinner. I stood around asking for things to do and was told to "relax, go take a nap or sit down." I finally was able to slie up strawberries. Barrie and Catie gave me a BEAUTIFUL necklace with a heart shaped pendant, that had diamonds around the outside. Inside the heart is a figure of a mother holding a baby/child. Oh, it is so gorgeous!!!! I also got new head phones for my IPOD where they are really soft and sit inside your ear verses the hard plastic ones that usually come with players.
We took a 1 1/2 mile walk that evening. What a wonderful weekend, just spending time with my Heavenly Father and my family. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and daughter. My heart is so full!

Weight Loss Journey

So, my journey to becoming a lighter, healthier me is progressing. I need to seriously get back into the gym. Vacations really screw things up. I went to weigh in last Thursday, not expecting to have lost anything. I was shocked. I lost 2 more pounds putting at my 5% body mass loss goal for a grand total of 14.8 pounds since January 1st. I am stoked!!! This Thursday will not be so positive. I have to admit, I have been on a serious chocolate bindge, along with pizza. I did not get my water in nor was I very careful with watching my points. I am going to start over again tomorrow once I weigh in. Hopefully, tomorrow wont be too bad :)

New York 2009

I can't believe that it is the middle of the month already and I have written nothing since the beginning of February. Catie, Barrie and I went to New York to visit our families and have a little R&R. We took a red eye to JFK. Catie did not do well at all. We put her down for a nap at 7pm, which is usually her bed time. We woke her up at 9 and got to the airport. She walked all over with her walker (we thought it was great-she will konk out on the plane). Wrong!!! She was up the entire flight. I was besides myself - I do not do well without sleep. Catie slept amost all day trying to catch up on sleep. My aunts, uncles, and cousins came into town for a pizza gathering. My brother Chris and his girlfriend Shannon, my sister Paula and Mom all joined us as well. My mom didnt get into town till later that day, missing my extended family due to her plane hitting a bird upon take off from Orlando - scary!!!

We introduced Cate to AHL/NHL hockey. She didnt know what to do when the fog horn blew anouncing a goal scored for the home team. She clapped endlessly when kids were dancing and everyone else was clapping. She sat in our laps and just watched the players slam opponents into the glass(fiberglass). She was even clapping when fights erupted (girl after my heart!!)

We got together with may of our friends/coworkers that we havent seen for 3 1/2 - 4 yrs. It was so good to see everyone and catch up on missed events. Cate went with me to the hopsitals that I worked for to visit good friends. Everyone was amazed at how well she is doing, how big she is getting, and loved her walking with her walker.

Paula, Chris and Shannon had horrible times trying to get back to North Carolina. There was a big snow storm the rolled through part of the east coast. Philly airport was cancelling/ delaying flights left and right. Chris, Shannon and Paula all left a day later than they should have. I didnt mind. I loved spending the time with them, but they were a bit ticked. (I would be too.)

Barrie's mom took Cate (Barrie and myself, too) to the Poughkeepsie Children's museum. Oh she had so much fun!!! We did too watching her. The museum was a dicovery museum. They had a infant toddler area where they have a little tikes tree house. She kept climbing in and out of it. She rode on a mini cow. They had a child size firestation, school room, bakery, grocery, farm house with garden. Upstairs was more for older children. They had hands on science activites, a giant jungle gym that traced the human heart, a news station, and so on. It was really cool.

We got together with my girlfriend from high school (Andrea Magacs Eisley) who is living down near Poughkeepsie. Her little boy turned one that weekend we were leaving. We took Cate to his birthday party. It was so much fun seeing her and her family again and also meeting little Nathaniel.

Our journey ended with it's usual drama. On our way back to the JFK airport, Barrie's father's car ran out of gas. It was never filled up before we left. We sat on the side of the 684 just outside the city for an hour. Barrie's brothers came and brought us gas. We got to the airport in just enough time to check in, get through secruity, grab a sandwich/bananas and get to our gate to find out we didnt have a plane yet. We finally got one, left about 40 minutes later than expected, and got home close to on time. Cate did sleep 4 1/2 out of the 5 hours of flight.
All in all it was so wonderful. It was great to see our families, friends, and just get away from our daily routine.