Day 274 - September 30

In her efforts to empty the entire contents of her room this morning, Michaela brought both Rody and some of her jewelry out to the living room to play.

One thing led to another, and the next thing you know, Rody was wearing some of the jewelry.

I tried to take a picture of just Rody, but Michaela wanted to be in it. Then she didn't want to look at the camera.

At least Rody looks good.

Day 273 - September 29

Our friend had his 3rd annual "BartoberFest" (his name is Bart, and it's Oktoberfest) celebration last night, and we were finally around to attend one! Of course, a two-month old baby is a little too young to leave with a babysitter - and away from the food supply - so we left Michaela with a sitter and took Cate with us.

Thank goodness for baby carriers, which are handy for keeping your arms free for things like plates full of yummy food. And beer.

At BartoberFest, you have to enjoy a little beer. It's a rule.

(In case you can't tell, I am drinking out of das Boot. Before anyone worries or wonders, I actually only had one regular-sized beer long before I had to drive us home - or feed the baby. This was Jason's drinking vessel for the evening. I was having a sip of Bart's home-brewed blueberry wheat beer and it presented a funny picture opportunity. No babies were harmed in the taking of this picture.)

Day 272 - September 28

Two mornings in a row, I've laid Cate down on our bed to get things done, and two mornings in a row, she's gone to sleep on her own that way.

Apparently, she likes a cushy bed.

(And, apparently, I'm afraid of her spitting up on our bed... like all the burp cloths?)

Day 271 - September 27

Oh my. This kid makes me laugh. A lot.

Tonight, for some reason, Michaela's normal affection for all things super hero was kicked into overdrive. She normally just runs around saying she's Dash (from The Incredibles) and pretending to be a super hero (is that one word or two?). Tonight, she added a cape, courtesy of one of Cate's blankets that Daddy tucked into her dress.

The cape wasn't enough, though. She told us that she needed a mask, too.

Enter Super Hero Mommy.....

A while back I ordered some stuff from Totsy for Michaela - some boots, a Fancy Nancy sticker book, and, well, I'll get to the rest in a minute. When the package came, the only things I gave her were the boots since those aren't really anything fun (well, I didn't think they were, but apparently they were the missing piece of a pirate outfit). I decided to hang onto the other stuff for an opportune time.

Tonight was that opportune time. Because when your super hero daughter needs a cape that doesn't fall out of the back of her dress and a mask, it's the PERFECT time to bust out the super hero cape, mask and cuffs that you happened to order over a month ago.

That was one happy girl. Who then had to look tough like a super hero. In a twirly dress.

Day 270 - September 26

To mix things up a little, tonight's pictures are of the kids. Ha.

I grabbed the big girl camera tonight and caught a few pictures of both the girls.

First was Cate hanging out in the swing and "talking" to the bugs on the mobile. She loves those things and, if she's in the swing awake at all, she spends the time smiling and talking to them. Or, in this case, giving them the stink-eye.

The other picture is of Michaela as Rapunzel, spinning and twirling in the yard. She just wanted to go outside after dinner, and was excited that I let her wear her dress... usually I don't let her wear her dress-up dresses outside!

Day 269 - September 25

This picture will probably only be funny to me.

About a half hour ago, I realized that I had gotten my toenails all ready for new polish earlier and then completely forgotten to actually polish them when I finally had the chance.

Meanwhile, there was a baby sleeping soundly and peacefully on the Boppy pillow on my lap, and I didn't want to disturb her too much in the hand-off to the hubs.

So I carefully got up from the couch, complete with baby and Boppy, and gently placed the whole bundle on Jason's lap. She's happily snoozing away still, and Jason is happy to have both his arms free to read on his iPad.

Day 268 - September 24

It was the last night of our mini-vacation, so we headed back to Pier Park in Panama City Beach, and hit up the carnival rides they have there. Which, in case anyone was wondering, are about the same price as actual carnival/fair rides. Yikes.

Anyway, we let Michaela pick three rides. We thought she was going to go on the first one herself, but she got scared and Jason was too big for it, so I got stuck on it. There were heights and it just spun in circles.... my two least favorite things. Needless to say, after that I stayed with Cate and let Daddy take Michaela on her other two rides.

That gave me a chance to get all creative with a cell phone, Instagram, and carnival lights.

Day 267 - September 23

Today was a day of firsts for Cate. As Jason pointed out, though, when you're two months old, it's not hard to have more than one "first" in a day.

For Cate, it was a first trip to the beach and then a first swim in a pool. (And then there was first time Mommy showed herself in public in a bathing suit after having Cate... oooof!)

Day 266 - September 22

My mother in law retired from a career as a school teacher two years ago. At her retirement party, there was a lot of talk of her taking quilting classes and then actually using the skill. I knew she was serious, but I didn't realize how quickly she'd get really good!

A while back, she sent a twin size blanket to Michaela, using fabric from "The Grouchy Ladybug." (That's an Eric Carle book, and a favorite at our house. So if you ever hear Michaela say, "Hey, you! Wanna fight?" don't be alarmed... she's just quoting the book!)

Then, when she and Jim came to visit after Cate was born, she brought a baby-sized quilt with ladybugs on it, too. We haven't used it at all yet, because I've been using a different quilt for floor-time with Cate. But we're out of town this weekend for a little vacation and the other blanket was too covered in Fred hair from being on the floor in our house, so I brought this one along.

As I spread it out on the floor today, I was struck again with how cute it is, and with how great a job Maryanne did! And it's really fitting that the one nickname for Cate that seems to be sticking is Bug!

(And now that I have the picture uploaded, I'm not thrilled with using this one. It's not as yellow as this... I just used Hipstamatic on my iPhone.)

Day 265 - September 21

Tonight was another Parent's Night Out night at Watermelon Patch. We had big plans to go to BGR, one of our favorite places to get burgers in Mobile. Then we drove up and saw that the doors were closed and the restaurant was gone. I was very sad.

So we headed to Outback instead, and I got happy when I saw the Rita Trio on the drink menu. A mini classic margarita, a mini mango margarita, and a mini pomegranate margarita, all in a cute holder.

And they were delicious.

Cate was sad I didn't share.

Day 264 - September 20

Tonight is an exercise in humility. Or no shame. Or just being the Mommy of a 3-yr-old with an active imagination.

Or being a Mommy who doubles as the Easter Bunny because of that imagination.

I'll just say "You're welcome" now for the laugh you're all having.

Day 263 - September 19

One of my favorite things about fall, especially when we lived in New England, is fresh apples. We LOVED going apple-picking when we were stationed in Boston/Cape Cod and went every year we were there.

On our first picking expedition, late in the season, we were introduced to Honeycrisp apples. We couldn't pick them that time and had to just buy some that had already been picked because we were so late, but after that we were sure to go early enough in the season to get them fresh from the tree.

If you've never tried a Honeycrisp apple, you are missing out. They are delicious. Scrumptious, even, as Michaela would say.

Of course, there's no where to pick apples here in the deep south, but at least Fresh Market brings them in, so I made a stop in there today just to get apples. And I was not disappointed.

Day 262 - September 18

Oh my goodness. Cate is two months old today.

WHAT?!?!?

I really wish I knew where the last two months have gone.

Since she's two months old, I spent a little while this afternoon torturing her with a photo shoot. I did a much better job of not waiting until too late in the day, so the light was much better than last month. But the light isn't as important as just being able to see the difference every month. I really wish I'd thought to do this with Michaela!

When I got the furniture rearranged to start taking Cate's picture, Michaela decided she wanted in on the action, too... in her pirate outfit. So we have a few pictures tonight because I'm too behind on the FlyingFish blog to put them there, but I have to share them.

So we have a picture of Cate alone, a little outtake from the shoot (poor Tigger... he probably smells a little like spit-up now), sisters, and my pirate (that would be a bag of Pixie Dust around her neck and a treasure map in here hand).

Day 261 - September 17

A front came through today, and, with it, a lot of rain and MUCH cooler temperatures. It was ridiculously humid this morning when I was at Target, but, by my second trip there tonight, it had cooled down even more and the humidity had come down quite a bit.

I'm just excited about the forecast for the rest of the week... temperatures in the lower-80s instead of the mid-90s we've been having forever. YAY!!!

Day 260 - September 16

Sometimes, you get gifts from friends (or your kids do) that make you wonder if maybe your friends hate you.

So, Bridget, do you hate me?

Just kidding, of course, but Type-A me has such a difficult time with things that I know are just going to be a giant mess when all is said and done. I put off Michaela's request to eat her lollipop as long as I possibly could, and today was finally the day.

And it was a mess.

Day 259 - September 15

What I should've gotten for a picture today was the look on Michaela's face when she realized that we were at the movie theater and we were going to see Finding Nemo. For those of you who have followed this blog for a while, you might remember Michaela's love of Finding Nemo and the fact that it was her choice for her birthday celebration when she turned two. I'm shocked that our DVD hasn't been worn out with the number of times it's gotten played.

So we brought her to the theater this morning to see it on the big screen (we went with the 2D version) after mentioning it to her earlier in the week. As soon as she saw the movie theater, she knew what was going on and the excitement was enormous!

That's what I should've gotten a picture of.

Instead, I got a desperation picture tonight because I took no other pictures today. It's of Cate (who, incidentally went to her first movie today... she was not impressed and slept through the whole thing), and her ever-present pacifier. This girl is a pacifier girl, to the point where she will shake her head to get me to stop trying to nurse her, and opt for the pacifier instead. Apparently she knows when she just wants to suck and when she actually wants milk. Smart girl!

Now, if only she could figure out how to keep the darn thing in her mouth as she falls asleep. I'm looking forward to the day she's coordinated enough to pick it up and put it back in... we spend a LOT of time replacing the pacifier as she fights off sleep.

Day 258 - September 14

I have two completely unrelated pictures today.

The first is my Watermelon Patch Princess. For the last two years, pretty much every time we go to Watermelon Patch, Michaela has to find the red dress and wear it the entire time she's there, whether it's for open play, Parent's Night Out, or a birthday party. She loves this dumb red dress, which used to drag on the floor, but now fits her a little more like it's supposed to. Today, she found a red ring to go with it, the perfectly matched crown to make her a princess. She was Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) - probably because red is the closest to pink, which is the color of Aurora's dress. I was Ariel, by the way, and she kept trying to make me "swim" on the floor. Yeah, not happening. I draw the line somewhere.

The other picture is how I spent my afternoon... with a baby sleeping on me. She started up on my chest and slowly worked her way down over the course of about an hour and a half. Right before he took the picture for me (with my phone so it counts as my picture), Jason moved the TV remote out from under her head. She was just fully draped across my lap, head down, laying on the remote. She sleeps well when she sleeps on someone. Very well.
(And notice my awesome sticker, too... that was lovingly put back on me by Michaela. I took it off 4 days ago after she first gave it to me and she found it today and had to put it back because it's my sticker.)

Day 257 - September 13

Every night, once Michaela is in bed, Fred starts to follow Jason around the house like a... uh, dog... waiting for his walk. Since it's too hot during the summer to walk him before the sun goes down, he just waits not-so-patiently all day for his turn.

Tonight, he was laying on the floor about 10 feet away from Jason as he sat on the floor with the baby, just staring at him. I called him over closer to us to get a picture and then had to actually go stand behind Jason because he wouldn't look anywhere else.

Then I asked him, "What do you want, Fred?" and he cocked his head to the side and just stared right at Jason.

They left about 5 minutes later. Happy dog!

Day 256 - September 12

A loooong time ago, even before I was pregnant, but when I knew I wanted to get pregnant (with Cate), I started salivating over the phil&ted's double strollers. Actually, going back further, I first drooled a little when Michaela was only 14 months old and Jason's brother and his wife (hi Josh and Erin!) stayed with us for a night during our Disney vacation and hit the Magic Kingdom with us, with their P&T double. I loved that there's a place in it even for a newborn and figured that would be the best kind of double, especially in a hot climate where wearing a baby (like I did around the house all day yesterday) can be a little bit warm when actually out on a walk.

Anywho, getting back to my salivating before I was even pregnant with Cate.... I actually almost ordered one of these things three months before I got pregnant because they came up as an amazing deal on Zulily and I just HAD to have one. Jason talked me off that ledge, being all practical about not buying a double stroller before we actually had two kids. Whatever.

Thankfully, they came up again on Zulily later, this time when I was actually pregnant, so I snapped up the deal, scoring this sweet ride for less than half of regular price, including the doubles kit. Ours is a Dash, which is an older model (thus the deal), but it suits our needs just perfectly. For now, Cate can lay down in the normal part of the stroller and Michaela can ride up high on the doubles kit attached on the front. Later on, we'll reconfigure it and they'll both ride sitting up. Love this thing!!

Meanwhile, can anyone spot the newborn?

Day 255 - September 11

To start off, I can't blog on this date without acknowledging this somber anniversary. On September 11, 2001, I was XO of the cutter STATEN ISLAND, stationed in Atlantic Beach, NC. We were at the range that morning, completing out semi-annual weapons qualifications when I called Jason (who was stationed in Florida at flight school) during a break, only to find out the news that a planes had flown into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, though no one knew for sure that it was a terror attack. We ended up finishing up our range time and then got underway later that day, with no real plan in place for what we were going to do. We stayed busy for a couple of weeks, learning the new "homeland security" mission as we went along, and trying to catch bits and pieces of news as we could. It wasn't until we got back from that trip that we all got an idea of exactly how devastating the attacks were. And the world hasn't been the same since. Today I remember all the innocent lives lost that day, the heroes who risked or gave their lives to save others, and the families who feel that keen loss still. And I'm thankful for the people who work every day to prevent another catastrophic attack. Never forget.


Getting back to something a little lighter.... today I had a cling-on, in the form of an almost-8-wk-old baby. She did NOT want to sleep anywhere besides in my arms. I tried the swing (the go-to device) even, but had to give up when her sleep was just a little too restless. But I had things I wanted to get done during nap time (mostly I wanted to nap, but gave up on that once Cate didn't want to sleep), so I needed my hands.

Enter the Sleepy Wrap (now called a Boba Wrap due to a name change at the company). A wrap - or some other kind of carrier - is THE way to get things done on a high-needs day for a baby. She slept quite comfortably in there and I got to balance my checkbook, order a few necessities from Etsy, and do a few other odds and ends. Love it!

Day 254 - September 10

There comes a time in every breastfed baby's life (well, at least if you're a breastfed baby in this family) when that baby must learn to drink breast milk from a bottle and not just from the tap. In this family, at least, that is the way that the mommy keeps her sanity by not having to schedule every outing away from the baby in 2-3 hour increments.

Yesterday was Cate's day.

And she had no problem whatsoever with a bottle. Which was a little bittersweet for me. I'm happy that we didn't have to fight it, but she could've maybe pretended for a half a second that it was coming out of the wrong vessel!

Meanwhile, Michaela was beyond excited to get to feed the baby. It's the one thing she's been talking about since we first told her we were going to be having a baby, and I kept having to tell her she wouldn't really be able to do that since I'd be nursing. But she got her chance yesterday and I'm sure she'll be first in line the next time we break out a bottle, which will be on a semi-regular basis to keep Cate up to speed with the whole thing.

Day 253 - September 9

On Sunday, we had our annual church picnic at the Diocesan camp and conference center, Camp Beckwith. We missed it last year for some reason, but since Jason is now the Senior Warden, we figured we should show up. It's interesting to bring a newborn to a church picnic. Just so you know. The benefit, though, is that all the ladies at church were more than happy to hold that newborn!

Eventually Cate was passed around to everyone, Jason and Michaela got done in the pool, and we walked down the pier and checked out a little more of the camp for a few minutes. Jason isn't mad with his arms crossed in this picture, he's actually holding Cate.

Day 252 - September 8

I actually took this picture on the 7th. But I finished reading the magazine on the 8th, so I'm using it.

I have a guilty pleasure and it is People magazine. I had to use some airline miles from my US Airways account in order to keep them from expiring. So I bought a subscription to People with them.

I was seriously giddy when it showed up in the mailbox the other day and I'm not ashamed (ok, maybe a little) to admit it!

Day 251 - September 7

I took a bunch of pictures today (all with my phone... why do I have that big fancy camera again??), but there was no choice in which to post...

I FINALLY got a picture of the baby smiling! She's been teasing us with smiles for the past week or so, but she always stops smiling as soon as the camera comes out. Persistence paid off today, though, when I finally got this big grin!

The bonus was that it wasn't followed by spit up, pooping, or a toot!

Day 250 - September 6

We have a new accessory in our bedroom.

*sigh*

It goes so well with the pack 'n' play, the various burp cloths, the booger sucker on the night stand, and the swaddle wrap.

Day 249 - September 5

Cate is seven (SEVEN!!!) weeks old today. I have no idea where the last seven weeks have gone. What the heck, man?

I think she's getting cuter. I'm totally biased, but that's ok.

And she was full-on smiling right before I took this. Then she saw the camera. Michaela has taught her well already.... always stop smiling as soon as the camera comes out. It's a rule.

Day 248 - September 4

This is the kind of picture I should've posted yesterday after spending most of the day with Melissia, Jim, and Jameson.

Thankfully, we got together again today with a bunch of friends (and Jim and Melissia - they were the reason for the gathering), so I got to get my picture with my adorable Godson and his mom.

And right after Jason took this, Jameson started the awesome back-arching, I'm-not-happy thing that babies do. Glad we got a good shot!

Day 247 - September 3

I was too busy to take a picture during the day today, so tonight's picture is the result of a desperate search for something to use.

Why was I too busy? Well, the morning was spent feeding a baby and grocery shopping. And then feeding a baby again. And then I shifted into getting ready for company mode.

Our friends Jim and Melissia, who moved to NC last summer courtesy of the Coast Guard, are in the area for a little new-family-of-3/visit friends in Mobile vacation. Although we'll see them tomorrow at a group gathering, we wanted to get the chance to see them outside a group setting, too. Mostly because I needed to get the chance to meet my new Godson, their son Jameson! I got to "go" to his Baptism via Skype last Sunday and then finally got to meet him today!!

Probably I should've had someone take a picture of us together at some point (note to self: do that tomorrow) since that would've made a great picture for today. But instead, I took a picture of my own kid....

And in this picture, she's completely ignoring me because she caught sight of the TV and was mesmerized. Again. I'm not proud to say that my almost-7-week-old child seems to love TV as much as her mom. In addition to limiting the toddler's TV time, it looks like I'm going to have to limit my own while the baby's awake. I think "they" frown on babies watching TV.

Day 246 - September 2

With tropical storms/hurricanes behind us and the pool and patio put back together, afternoons have been spent in the pool again. Well, at least Jason and Michaela have been swimming. Cate and I hang out in the shade for a bit and then head back inside when it gets too hot.

Since Cate squints and flinches when we get anywhere near the sun, I pulled out a hat for her today. I thought she was upset with it at first, but then I realized it was just that she didn't have a pacifier in her mouth. She didn't seem to mind the hat at all after that, and enjoyed a little snooze in the shade.

Day 245 - September 1

I'd like to start this post for September 1 by giving myself a small pat on the back. I've made it 2/3 of the way through the year already. I honestly wasn't sure I'd be able to stick with this, but I have, and I'm glad. My other blog is severely neglected, so at least I'll have this one as a record of what went on this year!

Anyway, back to what this blog is about...

Michaela has been enamored with Cate from Day 1, even though she's been not as keen on the fact that she's no longer the center of attention. We've had an increase in tantrums, and we've had to make a concerted effort to give Michaela some good one-on-one attention as often as possible to try to stem the tantrums. Thankfully, though, she's never shown anything but love for Cate.

So yesterday morning, when Cate and Daddy were hanging out on the floor "playing," Michaela decided she needed to read Cate a story. She came to find me and frantically asked me to find her "Twenty-six Princesses" book so she could "read" it to Cate.

May the sibling love last forever...