Outlets

Hello all!  It's been several days since I have posted anything so I just thought I would check in.  When I don't post for several days I get several people asking where I have been.  Thanks, by the way, for those that read my blogs.  I have always secretly wanted to be a writer and this is the closest I am ever going to get.  I love spilling my thoughts, even when they don't amount to anyting, and this is a really nice outlet for me.  So, thanks for humoring me and acting like my life is something interesting to read about (even though it's mostly about Carter).

So do you have a "thing" about buying the same thing every time you go shopping?  Or find yourself thinking about buying that one thing that you already have 100 of them?  Well mine is sports bras.  It's sad to say that I probably have over 20 of them and they are all different shapes and forms.  But I seriously love them all for different reasons and when I get the courage up to throw some of the old ones away, I just can't make myself.  How weird is that?  I just bought two more yesterday from TJ Maxx.  They have been with me through thick and thin, ladies!!  So don't judge me.  I also have a thing about vanilla scented candles and jeans, but we won't go there.  Anyways, that's just a random fact.

No, I still have not gotten my big butt in gear to even start on Carter's room.  I don't even have the paint bought.  There is this little factor that I didn't take into consideration when I made up my mind to change his room--he can't sleep in his room for several days breathing in that fresh paint!!  And he is doing so good staying in his room all night right now and we don't want to mess that up.  So that may be put on hold for just a little while longer unless we come up with another solution.

Carter is starting to say random words that we have not even tried to teach him.  For example, he was playing with my mom this morning and he was following her and he said "stop!".  So maybe I should just stop worrying about his talking and let him soak everything in on his own time because obviously he is learning the things that we say. 

Carter is really starting to be really good on his feet.  He is getting stronger and stronger, which is making him faster and faster, which is making it harder and harder to catch him.  I rarely see him walk anymore.  If he even goes 5 feet from where he is standing, he is running there.  It's pretty funny to see his little legs move as fast and he can make them move.  So proud of my healthy boy.

Speaking of healthy...it has nearly been 2 months since Carter has gotten sick.  Like at all.  Amazing, right?  Since he was born, he was sick at least every other week running 104 fever that would last for at least 3 days.  He went through that for about a year and a half.  Then his adenoids got taken out and since then....nothing.  We are still catching up on sleep that we missed and Carter is slowly gaining weight that was lost during all those sick spells. 21 months old. 2T pants, 2T shirts, 6.5 shoe, and at least 25 pounds.  We are so thankful.  I think his doctor is going to be shocked when we go in for our 2 year appointment and he sees where he is on the weight percentile.

One last thing.  I'm obsessed with reading.  On average I probably read a book a week.  I love getting to know new characters and putting myself in their shoes.  It's fun!  Reading is the best escape.  That time after Carter goes to sleep and I get to curl on the couch with my Kindle Fire is such a relaxing time for me.  I would rather read my books than watch tv any day!  Nick makes so much fun of me all the time and always threatens to hide it from me just so I will go to bed at a decent hour.

Anyways, that's all I got for today.  Thanks again for reading.

Growing Family

Well, I am back on my Pinterest kick and find myself pinning lots of things under "For My Future Daughter."  Weird.  First off, weird for naming a whole category that, but that was my first thought for my second child.  I always hoped to have another boy one day but...they say your first thought is the real one...or whatever.  Also weird because we are not even thinking of having another baby.  We have both agreed to wait another 2 years or so.  What's my conscience tell me??

The last of Carter's new bedroom stuff came in today.  OMG!  It's the coolest thing that I have ever seen.  Little guy is going to have a pretty cool room.  I'm hoping it will be something that he will love for at least 7 or 8 years.  So, its just waiting for me to get to work.  I have thought about starting this weekend.  At least get the walls painted.  That will be the hardest part.  So, we'll see if I get my butt in gear or not.

AD and I did bleachers and lunges Wednesday and I swear I feel like someone has hit me, on every inch below my waist, with a sledge hammer.  If I wiggle my toes, it hurts my calves.  Just walking is, in itself, a very huge struggle.  But boy, did I need that! 

Somthing HUGE!!  My first cousin, Danielle, had her first son, Tucker 2 days ago.  I just still can't believe that she is a mommy too!  So many memories come flooding my head....sneaking out of the house, knocking on neighbors doors and then running and hiding in the middle of the night, all of our talks about our boyfriends, the makeovers she just HAD to give me while I sulked (I can say this now because we can't get grounded)...and now we are mommies???  What the what???  I just can't wrap my head around that.  Tucker is SUCH a pretty baby and I can't wait to get my hands on him.  Danielle and Bradley will be amazing parents and Tucker will have so much love given to him.

 

 

Since it was so beautiful Wednesday, and since we are no longer watching tv with Carter as much, I decided to take Carter outside and let him run around.  He took off walking down the road and I just followed.  I thought that he would probably turn around and go back home shortly, like he usually does, but he just kept on a walking.  He walked about a mile and a half and Daddy had to come and pick us up.  I really think he learns so much on our little walks.  He notices every bird that flies over us, he points to the right objects when i ask him where everything is.  I really enjoy those times with him.  And he gets his exercise in.  Love my little ball of energy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 







Catch Up

Hey!

So, there are actually some things that I can catch you up on. 

My Nana is back home and doing great.  She is such a rock!  I know that most of you probably already know that about her.  I have heard from so many people how strong and special they all think she is.  So, I'm not the only one that's crazy about her!  The last two weeks have been no picnic for her!  She has had it rough.  But she pushed through it like I knew that she would.  I have been running errands for her every day and I am more than happy to do that.

Operation Re-do Carter's Room is in the works.  He is starting to want to spend more time in there so I want him to really enjoy it.  And I really REALLY think he will love what I am going to do for him.  I don't want to give too many details and ruin all of your anticipation that I KNOW you all have :)

I am meeting with my Great Aunt Gloria every week and she is teaching me Spanish.  It really is not as bad as what I thought it would be.  For some reason, what she teaches me, sticks with me.  I guess it's just in my blood.  She is strict though!  Once I learn something, I can no longer say it in English.  I really do want to learn it, since a huge part of my family speaks it, and I would really love for Carter to learn it too.  My Mom is also doing it with me, but all it's doing is refreshing her memory.

When I lived in Conway, I worked at a big gymnastics place.  I was the teacher of a few Mommy and Me classes and I also taught several 3, 4, and 5 year old classes.  I was shocked at how many boys I had in my classes.  I am starting Carter on some of those techniques and I gotta say, the kid is pretty coordinated.  I so wish I had some of the equipment they had there!!  The stuff is so expensive, though.  But if he grows to love it, then we may have to break down and get some stuff.  We do have something that is about the size of a small balance beam and he walks across it like it's nothing and he almost has a front roll down.  He gets the idea, anyways.  We are starting to do more stuff like that instead of watching tv.  We have a lot of fun!  I would love it if he has a passion for gymnastics like I did.  I used to could flip like no one's business!

Carter has a new bedtime routine.  You probably already saw on Facebook, but I was letting him fall asleep on his own.  He did really well with it for a couple nights, but then he got to where he hated bedtime and he would cry once I said "night  night" because he knew that I was going to leave him alone in his room.  I didn't want him feeling like that at all, so I brought books into his room.  He picks out a book all by himself, brings it to me, then crawls up in his bed without being told.  I read him the book fairly slowly and very detailed.  I ask him all kinds of questions about the pictures and he points to the right answers.  By the end of the book he is asleep.  He is usually asleep by 8:45 which makes me so happy!  But since he goes to bed earlier, that means he wakes up earlier.  So he is up around 6:30 or 7:00 every morning which is fine by me!  He wakes up, in the middle of the night, looking for us about once or twice a week, but we can handle that.

The little puzzles that I was so amazed at how well he could put together, he is bored with now.  So we are going to have to find something a little more advanced than that.  And he can point out about 5 or 6 letters in the alphabet.  He may not say much, but he sure is learning!

Welp folks, that's all I got for you today.

Temple Run

As most of you probably know by now, my Nana has been in the hospital, in Hot Springs, for several days with severe pain in her abdomen area.  It was so hard to see her in that much pain for so long.  I am still not exactly sure what they have narrowed it down to or if they even know 100% but I'm thinking they said it might have been pancreatitis.  I sure do wish they would find out and make sure it don't happen again.  I have read about it and found that it is so painful that it hurts just as bad as having a baby without any medications.  OUCH!!!  My poor Nana!  But she is finally comfortable and able to drink coffee and broth.  Please pray for her and pray that it never flairs back up again!  If I could have taken her pain for her, I would have done it in a heartbeat.  Nick is taking me this evening to see her and grab a quick bite to eat.  TJ Maxx just got a lot of summer stuff in for Toddlers for cheap cheap cheap!  So we may run by there too and rack up while we can.  Their toddler stuff is never there for too long.

I am looking forward to this weekend.  I have to work tomorrow, but Sunday I get to go get fitted for a bridesmaid's dress for one of my best friend's wedding!!  We are going to Little Rock and when we are together we always have loads of fun.  Elizabeth can make me laugh more than anyone!  I sure am hoping to have some time go to spend with my sweet, sweet nephew Nolan--who is getting way too big, by the way!  That dude is growing like a weed---leaving Carter in the dust!

So, I know that I have put it on facebook, but we have started making Carter go to bed by himself.  I already miss that time so much.  But it's not about me and I had to do what I thought was best for him.  But he is handling it like the champ that he is.  He is such a good boy.

Have y'all ever played Temple Run on your phone?  Nick and I are addicted.  And it's not that it's such an amazing game, but we are addicted on beating each other's high score.  I have held high score for the last 2 days and he just texted me, like 2 minutes ago, that he just blew my high score out of the water by like 200,000 points!!!!!!!!!!!  I can't tell you how mad I am right now.  So, now I have to play the game every second until I beat that.  Carpal tunnel is starting to set in my hands....no joke.  They are starting to hurt and cramp up.  But I would let my fingers fall off before I let him beat me.  Our relationship is great, really.  Nothing wrong with some fierce friendly competition in your life.  We have agreed that while Carter is in our presence, that we can't play it.  It's pretty sad when we have to give ourselves allotted phone time because we are on them so much.

Nick and I watched Ted the other night, and we loved it.  We have not laughed that hard in a long time.  Don't judge me!  It was funny!  Nick and I agreed to be Thunda Buddies for life, too.  We are kinda disappointed that we didn't coordinate that in our vows.

That's it.  Hope everyone has a great weekend!





Good Ol' Catherine Ramble

There is not much for me to say today.

I am at work for the 12th day in a row.  Yuck.  Since it is our slow time of the year, it is also the slow time of my day.  It's my time to unwind and pretty much relax from the stress of being mom.  But it also gives me way too much time to spend on the internet and that, in turn, allows myself to feed my online shopping addiction for Mr. Richard Carter.  But he does look quite adorable (and sometimes older) in what I buy and that warms my heart.  Future GQ model in the making.

Carter is hanging out with Nick and his parents today.  Probably eating everything in sight like he usually does.  The kid loves his food!  I STILL can't get the little nugget to eat any sweets.  Yes, I blame it all on myself but it would be nice to give him a treat every once in a while.  A treat to him is strawberries with a side of green peas.  No joke.  If you tried to give him a chocolate filled cookie he would get highly upset.  A graham cracker is about as close to a cookie as I can get.

Here in the last couple days his speech has really started to come along.  He is the one stating random objects instead of me.  Every bird is a "duckchic", every animal with 4 legs is a dog, anything that you can throw or is round is a ball, and lots of other things is Toshya, but hey, at least he is talking!  As of this morning his new obsession is crayons.  I have a feeling, here pretty soon, all of Carter's toys will have his artwork all over them if we don't watch him closely.

Carter has a little fearless streak in him here lately.  Climbing on anything and everything.  Giving his momma a few minior heart attacks.  One second he is on the floor, the next, he is standing on top of the coffee table.  He get's his little leg popped for it too.....

Nick and I are looking so forward to having a nice peaceful night together when I get off of work.  We are going to try our hardest to put Carter to bed earlier tonight so we can watch a movie and chat.  Both of our work has really made us spend a lot of time away from each other here recently.  And if we are not working, we are trying to let everyone else spend time with Carter so we usually are not home.  Just ONE night we would like to stay home and relax as a family.

We are trying to plan a trip next month and take Carter to the Dallas Aquarium.  The kid loves his fish tanks.  I think he would love it.  We are so in need of a mini-vacation/get out of Nashville trip.  We are hoping to find time that we both can take off at the same time for it.  Slim chance, though.

Well, I came up with more to talk about than I thought I would...not that any of it amounts to anything significant.  Sorry 'bout that.

 

BFF Time

My BFF of about 6 or 7 years ago came to see me last night.  She was so sweet to sit with me at work for a little while, then went and ate a New Years dinner with my family.  We got to catch up on lots of stuff, which I really needed.  I don't like time away from my Holli  Pockets!  But, of course it was a too short of a visit.

BUT!  My other BFF from about 12 years ago is coming to visit me tonight, along with her son and husband, Matt.  I know I have said this before but I REALLY wish they lived closer!  Nick likes her husband, a lot, and we would be those couples that did lots of double dating.  Matt and I also have a history--we "helped" each other out on a test or two in college.  I can't wait to see them.

So, it's a new year.  I have not thought about a resolution because honestly, if I thought too hard I would come up with way to many things that I would need to do in 2013.  It makes me exhausted even thinking about coming up with something.  Eventually my lists would narrow down to the exact same list that I had last year and that list didn't last for over 2 weeks so what's the point?  Resolutions are made to be broken, right?  I did eat my black eyed peas and cabbage, though, for money and good luck!!

2012 was good to us.  Can't complain much.  Carter did stress us, though, with him getting sick every time we turned around, but the good always out ways the bad and there were LOTS of good times.  Carter really is a special little boy.  A rotten one, but special.  He has not had fever in over a month and that has never happened in his whole 1.75 years of living.  Adenoids were the answer, praise God.  I am so happy where my life is.  Great marriage, great kid, great friends, great family....I would not change any of it.

Here are a couple pictures that I have taken recently.  Hope you enjoy.

Carter got to spend time with Uncle Keller and he is actually pretty fond of ol' Unc.  In this picture, Carter all but tackled him so he could get some of his ham.

 

These were taken at the mall.  Since Carter is a big time climber, he loved the play area.

 

And this was taken at my mom's house.  He LOVES the horse!

 

 

Carter is starting to be more vocal and using words that he already knows more often.  The look on Nick's face is priceless when he says Daddy.  He can't hear enough of it.  It's precious.  He still says Toshya, truck, and choo (train) more more than anything, though.  He knows a lot of body parts.  Last night my brother, Justin, asked Carter where his belly was and he pulled up his shirt to let Justin see.  I don't know where or when he learned that, because I have never seen him do that before.  That got some laughs.

 

Still a terrible sleeper, but getting better and better.  I think he is realizing that we really are not going to let him in bed with us.

 

Attitude--still there, but also getting better.  He is sick of being ignored when he does throw one.

 

Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store for us.  Potty training, maybe? 

 

2013, let's do this thing!!