2011 Flashback

Sometimes, I glance at the calendar and am quickly taken back to the date last year.

Last year, on the 21st, I was exhausted from my baby shower the day before and contemplating writing thank you notes during all the free time I would have over the next month...

Surprise! 

Back to 2012 and it's Catherine's birthday week! 

Last night, she got her first present: a fuzzy Pottery Barn Kids chair from CiCi and Poppa. It was a hit!

Happy first birthday week to our sweet baby girl! Let the fun continue!

O.M.Gross

Motherhood may have toughened me up in some areas, but I will never be okay with catching throw up in my hand. It's still gross. Every single time.

A New Twist on Valentine's Day

I have never made a big deal about Valentine's Day. I really don't care about roses and chocolate and expensive dinners. That doesn't mean that Husband hasn't gone above and beyond in celebrating over the years; but when we decided to go easy this year, I wasn't disappointed. Instead, we celebrated our little love's very first Valentine's Day together. Because the day is really all about love in general and, we LOVE this little girl more than words can say.

We started the day with heart-shaped cottage cheese pancakes with raspberry-banana puree.

Then, we met Daddy for lunch at the mall. Conveniently, his office is in the Galleria Towers, so after eating a romantic Chick-fil-A lunch, Daddy headed back to work and Catherine and I enjoyed her very first "double doozie" cookie (I enjoyed 98% of it all by myself. She enjoyed a couple mini M&M's and some frosting).

Then we picked out a pretty pony and enjoyed a carousel ride...

...and Catherine enjoyed reading her first Valentine's Day card from Mommy and Daddy.

As far as Husband and I, we exchanged cards and enjoyed watching our favorite little love spend a day engrossed in love. Best Valentine's Day yet.

Catching Up

There is a new sound in our house: the pitter-patter of tiny little feet as they WALK around. We officially have a walker on our hands and now spend the majority of our time catching up to her. Watching her toddle around is one of the cutest things I have ever seen (and she's still slow enough to catch).

(Try to ignore my coaching...)

My mind has been racing lately. It's full of nostalgia for the past year and excitement for the upcoming. This time last year, I was excited about my upcoming baby shower, having no clue what the next week would bring me. Merely three days after the shower, gifts still piled in the basement, nothing washed, nothing put away, the car seat still in the box, we welcomed our baby girl to this world. A little early, but right on time. And our world changed forever.

I look back on this past year and can count on one hand the number of times I have hired a baby sitter. I have yet to sleep a single night away from her. I spend my days and my nights with this tiny person and have gotten to watch her grow and develop every day. For nearly 365 days, I have watched her breathe in and out with the lungs she grew inside of me. I have watched her eyes, my eyes, follow me, look for me, love me. I have watched her mouth, Husband's mouth, grin and laugh and cry and sprout new teeth and new words. I watched her fingers learn to grasp, learn to pass things from one hand to the other, learn to feed herself one tiny piece of food at a time. I watched her go from lying down to sitting up, to rolling, to crawling, to standing, and now walking. 

I have heard her cry and laugh and call for me and Husband and Banks in her own sweet language. I have felt this child with every sense, with every fiber of my being. She is my heart. My whole heart.

As we embark on her second year of life, I am so very grateful for the first. I am humbled by the job of motherhood. Although I've been here all along, I find myself just now catching up, just now realizing the magnitude of this past year. And I am in awe of this child, all she has become and all she will be. 

Late in the Game Product Endorsement

We just started using an Angel Care baby monitor. I realize it's a little late in the game to break out the big guns with a motion sensor monitor, but we just didn't need it until recently. Up until now, she has been a pretty restless sleeper. I was never worried that she was sleeping too soundly. Ever.

The cheap monitor worked just fine when paired with our wireless IP camera mounted over the crib (yes, I married a nerd) for 11 months... or so I thought. But recently, we've had a new issue emerge in the form of a fuzzy blanket. C has become even more attached to her fuzzy blanket lately. It is the blanket that matches her bedding. It's toddler sized. And fuzzy. And she simply must have it. at. all. times. 

Naptime

Dinner

Reading

Music time

This blanket which was once neatly tucked around her while she slept, has become wound around her body,   thrown over her head, covering her face. I would sneak into her room, carefully reposition it, and by the time I got back to bed and checked the camera, she had pulled it back over her face. I couldn't take the blanket away. She reaches for it in her sleep. She would surely notice. So, I finally programmed the new fancy monitor that I bought a couple months ago. 

And I slept like a dream.

In fact, I actually had (and remembered) dreams for the first time in months...11 months to be exact.

I never realized how jumpy I had been before. I didn't realize I was only half sleeping, constantly on alert to jump out of bed and check on her at a moment's notice. The sense of calm I now have knowing that this monitor will beep loudly at me should she stop moving for more than 20 seconds, or should her room get below 69 degrees or above 77, is indescribable. 

I'm a little angry at myself for waiting this long to jump on board. The Angel Care monitor rocks my world and lets my little angel sleep with her favorite companion without fear of suffocation.

Win. Win.

Our First Shoes

We had a nice little Saturday. We had a nice breakfast then headed to Sikes in Homewood to get Catherine's very first pair of shoes! After trying on a couple different styles, we she settled on these cute little white Keds with flowers.

She kept picking up her feet and looking at them; and once we put her back in her stroller, she kicked and kicked trying to figure out these new things. She looks like such a BIG GIRL in shoes! 

Wow, I love this girl.

We took our big girl to Savage's for some treats and then to Sam's Super Sandwiches for lunch. It was simply a wonderful family Saturday in Homewood without schedules or time constraints. If only we had time to spend more Saturdays not worrying about time.