Independent, Caring, and Fearless

Baby girl is growing way too fast.  She is 28 months but sometimes I feel like she is seven.  Her personality is continuing to evolve and she is independent, caring, and fearless. 

Independent- “Me do it.  I want to do it.  No, me do it!!”  These are common phrases she states in regards to just about everything.  She insists of choosing her clothes and is not happy when she is forced to do something, like wear a coat in cold weather. 

Caring- She takes care of all of her stuffed animals and dolls on a consistent basis.  She walks them in her stroller, feeds them, bathes them, changes them, enforces naptime and time outs, and now offers medical care as needed.  The other day she put Band-Aid’s on all her animals that had tails… and she was frustrated with the ones that did not have tails. 

Fearless- We went to a new park the other day and in a split second Catherine was gone.  She had climbed all the way up to the tallest slide and slid down it. There was an older school age boy who was clearly impressed a little girl just slid down that slide.  Logan was impressed too.

Likes- She loves balls, any and all types.  Catherine continues to be a big fan of “Yo Yo”.  L’s are still hard for her to say so she still calls Logan Yo Yo and it is so darn cute.  She definitely likes the color yellow and wants everything to have yellow on it or in it.  She adores her teacher Mrs. Christina and really likes going to school on M, W & F.  She is definitely in a daddy phase and some days she does not process Brian’s absence very well.  The other morning, at around 8am, she heard a car beep and ran to the door screaming “Daddy’s home.”  Of course, he had not gotten home that early and she was pretty upset when I explained it was actually the neighbor’s car.

Dislikes- She does not want things to be done for her, as she wants to do it herself. 

Sleeping / Eating- Her appetite has slowed some.  She used to eat anything any everything but now she is a bit more demanding.  She will pick out all the sausage from her red beans and act shocked that she is expected to finish other things on her plate before she can get seconds.

Working On- TEMPER TANTRUMS. 

Favorite highlight from this past week- Catherine turned to me, unsolicited and said  “I love you so much my mommy.”

Game Day

We took some fun photos this afternoon while waiting on Brian to get home from work.  I found LSU hats and gloves in a box and the kids thought it was hysterical.  (I am still not sure why they thought it was THAT funny.)

These Saint's photos are from earlier this fall.  Sadly, Logan will not fit in his jersey after this year.  He has worn it for 3 football seasons.

This was taken on the Saturday Auburn played LSU.  I love this picture with MiMi laughing, Catherine cheering (I guess?) and Logan clearly watching the game.

Only picture I have of Catherine wearing something Auburn!

Logan's first year as an official Saints fan!

Feeling THANKFUL

I am thankful the week is over and it went very well.  I had a Ballon Sinuplasty procedure done on Tuesday that successfully opened up my nasal cavities and will allow for proper drainage.  It was  painful and follow up care was not pleasant.  I told my ENT that childbirth was better because at least you get a cute precious baby at the end of it all.   My parting gifts on Tuesday were a bloody nose, antibiotics, vicodin and nose rinse tools.  

But just four days later, this morning, I woke up  and took a deep breath through my nose and it felt SO VERY good.

I am thankful that my sweet parents came out west and helped run the show here at 1547 Hewitt.

And last, but never least, I am thankful for Brian's humor and companionship.   He had me smiling and laughing on Tuesday when I really wanted to be evil Joan.  

Costco

While sorting through iPhoto in an ongoing attempt to get my photo's organized,  I came across a few Costco shots that are too cute not to share.

March 2012

August 2012

November 2012

April 2013

August 2013

September 2013

October 2013

November 2013

Louisiana Children's Museum and Audubon Zoo

People often ask me if New Orleans is a kid friendly city and I  always respond with a YES.  I guess  they think it is tailored for the adult crowd due to obvious reasons such as Mardi Gras and Bourbon Street.  But the truth is, NOLA has fabulous things for children of all ages.  This past visit we hit two of them: the children's museum and the zoo.

I have loved the Louisiana Children's museum since I did my high school community service hours there.  It has the standard attractions that you can find at most CMs, like a grocery store, toddler play area, bubbles, ect...  But, it also has some local touches that make it unique such as driving a street car and piloting a river boat into the Port of Orleans.

The Audubon Zoo is favorite as well.  It is in the Riverbend area adjacent to Audubon Park. We had a few minutes to kill before we entered the zoo and walked over to the "mighty" Mississippi River which is just 100 yards away.  Logan is fascinated with barges and river boats and still wants to know why we call it the "mighty" Mississippi.

Uncle Donald in the bubble

Happy Halloween

Adorable super heroes

Making a serious face

We headed down to New Orleans this year for Halloween. My parent’s neighborhood always has a big turn out for Halloween and this year was no exception.  Logan and Catherine were super excited to be super heroes and were ready to hit the streets long before sun set.  It’s interesting to me how you can see the difference in personalities at such a young age.  Logan is more reserved when venturing out to do something new. Catherine is full speed ahead.  After she went to her first house and figured out how the whole tick or treat thing worked, she charged ahead down the sidewalk to the next house.  And the next.    And the next.  I don’t know how parents manage more than two kids because Brian and I have our hands full with our “man on man” defense.

We had a blast visiting with both sets of cousins.  As for the amount of candy ingested Halloween night, it was a lot. I had planned to give them each two pieces of candy and then put theirs up, which I did, but Logan and Catherine quickly found other ways to get it.  By the end of the night, a sugar rush possessed them both.

Catherine decided it was time to take off her clothes

Slinky fun