Talking Your Ear Off

Cate has been doing a lot of babbling recently. But she's getting better at saying some actual words (doggy, daddy, mama, duck, book, stinky, go, bye-bye, poppy--which means grandpa--, nannny-- her word for my mom--keys, and leash are just a few that she says and understands). She has her own version of words too. For example, "me-me" means excuse me and "diggy" is either train or fish depending on what she's looking at, but those are the only two times she uses that word.

It's really fun to watch her learn how to actually use those words. She only says "me-me" when she burps (or fake burps as the video will show). She knows the leash goes with the doggy and that we get books at the library (as soon as I ask her if she wants to go to the library she says "book, book, book"). It's cool too to see how much she understands, like when you ask her to go get something, and she does. Or you ask her to sit down, and she does. Here's a short video of her showing off some of those verbal skills (and animal-noise making skills too). I know it won't be long before she's talking our ears off.

~Melody :-)

Thanks for a great birthday (Family, Friends and God!)

So, as I inch my way closer to 30, I get a chance to take stock of blessings and everything that makes me enjoy my life. First off, I got to celebrate 5 wonderful years with my wife just last month and travel to southern California in the closest thing that I've eve known to style. Second, I got to celebrate my daughters 18 month birthday today and just revel in her every time she sees me, shouts "daddy" and runs to me. She also helped me open all of my gifts.



Third, I got to see my wife continue growing in craftiness and enjoy some of her handiwork. She made these great PJ pants for me. Isn't she talented?


Fourth, I got one of the better gifts I've gotten in recent memory when Mel let me open a Crosley Record / Tape / CD Player / Radio and a U2 Record. Of course, Cate and I had to enjoy some firstfruits on the floor.


Fifth, I got to crack open some books that my dad got me to start on my next venture in life in which I would ask for your prayers. I have felt that God is calling me to pursue a Master of Divinity degree to move into a different area of service. I don't know where that road will lead, but I know I must follow it, and I covet your prayers to follow it. The books are some of the initial courses for that Masters Degree.

Lastly, I got to reflect on all the amazing people I have in my life who wished me a happy day, sent blessings and prayers my way and brought me a great sense of Gratitude for the wonderful God who brought me here, gave me life, let me enjoy it and let me follow him. Thank you God, Thank you friends, Thank you Family, and God Bless.

- Papa E

It Was a Dark and Rainy Morning...

...which threw Cate off a little bit. The sky was still fairly dark at 9:00, when she finally decided to wake up. Clearly she didn't smell the pancakes Daddy had made for breakfast (I know, I have the best husband ever...he even brought me the pancakes in bed).

It was the perfect day to spend inside, playing with all kinds of toys.
We toted cargo on the train, learned about numbers at the Little People School, crashed a couple of Automoblox, and had a grand old time at the Mega Blocks castle.
And when Cate was tired of all that we tried watching a little bit of Cars.
We still don't let her really watch TV, but we do have a DVD player for the car and we're trying to find movies that keep her attention for more than a few minutes. She was interested in this one for about 15 minutes, but then her toys called her back to the floor and she didn't look up at the screen again. I think when she's confined to her carseat on our drive to Hilton Head, the movie will capture her attention more (and hopefully distract her enough that she won't cry to get out).

~Melody :-)

Flip Flops

Eric and I are very blessed by the many people in our lives that love us and love Cate. While I think kids' clothes are absolutely adorable and so much fun to buy, the simple truth is that kids get them dirty. Or wear them out. Or both. Most of the time.

I do indulge on occasion and buy Cate cute new outfits. But a lot of what Cate wears are clothes that are "new" to her. The clothes that have managed to go through one kid without stains or holes or rips. The ones that are still in great shape. Before Cate even arrived, I had friends giving me bags of clothes for Cate. A friend from our old church pretty much outfitted Cate for the first 9 months and gave us this Halloween costume. I have a friend from work who passes down just about everything her daughter outgrows that's still in cute, wearable condition. And most recently, a great friend from our small group, whom we just met in February when our group started, gave us a ton of winter 18-24 month clothes (with a few other outfits Cate can wear now, like this one that she had on yesterday).

In one of the five bags of clothes and shoes she gave me, there was a cute pair of Disney Princess flip flops.
These were big girl flip flops. The kind without a strap in the back. And while I was trying to wrap Eric's birthday presents (his birthday is Wednesday), Cate found the bag of shoes and was trying to get them on. So I helped her out and she squealed with delight when she had them on.
Walking in them was a whole other story. She just sort of shuffled around, trying to keep them from falling off (they're the right size, but seeing as she's still only a few months into this walking thing, I think the toe part threw her off). But she was so happy to wear them. When they would eventually fall off, she'd bring them right back to me so I could put them on again. I did manage to get a short video of her doing the little flip flop shuffle.

I think by next summer she'll really be ready for these real ones (in a bigger size, of course).

And as a side note, and because I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea...yes, we can afford to buy Cate clothes. We're just practical people with generous friends. And yes, I have kept all of Cate's clothes that she's outgrown (except the ones that got really stained when eating or really ripped when crawling on concrete). So if you're someone who has given us clothes in the past, and you find yourself in need of them or want to pass them on to someone else...they're in tubs in my basement and I'm more than happy to keep the traveling clothes (and shoes) going. Otherwise, they'll stick around in case Baby Riggs #2 is a girl (no, I am not pregnant, and am not planning on it anytime soon).

~Melody :-)

Two Park Tour

Cate is starting to act, and hopefully feel (though she doesn't have the words to tell me), more like herself again. So tonight after dinner we headed up to our Community Center Park. The night was perfect...not too hot and a nice breeze blowing. Which brought everyone to the park. Cate was a little overwhelmed by all of the kids running and jumping and climbing all over the place, so we took her out to the empty baseball field where she ran around the outfield (chasing Zoey, whom we let off her leash).
She had fun running around the infield too.
After running around for a bit, we headed a block north to the elementary school playground, where Cate had the place to herself.
She is now snoring away on the monitor...music to my ears.
~Melody :-)

Terrible Teeth

I know I've been blogging about it a lot lately-- but Cate's teething has been terrible this time around. She's getting her incisors (I'm pretty sure that's what those pointy teeth are called) and it's the worst she's ever been. All of her other teeth popped in with relatively no problems (she got one ear infection in an earlier round of teething and usually has a runny nose). This time though, she's been crankier, fussier, pickier...everything -ier. Yesterday she started in with some messier diapers (I'll spare you the gross details), which led to bad diaper rash when she woke up. She's also been waking up with green "gook" in her eyes. In fact, this morning she woke up crying. Something she never does. Daddy was quick to comfort.
**As a side note, doesn't the antique photo-finish capture the sunlight well in this picture?

Anyway, during her diaper changed, she screamed like she was in the worst pain in the world. And then she continued to cry off and on through breakfast. I called the pediatrician since this is not even close to Cate's normal, bubbly, smiley, go-with-the-flow personality. Our pediatrician is wonderful and was very concerned about Cate, so she scheduled an appointment for later in the afternoon. In the meantime, Cate was distracted by playing with her friends Tessa and Anna at Gymboree class. She was okay during lunch, took a two-hour nap, and woke up screaming. She pretty much screamed off and on for the rest of the afternoon until we got to the doctor.

The doctor's diagnosis? Double ear infection that has also semi-infected her eyes with a bad diaper rash/yeast infection. Poor Cate. She's now on an antibiotic for the ear infection, eye gel for the eye "gook," a restricted diet (but only until her diapers aren't quite so messy), and some great home-remedy bottom cream the pediatrician told us to make (Maalox mixed with talcum powder to an icing like consistency spread on affected area and then covered with a layer of Desitin). She gets that lovely mixture at every other diaper change (the other diaper changes we're supposed to use Lotrimin, which is a remedy for athlete's foot).

I feel completely and horribly bad for Cate. I hurt with her. While picking up her prescriptions, the stuff to make cream for her bottom, Lotrimin, rice cereal and yogurt at Target, I also picked her up these: Color Wonder Markers with a doodle pad and...a little Thomas the Tank Engine set. While Cate doesn't watch a lot of TV, we've been trying to get her interested in a few little movies and cartoons that she can watch on the DVD player on the way to Hilton Head. She seems to have an affinity for things that go right now. She loves her Automoblox and gravitated right towards a board book about trucks at the library last week. We tried out a few Thomas the Tank Engine DVD's and she loves them. Each story is short, so it keeps her attention. The Color Wonder set (which she loved and which we will definitely be buying more of for our budding little artist) and the little train set (which set me back a whopping $12 since it's not the wooden-train-table type of train set) made Cate do this:
But just in case those teeth and ears were still hurting her after being pumped full of medicine when we got home, we walked up the street for ice cream too.Man that girl takes her ice cream eating seriously.

~Melody :-)

Did I Shave My Legs For This?

You better believe it! As a side note though, I really am a clean and hygienic person who does shower and shave regularly.
This is my skirt- my first project made for me during my sewing lessons with my grandma. It actually wasn't too difficult. Now I just need to get a top to match it (I will not be making one as I do not have nearly the confidence or skill required to make anything remotely resembling a cute top).

Let's review this summer's sewing lessons/projects.

Outfits 1 (top) and 2 (bottom)- both made in sewing lessons with my grandma. They followed the same pattern, but outfit 2 is slightly smaller. Both will more than likely fit Cate next spring/summer (unless she grows a lot), but I'll probably have to make bigger bloomers to go underneath. Or redo the elastic in the bloomers I already made and that fit perfectly right now. Next year though, the dress part will be more of a top.
And the crayon rolls. I made these on my own at home, following instructions from a website.
My next project is already more than halfway done. It's part of Eric's birthday present, so I guess you'll have to wait until Wednesday to see it.

In the meantime, we're at the end at what has probably been our busiest summer week so far. Multiple small group get-togethers and goings-on. A wipes study and a diaper study at P and G (the latter consumed 4 hours of our morning on both Tuesday and Wednesday, but paid well). Other outings and get-togethers with non-small group friends. And we're deep in the trenches of some horrible teething. You know the kind. The kind where your kid is a picky eater, cranky and fussy, creating messy diapers, and won't go to bed without Tylenol. One incisor has poked through. Her gums are a swollen mess. Hopefully the other 3 incisors will make their appearances before we hit the road for our trip to Hilton Head.

Until then, we wait it out and in between everything keeping us busy I attempt to get things done on my before vacation to-do list.
~Melody :-)