Singing Off Key

Caitlyn loves to try to sing. I have a video of her "singing" her favorite country song. But her all time favorites right now are off of my "Twilight" soundtrack. Mommy can't complain about that! :D I hope you enjoy the lovely attempt of Caitlyn trying to sing. I get to enjoy it every time we are in the car. She shouts "song song" until I put on her favorites. At least it is something we both enjoy. Now I have someone to sing loud and off key with me. Daddy won't like this!! hehehehe.

Long Time No Post

Ok, so Mommy has been slacking. We have been so busy that I've gotten way behind on updating the blog. Sorry. It's good that the time is seeming to be going relatively quickly though. We only have 23 days until Daddy comes home!! But that also means we only have 17 days until Caitlyn is officially 2. How sad and exciting is that!! I have mixed feelings. It feels like only yesterday that I had her, let alone the fact that she will officially not be a "baby" anymore. My how the years fly. So, I guess I should sum up all the fun and exciting things we've done since the last post. We have added new words to our vocabulary, including grandpa. Sorry grandma's. Caitlyn seems to know to suck up to the men in her life. It did take her until recently to finally say Mama even though she has been saying Daddy forever now, even with him gone. I've always said she's a smart girl. lol. We have almost broke the garbage disposal by putting pennies in the sink. Thank goodness for the lovely maintenance crew we have at the apartment complex. Mommy has also tried visiting Santa three times. I get about the same reaction to that as I do taking her to the doctor. And that is not good. She screams, hides herself in my shoulder and just says no. She will give him a high 5 though, just don't make any other moves as if you might pass her off to him. I tried to convince her it was Grandpa in a red suit. Caitlyn just looked at me and said "no, no grandpa." Yeah, so that didn't work. Maybe next year. Here's to hoping.

And against Mommy's strict ideas of when Christmas decorating should start, we decorated early. I was hoping to get pictures for Christmas cards, but Caitlyn would have nothing to do with it. She made it into a crying festival, with tears and all. I have a few other ideas in mind to try. Once again, here is to hoping. But I must admit, it is nice to have the decorations up. Makes the house feel all cozy. Not to mention that right in the middle of the holiday season next year, we will be moving, so no Christmas decorating next year until we get into our new home. So I guess we will enjoy the most out of this year that we can.

So many more things have happened, many hilarious moments, but I guess I should keep up with this blog more so I don't have to write a book to update. Mommy promises to do better in the future.

Why?!?!?!?!

I love my child. I truly do. But why must she insist on sticking raisins up her nose? And then to make it worse, she eats them when they fall out. WHY?!?!?! I think I'm going to get sick....

How Cute

As usual, things do not go the way they might have before I had a 2 year old with her very own opinion and mind. We had a photo shoot with Cyndi this afternoon. She does some of the best work I've seen. Truly awesome. Here is a link in case you don't know. http://www.colorfulheartphotography.com/

Anyway, we met up this afternoon at the Court house area near our home. It is beautiful there. First off, Caitlyn slept longer then expected and we were running late. Before we even left the house, she ended up breaking my new necklace. Granted it was costume jewelry, but gesh. So we get there, and luckily we weren't really late. What I apparently did wrong was let her sleep too long. She wanted nothing to do with sitting and posing. Oh no, Caitlyn wanted to run around like chicken with it's head cut off. All I could do was stand there. If Cyndi got any good shots, she is better than great. I can't even put a name to what it would be. But it would be outstanding, whatever she could get.

Here are some of the other problems we ran into. Caitlyn at first didn't want to part with her beloved bagel. I had to secretly steal it away and dispose of it before she could find it. As the session went on, she being the ever clever child that she is, discovered her shirt under her cardigan was the same as Mommy's. So she insisted on taking it off and then wearing what necklace I did have on. We looked like twins. Great, maybe. But after the photos when I gave in and went to Cold Stone, I think I matched the color of the cardigan Caitlyn was previously wearing, nice and red. As soon as we walked in, we heard "How Cute!!" I wasn't sure why, forgetting that on a normal day she looks like my little mini-me, but now we are dressed the same. All the way down to the shoes. So of course, the first one to point it out also figured out that we took pictures today. And then they all have to comment. Not a bad thing, but something I'm not as used to as Caitlyn seemed to be. She was a princess wave away from starting her own parade. She seems to love the attention, as long as Mommy is holding her, just in case. At least I know she's not completely ready to ditch me yet. :)

"MAMA!!!!"

The past few days, Mommy was sick. So sick that I couldn't move off the couch, let alone sit up right. But my ever so beautiful and caring baby, laid on the couch with me almost the entire time, not once bugging me to get up as she usually would. Caitlyn would even get her own water and would try to feed herself by eating out of cereal boxes. My poor baby. I felt like a terrible mother but I couldn't do anything. But she was by my side, being the caring loving child she is. And during every moment she just cuddled with me or sat there reading a book to me, I knew exactly where she got this from. She is so much like her Daddy and she doesn't even know it yet. Sure, I can say I helped my child becoming this way, but instinctively she got it from Daddy. He is the most caring person that would do anything for anyone, that sometimes he gets hurt along the way. Now, I do not think Caitlyn will quite have that problem, because she also has a lot of Mommy in her, but I do see so much of Daddy, and I think that has helped Mommy make it through this deployment.

But along with this sickness, came new words. And the one I have been waiting for, complaining about forever was "mama". I was so jealous when other children would say it, or Caitlyn insisting on saying Daddy. It was cute, but goodness, I thought I deserved some loving too. Well, she has added it to her vocabulary, and now I am almost regretting it. Why would anyone ever say that? I remember my mother would tell me that she changed her name (the mom one) and that she couldn't respond. And now I know why. At first it was an occasional "mama" just to see that it worked. I of course responded right away, afraid that if I did not, she would decided to not use it. Fast forward a couple of days, and everything is "MAMA!". If someone has a toy she wants "MAMA" If she cannot see me but doesn't want to look, or wants to know what I am doing, "MAMA" If she is confused or just mad at something she sees on tv, she'll point and of course "MAMA". And I must add it is never said in the singular fashion. It's usually comes out in a string, just in case I may miss it the first 100 times she screams it. I know this will never stop. I still repeat Mom numerous times when I go home to visit. Especially when she is not in the room and I can't find her and I want to know what she is doing. I guess everything always comes back to you. Thank goodness she is so cute. :)

"Kicking" Playdate

We went to a play date at a new Mommy Network member's house today. Caitlyn settled right in no problem. Felt right at home. I was so glad. Usually she clings and starts to act all shy. She is a good judge of character though. She always picks the people who are truly the most caring to suck up too. Yeah, she tries to use her cute little ways to convince them to hold her. I think she is trying to do it sometimes to try to show the other kids that she can win over their mommy. Such evilness, but then again she is a girl. And we all know women try to do this with guys, even if they have no interest in them. I feel bad and anxious about the teenage years. It's going to get ugly. But on a light note, Caitlyn did have a great time.

Caitlyn is also talking more now, much to my relief. She said "mama" today!! It was because someone had something she did not want them to have, but it was still my name, and I'll take it. But this is how I know my kid is a little smartie pants. I tried to count with her this evening. The first attempt went like this:

Mommy: "One", Caitlyn: "two", Mommy (now very excited): "three", Caitlyn: "two"

Yeah, so she only knows two. So I was telling Grandma Sheila about this. I told her to listen.

Mommy "one" Caitlyn: "two" Mommy: "three" Caitlyn: "two" Mommy: "four" Caitlyn: "FIVE"

What the heck?!?! So apparently she really does know more than she is letting on. May I have strength to make it until Daddy comes home! :)

Although I know this is a blog about Caitlyn and her daily adventures, I think it is about time I added some pictures of the people we regularly spend time with for those of you that do not know who I am talking about. It always helps me to put a face to a name. Hope you enjoy some of these very fun pictures. Especially the crazy ones we took when we were bored!! There are a lot more, but I'm starting off small. lol.

Nanette Jennifer

Jennifer
Nanette
Loni
Allison
Katherine

Smiling!!

We went to a lovely play date today at Melissa's new house. It was gorgeous and all the kids seemed to have a great time. Nanette luckily was taking pictures and actually got some of Caitlyn smiling!! I couldn't believe it. Mommy has been keeping us home a little bit more with all the physical side effects I'm having, but I'm trying to keep it all fun for Caitlyn. Apparently she had a good time today. She loves when she gets to spend time with her favorite friends, Katherine, Allison and Loni. And of course Mommy loves their Mommies too! The Mommy Network has really been great and we have met so many great people that we truely care about. And they have helped the time fly by with Daddy gone. Only 43 days left!!