10 months old...how is that possible!

Catie is 10 months old today. Where has the time gone?

Here is what Catie is doing now:

She can sit up on her own and stand up on her knees


She can hold herself up when standing


And she loves hiking in her new backpack.


Happy 10 month birthday Catie. I love you!

PS- she can also crawl backwards, we are working on forwards. I'll keep you posted on when that happens.

Friends and birthday celebrations

I am sorry that it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I have been really behind in everything but I am going to try and catch up. May is always a busy month. It consists of Mother's Day, my birthday, my sister's birthday. So many celebrations...so little time.

On May 8th I spent my first whole weekend away from Catie. It was hard to leave her since she was just getting over being sick but I knew that her daddy would take good care of her (and he was also spending the weekend with his parents which made me even more comfortable). I went up to Sea Ranch with 7 of my friends to celebrate my birthday, my sister's birthday and the fact that my friends rock! We stayed at my friends Hillary's house which over looks the Ocean.. GORGEOUS. It was amazing weather and we sat on the deck and drank wine, ate good food, went wine tasting, walked on the water, drank more wine..you get the idea! It was a perfect weekend and I truly am so blessed to have such amazing women in my life. Love you all!

When I got home on Sunday it was Mother's Day and Catie gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers and a really sweet card. I am so lucky to have such a special daughter (and her helper a.ka. her daddy is pretty incredible too).

On May 14th my parents came up for the weekend to celebrate my birthday, my sister's birthday and also so my dad could play in a golf tournament with my cousin Matt (perfect timing). We had a bbq on Thursday and on Friday we went to Matt and Kirstin's for a bbq and to celebrate the fact that I am now 31. Colin loves to rub in the fact that he is still 30 and I have now entered my early 30's.

It was great to see how Catie reacted to my parents. Whenever she saw them she would stretch her arms out for them to take her and she smiled at them the whole time. It was wonderful to see her reaction to them since she doesn't get to them everyday. She obviously knows who her Nonnie and Bampa are!

It was a great weekend hanging out with my family and as usual everyone was too generous with their gifts. Colin got me an amazing gift...Wii and Wii fitness. Just what I wanted. I am really so blessed to have such an incredible family. I love you all so much and thank you for helping me officially enter my early 30's.

All in all May has been a pretty incredible month. I will post more pictures tonight after I download them from my camera.

ER visit

Last week was a little more eventful then we planned. On Tuesday evening Catie seemed a little off. She wasn't wanting to eat and when I felt her forehead it seemed really warm. I do not have my dad's ability to read a temperature by feeling a forehead. Seriously, it's kind of freaky. My dad will feel your forward and say it is 99.6 and when you take your temperature it will say 99.6. He sure is a handy guy to have around. I could have used him in Nor Cal last week.

When I took Catie's temperature is said 102.1. I left a message for the night nurse and she called us back within a couple of minutes. The nurse told me that typically taking her temp under her arm is 1 degree cooler then it really is and because the fever happened so fast and was so high she needed to go to the ER. We grabbed Catie and headed to Marin General.

At the entrance was a nurse asking if she had flu like symptoms and then she handed us a mask for Catie to wear. I wanted to say "yeah right". My daughter is 9 months old, not 9 years old. She will not allow a mask on her face. We tried but as soon as she saw it coming towards her she grabbed it and smiled. That was the end of the mask.

They checked us in and and 2 hours later we were finally seen by a doctor. Catie was great while we waited. She laughed, smiled, played with her toys and couldn't stop staring at everything. I can't same the same thing about her mother. I think I threatened to walk out several if someone wasn't in to see us within the next 5 minutes. It's true....mom's can be really scary!

We were sent home with instructions to give Catie Tylenol and Motrin, cool baths, fluid, and for her to sleep in just a t-shirt and blanket. Colin set up the pack and play next to the bed and Catie tried to sleep. It didn't help that every 10 minutes I was putting my hand on her forehead or waking her up to take medication.

The next day we went to see our Dr. and ran into my cousins Kirstin, Matt and Alexa at the Dr's office. They were so excited to see baby Catie and Alexa made Catie laugh while we waited for Dr. Ornstein. It was great. I can't say the same thing about my appearance. I had only had about 2 hours of sleep the night before. Anyways, Dr. Ornstein checked Catie out and said to continue doing what I was and to call her if we needed anything (she called everyday to check in which is why I love her as a dr.)

Catie started to feel better and then on Thursday morning she woke up with a fever and diarrhea. That was a fun morning. I called the doctor again and was instructed to continue only with Tylenol, pedialite, and the BRAT diet (bananas, rice, apples and toast). Within an hour her fever broke and she was happy again.

Catie really was a trooper and during it all still smiled and laughed. I am so proud of her.

Here is a picture of Catie on the ER bed waiting to see the doctor. You can tell that she has a high fever since her face is bright red! She's cute even when she is sick.

Turk is Toast

On Saturday Colin, Catie, and I drove into the city to attend the Walk Against Brain Cancer. On of my best friend's from college was diagnosed with a grade 3 astrocytoma glioma brain tumor last June. She has had brain surgery, chemo, MRI's, and so much more. She is fighting the fight and on Saturday we all joined her. Jackie named her tumor Turk and we were walking to make sure that Turk was Toast!

Everyone wore toast headgear and walked in the rain to help support such an amazing cause. Jackie spoke during the event and did such an incredible job. We were all so proud of her!!



Team "Turk is Toast" was created to support the National Brain Tumor Society (NBTS), a group that gives money to the guys and gals who don their masks, capes and microscopes to fight brain cancer on a daily basis. Jackie's team has earned over $33,500 dollars and it isn't done yet. If you would like to donate you can do so at http://www.braintumorcommunity.org/site/TR/Events/BTW-SF?team_id=20180&pg=team&fr_id=1380

We love you Jackie.

Catie's Stats...

Catie had her 9 month check-up on Friday with Dr. Ornstein. She weighs 19.4 lbs and is 27 1/2 inches long. I wasn't surprised when the doctor said that she was in the 50% for height. My friend's from college use to say that I was the tallest midget that they knew. Sorry about the height Catie but as your Nonnie always told me, "It's better to be short then tall because you can date tall men and short men"! I told that to myself every time they asked us to line up in order of height.

Anyways, after Dr. Ornstein answered the 12 questions that I had written down (yes, I bring written questions, a pad of paper, and a pen to every doctor visit) we spent the appointment talking about what Catie should be eating. When Catie turned 7 months I started to give her Gerber puffs which dissolve in her mouth and teaches her to use her "pincher" fingers to eat. She has gotten really good at feeding herself (we are now working on eating only 1 puff at a time versus the 4 that she stuffs in her mouth). Since she has done such a great job at feeding herself the doctor said that I need to start giving her more finger foods and less pureed food. Catie should now be having 3 meals a day and about 4 bottle throughout the day.

The doctor told me to start giving Catie steamed vegetables that are cut up, small pieces of chicken, meat or turkey, pasta, and bite size pieces of fruit and cheese. She said that it's ok to give her some of your food at a restaurant, let her gnaw on bread, eat some of your food at meals, etc. There were some rules...no nuts (helps to avoid food allergies), no citrus fruit or milk until she is a year old, and not too many spices. Easy enough!

After the doctor's appointment Catie and I went straight to Trader Joe's to get her some food. My grocery cart has never been filled with so much fruit, vegetables and protein. When we got home I gave Catie some watermelon and turkey. Let me tell you folks...she loved it!! Wow, she really is getting so big. Here is a picture that I took of her eating. As you can see, she is one happy baby!



On tonight's menu...chicken, pears, and asparagus.