More Illlness

Catherine has croup. It started with a stuffy nose and then turned into a runny nose and cough and then the cough turned into the "barking" sound that is the hallmark of croup. I took her to the doctor pretty much expecting the diagnosis, and that's what it was. So, we got a steroid injection at the office to help with the swelling of the vocal cords that causes the barking cough and sometimes breathing difficulties. Thankfully, she has not shown any signs of breathing problems and the steroids have stopped the barking. She is still not feeling well, with a very stuffy nose and cough, and she is not sleeping well either.

Despite the illnesses, she is growing like a weed. At a week shy of 8 months, she weighs 19 lbs. 3 oz. and is 28.5 inches long. So, she has grown an inch and gained around 2.5 lbs in 2 months. It must be all those bananas that she scarfs down!

Christmas 2009

The candy frenzy. Catherine had to nap and missed out on all the sugar.

Christmas 2009

Opening stockings

Christmas 2009

Pictures from Christmas morning. Santa obliged the request for candy canes by hanging them on her tricycle handlebars.

Chritmas 2009

These are pictures from Christmas Eve. Each year since Caroline was born, I have given her an engraved silver bell for Christmas. Her first Christmas was a sterling bell, and each year after has been silver plate. She now has three bells on the tree. Catherine got her sterling bell this year. We got Caroline a play diaper changing set since she is a diaper changing machine these days. The set is complete with a changing pad, wipes box, diapers, a diaper creme tube and a mini potty. She likes to put all her animals and dolls on the potty.

Christmas 2009

These are pictures from the Country Club children's party. Caroline really wanted to sit on Santa's lap but just couldn't quite bring herself to go through with it-- so Daddy had to do. Catherine, however, was happy to pose with Santa. The third was one that made our Christmas card, and the last is one from a series we did at home. Maybe in a few years, we will be able to get both girls on Santa's lap!!!

More Quotables

Because of the relentless cold weather we've had lately, Caroline has been spending quite a bit of time playing in the bounce house upstairs. She has become quite the daredevil, performing front somersaults from a standing jump (I was terrified she was going to break her neck the first time she did it, but thankfully, she has managed to do it safely so far) and jumping off of the inflatable entry platform onto the floor. A couple of days ago, she was standing at the back of the platform and decided to jump and land on her bottom on the floor (I think mimicking a gymnastics activity where you jump on the trampoline and land on your bottom). Anyway, after she landed, it took a couple of seconds for the shock to set in that the floor was hard and didn't bounce like the trampoline or bounce house. She looked at me in disbelief and started to cry. She came over to me to get a hug and then ran out of the room holding her bottom and crying " Oooooh, that hurt my fanny!" I was howling and thank goodness the bounce house was loud enough that she couldn't hear me.

Caroline got a Barbie doll for Christmas. We were playing a couple of days ago, and she said "Mommy, I can't find my Barbie footer (pronounced with an oooh, not like foot). So, I contemplate for a minute, trying to figure out what she means, and it comes to me. She's saying Barbie scooter. Our neighbors have a young daughter who has a Barbie scooter that Caroline has ridden on before. The scooter is the only Barbie thing she has known up until getting a Barbie doll at Christmas. So, in her mind, the two words go together. When we call the doll Barbie, she thinks of the name we used for the scooter... "the Barbie scooter" and so she calls her Barbie doll "Barbie scooter." Once I processed all of this, I explained to her that Allie has a scooter that is pink and has pictures of Barbie on it and that's why we call it a Barbie scooter. But, her doll is just called Barbie. To which Caroline responds "footer", as if to complete what I have left out. Oh well.

Not to be outdone by her sister, Catherine has been joining in the conversation lately. On the car ride home from Destin last week, she was making loud "aaaaah" sounds. So I decided to respond back with an equally loud "aaaaah". And then she repeated it again... "aaaaah!" and we went back and forth a few times. Of course, then Caroline caught on and joined in with answering Catherine with an even louder "aaaaah!!!!" and so the three of us were screaming aaaaahs for several minutes. What can I say....eight hours in the car is a long time.

And not a quotable... but a notable. Catherine is starting to sit without support for short periods as of 1/10. She's still pretty wobbly and will topple over if she reaches for anything. She is also trying to lift her bottom and pull her knees under her a little when she is on her belly. It is very apparent that she gets frustrated that she isn't mobile yet. She sees toys that she wants and will try to pull and move toward them and sometimes even lets out a yelp in frustration. As soon as she is sitting a little better, I think crawling will be very soon to follow.