Goodwin Family Tree

Peaceful day at Bittercreek

2011-04-11T23:02:00.000-07:00

Spent Sunday at Bittercreek Railroad. It's been a really long time since we were last there. Only a handful of people were there-- was really nice and peaceful to have the whole place literally to ourselves.

Better Than TV?

2011-04-03T09:50:00.000-07:00

We did some laundry this morning and James pulled up a stool to watch the clothes go round and round.

Cate reading one of her favorites books in the arm chair. I remember when James used to do this at her age.

Corey & James Climb a Mountain

2011-04-02T13:40:00.001-07:00

Corey & James had a fun adventure last weekend hiking up to the CalPoly 'P'. After almost a week of rain the clouds finally parted and the sun shone on all the clean green earth below it. Corey said James hiked the whole way to the top and back, and despite skipping a nap, he was bouncing off the walls when he got home afterwards and was telling me all about it jumping up and down in place. We are very excited to start hiking on the "muddy mountain" (as James calls it) aka Madonna Mountain (can see it from the kids' bedroom window) as well as the other peaks in the area. The kids love being outdoors so much and Corey & I love the fresh air and seeing all the astounding views of our town when you climb just a little ways up most of the hills in the area. Really lucky to live is such an amazing place.

Lunch Date with Cate

2011-04-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Just had my first mommy & daugther lunch date with Cate today at Panera. It was overcast but perfectly still outside so we sat on the patio (anticipating food might be thrown everywhere) and enjoyed a turkey sandwich, tomoato basil soup, and some mac & cheese. We had such a pleasant time we went to the park at the lake afterwards for a little play time before naps. It was so nice to spend one on one quality time with her and actually take a moment to talk with her, give her direct attention, and read her books without being in a hurry. Look forward to doing it again!

March magically warm evening

2011-03-31T21:11:00.000-07:00

My daughter picked the onions out of the salsa tonight so she could eat them like little apple pieces munch munch munch. Then she had 4 ginormous strawberries at Farmer's tonight. But she turns her nose up at donuts and cookies. Go figure.

In the meantime, James' new favorite word is pajammies, as in "let's stay in our pajammies ALL day!" He's excellent at undressing and dressing himself all on his own and picks out his outfits everyday, which mainly consist of his favorite color blue.

Cate's Check-up

2011-03-22T19:33:00.000-07:00

Little Catherine had her 20 month check-up today and here are her stats:

Height: 33.25" (75th percentile)
Weight: 25 lbs. (50th percentile)

She's also just started wearing a size 6 shoe (size 5's still fit, but barely) and James at 3.5 years old is wearing a size 10 (wow!). Big feet run in the family apparently.

Cate's Words at 19 months

2011-03-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Cate has so many new words it's hard to keep up with it, but some of my favorites include:

"Nana" for banana
"Mee" for blankie
"Meemees" for jammies
"Jmss" for James
"Behgees" for veggies
Daddee & Mommee (she rattles this off is sentences)
"Heh-woah" for hello as she holds a phone to her ear
"Dow" for down (and for up on most occassions)
"Wa" for water
"Meh" for milk
"Ktee" for kitty
"Boohbah" for football (LOVES the football)
"Owwee"
"Peepee" and "poopoo" (she's fascinated with the bathroom and James keeps informing us we need to get his little potty out for her to use)
"Ba" for bath
"Eerrs" for ears, "eyes", "noh" for nose, "ha" for head/hair (and she points to each body part as you go through them)
"Daw" for dog (and she can point them out)
"Brsh" for brush (either for hair, teeth, or a la Ariel she uses her fork)
"Two" while holding up two items of the same thing

Fun to compare to James' words at the same age.

She completely understands everything that's going on and follows conversations. If Corey talks about running to the store with James, she toddles to the door for her "shoooss" so she won't get left behind (if she does, she erupts into tears). She adores "baybees" (babies) as well as strollers and anything else with buckles (high chairs, carseats, etc.). She loves to read books before bed and rock in the rocking chair. She also still loves food, favoring veggies and anything bursting with flavor (salsa, special sauce, you name it, it's gotta have flavor). Fun little girl!

Jeff & Lindsey Turner's Wedding

2011-02-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

Make no mistake, I know darn well I'm not a wedding photographer, but when my nephew Jeffery Turner (my sister Judy's 2nd oldest son) and his bride Lindsey Taylor informed us their friend & photographer was terribly sick and wouldn't be able to make it to the wedding, I felt the least I could do was step up and try to capture as many moments as I could. And out of 1,600 shots, I think I managed to get a couple good ones in there :-)

My sister Eileen just got the same camera as me for Christmas (good hubby she has!) so we spent the evening swapping cameras and taking snaps of every moment we could (no seriously, every moment). We tried to be stealth about it, even taking off our heels for the ceremony so we wouldn't go click clacking all over the dance floor as the bride and groom exchanged vows but it's kinda hard to miss two nearly 6 foot tall women decked out in black dresses dashing about the room angling for the best shot. Nevertheless, we did pretty decent. Below are some favorites (I'll load more group shots in a separate post when I have another 2 or 3 or 10 hours to kill).

Sweetest moments

2011-01-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

Everybody's sick in the Goodwin household this weekend but there are still some special moments to be had. Last night Corey and James went to the pharmacy while Cate and I stayed home. I held her in my arms, her head nestled in the curve of my neck and snuggled up chest to chest and she dozed off as we slow danced to some guitar laden samba music. One of the sweetest memories I will always cherish.

My Little Man

2011-01-03T19:45:00.000-08:00

James and I were playing with his Moon Sand construction jobsite (note to stressed out parents, Moon Sand is surprisingly therapuetic for the anxious soul as you squeeze and squish the malleable sand through your bare hands you can feel the tension ooze out of your body), when I thought to myself how much I love hanging out with him. He chatters about working on the jobsite, building walls and houses, using the toy jack hammer ("Jack, Jack, Jack..." as he pummels the dirt), and buries each of the toys. I love gazing at his profile. Was just thinking he's my little man now but I know someday he won't be. Lucky to have him now.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T23:12:00.000-08:00

We rung in the new year at the farm with Grandma Mary Lou and Papa Les along with Corey's cousin David and his family Courtney, Cambria, and baby Hunter. James and Cambria are less than a year apart they both played really well together, talking and telling each other stories. They spent all of New Year's Eve day playing on the swings, jumping in the bounce house, digging in the sandbox, and picking flowers for a pretend wedding.

I spent the day behind my new 50mm f/1.8 lens and totally am in love with the results. I love the high quality of light and the idea of capturing professional looking photos of every day life.

2nd Day of Christmas with the Adamsons

2010-12-29T21:48:00.000-08:00

Ellen's parents came to visit on the 26th to celebrate the 2nd day of Christmas the European way. Grandma Lanie ("Oma") and Grandpa Ole ("Taadu") brought even more presents and we sat around eating even more delicious food! Oh, gotta love the holidays!

It's official, Cate adores both grandpas and loves to climb in their laps. She was in Papa's arms all of Christmas Eve and she was in Taadu's arms all of today (she especially loves to pick pocket his shirt pocket).

The presents were more than generous-- a fully equipped kitchen (and bonus, a big box to play in!) and baseball pitching machine for the kids, a beautiful cashmere sweater for Corey, and *drum roll please* a 50mm f/1.8 lens for me!! So excited! Barely have begun to use it but totally adore it! I just love the artistic quality of light in the photos and the luminousity of the skin.

Photos with the new lens (in addition to the 2 at the top):

Christmas Day at Goodwin Farm

2010-12-29T21:46:00.000-08:00

After we spent the morning at home opening presents and eating breakfast, we went to Corey's parent's house and spent the rest of the day opening more presents and eating even more food.

Quick snippet

2010-12-29T20:44:00.001-08:00

James loves singing songs-- I'm listening to him right now singing along with a tune on TV trying to learn the lyrics.

And Cate is turning out to be such a stinker. I was trying to put her hair in pigtails for Christmas Eve and as soon as I was done she ran from me, went into our closet, and slammed the door! A few moments later she came out wearing Corey's orange baseball cap over her fresh pigtails. That's what I think of your pigtails, Mama!

Christmas Eve

2010-12-29T19:46:00.001-08:00

After celebrating Christmas Eve Eve at our house (dinner menu: scrumptious spiral glazed ham, lemon pepper chicken on the side for non-pork eaters, green beans with garlic butter, and the most divine garlic mashed potatoes EVER), we spent the next two days at the farm spending time with Corey's side of the family. Cate was feeling under the weather so she slept through most of Christmas Eve, but she awoke with a very sunny disposition-- just in time for, you guessed it, another photo shoot! I ADORE her dress (and she did too grabbing it and shaking it back and forth like a can-can dancer) and am wondering how on earth I could make an excuse to dress her up in it again!

In attendance: Grandma Mary Lou & Papa Les, Mark & Lora, Kevin, Natalie, Ashlin, & Westin, plus our crew. We also had special guest photographer, Geoff Muroe (Corey's long time friend), join us in time for dinner. Oh, and we musn't forget little dog Louie.

(FYI, you can click on the thumbnails below to enlarge the pictures and should be able to save them to your own computer if you like).

Cousin time!

2010-12-29T19:05:00.001-08:00

We visited Kevin, Natalie, Ashlin, & Westin a few weeks ago and managed to sneak in some portrait time with the kids. I think my photography skills are still lacking (think I maybe should have underexposed the photo and then used a gentle flash) but the expressions are priceless. James and Ashlin play really well together and are excited whenever they get to see each other now.

Christmas Card Photo Outtakes

2010-12-28T23:41:00.001-08:00

Think it's finally safe to post some outtakes from our recent amateur photo shoots for our Christmas cards.

And the finished product:

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-25T07:59:00.000-08:00

Ho ho ho Merry Christmas! Hope you are all as excited as James for Santa to arrrive! Corey and I have been enjoying creating that magical moment of seeing a gigantic pile of presents the first moment in the morning and creating many of the same memories we have of when we were little. There's something so excitingly rewarding to go to bed trying to have faith that Santa will visit only to wake up and discover that he did!

P.S. The only reason I have time to post this is my internal clock woke me at 7am and I couldn't lie in bed any longer to wait for the kids to wake up!

Criss cross crashers! (Matchbox car race course) Santa came through!

James also figured out how Santa gets in our house (he was very concerned we didn't have a fireplace or chimney for him). While opening the microwave to pop some popcorn, James declared "that's how Santa gets in!" as he pointed at the circular microwave vent. Such a clever boy! I kept telling him I don't know how Santa does it but he seems to find his way in every year. Mystery solved!

Santa!

2010-12-19T19:54:00.000-08:00

"I want a criss cross crashers!"

In case these pictures aren't obvious enough, James was ECSTATIC to see Santa Claus. Cate, not so much.

The sweetest sounds

2010-12-18T08:25:00.000-08:00

The kids let us sleep in this morning until 8 (normally up by 7) and as usual I woke up to the sound of them laughing, giggling, and talking to each other. James is a stinker and instagator of prompting Cate to do things so their conversation was a little like this:

James: "Do you want milky? Baba? Baba?"

Cate: "Baba!" (it was of course James who wanted milk but he figured he needed reinforcements).

James: "Let me check on mama. I'll be right back!" Pitter patter pitter patter (as he slowly walks into our room). PITTERPATTERPITTERPATTER (as he sees I'm still sleeping so he runs back into his bedroom and the kids dissolve into giggles).

He snuck back in several more times between conversing with Cate about mama, milk, and making silly sounds. Oh, we're so blessed!

Talking Doll

2010-12-17T22:28:00.000-08:00

Little Cate had her check-up last week and she is healthy and happy and growing well. At almost 17 months old, her stats are:

Height: 80th percentile
Weight: 60th percentile

She's also talking a lot using new words every day: "ha" for hat, "bu" for book, "ba" for ball, "baba" for bottle, "buh" for her blankie, "beeh" for her bear, "nigh-nigh" for "I'm sleepy and ready for a bottle and bed, "baybee" for baby (she was enamored with baby Westin when we saw him last weekend), "shh" for shoe, "shh" with a finger to the lips for shushing, "cheeesss" for cheese, "ch-ch" for chicken, "awah awah" for rock rock (in the rocking chair), "ee ee" for arf arf (like a doggie), and "boo" for peek-a-boo (complete with hands over the eyes), as well as "mmmah" kissing sounds for hugs & kisses. She listens very well and understands the majority of the things we say when we direct her to do things (turn the light on, turn it off, put paper in the trash, sit down to put shoes on, etc.).

She also signs "all done" (while saying "ahh dahn"), "eat", and "more". Interestingly, she has 2 different versions of "more"-- one is the proper form (fingers of each handed grouped together and then moved together and away repeatedly) used to say she wants to eat more, the other is two fists bumping each other to say she wants to repeat an activity (like jumping on the bed, tickling, chasing, etc.).

Fun little girl!

Like Father Like Son

2010-12-17T11:40:00.000-08:00

James just got off his toy phone and his conversation went a little something like this:

"Hehwoah? (Hello?)... No I'm just working... (pause)... Do you need anything?... (pause)... You a need a contrwact? Ok! Bye-bye"

Training him early!

'member when...

2010-12-14T01:06:00.000-08:00

Instead of posting photos with every entry I think I need to start jotting down memories as they occur-- I have a long list of things I've been meaning to take note of on here but I rarely have an opportunity to sit down at the computer and upload photos so I'm going to try posting snippets instead and adding photos later.

James has the most amazing memory I have ever encountered in a child before. He easily remembers things from 6 months ago without any prompting from us. It's gotten to the point where Corey & I have started checking with each other to see if we're the ones prompting his reminiscing but more often than not he's pulling from his own memory. Today the two us went shopping after work so it was dark and foggy out and he started with "member when daddy and I used to go to the gym? I don't member the way because it's dark out. There's bumpy arrows next to the gym" and he kept going on and on about he and daddy going to the gym. I'm wracking my brain trying to think what gym he's referring to because Corey and I both have been way too lazy for way too long to have a gym in our lives. But James kept insisting it was a gym and I felt bad for not understanding because I was obviously the weak link in the conversation here.

I finally asked Corey when he got home and he immediately knew-- he and James used to take a daddy and me sports class at a gymnasium located near where we went shopping. The class ended before summer and we haven't really talked about it since (especially not recently). And it was dark and foggy out yet he still recognized the direction and had a sense of where we were in town.

That kid just amazes me every day!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

2010-12-06T07:24:00.000-08:00

Bathing Beauty

2010-11-29T22:58:00.000-08:00

Cate adores glasses. I couldn't have posed her if I tried!

Thanksgiving, Round Two

2010-11-29T20:09:00.001-08:00

We made the long trek to Orange County for the 2nd time this month to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family. We had a wonderful time hanging out with my parents and my sister, Judy, and her family. Best yet, they were all very patient subjects for my photo experiments and entertained my every whim, even if it meant they were staring up at a bright white building (oops, sorry!).

In attendance: Corey, Ellen, James, Cate; Ole & Lanie Adamson (Taadu & Oma/Grandma); Judy & Rick Turner; Michael & Tiffany; Jeff & Lindsey; CJ; & Josh. We also skyped a couple times that day so in cyber attendance were the Seltzer bunch: Eileen, Dean, Dean III, Paul, & Suzanne.

James is enamored with Judy and Josh who was really great at playing with James. Cate toddled everywhere and both kids had fun playing in Taadu & Oma's toy cabinet under the stairs (and we musn't forget the dominoes!). Wish our trip could have been longer (we stayed 3 nights, 3 days) but we still had a great time relaxing, visiting, and eating lots of good food!

Fun with Black & White

2010-11-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Having some more fun with my camera and experimenting with exposure. I really should take these photos as color and just convert in photoshop later, but that's too much work for when I'm just having fun exploring the camera :-) In the meantime, I've discovered my mom's really photogenenic.

Aperture, F-Stop, Focal Length, ISO, Shutter Speed

2010-11-23T20:01:00.001-08:00

All are new vocabulary words for me as I venture beyond the automatic settings on my Canon Rebel T2i camera, which so far I completely adore for the speed and clarity of the photos. But the auto settings just aren't cutting it for me. I had that with my point & shoot Sony compact 8MP camera (minus the fast shutter speed). There are so many buttons and dials on the new camera, it's pretty intimidating. So I started fiddling with it a bit last night, and boy, was I a kid in a candy store! This thing rocks! It also helped when my 3 year old subject became much more cooperative after I started paying him in mini marshmallows.

These next shots were taken with no flash and it was almost pitch dark with an overcast night sky (no tripod either, unfortunately).

Catie Belle

2010-11-23T19:16:00.000-08:00

Catie Belle, Catie Bear, Cate Cate, Lady Baby, Dolly, Missy. All nicknames I love to call my Catherine Ella. Her communication skills are growing by the day, using the sign for "more" for more food as well as more of an activity she's enjoying (such as scratching her poor itchy legs). She's also starting to sign "eat" and says "choo-choo" when she hears the train, says "chi-en" for chicken, "chsh" for itch, and some other words I'm already starting to forget because she's saying so many of them. She's also a climber and a jokester like James. And she's walking 4-5 steps at a time totally steady and happy she's walking!

Fun with Macro

2010-11-14T19:25:00.001-08:00

I'm still learning the auto settings on my camera (and I'm attempting to learn how to use the manual settings as well)-- love the macro setting! So amazing the detailed images and focus you can get with the right camera and lens (and I'm just shooting with a cheapy kit lens).

Thanksgiving, Round One

2010-11-14T12:35:00.000-08:00

Maggie & Frank Wissel (Corey's aunt & uncle) host an annual Thanksgiving feast and this year they tried something a little different by setting it for the first weekend in November to accommodate everyone's growing families so a lot of us don't have to run to another Thanksgiving before the turkey & gravy has even hit our stomachs. We thoroughly enojoyed ourselves and hope it can become a new tradition-- it will allow us to spend quality, and quantity, time with both sides of our families.

In attendance: Great-Grandma Margie Koonze, the Goodwin's including all 3 Goodwin family offshoots (Les & Mary Lou; us; Kevin, Natalie, Ashlin, & 13 week old baby Westin; Mark & Lora), the Mistofsky crew (Uncle Bob & Aunt Jeanette; David, Courtney, Cambria, & 6 week old baby Hunter), Aunt Charlotte Polena and her daughters Christina and Kimberly, the Wissel's (Uncle Frank, Aunt Maggie; Jon & Cheryl; Steve; Andy), and the Koonze's (Uncle Charlie, Aunt Imelda, and Mathew). Oh boy I hope I didn't forget anybody.

The 3 oldest great-grandchildren (James 3, Cambria 2.5, Ashlin 2) played really well together and had a grand time in our bounce house (so glad that thing is portable!). The little babies slept most of the time and traveled from arm to arm while poor sleep-deprived Cate was a little overwhelmed and under-rested from all the hubbub (and our adventures on the side of the road the day before) so she was pretty unsettled and fussed if mama wasn't within direct eyesight (when she wasn't glued to mama's hip that is).

We had a great time catching up with everyone and are very thankful Frank & Maggie set up everything so we could spend this special time together. It's a great family reunion every year and we really cherish the memories!

Blogger

2010-11-13T22:12:00.000-08:00

For those of you who kindly remind me I don't update my blog often enough, can you share your secrets on how to quickly upload photos? Either it's just being glitchy tonight or something seriously is going wrong but I'm going insane uploading photos that then disappear after I've waited 15 minutes to load. Throwing in the towel tonight, hopefully will have time again tomorrow.

An unexpected trip to SB

2010-11-13T21:10:00.000-08:00

So on our way down to Orange County to have an early Thanksgiving celebration with Corey's maternal side of the family, our car decided to call it quits and overheated (!). We were stuck by the side of the road at 10pm at night with 2 snoozing kids in the back seat over 100 miles from home. Not good. Luckily, we were just south of Santa Barbara and Kevin came to our rescue. We stayed with Kevin & Natalie and kids while our car was being worked on. Thank goodness for the kindness of family! We kept thinking how awful things could've been if we'd been stranded in the middle of LA. As it turned out, wasn't all that bad being stuck in paradise!

And what better place for mama to play with her new toy, a digital SLR camera? I took over 400 photos in 3 days. Needless to say, I'm loving this beautiful new machine while fully realizing I have so much more to learn to truly get fantastic photos. Here are just a few shots from the day (literally just a few-- I'm learning to erase photos that don't come out right).

Little update

2010-11-13T20:19:00.000-08:00

Cate at 16 months (almost): Our little girl is getting more interactive every day. She's expanding her vocabulary with words like "sshh" for shoe, "psh" for push (the kids love to push the garage door button), "mmmmah" for giving kisses (mwaah!), "mine!" is perfected, "br" for bird (or any animal really, dog, cat, bug), "puh" for up (to be picked up), "buh" for book, "papa" for grandpa, "bru" for brush (and I swear she said "prtee" for pretty yesterday), "sshh" with a finger to her lips for shushing, "boopb" for poop, says "wha za?" while pointing and asking "what's that?", she still speaks and signs "ah dahn" for all done (as in, I'm all done shopping mommy!), she signs "more" when she's hungry or when she wants to do more of something like singing songs, she still ADORES music and rocking to the music (she nods her head keeping beat with the rythm and she's starting to wave her hands about too), and she wants to do anything and everything James does. She throws a fit if we attempt to take a shower without her (think she could live in the bathtub) and she's finally really interested in walking and loves to walk holding onto James' hand.

James is a fantastic big brother. Just this morning, when he woke up he came into our room and said "I have to pee but then I have to go back and check on Catie". And then when he was running back to their room he said "I'm coming Catie!" He comforts her, tells us when she needs something (or is doing something wrong like shaking her sippy of milk upside down drenching her clothes), shares his toys (for the most part), and overall is a great helper. We're very lucky to have 2 kids that get along so well! He's also figuring out that letters make sounds and form words that we read in books, or even on signs of buildings. Just the other day he was playing with his alphabet puzzle and asked "is this right mommy?" When I looked, he had pulled out the J, M, E, & S, had them just about in order and was asking what he was missing. He also serenades me with songs and is all around a cute kid.

Walking!

2010-11-10T22:20:00.000-08:00

Just as I predicted, Cate took her first steps today when mommy was at work. Happy sad moment. Or maybe sad happy. At any rate, she's walking unaided at 15 months 3 weeks! She's been walking while holding on to things for 5 or 6 months but prefers crawling long distances. I'm very excited she finally has the confidence to do it on her own. Corey was really sweet trying to recreate it for me tonight before he told me she'd already walked across the room at daycare this morning. She only walked a few steps for me but hey, it's the first day. Watch out world, two toddlers in the house!

Halloween Party

2010-10-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

The first of 4 Halloween events this October (really getting our bang for the buck on those costumes!) was the kids' party at daycare. All the kids dress up, the parents are there, and even some of the "alumni" come back for the afternoon. One of the dads is a professional wedding photographer and snapped these pics-- he even let me have a go with his camera and now I want a dSLR more than anything. Of course, I want the instant expert knowledge to go with it too so I could replicate these professional photos!

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-27T21:16:00.000-07:00

Check-ups

2010-08-27T22:18:00.001-07:00

So the kids had their check-ups today-- James had to get a shot and he took it like a pro. Cate on the other hand had to get a few more and she was none too happy about it. Their latest stats are:

James (3 years)
Height: 37.5 inches (50th percentile)
Weight: 33.4 lbs. (50th percentile)

Cate (13 months)
Height: 31 inches (85th percentile)
Weight: 23.8 lbs. (75th percentile)

Happy 3rd Birthday, James!

2010-07-17T22:41:00.000-07:00

Can hardly believe it was 3 years ago today I held my tiny miracle in my arms at last.

Happy 1st Birthday, Catherine Ella!

2010-07-15T22:10:00.000-07:00

Who, me?

2010-07-12T22:11:00.001-07:00

With mobility comes mischief-- little Miss Innocent has traded her sneak attack maneuvers of quietly & slowly slinking across the floor in a series of splits, lunges and backward scoots (great for landing a surprise attack on big brother's toy train village when it takes 20 minutes for her to move 5 feet) and now officially "crawls" by pulling herself along while on her hands and knees-- must get that upper body strength from daddy! She maneuvered her way to the dresser, pulled open a drawer (she was trying to pull herself to standing), and started pulling all of James' pj's out to great delight. Such a stinker!

a whole boatload of Mexico pictures

2010-07-10T22:06:00.000-07:00

James is still talking about Mexico which reminded me we still had a bunch of photos to post. We had an absolute blast spending 8 days in Cabo San Lucas with Grandpa Les & Grandma Mary Lou at the beginning of June. We spent our days by the pool, at the beach, and walking around the quaint little town. We ate shrimp & lobster almost every single day at Maro's Shrimp House. The weather was a bit cooler and breezier than expected (one day almost looked like it would rain!) but it was perfect for all the walking we did.

James, Cate, & I were the fishes of the group and could've spent all day in the pool! James thoroughly enjoyed the freedom his water wings gave him (that is, once we got him to put them on) and Cate just loved to splash and play. James also had fun using our imaginative, but travel friendly, toys such as a paint brush (for "painting" with water outside), a roll of tape (to make a race track in our room), and pipe cleaners (to make shapes, and rings, and other accessories). We greatly look forward to making more trips there in the future!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-06T22:17:00.000-07:00

We had a very eventful July 4th, starting with church outdoors in their quaint ampitheater under the trees, breakfast at Frank's hot dogs (yes, despite the name, they do actually serve yummy pancake breakfast), on to 5 hours at the Bittercreek Railroad (Cate fell asleep on loop 2 so we rode a few more laps, had a bbq lunch, a few more laps on the trains and James fell asleep on lap 6 or 7-- I don't know I started to lose count haha!), back home for naps, and then over to our friends Adam & Carrie's new house in Bayview Heights where we viewed 3-4 fireworks shows from their back deck (Morro Bay, Cayucos, one in between, and a few slightly less legal but no less entertaining rogue shows) and lit a few sparklers in the backyard for the kids. James had a blast rough housing with Logan & Taylor running around like maniacs because they were up way past their bedtimes & they knew it!

A very full and exciting Independence Day indeed! On Monday (I had the day off luckily), James kept asking if we were going back to "the train station" and when a train passed by our house tooting its horn I swear Cate said "ch-ch" for choo-choo!

Pigtails!

2010-07-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hi, my name is Ellen, and I'm obsessed with my daughter's pigtails! They're just so stinkin' cute and make her look like such an adorable GIRL!

Such a Cate face

2010-07-06T19:39:00.001-07:00

And as you can see from her stinker face above, she now has 4 teeth top & bottom!

We heart Cabo San Lucas

2010-06-29T23:03:00.000-07:00

Mexico here we come!

2010-06-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Both kids did so well on our flights to and from Mexico-- Cate fell asleep at take-off on both flights and James played and napped, just so excited to be re-enacting every scene from his book "My First Airplane Ride" (complete with taking off your shoes at security). We are so lucky our kids travel so well!

Oma & Taadu's and LAX

2010-06-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

So we traveled to Orange County to stay with Oma & Taadu before we flew out of LAX to go to Mexico and spent a day there doing what James loves best-- playing with dominoes! And then what do we find at the airport as we wait for our flight? The biggest construction site ever right out side the window and us with front row seats of all the action-- James was already in heaven. Sign him up for air flight every day haha!

Memorial Day

2010-06-23T21:13:00.001-07:00

We spent Memorial Day visiting the Los Osos Veteran's Cemetary. They always honor our soldiers so well with hundreds of American flags, sky divers carrying the American flag, and vintage military airplanes flying overhead. Very good day to remember!

mama update

2010-06-22T21:37:00.000-07:00

so what happens as soon as we get back from a glorious vacation in Cabo San Lucas? Mama gets hit with tonsilitis, that's what! worst throat, neck, head pain ever accompanied with fever, chills, and ridiculous aches and pains-- for 5 days now with no end in sight... downloaded pics to my computer but now need to tackle the laborious task of uploading them to the website... but the bed is beckoning me, telling me it can put me out of my misery for a few brief hours...

*update in progress* :-(

Cate, 10.5 months

2010-06-03T00:27:00.000-07:00

Wow, I can't believe I missed an entire month of photos and posts. Woops. I knew my list of things I wanted to write about was getting long but didn't realize just how long I was putting them off for.

Well, Cate's still not crawling and despite the pediatrician's reassurances that the window for crawling is typically between 9 to 11 months, I still have some strong misgivings that Cate won't even be crawling by her first birthday. I'm sure I'll look back on this one day and think what a silly worry wart of a mother I was but I just can't help it. I know a couple other babies her age that aren't crawling either so maybe they were just born under a lazy sign or something. I do have to give her credit it though since her mobility has increased a lot in the past few weeks-- she spins on her belly and is excellant and scooting backwards (which frustrates her to no end) and when she's sitting she maneuvers herself around and is reaching really far for things so she sort of ends up on her hands and knees (supposed to be a good precursor to crawling). She will also walk when we hold her up by her arms.

She clearly says "mama" and "dada" now and also makes a "juh" sound for James. And several weeks ago she started saying "uh oh" whenever she dropped a toy-- and when you pick it up for her and give it back she will promptly throw it on the ground, peer down to look at it, and declare "uh oh". So cute! She will also mimic me when we play with a stuffed cow as I make mooing sounds she looks at me and then says "mmmmm" or sometimes "muh".

Cate absolutely adores music! Her favorite toys are the ones that play melodies when you press buttons and she'll clap her hands, smile, and rock her body back and forth. She also loves the theme song to Go Diego Go (big brother James' favorite show these days).

And poor baby girl had 5 teeth come in within a 2 week span for a total of 7 teeth now. Started with the upper left front tooth, followed by the upper right front tooth the next day, the tooth next to that, then a bottom tooth, and finally another upper tooth-- so she has her 4 front top teeth in and 3 on the bottom right now. She's learning to chew and crunch and certainly is enjoying her new foods.

She's also starting to wave bye-bye. A couple weeks ago I dropped the kids off at Donna's house (daycare) and as I waved bye to Cate, her hand started to wave open and close just like mine. She looked down at it curiously as if to say "huh, that's a peculiar thing my hand is doing right now". She's also getting pretty good at signing "all done" (both hands in the air waving) but to say she wants to eat more she still just opens her mouth and waits expectantly.

Her hair is getting long! And it curls at the nape of her neck! For someone who has stick straight hair, the prospects of having a daughter with curly/wavy hair is so exciting! I can't wait to see what it looks like as it grows in more-- so fun!

She also had her 10 month check up last week and her official stats are:

Height: 29.5 inches (80th percentile)
Weight: 21 lbs. 8 oz. (85th percentile)
Head: 45 cm (70th percentile)

Cate, 9 months

2010-04-27T20:40:00.000-07:00

Cate, Catie Bear, is 9 months and about to be sporting 5 teeth instead of 2-- that's right, after months of no new teeth she is now sprouting 3 new ones! Poor darling! The bottom tooth to the left of the front teeth (making 3 on the bottom now) pushed through about a half a day before her upper right front tooth cleared the gums (and she has now discovered grinding! urrg!). The upper left front tooth looks like it will pierce through in the next day or two. With those new teeth came her first apple slice which she properly slobbered all over and even managed to get a few apple slivers off and into her tummy.

Speaking of tummies, hers is still adequately glued to the floor with no signs of lifting. To say mama is impatient is getting to be the running joke-- considering James was 8 months when he crawled (which I thought was kinda late), standing on his own at 9 months, and walking at 9.5 months, I have to say I'm quite confused by this little girl that only manages to scoot backwards and spin in circles. All in their own time, right? She won't be crawling when she's in college, right?... Right?

Well, one area she's ahead of James is clapping-- she's still a clapping maniac (it took James until after a year old to finally start clapping) and even loves slapping her tummy or patting mama. She's also incredibly happy, laughing and smiling at the crazy world around her. I love her giggles!

Another proud first for mama-- I mean Cate-- is bows in the hair! There's finally enough fluff up top to sorta get a bow to stay in her hair (a little gel may have been implemented to achieve the desired affect). So fun.

On a side note, that top photo of Cate totally reminds me of her cousin Suzanne Seltzer-- something in the cute smirk and sparkly big blue eyes!

James, 2 years 9 months

2010-04-27T20:24:00.001-07:00

James, my man, "Jamesie" as I call him all the time (and as he now refers to himself) is turning into such a grown-up (attitude included). Conversations which used to be limited to a few words on his end "Mama wha you doing?" have become "Mama what you doing down here all by yourself?" when he comes down the stairs in the morning to join me before I go to work.

I still adore his pronunciation quirks (ie. "oiyo" for oil and every word with the letter "L" in it transforms to a "W" sound). He's infatuated with winning & losing and everything has become a race where mama inevitably "wooses". When we visited Oma & Taadu's house last weekend he was playing in their backyard for a bit when he came up to my dad and said "Taadu, the plants are tirsty" as in, it's time to get the watering can out and start playing with water!

The one caveat to his potty training activities is he's now convinced the entire world is one giant public urinal.

And one of his favorite pastimes by far is visiting the jobsite to see Grandpa & Mark where "Uncle Marky" is kind enough to give James a tractor ride. This kid has it made!

we're so lucky these two get along so well

2010-04-27T20:13:00.001-07:00

Only a mama would be so proud

2010-04-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Today is a momentous day for potty training-- James pooped IN the potty! This is day 6 of training and he's been proficient at peeing in the potty since the 2nd day (actually, he started to get the hang of it before the end of the first day) but the thing about going #2 is you just don't get as many opportunities to practice it. We've had a few mishaps but he finally had success today-- yay! Just so glad he's getting the hang of it and is so excited to be a big boy!

James the man

2010-04-11T18:45:00.000-07:00

So the 2nd night of potty training couldn't have gone more smoothly-- James woke up on his own twice, came in to use the potty, and went straight back to bed. He woke up dry and has continued to use the potty at his own direction all day (and we've even gone shopping). I think I finally understand what it feels like to have your heart swell with pride!

Smiles & laughs

2010-04-10T22:59:00.000-07:00

These kids have so much fun together! Cate and daddy usually wait outside for James & mommy to come home from work and James goes bonkers showing off for Cate running in circles and giving shoulder rides and pretty much acting like a nut. Cate gets a kick out of how hilarious her older brother is. And now that Cate goes to daycare with James he's the best big brother ever, protecting "my Cate" (as he calls her) from everyone.

Today also marks day two of potty training for James and so far he was 100% successful at peeing on the potty today-- not even a question of an accident! Absolutely no diapers whatsoever per the 3 Day Method (he even just woke up a few minutes ago to go pee on the potty and then went right back to bed). I am so proud of my little boy! At the same time, there's a pang in my heart that undeniably my little baby is on the road to being a baby no more!

If you're happy clap your hands

2010-04-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

At 8.5 months old, Cate is clapping her hands! She's been waving her arms around for a long time now and loves to hold my hands when I clap but today she mastered it on her own-- palms wide open and slapping together. You can tell she's so proud of her new trick! I'll have to see if I can upload the video I got of her clapping this morning.

And last night she started lifting her body up onto her knees when lying in her tummy-- think crawling is just around the corner. My little girl is growing up so fast!

Happy Easter!

2010-04-06T12:59:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! We had a fun weekend visiting family and going on Easter egg hunts. James had a blast playing with his cousin Ashlin at Grandma & Papa's house while the adults reveled in Grandma Mary Lou's marvelous cooking. Kevin & Corey got mighty creative with their egg decorating (egg dyeing only held the kids' attention for about 10 minutes and then it was back to the bounce house) and despite James' eye nearly swelling shut due to some unknown allergy reaction, we managed to get a few cute pics of the family.

2010-03-31T12:10:00.000-07:00

Had a fun day taking the kids to the zoo on Saturday (aka Petco)-- saw cats, mice, guinea pigs (or silly pigs as James calls them), birds, lizards, turtles, a chinchilla, and lots and lots of fish!

Riding the rails at Bittercreek

2010-03-28T17:32:00.001-07:00

We had an absolute blast today riding the mini trains at Bittercreek Railroad in Arroyo Grande. One of the architects at Ellen's work is a member of the railroad and he invited us out-- whenever we pointed him out, James would say "there's mommy's fwriend Aron" (well, it sounded more like Aihrwen). There's about 1.5 miles of track and the ride takes about 20 minutes-- we went around the track a total of 9 times during the 5 hours we were there, which means we traveled 13.5 miles of track! Talk about sore bottoms! Both kids did great (no naps other than Cate taking a snooze in the backpack for a bit) and thoroughly enjoyed their time (Cate kept trying to clap her hands-- a new trick of hers).

We thought maybe we'd be there for a short time, take a couple rides (that's what we've done in the past), and then be on our way but James was so excited today (we haven't been here since before Cate was born) he kept begging for one more ride. At every bend and turn he was shouting out "there's a tunnel! mommy we're going through a tunnel!" or "here's the silver bridge daddy!" or even "i wanna go through the tunnel again!" (he's all about tunnels & bridges right now). It was like being at the Disneyland for train fanatics but without the horrific lines and crowds. James kept saying "I wanna be here aaaaallll day!"

Best. Day. Ever.

silly kids

2010-03-27T21:24:00.000-07:00

the past 6 weeks have consisted of intense studying (for the final architecture licensing exam-- for those keeping score, it's the 10th exam in a littany of tests), 4 of which included each member of the Goodwin household getting very very sick for at least a week each... so, yeah, kinda busy/hectic/exhausting

Cate is struggling to crawl-- so far she just scoots backwards. And James provides a running commentary on everything we do-- which he's admittedly done for quite awhile but now it includes his own ideas on things ("It's time to take a nap, James" answer: "but it's a beautiful day outside"). He repeats everything with adorable mishaps ("banas" for bananas and "silly pigs" for guinea pigs). He also loves playing in his sandbox in the backyard (a cookie sheet with sand in it-- thank goodness for imaginations!).

well that just made my day

2010-03-02T22:16:00.000-08:00

I know I just posted about Cate babbling, but she just stole my heart this morning as I was getting ready for work-- she was sitting in her room and had fallen over sideways onto the assortment of pillows I had piled around her in case she should topple, and when I went over to set her back up she started fussing and then said "mama mehmama" as if to say "mama don't leave me please pick me up!" I know it's just my overactive mommy imagination but I can't help but think she's starting to understand there's meaning behind our words & her own "words" too!

deewishuss

2010-03-02T22:14:00.000-08:00

I just love it when James pronounces big words-- one of his favorites is "deewishuss" as in "mmm, this candy is deewishuss!"

babbling

2010-02-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

Cate officially now babbles "deh deh deh deh" or sometimes "da da da da da". Corey & I also think she's mumbled "mah mah mah" a couple times but so far she's daddy's girl through & through! She also loves to sound like a machine gun "eh eh eh eh eh eh eh" and blow raspberries. Her absolute favorite is when you mimic her sounds-- she looks intently at you, smiles, and repeats the sounds, pauses expectantly for you to make your sounds, and then smiles again. Nothing like baby babble chats!

chunky monkey

2010-02-24T19:55:00.001-08:00

Cate has a 2nd tooth just starting to break through-- it's the other front bottom toothy that's causing her a lot of pain and irritation. She had her 7 month check-up and boy is she growing! She officially weighs as much as James did at his 1st birthday (almost to the ounce!)-- and let me tell ya, it's all in those chubby chubby thighs!

Height: 27.25 inches (70-80th percentile)
Weight: 20 lb.s 8 ounces (95th percentile)
Head: 43.5 cm (55th percentile)

She's also finally starting to roll around a bit and is struggling to get her hips off the ground so she can crawl after her brother. During tummy time she does full push-ups to watch everyone, can spin 180 degrees (if she doesn't accidentally tip herself over onto her back instead), and keeps digging in with her toes and knees like she's thinking about the mechanics of this whole moving business.

She loves food, obviously, and I suspect she's even preferring it over her "milkies" (although she still likes nursing at naptime). At meal time, she'll sit with her mouth hanging open like a little guppy staring fervently at everyone else's dinner hoping a tiny morsel will find it's way into her awaiting pie-hole. She pretty much likes all the foods we've tried so far (apples, pears, bananas, oatmeal, sweet potatoes, corn, butternut squash, winter squash) except carrots. She didn't like those carrots much. We suspect she's allergic to pear though since she'll scratch her ears incessantly afterwards.

James (or, Jamesy as he prefers these days-- it's mama's nickname for him) speaks in complete paragraphs, detailing his adventures of the day and even making up some of his own stories. He loves to draw circles and even drew a hopscotch on our garage floor in chalk (the "squares" were more circular but they were arranged in a cross shape just like a typical hopscotch pattern) and proceeded to jump on it-- we don't pay our day care lady nearly enough for all the fun things she teaches the kids!

James also still has the memory of an elephant and brings up subject matter that's history even to our adult minds-- he talks about santa claus several times a week (think that bounce house really made an impression on him-- santa's one cool dude!), was talking about the play-doh at Taadu's house (haven't been there since Thanksgiving) after seeing a commercial for it on the tv, and just does a really good job of bringing up topics that occurred months before. The kid does not forget things easily!

Toothless wonder no more!

2010-02-12T22:22:00.000-08:00

Just shy of 7 months, Cate's first tooth is finally breaking through-- it's the righthand lower front tooth. I had my suspicions considering how much she's been sucking on her hands and fingers. James got his first tooth at 5.5 months. Funny how every kid is different!

Books!

2010-02-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

We love books at our house. James will "read" to himself all the time (great past time for the car!) and yesterday he sat on his potty and started reading his "choo-choo" book (now if only he'd actually use the potty). He then climbed on the bed so he could read to Cate-- too cute!

Miss Chubs

2010-02-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

Cate is 6.5 months and is my eating champ-- she's tried apples, bananas, & pears and loves them all so far... although I fed her some carrots the other day and she puked them up. Twice. Profusely. So maybe she's not quite ready for the roughage of veggies yet. We just tried oatmeal today and she seems to find its taste and texture far superior to rice cereal.

We do strongly suspect she's allergic to oranges since any time I have them she scratches her ears incessantly as if she has an ear infection (which she doesn't). Corey was very allergic to oranges as a child so it stands to reason. I'm also a little suspicious of the pears because she's starting to scratch her ears again and there's family history of pear/peach allergy too. We'll just see where it takes us. It's just so nice she can (& will) eat food!

Cate still loves to jump and stand and sit and be a part of any rough housing that's going on but she still doesn't really roll anymore although she tolerates tummy time a lot better than James ever did. Her carseat is also getting pretty hefty so I did an unofficial weigh in today and she's tipping the scales at 20+ lbs-- James was barely (seriously, just barely) 20 lbs when he was a year old! We almost couldn't face his carseat forward because he barely weighed enough! We'll see what the official weight is in a couple weeks and see how tall she's getting too. If James doesn't watch out, his little sister may be big enough to tackle him soon enough!

apples & bananas, oh my!

2010-01-24T18:51:00.000-08:00

Cate officially loves bananas (lunges for the spoon with an open mouth like a guppy) and now officially loves apples too, even on her first try. And I'm sitting here feeling like a 1st time mom with the whole food thing because even today food is such a battle for James (can't blame the kid since he's allergic to just about everything under the sun). Maybe Cate can teach James a thing or two about eating!

james reads his first book

2010-01-24T18:42:00.000-08:00

james is so good to his sister... whenever she's lying on the floor in their room he'll run over to her basket of toys and grab something for her to play with... just the other day he grabbed a cloth book and started reading it to her:

first page: "here's a doggie"

next page: "here's some more doggies"

next: "here's a boy 'n' a doggie"

slaps the book shut: "the end!"

somewhere over the rainbow

2010-01-20T20:39:00.001-08:00

after the massive amount of rain today (and this week) and then hail, i went to pick up james from daycare and right outside her door was the biggest rainbow i've ever seen before stretching across the sky-- i don't think i've ever seen a whole entire rainbow from beginning to end before! definitely not one that big... i was so excited to show james because just the other day he was drawing a rainbow with his chalk (really just a big arc with each color end to end but i thought it was so cute that when i asked him what he was drawing he said he was "makin' a rwainbo")... as the storm passed, the sky became perfectly clear in time for the sunset without a cloud in the sky! nature sure can be crazy sometimes!

Banana nana nanas

2010-01-19T20:37:00.000-08:00

Well Cate finally decided that bananas aren't nearly as bad as she was making them out to be. Not as good as daddy's pizza she was making a grab for at lunch, but really not all that bad.

january already??

2010-01-17T19:26:00.000-08:00

Cate is 6 months old, sitting, standing, jumping, and even tried her first bit of "real" (if you can really call it that) food (tried rice cereal twice which she tried to puke up the 2nd time so then tried bananas). She even has slept completely through the night twice now (from 8pm to 7am) but she and James both got really sick this weekends so I'm thinking I can say sayonara to the zzzz's again. She also went to daycare with James this week (would love it if they had a permenant spot for her) and had an absolute blast-- she was a super good baby and Donna just loved watching her. We also think it's great that she and James get to spend those 3 days together.

James is my jokester as usual revelling in any silly concept he comes across (he dissolves into hysterical giggles if we put a bed in the bathroom of his fireman house he got for xmas). I'm starting to suspect he actually knows his numbers but always says them out of order on purpose-- he wanted 5 cookies so I told him he could have them if he counted them out with me. Well the turkey counted up to 5 without me even needing to prompt him! Usually if I ask how many things I have in my hand (say, 3 candies), he'll get a twinkle in his eye and declare "Five!" Or if I ask him what color the stop light is he'll say "red" (when it's clearly green) and then "red means go!" as he giggles! What a silly man!

going to work

2010-01-12T19:19:00.000-08:00

so every morning I take James with me to work-- on my way there i drop him off at daycare first (Donna's house)... it's a routine he clearly enjoys, mainly because he gets to sit in the front seat of the truck on our way there... we always have great conversations since it's special one on one time... on monday, it went a little something like this:

"ok james it's time for mommy to go to work and for you to go to donna's house" i said

"you go to donna's house. i go to work." he replied

"oh really? donna's house sounds like fun. how are you going to get to work though?"

pause.

"daddy take me!" he responded

"oh good solution. but here we are at donna's house and unfortunately i think i have a greater earning potential and longer work history than you so it's time for you to go to donna's house and for me to head to work"

pause.

"i go to work. you go to donna's house." he insisted

clearly mama just wasn't getting it!

love actually

2009-12-30T19:36:00.000-08:00

You never realize how much you say certain words until a little parrot starts repeating them back to you. James' new word is "actually". As in, "these not oranges, these pumpkins actually" or "i want to watch tv actually" or "cate's hungry actually". Funny little boy.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-29T12:11:00.001-08:00

The best Christmas presents ever.

Cate's 1st dolly.

Naughty or nice?

Cate, James, & Ashlin

The growing Goodwin clan.

Ho Ho Ho

2009-12-23T15:30:00.000-08:00

So we visited Santa this year (first time for both kids) and they did remarkably well (I give Santa credit for this). James was all smiles and sat there for quite awhile so we could get great photos of him smiling while Cate sported her patented double chin. We even got some video of James asking Santa for, get this, a bounce house. Good thing Santa already checked that one off his list otherwise he'd be making a midnight run to Kmart to fill the order. And this year we were going to keep it small due to the economic times.... so much for that. After going to dinner and finally making our way home, as soon as James gets in the house he says "where's my bounce house?". Oh sweetie, we have to wait until Christmas day to get our presents!

santa's little helper

2009-12-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

i finally got the chance to do some christmas decorating today-- corey got the tree last night right before it started raining and i threw a string of lights on it to show james how fun it is to have the tree lit up (he was mesmerized by the tree at Taadu & Oma's house last weekend)... so this morning i started putting up our icicle lights that we hang above our windows, fishing the lights between the curtain rods... by the time my arms felt like they were going to fall off from holding them above my head so long, the lights for one window were finally done!

only to plug them in to discover they don't work... of course that would happen on the one string i didn't plug in first to check them

"oh no" i exclaimed

"wha happen?" asked james

"the lights aren't working!"

seeing the dismay on my face my son said "i give you hug" and walked over to console me... he then said "i get you skwewdrwiver to fix it" and went to the garage to grab one of his plastic screwdrivers

"oh thank you sweet pea but i don't think a screwdriver will fix the lights"

"i get you hammahr" and grabs a hammer for me instead

what a great little helper i have!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-29T08:58:00.000-08:00

so many things to be thankful for

2009-11-29T08:00:00.000-08:00

So many things to be thankful for every day but especially so this November-- 2 healthy kids that make us laugh and smile every single day. All 4 of James' 2 year molars are in (which hopefully will put a stop to his nighttime screams of pain) and he's constantly chatting up a storm. A few samples:

"Holy Smokes!"

"I wan fwashwight Chrissmas, seein my room" (I want a flashlight for Christmas so I can see in my room when it's dark at night)

"Wha doing? Wha's tha called?" (wants to know what everything is so he can learn the new words)

"Finity beyon!" (To Infinity and Beyond! as daddy throws him across the room onto our bed)

"tookies" (two cookies)

"I'm makin big muscles" while doing tricep push-ups while leaning against the counter, just like daddy does while leaning against his weight bench... he loves to work out with daddy!

he also recently discovered the birthmark on the back of his leg (looks like a light colored thumb print) and he tried to wipe it off with a washcloth-- silly boy!

Cate wiggles and moves everywhere (can rotate 180 degrees while laying on her back) but she seems to have forgotten how to roll over because she hasn't done it in awhile... oh well, i'm sure she'll do it again... she loves to bat at her toys and adores chewing on her shirt or especially the socks we put on her hands at bedtime so she can't slice her face to pieces (other than "Cueball", her other nickname is "Cate Scissorhands").... and since her 4 month appointment isn't until she's almost 5 months old, I decided to take some unofficial 4 month measurements:

Weight: 16 lb. (90th %tile)
Hieght: 25.5 inches (90th %tile)

For comparison, James at 4 months old was 27 inches tall (97th percentile for boys) and weighed almost 16 lbs. as well (75th percentile for boys). That would explain my little girl's chubby wubby thighs-- so squishable!

Christmas Card Photoshoot

2009-11-22T13:48:00.001-08:00

While Corey was away this weekend, I took it upon myself to try and take some photos of the kids for our Christmas cards-- that was an adventure! And we took more when Corey got back today in an attempt to get both kids smiling at the same time-- I've come to the conclusion that's a physical impossibility. I maybe spent a total of 1.5 hours trying to get the "perfect" shot and ended up taking about 600 photos (on 'burst' mode where it takes tons of shots at once)-- 1.6 gig of images! As James would say, "Holy smokes!"

i see you!

2009-11-21T11:37:00.001-08:00

sitting!

2009-11-14T15:51:00.000-08:00

Cate is sitting really well now-- still needs support for her torso but she holds her head straight and steady. I set her in the Bebepod chair so she could play yesterday which she seemed to enjoy. Must've looked fun because then James wanted a turn too. I've also been wearing her on my hip in the sling so she can move around with me and get a different view of the world.

rolling!

2009-11-10T20:49:00.000-08:00

our bald little girl "Cueball" (as daddy has nicknamed her) rolled over from back to belly for the first time on sunday at 3.5 months old-- yay! it's amazing what you get excited about as a parent

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-05T20:07:00.000-08:00

What a fun October we had! James adores Halloween and all the candy (doesn't eat any of it, just sorts and plays with it) although it did take him awhile to warm up to the idea of getting dressed up. It wasn't until I got him in front of a full length mirror did he realize he was dressed as a monkey and was finally willing to put the monkey face hood on his head. We went trick or treating at Farmer's Market on Thursday night (walked around for about an hour going into all the stores) and then we crashed a kid-friendly neighborhood Halloween night. Boy did we hit the jackpot-- it was off the hook! Little did we know that they celebrate Halloween like no other neighborhood out there! Definitely will be our stomping ground in the future as well.

Cate giggles and laughs and rolls onto her side (c'mon, make mama happy and roll already so we can hit that milestone "on time"!). She's definitely daddy's little girl now that mama is at work all the time, although she does seem to miss me at least a little because she no longer sleeps long hours at night unless it's the weekend when i'm home with her-- otherwise it's every few hours "hey mama come visit me again so we an rock and cuddle! you don't need sleep!"... oh but little one, i do! she's getting really good at holding up her head and sitting up and she adores her brother James.

Happily enough, James still plays with his trains that we got him for his birthday (thought for sure we'd buy them and then he'd immediately lose interest). His favorite thing to do right now is set up his bridge with track on one side so he can lead his engines up the incline and right off the edge into oblivion-- he calls it "being careful"! Okaaaay... but then again, when i think about it, all the thomas the train videos are about the trains crashing, or falling off bridges, or running into stuff, so maybe he gets it after all!

I think what melts my heart the most though is when he says "mommee i miss you all day"... oh sweetie i miss you too... i'm going to start working half days on fridays to see if that helps me ease back into work better since we're so slow at the office anyway... i want to keep making memories together!

small town small screen celebs

2009-10-30T13:47:00.000-07:00

well, we went to get vaccinated at the health department and lucky us, a news crew was there to do a story on the shortage of swine flu vaccines and wanted to use us in their story... let's just say i was glad i at least wasn't dressed in pj's like i permanently was prior to returning to work

i just love how the kcoy logo is plastered on to of Cate's face a la Mike from Monsters, Inc.

James' Halloween Party

2009-10-28T18:59:00.000-07:00

Every year, James' day care provider, Donna, puts on a little Halloween party. Here's James and his friends.

oh dear

2009-10-28T17:46:00.001-07:00

James' new favorite saying is "oh dear" as in "oh James you spilled milk everywhere!"... "Oh dear!"

belly laughs!

2009-10-27T20:25:00.000-07:00

so james was in the bath and daddy was holding cate when she just started laughing at james' antics-- full on belly laugh! she'll laugh when we tickle her or make funny noises, but this time she was getting a kick out of james splashing in the tub-- she just thought it was hilarious! she stopped as soon as i got the camera of course

2009-10-24T20:30:00.000-07:00

James adores CalPoly football games! And he always finds a new way to make me laugh every day.

And my bald little Cate is finally batting and pulling at toys-- I had her on the changing table tonight (finally moved it back into the kids' room since she's been sleeping in there for over a week now) and she was grabbing at the curtains trying make the toy I had hung there move around and rattle. She also can rotate herself around while lying on her back-- still working on the rolling though. I love how they learn stuff every day at this age!

fuzzy wuzzy

2009-10-19T20:20:00.000-07:00

My bald little girl has the finest hair growing in-- kissing her head is like kissing a fuzzy peach. So far it looks like she'll be a blondie.

counting

2009-10-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

so James is learning his numbers and can count all the way up to 7 all on his own... however, he always forgets the number "2" :-)

feet!

2009-10-13T11:36:00.001-07:00

So Cate discovered her legs and feet today! I had her propped up on my legs while I was laying on the bed and she kept leaning forward into a sitting position-- all of a sudden she caught sight of her feet and she couldn't take her eyes off them! Eyes were super big and alert and she kept watching her legs as they moved. Was really cute to watch :-)

Validation

2009-10-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

This short film stars our friend TJ Thyne (he's the brother of Kevin's business partner John Thyne). It's pretty cute and is almost at 2.5 million views (pretty impressive!). So take a peak if you want to "smile" :-)

October 2009

2009-10-12T11:00:00.000-07:00

Here are a few photos from the first half of this month (I've already taken 175 photos the 1st 10 days). We visited "Kebin an' Natlee's" house this weekend and saw "Ashwin & Woowee" (cousin Ashlin & her doggie Louie). We went to the coolest pumpkin patch ever which had tons of bounce houses to play in. And we celebrated Auntie Natalie's 30th birthday.

Some of my new favorite things this month:
If James can't get our attention with mommy & daddy, he starts calling "Ehwin" and "Cohrwee".

Cate chuckles if I tickle her sides and tummy. She also laughs at her image in the mirror.

James' new favorite word is stinker, as in "james bein a stinkahr" when he does something silly or slightly naughty.

Vote for my babies!

2009-10-11T18:51:00.001-07:00

So despite the fact I think it's purely a marketing ploy, I got duped yet again into entering the kids into Gap's casting call. Last year they were definitely after a certain "look" (aka not blue eyed & blond haired) but I still think it's fun. If you want, vote for us and maybe you'll get to see these gorgeous babes plastered all over billboards in your town :-)

Gap Casting Call

All entries are submitted by "LN013178" if the link above doesn't work.

chubby wubby cheeks

2009-10-06T11:13:00.001-07:00

BOB maiden voyage

2009-10-06T11:02:00.000-07:00

Finally took the double BOB out last week and I absolutely love it! Have gone for several jog/walks with it now and think it's great how I can go for a walk with both kids without having one of them in a backpack strapped to me. James loves it too because he gets to sit next to his "baybee sistahr". Cate's a little small for it but she's getting better at sitting up and plus we have the head bobble thing to keep her head from, well, bobbling. I also like how each seat can recline separately so James doesn't have to be leaned as far back as Cate. Now if I could just manage to squish the thing into our trunk...

i wuv yoo mommee

2009-09-30T14:12:00.000-07:00

we went to dinner last night and James crawled into my lap at one point, puts my arm around his waist, and said "i wuv yoo mommee"... oh my baby boy! he'll say i love you if i prompt him but this was the first time he said it on his own! i love you too, James!