sitting!

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!

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!

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

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

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

oh dear

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

belly laughs!

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

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

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

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!

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

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

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!

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

BOB maiden voyage

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

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!

Cate's 2 month check-up

Cate had her 2 month check-up on Friday and she got a boatload of vaccines-- 2 shots in each thigh plus an oral medication... little lady was not happy! Here are her stats, although I can't help but wonder if they the percentiles are a little skewed because she's actually 10 weeks old, not 8 weeks old:

Height: 24.5 inches (97th percentile)
Weight: 13 lbs. 4 oz. (95th percentile)
Head: 40 cm (75th percentile)

two are better than one...

just finished James & Cate's first bath together-- James didn't want her in there at first but then he realized it was fun to pour water on her tummy and to play footsies together... sure glad he likes having a playmate! our friends Adam & Carrie just gave us their double BOB stroller too and i can't wait to use it-- it'll be so great to have both kids sitting side by side!

2 years and 2 months...

Oh my babies bring me so much joy!

James is practically speaking in paragraphs now and we have full on conversations with him now. I was cooing to little miss Catherine calling her by her full name and James piped up with, "That's Cate. Not Catherine". He repeated it several times to make sure his dunce of a mother knew his sister's correct name.

I'm trying to get the most out of my "vacation" and the last remnants of summer by going to the swimming pool and Corey took James to a CalPoly football game and soccer game-- James was a total sourpuss at the football pre-game bbq and it turned out he was upset because we kept telling him we were going to watch football but we took him to a boring bbq instead (who needs food when there are sports to watch!). He totally brightened up at the game and is convinced CalPoly is the funnest place on earth (what with the football and soccer games, the football practices, the bowling alley, etc.).

Cate is rolling onto her side and still really hates tummy time. She's a swing addict and can't (or won't) nap unless she's in it or in mama's arms. James was the same way. We should buy stock in D batteries for that darn motorized swing...

She also absolutely adores her big brother-- she always gets a big smile and squeal when she hears his voice and looks for him in the room. James still thinks she's the coolest new toy mommy and daddy ever got him and always wants to see her in the morning and give her hugs and kisses.

James' allergies seem to be pretty well under control thanks to the probiotics and the fact he doesn't trust anything, including foods he used to like but we weaned out of his diet due to the allergy concern. Cate seems to have a lot of the same food allergies but thank goodness not all of them-- just wheat, dairy, egg, tomato, and we also suspect soy. We've tested each one and she breaks out every time so mama is avoiding those foods as well for the time being. I really wonder if she'll be as fearful of food as well or if it'll be easier when introducing foods because we know what to avoid now. Should be interesting.

I just can't get over how much James has grown. As I hold Cate and teach her to sit and play with toys I look at James and can hardly believe it was 2 years ago he was the same way and now here he is talking and walking and jumping and teasing-- it doesn't seem that long ago he was just a little baby in my arms.

Photo Update

Cute Cate... Jolly James

gotta love it when they smile!

almost can see the finish line...

well, it's official, Corey & i both passed all our archictectural written exams!! now in most states we'd be architects but, no, california has it's own idea how to run things... we're now signed up to take the California Supplemental Exam (aka the "orals") sometimes next year-- yes, you read that right, it's going to take until next year for the next opening to be available! nevertheless, it still feels good to not have to worry about those written exams anymore! woohoo!

in other news, it's been 105 degrees the last couple days which is downright ridiculous without air conditioning... luckily these days only occur once or twice a year so hopefully life will be more comfortable in another day or so... Cate's a smiling ham these days and James is loving being a big bro...

Batter up!

So James loves sports more than ever be it football, golf, basketball, bowling, skateboarding, and as you can see here his current favorite, baseball. He loves hitting the ball, dropping the bat (had to learn not to throw it), running (sometimes he sets out his bases!), and sliding. And it's a great activity for him and Daddy to do together.

He does NOT love the doctor's office though-- had his 2 year check-up yesterday and he started bawling as soon as they had him stand on the scale (funny, I do the same thing) and pretty much didn't calm down until we were leaving the place (it's amazing what getting his blood drawn mulitiple times for allergy tests has done to his perspective on medical facilities). His latest stats are:

Weight: 27.5 lbs. (40th percentile)
Height: 34.75 inches (60th percentile)
Head: 48.5 cm (45th percentile)

And for those of you who live a little too far away to visit, here's a little video of Cate at 5 weeks old cooing and smiling, her new favorite trick (which I like much better than the pee & poop all over the place trick).

All smiles...

What else could melt a mother's heart? I love it when I walk into the room and Catherine hears my voice, searches for my face, locks eyes with me, and then smiles & coos--totally makes up for the sleepless nights and smelling like baby spit up! What a doll!
And James is such an amazing big brother-- he's always gentle with Cate and always wants to know where she is if she's not in the room. He loves to help out and be a part of family activities and talks about it later with his expanding vocabulary, "I see Cate haba bath". You can see a little bit of the redness on her face in the photo above-- so far I've eliminated egg and dairy (and saw immediate improvement) but think I need to eliminate wheat next (the bumps are still very tight and cover her entire scalp and chest/neck-- James had the exact same thing and by his 2 month appointment it was full blown eczema).

Speaking of appointments, Cate had her 1 month check-up yesterday. Here are her stats:

Weight: 10 lbs. 8 oz. (90th percentile)
Height: 22.5 inches (94th percentile)
Head Circumference: 37.75 cm (70th percentile)

And last night she only woke up once between 8pm & 6:30am-- hope it's a growing trend!

Cousins at play

We visited Kevin, Natalie, & Ashlin over the weekend for Fiesta and James had fun crawling around on the floor (and under the coffee table) with his cousin. Not often you can get kids to be smiling at the camera together!

And here's a pic of my little sleeping beauty.

pee pee in the potty!

well, we're officially on our way to potty training-- James went pee pee in his little potty yesterday! very exciting stuff, for parents that is... Corey lets James go diaper free at nap time (brave man) and James stays dry the whole time so we let him run naked in the evenings before bedtime-- have had quite a few accidents but we finally hit pay dirt (water?) yesterday night when James finally managed to pee in the potty... we celebrated with the biggest most exuberant end zone dance that James thought was hilarious (he started jumping around in circles and laughing)... we're contemplating doing the 3 day potty training system to try and get thru the process as quickly & smoothly as possible... James just seems ready for it...

James is getting to be such a big boy-- he consistently speaks in 3 and 4 word sentences and says the cutest darndest things... i just keep thinking time goes so fast...

2 weeks old today

Well, the last 2 weeks have certainly flown by! Catherine is an angel, sleeps most of the time (except at night she gets the hiccups which keeps both her and mama up), and is James' new favorite person. He's really sweet with her, touches her head gently, and likes sharing things with her (pretzels, cast iron trains, books, etc.). We hope his love for her continues as they get older and she can crawl after him and his toys!

We went to the Mid-State Fair last week (Cate was only 8 days old) and James had a blast going on his very first fair rides. I have to admit, I teared up as I watched him on the first one-- my little boy is growing up so fast!

"I'ma tuff guy"

James' vocabulary is through the roof these days and the things he says are always cracking us up-- his favorite inside joke is when you ask him what color something is he'll always get a delighted grin on his face and proclaim "purple"! This morning he was goofing around standing on one foot while holding a toy but lost his balance, teetered backwards, twisted around, narrowly missed the corner of the coffee table and stumbled over a wagon full of blocks on the ground. When I said "wow what a tumble are you okay?" he nodded yes and responded with "I'ma tuff guy". Too funny!

and baby makes four...

Catherine Ella Goodwin arrived at 7:56am on July 15, 2009 (5 days before her due date). She weighed 8 lbs. 7 oz. and was 21 inches long. She has dark blue eyes and dark blond hair. Except for the lighter hair and being slightly smaller, she's the spitting image of her big brother.

Life at the Goodwin residence for the past few days has been quite peaceful. We came home from the hospital on Friday and have been existing on a newborn's wacky sleep schedule ever since. James seems to really enjoy having another person to play with and can't wait until he can actually play and "tackle" his little sister. He also has been enjoying all his presents from his birthday-- can hardly believe he's 2 already! He was just my little guy before I went to the hospital and now I that I've been holding a tiny baby so much I can't get over what a big boy he is! Time just goes way too fast!

one last day...

I can hardly believe this is our last day as a family of three! In so many ways I'm going to miss all my special one on one time with James but I really hope he loves having a sibling. And it's so hard to imagine loving someone else as much as I love him! But I am very excited to finally see this little girl and hold her and caress her and gaze into her eyes. Will she look like James or totally different? Will she have hair and if so, what color? How big will her hands and feet be? What will her personality be like? The last 10 months will finally reach their peak tomorrow as we finally finally get to meet our little baby girl!

The only thing I'm really sad about is having a repeat c-section-- don't like the idea of taking her out early (at least it's only 5 days before her due date) just because her older brother had to be born that way and I also don't look forward to the recovery even though I had a fairly easy time last time. Would just be nice not to need pain killers and be recovering from major abdominal surgery. And I must admit some guilt in this whole process. I know a lot of women who fight for the VBAC. Should I have fought more even though I had such a positive eperience the first time around? All I can think is the risk of having a uterine rupture during a VBAC is about the same risk as having a baby with a knot in the cord (1% chance), both are life threatening and I've already fulfilled one of those so maybe I shouldn't tempt fate... Guess I'm just a little gun shy after last time... just hope it's the right choice and everything goes well!

April Photos

Playing catch up... March photos

Here are some photos from March (yeah, I know, that was 4 months ago) including a couple snapshots of The Incident where James accidentally tripped and fell towards his rocking chair one Sunday morning. Mama thought it would be a typical goose egg but instead found blood pouring down his forehead. PANIC. The resulting cut was almost an inch long so we headed to the ER where they originally thought they might be able to patch it up with surgical glue but it was just too darn big. Five stiches later James decided hospitals are not fun places.

Blooming Belly

The belly is getting big! Just a couple snapshots of the evolution of my gut. Little girl still moves pretty good although she's slowing down since she's running out of room. According to the online baby websites, she should be about 18 inches long and about 6 pounds by now-- wow! And on Monday I'll be 36 weeks (9 months)-- the countdown is in days now!

yay my computer works again!

So it was a very scary thing to transfer 5 years worth of digital photos to a mass storage device but it's so nice to use my computer again without it freezing on me! And hopefully this means I can get some more photos online too-- thank you everyone for your patience and perseverance!

Oh yeah, and the c-section is set for July 15th (5 days before the due date). My doctor wouldn't let me go any sooner than a week and since we didn't want Monday the 13th, we settled for the 15th. So unless this little girl decides to come early (which would be fine by me at this point!), she'll be here in exactly 4 weeks from tomorrow-- crazy!

erm, sorry for the hiatus?...

ok, so everyone's harrassing me to update our blog-- which makes me happy people actually look at this thing! my computer has developed a bad habit of freezing on me practically every time i turn it on (which might have something to do with 95% of its memory being devoted to photos of james) so i've been avoiding my laptop for, well, over a month now i guess (i'm actually updating this on Corey's computer)... we've also been studying for more professional exams (in addition to LEED, also trying to wrap up architecture licensing exams before baby girl makes her debut)-- just 2 more exams left!

just as an update on the pregnancy, i'm 8 months preggo today (32 weeks), can't breathe, can't bend over, can't turn over in bed without shaking the whole house, my lower back hurts, and i've been experiencing those fun "practice" Braxton Hicks contractions every day... with James i felt like i could be pregnant forever but this time around i'm very much over it! the only fun part is watching my tummy jostle all over the place and listening to Corey's explanations of "woah! that's crazy!" as he sees our little baby girl trying to make a jail break through my abdominal wall...

i have so many things to update on James and really should since this acts as a journal for him as well... he's already starting to speak in sentences saying things like "hit the ball" ("hi de ball") as he watches daddy play softball, "dada, where are you?" ("dada, wheraroo?" which also works for other objects like choo-choo & trash truck), and "i did it" ("i dit") when he manages to get the lid off my screw-on chapstick... he has a silly sense of humor too, his favorite phrase right now is "naughty" which he'll repeat over and over as he laughs himself silly ("is james being naughty?" and he'll shake his vehemently as he proceeds to say "nawee nawee")... such a fun kid-- can't even imagine what it'll be like to have 2!

apologies for the hiatus...

March turned out to be a very hectic and eventful month for us. Corey & I spent the majority of our free time (and not-so-free time) studying for more professional exams. And we're proud to report we now both have letters after our names since we are LEED AP's, meaning we are certified in green building techniques ("how are you today Corey Goodwin LEED AP?" "i'm fine, thank you for asking Ellen Goodwin LEED AP"... such were our conversations the day we passed!)... we also took another architecture registration exam and if we successfully passed that one we only have 1 left! and then on to the california supplemental exam ("the orals")... such a grueling path we've chosen-- but we're getting so close!

so hopefully with my little bit of free time i'll finally be able to update on all the fun we've had this month (first stitches!!)...