Friday, December 24, 2010

The Elf RULES!

Seriously, the Elf rules!!! And not just the Elf on the Shelf...as "Mimi" that's what Elizabeth named our Elf on the Shelf rules! Elizabeth took such delight each morning in locating Mimi in her new hiding place. And we took such delight in getting better behavior out of Elizabeth by threatening her with, "Do you want Mimi to have to tell Santa ___?"

Once again, our best neighbor ever, Marie (and Jim) Ritz spoiled Elizabeth (and us!) with the hanging of the stocking on the back door beginning on December 1st -- and putting presents in it each day until Christmas:

  1. Water color book with brushes for E; "The Autobiography of Santa Claus" book for Reid & Me (to eventually share with our girls)
  2. Santa placemat
  3. Hot chocolate
  4. e ornament
  5. Pink hoodie jacket
  6. Chapstick (Hershey & Jolly Rancher flavors)
  7. Candy cane with hard candy in it for E; c ornament for Cate
  8. Santa coloring book
  9. Barbie nail polish
  10. Orange and cookies & cream candy
  11. Disney princess stick on earrings and rings (1 for each day of the week!)
  12. Dr. Seuss - Big Blue Book of Beginner Books (6 books in 1)
  13. Merry Christmas bulb ornament with a Santa hat on it
  14. Pencil with eraser (like a wand)
  15. Tootsie rolls (in a bank) and $1
  16. Magic growing clown fish egg
  17. Glitter heart tattoos
  18. Department 56 snowman snack set (cup and plate)
  19. Snowman white chocolate suckers
  20. The Lorax card game
  21. Santa tissues
  22. Flute horn
  23. Princess magic water color paint book
  24. Wooden top (toy) and Teddy Grahams
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Elizabeth Funnies...

Still playing catch-up...but here are a few funnies from my funny girl, Elizabeth:

"Holy smokes guacamole!" (We're not sure what guacamole has to do with anything, other than we do love to eat Mexican food!)

Speaking of eating Mexican food...a month or so before I had Cate, the three of us went to the Mexican restaurant at the Highlands to celebrate E getting a good report from our parent-teacher conference. The person in the booth behind us was most annoying -- continually moving the seat (there was literally no room between my "big huge belly" and the table!) Every minute or so, he would move the seat. I seriously thought it was a kid, a bit older than Elizabeth, whose parents were just so tired at the annoying little brat they didn't care that he was pestering the people behind their booth - so long as he wasn't pestering them at the moment... After 10+ minutes of this, Elizabeth had all she could take. She squeezed as much of her face between the bench and the wall (which wasn't very much) and yelled to the booth behind us, "Stop it you lazy sack!"

Five days after I had Cate Elizabeth asked me, "Mommy, why is your belly still spongy?"
Me: "Because it used to be out to here" (hand gesturing the place where my stomach used to be)
Grandma: "Because the muscles in Mommy's belly were stretched out and it takes a while for them to get back into shape."
Elizabeth: "Mommy, you need to exercise! Do it now! Do it now!"

As Cate was lying on her Daddy's chest (he was fully clothed, mind you), Elizabeth inquires, "Daddy, are you feeding her from your boobies?"

Elizabeth asked for my autograph and after I signed the paper (in the crayon that she provided), she whispered in my ear, "Mommy, I'm a really big fan of you!"

Sunday, December 5, 2010

Welcome Baby Cate!!!

I've been waaaay far behind on my Blogging (somewhat due to technical difficulties where passwords were changed to my gmail account, which is what I have to use to access my Blog...I didn't change said passwords, and couldn't fix the situation -- as when I attempted to recover my password, it kept asking me the name of my first teacher and then telling me I was wrong! I adored my kindergarten teacher and remember her and her name fondly...so I can assure you the problem wasn't with my recollection of my first teacher's name (tried my 1st grade teacher, whom I also adored and recall her name, which failed miserably.) Anyway, Reid had to get involved in order for the technical difficulties to disappear...

I've been a bit busy as well...which somewhat explains my neglecting my Blog...but perhaps not for as long as I have been neglecting this Blog...

Anyway, I'm back in the saddle and promising (once again) to be better about keeping you up-to-date via my Blog! Yada, yada, yada...

So...back to welcoming Baby Cate (if you say it like Elizabeth does, it will sound like your mouth is about half full of peanut butter!)

The Thursday before Thanksgiving, November 18th, Reid was on his way with the women's basketball team to Shippensburg for a tournament. When he was about an hour away from Shippensburg, I called to tell him that I was experiencing some early signs of labor...and as quickly as Elizabeth came, I just wanted to put him on alert. He made numerous calls -- had several people put on alert, and through the kindness and generosity of the Hansen family, who upon arriving at the hotel, cleaned out their van and gave Reid the keys to it to send him back home to be with me...and the Malernee family, who provided a taxi service to the Hansens to get them back to their van, Reid was able to get home shortly after midnight that night. I also called my folks who came up in the wee hours of the morning. Mind you, at this point, Dr. Coleman was only telling me that I would likely not make it to my due date in the middle of December...and she also talked with us about the possibility of inducing labor so that I would not only make it to the hospital in time, but would also be there in plenty of time to get my epidural...

So, Reid gets here...my mom is here...and a week later the rest of the Amoses (Rick, Carol, and the newlyweds, Rikki & Doug) are here to celebrate Thanksgiving...and no Baby Cate. Around this time Dr. Coleman sets a date to induce labor of December 2nd (which we would change the following week to December 1st since the Toppers had a home game on the 2nd and we were worried it would make Reid's schedule a bit too tight!)...

On December 1st, Reid & I take a few early morning pictures of me before leaving for Wheeling Hospital for Baby Cate's birthday. We are at the hospital at the scheduled time of 6AM. It took forever to answer the questions that were required before the real show could begin...like "during your pregnancy did you use any recreational drugs or stimulants (including caffeine!)," "do you meditate?," "did you crave chalk?" Seriously? Seriously.

The "show" didn't actually begin with the pitocin drip and Dr. Coleman "breaking my water" until shortly after 9AM. At that time, Dr. Coleman put the call in for the anesthesiologist to come for my epidural. I'm still texting updates at this point...but stop around the time that the anesthesiologist comes for the epidural. The epidural worked so well for Elizabeth's birth that I was giving Reid updates on the Syracuse vs. Gonzaga men's basketball game...with Cate...not so much. The anesthesiologist arrived around 9:25 AM, at which time I'm feeling the contractions (not fun!) She got a "wet stick" on the first attempt (wet stick = seeing spinal fluid = not a good thing!). The second stick went in without a problem, but didn't work...in other words, nothing was numb... Reid & Mom were allowed back into the delivery room around 10:10 AM.

For the next 40 minutes, the contractions came on harder and quicker. And there was one particular swear word (rhymes with duck) that I was quite fond of using at the conclusion of each contraction. Fortunately Mom and Reid have been exposed to me using "the bomb" on an occassion or two. (Reid later reported that there may have been one nurse in the room for at least one of those, bless her little heart!)

Around 10:35, Reid lest the room to get the nurse, Patty. She and the rest of the nursing team came in immediately to finish preparing the room for Dr. Coleman. Reid recalls that Dr. Coleman arrived between 10:45 and 10:50 AM. After pushing through three sets of contractions, Dr. Coleman held Victoria Catherine up for me to see at 11:00 AM!

(Note: I only said "fudge" with Dr. Coleman in the room. How's that for respect???)

Reid, like he did with Elizabeth, cut the cord. The nurses took pictures with my camera...the entire staff at Wheeling Hospital was truly amazing!


We are so amazingly blessed!

Later that day when Elizabeth got to meet her baby sister, she said, "Thank you for giving me a baby sister, Mommy!"

A short while later as Cate was stirring, Elizabeth said in a most irritated voice, "Mom! She stuck her tongue out at me! That's not very nice!"

Elizabeth, with a little help from Grandma, welcomed us all home from the hospital with a "surprise" Welcome Home Baby Cate party on Friday, December 3rd. She served things that start with C: cake, cupcakes, cheese, carrots, cauliflower (and a few other veggies). She is such a great big sister already!