Creative Catelyn

Catelyn has turned into quite the little artist lately. She's always been one to play by herself and make up stories and now she is using her imagination to make some very creative pieces of art. Here she's used some pipe cleaners (which I have discovered are a great cheap art supply) to craft her name.

As an aside, I really like the nickname Cat for her. Going into school I know there will be a lot of Katie's, Caitlin's, Kate's,but she can be my spunky Cat.
Aunt Mimi came to visit the week after Valentines weekend and cut some spirals out of the craft paper for the kids to play with. After Mimi left Catelyn spent hours perfecting the skill. No one ever sat down with her to show her, she just figured out how it works by herself.

We now have probably one hundred of these spirals in different colors cut from these note papers.

All while she sings or hums real and made up songs.

A little interview with the little ones.

This survey has been going around Facebook lately and I thought it was a great idea. I asked Cooper who just turned 7 and Catelyn who is 4 3/4 to answer these questions.

1. What is something mom always says to you? Cooper- Don't do this unless you ask. You're not the boss. Catelyn- Obey.
2. What makes mom happy? Cooper- Do what you ask me to do. Catelyn- Making jokes and silly faces.
3. What makes mom sad? Cooper- Unobey. What's the word? Catelyn- Scratching and pulling and climbing and tying.
4. How does your mom make you laugh? Cooper- Funny jokes that we haven't heard before. Catelyn- Silly faces and dancing and fun at the park.
5. What was your mom like as a child? Cooper- A beautiful girl. Catelyn- Like folding your arms.
6. How old is your mom? Cooper- 30 Catelyn- 30
7. How tall is your mom? Cooper- I don't know. Do you know? Catelyn- Get up. It looks like that long (spreads her arms out)
8. What is her favorite thing to do? Cooper- Uh, be with me. Catelyn- Play the piano and organ.
9. What does your mom do when you're not around? Cooper- I don't know. Catelyn- Do computers.
10. If your mom becomes famous, what will it be for? Cooper- I don't know. Catelyn- Go to the party.
11. What is your mom really good at? Cooper- The piano or the organ. Catelyn- Sweeping and eating tortillas.
12. What is your mom not very good at? Cooper- Climbing a tree. Catelyn- Climbing up the tree.
13. What does your mom do for her job? Cooper- Take care of us. Catelyn- At her room.
14. What is your mom's favorite food? Cooper- Meatloaf (we had it last night) Catelyn- Dinner!
15. What makes you proud of your mom? Cooper- That she takes care of us. Catelyn- When she puts on Dora.
16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be? Cooper- Word Girl (its a show on PBS) Catelyn- A Rabbit and a rock star.
17. What do you and your mom do together? Cooper- Play Wii together sometimes. Catelyn- Work and clean up.
18. How are you and your mom the same? Cooper- Our eyebrows. Catelyn- Brown hairs and brown eyes.
19. How are you and your mom different? Cooper- I'm a boy and she's a girl. Catelyn- You play the computer and I play with toys.
20. How do you know your mom loves you? Cooper- We tell each other. Catelyn- Tell me a story.
21. Where is your mom's favorite place to go? Cooper- To the temple. Catelyn- To go to a party.

Pictures with a story

So Lydia had already taken her bath and was all dressed for bed. It was Catelyn's turn next and she's old enough now that I don't have to stay in there with her the whole time. I guess I wasn't paying attention because I hear Lydia crying in the bathroom and yelling "Help Momma!" I run in to find this:This is the first time we have experienced the fully clothed bathtub experience. I really don't think that Lydia meant to get in the water. Catelyn said that Lydia had been leaning over the edge, putting her hands in the water when, whoopsy daisy, she fell all the way in. I said "Oh man." and ran to get the camera, even though Lydia was not happy to be in the tub.

Next up, Cooper discovered that one of the coffee tables in the house had hidden storage underneath. He laid pillows in it and he and Catelyn had a ball.

Here, Catelyn is modeling her handmade fashion dress. Good thing she wasn't using ductape because it eventually was used as necklace and blindfold...

Here's Lydia in the tent that Catelyn and our neighbor Tyler made in the family room. I love the pic because you can see Lydia's hair curling a bit. Yes, that's right, her hair is getting long enough to curl!

Here is a video from that same tent.. The girls were still sick at this point so you can hear Catelyn sniffling along with her very loud voice.

Catelyn's surgery

Quick version in case you don't want to read this whole post: Catelyn is doing very well and says "I love my new tongue."

Long version:

Papa, Catelyn and I left at 5 AM Wednesday morning to drive to Sacramento for the surgery at Sutter Memorial Hospital. She was scheduled to be the first surgery of the day at 7:30 so things went smoothly. The hospital was a little hard to find, down some pretty narrow streets in a nice neighborhood.

We checked in, signed paperwork, Catelyn was weighed and measured. She was a little concerned that she was at the hospital. She'd had some trauma at the doctor's office recently so she's been pretty scared of being seen by doctors. I told her that Dr Evans (she asked if he was Uncle Evan) was going to help her tongue not be stuck anymore and we were at the hospital so the nurses could help him.

We were walked over to the patient room where Catelyn had a bed w/ a child's gown and pajama bottoms waiting. She also had a brand new Diego tree house play set w/ Boots, Dora, Diego and horse figures to play with. There was a wonderful lady named Monique there who was a child specific counselor to help the children feel calm and safe. She explained about the tools the nurses were using to check Catelyn's heartbeat, look in her ear, etc. She was so nice and it helped Catelyn feel calm. They also brought Catelyn over a little DVD player to hold on to and watch while nurses came in and out to talk to me.

The nurses, anaesthesiologists and I decided to give Catelyn a medicine before the surgery that basically makes her forgetful so that she won't be scared and won't remember having been away from me during the surgery. After she had taken it the anaesthesiologist came over and asked Catelyn what her name was. She started to spell it but got confused after "C". I told her she didn't have to spell it, but what was her name? She said "Catelyn" and the doctor was impressed that she could remember that after taking that medicine. Just before it was time for her surgery Monique let Catelyn choose a toy to take home from a huge box that she brought over. Catelyn chose a flower shaped bug catcher w/ tweezers and a magnifying glass. Here is a picture of her w/ it, taken from my phone.

Dr Evans came over and said everything was ready to go so they wheeled Catelyn over to the operating room. We were told that it should be a very short procedure, probably around 20 minutes and then we would go over to the recovery room where it would be around 45 minutes for her to wake up. Dad and I hopped over to the cafeteria for a quick bite and then went to the waiting room.

Dr Evans came in at 8:10 to say that she was done and everything had gone well. I asked a few questions about if she would be in much pain, diet restrictions, tongue exercises, etc. Basically she should eat mostly soft food the first day, nothing crunchy like Doritos, take Tylenol when needed and let her rest and take it easy the rest of the day. He told us to sit tight until the anesthesiologist got her settled in the recovery room and they called us back there.

About 8:20 the anesthesiologist (who was pediatric specific btw) came to walk us over to the recovery room. He told us that the procedure had been a bit more substantial than he had anticipated so they had put Catelyn "further down" (asleep). She was fully asleep and had an IV as well as a tube to keep her mouth open and her tongue down. I wasn't prepared for the way she looked.

She was perfectly fine, I just had never seen any of my kids w/ an oxygen mask after a surgery. Lydia's surgery they let her wake up quickly and brought her to me afterwards. Catelyn stayed deep asleep like this until 9:00 when the nurse tried to gently stimulate her awake. She raised the bed, took her mask off, removed the tube in her mouth, stroked her forehead. Catelyn wasn't stirring. 10 minutes later the nurse decided to take her IV out, which forced Catelyn to rouse. She was really groggy and it took another good 10 minutes to get her dressed and sitting up.

When it was time to go, the recovery nurse brought Catelyn (Papa was carrying her) into a room w/ shelves full of stuffed toys and had her chose one to take home for herself, and also one for her baby sister. She chose a large pink flamingo and the nurse gave her a little pink bunny for Lydia. We had to get a bag to carry all of the toys and presents that Catelyn got while at the hospital.

On the drive home Catelyn was playing w/ her "new tongue" and learning to do new things with it. She said "The hospital helped me. My tongue's not stuck anymore." Since then she has started to learn how to "click" with it but is still learning that the tip can be lifted up to touch her top teeth. She's feeling good and doing well. If you made it this far, thanks for reading!

If you want to see how our week was

Troop on over to my SIL Sarah's blog. She already posted pictures and updates on our week in Tahoe. (Seriously, click the link and go see) I'll have to see about uploading pictures in between unpacking, decorating for Christmas and Catelyn's surgery on Wednesday.
Catelyn is getting her tongue tie snipped. It's an outpatient surgery with dissolvable stitches. It probably won't help her fear of doctors but should improve her speech. Her fraenum is so short and thick that it's causing her teeth to be spaced on the bottom. You can see it a little in this picture from the day before Halloween. We noticed how tied her tongue was when she was born but doctors said that she would most likely outgrow it. Now that she is four and her teeth are being affected I decided that it was time to solve the problem.
Other than that it's time to get this house organized and ready for Christmas!

Catelyn can read!

Well, it looks like this barely 4 year old knows how to read! Catelyn loves for me to read to her and we usually compromise on how many books I will read before she has to go to sleep each night. She loves to sit and listen while Cooper reads his homework books as well. Well, we have all sorts of early reader books on hand for Cooper, now that he's in 1st grade, and just the other day, Catelyn sat down with one.

To be continued on this next video...


I'm so proud of all my bookworms!
Here is Lydia joining in the mix.

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1.02.05

Update

Here's a quick update on the kids. Catelyn has been coming to the gym w/ me and simply loves it. She usually complains when I come to pick her up after my workout "But Mom, I need more fun!"
We went through all the kids clothes last week and took out the outgrown things to hand down to cousins. We found this ballerina costume for Catelyn that Nana had given her. She's had it for a while but we hadn't been able to get it on her yet. (Catelyn is very particular about what clothes she will wear) Here she is in an action pose. ;)

Cooper has been having lots of fun with soccer. The team has not won a game yet but they are getting much better and it can probably be said that they are "playing the game of soccer" now. Here I caught Cooper in a couple of nice action shots.


Cooper is doing great in school. He really enjoys reading and math and I noticed on his last spelling test that he got 13/9 having spelled the 4 bonus words correctly.
We are both excited for the field trip on Friday. The K/1 classes are going to the Pumpkin Farm out towards Lincoln. I anticipate a great time to be had by all!

"I love to pick flowers"

I cut Catey's hair!

You can refer back to Catelyn's birthday post to see how long her hair used to be. I've been wanting to cut it to thicken it up a bit for a month now but she never was in the mood. Today Uncle Josh stopped by on his way to the airport and Alaska and Papa gave him a haircut. After he was done Catelyn exclaims "My turn for a hair cut!" so I got right on it! Therefore no before or during pictures are available because of the spur of the moment decision. But here's the AFTER shots!

Tea set and Lydia's signs

Martin gave Catelyn this adorable tea set that comes in a wicker basket. It really is so cute and she's loving it.

Meanwhile, Lydia has been watching the Signing Time videos with her siblings and soaking it up like a fish. She signs so much that I am amazed every day with what she comes up with. Just tonight we were in the backyard with the kids, playing in sprinklers and picking raspberries. Our neighbor came by with some peaches that she had picked at a friend's house. We handed Lydia one and said "here's a peach" and Lydia puts her hand to her cheek and signs "peach". I'm sure she hasn't watched the video that teaches the word "peach" for at least a week! I know I shouldn't be so surprised by how smart she is but she really amazes me.
By the way, whenever the theme song comes on Lydia lights up and starts throwing her hands around for "Signing time with Alex and Leah."
I'll try and get a video of her tomorrow but here's a picture of her yesterday signing "water".

PS, I just sat down and wrote all the signs that I can remember that she knows and it's over 50. That's not including the words she actually says.

PS, here she is Saturday morning.

Catelyn's 4th Birthday Party

Aunt Michal and Aunt Alli joined us for Catelyn's Birthday party. I took too many pictures to upload so please enjoy the slide show! PS, YES, Alli made the cake!

4th of July and Catelyn turns 4

I didn't get any pictures from the 4th of July since we were flying across the country on that day so I put the kids in their outfits today. Today also happens to be Catelyn's 4th birthday. I took over 20 pictures, none of which I thought were perfect but here are a few anyway.

Matching dresses

The girls wore matching dresses to church today. They have about half a dozen matching dresses that I try to get them into every so often.
BTW, you don't know how hard it is to get these girls both to look at the camera at the same time. I think Grammy did an amazing job! :)
PS, when you are around Lydia, you tend to forget how bald she is. Seeing her in these pictures is so funny.

Picture update

I uploaded some pics from one of the cameras this morning. As a result, you are now going to see a new picture of each of my children, and a baby turtle. Enjoy.


I took this picture of Lydia mostly to show the Great Blue heron in the background (he's standing on the dock). This was the same day we were outside and Lydia found the baby turtle. She just about picked it up before I saw it.

Cooper and Catelyn were obviously taking a bubble bath. I started laughing so hard at Cooper and ran to get the camera.
Catelyn tried to make a bubble beard too.


I love my family and am so glad we have been able to enjoy this great adventure we have had in North Carolina.

My pretty Princess

Grammy bought Catelyn a new 18" doll and many dresses that Catelyn and her new friend can wear together.
If you ask Catelyn to act like a princess she will twirl around in her dress (since that is all she ever wears).