Catie is 1 year old!

It's hard to believe that a full year has passed since Catie was born.  While it doesn't seem like just yesterday, it certainly does not seem like a year has gone by since she was born!  She is certainly an over-achiever!  She got her first tooth before the boys did and started walking before the boys did.  She took her first steps March 11th, 15 days before her birthday.  The boys both took their first steps on their first birthday.  In a way I wish she had waited, but she is already taking several steps and shows no sign of slowing down.

We started Catie's birthday off with pancakes, but no sprinkles this time. :)  She loves pancakes!  Matthew had to be at work early, so we had to wait to do presents.  Catie wore her birthday dress, so I had to take her out to show it off!

Hanging out in Robbie and Alex's room

We dropped Alex off at school, I did a short class at the gym and then had to go to Publix to pick up a few things (which turned into several things!).  This time I let Catie get a cookie at the bakery.  She loved it!  She couldn't get it in her mouth fast enough!  I remember breaking off pieces to give to Robbie and Alex when they first started getting cookies...and I may have had a bite or two, but Catie ate her whole cookie before I even realized it!

Get in my mouth!!

What is this deliciousness??

After naps and work, Catie finally got to open her birthday presents.  My parents got Catie a cute princess car that makes noises and plays songs.  It's similar to a firetruck that Robbie got for Christmas one year, that's why he called it a firetruck.



She loves it!



We got her a Klip Klop Stable with Rapunzel and Aurora, plus 3 more princesses (Cinderella, Snow White and Ariel) to go with it.  All of the kids love playing with it, so it's a good thing we have enough princesses to go around. :)  The funny thing is, it was actually supposed to be Catie's Christmas present.  It was on sale around Thanksgiving, so I bought it when we came down to my parents' for the holiday.  Unfortunately, we left it at their house and we weren't going to see them until after Christmas, so we bought Catie different Christmas presents and didn't have to worry about what to get her for her birthday.  I don't think she minded. :)



After opening presents, we went to Mama Fu's for dinner and then Sweet Frog for ice cream.  It was another first for Catie...ice cream!  She liked it, but, not only did we get too much for her, I don't know if she was as excited about it as she was about the cookie because it was so cold.  But she still liked it!



YUM!

We let the kids stay up a little bit later to let the sugar wear off.  Hopefully Catie enjoyed her birthday.

Today I took Catie to her 1 year check up.  She did not want to cooperate for the nurse, so we guestimated her weight at 20 lbs (she wouldn't sit still long enough for the scale to accurately get her weight) and 29 inches long (50% for both).  Unfortunately she had to get 3 shots, but she did great under the circumstances.  We are looking forward to celebrating with family this weekend!

Alex's ER Visit

Yesterday when we picked Alex up from church the teacher told us that he complained about being cold and ended up falling asleep in her lap with a blanket around him.  He didn't have a fever and it can be cold in church.  We went to Firehouse for lunch and he ate pretty well, but still complained about being cold even though he had a jacket on (though I'm always cold in Firehouse, so I wasn't necessarily surprised that he was).  When we got home the boys were playing outside and when Matthew changed Alex he noticed that his hands, feet and knees were swollen and it looked like he had a bunch of bug bites.  I thought maybe he just got into an ant pile or something.  We called the doctor's office and they told us to give him Benadryl and go to the ER if his face swells or he has trouble breathing.  Luckily that never happened, but the swelling never did go down and Alex started saying that he hurt, so we called the doctor again and the nurse advised us to take him to the ER.  Matthew took him and, thankfully, the ER doctor took one look at him and knew he had an allergic reaction to the Augmentin he'd been taking for his ear infection.  I thought if he was going to have a reaction it would be with the first dose not the literal last dose, but the doctor said it was because it had built up in his system.  She gave Alex a steroid, told us to keep giving him Benadryl and Zyrtec and that all of the "bug bites" (what I thought it was) are probably going to blister in the next few days.  Poor Alex's feet are so swollen he's walking funny...but it's kind of cute.  Mostly he asks to be carried, though.  I never thought our first ER trip would be for allergies.  The way the boys run and jump I figured it would have been a broken bone instead!

Our poor Alex!!

Catie's 1st birthday photo session

Saturday we drove to see my sister and her family and do Catie's 1st birthday pictures.  Lisa's friend Jenna is a wonderful photographer who also did Robbie and Alex's 1st birthday pictures.  It was a great excuse to visit. :)  The boys were so excited to see their cousins.  And I know I always say it, but it's so nice that they play so well together.  I don't think there were any fights or tears, so it was a good day. :)

Lisa bought a cookie cake so we could celebrate Catie's birthday with them.  I don't know if my kids have ever had a cookie cake before, but they LOVED it!

The cake that Lisa wrote on.

Waiting while we sing "Happy Birthday."

Can I have it now?

What do you mean I can't have the whole thing??

I wasn't sure how the pictures were going to turn out since the boys didn't nap (Elise generously offered to let Catie nap in her crib), but they did great.  One day they will learn to smile for pictures.  Until then, we are stuck with the cheesy smiles. :)

The funniest part of the photo session came when we brought out the smash cake (isn't that always the best part??).  The boys were both unsure at first, but Catie couldn't get away from the cake fast enough.  It's almost like she was scared of it!  I even put some icing on my finger to give her a taste, but she tried to wipe it off instead of eat it.  Unfortunately she kicked the cake and got dirt and grass in it so NO ONE could enjoy it.  Luckily we planned on going to Piggies for dinner and the kids' meals came with an ice cream cone, so they weren't too upset about not getting a piece cake.  And they had cookie cake at lunch, so they really didn't need another dessert.  But I was hoping for a piece. :)

We went back to the house to let Catie open her present and say good-bye.  It was a fun day for everyone!

Catie and Elise are good buddies.  Elise was so sweet with Catie and Catie loves playing with older girls.

We are so excited for her present!  And the Jack-in-the-box.

Cousin hugs!

Jenna's amazing pictures

How is this sweet girl almost 1??

I think she was trying to reach for Matthew here.

Daddy's girl!

I love my kids!

Best brothers for life!

So close to a good picture.  Well, if it weren't for those cheesy faces! :)

My big girl!

I love her open mouth smiles!

This one is my favorite!

What is this??

You want me to do what with it?

I don't think so.

Run away!!

Is it safe to go back?

Alex and the dinosaur puzzle

My parents got Alex a dinosaur puzzle for his birthday.  He loves putting it together and is getting pretty good at doing it on his own.  He also likes to name the dinosaurs when he's done...and then destroy it!  Here he is naming the dinosaurs while Catie tries her best to get the camera from me.

My little gardeners

Matthew and I have been saying that we really need to do something with our flower bed this year.  A couple of weeks ago Robbie said that he wanted to plant flowers and my great idea was born!  Saturday we took the boys to Lowes and let them each pick out 3 packets of seeds and we bought a little planter.  Sunday evening Matthew and the boys filled the planters and added seeds.  I figured it would be a couple of weeks before we saw anything sprout, but we started to see some green Wednesday.  A lot more have sprouted in the 2 days since then.  The boys are super excited about their flowers and I'm super excited about our cheap flower garden! :)  The only downside is the boys will be losing their dirt.  But I'm ok with that!!  (And they still have their sandbox.)

Filling the pots

"Let me out!!"

Robbie picking seeds.

He went with Foxglove as his first choice.

Alex's turn to pick.

He went with Cypress Vine (aka the star flowers).

We did let Catie come outside, but she wanted to dig up everything.

Our little seedlings!  The only ones I can identify for sure right now are the sunflowers and that's only because some still had the shell on.

Our flower garden will include sunflowers, foxgloves, gaillardia, hollyhock, zinnia and cypress vine.  I have no idea which ones will thrive as we just let the kids pick whatever they wanted.