i'm back.

catherine-


i'm back=) mommy was spending lots of time in the library studying and you've been hanging out with daddy all day every day. you two have been very happy, but mommy has not enjoyed it one bit! but mommy passed her board exam last weekend (hooray that mommy is now a certified pediatric nurse practitioner!), so now i get to hang out with you two again and i can return to keeping you posted on your life, blog-style. i feel like there's a ton to catch you up on. here i go, in stream of consciousness, of course. i just don't know any other way.

you're talking like crazy. you've finally entered the verbal world of 2 and 3 words at a time. when i'm pushing you in the shopping cart you'll be content for a while and then you start reaching for me and saying "mommy hold the baby!" wanting me to pick you up out of the cart. i find it hilarious. i honestly didn't know what you were talking about at first-i was looking around for a baby doll that you wanted to play with-but no...you were talking about yourself=)

you say hi to EVERYBODY!!! and everything, actually. you'll wave at people on the street or in restaurants as long as it takes until they notice you and wave back. sometimes you pinch mommy's leg (we're working on getting you to stop that...) and then when i tell you that you can't pinch mommy, you kiss my legs and then pat them and then say "hi!" while you wave at them. and the best part is that you say "hi" like ross on friends. i happen to have an unnatural obsession with that tv show so i love that you sound like him. but it's not a sad "hi", it's a happy and excited one. somehow you still make it sound like depressed ross, and i am so glad.

every morning i ask you if you had sweet dreams (you always say yes) and what did you dream about...you look around thinking for a minute and usually you say "fishies." sometimes it's elmo and this morning it was pearl and fishies and swimming. daddy and i always wonder what you think you're talking about. we love it=)

you do love swimming, actually. daddy is good at "gently pushing" you to make you become a better little swimmer. you're not afraid of getting your head wet or going underwater for a second. you "jump" off the side of the pool to us (basically you just lean forward like you're gonna do a belly flop and we catch you right before you hit the water) and you'll push yourself off the steps and swim to whoever is standing in the middle of the shallow end. you actually jumped off the diving board like a crazy person (actually, like your cousin jackson who had just done the same thing). granddaddy was right there to catch you and you thought it was the most fun. here are a couple videos of you in the pool...

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

the other night we were reading from your Jesus Storybook Bible, and you were looking at a picture of the three crosses. i told you that Jesus died on that cross for us so that we could live forever in heaven. you looked at the picture for a minute and then said quietly in your sweet voice "....heaven." i thought i might explode right there on the guest bed. hearing you talk about the place i thought you might go to just as soon as you were born. the place where Jesus is. where there is no pain. and everything and everyone is beautiful and clean and completely redeemed. watching you look at that picture and then say that word made it seem like you just might be starting to get it. i know-you're only almost 2. (you're almost 2! that's exciting.) and you repeat everything we say-whether that be "heaven" or "boogar". but i guess my mama heart wants nothing more than for you to know Jesus intimately and love Him deeply. so i got excited. i can't help it.

i know there's lots more i could tell you, but i'm gonna just show you pictures instead. you've learned so much and spent lots of time with family and you really are loving our new little home in south carolina. oh-and mommy got the job(s) she wanted. for the fall semester i will be a clinical instructor in labor and delivery, postpartum, and newborn nursery for clemson's school of nursing, and in october i'll start working as a pediatric nurse practitioner at blue ridge pediatrics in seneca. look how official i am;) http://blueridgekids.com/doctors/katie-davis


ok. i love you baby. i can't get over how good you smell all the time and i just want to kiss you and kiss you and kiss you. there are literally over 500 pictures to choose from since we've moved (and i can only do so much while you're napping...), and i've decided to show them to you in stages over the next few days....so stay tuned=)

mommy

catherine jumps=)

hey sweet love. i have a LOT to update you on, but that will have to wait a little longer. for now, here's a video of you "jumping" a few weeks ago at the lake. you were very proud of yourself=) sorry it's sideways-i wasn't paying attention...

lowe's is the new target, i guess...

just kidding baby. never would i say such a thing and mean it. target occupies a rather large place in my heart, and i fear it could never be replaced. just ask daddy. but i'm trying to get on board with what i see every morning when i wake up...to explain, look at this picture. it's the view from our balcony:

hold on, let me zoom in for you:

yep. lowe's. right across the street. within walking distance, for sure. when i was younger, i couldn't think of many stores i hated being in more than lowe's or home depot. i didn't like the way it smelled, it was huge and overwhelming, not to mention i didn't give two rips about any of the products that filled their warehouse of a building. well that has changed, my sweet. i guess you could call it growing up;)

while it will never compare to kennesaw mountain or an idyllic tree-lined street (those were the views out of our previous windows...), i don't mind so much having a lowe's staring back at me when i look out the window.

i love you sweet baby. we are loving south carolina. daddy and i are thinking a small town just might be the place for our little family. i'm making fun of our apartment a little, but we absolutely love it. pictures to come of that. and of you exploring clemson and bowman field. it's looking like you don't mind it here so much either=)

mommy

ps...target. i love you. i would never dream of cheating on you.

catherine's first ponytail=)

here you are with your first ponytail=) you were very proud of it! look how cute you are!

potty time with elmo

just elmo. not catherine, yet. we'll venture down that road once we're settled in clemson.

a few months ago a friend told daddy and me about the video "potty time with elmo" and that it was pretty hilarious.

side note: every time mommy goes shopping with gigi, your daddy expects us to come back with a surprise for him....

one day gigi and i went to target and i decided i should get that video for daddy as his surprise. daddy, not catherine. again, not yet.

so daddy loved his surprise, and our friends weren't lying. that movie is flippin funny. everybody talking about what they personally call their poo-poo or tee-tee. awesome.

and while daddy and i obviously enjoy this entertainment, you love the video too. it is hands down your favorite. "POTTY" you say, every time we ask if you want to watch a movie. this isn't really appropriate talk for public viewing, but i'm gonna tell you anyway. when you're in the bath tub and you see us using the potty, you get a big grin on your face and start giggling and say "potty! potty!". you're very entertained by the whole subject...

my favorite song on the video is called "accidents happen." elmo and grover sing it together and man do i love it. and what i really wanted to tell you is that i've had grover's sweet little voice stuck in my head all day, singing "sometimes you are just not sure, if you should go to the potty or play some more!" i love what you've done to me my sweet girl=)

you are the most fun. what an interesting little world you've opened up to your parents=)

mommy

we like making faces at each other through the front door=)

are you cute or what?

i think the face you're making here looks just like your daddy

tidbits from surgery

snuggling before surgery

making silly faces

watching a movie with daddy

today right before we went home. this is what you did when i asked you to "show me your neck."

surgery...and the lake

hi love~




you're in surgery right now. they're gonna do a bronchoscopy to make sure your airway looks alright, then they'll close up the hole where your trach was. to do this they'll cut out the area where the hole is now to get rid of the tract, then they'll stitch up each layer-trachea, muscle, skin. so it's just the tiniest bit more complicated than it sounds. they gave you some versed about 30 minutes before they took you back to the OR and you were hi-larious! giggling at everything and so so sweet. we got a video of some of it but that was before the medicine kicked in full force. daddy and i were cracking up...right along with you. it made mama feel better=) i was nervous about the surgery to begin with, but maybe more nervous about you being terrified as they took you away from us to the OR. but as it turns out, you gladly went to lauren the anesthesiologist blowing us kisses and waving and not fussing one bit. score one for versed, i guess!







so i'm writing this letter to pass the time and not think about them doing surgery on your sweet little throat. you'd think i'd be used to this, right? i don't think i am. or maybe it's just because you're older and you have a little more of an idea what's going on. and therefore you don't like it. unless they give you versed, that is=)



we got back from the lake last night at 8pm. and then left the house at 4:30 this morning to get you to charlottesvile. that was a side note. what i want to tell you is the lake was so much fun!!! you learned a new phrase: "OH BOY!!". you're so funny saying it. you get very proud of yourself. you danced and sang and danced and sang with gigi and played with jackson so sweetly. you two missed anna cate so much and can't wait to see her next month!! another new thing you love is to hold our hands. you're such a little sweetie-you'll reach up from the back seat so we can all hold hands while we're riding down the road. you met a new doll anna (anna cate's old doll) at the lake and fell in love. you and pearl and anna had lots of fun. (pearl is your other doll. i don't know if i've told you about her but she's been a big hit ever since she joined our family a couple weeks ago.) you loved boat rides even more than last year. i think you would've gladly jumped over the front as we sped along the lake if we hadn't been holding on to you. i could go on and on, but i'll let the pictures speak for themselves!




i love you sweet baby. i am anxiously looking forward to you being out of surgery. i'll miss your "neck poots" and your blow hole.





mommy

ps-dr rodgers just called while i was uploading the pictures and said you're all finished and you're starting to wake up in the OR. he said you did great and were stable the whole time. your airway looked perfect and he stitched it up with no problem. we should probably go home early tomorrow morning. well done sweet girl=)

you teaching grandmama things.

you LOVE to rock in rocking chairs.

big girl



i think your face is hilarious here. i think you might've been pooping.

"BOAT!"

you and jackson. obviously having a good time on the boat!

there you are. thinking about leaping off into the water.

you're so happy!!!

you and me. singing on the boat.

i'm layin' one on you. big time.

you and sweet jackson. again, looking very happy=)

i couldn't resist.

just in case you're wondering, that's your dress on daddy's head.