graduation weekend festivities...

hi love!

what a fun weekend we had. it was one of the few that i wasn't working, because it was mommy's graduation weekend! we are so thankful this little phase of life is over, and i'm a little bit overwhelmed when i think about all the ways God helped mommy to finish this program. so next month after i take (and pass) the board exam, i'll be a pediatric nurse practitioner. what fun that will be=)

gigi and grandaddy were here helping us pack up the house and send things to storage. we worked pretty hard and saw them off on their way back to georgia sunday morning, just in time for josh's party to get rolling. josh's mom lives in chicago and wanted to give him a graduation party, so we had it at our house. she is a sweet sweet lady and we were honored to help in some tiny way celebrate josh getting his PhD. (fyi-this is the same program daddy will be finishing a year from now). you are so funny with josh. it takes you about 2.5 seconds to remember him and then you won't leave him alone. good thing he loves you back=)

mommy's working for a few nights then we're off to gigi and grandaddy's lakehouse wednesday. we're excited, for sure, but mommy and daddy are looking at this more like free child care and 4 full days for me to study for boards and daddy to finish his dissertation. no worries-there will be plenty of boat rides and swimming, but it's basically crunch time for your parents and we'll take what we can get!

oh. also, mommy and daddy went out with josh and some other friends saturday night. we felt a little bit like we were 18, but we had A LOT of fun. mama definitely showed off that bump bump gene i was telling you about. daddy and josh were very proud.

here are some pictures from this weekend. you sure are a little cutie.

you and your baby pearl. uh, you LOVE your baby pearl. you feed her and tell her to swallow and make sure her hat and shoes are on right. you buckle her up in your little high chair. hilarious.

playing on the floor with gigi and grandaddy=)

look how old you look. i can't stand it.

remember how you were so mad about your graduation cap from food camp? you were mad about this one too at first. you wouldn't even come to me when i was wearing it. but you came around=)

look at me right there in the middle. about to walk across the stage feeling pretty proud of myself!!

looking very fuzzy, but just as sassy as ever.

i had to take you back real quick. this is my favorite picture of you and me and josh. it was last summer at pony pasture on the james river before josh went and moved to miami=(

josh and daddy and me. yesterday before the festivities began. i want to point out how daddy is the only one looking at himself on the camera's flip screen. no shocker there.



josh and sweet catherine=)



josh's dad. jan-aka cool cat-hook.


josh with jeff, jessica and ava kate.


josh's grandma virginia. one of the cutest little ladies i've ever met.


you were trying to figure out the game of corn hole.


now you've moved on to ladder golf.


"HEY! why is my pool all the way over here?"
we were trying to pretend we were classy during the party, so we hid it behind the house.


i just wanted there to be proof that i once had beautiful hydrangeas in my yard=)

me and joshy wosh.

daryl had been gone for a few weeks and you were SO EXCITED to see him!!!

you hanging out with your other set of parents.

you and me snugglin'.

some of our very best friends.

josh cleaning my floor. i jumped at the opportunity to document this with a picture.

this is gross.

hi love.

you gross little lovey. just thought i'd share this most disgusting story with you from today. we were by ourselves at home, which means that you get in the bathtub with me when i take a shower. i usually run a few inches of water first so you can play and be warm while i get clean, then we bathe you. we're a few minutes in and i hear you talking but i don't pay too much attention. and then suddenly i smell something yuck and i look down and see suspicious "bits" floating around in the water and realize you were saying "poop" and pointing to your bottom. i resist the urge to freak out completely and grab you up, being ever so careful to not bring any "bits" with us, and run to the other shower. mommy is of course covered in soap suds and needs to get rinsed off. so we're in the other shower, you're sitting on the shower floor and all is well. when all of a sudden i hear you saying the same thing and pointing to your bottom again and i see, as daddy put it when he got home, a "slug of poop" sitting right there on the shower floor. luckily, (luckily?? i guess.) there was no water collected on the shower floor so that little slug of yours was sitting neatly with no potential of spreading its nasty self anywhere. so i grab you up and clean your cute little bottom, rinse myself off with one hand, and call it a day (in terms of my showering efforts, at least). not the cleanest i've ever been after a shower, but neither one of us had poop anywhere and my hair was washed. i consider it a success. afterwards we had a weird conversation about how we don't poop in the bath or shower, and you looked a little confused, so i decided to give up in fear that harping on the subject would make you think that pooping altogether was bad. i've been told more than once that i think too much. perhaps they're right??

whatever. we had to run out the door to your doctor's appointment and the whole time all i could think about was how there was poop on the floor of not only the bathtub, but also the shower, waiting for me to clean it up when we got home. daddy's lucky that i got to warn him about it before he got home and jumped in the shower, only to be greeted by one nasty little slug.

this was gross. sorry about that. i just had to share.

i love you sweet baby.

mommy=)

ps. i look no pictures of this. you're welcome.

the bump bump gene

hi babe=)

a tidbit from today:

you and me and daddy were driving in the car on our way to isaiah's 2nd birthday party (happy birthday isaiah!) and dancing to rihanna or something else inappropriate for toddlers. you were loving it, as usual, dancing right along with us in your little car seat, rocking your head back and forth and wiggling your arms around. big smile on your face looking from mommy to daddy and back again. so eventually we stop and daddy and i start talking. suddenly we hear you in the back seat saying and signing "more! more!" and we realize you had not gotten enough dancing. so it all starts again-daddy and i start dancing and you join right along with us. every time we'd stop, you'd ask for more and the cycle went on and on. and daddy says "we're gonna be in trouble with this one-she got her mama's bump bump gene."

i'd like to dedicate this letter to josh hook, one of the few people who appreciate mama's great affinity for dancing. and mceachern high school, for giving me the bump bump gene in the first place.

dance on catherine.

catherine graduates from food camp!

sweet catherine!

you graduated from food camp today! we are so proud of you. they have a little "graduation ceremony" that lasts 5-10 minutes where they present you with a diploma and you wear a gown and they make you a cap and everybody loves on you and tells you how proud they are of you. i figured you'd love the attention and wearing the little outfit, but i could not have been more wrong!!! the gown was not so bad, but you were completely terrified of the hat! i couldn't figure out why, but you seriously started screaming and swatting at it and burying your head in my chest when we tried to put it on you. or when i put it on me for that matter. perhaps it was because your nap was cut short today, but regardless of the reason, graduation was hilarious because you were so mad about it. yes-i do feel bad for laughing at your misfortune, but you'll laugh too one day!

so food camp ended up being a little bit of a roller coaster with your tummy issues, but the basic result of your 8 weeks there is definite success! you are 70% weaned off the g-tube and you only get milk through it at night. during the day you eat all your little pureed meals by mouth! you are loving green beans-you tell us "beans!" over and over every time you see that's what we're about to feed you. you like fruit a lot too but we have to be careful about how much we give you...your little gut is pretty sensitive to sugar. but it has definitely been worth it!!! we have the protocol to continue weaning you completely off the g-tube, and we're happy to go as slow as you need us to!

we met sweet coen at the feeding clinic. he is your first boyfriend your own age. (sorry doug. and josh. and jeff. she still loves you all very much i'm sure.) coen is hands down one of the sweetest and cutest little boys i have ever met. you two love each other so much! the first 3 days y'all were there together you would walk up to each other and hug and kiss and play and play. you started playing hard to get the next week, but sweet coen is persistent and wouldn't give up on you=) he was most definitely more proud of you at your graduation today than you were. you were pretty furious about it, actually, but he was right next to you cheering and clapping and grinning from ear to ear!!! pictures to come.

what else is new?.....you still love bath time and taking walks and you're talking so much more. my favorite word you say is "hold". you say it whenever you want anything. it can meanyou want us to give you elmo or this book or that cup or it can just mean you want us to hold you. sweet girl. you say it pretty funny with your tongue poked out a little at the end. i keep trying to get it on video but no luck so far. as soon as you see the camera come out you come over to put the lens cap back on. i think you still actually love having your picture taken, but you love even more to play with the lens cap. time-outs are becoming more and more frequent as you approach your second birthday=) we try so hard not to laugh, but your sass is pretty funny. you definitely seem to get that you're in trouble and you're not at all happy about being in time-out. i guess that's the point, right? kacie taught you to say and sign "all done" at the end of a meal so you use it a lot for other things too, which makes me very proud of you!! when you're not happy about having to sit still for your nebulizer you look up at me and say/sign "all done" hoping i'll take the maks off your face! although i sadly can't always grant your request, i am always very proud of you for communicating so well!!!

there are lots more things to tell you, i'm sure of it, but mommy is very very tired. the busy-ness of the davis house is proven by the whole (almost) month that has elapsed since the last letter i wrote you. here are about a million pictures for you to see of that month!!

i love you sweet baby. i have the most fun with you and i am so over the moon thrilled that i get to be your mommy.

having lots of fun in the bath! please try hard to ignore the yucky black around the tile...we're not about to re-caulk the bath tub in a rental house!!

you and veronica having lots of fun together=)

digging your head in there to get a good whiff. my gardener grandmother would be proud=)

there you are!!! smooching on coen!

you were very proud getting up the stairs by yourself!

now you'll go down the (small) slide by yourself too!

you love sitting in coen's stroller!

you're trying to ask coen's mom and me why there are no goldfish in his cup holder...

obviously not making him work too hard...

trying to pick up the flower. pot and all. you were not successful.

he let you borrow his sunglasses. here you're chasing him around trying to put them back on him.

you and daddy like to play in the "pool" and sprinkler!!

the initial shock of cold water wore off and now you're loving it!

for whatever reason, i think it's the cutest thing when you lay on the floor by yourself=)

on the last day of food camp, you got to eat like a big girl in the cafeteria. you did great!

yep. more kisses. is he not the most handsome thing ever?

see how proud he is of you?!

the look on your face set the stage for how you would react to the graduation cap. not so enthused.

you and daddy walking to your last meal with kacie!

coen loved your hot pink graduation gown!

this is right after we tried to get you to wear the cap. you were requiring some serious consoling.

oh sad face.

the feeding clinic staff all wrote you little messages and signed the cap.

mommy wearing the cap didn't help. not at all.

this is not nice, but i just kinda think it's funny.

maybe daddy can make it all better???

nope.

oh my. it somehow got a little worse. (grandaddy will probably be mad at me when he sees this picture for letting you get so upset=))

we'll try mama again.

now that most of the staff left, maybe you'll pose with your diploma?

waving to the camera for a family shot.

kacie is so proud of you!!! (daddy's falling on the ground behind the camera to make you laugh=))