I haven't bloged in a while, very many various reasons. One being that I can't think of anything to say... So I "borrowed" an idea from my friend Amanda. She took a 20 questions interview from a free Parenting mag that is put out in Charleston. So here are my answers to the questions

20 Questions with….Katie

1. How do you juggle children, work and home?

That's easy, I stopped working. Well going to a place of employment, my house and son are my job now.

2. The mountains or the beach?

Beach, though I would rather be in a place you could go to either.

3. What is your favorite TV Show?

Honestly, I'm addicted to TV. I've been working on cutting back, especially during the day. I love Bones, Chuck, and So You Think You Can Dance?

4. How did you meet your spouse.

We worked together at HornBlower Cruises and Events, he was the weird BackStreet Boys singing chef that made me laugh.

5. When is the house clean?

Just before I go to bed, when we get up, and while Gryph sleeps.

6. What do you wish your child would do?

Talk. I wish he could tell me what's bugging him rather than make this aweful whining noise.

7. What do you wish you could do?

Play soccer, lose 30 lbs, keep my house clean (or un-cluttered) and whistle.

8. What would surprise people about you?

The thing that does suprise people are the things I say, I don't have an edit button...I think something and it comes out, no matter how weird or offensive or stupid. I'm always embarassed.

9. What does summer mean for you family?

Trying to avoid the humidity and trying to fit in quality family time around school time.

10. What do you have on your nightstand?

Alarm clock, lamp, water glass, 3 Gryph books, Sinus rinse, halls, vitamins, tampon, blue tooth, remote for fan. (see what I mean about being cluttered?)

11. What would you take from your childhood to give your child?

Life experiences few other kids get... living in a foriegn country. (that's my biggie) Having the security of a loving home.

12. Why might parenthood surprise someone?

The love you feel, you know you're going to love that little person, but you're suprised by how much... and how hard it is. Being a parent isn't "fun", its a responsability that can be very fun!

13. What is your favorite indulgence?

I don't know if I have one.

14. What’s the funniest thing your child has ever said?

He doesn't talk yet. But he loves to blow rasberries on my belly, especially when he's tired. It's so funny to watch him come up for breathes!

15. What was your first job?

Baby Sitter

16. What makes you child wonderful?

He's so sweet, and is naturally funny. He loves to make us laugh, and is super easy going.

17. What makes him not so wonderful?

There's this noise he makes, it's the most annoying thing I've ever heard.

18. What should every parent have?

Patience!

19. How do you find “me” time?

I take 20 mins to myself when he naps or I ask Jon to take Gryph on a bike ride or out for a while.

20. What has life taught you?

To trust myself, I'm still working on practicing the lesson. But my gut is rarely wrong.

My baby's not a baby anymore!

I'm a little late on this post... it's been a busy week. Gryph turned one on Tuesday (5/6/09)! It doesn't feel like it's been a year since we welcomed him into our lives. I could swear it was yesterday that I was waking up every hour on the half hour to feed him, or watched him stare at the ceiling fan making little cooing noises, or took him to my mom's office to show him off to her co-workers. Now he's making more noises, but they sound more like talking that cooing. He's walking everywhere, many times trying to figure out how to run! (How I long for the days that I could leave him lying on the living room floor on his play mat to get some chores done) He's also climbing on anything he can, toys, chairs, people... you name it he's climbing on it.
Gryph's personality is really developing. He's still easy going, but much more determined to get his way. Lucky for us he doesn't throw tantrums, he just persists and points at what he wants. Gryph LOVES the water! The backyard pool and bath tub are his two favorite places. He loves blondes, playing with blocks, reading books, going for walks and bike rides, playing chase with daddy, eating blue berries, drinking from cups, being outside, Little Einsteins, and his mommy!
I'm so proud of my little man! Happy Birthday Gryphon!

Jon made an awesome birthday cake for the party here's a picture of it:

Norm

Norm was our dog, she (yes Norm is a girl) was put down today. Normandy was 16 years old. When we went to the pet store to pick her out, it was on a whim, really Nick had finally pestered my parents so long about getting an iguana they just wanted to shut him up. I have no idea how we went into the pet shop for an iguana and came out with a puppy, but we did. Norm was the chubbiest puppy in her litter, she was also the calmest puppy in her littler (sound like a character from Cheers?). We found out her birthday was the day after the anniversary of D-Day... So the best name for her was Normandy, and we called her Norm for short.

She went on her first backpacking trip when she was a puppy, she even had her own backpack. When we (the humans) went for a swim in a trail-side pond, Norm was so protective of us she jumped in the pond (without ever having been swimming before). Of course when she got out to us, she nearly drowned us! Near the end of our week long trip we hiked 12 (?) miles the last 4 miles were up a steep slope of sand and rock. Norm led the way...

Norm was an amazing camper and backpacker. She was also a wonderful walking partner. She and I would walk the entire outer perimeter of Coronado, several times a week while I was in high school.

My most favorite memories of Norm are from more recently. When I moved home from school I began to notice that when Norm and I were home alone, no matter how sick she was, she would position herself between me and the door. Norm was a very protective dog... ok so she thought she was and put up a good front. But when it came down to it her bark was worse than her bite. She sent more than one delivery person running out of or jumping over our front gate!


Norm had a very expressive face, and I will miss seeing it when I come home. After battling cancer for 2 yrs, she finally decided she couldn't do it anymore. She stopped eating and drinking. The last two days she struggled to stand up. I'm glad she's no longer in pain. I love my dog. I miss her.


I wish I had a picture of her on my computer so I could post it with this.

He walked!

Tuesday Gryph took his first steps, to me!
We were playing in the living room, Jon and I were watching Gryph put "his" (appropriated from the kitchen)blue sauce pot on his head. He put the pot down and stood up to look in his toy basket. Being the silly mom I am, I mimicked him. Gryph thought it was silly and tried to take the pot from me, in doing so he reached for me and took 2 steps to get closer to me! I bawled! I was so happy for him, but also so sad to see him step further away from being a baby! (pun intended)
Jon has been trying to call Gryph a "toddler" for the last 4 or 5 months, ever since he started crawling. I've always argued that he hasn't officially toddled, well now he has, so now he's a toddler!
After the first two steps he took two more to me. We tried to get him to walk to Jon, but he kept sitting down. We let him rest and 15 minutes later he took 7 steps to Jon and the blue pot! He did this in front of our friend Scass (not his first name) and I cried... again... and then got teased for being such a sappy mom!
In the last two days he's gotten really daring and has taken a step away from me towards something else. But only one step. In no time he's going to be running circles around me and I'm going to be hating that he's not crawling.

In the mean time I guess I should by him some shoes!

I can't find pants!

Why don't clothing companies make pants that fit a bigger girl? Why do they make plus sized clothes in "low rise"? Nobody wearing a size 16 or larger should be wearing low rise pants!
I'm trying to find decent looking, resonably priced shorts and pants for the summer... and everything that would be flattering on me is LOW RISE! I spend most of my day bent over, I don't need to show off my crack to the whole world.


Ugh. I just needed to rant.

Mommy bragging time!

So I haven't talked much about my son, Gryphon. He's the light of my life and has been doing some pretty amazing things recently.

1. He has 8 teeth, the two on either side of his bottom two middle teeth came in 2 weeks ago!

2. He has stood unassisted 4 times, we keep trying to find ways to get him to stand but he's not falling for them.

3. He bear crawls! Hands and Toes! It's so cute to see his little butt so high in the air. I've heard this is a step closer to walking!

4. Gryph stacks blocks!!! So far he has made stacks of 2 and 3 blocks. It's amazing and he's so cute when he places one block on top of the other, he'll look at us and clap. So, of course we clap for him.

5. We received this wonderful shape sorting cube from one of my Aunt and Uncles in NJ. The day that we got it Gryph was able to pop the shapes into the correct holes! I was floored! He needs a lot of help matching the shape to the hole, but will turn the pieces until they are the right direction and will put them into the hole. It's amazing to see his concentration, he plays with this toy for up to 20 minutes...quite a while for a 10 month old.

6. Gryph's working on new sounds, he has down B, D, S, A, O, and now V! The face he makes when he does the V sound is the cutest thing I've ever seen! Along with these new sounds are new sound combos that make it sound like he's talking. I swear he said "Nap" after I asked if he was ready for his nap, I asked several times, just to be sure. When I laid him down he fell right to sleep! He also loves to pull Jon's socks out of the sock drawer,and says something that sounds quite a lot like "socks".

7. Finally his new favorite game is to blow rasberries (or zerbits) on my belly! These little play sessions can last 15 minutes, I'm amazed that he hasn't hyperventilated! Again he makes the cutest faces when he comes up for breath!

Gryph also loves being outside! So much so that if he sees an open door then he runs (crawls with lightning speed!) for the door and cries if the door is closed before he can get out it! He can also play for more than an hour outside, and still make a fuss when it's time to go in! I'm very excited for when he gets older and wants to play outside instead of sittitng inside playing video games.

I think that's enough bragging for now! I can't help it, I'm so PROUD of my baby boy!!!!

Something so funny, that I realized a few weeks ago

Before moving to South Carolina I HATED reality tv, especially shows about rich people that are superficial and waste their money on stupid things...

Now that I'm here I've been watching almost all of the reality shows I hated. I am so grossed out by myself. Then I started thinking about why I watch the shows, here's what I came up with:

I HAVE NO DRAMA IN MY LIFE!

That's right, there's no work drama, no friend drama, no mama drama. I'm a drama free person, but my subconcious is having a hard time accepting my drama free life. So it's seeking out stupid reality shows. I now watch both Real Housewives, American Idol, Chopped, Hell's Kitchen, Sober House, and yes I've watch 2 episodes of Real World (ugh!). I also love all of the competition reality shows on Bravo...even Make Me a Super Model.

HELP MY BRAIN IS TURNING INTO MUSH AS I TYPE!!!

But how nice is it to know I have no drama in my life? Pretty cool.