Wednesday, November 16, 2011

Almost One!



Caitlyn turns one on Friday. It is scary how fast time has gone by. Caitlyn is no longer my little baby. She is growing like crazy, with tons of personality and independence.

Just a peak at our princess...
* She isn't really talking much yet but will say Mama, Dada, Hi, Wow and Night, Night when she feels like it.
* She is such a happy girl with smiles for everyone she sees and is always giggling about something.
* She loves giving high-5's.
* She hasn't quite got walking down yet. She cruises around the house like crazy but has to be holding onto the sofa, coffee table, wall or cupboards. She has taken about 6 steps in a row without holding on to something but then she realizes she is still on her feet, gets confused, and quickly falls down and starts crawling. She has also started doing the strangest knee walking. She will cruise around on her feet and then when she doesn't have anything else to hold onto he will kneel down and walk around on her knees. Its her walking/rawling hybrid. Such a random girl!
* She loves being outside and playing at the park. Even when she ends up summersaulting (oops!) down the big slide she is ready to get right back on and go again.
* She loves socializing and meeting new people. She is often the center of attention during church meetings much to her delight and her parents dismay. We love our cute little distraction.
* She LOVES talking to the pictures of family we have on the fridge. She carries on extensive conversations with them laughing the whole time.
* She loves animals (her stuffed ones and real ones) and her favorite show is Curious George.
* She eats anything and everything. Her favorite thing is usually whatever you are eating. But she does tend to prefer black beans, cooked carrots and quesadillas. Her dad is so proud that the other day when I went to lunch with a friend she was offered cooked carrots or french fries. She threw the french fry on the floor and ate the whole bowl of cooked carrots. She is still nursing (more for comfort at night and before and after naps), drinks water and whole milk like a champ out of her sippy cups and has a bottle of formula still at night before bed.
* We went through a rough patch where she wanted to sleep with us in our bed and would scream when we put her in her crib but she has moved on (thankfully!) and sleeps through the night once again in her crib cuddled up to her giraffe.
* She still sucks her thumb while holding her bear blankie. We are ok with this for now and will deal with the consequences later.
* She has had four teeth on top and four on the bottom since about 8 months. No more have come in since then.
* She is mom's best bud but loves her one-on-one time with her daddy!




























Happy November 2011!

 My Birthday Month! Woohoo!

 Giving Mom attitude. This face is for Grandpa Marshall :)


She's already asking her dad for a car for her birthday. We could be in trouble.

What the grown ups have been up to

Okay, I know this blog tends to be heavy on the Caitlyn posts. But really, she runs the show around here and I know the three of you that read this really just want to see pictures of her :) However, I thought I would fill you in on what Eric and I have been up to the past few weeks.

Eric is so close to finishing PA school. After his final two tests today he is on break for 2 1/2 weeks. Then he has a week of Board Review and a practice Board Exam and then he is done! Graduation is on December 17th and then he will take his Board Exam the second week of January. Caitlyn and I are so proud of him for finishing strong and working so hard. He has started the job search, focusing primarily on jobs with Orthopedic surgeons, and has had a couple of interviews. We are still trying to figure out where we should live. Eric's only real requirements are a warm place where he can maintain a fun lifestyle, enjoy his hobbies (basketball, biking, hiking, skiing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, scubadiving, kayaking, etc.) and have an awesome job. Not asking much, is he? :) I don't know where a land exists where he can do all of this...maybe California? Anyway, we shall see. Here are a couple of recent pics of Eric and his hobbies.


Me getting in on the batting cages fun.

I've been pretty busy these days as well. About a month ago I started working part-time from home for Tampa St. Pete Kids Club researching events in the area for their calendar and helping with some marketing and promotions. It has been a good experience because now I know all of the fun things going on in the area!

I also just completed a 5-week NAUI scuba diving course. I loved it and am so glad Eric talked me into it. Now we just need to plan a dive trip.



This is Blue Grotto where I did my last open water dive for my certification. This guy bought a home and some land in central Florida and after he moved in this huge sinkhole opened up in his backyard about 70 ft. from his house. So, he took advantage and opened it as a dive spot. So random. I went down 87 ft. underwater but it goes much down much deeper.

And lastly I have been working on our end of the year Stake Primary Book of Mormon celebration. I got to speak in stake conference last month about it and work with the stake primary presidency on all of the preparations. It turned out great!

Yoda's Happy Halloween

Caitlyn got to celebrate her very first Halloween and she was pretty darn cute if I do say so myself. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures...I know, what was I thinking. We celebrated a few days early and went to our church's Halloween party and one of Eric's classmates house for a party (pic shown above). Our little Yoda was a hit. She just chilled on Luke Skywalker's back and took everything in :) Then on Halloween night Caitlyn and I left Luke home to study and headed out for some trick or treating with friends. There is a neighborhood in old town St. Petersburg that goes all out for Halloween. Caitlyn wasn't collecting candy this year but she had fun going door to door with the other kids and looking cute. Ok, who are we kidding, the trick or treating was more fun for me than her but she still had a great time.