cj is 15 months!

i'm a little late in posting this, as i have been very busy. on 8/30 cj turned 15 months! the time is flying by. his stats are as follows:

27.6 lbs & 32 3/8 inches long - 75-90% percentile

he is a big boy! he is dangerous. this past weekend he fell in the camper and got his first black eye! first of many i'm afraid. he is continuously falling down, and looking for ways to harm himself. what a mess!!! so sweet, loving and fun though.

september is always a busy month! we had a race in bowie, tx over labor day weekend which i will post more about later. craig's birthday is tomorrow and kaetlyn's at the end of the month. lots of planning and preparation!!

more to follow....

brushy creek sprinkler park

on monday night the AC decided to stop working and it was the hottest day of the year - 105 degrees! tina and i took the kiddos to the sprinkler park after dinner. they had a BLAST! the girls were much more difficult to get pictures of than cj. kaetlyn and sam ran around and played while cj tried desperately to keep up... won't be too long!

serious planning happening here

sam in the water
trying to get them both in the same picture is almost impossible!loving life!!
the moon as we were leaving the park

galveston weekend

this past weekend we joined the mendelson crew in galveston for a weekend of swimming and family time. we had a great time. as always, the kids enjoyed the pool and beach. the grown up kids and dad enjoyed the reverse bungee on the seawall on saturday night. i wasn't so great at pulling out the old camera until sunday when we ended our fun time at the houston zoo. it was HOT and kaetlyn goes through like a bullet. it's hard to keep up with her as she moves from one animal to the next. i've located all the pics in the public web album, but here are a couple cute ones.

cj and jake

craig and kaetlyn

the cousins: kaetlyn, jake, dyllan, and cj

this is also a cute video of the kiddos singing and dancing in the car on the way home from the beach.

already getting calls from the principal!

last monday craig and i were eating lunch together (which is a rare treat) when i got a call from the school's director. she wanted to talk to me because she had to report that, 'cj is biting his friends.' and so it begins... LOL. the discussion went on that she thinks he is bored in the nursery and it is unfortunate this became problematic in the last week of summer when he would be moving to the one year old class this week. they wanted him to spend time with the bigger kids who get a little more stimulation to see if that helped. i told her whatever works! what's funny and what i told her is that he is not biting at home, so it is hard for me to help reinforce with him that this is not acceptable. sitting down a 14 month old for a talk doesn't work so well. i tried subliminal messaging in his sleep that night instead, 'cj... be NICE to your friends.. biting is not nice...' craig just laughed at me, but we haven't had any reports since, so maybe it helped!

storybooks

at the beginning of the month i forgot to include a funny 'kaetlynism'. when she was sick and complaining of a tummy ache we had a discussion about telling the truth: real stories vs. pretend stories. after a very long explaination from me about the importance of only telling real stories when something is wrong and not making up stomach aches or other potential issues, i asked her, 'so now does your tummy still really hurt?' 'aww mom,' she says to me, 'i think i ate a story book!'

cj's vocab

the little one is talking more and more every day! sometimes sounds like he's saying more that he actually can. he's getting inflection down, even if the soungs aren't quite right. words he knows: cheese, bubbles, up, hot, bath, hi, bye, uh oh, juice, mama, dada, baba (bottle), night night, kaetlyn (neh-neh), uh-uh (no.. and sometimes yes). he blows kisses, high fives, gives hugs and big sloppy open mouth kisses. loves dancing and music. such a funny happy kid... until he's not. he has developed quite a little temper, that cannot be cured through soothing. if he is pushed to the point of anger the will flail around on the floor and if you try to help him he gets more and more angry... so you just have to let him cry it out and then it's over and he's fine. funny little guy. can't wait to hear his statistics at the end of the month at his 15 month checkup. :)

phone uploads

pizza and brownies for dinner! YUM
watching baby einstein... tv for HIM!
rockin!!!
hats are fun
just wanted to add a few more pics from the last couple weeks that were taken from my phone:

hot!

most everyone knows that august is the hottest time of year. august in austin consists of 20 or so consecutive days over 100.. it's awesome. the hottest part of the day is right about 5 pm so when you're driving home from work the car AC can't keep up with the heat and you're sweating... LOVE IT! can't you just feel the sarcastic nature of these comments through the words that you read?? i think we're all ready for fall to begin. we have been busy for the month of august though!

the first weekend in august we went camping / riding at bud buddys with robbie, carrie, barbara, randy and aidan. it was HOT, but we had a lot of fun. the engine on my quad blew out, but it was good times. all of the kids (big and little) had a great time riding around. me and barbara took the kids on a night ride, stopped, turned off the lights, and sang, 'twinkle twinkle little star.' cj loves the quads he will ride and ride... one late afternoon ride settled him into a nap! here's kaetlyn ready to roar!

on tuesday, 8/10 - dad's 60th!!! - he decided last minute to come to austin to celebrate his birthday! me and kaetlyn made him brownnies, but at his request we did nothing else. megan came from waco to spend the night. it was nice to see them both and play with the kiddos. here are a couple shots from the BBQ restaurant we went to for dinner:



last weekend we went to the perkins' house to celebrate alyx's 15th birthday! omg - where has the time gone. admittedly i was not good about getting out my camera for this one. the kiddos played and we ate WAY too much... as usual.
this is a short work week for me - the kids' school is closed on thurs / fri for the switch to fall semester so i will enjoy a little extra time with them, and this weekend we're off to galveston with the mendelson kiddos, poppy, and megan. it will be nice to see them all again so soon. :)

summer is really almost over! september is filled with birthdays and back to the races!! bring it.

perspective

work has not been the happiest place for me to be these days, so i do my best to focus attention to the things that really matter... family, children, life, God. I am very blessed and try to remind myself daily. kaetlyn is my ultimate cheer leader. she gives me pep talks and helps me stay motivated. one morning on the way to school she and i were talking about my work troubles and this is the conversation that resulted:

me: i can do it. i can overcome, i can win!
k: you can do it mom! you can win the race
me: that's right, yest i can!
k: you can win the race, mom, cuz you're a fast runner!
me: i am a fast runner (chuckle), and i will win!
k: and you will get a trophy!
me: yes i will!
k: and you will give it to me!

another friday after work i asked kaetlyn for a hug cuz i had a hard day. she asked me what's wrong:

me: there's some mean people at mommy's work, they make me upset
k: (giving me a hug) aw mom, do you want me to kill those bad people for me mom
me: (laughing) no baby, everything will be ok... i love you

long week

last week was LONG. cj sick, kaetlyn sick, kati sick... and no time for mommy to be sick. i think we're coming out the other side of it now though.... thank GOD! cj was not feeling well almost the entire month of july. first was croupy bronchial infection then cruddy eyes, runny nose, etc. kaetlyn had a stomach bug in the beginning of july and then began complaining about it again last tuesday. i took her to the dr on wednesday morning and when all possible issues were ruled out, i decided that kaetlyn and i should have a fun day to ourselves so we went to see toy story 3.... i cried like a baby... i was so happy she was sitting on my lap and couldn't see the tears streaming as andy gave up his toys to go to college... oh boy! what is wrong with me?? LOL

me and kaetlyn holding hands in the movies

this past weekend was our last weekend at home for a while and it was a long one. wish my sore throat would go away! yesterday we celebrated jaxon's 4th birthday with the clemments' family. the kids swam and ate cake and had a great time. i hope the fatigue will pass, as this week at work is a busy one. it does end with a weekend at mud buddy's for camping and riding! HOORAY!

kaetlyn at the birthday party

cj enjoying the cake!!

weekend fun

we had a fun time last weekend. we're out of town so many weekends, it's almost a treat to stay around the house and participate in austin-type events. friday night we went to terra burger, which is a drive through organic burger place that has a big playground, including sprinkler fun. both kiddos loved it! on saturday night we went to the round rock express game. pictures can be viewed here: http://tractionracing.shutterfly.com/pictures/2472

spoon success!

up until yesterday, cj was not successful with spoon usage. he would hold the spoon in one hand and shovel in the food with the other... or use the spoon as a slingshot to fling his bowl around the table... dinner time is messy! my table will never recover. last night, though he was extremely proficient in scooping the rice onto the spoon and making it into his mouth. i'm so proud!! interestingly, he uses his right hand. almost everything else, he does with his left. perhaps we have an ambidextrian on our hands. :)

follow up picture of kaetlyn's pigtails. this morning, we did pigtails again. let's see if they're still in place when i pick her up today.

this has been a long week, and i am so happy it's friday. tonight me and the kiddos are meeting friends for dinner and tomorrow night our riding buddies are joining us in the suite at the Round Rock Express game. Hopefully we'll get some riding in on Sunday as well. Fun weekend ahead!

the world according to kaetlyn

kaetlyn got her own 'cramra' for christmas. it is digital and holds around 400 pictures. it was full, so i uploaded her pics today.


my little girl is growing up. today she actually asked for pigtails.... progress!

last night she wanted 'blackbird' to be 'blue fish'. as i started to sing she said, 'blue fish can't have broken wings' so we changed it to 'blue terradactyl.' funny funny kid.

ET phone Kaetlyn

this week the kids are learning about space and astronauts and planets and such.... so kaetlyn and i started talking about aliens on the way home from school. the conversation transpired into kaetlyn telling me she wanted et to come to 'our earth'. so i told her that he was with his family on his planet, but maybe when we got home daddy would help her call him on the phone. lol. or so it would seem. not so great move, mom. the entire night she was obsessed with talking to et on the phone. fortunately, right at bedtime our buddy fred called and pretended to be et while she talked to him on speaker phone. he did a fantastic job! how her eyes were sparkling and she was laughing and so happy. cute stuff. first thing this morning she asked me if we could call et again! i was able to distract her with the movie.... ah... the things we do for love. many thanks to fred for saving the day! hopefully he won't mind playing the part a few more times if needed.

green bird

sometimes at bedtime is sing 'blackbird' by the beatles to kaetlyn as a lullaby. now, she's changing the song so everytime she asks me to sing about a different color bird. last night was 'greenbird'. LOL

here's a pic from kaetlyn this morning before school - it is baseball cap day.

phone pics

you can see that cj's spoon is getting used very effectively!
playing in the sprinkler is cause for great amusement and fun

kaetlyn's first real attempt at writing her name... pretty good i think!

bathtime is always a treat!

tough times

cj is usually pretty laid back and easy going. he's had a little cold and molars coming in, so all he wants is mommy! i'm fortunate to be so loved....

every day he is adding more words to his repertoire: bye bye, bird, ball... the list is growing and growing. balls are his most favorite thing ever!! (except for maybe 4 wheelers) he's got a hilarious sense of humor and we can't wait till he can communicate his thoughts. fun times ahead! he's started shaking his head. waving his arms, and saying 'uh uh' when he doesn't want to do something. all we can do is laugh!

set me free mom

a couple weeks ago, kaeltyn was watching her newest dinosaur movie. she asked if i would come watch it with her, so we curled up together on the couch. after a few minutes, the following conversation occurred:

k: mom, you want me?
me: yes, of course i always want you
k: ... oh, ok... mom, when are you gonna set me free?
me: ur, um.. you're free.. i thought we were snuggling... you don't want to snuggle? you want to be free?
k: yeah, so i can breathe.

WOW! i had a flash forward about 12 years. what a girl.

another cute one: she really likes bob marley's song 'three little birds' but has created her own lyrics, which don't really make sense but are pretty cute. in galveston she was standing on a kitchen chair dancing and singing. dyllan was cracking up! her words are, 'i'm walrus; i'm out of bed.'

mid-july already!

the mendelson cousins
cj and logan at aidan's birthday

beach bum cj

sand princess kaetlyn

let's see... fun-filled and action packed doesn't begin to describe the whirl wind that is our life. we're having a blast and the kiddos are growing before my eyes. kaetlyn is perpetually hysterical... the things that come out of her mouth continue to amuse craig and i... i just don't know where she gets some of the stuff. there are so many funny stories that i mentally note to include here, but right now tiredness is interfering with my memory! hate that.

cj is full on walking. we are spending a lot of time playing chase. he's like a tornado and into everything. so far this month we have:

7/3 - spent the 4th weekend in Houston & celebrated Aidan's 4th birthday

7/11 - went to Galveston for a long weekend with the Mendelson crew

we will finish up the month with birthday parties, a trip to bud buddy's, and some family portraits!! august will be here before we know it.

busy bees

from mid-may till now we have been going non-stop - hence the lack of blog updates. let's see:

5/15 - perkins' family visit
5/22 - cj birthday party
5/29 - memorial day weekend camping trip at hidden falls adventure park - marble falls, tx
5/30 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY CJ!
6/03 - mom arrives in austin to stay with the family while i go to a work conference
6/11 - TORN Race #3 - Greenville, TX
6/18 - camping trip on Granger Lake in Tayler, TX

there are many pics and events to report...i don't even know where to start. boy are we having a fun filled and BUSY summer... and it is already flying by.

most pics are uploaded in the perkins' family web album: http://picasaweb.google.com/home

some are also here: http://tractionracing.shutterfly.com/pictures

will get better again...

so behind! but so big!!

i can't believe it's been almost 1 month since i've updated... bad me!! so much has happened and we've been very busy... at work and at home.

most importantly, cj celebrated his first birthday on may 30! wow has the year ever flown. stats look like this:

weight - 25 lb 9 oz (75-90%)

length - 29.5 inches (50-75%)

8 teeth (working on molars)

words: uh oh, hi, ow, mama (i'm told he says AMEN at school but have yet to hear it. he also tries to say woof woof, meow, quack)

he LOVES music and dances by bopping up and down and waving his arms from side to side. he walks, high fives, blows kisses, and plays the 'how big is cj' game.

he is busy busy and wants to get into everything he's not supposed to. he's a sweet heart though, and a happy boy.

more catch up to follow... just lots going on!

From 2010_06_13

hawaii day

yesterday at school was 'hawaii day' and kaetlyn let me put pigtails in her hair for the event. she started to complain that they were hurting, but as soon as she saw herself in the mirror she started laughing and really liked them! as is typical, her 'long neck' had to accompany her to school. :)

cj gets to ride frontwards now. as you can see in the pics below, my backseat is FULL! he really likes it !!

he's feeling much better, for which i am thankful. his antibiotics are all done, and kaetlyn is on her last day of ear drops! its been a crazy couple of weeks, but hopefully we will have nothing but good health in the upcoming weeks. there's lots going on, so no time for illnesss!! cj's been making this new 'crinkly nose' face... pretty cute!

this weekend, megan is coming to town and we are having an early birthday celebration for cj. we will be camping memorial day for his real birthday.

TGIF!!!

what a week!

last week was very busy preparing for the perkins' arrival to austin friday night. in addition to everything that needed to be done for the weekend, BOTH children got ear infections & craig got a stomach bug. the result is that i didn't get much sleep, but we made it through.

last thursday night, kaetlyn brough home a white fuzzy catepillar. i fished out the hold hermit crab cage and she put it in there. on friday morning, she looked inside the cage and said, 'OH NO! mom... my catepillar has a spider web over it!' it had made a cacoon! really need. now we are waiting to see it become a butterfly. theresa says the hungry catepillar book says it takes around 2 weeks, so i guess we'll see what happens!!

also on thursday night my keys were found. i lost them 3 weeks ago. someone found them on the road in our neighborhood and turned them in at the gym i go to. i am so thankful for this person and wish that i knew who they were so i could properly thank them. despite the fatigue, thursday was a great day!!

saturday i hosted a 'southern living at home' party for theresa, who is now a sales rep. we had a good turn out and it was fun to make some yummy food and have girl time! following this, we were planning to have a birthday party for cj, but had to make a pit stop to the ER before the party could begin.

apparently his antibiotic was not working, and his temp was over 104! of course i panicked, and craig and i took him the the hospital. new antibiotic & more tylenol / motrin, and we went back home to celebrate cj's, rachel's, and scott's birthday!


you can tell from the pics, he's not doing so hot, but he was a trooper. i think he's finally showing signs of improvement. he went to school today, and they haven't called me, so that's a good thing. :) the perkins' pitched in a got him is very own '3 wheeler' which he loves! i will need to get some pics of him playing with it. :)

thanks to all for a fun weekend. back to work today, but am still tired. hopefully cj will be feeling better and better and i will get a little more rest.

Mother's Day

we had a nice family day... nothing too exciting or extreme, but great quality time. cj woke up early and then was back asleep before 7 am so we didn't actually get out of bed until almost 9! we made pancakes, went to lowes and spent the morning working in the yard. both of my kids LOVE it outside. cj is full on walking and checking everything out... he's a mess and into everything. everyone laid down at naptime and has a peaceful afternoon. tina and sam joined us for dinner, which was nice for kaetlyn to have her buddy to play with for a while... and nice for me to have some grown female conversation! we cooked a nice dinner, spent a little time outside, and let the kiddos play. fun day! i received a barage of items from the kiddos school, and craig also helped the children pick out a present and card for me. kaetlyn picked the dvd 'Brother Bear' and this was my mother's day gift! at their school, kaetlyn's class made strawberry jelly from scratch... YUMMY!

on saturday we went to the farmers market in the morning, and then to 1890 ranch shopping center in the afternoon. nice sushi dinner & book shopping... and baskin robbins. all in all it was a fun weekend with my favorite people in the world.

so continued on from the 'always with you in my heart' conversation last week... last night when i was kissing kaetlyn good night, she put her hand on my check and said:
k: mom, when i'm not with you just put your hand right here. i'll always be with you in your cheek
me: my cheek, huh? (laughing)
k: yes, i'll always be with you in your cheek
funny kid!
me: so, you're going somewhere?
k: yes, i'm going to africa to save the animals

LOVE HER!

work trip

this week i went on my first work trip since cj was born. it was a quick one - to VA - there one day and back the next. boy did i miss my family! craig did a great job with the munchkins and didn't seem too stressed over it.... in fact he seemed to have enjoyed the special time with the children :) both kids slept with him, which as a nice treat for kaetlyn, and cj only woke up once in the night... wish i had it that easy.

the night before my trip i was telling her i would be gone the next day, but that i would lay with her as she fell asleeep. the following conversation ensued:

k: but mom, i don't want you to go on a trip, i want you

me: i won't be gone long and you'll have fun special time with daddy

k: but mom, i want you

me: i have to go to work so i can make money so we can have the nice toys and things we have

k: but mom, i don't want you to go, i want you

me: i will never leave you and will always be with you forever. put your hands on your heart. when you miss me, put your hands on your heart and know that even if i'm not here, i'm always with you in your heart

k (drifting off to sleep): you're always with me in my heart, you're always with me in my heart, your always with me in my heart....

sweet girl! when i picked her up from school yesterday she was telling me that she wanted to go on an airplane ride because i just went on one. i told her we needed a place to go. she said, 'we can take an airplane to australia... to buy a new horse for me.' that's my girl.

cj's schedule got a little screwed up in my absense and woke up very early both mornings. he's also transitioning to the 1 year old class at school which means only one nap / day.. reviewing his daily reports, it appeared he was his normal happy self, but was so tired by lunch he fell asleep in the high chair tuesday and wednesday!!

i'm so lucky. thank God for all the gifts that have been bestowed on me. grace abounds!