Surprise Visit!

I was trying to scrapbook and play with Caitlyn at the same time (which I have learned is very difficult) when my phone rang... It was Krista Kellett! She was in the area with Ludy and Caitlyn's best friend, Avery. I told them to swing on by!
Here are the babes playing so well together... it was right around Caitlyn's nap time (which shows in the expression on her face). It seems as though I hadn't seen Avery in a while... and my how she is growing! She has 4 teeth... since Caitlyn is STILL toothless, I measure growing by teeth! Avery is so darn cute and a good grower of teeth!!! Oh... and I was so happy to see that Avery was moving all over our family room and would crawl to Caitlyn and grab her eyes or her cheeks... I think it was pay backs for all the times Caitlyn stole Avery's pacifier outta her mouth!

I thought this was a great picture of Avery's little teeth...

I'm becoming obsessed with baby teeth!

Whip Cream

Last night, Ash and I both woke up to a very loud cry... we rushed into Caitlyn's room and tried to cuddle her back to sleep... we brought her into our room, changed her diaper, offered her a pacifier and a bottle, but she just flailed like a fish outta water all over our bed. I thought to myself... this is it... We HAVE to be teething! After a half hour of walking and rocking... Caitlyn fell asleep... and to my surprise, we woke up this morning WITHOUT teeth. I still have a toothless baby!!! I do LOVE her gummy smiles, but I think she'd enjoy food a little more if she had some teeth to mush it all up.

After work today, Caitlyn was in quite the investigating mood. As Ash and I were preparing our dinner Caitlyn ventured through the fridge. I let her explore and she found the whip cream!!! What a treat!

I have been dying to get a good picture of Caitlyn on this pretty pink pony. It was a gift from my friend Stacy at work (Thanks, Stacy!!!) It was her little daughter's and they gave it to Caitlyn... who was deathly afraid of it when we first got it. Now, it is the 1st thing she goes to play with in the morning. If you pinch it's ear... it sings a catchy pretty pony song (which is currently stuck in my head). Caitlyn squeezes the pony's ear until the music plays then starts to do slow squats with a little bit of a pelvic thrust until the music stops and then she does it again... and again... and again!

Oh yeah... and we finally finished and bottled the limoncello and it rocks! Thanks Uncle Paul for the Recipe! We will bring some to PA for you to be our most important taste tester!

A Quiet Home

Ashley & Caitlyn headed up North to visit Jon & Mandy along with my Dad, Ksavera, Hana, Scarlet, and some other friends to watch Batman Begins... which means... I am home alone (for longer than an hour) for the 1st time since Caitlyn was born! I decided not to go up to Jon's because I work this weekend and thought I'd be able to get a little extra 'rest' if I stayed home... and by 'rest'...I mean, I went for a 7.2 mile bike ride, came home, completed the laundry, emptied the dishwasher, swept the entire house, mopped all the floors, vacuumed, dusted, cleaned all the toilets and the bathrooms, took a 30 minute shower, and right now I have decided to REST! The house is amazingly quiet and I will probably hit the sack soon...
I miss Ashley & Caitlyn, but this evening was much needed.
Tomorrow, I work an 8 hour shift and then am driving up North to watch the new Batman (The Dark Night) at the IMAX theatre with everyone else who is already up there.
Good Night!

Limoncello Part 2

Step 2 in our Limoncello process was two fold.
1.) drink a ton of Grolsch beer… check!
2.) Clean out & prepare the bottles for bottling the Limoncello…check!

Here are the bottles soaking in boiling water...

and here they are drying in the sunshine on the windowsill.

For those of you who were confused about my first Limoncello post, I thought I’d give a brief background on the lemon liqueur...
We heard about and first tried limoncello with my Uncle Paul and Cocia Char... Limoncello is produced in Southern Italy, mainly in the region around the Gulf of Naples, the Sorrentine Peninsula and the coast of Amalfi and islands of Procida, Ischia and Capri, but also in Sicily, Sardinia, Menton in France and the Maltese island of Gozo. It is served well chilled in the summer months. It is wonderful as a palate cleanser or as an after dinner drink. We keep our bottles of limoncello in the freezer until ready to serve. The ingredients are simple and few, and making a batch doesn't require much work, just time. It is made from lemon rinds, alcohol, water, and sugar. It is bright yellow in color, sweet and lemony, but not sour since it contains no lemon juice.
I can't wait to start step 3 when my Dad comes home!

What a Weekend!

As a Registered Nurse, who works every other weekend, I have learned to really appreciate my weekends off. Caitlyn and I started this weekend off with a trip to the zoo with Tiffany and Avery. We had an absolutely amazing time... the babes loved to watch the fish swim by in the aquarium. Tiffany has already done a wonderful post of our trip so check out the good pics and photo captions on her blog (simply by clicking her name in the previous sentence or by clicking on it on my list of buddies)!

After the zoo, Caitlyn was pretty pooped from the summer heat and seeing all off the animals so she took a 2 1/2 hour nap while I prepared a picnic for Ash. The second Ashley got home I had him change out of his work attire and we headed down to our local park and ate our picnic. Caitlyn really enjoyed swining on the swings.

Saturday, we all woke up early and walked on the Tacoma Water Front. Then we came home, napped, and went to Norah's 3rd birthday party. The weather couldn't have been any more perfect for their backyard pool party!

Sunday, Ash and I woke up and called his parents to see if they wouldn't mind watching Caitlyn ALL DAY! They gladly agreed and we dropped her off and rushed to the grocery store, came home and unpacked, cleaned the house, finished all the laundry, did all of our yard work, ate lunch, rested, and headed back to their house for our traditional Sunday dinner. Today was mine and Ashley's 1st day alone since we have had Caitlyn... it was so nice to be able to get things done around the house and to be able to spend some good alone time together... but it was even nicer to return to our sweet baby girl!

Caitlyn could have swung all night if it was up to her.

Counterclockwise from Caitlyn... Avery, Dylan, and Nolan. (Norah was in the 'big kids' pool.) It was so neat being able to watch them all interact togheter. Thanks Beth and Casey for having us over to celebrate such a special day!

Really, I just loved this picture even though Caitlyn's about to lose her bikini bottoms, Tiffany looks smokin' hot!!!

Caitlyn enjoyed the pool among other things at grandma and pappy's house!

Caitlyn and Pappy looked pretty cool in the shade here in this pic so I had to post it!

11 Months

Well, I am two days late posting about Caitlyn turning 11 months. It is absolutely amazing how much she has learned from last month. This picture was taken at my parents' house and I LOVE the look on Yssim (their dog's) face. He wants that pretzel so bad! Top 10 Things Caitlyn Has Learned This Month

1. Kisses & Hugs
2. Clapping and shaking her bum when she hears music or her mama sing
3. Walking/Running (she's up to about 15 steps at a time and she's so fast)
4. Swimming (she's definitely our little fish, she loves the water)
5. Words: Hi, dad! Everytime she sees him she says, "hi, dad!" She also picks up any phone or tv remote, puts it to her ear and says, "hi, dad!" She also says, "phu" and raises her NEB's (Non Existing Eyebrows) when she sees Roger (our cat) or Yssim.
6. Getting on and off the couch (without hurting herself)
7. Sleeping forever... she takes two and three hour naps during the day and then sleeps about ten hours at night.
8. Eating hard things is not impossible without teeth. She gums everything so well!
9. Climbs up the stairs very fast.
10. Her mom and dad love her more than they have ever loved before!

The A to Z of being me

From Tiffany’s, Bridget's and Sara's Blogs...

A- Attached or single: Attached to Ash for over 110 months
(2 ½ years married)
B- Best friend: Tiffany Jeanne
C- Cake or pie: Pie
(specifically my mom’s homegrown and made rhubarb pie)
D-Day of the Week: Thursday (it’s my Friday)
E- Essential item: Cell phone
(if I can’t send or receive at least 10 texts a day to my family… I’m lost!)
F- Favorite color: Don’t have one
G-Gummi bears or worms: Bears
(especially when we’re at the Kite Festival)
H- Hometown: Tacoma, Wa
I- Indulgences: Pedicures with Tiffany and facials
J- January or July: July
K- Kids: 1, Caitlyn who turns 11 months tomorrow
(we’ll be trying again real soon)
L- Life is incomplete without: Family and friends
M- Marriage date: February 25th, 2006
N- Number of siblings: 3-Ksavera, Jon, Hana
(& 1 sister-in-law-Scarlet)
O- Oranges or apples: HoneyCrisp apples are amazing!!!
P- Phobia or fears: Losing loved ones
Q- Quote: Don’t really have one…
(I totally should though cause Ash texts out a quote every single weekday morning, you’d think one of them would’ve stuck)
R- Reason to smile: Caitlyn took her 1st steps!!!
S- Season: Spring, I love everything in bloom
T- Tag three: Tobi, Kristen, and Sarah
U- Unknown fact about me: I have a Master’s in Nursing
(but I’m not using it)
V- Vegetarian or oppressor to animals: I like meat
W- Worst habit: Cursing
X- Xray or ultrasound: Ultrasound
Y- Your favorite food: Stove popped popcorn, and starburst
(so healthy)
Z- Zodiac Sign: Scorpio

Independence weekend

Happy 4th of July. I left my camera ON the whole day before and I did not realize it until I went to use it to take pics of the tall ships and the battery was dead. So, when we arrived at Ash's parents' house I promptly charged the battery. The only bad thing about that was Caitlyn went to sleep around 6ish and didn't wake up until 7:30 the next morning... so I did not take many pics of her in her precious 4th of July outfit. Here's one atleast

The 4th is Steve's birthday, so we celebrate every year with a bang at their house. Steve probably got 5 bottles of tequila for his birthday which he shared with everyone... therefore making it a wild night .

This was the last picture I got of Caitlyn before I put her down for her 12 hour NAP!

Thought I'd squeeze in a pic of me and my main squeeze...

Here's a pic before one of Steve's fireworks grand finalies. His firework display was better than the Tacoma waterfront's this year!!!

As I was looking through all of our pictures from the celebration, I found that someone took atleast 50 pictures of people lighting and throwing smoke bombs... so I thought it'd be apporpriate to post this collage.

Another group shot...

And then there's Caitlyn...
Waking up her dad on the 5th of July... still in her 4th of July dress...so nice and rested

I purposefully didn't post a pic of me throwing any smoke bombs... cause in the beginning of the night I decided to light 6 of them in my hand at once... and burnt my ring finger pretty bad. Below is the action shot of them being lit and then how far I dropped them after my finger was burned. I wasn't being very smart.

I had the 5th of july off but had to work on Sunday... and while I was at work I recieved a call from Ash. He was so darn excited to tell me

CAITLYN TOOK HER 1st STEPS!!!

I was bummed I missed them, but she took two more when I got home and then another 5 while we were at Sunday dinner. She's on the move now!!! It is amazing to watch how carefully she takes the steps. She concentrates so hard for a second then just takes off! She is amazing!!!

This has got to be one of my longest posts ever. From now on... I will only post a few pics per post!

Summer Swim

We went to a BBQ at my Aunt Cindy's and Uncle John's.

They have a pool, so we swam all day long.

Caitlyn loved it! She helped Babcia vacuum on Saturday and loved that too.
Babcia took out the mini pool on Saturday

(all 4 of us kids used to swim in this pool)...

now it's Caitlyn's turn.

She is waiving to the camera.
She waives at everone.

It is hilarious trying to walk through a grocery store,

she waives as if the grocery cart is her own princess float in a parade!

Here's Cocia Hana, Caitlyn and I soakin' up some rays in our tubes.

At the end of the day, we deflated all our floating devices... Caitlyn helped.

I couldn't choose just one 'orange ball' pics so here's 4. She loved this ball. She'd sit, pick up the ball, stand, then throw it and start over again. Each time she would get more and more excited! It was fun to watch!

Oh yeah... I went and exchanged my broke pitcher for a new one :)

Murphy's Law

So... Caitlyn went down for her nap a little while ago and I decided to make up some passion tea with fresh lemons and put it in my NEW really pretty glass tea pitcher so when when Ash gets home we can sit on our porch and have a glass and enjoy our yard (that I just weeded, mowed, edged and blowed). Well, as I was adding the tea to my pretty pitcher I heard a crack... I looked over the pitcher and it looked fine so I went to put it in the fridge to chill for a bit and then I noticed the crack right next to the darn handle... I am so incredibly bummed out. I thought about calling Ashley and telling him how bummed I was, but thought I shouldn't bother him at work about something so silly. Then I thought I should call and talk to Tiffany's answering machine (cause that always makes me feel better)... but thought maybe I shouldn't bother her either. I began folding laundry and that darn pitcher was really getting to me. As I folded... and folded... and folded, I decided I would blog about it. So here it is... I'm still bummed about the crack in the pitcher... because, I bet if anyone else in the world would have come over here and made tea in my pretty pitcher, it wouldn't have cracked... but for me it's Murphy's Law... I'm beginning to get a complex about it!!!

The boys did okay in their tournament... they won their first game (by forfeit) and lost their next two... Better luck next year boys!!! Caitlyn and I had a relaxing weekend at my parents and she enjoyed her first swim at Aunt Cindy's and Uncle John's... which she loved.
I'll post pics tonight.

Limoncello

Wednesday, we started our first home batch of the delicious limoncello (thanks to my Uncle Paul's recipe). Here are some pics of the process.

In a few weeks we will start the second process... I can't wait.

Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York in a nutshell…

...by Caitlyn Leigh

Thursday, I flew to the East coast with my Mom, Dad, and Aunt Scarlet. We flew into New Jersey and drove into Connecticut for Adam’s and Talbot’s wedding… which was amazingly beautiful. We had dinner, breakfast and brunch plans every day that we were there… it was a super busy weekend. Talbot’s family was very welcoming (the wedding was at their house). On Sunday, after a brunch, we headed to New York (I learned that my mom and dad will NEVER drive in the city of New York EVER again). When we arrived, we strolled through Central Park, rode on the carousel, bought and ate a hotdog from some guy selling them from a street stand, I learned to stand on my own, I went on a swing, and a slide, went to times square, and I enjoyed some cotton candy and New York style pizza. The AC was broke in our hotel, so I didn’t sleep too well, but I was so happy the next morning when my mom took me to the TODAY SHOW. We saw Matt Lauer and Meredith Viera in Rockefeller Center… It was so cool. We toured the streets, spent many hours walking and then headed home. Our flight was a little delayed, but I still slept the whole flight home… and then went straight to bed when we got to our house. My crib is so much better than any of the hotel cribs.
Enjoy the two collages the first one is mostly of me and the second summarizes our whole trip. I had so much fun…

Adam and Talbot make a wonderfully beautiful married couple… Congratulations to both of you!
We spent Father's Day on the East coast, I made my dad a mixed CD with all of our favorite songs, we listened to it as we drove from CT to NY. I am so lucky to have such and amazing dad!!! Also, I love my DziaDzia and Grandpa very much... they obviously did a good job raising my Mom and Dad... Happy Fathers Day to all the Father's out there!This is my dad and I still sleeping... I loved that he let me sleep with him because I hated the crib!This is us swinging on Father's Day. I loved swinging because I could feel the wind blowing through my mowhawk of curls... which everyone adored!

Home Sweet Home

We're home after a funfulled, jam-packed 5 days of traveling.

I am currently trying to sort through the hundreds of pics I took and will post them soon! In the mean time... Enjoy this absolutely adorable picture of Caitlyn Leigh!

10 Months

Happy 10 months, my sweet baby girl!

Last weekend we took Caitlyn in the pool for the 1st time and she LOVED it! I cannot believe she is 10 months old. I don't know why, but that seems SO much older than 9 months. She is learning at lightening speed. Caitlyn still scoots, but prefers to cruise (pull herself up and hold onto things to walk). She even pulls herself up on the wall and will walk with that as her support. I love when I am washing the dishes or getting ready in the morning, she uses my legs to help her stand and just stands in between my legs waiting to be picked up. She loves to crawl up the stairs and then look back at mommy and daddy to make sure we noticed how well she did. She's kind of protesting baby foods... she doesn't like to be spoon fed right now. I've been cutting or tearing up foods that we are eating and putting them on her high chair. She would much rather feed herself and she is still toothless! Caitlyn will engage in a full conversation with us... she mostly says, "DA DA DA DADADA DA DA!" & " BA BA BA BABABA BA BA!" She speaks with such authority! My favorite thing that she does right now is give kisses. She's always given really good wet open mouth kisses, but lately she has been forming her lips to give her mama a kiss. All I have to say is, "Give your mama a kiss" and she comes diving in. I love it!!!

Enjoy her 1st swim pictures!

CWU Grad!

Congratulations, Hana Kristine!!! Friday, the whole family piled into 3 separate vehicles and traveled to Ellensburg in central Washington for Hana's graduation. We joined Courtney (Hana's roommate and best friend) and her family for a huge BBQ. The food and company was good and the evening ended with a few good games of beer pong. Then, 7 of us slept in one hotel room while my mom, dad, and grandma shared the other room (it was tough to get rooms and my dad reserved them last year). Our room was jam packed!!! Caitlyn did a little better sleeping in a hotel. While laying in bed, she grunted and did summersaults in the nook of my arm for close to an hour until she found a cozy spot and fell asleep. Saturday was the ceremony and the weather was extremely windy but with beautiful blue skies.
Hana actually completed school in December with honors and then walked with the 2008 graduates. We all couldn't be more proud of her. She is now considering going back to school for some post baccalaureate studying. Way to go, Han...you'll find that for the rest of your life you will be constantly continuuing your education.