Just a swinging

P is for ...

Potty! Look who is going to the potty -

What a big girl! We're so proud - Catherine Ellis is only 17 months - that our little girl has wowed not only her parents, but her teachers too! We spent lots of time this weekend pottying - here's to a diaper free Catherine Ellis in the near future (and I know we've got TONS of work to do, we're just pretty excited that she initiated this all by herself!!). Go Catherine Ellis Go!

AUsome Weekend

I'm a bit behind on our recent activities - boy have we been having a good time! Last Saturday we headed to the loveliest village on the plains - Auburn! Catherine Ellis attended her first game last November, but this was her first tailgate experience as a toddler - what a time she had!

We headed down early Saturday morning to tailgate with my family for the Auburn vs. Clemson game - there was a large crowd there, but we were able to navigate fairly easily since we were not attending the game. I've always said tailgating is the best part of the game:)

I have a ton of pictures to share - thank you to Aunt B and Uncle C for taking such good care of us while we were in town! Can't wait to do it again in November for Homecoming!

A necessity for the tailgate ...

Hanging out ...


Hey, look at me!


Bye bye, headed for a joy ride ...


Somebody sure loves the camera!


My cozy coupe entertained me for hours ...


Social hour at the tail gate ...


That is so funny ....

Pass the sausage balls please ...


How can you say no to this face?


Loving my Auntie B ...


Sharing ice and laughs ...

I love ice ...

And laughing ...


So much fun ...


Uncle Drew, Mommy and Catherine Ellis

Catherine Ellis and her Greats

Catherine Ellis and the Bates crew


Mommy's silly girl

We stopped by some of my college friend's tailgate to say hello after my family headed to the game - of course my battery died after a couple of pics, but sweet Madeline Solomon was kind enough to let Catherine Ellis play dolls with her - this was CE's first barbie doll experience - and she loved it!

Hello Barbie, I'm Catherine Ellis


Loving the Barbie


Playing dolls with Madeline - thank you Madeline!


War Eagle!

And not to worry for all you Bama fans out there - we are headed to Tuscaloosa for the Alabama/Florida game and will be sure to post pics from our good time there! We're a two team family these days!

Playdate

Catherine Ellis and I had a wonderful play date with two of our favorite friends, Hill Liles and his Mommy Allison! We met at Homewood park this beautiful Saturday morning and had a blast! One thing is true, summer may be over but the heat is not - it was HOT, but nothing slowed these munchkins down.

Thank you Hill and Allison for making time for us in your crazy Saturday schedule - we loved every minute of seeing you both! Come play again soon!

Wow, this girl is a crazy driver, I better hang on!

We swung in the swings ....


Slid down the slides ...



Hydrated ...

Attempted a group photo (I love their faces!) ...

Admired the reflection in the mirror ....

And if you know Catherine Ellis, you know we did this again and again for a very long time:

We even got everyone in on the fun:

Bumping with Hill and Aunt Allison ...



A fun, fun time was had by all!

17 months

Really? Has it been 17 whole months - Catherine Ellis is growing up before our very eyes! Happy 17 months sweet girl!

17 months - September 9, 2010

Here is what Catherine Ellis is up to at 17 months, plus one to grow on:

• she is developing her own tastes - some mornings she really cares which shoes she wears to school! So fun to see her turn into her own little person with her own little opinions.
• She's officially drinking all of her liquids (milk, water, juice) from cups with straws or from 18 month sippy cups that have the straw. We are probably bad parents, but we still let her have her bottle at bedtime - we plan to cut this out by 18 months - it doesn't put her to sleep but she sure loves it!
• She can identify the following body parts: eyes, ears, nose, head (and hair), bellybutton and belly. She can identify on herself and others.
• she sits at the table to eat - and in a big girl chair - this is mostly school but she's starting to do it at home
• loves all the foods Mommy and Daddy eat - fish, steamed veggies, potatoes - still not a huge fan of broccoli
• new words: stop, ears, eyes, open, off, sit down, go, beep beep
• can identify family members in photos - she's working on this at school and often walks around the house pointing to Mama, Dada, Meme, Emma, Cain, Pop, Gan Gan - the rest of the family is coming soon - promise:)
• she walks very well now - not near as wobbly - and oftentimes runs to the next activity which is hysterical because it's wobbly!
• She LOVES LOVES LOVES shoes - seriously - this is totally her Daddy - Mommy doesn't care a thing about shoes. She's helping Dada put his boots on now - she is making sure he does it correctly (wonder which parent she gets this from???)
• she is a creature of habit - in the mornings we have to turn off the monitor and the sound machine in the same order as Mommy and Daddy have turned off all these months. She knows breakfast time, snack time, lunch time and dinner time - this child doesn't miss a meal.
• pappie - oh sweet pappie! She actually has grown to give it up before we even get her out of the bed at nap time or in the morning - praise!! Maybe it won't be so hard to get rid of in a few months. Fingers crossed
• she loves her blanket from Aunt Michelle Meacham and her cat from Aunt Sara and Uncle Daniel. She has slept with both since she was a newborn, but just now has realized she is attached and must have them in order to go to sleep. She asks for them if we don't get them out of the crib for her.
• she reads books to herself - it's precious baby language that we love.
• she is cutting her 2 year old molars - this child almost has every single tooth in her mouth. Only missing 2 at this point.
• she can sing - her favorite song now is row, row, row your boat - she can only sing the first three words row, row, row, but it's great and even sounds like the song.
• she points to what she wants - very clear about what she needs/wants
• she can sign milk and more - they are learning sign language at school and she has caught on well.
• she can go up and down steps - crawling, not stepping up and down by herself and slide down the toddler slide at school by herself and climb back up to go down again!

As you can see she's growing, growing, growing! We are thankful each and every day for the blessing that we have! What a joy she is to us! The thing I'll remember most from this age is how much fun she is - she's learning something new every day, she's happy almost all of the time, she loves school, loves her friends, loves to travel - I just keep thinking does it really get any better than this? I know it does and we can't wait!