Snakes and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

Yep, you read right! We're having a BOY!!!!! We weren't going to find out -- we never have until this time. And we tired not to this time, but this little man wanted to be seen!!! I guess he was worried he wouldn't have anything but pink to where when he got here if he didn't make it known that blue was the color of the day. We looked away at all the right times during the ultrasound -- didn't even peek (though I was tempted too). Tre' and I were looking at the pictures that printed out before we left the ultrasound room when Tre' noticed something on one of the pics in his hand. He showed it to me and there was no mistaking boy parts peeking from behind a leg. We asked to double check and we just laughed. A boy!!!! What in the world are we going to do with a boy???? I'm betting we figure it out... I remember a day when we didn't know what to do with girls!! :) We'll name him after his daddy, Charles James IV and we'll call him Chip. Chip was on Catie's list of approved boy names (directly behind Flounder and Lucifer (you know the cat from Cinderella -- told her NO way, NO how on that one!!))... She liked Chip b/c of the little teacup on Beauty and the Beast. I just like the name and I like the way it sounds when we say Chip and Izzy. A BOY!! Who'd of thunk it???

Dancing Queen

Oh sweet Izzy -- what joy you bring to our hearts! Tonight we had the chance to be with friends and hear a little live music. Izzy loved it, she moved to the music and stomped her feet to the beat. She was absolutely cracking me up and did NOT want to get off the dance floor if there was any music going. We've got to work on that dancing etiquette a bit as dancing to your own beat can get in the way of other folks during the Electric Slide or the ChaChaCha. Every time she came off the floor, she would say, "Dance!" Too funny and so sweet. I hope she's always as comfortable and confidant as she was tonight.

Growing Girl

6 Years Old

Happy Birthday sweet Catie Bug! On Friday, she would have been 6. Six! That sounds so grown. I didn't think days like that were going to be too bad when we first lost her b/c I know she was never meant to live to be 6 or 8 or 20. But in my mind... she was always meant to live that long. The anticipation of the day is usually worse than the day and this year was no different. Friday was just kind of a melancholy day. The day was eased by phone calls, texts and e-mails from dear friends and family. One friend brought a "chicknen biscuit w/ chicknen on it" by school for me... Had Catie been here, I have no doubt the day would have involved Chick-fil-A in some shape, form, or fashion. On the way from Chick-fil-A to the school, my friend saw a huge rainbow... Way to go Catie (and Hayley -- I'm betting the 2 of you were in on that together). This makes us 2 for 2 as far as rainbows and celebrating Catie's birthday without her. I know it won't happen every year, but it's been pretty special thus far.

We also decided to start a new tradition w/ Iz of letting balloons go at the cemetary on Catie's birthday. I think this will be something that will allow our other kiddos to be a part of her day in years to come. This year though, let's just say it was a good thing we had tucked an extra balloon in the car. Letting balloons fly to the sky with no chance of recovering them can be a bit traumatic for a 20 month old! :)

I think one of the things that struck me as harder this year was the fact that I didn't know what Catie would have wanted for her birthday this year or what kind of party she would have wanted... Last year, I still had an idea... it hadn't been that long since we had lost her and I kind of figured she would still like similar things. This year though, if she had been here, she would have started school, met new people, liked new things... I have no idea what she would have been into or what her new interests would have been. That was harder this year.

In the last couple of weeks, Iz has really taken to watching Catie's video from her Celebration of Life. She loves it. She'll run over to the computer and say, "Cakie, Cakie." She names all the people she knows in the video, sometimes imitates what's Catie is doing in the pictures, and laughs hysterically at the picture of Catie in the Groucho Marx glasses and the section where Catie is opening her little chair at her 2nd birthday party. You can almost see her little brain trying to figure out... who exactly is this little person named Catie that's in all these pictures with people I know and love...

The Joys (hahaha) of Potty Training

We are officially in the throes of potty training! At Mrs. Amber's house, Izzy really does a great job!! She'll have an accident here or there, but she totally gets that when you sit on the pot your supposed to tinkle or poop. She's done both willingly over the last couple of weeks. She's not telling us she has to go, but we're putting her on the commode every 20-30 minutes. There have been several days where I pick her up and she's wearing the same clothes I dropped her off in. I called to check on her on the first day of potty training and Amber said she was doing great! She had only had one accident and when she did, she took off running to the restroom going, "go, go, go, go, go!!" Too funny and it let me know that she really is ready.

She's not so eager about using the potty at home. She'll do it, but she's less likely to do it at home than at Amber's house. One day last week Iz was playing in the kitchen while I was browning hamburger meat. We had just tried to go potty. All of a sudden she started yelling, "tee tee, tee tee." Sure enough, beneath her was a big puddle. I stripped her down and threw a towel over the puddle. Then I gave a quick stir to the hamburger meat and went to sit her on the toilet. In that short amount of time, she'd run and found a corner in her room and started to... yep, you guessed it... POOP!!!!! AAGGHH!!!!! I need to take some lessons from Mrs. Amber, the potty training queen!!! :)

Beach Fun

Ok, so it's really hard to catch Izzy still right now. Her are a couple of shots from the weekend though.

We haven't fallen off the planet!

Though you might think we have as it's been nearly a MONTH since I've written anything!!!!! Chalk it up to trying to remember how to work and get everything done at home too. If I were really honest though, I could blame it ALL on the 5:45 AM wake up call!!!! Have I ever said I'm not a morning person? I'm here to tell you, I'm REALLY not a morning person!

Iz continues to do great at the sitter's. We're talking about tackling potty training soon. She's pointing to the potty and saying "potty words." She likes to give it a try before she gets in the tub and she's started letting me know when she has a stinky diaper. We figure we'll go ahead and give it a go. Should be interesting!!

Went to the GA game (go DAWGS!!) and the beach this weekend and think we're all thoroughly beat! But we sure had a good time. I got some good pics of Izzy that I'll try to get up by the weekend (so long as Hannah doesn't blow our electricity out!).

Hope you're well!