Woohoo!

After nine months of waiting (well, really only 5-6 months of actual "wait" time) Kathryn now officially has two teeth! I was really beginning to think I needed to look into dentures...

Irish Twins

Originally I had heard (from a much less reliable source) that Irish twins were siblings born within two years of each other. Well, sorry to let you guys down. No Irish twins here :o)! Thought this was interesting anyway...

IRISH TWINS
[Q] From Swami Murugananda: “I recently heard the expression, Irish twins. What does it mean and would you cast some light as to its origin?”
[A] What it means is easy enough to explain. It refers to siblings born in the same calendar year, or otherwise less than twelve months apart. It’s clearly a deeply derogatory comment about the stereotypical fecundity (and lack of contraception) of Irish Catholic families. It’s probably twentieth-century, but I can find little evidence that would help to tie it down (it may be relevant that it isn’t listed in the 1984 edition of Eric Partridge’s Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English). So far as I can tell from the places I’ve found it, all online, it’s primarily an American expression; it’s also known in Britain, but it doesn’t often find its way into print, no doubt because it is considered offensive.


So, which is harder to handle: biological twins, Irish twins, or siblings born within 15 months of each other?

A Clean House!!!

Many, many thanks to my wonderful Mother-In-Law who came a couple of days ago and cleaned my nasty house for me. She felt sorry for me and offered to come and help out for a day, and boy I bet she was sorry she did! I really put her to work! For the first time in... well, I won't say how long... all three of my bathrooms are clean! They are never all clean at once! In addition to company on Sunday night and Thursday night, two of my nephews spent the night last night, so for the most part, everything is a mess again, but I do have the joy of knowing that at some point this week, my house was clean. And that is (was) a good feeling :o).

Because I'm the Mom, that's why!

Today for an afternoon snack, I had cookies and milk, and Kathryn had leftover cooked carrots from last night's dinner. I love being the Mom and getting to make decisions like that! If it's any consolation, at least she was able to keep her snack down... Ahhh, the joys of pregnancy!

New Stuff...

Why is it that babies are so skeptical of anything you try to put in their mouths, but yet they will pick up anything from anywhere and put it in their mouth without even looking at it first????? I mean, come on! She won't eat a marshmallow without fully examining it, but she'll eat wads of thread, dirt, flowers, and Cheerios that have been shaken out of the tablecloth onto the patio who knows how long ago!

She is starting to test her balance more and more each day. Today she let go for 19 seconds! That's our record so far! It looks like walking won't be in our too distant future! She's taking over the "big girl" role a little too early for Mom. I told her she still had six months, so just to chill out, but she just looked at me like I was crazy... (Actually, never mind, I am crazy!)

Brad and I ordered a dining room table and chairs that should be in any time now, and I can't wait!!! Yes, after 3 1/2 years of marriage, we are finally getting a table and chairs! We have been using a Goodwill table and the chairs from our card table. I just called the furniture store and they said it would be in within the next couple of days!! The bad news is, that will probably mean I will have to sweet talk Brad into canceling his tee time to go pick it up on Saturday... Hopefully, pictures will soon follow.

Kathryn's Big News

Homesick

I'm always just a little homesick when my Mom and Dad leave. They surprised Brad and me (and mostly Kathryn) and came for the day. Yes, only my Mom and Dad would drive 6 hours for one day, but I'm not complaining! I've learned to appreciate whatever amount of time I can get! And let me say, we made the most of it! As soon as I heard they were coming I started my list of chores! I would show pictures, but since I forgot to take "before" pictures, the "after" pictures would not be near as impressive. Dad cleaned out our outside storage while Mom and I worked on reorganizing the office, and cleaning out some miscellaneous drawers. It is absolutely amazing what you can get done in just one day with a little help staying focused!

It was such a beautiful day today, that Kathryn and I got to spend some time outside. She got to taste a lot of new things: thyme, a piece of a broken terra cotta pot, dried geranium, rock, and dirt to name a few. Mostly she didn't like them, but the thyme I had a very difficult time getting out of her mouth! She can't wait until this summer when she can go to Grandma and Grandpa's and play out at the country and splash in the creek with Pheobe!!!

Happy Friday!

We went out to Brad's parents a few weekends ago to see the new house!!! They should be in by the middle of March! We can't wait! I have other pictures of it, but I'm so far behind that I decided to wait to show the finished product.

This is Kathyrn with Pheobe and Grandpa. (Grandpa is either protecting Kathryn or Pheobe. I'm not sure which one needs it most...) This was a really fun day!

Thunder thighs and first time shots... the nurse didn't think Kathyrn would be able to feel the shots for all of the "padding" she had. Well, she felt them. Trust me! And she let the whole office know! Drama queen!!!

There is no more relaxing in the bathtub for Kathryn. She MUST stand up at all times now. She pulls up on the walls if there is no furniture handy!

(Adam and Rosie think her arms look like the Michelin Tire man :o)

Looks like another fun and relaxing weekend for the Pettes'! That will make two in a row! We were originally supposed to help Brad's parents move boxes this Saturday, but that has been postponed for a couple of weeks, so I think we're going to meet them for dinner instead. That will probably be a little more fun :o)... Plus, it's supposed to be a beautiful day tomorrow, so Brad already has his tee time set! He can't wait! First game of the year!

Twin Cousins

I'm so, so sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm so far behind now that I'm wondering whether to start where I left off, or start fresh. While I'm still trying to decide, I decided to post a little something new :o). I found this picture of my niece, Cozy (Hannah's little girl), and really thought for a second that it was Kathryn. I've always said they looked a lot alike, but this is just unreal! See what you think...

Peek-A-Boo

And now for your viewing pleasure, two solid minutes of Peek-A-Boo, brought to you by Daddy and Kathryn. If this doesn't make you smile today, nothing will :o).

(Sorry it's so long, I would cut it down if I could.)

Peek-A-Boo

What's my name again?

Well, it happened. Sunday, for the first time ever, Kathryn muttered the sounds, "momomomomomo". Brad is in total denial. All the way through Wal-Mart last night, Kathryn was riding in the cart saying, "momomomomo" and Brad was pushing her saying, "dadadadadada". It was pretty entertaining. :o)

Kathryn did officially start crawling on Friday (Jan. 20). Yeah!! She is trying to pull up on stuff, but she usually just ends up falling down, hitting her head, and screaming for the next two minutes. She has been pretty fussy lately, and I'm hoping that it's due to some little white things trying to push their way desperately through her sore little gums. And, what a relief to know that after these two pop through, only 18 more to go :o/!

I did have a realization this past week that you all may be interested to know. I am short. Yes, that is it. I have known this for some time now, but did not know how short I really was until the other day I "ran" into the grocery store for a couple of things (ran is in quotes, because there is really no such thing as doing anything quickly with a baby). I decided I would leave Kathryn buckled in her seat, and just take her whole seat into the store with me. When I got in the grocery store and put her seat up on top of the cart, I could not see past it. Yes, seriously. I had to look to either side of it. I ran into at least 3 displays. It was very embarrassing. People kept looking at me and smiling, like they felt really sorry for me. One man even offered to reach the peanut butter for me when he saw me standing on the bottom shelf to reach it. I guess Brad is going to have to do the grocery shopping from now on! YES! (Haha, BP!! Your favorite thing to do ;o)

Kathryn: "Finally!! Now that all of these ribbons are untied, and my bumper pad is totally off, maybe I can get some rest!"

After getting a little tired of sitting in the bouncy seat, Kathryn discovers a brand new way to play with it!

Will I ever catch up?

Kathryn is into everything. Wow! This morning alone she managed to dump the basket of pens (and we're not talking about 10 pens here, we're talking 50) and scatter them all over the office before I managed to see her. Then she dumped out her little plastic hair barrettes from her high chair so that they scattered all over the kitchen floor. Then she crawled all over the blanket I was making (the whole time I was trying to pin the binding on it) and spit up on it two different times!!! AARRRGGG!!! She is not "officially" crawling, but she is getting wherever she wants to go, and that's all that matters! She gets up on her hands and knees, moves one knee and one hand, drops, and repeats, in a very quick amount of time until she reaches the object in the room that I would least like for her to have. I still haven't started table food, but she is obsessed with drinking out of a glass. I'm sure it's just the novelty of it, but she acts like she really loves water :o). Hopefully she'll be a late walker :). In the mean time, I try my best to keep her confined.

Also, our friends Adam and Rosie just found out yesterday that they are having a little girl!!! We were all so sure it would be a boy, that it was a huge surprise!!! They are so excited, and Kathryn can't wait to meet her new friend!!

Sellers' Family Reunion

One more "catch up" blog, then we'll be back in business...
Since Christi's family moved to FL, Nashville seems to be the central location for everyone (which, for the Pettes family, means no driving :o). So, this year, my family all gathered at our little town house to celebrate. There would have been 27 of us, but Tony's family came down with the stomach flu and decided not to share :). So, there were only 19 of us... Since there wasn't room for us to all sleep at our house, Dad treated each family to their own room at the Day's Inn just down the road. It was perfect! All of our rooms were close together, so we were able to put the kids down, then gather in Mom and Dad's room to play games. After the girls went to bed, the boys went down to the lobby and asked the receptionist if they could hook up their PS2 to the huge flat screen TV in the lobby. He agreed, and they were up until 4:17 (but who's counting :) playing NCAA Football. Boys will be boys... Since I was "hosting" this event, I was not able to take as many pictures as I normally would have, (Creth, you should be happy about that :) but here is a sampling of our adventures...

Baby's First Christmas!!

We spent the Christmas weekend at Grandma and Grandpa Pettes'. It was a really great, relaxing time. We didn't do much except watch movies and eat, and eat, and eat REALLY good food!!! Kathryn ended up getting sick with some kind of virus on Christmas (well, Christmas Eve - when we opened presents) and she was pathetic! She was running fever, and her little eyes and nose were running all day. I must admit, I was pretty pathetic myself. I really can't stand to think that she's uncomfortable :). She was pretty good considering, and loved her Christmas presents!!! (Although I think the spatula is still her favorite toy at Grandma Rosie's :)

Kathryn with Grandma

Kathryn with Daddy

Kathryn in her present from Grandma and Grandpa which she LOVE, LOVE, LOVES, and so does Mommy :o)!!!

Kathryn with her favorite spatula

Trip to Indy / "High School Reunion" :o)

After the big Christmas party, Kathryn and I traveled up to Indy to see "the gang". Jason was home from TX which made it a good time for us to all get together. Several things were different this year...

1. Megan wasn't there, which left us with really good stuff to talk about - just kidding, Meg ;o). We missed you!!!
2. Brad and Andrew were both missing (because of work), and weren't able to battle it out in Tiger Woods Golf
3. There was a BABY there (who slept pretty much the whole time, thankfully!)
4. We didn't play Trivial Pursuit
and the most telling one of all...
5. The party was over by 9:30!!!!! Yes, we are all getting very old.

I'd say the highlight of the evening was Jon and Jason's realization that all girls are alike. (Alaina, Jen, Mary, would you agree? ;) It was really awesome to get to see everyone again! Thanks to Jen for having us all over, and especially to her roommate for putting up with our obnoxious loudness. And trust me, we are loud!!!

Kathryn was pretty much taken with Jason. (Jason, 25 more years?)

Alaina and Kathryn (Jon, could you look a little more bored?)

Back row: Jason, Alaina, Mary, Jon

Front row: Micah, Jen

While we were there, Kathryn also got to see her cousins Ella and Taylor...

And her Nana...

And take a bath in Nana's kitchen sink...

It was a very quick trip, but very much worth it! Hope we can do it again soon!!! (preferably with Brad next time :)

Petty Family Christmas Party

It seems like I have been out of the "blogger world" for ages now. I will attempt to fill everyone in on what our holidays have been like this year. I must say, having a baby definately changes the way things work :o). Our holidays started two weeks before Christmas at Brad's Mom's family Christmas party. This was the first time that a lot of them had seen Kathryn! For some reason, she didn't take her afternoon naps, and was pretty much a bear the whole night (which made it a little stressful for Mommy). Toward the end of the evening, however, she straightened up a little (just in time to open presents :) and it ended up being a great time!!!

Kathryn sporting her mohawk...

Kathryn and Mommy

Cousins Megan and Morgan with Kathyrn

Jessica and Jeremy with cousin Jackson and Kathryn

The "little" ones...

Update on Kathryn...

I guess I should fill you all in on Kathryn a little bit, seeing as how this is her "Korner". Sorry for all the "blasts from the pasts", but I needed those laughs.

This past week has been full of "firsts" for Kathryn.

She has started sitting alone...
...getting up on her knees and rocking back and forth...

...LOVING patty-cake...

She thinks she's the Easter Bunny...

AND Santa Claus. I told her she was fat enough, but didn't have quite enough moola just yet.

And her favorite thing yet, lounging in the armchair watching TV. (Maybe she is more like her Daddy than I thought...)

The busy times have begun. Tonight is dinner at a friends, tomorrow is the big Petty family (Brad's Mom's side) Christmas party, Sunday is dinner at another friends (yes, we have more than one), then I leave to go see Jen, Jon, Jason, Alaina, & Andrew in IN - yeah!!!! By the time I get back Christmas will be practically here! Brad and I are just hoping that Kathryn cooperates with all of our festivities planned. :)

In other news... He's Back!! And he came over last night with his Mother, his sister, and my two nephews, (who I still can't believe are old enough to be in college.) The really scary thing, is that he is probably around town, this very minute, driving Snowflake. Those of you who know him, well, I'll say no more. Those of you who don't, be scared.

Proud to be an American

So, I was surfing the internet, and came across this picture. Not sure exactly WHO it is, but sure thought it was funny looking, so I thought I'd share. I think I'll send this to the Army recruiting office.

My Point Exactly!

EDIT: Just so you all can be prepared for what you will see when you go pick up Jen from the airport:

Sorry to pick on Jon here, but he is the only one that has a recent shot that I could compare to. (You can thank Christian for giving me the link.) Check this out. Jon's and my senior pictures were taken the very same year. Our recent shots were taken the very same year. Christian, if this doesn't make you smile, there is no hope for you today :o)...

Jon's senior picture 1998

Jon's lawyer mug shot 2005

my senior picture 1998

Me now