Karen Chatters » milestones

Wordless Wednesday

Karen — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 13:00:35 +0000

We’re home. Finally. And our trip was really good.

I have sooo much to do for the rest of this week.

And today is the first day of school for Courtney. I’m beside myself. We’ll meet the teacher and I’ll be there for the morning. Next week is when I stop, drop and run. Either way, how’d we get to this point?

It’s time

Karen — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:00:53 +0000

Courtney and I are heading home today, after 11 nights of travel. We’ve had a great time and our trip ended with some beautiful days but that’s a long time to sleep in strange beds and not have your own stuff. Not to mention I brought 4 days worth of clothes and I can’t wait to switch out the maternity crap I’ve been wearing for the maternity crap at home. And I know that Courtney is looking forward to sleeping in her own crib, even if she can’t verbalize that. Oh, and then there’s that whole I-can’t-wait-to-see-my-hubby and Courtney-misses-her-daddy stuff.

Speaking of verbalize, Courtney’s vocabulary has gone through the roof over the last couple of weeks. She’s truly mastered the word “NO!” and “mommy” and sometimes in the same sentence… I’m not sure that I’m overly proud of this “milestone” and I definitely have some work to do with the “no” thing. She even says it with attitude….

Thanks to New England for the beautiful days, the cool nights and even the rain. We’ll miss you!

Twenty on twenty

Karen — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 13:00:40 +0000

Yesterday, Courtney hit the 20 month mark. Not a huge milestone but a milestone none the less. And I have to say, she gets more and more fun with each passing day.

I won’t lie, she has her moments of terror and misery (for me) but for the most part, she’s really pretty funny. I’m not really sure how the discipline thing works when you look at your kid, who’s done something bad, and laugh because she’s so freaking funny. The kid is going to get away with murder at this point.

Courtney is still all about the naked thing. And taking showers, which she’s never done before so I’m not sure that it’s as great as she thinks it is. But daddy takes showers in the morning so they must be awesome. I don’t think showers are great, she gets that from her dad. But she walks around the house screaming about the shower.

This child is all girl. She walks around with her dolls, talking to her babies, and dressing them in her clothes. She lays them on the floor, lays her bathing suits all over them and feeds them from the bottle. She had a tea party last week, gave her dolls crackers and cookies and set them all up at her little Ikea table. Me? I was all about the trucks, sports and hanging out with the boys. There were no dolls in my life. Courtney has more dolls at 20 months than I ever had in my life. She even stole a doll from her cousin a couple of weeks ago. This could become problematic. At some point, she’s going to be all dresses and bows in her hair and shoes. All girl.

But really, Courtney makes me laugh. She has these facial expressions that make me laugh out loud, literally. She runs around the house, with her arms bent at her side, clomp clomp clomping. She pops around the corner of the counter, drops her jaw until you laugh and she runs away. She stands at the kitchen window, screaming SHARK over the shark thermometer in the pool. And forget if you ever see a truck on the highway. TRUUUUUCK!!!! She seems to think that the bookmark or the refrigerator magnet or the block are all telephones and says “hello” into them all. And the dogs are her favorites – ‘do-og? Roof roof’. And everyone under 23 is a baby. She loves her some babies.

One of our most exciting moments of late happened on the eve of 20 months, Courtney peed in the potty! All on her own. No prodding on our part, she just went and sat herself down and peed. I almost cried with excitement.

Twenty months is so fabulous. It’s such a fun age, full of discovery and excitement and big hugs and loud screaches and big, sloppy wet kisses. Courtney is this little person, discovering who she is, and bringing me along for the journey.

If looks could kill

Karen — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 13:00:11 +0000

I was at my SIL’s house a couple of weeks ago and my 13 year-old niece commented on Courtney’s mullet. I’d been thinking it was mullet-esque and my niece confirmed it. So, I told Paul I wanted to take Courtney to get her haircut and he was all, “Noooo, no haircut. She doesn’t need a haircut!! Don’t get her haircut, blah blah blah.” I explained the trim thing, don’t want to cut much, even it out, yada yada. I mean, she doesn’t even have that much hair, so it’s not like there’s that much to cut.

Anyway, I went to the hair place one day last week but the wait was too long and I didn’t have time to hang out. Paul’s response, “What? You’re gonna go without me?” I mean, there was no mention of wanting to be there when we discussed this before. Of course, after he said that he launched into the same bit about her not getting her hair cut and there’s a slight chance I stopped listening…

So Saturday morning we went in for the “BIG” cut. I was a little worried that I’d get up Saturday morning to find that Paul had kidnapped Courtney, not to be seen until after the place had closed. But nope, we made it there. We had to wait for a few minutes before our turn and Paul tried to use that time by explaining to Courtney that the screaming boy getting his hair cut was being tortured and that she was next. Fortunately, she didn’t understand “torture.”

I didn’t bother with before and after pictures, just during pictures. I mean, they cut so little hair, you almost can’t tell. But the back is neater as are her “bangs” and even Paul thought it wasn’t so terrible. But the during pictures, they were worth the entire trip.

(I’m seriously considering blowing this last picture up to 20 x 30 and hanging it over the mantle…)

On being a mom

Karen — Tue, 11 May 2010 13:19:19 +0000

Here’s my Mother’s Day post, late. Go figure.

Our Mother’s Day this year was a wonderful day. It was busy but it was really nice. We went to a friends for brunch in the morning. My friends husband made the food, he and Paul cleaned everything up, and then we took the girls to the park. It was a beautiful day and the girls had a great time on the playground. I then treated myself to a pedicure and a thrilling trip to Target. We ended our day with a trip to the arts festival and some pizza. Courtney and Paul gave me some beautiful flowers, and some cards and a really pretty necklace. We were busy but it was pretty much what being a mom was all about.

I hate to be that person that gushes about my kid, how amazing she is and how’s she’s smarter and prettier and more advanced than all the other kids. Because, really, she isn’t. All our kids are fabulous but as a new (ok, I’m not a new mom anymore) mom, it’s all newness and fabulousness and brilliance. But things are happening so quickly, it seems. Just Sunday Courtney said, “mine” and “more”, both in the proper context. Monday she said “kick”. Not sure where she picks these things up, brilliance I guess.

I love being a mom. Love it. I’ve told Paul this before and he laughed at me. But I really think that being a mom was what I was meant to do. Not biologically because, duh, but because it brings me such joy. Because watching Courtney is so amazing to me. Watching her grow and change and become this little person. Paul and I are constantly saying how amazing it is that she’s growing so quickly and developing this little personality. Before I know it she’s going to be in school and then dating and then going off to college. But in the meantime, my heart is going to continue to expand and I’ll probably continue to cry but I’m hoping that after Segundo gets here, I’ll cry a little less.

The best part of Mother’s Day though… Courtney was in bed for the night and screaming her fool head off. SCA-reaming. I went in there and picked her up and she threw her arms around me and put her head on my shoulders and just held on tight. And stopped SCA-reaming. We sat and rocked for a bit and she calmed down. It’s those moments, the moments with the “mamas” and the hugs and the hand holding that make it all worthwhile. It erases the fact that at some point in the past two days, Courtney threw her shoe either in the trash or she’s completely hidden it and I just bought the thing a few weeks ago… I love being a mom.