There's a bug going around

The guys weekend ended Saturday, so Grace and I came home after we all ate dinner at Olive Garden.  Grace has had a runny nose for a couple of days now.  We assumed it was allergies since David's allergies have been bothering him.  This morning, however, she woke up with a bad cough and said her tummy hurt, so we decided to take her to the walk-in clinic.  In addition, David felt like his allergies had turned into a sinus infection and was moving into his chest, so he decided to go to the clinic as well.

Apparently, there are a lot of sick people right now.  We waited at the clinic for over 2 hours before seeing a doctor.  It turns out Grace has an ear infection along with her cough, so she is now on antibiotics and a prescription strength decongestant.

The doctor listened to David breathe and then ordered a chest x-ray for him.  Turns out, he has a small case of pneumonia.  It's a good thing we had him checked out!  Hopefully, with both David and Grace on antibiotics, they'll get better soon.  In the meantime, we plan to stay close to home and drink plenty of fluids and get lots of rest.  Keep us in your prayers!

Happy Birthday Queenie!

Today was such a pretty day that we decided to play outside.

Grace ran around and played.

Then we played in her playhouse and on the bridge.

After a while, we all went to Spanish Fort to eat at Olive Garden.  The waitress brought out this super yummy cake for Mom's birthday.

And Grace sang Happy Birthday to Queenie!

We're going to Queenie's house

David had a guys weekend planned with some of his buddies from high school, so Grace and I went to my mom's house for the weekend to give the guys some real "guy time."  It is also my mom's birthday this weekend.  Happy Birthday Mom!

Queenie had a present for Grace when we arrived.

It was a purse with some bubble bath, books, and a little bit of candy.  Needless to say, Grace was excited!

Then we had a little cookie cake that we cut into.  We just couldn't wait until her birthday!

Grace had a lot of fun making a hat out of the cake's lid.  She sang Happy Birthday several times to Queenie.  Then Grandaddy asked Grace if she knew that Queenie was getting old.  Grace's response was, "Yeah, I know."  We all burst into laughter because she said it so matter-of-factly.

At 4:00 we headed to Seth's baseball game.  There Seth is ready to bat!

Hey batter, batter!  Unfortunately, he struck out.

He played 1st base.

And is a pretty good player.

They won 15-5.

Then we headed back to Queenie's house where Grace played with Jackpot until it was time to go to bed.

Grace, what time is it?

Grace really surprised me this evening.  She was sitting on our round chair and out of the blue, she said, "Oh mie!  It sit o'tock!"  (Oh my!  It's six o'clock!)  And sure enough, it was.  I was completely amazed.  So I ran, got the camera, and asked her again so I could get it on video.  Wow.

Grace, will you sing me a song?

Grace was sitting at the kitchen counter waiting for her breakfast this morning when she burst into a song. 

So, of course, I had to ask her to sing some more for me. 

Bedtime stories

Typically David or I read Grace a book or two before bedtime.  Lately, however, she has been asking for a story instead.  Usually something like, "Momma, you tell me a stoh-ree?  Bout bee-bee Dace?"  (Momma, will you tell me a story?  About baby Grace?)  She really enjoys stories about herself and has been asking for them quite often during the day.

After thinking for a few moments, I began.

Once upon a time, Grace was a little baby girl.  She was so little she couldn't walk yet.  She couldn't even crawl.  So do you know what Grace would do to get around? "Watt, Momma?"  (What, Momma?)

Grace would lay on the floor, pick one arm up in the air, and roll over onto her back.  Then she would roll over onto her tummy.  And she would roll and roll and roll all across the room to get where she wanted to go.

One day, Momma and baby Grace were in the basement playing.  Chloe was outside playing with Champ, the doggie from next door.  Soon, Chloe wanted to come inside so she stood at the door and barked!  "Wuff wuff!  Yike dat, Momma?"  (Woof woof.  Like that, Momma?)  Yes, baby, just like that.

So Momma went to the door and let Chloe inside, and Chloe started rolling on the carpet to scratch her back.  "See-yee Toe-y!  Toe-y so see-yee."  (Silly, Chloe!  Chloe is so silly.)  Yes, Chloe sure is a silly dog, isn't she? 

Well, Grace saw Chloe rolling around on the floor and she wanted to play with Chloe.  So Grace rolled and rolled and rolled all the way over to Chloe, but Chloe ran away.  So baby Grace sat up and looked to see where Chloe had gone.  While she was looking for Chloe, guess what she found?  "Watt, Momma?  Watt Dace fine?"  (What, Momma?  What did Grace find?)

She found a worm on the floor!  The worm must have been hiding on Chloe and fell off when Chloe came inside.  "Uh worm-ee?"  (A wormy?)  Yes, a wormy.  And do you know what Grace did when she saw that wormy?  "Watt, Momma?"  (What, Momma?) 

She ate it!  Grace ate the wormy!  "No, it's uh mon-sur!  Worm-ee turn into uh mon-sur!"  (No, it's a monster!  Wormy turned into a monster!)  No, Grace ate the wormy.  "Aaaaaaah!  Dace ate duh mons-ur?!?"  (Aaaaah!  Grace ate the monster?!?)  Wormy's not a monster.  And baby Grace really did eat the worm.

Grace seemed shocked and a little horrified by the story.  I don't think she believed it even though she really did eat a worm just like the story said when she was only 4 months old.  All David and I could do was laugh uncontrollably.  Her expression was priceless!

As for Grace calling the worm a monster, she got that from a Spongebob Squarepants episode.  Spongebob and Patrick were pet sitting for Sandy and were supposed to feed Wormy, a caterpillar, while she was gone.  When they came by the next morning, Wormy had turned into a butterfly.  So Spongebob and Patrick opened Wormy's jar looking for him and the butterfly flew out.  So of course they came to the logical conclusion that the butterfly was a monster and had eaten Wormy.  When Sandy came back, she set them straight, but I guess all Grace remembers is Wormy turning into a monster...

Grace truly has an amazing memory and her thought process always surprises me.  I love our little conversations and I can hardly wait for our next story time together.

My pregnancy this week

Today I had another OB appointment and my ultrasound.

I gained 2 pounds since my last visit 4 weeks ago giving me a total of 5 1/2 pounds so far this pregnancy. 

My belly, however, looks like I ate a 20 pound watermelon.

Here is a picture of Baby Cathey.  Please ignore the stretch marks.  While they may appear gross to some, they are marks of valor from having Grace.

Here's a head and belly shot of Baby.  Baby's heartbeat was a strong and solid 136 beats per minute.  In contrast, Grace had a heartbeat of 158 beats per minute at this stage.

Here is a leg shot of Baby.  Not sure why they included this one, but that's a mighty fine looking leg. 

According to our ultrasound technician, Baby looks very healthy and strong.  We saw squiggly lines inside his/her head that we were told is different parts of the brain.  Baby has a heart with all 4 quadrants that works just like it is supposed to.  And we also saw Baby's stomach, bladder, and kidneys.  And thankfully everything is where it is supposed to be. 

Baby was really active during his/her ultrasound so it was hard to get steady photos.  At one point during the ultrasound he/she stretched with one arm over his/her head and stretched his/her legs out straight and then curled his/her back into something resembling a backbend.  David asked the technician if that was normal because it looked painful to us.  Her reply was yes, Baby was just stretching.

We are so thankful that Baby is doing so well.  They did not tell us how much he/she weighs or how long he/she is, so I don't know if Baby is going to be bigger than Grace or not.  From what I hear though, the second child is usually bigger than the first... And yes, we are still waiting to be surprised by Baby's gender.  We'll let everyone know in July when Baby is finally born. 

My next appointment is in 4 weeks on March 23. 

Dinosaurs invade downtown Mobile

Today we went to visit the new dinosaurs exhibit at the Exploreum.

We were very excited to go.

The dinosaurs were extremely tall.  And they moved and made noises.

Grace was a little scared of them.  She kept saying, "It's too bid."  (It's too big.)

She was horrified of the T-Rex.

She didn't like these Deinonychus (die-NON-y-CUSS) either.

Or the Triceratops, either.

Beside each dino, there was an information card with a matching fossil.  I thought that was really neat.

This Dilophosaurus (di-LOAF-o-SORE-us) really surprised us.

It spit water at us!

Grace didn't mind watching it as long as David didn't take her too close.

I tried to get Grace to ride on this dino with me, but she wasn't have any of that.  She kept crying, "It's too bid!  It's too bid!  I wun my Da-dee!"  (It's too big!  It's too big!  I want my Daddy!)  She knew that David would protect her from them.

 Grace finally found some dinos she liked.

 Baby Parasaurolophus! (PAIR-a-saw-ROL-o-fus)

We tried one more time to get her by the T-Rex but she didn't like it one little bit.  She really thought it was alive and ready to eat her, I think.  She wouldn't even take her eyes off of it for one second.  I can't really blame her though; he was pretty scary and growly.

Then we headed inside where there was a mechanical dinosaur.

Grace liked pushing his buttons for a change!

Then we headed to the fossil dig.

She worked diligently there.

And excavated a dinosaur!

The exhibit certainly was very interesting.  We learned quite a bit about different dinosaurs.  We saw Apatosaurus, Stegosaurus, Dilophosaurus, Sinoterus, and many, many more.  It was definitely worth the trip across the bay.  Maybe next time we visit it, Grace won't be so scared.

Grace bit her tongue

I let Grace play with my costume jewelry at my vanity all the time.  Today when she was playing, she leaned over too far and fell out of the chair.  My heart stopped beating as I saw her fall. 

I rushed over to her and asked if she was okay.  She stopped crying and said, "I oh-tay, Momma.  My mowf is dur-dee."  (I'm okay, Momma.  My mouth is dirty.)  Poor thing was tasting blood.  I was terrified she had knocked a tooth out or something, but she just had the two small holes in her tongue.

Knowing there isn't much a doctor can do for a bitten tongue, I carried her downstairs and gave her a popsicle to help stop the bleeding.  And it worked incredibly well.  Grace was happy to get a treat and I was happy to stop the blood flow. 

Our little Picasso

I bought some 11x14 canvas and water-based fingerpaint at Michaels last week (using a coupon, of course!) and decided to let Grace paint today.  So we headed outside and got to work.

I poured some paint on an old bag and told her to use her fingers.

She took me literally and painted one fingerprint at a time.

I told her she could use her whole hand.  So she then made handprints.

And then she made some more fingerprints.

She wasn't too certain about getting her hands dirty.

She kept showing me her "peent" (pink) hands. 

Then she licked the paint.  sigh.  Thank goodness it's non-toxic!  Why, oh why, does she like to taste everything?!?

Then her nose itched so she used the back of her hand to scratch it.  She didn't want to get her face dirty.   And then she asked me to "statch it" (scratch it) for her because it still itched.

Finally, she got back to work.

And slowly she became less worried about getting dirty.

And finally she really started having fun.

She worked on her first painting for almost 20 minutes before completing it.

Here it is in all its glory!

Then she said, "I need uh-nubber one."  (I need another one.)

She experimented with different techniques on this one.

Hmm.  How interesting.  Maybe I'll paint my hand and then paint the canvas.

Make sure there's plenty of paint on my arm.

And spread it around on my other hand, too.

Let's see.  Is that enought paint?

Yeah, I think so.  So she went back to work.

And then she tells me, "All dun!  I need mohr!"  (All done!  I need more!)

And back to work she went.

Soon she had finished that one, too.

Here are all three of her masterpieces. 

After an hour and a half of slaving away in the warm sun, my little Picasso was tired yet immensely satisfied with her work.  So we headed inside to clean up and put her showpieces on display.