Another month in the books

While on vacation, Katelyn celebrated her 18 month birthday!  Shes learning so many new things everyday.  As I was giving her a bath tonight, I was thinking of all the things she learned over the past month or so.

1.  She has added ice, moon, dog, go and hot to her list of words
2.  She has learned how to use a broom and loves it
3.  She learned how to take her shirts off (or at least try)
4.  Shes started to get on her belly in the tub and swim
5.  Shes started to float on her back in the tub
6.  Shes mastered going down slides and up stairs
7.  She can brush her teeth
8.  She knows how to take her ear plugs out after bath time
9.  She has mastered drinking from a straw (a big people straw)
10.  She has started to get a diaper and wipes when she needs her diaper changed.  If she cant get the diaper, she pulls at her diaper and points to let us know.
11.  Shes gotten like 10 teeth in the past couple of months
12.  She is now in charge of feeding the dog and cats (with help of course)

I am sure there are many more that I have forgotten.  I really should be documenting these. 

Here are some pictures from her 17th month....

You have to be kidding...

The day before we were set to leave for our vacation, we got some bad news.  Katelyn had been sick, so I had taken her to the doctor Wednesday morning.  After her appt, we headed to school so I could get to work.  When we got there, her class was outside so I started to put her things away before taking her outside.  At the same time, I was approced by a teacher (also the parent of a child in Katelyn's class).  She, thru tears, told me that she was concerned about the classroom.  She said that Katelyn was being put into a highchair with nothing during nap time if she did not sleep.  She either sat there until she feel asleep or until nap time was over I guess.  I do not really know.  After hearing this, I called another teacher (also the parent of a child at the school) and asked what she knew.  She confirmed that it was happening and that the same thing had happened to her daugher in that room so she moved her out.  By now, I am hysterical and Chris is irrate.  So, I scheduled a meeting with the director for that evening.  Both of us went and she was a bitch.  We had been told by the 2 teachers that they had approached her about problems in the classroom yet when we asked her if she had, she lied.  She was very passive and non responsive.  The next day, I talked again with the teacher who first approached me and she told me she had other concerns including 1.  They spend a large amount of time restrained at the table in the afternoons (hours sometimes), 2.  Sharing of snacks (this did not bother us much), 3.  The teachers have been seen picking up kids by 1 arm and carrying them across the room.  After hearing that, I knew we made the right decision to not send Katelyn back.  So we go on our trip and come back.  Chris goes to meet with the director (I could not go cause I am still too upset and was afraid I would do more harm than good).  She said that she had spoken with 9 teachers and discovered that kids had been confined during nap time with no activity on multiple occasions.  Her solution to the problem was to write the teachers up and add another teacher in the middle of the day.  He informed her that we would not be returning and said he wanted to get Katelyn's things.  When she walked him back to the room, they already had her stuff packed up and ready to go.  Guess they didnt want us there anymore.  So I talked again with one of the teachers that we had gotten information from and she said nothing has really changed and that the director seemed more interested to know who told us what was going on than addressing the issue. 

Its still an extremly sensitive issue with me and I have done alot of crying the past few weeks.  I do not understand how someone could do things like that to helpless babies!  Needless to say, Katelyn has not returned since we found out.  She spent last week with my mom while we searched for a new place for her.  This week she is with Chris' mom while the search continues.  We are trying to find the best place for her, but its hard to trust anyone anymore!  I am hoping that we will find some place great soon.

So much fun!

So, as most of you know, Chris finished in the top 3 in points in IHRA Division 4.  Doing so got him an invitation to race for the World Championship in Virginia.  Since we were going for the race, we decided to make a vacation out of it and spend the first part of the week with Trish and the kiddos.  What a great time we had.  They now live in Chapel Hill which is gorgeous!  They are renting a house super close to the UNC campus that is 150yrs old.  Its amazing how different things are on the East Coast.  While there we got to go to William's soccer practice a couple of times, visit UNC and Duke, and spend lots of time with family.  Trish's youngest, Thomas is about 5 months older than Katelyn, so she had a playmate her own age the whole time.  It was great. 

We arrive on Monday afternoon and headed straight to soccer practice.  Much to our surprise, Ricky and his kids and Emily and her kids were all there.  It was great to see them and we really appreciate them coming in for the afternoon.  Emily's youngest, Drew, is 2 months younger than Katelyn.  The kids had a great time playing and Trish and Rick did a great job coaching!  Tuesday morning we visited Duke (the Chapel and Coach K Court were highlights).  Wednesday Chris dragged me to UNC (I am a die hard Duke fan!!).  We visited the Student Union, Bell Tower and the UNC Basketball Museum.  We spent the afternoons at home with Trish and the boys just enjoying our time together.  Aunt Becky visited on Wednesday as well to meet Katelyn.  It was great to see her.  Its been over 2 years since we saw everyone and I am so thankful that we were able to make this trip.

On Thursday we headed up to Virginia to meet Chris' parents.  They made the drive with the racecar and motorhome.  After a few bumps in the road, we arrived at the track and prepared for a busy race weekend.  Although the racing did not go as well as we would have liked, we had a great time.  Chris' mom's cousin lives nearby in Virginia and was able to visit us at the tract to watch Chris race.  It had been 10 years since they had seen each other.  It was so nice to meet some extended family and hear childhood stories.

All in all, it was an amazing trip.  I have lots and lots of pictures.  I will post a few here and the link to my picasa album for those who would like to see more.  Enjoy!!!

 
Here is the link to the picasa web album for more pictures.....East Coast Vacation.

Where did October go?

Wow oh wow, the month of October has flown by!  We have been super busy this month with fun stuff and not so fun stuff.  We started the month racing in Ennis, TX.  From there we headed to North Carolina for a visit with family.  From there we headed to Virginia for more racing.  All said and done, we were gone for 10days.  It was a great trip and there are lots of pictures to come!  That was the fun stuff. 

The not so fun stuff is having to find Katelyn a new daycare/school.  This has been our project since returning from vacation.  Story to follow!

Corn on the cob

Katelyn has discovered corn on the cob, finally!  We have been trying to get her to try new things everyday.  Tonight, we had corn on the cob and she kept pointing and screaming.  So, I cut off a small piece of mine and gave it to her.  She was so happy!  She ate almost all the corn off of it.  Guess we will be trying that again in the future!

Cowgirl boots

Katelyn is going to fit in perfectly at the Houston Rodeo next year!  We ordered her some really cute cowgirl boots.  Shes still getting used to them and they are a bit big, but oh man...they are adorable. 

Its about time Blogger

Wow...I am loving the updated blogger features.  My fav?  The ability to upload more that one picture at a time and to add more than one picture at a time to the blog.  Saves sooooo much time.  Might actually blog more often now.  Oh wait, I dont have time to do that, but one can dream.

Ready for game day!

Katelyn playing on the slide

When mom's away, Katelyn and daddy will play!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQig4N1QV4s

Katelyn's new ride!

I have been pondering the idea of getting an umbrella stroller for Katelyn for a while, but never really had a need for it.  That was until our big trip.  We are going to Ennis, TX (racing) then Raleigh, NC (to see family) then Richmond, VA (racing) in Oct and will be gone for a while.  The thought of lugging her travel system stroller around was not appealing.  So this past weekend, we headed to Babies R Us with my coupon and got a Combi Cosmo!  We got it all put together and its great!  Cant wait to use it on our vacation.

Yeah...new furniture!

Since moving in to our house, I have been searching for a bench for our entry way to store shoes and such.  On Sunday, the perfect one showed up in the World Market ad...on sale!!  I went by and checked it out yesterday and really liked it so Chris met me for lunch today and we went and got it.  I am so excited to have a place other than the chair for Katelyn's shoes.  Hopefully Chris and I will use it for our shoes as well.

Yummy new dinner

We tried something new for dinner tonight!  Since I am eating more fish lately, Chris thought he would mix it up a bit with fish tacos.  Its one of his favs to get out at a restaurant, but they are usually too spicy for me.  So, tonight we made some at home.  Grilled talapia was the fish of choice and we threw together some fresh pineapple mango salsa...yummy!  We will make it again for sure.

17 Months...where has the time gone?

Congrats to Chris!!

Way to go Chris!  For those that dont know, Chris races in 3 series- IHRA, NHRA, Bracket.  One of his goals from the time he started racing was to finish in the top 10 in points.  Well, after 7 years of racing, he has done it.  He finished 3rd in the points for his class in the IHRA series.  Since he finished in the top 3, he gets invited to race in Richmond, VA at the All-Stars race.  Yahoo!  So, we are in the process of planning our trip to VA.  Since we will be on the East coast and so close to North Carolina, we are going to take this opportunity to see the Staats family (and hopfully the Hunters and Cantwells as well).  Since I have not seen Trish in years or even met her youngest, I am beyond excited!  Its was unexpected, but its going to be such a fun trip win or lose.  I am beyond proud of him and so thankful to his parents for making all of it possible.

We Will Remember 9/11/2001

I will never forget where I was on 9/11.  It was one of the scariest days of my life for the few short hours I waited to hear from my mom that my dad had made it out of NYC.  He was in NYC on business the days before the attack.  Not knowing when he was to leave was an awful feeling.  As Jill, Amy and I watched the new coverage in College Station, I waited to hear from my mom.  Thankfully, my dad left late the night before and all of his employees who were still there, were safe.  Others were not as lucky.  We will always remember those to died on that day and those who are serving in the Armed Forces now protecting our freedom. 

September 22, 2001- Texas A&M vs. Oklahoma State

God Bless and Gig 'Em!

First Aggie game for Katelyn

Thanks LJA for the free tickets to the A&M football game on Saturday!  Chris has been trying for years to win free tickets from work and he finally got them the weekend my parents were in town visiting Katelyn.  It worked out great since there were 4 tickets.  So, Saturday afternoon we headed to College Station.  Before heading to the game, we made a visit to the CC Creations tent sale to pick up some new Aggie gear, the Bonfire Memorial, and the CE Building to see our pictures.  Everyone had a blast and the weather was perfect.  Even though the game was at 6pm, Katelyn was a champ and made it all the way to the 3rd quarter before passing out.  She didnt sleep for long since the Aggie's kept scoring and the canon kept going off, but she was good to go after her short cat nap.  Here are a few pictures from our day in Aggieland...

Visitin Erin Kelly

Wow...thought we might never get to meet Erin Kelly.  We have all been sick or out of town since she was born.  Well, on Sunday, we finally got to meet her and she is adorable!!!  She's so tiny.  At 2 weeks she was 7lbs, 1oz.  For those that dont remember, thats 10oz smaller than Katelyn was when she was born...haha!  After hauling around a 16month old, Erin was so light and tiny.  Here are a few pictures from our visit...