Aiden and Caden

The rest of this week I will be keeping my friend's little baby during the day. His name is Caden... yes I have an Aiden AND a Caden with me this week. Talk about hearing an echo and getting names confused!! My days are more hectic with lots of driving, and just learning to deal with an infant again. He is three months old and is as cute as can be. Today wasn't the smoothest of all days, but it could've been worse. Aiden even did his part to help me out when Caden was crying. He'd bring him books to read (hehehe), and he would pat his head. It was so cute! It's neat seeing that innate need to care for those who are not happy and to try to make things better.

Of course I hope to get some pictures this week of the little one. I tried today, but today just was NOT a good day for pictures.

Tomorrow is the last day of May! Holy moly!!

Two Years Ago Today...

well actually this evening, I went into labor with Aiden! I can't believe it's been two years since then. I was all alone that night and my water broke. Matt was in Orlando for work. I drove myself to the hospital. God definitely was driving for me that night!! Thank you Debbie for leaving home in the middle of the night to come stay with me! Thank you Ardie for coming down to be with me that morning. Thank you Momma and Daddy for coming so often while I was in the hospital and taking care of our house and kitties while we were there. Thanks to everyone who came to visit me and all the phone calls I received. It really helped the time go by faster. We stayed in the hospital for 10 days, and I was totally off my feet for 3 of those days. That was the most uncomfortable 3 days of my life. I was so nervous and scared but so excited to finally see my baby. I was just worried so much about his health and if he would even be able to come home with me. I trusted that God would take care of us all and whatever happened was part of His plan. :)

I hope the next labor experience is more 'normal.' ;)

Pictures!

I've been loving the camera for the past few days so the majority of my blogging has taken place on the photoblog. Lots of new pictures added there this week!

I can't believe this week is almost over! Matt has another long weekend thanks to the Memorial Day holiday so that will be nice. Hopefully we can get some work done around the house.

My allergies have REALLY been bothering me the past couple days. Even as I type I can feel the pressure in my head building. I took a Claritin this morning so hopefully that will help...

I watched American Idol last night. I'm SOOO glad Katharine didn't win. Who would've thought some almost 30 gray-haired guy that sings like Joe Cocker would win? How cool is that? I'm also SOOOOOO glad Chris WASN'T the winner.. he'd be stuck singing some cheesey AI mathematically produced boring stupid song! It was neat seeing him on stage with Live last night. You could tell he was having a GRREAT time!

OK.. I REALLY need to get some work done around the house. It's been somewhat neglected, only doing what needs to be done, as I've been having some revelations as far as photography goes the past week. I've spents lots of time with the camera in front of my face practicing. But, if you look at my pictures, I think you will agree that some of my practice is paying off!!

Back to the old grindstone I go... Have a great Thursday and a great Memorial Day weekend.

To Aiden

Since your 2nd birthday is rapidly approaching, I've been reminiscing over the past 2 years. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. You have grown into such a unique individual and your personality shines through everything you do, even at such a tender age. Here are a few of the things you do that always bring a smile to my face.

1. When you hug Daddy or me, you pat our backs like we have always done for you.

2. You save your on the lips, open-mouthed kisses for me!

3. You know how to 'get down' with any type of music. A man that can dance is always popular with the ladies.

4. You LOVE to be tickled. You will grab our hands and put our hands on your body where you want to be tickled. I've never seen a kid do that!

5. You laugh so hard when I say "Oh Bother!" like Winnie the Pooh says it.

6. You can be very stubborn at times. But then I realize, you get that from your Mommy, and I rejoice in the fact that you really are MY son. :)

7. You normally protest a little when it is time to go to bed, but by the time we are sitting in the rocker in your room, you have melted into my arms and nothing can make you unhappy there.

8. I love the smiles you give me when I come into your room in the morning. I love how you wave and say "Hey!" to me.

Thank you Aiden for keeping me grounded, and remembering that 'the best things in life aren't things.' Thank you for the joy you bring your daddy and me every day of our lives.

I love you more than you will ever know.

Home again, Home again

We made it back home safe and sound from all of our travelling this week. I will update more later... Right now, I'm working on some pictures from our busy weekend, and will hopefully get them posted to the photoblog this morning. Then I have a mountain of laundry I need to tackle...

Have a great Monday!

Copy Cat

I did a bit of light dusting this morning before sitting down at the computer to do my blog entry for the day. I got my little duster out for Aiden to play with because of course if I'm dusting he needs to 'dust.' I was dusting the kitchen/dining room and I came around the corner and found Aiden standing on a stool dusting his Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Learning Home with his little duster. It is amazing to see just how much he soaks up at this age and how much he enjoys copying the actions of the people important to him. He pretends to talk on the phone, substituting many different objects for a phone, for example, a sliding measuring spoon we have. He helps to wipe down appliances. He likes to 'wash' the dishes at the sink. He likes to sit and 'read' books. He will open up any book and sit there and mumble in baby-ese while he turns the pages. It's so neat to watch their little imaginations grow and develop.

Today I'm meeting a friend for lunch and to deliver her print order to her. I hope she is pleased. :) It is always nice to go out for a meal so I don't have to THINK about what I'm going to prepare.. I just have to think about what I want to ORDER... :)

It was quite chilly this morning! When Matt left for work I asked him to close the windows. It was so cold I did NOT want to get out of my warm bed when it was time to get up. But Aiden insisted I get up, so I did. My toes are still a little chilly, but soon Aiden and I will get a shower and bath and that should help warm us up. My cup of hot tea also helped.

I'm going to work on some pictures and hopefully get them uploaded to the photoblog either this afternoon or this evening. So, be patient... pics will get there as soon as I can get them there!

Have a great Tuesday!

Another Busy Week

We have another busy week ahead of us. Lots of travelling will be taking place the last half of the week. Wednesday, I plan to meet up with some friends, and then today and tomorrow I need to work on the housework and get us all packed for travelling Thursday and Friday.

This weekend was nice. Aiden and I had a good time sans Matt for a few days. We went to the park a time or two and did lots of playing outside as the weather allowed. Matt returned home very late Saturday night after being in SC a few days for work. Sunday we ventured over to G-ma's/Ben and Rita's for our usual Sunday trip and also to visit Darryl as he was visiting from California.

Weather all around us yesterday was horrible! We had tornado warnings and thunderstorm warnings all over the area. While Matt's mom and Galen were on their way to meet up with us, she ran into the remnants of a horrible hail storm. Six to seven inches of pearl sized hail was piled up on the sides of the road. She ended up losing control in the ice on the road and ended up in a ditch. Matt, along with his trusty truck, went to rescue them and pull the truck out of the ditch. The car has some damage but is still driveable, and no one was hurt. Apparently there was lots of wind and hail damage up at Lake Norman with reports of GOLF BALL size hail! What a lovely Mother's Day for lots of people! We had a hand of protection over us where we were thank goodness. We had plenty of wind, but no rain or hail at all!

That's all of the update for now. I hope I can find time to update before we leave this weekend. I need to update the photoblog as well so be on the lookout for new pictures!

Have a great day!

A Mommy and Aiden kind of weekend

So, Matt will be in SC until Saturday, and might not actually make it home until Sunday sometime. I think I will enjoy the alone time I'll get in the evenings when Aiden has gone to bed. It will give me a chance to catch up on some reading.. work on my Photoshop skills.. do more things for MOI! I've got a few things planned for me and Aiden to help the time pass a little bit faster, so that gives us stuff to look forward to for the upcoming days.

It is STILL cloudy and looks as though it could rain at any minute. It is quite breezy outside right now. I NEED some sunshine. It is nice that we are having these cool days with showers. It definitely helps our grass grow. You can see such a difference in our grass in the front yard since the trees have been removed. Matt talked with a coworker who does yardwork/landscaping on the side, and we have a plan for reseeding the lawn next fall. I can't wait to have some money and some time and really work on the yard and get nice shrubs and flowers out there.

I should close and finish my internet rounds while Aiden is still watching Blues Clues.. then it's time to do some housework.

I just hears sirens go by our house. I always try to say a prayer for whatever situation is going on that is making those sirens sound. I figure the sirens are also God's way of helping us to remember to keep everyone in our prayers, and to always have open communication lines with Him.

Have a good Thursday!

An Early Start

Finally.. we all got to bed earlier last night, and so far, two out of the three of us have gotten out of bed earlier. The two of us would be Matt and me. Aiden is still in bed snoozing away. I love this alone time I get in the mornings when he is still sleeping. I sit and drink hot tea or mocha, fold laundry, watch some TV. This morning I watched my DVR'd American Idol episode. It was Elvis week, so now I have all sorts of Elvis songs going through my head! I think I will have to cue up some Elvis tunes on the computer to play throughout the day. Aiden loves singing and dancing.. he especially loves it when I sing and dance for him.. I KNOW he thinks I look silly! It's important to be silly every so often and I want Aiden to grow up knowing it's alright to act like a loon at times! Hehehehe :)

OK, so this entry seems to be going nowhere really.. just random musings progressing from my thought processes. I guess I will close now and cue up my Elvis tunes. :)

"Elvis has left the building..."
lol

So tired

I can't seem to get out of bed before 8 lately. I feel so lazy and tired, and bed feels SOOO nice! I really need to get my sleep straightened out so I can get up before Aiden wakes up so I have more time to do my blog entries and other computer work that needs to be done. Aiden does NOT like for me to sit at the computer while he is around. He knows he isn't the absolute center of attention I suppose!

Speaking of Aiden, yesterday he made his first attempt at recreating a fingerplay. He was playing with his Fisher-Price Laugh & Learn Home in his room. It has a little rain spout that you drop balls down and it will count and play songs as the ball falls down the spout. One of the songs it plays is Itsy Bitsy Spider. I have sung that song to him many times before and did all the motions with my hands, but he never seemed too interested in what I was doing for the most part. But yesterday I heard the song playing and he was in the floor attempting to make his own little 'itsy bitsy spider' climb up the water spout. It was just the cutest thing. He's also starting to try to sing other songs like his ABC's and Old Macdonald! He's growing up so fast. I can't believe he will be 2 in less than a month!

I'm glad I am able to be at home and be with Aiden as he grows and learns, and I'm also glad that I, his mother, am the one that is helping to shape his life at this early stage. Certainly because I am not bringing in any income we may not live in the nicest house or drive the best cars and Aiden certainly isn't going to be going to the best, most expensive preschool or school. We must all remember, "the best things in life aren't things."

My tea cup is now empty so I must start on some work. I'm hoping we see some sunshine today, although the weather forecast isn't calling for it. It's been chilly and rainy since Sunday. Oh well.. we need the rain and clouds to make us appreciate the warm sunny days even more!

Have a great Tuesday! :)

It's been almost a week!

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I last updated my blog! I've been so busy with life that I haven't had the time to really sit down here and update like I should. I really don't have much time now, but I will hit the highlights of what has happened over the past week.

We went to Galen's track meet last Tuesday afternoon. He participated in the long jump, triple jump, and 1600k. I put pictures on my photoblog last week so you can see Galen in action there.

Saturday morning I had a photoshoot (rescheduled from last Sunday afternoon). I have yet to even see the pictures on the computer, but I will work on those this afternoon/evening. It was a mother and her almost 2 year old son I was doing pictures for; I think I got some cute shots of her and her little boy.

I came home after the shoot, ate lunch, then hopped in the car for a 3 hour ride to Raleigh for some bachelorette party fun! She had a lingerie shower Saturday evening and we then went out for drinks (of which I had none.. I'm not much of a fan of alcohol anymore) and fun. We went to this one bar that has a mechanical bull... Yes, she rode the mechanical bull, complete with her tiara and veil on her head. We ended our evening with a late night/early morning meal (about 3am!) at the Huddle House. We had a really fun time.

So, life gets back to normal again this Monday morning, at least for a couple weeks, until we travel for her wedding.

My washing machine is beeping at me, telling me to come put the laundry in the dryer, so I must close.

Happy Monday!

catherinekeene.com

We registered the domain catherinekeene.com this weekend. Hopefully soon I will get a website up for my photography/pictures/stuff.. lol...

Today, my special mission is to find a place here in town to have a dress altered. It's for my friend's wedding coming up in a few weeks, and I need the dress taken in and hemmed a bit. Hopefully it won't be too much trouble! The wedding is May 20th, so I need to get this done ASAP.

We had a nice weekend. Friday, we went on a picnic with a friend of ours. The weather was absolutely gorgeous. There are pictures on the photoblog. Saturday, Aiden and I stayed home in the morning while Matt went to help a co-worker run some wiring in the house he is building. Aiden and I met up with Matt after Aiden had his afternoon nap, and then we went to Sam's to pick up some things. We then headed over to G-ma's and Rita's to visit that evening. Ben grilled some porkchops we got at Sam's for dinner. We ate until we were stuffed silly! Sunday was a day of rest, and we did nothing! I hadn't been feeling well due to some sinus congestion for the past several days, so it was nice to take a break and rest.

That's about it I guess... not much going on this week. Saturday, after a photoshoot in the morning (rescheduled from last Sunday afternoon due to the weather), I will travel to Raleigh for a friend's lingerie shower/party and spend the night. It'll be nice to get away by myself for a day! :-) I'm sure Matt and Aiden will have tons of fun together!