Aunt Joyce and Uncle Jon Visit

What a nice surprise we had yesterday! Steven's Uncle Jon and Aunt Joyce called us and said they were 2 hours away from us and wanting to come for a quick visit. All these family members coming to surprise us (Remember that my parents surprised me just two days before - see post below)...We love it! It was so nice to meet them both and Caitlin just loved Aunt Joyce and was playing peek-a-boo with Uncle Jon. Aunt Joyce has that loving Grandma quality about her. Being that she has two grand kids of her own it probably comes naturally, and I think that drew Caitlin to her. Kids somehow know these things. I have not met too many members of Steven's family, so it was nice that they stopped by to see us. They said we need to have a reunion and bring the family together. I agreed and said I'd provide the shirts! Ha ha ha... Working at Disney I would always see the family reunion groups with their matching shirts. That's it! I'll tell Aunt Joyce that we all need to meet at Disney World!

Aunt Joyce and Caitlin

Steve, Uncle Jon, Aunt Joyce, and Caitlin

I just noticed how much Steve and Uncle Jon resemble eachother. That's pretty neat!

Hey Donna, if you're reading this then you can see the school bus you bought her. She loves that bus. It's her favorite toy! She loves taking the little people out of the bus...and then chewing on them!

My Parent's Visit

What a nice surprise I had last night! My parents were going to visit, but said they would come at some other time due to the Storey's having such bad germs. Before you think that's mean, I'm the one who told them to stay away. We've been sick for more than a week now and I would hate to infect my worst enemy with this let alone my own parents! Sometimes, I've felt as if the Grim Reaper himself were going to come get me from the bed. Ok, a little dramatic, but I get that way when I'm sick!!! Anyway, my mom called last night and said she was at a nice little hotel and then started naming things that were 5 minutes away from my house. Surprise! They came to see us regardless of the germ invasion! So, I met them out last night for supper and then Caitlin and I spent the morning with them doing what we love most....SHOPPING! We had such a great time and Caitlin was a little angel. She must somehow know that Grandma's the one who will be spoiling her in the future, so she best be cute now! It was great to see you mom and dad! I hope we will somehow meet up again soon while you snowbirds are in the sunny south! For pictures, I expect my father will post the ones he took on his own blog (http://tonycrawford.blogspot.com) soon.

A Germ Infested Christmas

Here's how the story goes. The day after my last post I got a call from the daycare to pick up Caitlin because she had a fever. I took her to the doctor and was told she had an ear infection. Now a week later she still is extremely congested with a bad cold, but I've been told these things take awhile to go away. For the past week she's been waking up throughout the night, because I guess she feels miserable poor child. That's where the fun began. Next thing was that the day before Christmas Steve came down with a very bad sore throat, which then turned into bronchitis. On Christmas I came down with bronchitis and started getting fevers. Yesterday I was 103.6 off and on all day and night. Thus, we had a germ infested Christmas. This is the first time I've had any energy to do anything. I must be getting better!

Caitlin's First Christmas - Her new Animal Train Toys

The Excitement of Wrapping Paper!

On a more positive note, I lost my pregnancy weight finally! Well, I thought I had, so I asked Steve to take a photo. Then when I went to the doctor for my bronchitis situation, the nurse that weighed me said, "hmm, I didn't think you weighed that much." Thanks?!

Daycare Update

Today was a better day for our little Miss Caitlin. She wasn't screaming when I dropped her off, just crying, which was an improvement from the past two days. Actually, by the time I finished organizing her stuff and was walking out the door she had stopped crying and was playing with one of the employees who sat down with her and a toy. When I picked her up, she was crying as she shoved Goldfish crackers into her mouth. Yes, the healthy snacks these daycares provide are wonderful...NOT! So she was crying, but eating. Also, one of the daycare employees showed me photos from her phone of Caitlin playing with a ball. They wanted to prove to me that things were going better. Very nice! Tomorrow should be even better! We'll see....

Separation Anxiety

Well, I'm not sure who has worse separation anxiety, myself or Caitlin. I have gone back to work, currently part time, and have been putting Caitlin in daycare this week. Yesterday she apparently cried all day, except for when she was in her crib. That must have been her safe haven. Today, she screamed out for me when I dropped her off, which in turn had me break down in tears while in the daycare. When I picked her up she was playing in her highchair and they said she did a lot better then yesterday. It is very hard to have made this decision to go back to work, but I'm hoping it'll all work out. So far I really enjoy my job and the people I work with, I just feel bad for little Caitlin being in a strange environment. I start full time January 2nd, so please wish us both much happiness!

My Brother's Visit

My brother and his wife Yvonne visited us this weekend. I have not seen my brother in over 2 years, so it was great seeing him again. We had a great time hanging out and he spent some time with his niece. They then surprised all our friends by showing up at the annual Christmas party that our friends host each year.

Brian and I

The Crawford Family Juniors

Caitlin playing with her Uncle Brian

Musical Genius

Both Caitlin's Grandmother and Steve can play guitar really well. I think maybe Caitlin is on her way to following in their footsteps!

Happy Birthday!

Last night I had a little birthday party for Steve. Life changes when you have a child! Instead of going out to a fancy restaurant and then to the local pub for some cocktails, we had our neighbor's over for dinner with their two boys. It was fun, but very hectic. Three kids all under the age of three. OH MY! I made what I think was a nice meal, but it was hard to manage getting everything out of the oven at the same time, while taking care of my cranky child. Yesterday she fought her afternoon nap for an hour and then only slept for a half hour. I think she may be teething, but you never know. So of all days she was a cranky pants for Steve's birthday and my dinner party. Oh well, we still had a lot of fun and Steve said it was just the birthday he had wanted. It was great getting to know my neighbor's some more too!

Happy Birthday to my dad today!

Caitlin, Quinn, and I'm holding the two of them steady. They both want to walk, but are not quite there yet. Notice how much darker Caitlin's skin color is. Wonder where that comes from????

Caitlin, Quinn, Jack

I'm starting to have a little trouble holding both wiggle worms

Hello to My Niece and Nephew

Since my niece and nephew liked our last video so much, Caitlin and I decided to make a video just for them!

Kids these days!!!

So, we went to Circuit City yesterday and look what we found! This is a shopping cart at Circuit City for kids. It's totally cool! Caitlin might only be 10 months old, but she LOVED it! She was steering the wheel all around the store and I just had to take a photo. We never had cool stuff like this! Kids these days are totally spoiled, especially mine! Yes, I do carry my camera everywhere I go. It's in the diaper bag. You just never know when you'll find something that's blogworthy. Dad, maybe you should carry your camera around with you! Ha ha ha...

Well, I think I'm all caught up on my blogging now. Until next post...

To the Aquarium We Go

After the Moseley's left us, I went to the SC Aquarium with my neighbor Emi and her two boys Jackson and Quinn.

Caitlin enjoyed looking at all the fish

Here she is playing with her buddy Quinn

Here's a family photo of Emi with the kids at the Aquarium

The Moseley Family

My friends Donna and Gerald came for a visit from Orlando with their son David during the Thanksgiving weekend. We had a great time catching up and they absolutely spoiled Caitlin and took Steve and I out for a nice anniversary dinner. Steve and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary with them. Hopefully, it'll be our turn to go visit them soon and we can all go to DisneyWorld together!

Donna feeding Caitlin some yummy carrots and rice baby food

Donna bought Caitlin lots of toys and clothing, which was very appreciated by both Caitlin and I!

Steve and I out to dinner with Donna and Gerald. David was babysitting Caitlin.

We miss you already!!!