Category Archives: Baby

Milestones

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Catherine has been keeping us busy lately. It seems like we can go weeks without any major change in behavior or attitude and then, “BAM!” the changes come on full force.

We’ve really been enjoying watching her grow and learn and change over the past few months. Although I have a vague idea of which milestones she should be hitting, I haven’t memorized exactly when she should be achieving them. Her pediatrician is happy with her development and progress, so I am too. There are so many things to be worried about in life; I don’t need to add to the stress by comparing Catherine to all the other babies out there!

For the record, though, here’s an update. Catherine is a very happy, content baby. Her smiles and babbling can melt the hardest of hearts and has an adorable laugh that is only made more exciting by its unexpected appearances. She will play pretty independently with her play gym; kicking and grabbing at the toys. She will pass the rattle back and forth between her hands and will shake it like a Polaroid picture! Anything she can get her hands on will go into her mouth. She especially likes her crinkly book with the rubbery teething toys on it.

The teething rings are very popular at the moment since she has cut her first two teeth (the bottom front- in case you were wondering). She has been a wee bit fussy thanks to the new- and forthcoming- teeth, but the fussiness is nothing compared to to the drooling. I swear she leaks a gallon of drool a day onto the front of her shirt. Thank goodness for the hundreds of bibs we received when she was born!

In the last few days Catherine has strengthened her back muscles enough to keep herself sitting up if we set her up. She can’t pull herself up to sitting, but if she leans forward she can straighten back up. She’ll sit and play or look in the mirror all while sitting up. These new muscles have made it easier to experience some other new activities; playing in her exersaucer, sitting in the baby seat of the shopping carriage and riding in our baby backpack.

Sitting up and seeing more of the world has only made her want to get to more of it. She has rolled over once (with an illegal push-off during the flip!) but hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it. Soon though, she’ll be rolling all over the place. Then we’re in trouble!

That’s all for now. Stay tuned for more exciting news from Wood Central!

Have a nice trip, see you next fall!

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Well, hopefully sooner if possible. 🙂

It has become sort of a tradition (since last year, anyway) for us to take a trip out to the Midwest every fall. We do it in October because of a number of events: my birthday on the 6th, Dad’s birthday on the 15th, and our anniversary on the 26th. Also, the weather is not too hot, and tourist destinations are less crowded.

As you may have guessed from [Recent Diaper Changes](http://prwdot.org/2006/10/22/recent-diaper-changes/), we recently took this fall trip, from Friday, October 13 to Saturday, October 21. Here’s the low-down:

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4/5

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Today I have two lovely women to celebrate!

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I would like to wish a very happy fourth anniversary to my wife, Rebecca. You’re the greatest wife a husband could hope for, and the best mom a dad could want!

I would also like to wish a very happy five month birthday to my daughter, Catherine. I love watching you grow and learn new things. I am looking forward to many more happy years of getting to know you!

All my love to the two most important women in my life!

Recent Diaper Changes

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Over the past week or so, Catherine has had her diaper changed in the following locations:

* The back seat of Becky’s grandpa’s car.
* The front seat of said car.
* The hood…
* The trunk lid…
* My old bed at home in [Mount Vernon, OH](http://www.mountvernonohio.org/).
* In the nursery at [Mansfield First Alliance Church](http://www.firstalliancemansfield.org/).
* At [Mark](http://www.firstalliancemansfield.org/mark_carter.htm) and Kirsten’s apartment in [Mansfield, OH](http://www.ci.mansfield.oh.us/).
* At Megan, Matt, and Henry’s house in [Columbus, OH](http://www.cityofcolumbus.org/).
* At Becky, Todd, and Luke’s house in [Wooster, OH](http://www.woosteroh.com/).
* At a changing station in the restroom at [The Barn](http://www.thebarnrest.com/).
* On the desk in [my dad](http://www.mvnu.edu/facstaff/professors/FineArts/swood.html)’s office at [Mount Vernon Nazarene University](http://www.mvnu.edu/).
* At a changing station in the restroom at the [Madison, OH Public Library](http://www.madison.lib.oh.us/).
* In the living room at the Lyttle house in [Williamsville, NY](http://village.williamsville.ny.us/).
* In our hotel room at the [Days Hotel and Conference Center, Toronto](http://www.dayshoteltoronto.ca/).
* In the washroom at [St. Lawrence Market](http://www.stlawrencemarket.com/).
* On a park bench outside of [Casa Loma](http://www.casaloma.org/).
* In the washroom at [Spadina Garden](http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=toronto@157&cur_section=din&property_id=183144).
* In a public washroom outside of [Toronto City Hall](http://www.toronto.ca/city_hall/).
* On the floor in the washroom at Quizno’s on Yonge St. in Toronto.
* On a bench near an elevator in the [Royal Ontario Museum](http://www.rom.on.ca/).
* On the floor in the washroom at [Indochine](http://www.fodors.com/miniguides/mgresults.cfm?destination=toronto@157&cur_section=din&property_id=13178).
* In the washroom on the Observation Level of the [CN Tower](http://www.cntower.ca/portal/SmartDefault.aspx?ac=417).
* At various rest stops along Interstate 90.

Wow. We’ll give you more details on the stuff other than diaper changes soon. 🙂

Life with Catherine

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My Daughter

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I just wanted to write a little bit about why I love life with my daughter, Catherine.

When I first walk into Catherine’s room in the morning, and she opens her eyes and looks at me and smiles, it melts my heart. Just about anything that I was worrying about for the upcoming day goes away. Catherine looks so incredibly happy to be awake… she smiles, giggles, and then dances around on the bed like waking up is the most fun thing in the world. I only wish that I had that kind of energy and enthusiasm every morning when I woke up. 🙂

Catherine loves playing little games. We’ve recently invented a new one: The Fort. It goes like [this](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/P1130059.JPG.html) and then like [this](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/P1130060.JPG.html). Underneath, it looks like [this](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/P1130062.JPG.html). She loves it, and so do I. She also enjoys playing with [the simplest things](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/IMG_0615.JPG.html). 🙂

Since Becky is breastfeeding Catherine, I don’t get to feed Catherine all that often. But on the rare occasion that [I do get to give her some pumped milk](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/home_catherine/IMG_0612.JPG.html) (for example last week, after Becky’s surgery), I love it. I can completely understand why Becky enjoys it so much. Catherine looks at me like I’m the best thing in the world.

All of this is why, even after the occasional night where she wants to stay up until 2 a.m., I can do nothing but love her.

P.S. I have finally added some banners featuring Catherine. There are three of them. Please feel free to keep refreshing the page until you see one. 🙂

Some new photos

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Due to some server issues, we’ve had a bit of a photo backlog here at World Wide Wood. I appologize to those of you who anxiously await new pics of Lady Catherine. Hopefully these will make up for the wait!

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Happy Girl

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Catherine received a Baby Einstein Exersaucer as a gift at my baby shower (thanks Gabi and Tom!). She’s still a bit small for it, but we thought it might be time to dig it out just in case. My parents and brother were up visiting last weekend and they gave us a hand setting it up. Catherine seems to like it just fine, but I’m sure she will LOVE it once her feet actually reach the floor 🙂 More pics here

The weather has been pretty nice around here lately; not too warm, not too cold. Just perfect for walking around town. Catherine and I have been spending some time each day outside. We’ve always been fans of Lynch Park, but we have to drive to get there. We have started frequenting another park a little closer to home, but just as nice. We walk there, hang out a while and walk home. It is the perfect package; a little exercise and a little relaxation!

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Swing Time

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Last Friday, in anticipation of her four month birthday, Catherine tried out the big kid swings. Well, the big kid’s baby swings, anyway. Her first attempt was exciting. She and I decided that we’d save the underducks for when she’s a bit older. Feel free to check out her Grover Monster impression here: Near…Far…Near. Her impression is so good that she feels the need to go incognition. I just love those rhinestone sun glasses! (thanks Jenn!)

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Self Portrait

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I have discovered a problem that I imagine most parents have. I see Catherine doing something incredibly cute, or looking incredibly sweet, and I try to capture that exact moment with the camera. It never works! I can never seem to get a picture that looks quite like I hope it will. That does’t stop me from trying, though. So, we end up with a ton of cute, but not cute pics of the baby. Here are a few I took at the park yesterday.

Needless to say, we’ve been having fun. We’d like to have fun with you too. Drop me a line and maybe we can play together! Catherine would love to see you 🙂

Operation Dinner Out

Four Months

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Today is Catherine’s four month birthday! Hooray! In celebration, I’ve created a new [monthly](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/baby/monthly/) photo gallery, with one shot per month. In going back, I’ve tried to grab the best photos from as close as possible to the 26th of the month. Hope you enjoy it. 🙂

Catherine also had her four month pediatric visit today. Her weight was 16 pounds, 9 ounces, and her length was 26 inches. The doctor says that she is doing just great! Becky and I would agree. 🙂

…their own devices…

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Today I discovered what happens when I leave Catherine with her Dad while he’s getting dressed for work.

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Socks!

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A Busy Weekend

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It’s Sunday night, and Becky and I are finally settling in to watch the season premiere of [The Amazing Race](http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race10/). Hooray! But here’s a summary of the rest of the weekend:

Friday

Friday night, I sent Becky and Catherine out of the house for the evening. They went to have dinner with Nonni, and I spent the evening cleaning the apartment. Floors, carpets, bathroom, kitchen, the whole works. It needed to be done.

Saturday

[Beverly Hospital](http://www.beverlyhospital.org/) hosted a birthday party for babies who spent time in its Special Care nursery. There were some activities for the older kids, as well as photos of all of the babies born in the past year or so. We saw a few of the nurses and doctors who worked with us while Catherine was in the nursery, and we recognized a couple from our childbirth class, as well as another couple who had twins in the nursery while we were there.

We also ran into Dan Cederholm, author of [Web Standards Solutions](http://www.simplebits.com/solutions/) and [Bulletproof Web Design](http://www.simplebits.com/publications/bulletproof/), and proprietor of [SimpleBits](http://www.simplebits.com/), at the party. I wasn’t expecting to see him there, but as we were walking around, I spotted a guy with a computer-ish shirt, then saw his name tag… aha! I don’t think I would have recognized him without the name tag. His baby, [Jack](http://www.simplebits.com/notebook/2005/12/20/jack.html), spent some time at the Beverly special care nursery. We struck up a conversation with Dan and his wife Kerry. They’re quite nice folks, and Jack is as [cute as can be](http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/sets/1621982/). Check out his [great hair](http://www.flickr.com/photos/simplebitsdan/243819470/in/set-1621982/)! We ended up meeting them for lunch at [Panera](http://www.panera.com/), since we were all under the (mistaken) impression that lunch would be served at the birthday party. 🙂 We had a nice time chatting about life as new parents.

[Here’s a few photos of Catherine from the party.](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/special_care_birthday_party/)

After lunch, we headed home to get ready for [Art](http://kizoku.blogspot.com/) and [Leanne](http://leannennael.blogspot.com/)’s wedding. Our friend Beth was all too delighted to come and watch Catherine while we were at the wedding, so after we gave her the low-down on Catherine’s relatively simple needs, we headed down to Braintree for the wedding, and then to Boston for the reception. It was a very classy affair. We had a good time sitting at the “[CBD](http://www.christianbook.com/) Table” at the reception… 🙂

You can see the wedding photos [here](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/art_leanne_wedding/).

Sunday

After church, we drove out to Worcester to have Sunday dinner at Grammy’s. Catherine got to meet a few new Quitadamo relatives, we had some delicious meatballs and pasta, and helped Grammy out with a few housekeeping tasks. Those of you with Family access can see some [photos from today](http://prwdot.org/gallery2/v/events/2006/sunday_dinner/).

Phew! Thankfully, we don’t have anything planned for next weekend. If we’re lucky, we’ll get to relax a bit. 🙂