And so time marches along! Micah is 5 months old today - last night he ate cornbread, and loved it! The child is an eating machine!


We hit a milestone yesterday with Katie's dolls - she DRESSED them! Her Meemaw made a bunch of clothes for Christmas and they actually made it onto the dolls. As you can see, she also tried to dress up Micah. He was less excited.

Tomorrow I register Katie for preschool for the last time! Hard to imagine that next year is our last "together" before she gets into a new groove that will last 13 years, until she leaves home! I already miss her! Today she asked Rick if he would be her Valentine!

Speaking of Valentines, we got the rest of the Valentine jewelry orders done today. We found some cute ideas for kids jewelry, fun and inexpensive, that we are going to start doing, so keep that in mind if you need a gift!

Micah is up to 2 teeth so we are proud, and Katie has reduced the finger sucking to bedtime only, a big step. Hope your day is full of victories as well! C- ya...

Well, I finally figured out what is wrong with my back. Micah weighs 19 lbs! That's what's wrong with my back! We went to the doctor yesterday for well-kid check-ups and he has gained nearly 3 pounds this month! Katie is no longer measured in "length" - she is officially 3 foot 4! They both got shots - Katie had to be laid on to hold her still, but recovered quickly, mostly so that she could watch Micah get his! (She enjoyed that!) He was asleep when they started and only roused enough to say "yikes" then went right back to sleep! But it was all okay! The doctor was highly entertained by Katie who has now decided that when she grows up she wants to be a princess (go figure) instead of a horse. We feel like that is progress!

Hope you are having a good day!

This is for Katie's debut in Rich and Audrey's wedding! She has been practicing her supporting role as flower girl!

Micah seems to be taking quite seriously the job of keeping the hat on his huge head!

That's about all that's new with us!

So, the next exciting thing to happen at our house is that Micah was diagnosed with RSV, a type of respiratory virus that can be very serious in infants. After a couple trips to the doctor and a chest x-ray at the urgent care clinic, he is confined to the fate of breathing treatments several times a day for a couple weeks! He looks so pitiful, but he has been quite a little man about it all. He often falls asleep during the treatments. When he stays awake, he tries to lick the mask! Not sure what deficit in his diet makes that seem like an attractive option!

Well, it's Micah day today! He had his first "meal" of oatmeal and sat up for quite a while, so we are celebrating. (He didn't actually drink diet coke, just in case you are about to report us as diliquent parents!) Just thought we'd share a glimpse of the day! Hope yours was exciting too!

Dec. 21, 2005

Well, these are pretty chilled out days in the Castleman world. We are just baking cookies and psyching ourselves up for the drive to Arkansas this weekend! I took this picture on my quest for the perfect Christmas card picture - too bad I just caught them both in a blink - they aren't both really asleep. What? Both kids asleep at the same time? They can do that? I don't believe it!

Katie has asked Santa Claus for one thing - a Cinderella doll (exactly like the one she already has) with a pink dress (her's has a blue dress). Speaking of Santa Claus, we had the best experience with him! Rick was out of town a couple weeks ago and, idiot that I am, I decided to take both kids to Cracker Barrel by myself. So, as we are walking in, Katie is already having some type of little whining fit, and we sit down and she is back to back with the local "real Santa" - authentic hair and beard and belly! She is ecstatic and he hears her "whispering" - "mommy - it's really him!" So he turns around and does the usual, "What do you want for Christmas...." But then, he tells her that she needs to be sweet to her mom and eat her vegetables because he'll be watching!!!!!!!!!!!! Hallelujah! I almost asked him if he would come spend the night, or at least hang out until teeth brushing and bedtime stalling was over! Santa is the bomb. There really ought to be one at every restaurant and at church!

Anyway, I guess that's all I have to say! I hope your days are merry and bright! If we are headed your way, we can't wait to see you! If we aren't, we'll miss you! Happy Holidays!

Katie's Christmas List

A couple (overachieving) folks have asked what Katie would like for Christmas, so I decided to create a running list for anyone interested.

Today I saw a new Crayola product - "Pip Squeaks" - they are small washable markers. She is currently really into drawing and coloring - her people drawings now have a body (fortunately for them) and fingernails.

She also really likes balls - all sorts, preferably ones that won't break the windows! She REALLY likes to throw them up at the ceiling fan and watch them get thrown across the room by the fan. She might have learned that by seeing SOMEONE (who is not me) that lives in this house do it!

I'll add more when I think of them!

11-14-05 - Okay - here is another idea. The 40th anniversary edition of "The Sound of Music" is coming out on DVD in the next couple weeks. That was one of my favorites and Katie loves Mary Poppins, so I think she would like it too!

A day in the life of us....

Well, I am very confused because it is still SUMMER here in SC and that doesn't match with the calendar. Also confusing is why God didn't create leaves to just disappear - vaporize, whatever - at this time of year! Or maybe, they could become edible, so we would feel wealthy when we look at the stacks of leaves in the yard. It sure would make raking them up feel less like a waste of time!

Anyway, there is good news - Micah slept 6 hours in a row last night so we had to throw a little party. Katie's preschool program was a HOOT! It lasted all of 11 minutes but they were quite entertaining! The best part was when the little girl sitting beside her started a shoving match with the boy on the other side! Katie kept right on singing, right through the rumble! We heard her voice over the crowd (26 3 year olds) a few times. Go figure that our kid would be loud!

I guess that's the action for today. My friend Tiffany showed me how to make it so you can post a comment without setting up an account, so hopefully I've fixed it and you can leave a line if you want! I hope you are having a good day....

Pics

Dad and Micah 11-1-05 

Fall 2005 

I guess we're blogging now...

Well, I only intended to post a reply to a friends blog and I ended up creating my own. I guess I'm a sucker fo following the prompts. Anyway, I guess I'll just start typing and you can quit reading when you get tired!

We took Micah to the dr today for a checkup and shots, which were not so fun! He's a bleeder! Anyway, he is now 13 pounds 11 ounces! Someone forgot to tell him that he is supposed to double his birth weight in 6 months, not 3! He is doing great, rounding out the 90th percentile, unlike his sister who hung out in the 25th!

Katie has a program at preschool tonight. I'm sure you'll get to see the video next time you come visit! They are singing fall songs. She won't tell us anymore than that, or else she doesn't know, which is possible!

Rick is working on Christmas orders for jewelry, so he will be busy for a while. We are also looking at getting online with his jewelry stuff, so that will be cool.

I guess that's all. This could be a very small blog spot - we aren't very exciting. I'll try to think of something more exciting before I post again, or at least make something good up! See ya - Teresa