Catherine's New Tricks

Catherine is now 5 1/2 months old. Her development is moving at warp speed right now which makes each day at our house new and exciting. I thought I would update everyone on her latest "tricks"!

1. She's rolling over. Yay for reaching milestones. However, she's a tummy sleeper and she can only roll from her tummy to her back so we wind up going in her room and turning her back over 3-4 times so she'll sleep. What's funny is she just has a BALL in her crib when she's on her back. At least she doesn't cry, right? Video to come soon, of me catching her on her back!

2. She is SO vocal. She's making the funniest sounds and has discovered her tongue. She's constantly rolling and moving her tongue to figure out new sounds. Our favorite is the shriek she makes when she's super excited.

3. She is inundated with Pudge. She watches her closely and reaches out to touch her. We are trying to teach her to PET her instead of grab as much fur as you can and squeeze really hard. Pudge is a good sport!

4. She is eating big girl food. Well, not really but the next step to big girl food. Rice and various fruits. So far she hates apples and pears. She likes bananas but #5 trick has postponed bananas for now. Videos to come of this as well......she's gags and makes the funniest face when she doesn't like something. Just like her momma.

5. With solid food comes FUN diapers. I'll spare you the gross details. But, a couple of days ago she sounded like she was hickuping and I quickly realized she was gasping for air. SCARY! This went on for a few minutes until she finally began to cry. Crying=breathing. Whew. Well, she had a super dirty diaper. Fast forward to today. Same thing TWICE. Gasping for air, coughing, and a super dirty diaper both times. So we went to see Dr. Hensley. She gave her an all clear and said that she is probably having to push and she's holding her breath. She asked if I kept a video camera handy.....DUH, lol. She told me to video her doing it. I figured a $20 copay is well worth the piece of mind. So now we are eating oatmeal and prunes to hopefully make going to the bathroom a little easier..... TMI? :-) Here's a pic of our first prune experience!

Three weeks from today we will travel to Birmingham to catch up with family and friends. I can't WAIT to see everyone and for you all to see Catherine's new tricks first hand!!

New Blog, New Adventures

It has been way too long since I last posted. SO much has happened in the last three months since my last post, hence the changing of the blog title. The most important thing obviously being our move from Birmingham to Indianapolis. Well, technically Avon, Indiana. As a kid, I remember "Hoosiers" being one of my dad's favorite movies. I just assumed that the Hoosiers were solely associated with Indiana University. WRONG! If you live in Indiana you are a Hoosier. So now we are southern transplants adjusting to living in the mid-west. A shout-out to my sister-in-law Sarah....didn't even realize I was using your title idea until it was done, lol! They are "southern yankees." Hoosiers sounded better than "mid-westerners", bleh.

Positives:

-AWESOME westher

-The Colts and other professional sports teams

-So much more to do and get involved in

-2 1/2 hours from Chicago, Cincinnati, and Louisville

-Culturally diverse and full of musical events and festivals

-Down to earth, hard working people just like us southerners

Negatives:

-Being away from family and friends

-Being away from family and friends

-Being away from family and friends.......get the point?? :-)

With that being said, I'm actually surprised at how content and happy I actually am considering I have no social life or friends to speak of....yet! I think that speaks highly of my marriage and how much I absolutely adore Catherine. I never get tired of spending time with her and her daddy. We started Kindermusik this week and there are some other moms my age that I'm hoping to befriend. Also, I think we have finally settled in on a church....but not 100% decided. Homewood was such a special place it makes finding a new church very difficult!

Finally, God answered many prayers about what exactly I was going to do with myself this year. I had decided to take a break from full-time teaching but after just a few weeks of staying home I quickly realized I missed teaching terribly. An opportunity came available for me to teach Music Theory as an adjunct instructor at Marian University where Sid works. This has been absolutely PERFECT for us. I teach 10:00-10:50, on MTWF. Sid stays home with her on MWF until I get home and she goes to a sitter on Tuesdays. PERFECT....LOVE IT! I'm also training to be a Kindermusik educator and will teach 2-4 classes in the spring. God is good and I feel so blessed to be able to do what I love (teaching music) while still having plenty of time to be a mommy to Catherine!

Whew....now we're caught up!! Check back for updates and to watch our sweet girl grow! Everyday she has a new trick, sound, or look. We take ridiculous amounts of pictures and videos to try and freeze each moment in time! We have extra beds and plenty of room so we expect visitors SOON! Happy football season ........in other words ROLL TIDE! :-)

Almost!

Catherine has been very routine in her night time feedings. She usually wakes up between 1:30-2:00 a.m. and then again at 4:30 -5:00 a.m. Well, last night 2:00 came and went and of course I woke up expecting her to be ready to eat. I quickly realized she was still asleep and got SOOOOO excited. Then about 10 minutes later I heard that sweet whimper. BUT, the good news is she didn't wake up again until her "first" feeding at 7:00 a.m. So we are getting closer to sleeping through the night! Although, I wonder how long it will take me to get used to it once she actually does it. I'll miss how cuddly and sweet she is during the middle of the night.

We are packing up today to go to Gatlinburg for a few days with the Richardson's. Looking forward to spending time with family but also for me and Sid to get to spend time together sans Catherine. Then we will travel back to Birmingham to make the big move (furniture and everything else) to Indianapolis. I'm so ready to get settled into our house and into the community. I'm definitely missing my family and friends badly but hope to make new acquaintances soon. Guess I need to come up with a new blog title.....any suggestions?

Growing quickly

Well, 2 months have already flown by and Catherine is really starting to develop now. In those 2 months, we have also moved (kind of) to Indianapolis. Our family is finally back under one roof which has definitely been an adjustment for all of us, especially being in a tiny one bedroom apartment (poor Pudge).

Being a mom is everything I expected it to be and more. Tiring but oh so rewarding. Everyday is something new and I just love watching her grow and figure the world out.

Thought I'd share a video I took of her today. She just loves to sit and have chats with Mommy and especially Daddy. When he gets home she gets this HUGE grin on her face....priceless! Enjoy the video. (Ignore my very country sounding voice!).

Catherine Allyn Hearn

On Monday, April 5th, 2010 we welcomed Catherine Allyn Hearn into our world. She was born at 4:26 a.m., weighed 7 lbs. and 11 oz., and was 19 3/4 inches long. I was in labor around 8 hours and Dr. Wideman and all of the nurses at Brookwood made my birthing experience so comfortable (well, maybe that's not the best word but you get the point!).

So I guess I will be renaming the blog soon because it will probably turn into the Catherine show. It will be a great way to keep grandparents and friends up to date with Catherine's development. She has already changed so much and time seems to be flying by. When you are nursing and constantly watching the clock it makes the day go by so fast. She was a little jaundiced but after two sets of lab work on Friday and Monday, her levels are returning to normal. We quickly realized doctor visits are not going to be much fun and Daddy was so miserable he could stand to go back yesterday.

She is definitely a Daddy's girl already. Sid has been WONDERFUL with her. He has probably changed more diapers than I have.....seriously!! We are dreading him leaving in a few days. As sad as we are he's 100 times more sad though. This too shall pass....and it won't be long until we are all under one roof again!

That's all for now....off to nap while she is napping. I'm exhausted but it's worth every minute of it. She's a really good baby. I'm just praying that lasts for a while!! We feel so blessed and are humbled everytime we look at her or hold her.

Showered......literally!!

Do you want to feel loved and realize how extremely blessed you are?? Have a baby. Sid and I have been completely taken back by how gracious and giving people have been to help us prepare for baby Catherine. Over the last 4 weeks we have had 7, yes SEVEN, showers!! From HHS folks, to our amazing family, to our friends, we are more than ready to welcome Catherine into our home.

As mom and I finished unpacking the last of the baby stuff, Sunday night, I started having some pain in my abdomen and back. She made made me stop right then and pack a bag. It was at that point that this all became extremely real to me. If all goes as planned, we are scheduled to induce on the evening of Easter Sunday. I finally feel READY to meet her and know that the fun and the real journey are just beginning. It's truly amazing how God does everything in His time and takes care of His children. Enjoy some pictures from my showers! In reverse order:

Decatur Shower

Muscle Shoals Shower

HHS Choir Shower

Homewood COC Shower

Birmingham "Friends" Shower

HHS Shower

HHS Guard Shower

The next big thing

Following Thanksgiving my life went into overdrive. For choral directors, Christmas is a super busy time of year which is usually followed by a nice break and downtime until after Spring Break. Well, this year has been different and for the past 3 months I have constantly been preparing for the "next big thing." In December it was Dinner Theater. In January it was AMEA. Then started February with UAB Honor Choir, All-State auditions, and District all in a matter of a few days. Oh yeah, let's not forget winterguard rehearsals 2 days a week and 2 weekend competitions in Tennessee.

This morning I arrived home from my most recent "big thing", our choir trip to Orlando/Disney. It was a fantastic trip. I got on the bus every night exhausted, feet swollen, back hurting but so happy because I teach a truly wonderful group of kids. They were so sweet and worried about me being preggo and treking around Disney for 3 days. I also had a great group of friends who are also my colleagues who went above and beyond to take care of me and make sure that everything went smoothly. Even though it poured rain and was FREEZING they were troopers and survived another memorable and successful trip.

So I'm sitting here today trying to recuperate from a long trip but excited because all of the other "big things" are over and I can FINALLY focus on the biggest thing......bringing Catherine into this world! I feel like I haven't truly been able to prepare for her because of so much going on at work but now my full attention is hers and making sure that we are prepared to bring her home. We have no crib, no changing table, no nursery decor and I feel so behind. But have no fear.....I'm in official baby mode. We are attending a birthing class next weekend and I think that's when it will really set in. We are also blessed to have great friends and family throwing us quite a few showers over the next few weeks so I'm looking forward to those as well.

Here's Catherine at 32 weeks....