8 month update

So I'm not a very good blogger. I read some of these REAL blogs and I'm just amazed! But there are a few people that aren't on Facebook (I know, crazy) that enjoy reading updates on us Hearns so I'll keep at it. Plus it's still a great way for me to document everything since I'm apparently never going to get a single scrapbook finished! :-)

Catherine turned 8 months old on December 5th and here's what's new with her:

1) She is sitting up all by herself and actually enjoys it now. Now we just have to figure out how to get out of the sitting position gracefully, lol. Right now it's more of a fall over and that scares Mommy a little.

2) No crawling yet, but we just keep saying any day now. She rocks on her knees and pushes a little. She can get anywhere and everywhere rolling so we think she's content with that for now. We aren't rushing it....it's hard enough to keep up with her now!!!

3) She's said her first word which wasn't mommy or daddy it was GUH which is apparently what she is going to call Pudge. We say Pudge's name A LOT so this should have been expected. She makes the funniest, cutest sounds and is VERY vocal....hmmmm...I wonder why?

4) She loves her feet, pulling off her socks, and eating her shoes. Sid blames this on me because I didn't teach her to like socks (because I hate socks). This is a problem when its 6 degrees outside and she's pulling off her shoes when we are out and about. She's so proud of herself when she does it though that we have to laugh a little!

5) She is eating a few finger foods (i.e. puffs). She is such a good baby I'm honestly scared to try a lot of new things but it's obviously inevitable. If we actually ate dinner (a healthy dinner) I would give her some table food. We'll see how that goes. I'm not in any big hurry for that. She seems fine with milk and baby food for now!

6) She officially has 5 teeth that have cut through. Three on the bottom and get this 2 on top but only one of the two is the front tooth. lol The other front tooth will cut through any day now though. The last 3 have pretty much all come at the same time. Other than a little drool and some occasional fussiness she has handled teething VERY well (knock on wood!).

7) Finally, she is just SO much fun right now. We can actually sit and play with her and work on learning things. She just laughs and laughs and we have a big time. She LOVES her bouncer and spends a lot of time there but every night we get in the floor and play and this is our most favorite time of day.

It just keeps getting better and better. The top picture is my profile pic on FB and I just love it. The bottom pic is one I took trying to get some shots for a Christmas card. You can see the snow in the background! It really portrays her cute personality right now. We leave in the morning for Tennessee to celebrate the holidays with the Richardson clan. I'm excited for C to get to meet great Aunts and Uncles and cousins for the first time.

Wishing you all a wonderful Holiday season with your families. I know this will be one to remember for us.

Happy Halloween!!

We hope everyone has a safe and fun Halloween! Our community is celebrating Halloween tonight instead of tomorrow. Looking forward to having trick or treaters for the first time in years!! Catherine is a strawberry.....definitely the cutest strawberry on the block! Made my first taco soup pot of the season, football on the TV, and feet propped up....it's going to be a good day!!

Until next time.....

Hearn happenings!

Where did October go? What a fast month! It has also been a busy month at the Hearn house. So I thought I'd share some of what's been going on!

1. We are the proud Aunt and Uncle of our new niece, Reagan Mackenzie Hearn. She arrived 6 weeks early but thankfully is doing fabulous! This is when being away from family is hard because we wish we could be there to help Paul and Sarah and to love on this sweet girl! How fun that Catherine and Reagan will only be 6 months apart! Hearn family gatherings are going to be a blast. Here's Miss Reagan:

2. Rolling....lots and lots of rolling....all over the place. Catherine is now spending lots of time in her exersaucer/bouncer and her pack and play (aka jail). Only a matter of time before the REAL fun begins (crawling). In this picture, I had put her on her play mat and this is where she wound up. About 5 minutes later, she was half way across the living room floor. Like I said, lots of rolling!

3. Sitting up...well, most of the time. Catherine CAN sit up, she just prefers not too. Can we say strong willed? She is so interested in everything going on that she doesn't want to stay in one place. She does better when she has a toy or something to focus on. We practice sitting up everyday so hopefully she'll "prefer" to sit up soon!

We are SO excited about Halloween this year. Catherine's costume is a surprise for Sid....it has been a big topic of discussion around our house. LOL. I finally decided on a costume and thought surprising him would be more fun! We are going to the Marian Band costume party Friday night and look forward to lots of kids coming to trick or treat on Saturday! Life is just WAY more fun with children.....we are having the time of our life!

Until next time....

6 months already!

We celebrated Catherine's 6 month birthday this past week. Although, Sid said it's not really a birthday, lol. I can't believe she is already 6 months and I'm sure before I know it i'll be saying, I can't believe she's already 16! Scary!

With family and friends being so far away I decided to make a montage, video/slideshow of pictures from Catherine's first six months of life...complete with cheesy music. I thought I'd share with my blogger friends.

Click here: Catherine 6 month video

Sid and I enjoyed a weekend away, actually our first weekend away from C. Sid judged a marching contest but we were able to spend some quality time together as well. It was much needed and we had a great time!

Until next time.....

Life is Short

Those of you who are mom's know the anxiety that you feel often about things happening to you or your little one. Well, being a new mom all of these feelings had been new (and quite vivid at times) and were finally starting to subside until recently.

It seems every time I get on Facebook someone is posting asking for prayers for a sick loved one or posting about a tragedy. I have been personally impacted by two tragedies recently. One of the students in my theory class (an older, non-traditional student) lost his ex-girlfriend and 2 yr. old daughter in an apartment fire. I don't know all of the details but do know that it was arson, so someone deliberately and thoughtfully planned to set the fire. He missed a week of class but has returned and seems to be doing exceptionally well considering the circumstances.

The other tragedy effected many people I know and love. If you are in the Birmingham area you probably heard about a family (dad, mom, and daughter) killed by carbon monoxide poisoning. Many of my Hueytown friends went to church with this sweet family and I had the privilege of getting to know Malorie when I co-directed the school musicals. I also helped Mrs. Howerton advise her on dating during lunch many times, lol. Malorie was a beautiful girl on the inside and out and SUPER talented. She was going to make something of herself. But God had a different plan. I lost a good friend in high school and know how traumatic it can be for the students and teachers, as well. Some good WILL come of this awful situation....time will tell and heal.

I don't mention these events to put a damper on your day but it has definitely put things into perspective for me. LIFE IS SHORT people!! I'm holding Catherine and Sid a little closer and making sure to live every day to its fullest. Most importantly, I thank God every day for the chance to live and hopefully, make an impact on someone's life. We aren't guaranteed tomorrow....make the best of today! Love you all!

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! :-)