May 31, 2011
Well, life is going on. I (Katherine) am feeling soooo humbled right now. I have had a new calling in the ward since April – Ward Chorister. I have been humbled sooo much and feel like crying every time I think about Sunday. It may be silly but that is me right now. I hope that when others go through tough times in life, I can help make them feel better by sharing my experiences. I have been taking “conducting” lessons these last several weeks and I called up a friend in the ward to see if she could be my cheering squad as she sits center back usually.
June 3, 2011
A windy day today. We got our first thunder and lightning shower 2 days ago at supper time. It was fun to hear the rain on the roof and the thunder. I love that weather. Caeleb is doing well. He is still not crawling yet but is a bum scooter (not too far yet) and he pushes him back and back and back when he gets on his hands and knees. I took him to the doctors last week to see if he had an ear infection as he had a fever and not much appetite. No infection – probably just feeling off from teething. He has 2 and ½ teeth now and yesterday he just started clucking his teeth together. Fun, Fun. He is happy mostly. I am a new mom who is just learning so I have just starting putting him to bed without feeding him (me). I have tried the let cry thing but it is too hard in a house of guys and with Chris doing homework and hard on me too. Started last night ( Caeleb is 8.5 months) and it took a good 20 minutes on holding him up to me to make him go to sleep but today at nap time it took only 5 minutes and we will get there. The goal is to put him in the crib and he won’t make a fuss. Soon enough.
Caeleb “I like hanging out with my friend Luke. We went over to his place 2 days ago (June 1) and had a photo shoot.” He is about 11 days older than me and we mostly like to claw each others’ faces which is fun for me to do but not so fun with Luke does it. He is a big boy. 23 lbs. Mom weighed me yesterday and I am 19.3 lbs. I am growing slowly but surely. She was worried about my weight gain and so took me in to the open Nurses clinic but is relieved to know I am gaining. Life is good. I love to say mamamamamamamama and dadadadadadadada. I started about 2 weeks ago and I don’t know if you would call them my first words as they are not a solid mama or dada. But I am a talker. Not a walker, but a talker says mom.
June 13, 2011
Caeleb “ I am doing better on the crawling. Today mom left me to go outside to get the flyers on the steps. When she came in she took a double take on where I was. I was almost to the door. My crawl is a slow move arms one at a time and then scoot legs together - as if my knees are tied together. About a week ago I started getting up on my knees holding onto the crib bars and 2 days ago mom saw me sit up by myself in my playpen – back to sit. I am definitely a growing little boy. I eat more and more each day. I love my bananas and strawberries are a new favorite but I still eat my veggies and meat – just not as much.
Katherine: Chris and I walked to Macs tonight and to Nosehill. It was very special to be together as I feel like with him doing soooo much school, we don’t spend too much time as a family. But we do okay – we have our family prayers morning and night and scripture study and we always eat supper together. So we are doing good.
Dad is staying with us as he had surgery last Monday on his head and mom went to New York on Thursday. It has been wonderful having him here with us. I love daddy so much. We have good talks about the past – Grandma and Grandpa and the farm. We went out to Cochrane on Friday for ice cream and a drive. We have gone on walks and we weeded the yard and mowed the lawns.
June 15 2011. “My 9 month old Birthday today and I actually did a real, quick professional crawl for the first time. Mommy was proud”.
July 5 2011.
Chris’ cousin Athena, her husband and two little girls stayed 2 nights here. We went to the water park at Riley park today. I bought some little swimmers for Caeleb and we went swimming today. His first time. He did not like the coolness of the water and cried but he was starting to get used to it. He picked up his legs really good one at a time when I set him down in the water and it was his first time walking with assistance. Good job Caeleb!
Caeleb loves playing with his dad and uncles shoes. He likes to pull them around. It is funny to watch. He also loves to help mom sort the laundry. He will pull the laundry over his lap from one side to the other and spread it across the room. It is so much fun to watch him.
July 10 2011. We had such a great Birthday. Mom and Dad took us to the stampede chuck wagon races and Grandstand show. Doug, Camellia, Mom, Dad, Nathan and Dana (Nathan’s date) came. It was a lot of fun.
July 19, 2011
Evening time and Chris, Caeleb and I are sitting in the living room. I am on the couch and Caeleb comes up to me and says, “ Mamamama.” He said it like he knew that was what he was saying. We then said “where is Dada,” and he looked at Chris. He has said Mamamama and Dadadadad before but this time he seemed like he really knew what he was talking about.
August 22, 2011
It has been a while since we have written. It has been a great summer. We have done so much. We have been to the temple once in July – we don’t get there often enough – and we have been to the farm 3 weekends. Camellia and I went to the farm to can peaches and I have been working with Danny a little bit too. I love to work with the horses. I am a lot more careful now that I have a little boy but it feels so good to get a good workout lunging Danny and having horse smell all over me when we are through our workout.
August 26,27,28 2011
We did our lst real little Watters Family campout trip to Drumheller this weekend. It was sooo much fun. We camped in our tent – only I forgot to pack the air mattress so we had to sleep on the coldhard ground. My boys were troopers though. Did not complain. The first night, thunder and lightning woke us up at 3:00 am. It was a clear beautiful night so we got in the car and drove a ways to a field and took pictures of the lightning. On Saturday, we went to the Atlas Coal mine museum and the Dinosaur museum. Then I got a sliver in my eye so we ended up in Emergency for a few hours but it only added to the adventure. I think my favorite part of the trip was cooking over our camp fire. I love campfire smell. September long weekend.
Caeleb and I went down to the farm on August 30 and Stayed until September 6. Chris drove us down and then came back on the Friday evening after work. I love him so much and I miss him when he is gone. I look forward to our daily (or 3 x a day) chats on the phone when I am away. It is so good to hear his voice. We mainly went down to the farm to wean Caeleb. He did pretty good. He still feeds once a day with me but I don’t mind that. That should be manageable when I go back to work. I helped mom and dad on the farm and clean the church. It rained a few days but most of the week was okay. Chris and I went to Camellia and Doug’s house on Friday evening and then we went to the Temple while they took care of Caeleb. We love visiting with them and it felt so good to go to the temple. On the holiday Monday we had Aunt Lorna’s family come to the farm and ride the horses and have a hotdog roast. We had a good visit. My dream is to fix up Grandma’s house so that we can live in it in 8-10 years from now and people can come at visit.
Caeleb’s Birthday Party – September 11 2011.
Mom and Dad Watters, Wendy and her two little boys ( Calvin and Quinton), arrived here at 10:30 last night (Saturday). They are here to celebrate Caeleb’s first birthday and to visit for a week. We have been looking forward to them coming. We miss our family out west and often wish we lived closer so that we could visit more. On Sunday, at our 1:00 pm church meetings, Camellia and I sang “I am a Child of God” in our mission languages. Lou Ann played the piano – it is so nice to have her play the piano. She is very talented. For supper we had the Gainors over and Camellia, Doug, Mom, Dad Smith and the Watters that were already here. We had BBQ chicken, corn on the cob, potato salad, green salad and Watermelon. And we had a Tractor cake for dessert and Caeleb got it all over him. He loved that. Then it was time for gifts. Caeleb got a lot of cars. He likes to drive a car around on the floor and make the noises. He also got a music spinner ball from mom and dad Watters. We had a fun evening chatting and celebrating with Caeleb.
On Monday September 12 I served at a funeral of a man who passed away in our ward. I was in the Nursery. I had to do a Nursing Labs/Diagnostic testing exam in the morning so Chris’ parents watched Caeleb. It is good to have them here.
From Sept 12 -16 we did things with Chris’ family. Well, Chris had to work , but we made day trips to the Drumheller Dinosaur museum, the Nanton Train museum and the farm, while he was at work. He met us for his birthday celebration on the farm. We had a hotdog roast and cake and the little boys, Calvin and Quinton, loved their tractor and lawnmower ride with Nana Smith.
I started work at the Hillcrest Extendicare on Oct 4. I have been averaging 3 shifts a week and have felt drained but I really enjoy the work. I love working with people. I love learning and thinking. I love being a Nurse. I know that Heavenly Father wants me to feel of great Self-worth being a mother as well. That is my greatest calling now in life. And Chris has the great calling of being a dad. He is an amazing father. I want to be the mother that he is father. Caeleb is going to Krista Larson’s house when I am at work. He has a bit of a hard time going there but I think it will get better with time and it is good that he get’s used to others besides mommy and daddy. Last week, we went to the Farm for Thanksgiving day and then Caeleb stayed with mom and dad from Tuesday to Friday when I worked 3 days. It was his first time away from me for the night and I think he did well with nana and Grandpa. He slept for 9 hours one night for them.
This is the letter that I wrote to Krista Larson explaining what Caeleb does in the day.
Caeleb’s Daily Routine (which has a tendency to change).
8:30 – Breakfast. (has about 1/2 cup of cereal, part of a banana, sips of water).
8:30-11:30 – play time. He likes to play with his cars and blocks. I often take him outside on a walk at least once a day when the weather is nice. He loves these walks and it often comforts him (that or car rides) if he having a sad moment. He loves interacting when he plays – someone at his level crawling around with him, playing peek a boo. He likes story reading too.
11:30 – I am trying to get Caeleb to go down for only one nap a day about 11:30 as he generally only sleeps and perhaps needs one to 1.5 hours during the day in total. He generally gets ups around 6:30 but during working days, we will be up a bit earlier (but will sleep in the car). I expect he may need a morning nap around 9:30-10:00 and in that case, he will be ready for another nap around 1:00 or 1:30. You will tell he is ready, when he is grumpy and rubbing his eyes.
Nap – We are working on the leaving in Crib (play pen) and him going to sleep by himself but to tell you the truth, he is not quite there. I generally read him a story while giving him a bottle or let him watch a little bit of his Winnie the Pooh movie (or baby TV) to wind down. I wrap him in a blanket and face him away from me or rock him in a rocking chair. I love singing him Primary songs or hymns. He will fuss and cry for a bit but if he is ready for bed, he will be asleep in about 5-10 minutes. If you just need a break, put him in the play pen and let him cry for a while and peek in on him every 5-10 minutes or so. He can be a persistent little guy. He once cried for 3 hours on a off in his crib on his own before he finally fell asleep but I would never let it get that far again.
Lunch and snacks – He likes cut up cheese sandwiches, Mac and Cheese, plain Jam sandwiches, fruits and some veggies. I give him sips of water as well. If he is fussy, it is often because he is thirsty or sometimes he is hungry. He is not a huge eater. I am not sure why but don’t worry if he will not eat well for you because he will have a good supper if he does not have a good appetite in the day. I try to give him a few small snacks in the morning and afternoon. – cut up toast with Jam, banana or cut up cucumbers or a fruit cup, or a few baby cookies or cheesy crunchies.
Chris will be by about 5:00 to pick Caeleb up.
Thank you soooo much for doing this for me.
Katherine Watters.
Oct 16 2011.
Caeleb took 2 steps by himself today for the first time. It was when we were waiting to get our temple recommends signed by a member of the stake presidency. Two steps and then fall down but it was fun to see.
Dec 2 2011.
Well, we have all been working hard these last two months. Chris – work and school. Me Katherine – work at the Extendicare, Rockyview, being a mom and wife. Caeleb – Learning to walk. It was a slow start but now he can walk across the room.
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