Deadliest Catch Junkie

When it comes to TV, there are few shows that I get ridiculously excited about. Grey's Anatomy, of course. The end of every American Idol season. This Michigan vs. Ohio State game. Those are "must sees" And now that I can record things and watch them later, I really love Ace of Cakes and Iron Chef America. But really there's not much that I get really excited about when it premieres.

Until yesterday...

When he came home, my husband casually mentioned that Deadliest Catch on Discovery was running old episodes and that the new season premieres on April 14th. He had set them to record, apparently. It was better than Christmas at my house.

For some unexplainable reason, I love Deadliest Catch. It's not a girlie show by any means nor is it really anything that I have some long standing interest in. It's not like I have some great desire to go and work on a crab boat. All that aside, the show FASCINATES me.

After Noah was born, but was still in the NICU, I remember sitting in the waiting room with my mom (and sometimes Grant) and watching a Deadliest Catch marathon. I think it helped distract me from being so nervous about Noah. And ever since then I have been a Deadliest Catch Junkie. It is easily one of my favorite shows ever. I'm a nerd, I know, it's OK... I'm counting down the days 'til the next premiere....

Noah's been a bit of a handful all day. He didn't take much of a nap today and has been cranky all afternoon. I'll be glad when he goes to bed tonight and cuts me a bit of a break. You've got to check out the pictures of him in his new swim trunks. Too cute.

Alright, I'm going to call it a night. Don't look down on me too much because of my above confession ;-) Enjoy the pictures!

Cheerio break

Check out the new shoes!

Cool shoes!

Ready to go swimming tomorrow

Look at that skinny kid!

The chaos continues

What is up with all the craziness lately? It seems like the last few weeks have been non-stop! I thought after a really crazy weekend today would calm down. No such luck...

Today I accomplished no less than the following:
Work 'til noon
4 loads of laundry (washed, dried, folded, put away)
Made 2 loaves of banana bread
Painted five flower pots and their holders and then potted five plants
Fed Noah 3 times
Got lunch and a shower for myself (what I usually qualify as a "good" day)
Took Noah and Bella on a half an hour walk
Loaded, emptied and partially loaded the dishwasher again
Did 2 sinks full of dishes that couldn't go in the dishwasher
Had dinner made and on the table by 6pm
And that's not even mentioning play-time and chasing down the kiddo

Is there no end to the insanity??? This week is already proving to look full as well with another play date lined up for Wednesday (we're going to the zoo!) not to mention my birthday coming up this weekend. (Please, let's not mention the birthday...) I'm glad we've got plenty to keep us busy, but I would take a few slow days in a row, and I just don't see that happening any time soon. Must be the spring air that is motivating me to get moving.

Alright, I've still got plenty to accomplish tonight before I call it an evening, so I better get going. I did find a few pictures I took last Friday, so I'm posting those tonight as well. More tomorrow, enjoy the pictures :)

Bella "hiding"

Noah and Daddy watching Monsterpiece Theatre

The kid honestly can't get enough of Cookie Monster

Juice break

Such a big kid!

Taking Pippi for a walk (this is his favorite thing to do lately)

Then he decided he'd take Bella for a walk

Come on Bella, let's go!

Whirlwind weekend

I can't believe it's Sunday night already! It has been a crazy action packed weekend. Part of me is really glad that it's over but I'm also sad that I have to go back to work tomorrow.

Grant was off on Friday so he was here with us for the day. Then I went with Kristina to an event for her women's group at her church. We went to a restaurant called "The Melting Pot" which specializes in fondue. I'd never been before and really enjoyed the experience. I mean how can you go wrong with melted cheese and melted chocolate?

After that, we met up with the rest of the Florida Family at Beth and Dan's house to celebrate Beth's birthday. It was good to catch up with everyone for the evening, but we ended up staying out really really late and it was after 2am by the time we got home. A few years ago, that wouldn't have been a big deal. But when Noah decided he was going to wake up at 6am yesterday morning I was really missing my sleep. Thank sgoodness Grant watched the kiddo for awhile later in the morning so I could catch another hour of sleep.

Then yesterday afternoon Kristina, Giselle and I went and checked out the new shopping development in Palm Bay called Hammock Landing. They are slowly opening the stores up there (which include a Kohls, Target and Michaels) so it was fun to go and check it out. Then we went up to Viera for awhile to take Giselle to Motherhood Maternity for the first time. I know how helpful moral support was the first time, so hopefully it helped her at least a little bit having us there :)

en some of us met up at Mighty Mushroom for dinner. Then a bunch of people came over here for a somewhat marathon game of Monopoly. Eight people playing Monopoly. It wa a long night... I called it a night around 12:30. I could only take so much monopoly, let alone keep my eyes open any longer.

We've just hung out here today other than a quick trip to Sam's Club and Target. Noah's aunties - you'll be glad to know he got two new pairs of shoes today. He's getting to the point that I can't really take him out without shoes on, so we needed something. Otherwise, it has been a quiet day which is good since the rest of the weekend has been so full.

Unfortunately, I have been so busy that I haven't thought about pulling out the camera all weekend, so no pictures. I'll try to remember tomorrow. I promise he didn't change too much over the past few days. More tomorrow!

Busy Thursday

This is going to be really quick tonight as I'm off to feed the kiddo and then head over to the Kunkle's to watch Grey's Anatomy. Yeah for our Thursday night routine!

Noah and I had a good play date today. He really enjoyed the park. I didn't take any pictures as I didn't want to make anyone else feel strange about taking pictures. Just know that he loved it and got quite a bit of sun. I enjoyed myself too, but will have to work on edging my way into what already seems to be a strong clique. We'll see how that goes.

We went to dinner with some of the gang to pre-celebrate Beth's birthday. The pictures I posted earlier (which I meant to take down, oops) were of the blanket I made her for her birthday. I was really happy with the way that it turned out. It's always fun teaching myself something new and seeing how to turns out.

Alright, I'm really out for the evening. Enjoy the pictures!

Mom, what happened to my toes?

A crawl-by!

Blanket

Over the Hump

A bit of a late post this evening since the whole day seems to be running a bit behind schedule. I'm really feeling behind and buried this week. It's not that it's anything really crazy, just a lot of pieces have to all fall into place together to get different things accomplished.

Work is still crazy. I have to share my funny of the day, though. (Alright, it was funny to me) The presentation I'm working on is about Charitable Lead Trusts. And Ketra wanted to have a "story" to the presentation. A family for the people to relate with. So I named them Phil & Ann Thropic. I'll wait for the chuckle...

Then tonight we went to meet up with Grant and a lot of the members of his team for a small gathering. I thought it was dinner and drinks, but I guess it was just drinks, and we were there 'til 7:30. And of course we were downtown, so it was nearly 8 by the time Noah and I got home for bath time.

The good thing about going tonight was I got to meet lots of new people. There was another wife there who I really got to chatting with. She had a set of twins so we were having a good time talking "mom" stuff. It was nice to get out of the house and socialize for awhile.

So it's been another full day. I know tomorrow will be just as crazy. Woo hoo for our play date! I'm out for the night - enjoy the pictures!

What are you doing Mom?

Bath time!

Having fun playing

I so love this kid

What day is it?

As I was uploading pictures, I was sitting eavesdropping on Grant's "conversation" with Noah. Grant just said something along the line of "You know, Noah, it's easier to fix all the problems on the computers at work than it is to put your pants on." I have to say when I hear things like that it brings a small smile to my face - he gets a taste of what it's like around here 24/7 ;-)

I'm looking at the calendar and having a really hard time believing that tomorrow is Wednesday already and even more so that March is almost over. Weren't we just in Ohio and Illinois celebrating Christmas? What happened to when I was a kid and time sometimes seemed to drag along? Now I'm lucky if I remember what happened yesterday there's so much to juggle!

Work is crazy yet again. I'm elbow deep in a presentation for next week that needs to be done by Friday. And unfortunately I'm only so familiar with the topic, which makes coming up with the power point a little more difficult. Scratch that, the base of the presentation is there. Finding a way to tie it all together and make it flow is what I'm having a little more trouble with. I somehow lost my afternoon working on it today. In all fairness, I did volunteer to stay over, though. Mostly because there's no way I can tomorrow or Thursday.

Tomorrow Noah and I are going to meet up with the guys from Grant's project after he gets off work. Apparently they're having some shindig we're invited to. I'm going to try my best to be nice and not tell them that they're sucking up all our family time lately! (I know, it has gotten better. Progress)

And Thursday Noah and I have our first play date with what I'm hoping will be my new Mom's group. We have to go to a couple of play dates before I make a final decision, but so far so good. I'm really ready to branch out a bit, and am looking forward to the socialization for both Noah and I. With more mom's maybe someone other than my Mom (who knows EVERYTHING!) and the pediatrician can answer my "dumb" baby questions ;-)

Alright, off to feed the kiddo and hopefully get some more work done on this project that needs to be done by this weekend. (Have I mentioned I have a ton on my plate this week??) An extra special shout out - Sarah we're so proud of you!! August 2009 baby! Everyone else, enjoy the pictures!

Posing

He found a stray Cheerio. I swear he's like a little vacuum cleaner.

Mid-Crawl

Back from being MIA

Sorry I've been MIA for a few days. It's not that I've been overly busy, I've just been taking some personal time lately to sort out some things of my own. Sometimes, when I get into kind of a funk, I don't look forward to getting on here and posting just to post. And I really don't need to dump and unload and possibly say something I really didn't mean to share with everyone... Nothing bad going on, just needing to make some decisions for myself and taking a little space to do so. Onward and upward!!

That all being said, it's not like anything super interesting has been going on around here. We had a relatively low-key uneventful weekend. Friday I helped address invitations for Brie & Thomas' wedding. So excited for them!! Then Grant and I hung out here with the kiddo for the evening. Fortunately Grant's hours have subsided somewhat, but it was still really nice just to have a few hours to ourselves.

Saturday we picked up the house, and then decided to invite the gang over for dinner and board games. I made stuffed burgers (Thank you Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives) and I think they turned out pretty well. Who would have thought you could have such a good use for the lid off a jar of peanut butter? Food aside, I enjoyed having everyone over and playing some games. Do you really think Battle of the Sexes was written by a woman? (The guys say yes and that's why the female questions are so difficult for them to answer) I say we just know more stuff ;-)

Yesterday the weather changed and neither Grant or I felt very well. We actually spent most of the day vegging and I was working on a project I have to have finished by this weekend. I spent a solid eight hours on it I think and it's still not finished. Oy vey I tell ya...

Today was a typical Monday with Noah and I running errands. I bought some flowers and pots for inside my house since my husband thinks it's a silly idea to rip out the bushes in front and put in flowers. So I'm going to bring the flowers inside then... First step is to paint the pots to make them match my kitchen, though. I'm also going to plant some fresh herbs to use in my cooking, I'm thinking.

So like I said, nothing too exciting. I'm sorry to anyone who's missed us for the past few days. We're still here, I promise. And I will work on it (again) to keep posting nightly. Enjoy the pictures!

Cheese monkey

Wedding invitations

Hanging out Saturday night

We need a bigger table (which would require a bigger house...)

Outnumbered, the girls still won :)

(But we lost at Disney Trivial Pursuit)

Happy Birthday, Papa Tom!

Happy Birthday, Tom! Hope that your day is wonderful :-)

Love,
Grant, Kristi, Noah and Bella

GO BLUE!!!

This is going to have to be really short as I'm off to watch the game. Scott, my basketball aficionado has told me to point out the following reasons why Michigan will win the game tonight :-) (I wrote this down verbatim during our phone conversation)

1) 1-3-1 defense

2) Manny Harrison; he was the big ten leading scorer

3) They beat Duke, UCLA, Illinois twice, Purdue twice, Iowa, Penn state

4) The ESPN guys said Michigan will probably win

With that, I'm signing off to go watch the game GO BLUE!!!!!

Noah cuddling with Daddy before he went to work this morning

Noah being a little Wolverine

Practicing his dribbling

After I picked up all the toys, he got them all back out of the basket...

Ready for the game

Hump Day blahs

Today has been weird. I had all these things that I wanted to get done this afternoon, but Noah was in some kind of a funk (still is as I type) and I didn't manage to get any of it finished. Oh well, I suppose it's only Wednesday, two afternoons to make my week feel "accomplished" but still feeling a little blue in general about how this week has gone so far.

Like I said, Noah has been in a funk. He wants to be in Mommy or Daddy's arms constantly. He had Grant and I up at 6:00am this morning, which is really early for a little boy who usually sleeps in 'til after 7:00. His temperament only went downhill from there. If I didn't know better (from having stuck my finger in his mouth to check) I'd say maybe he was trying to cut a tooth. The kiddo is clingy at times, but never this much. It makes in nearly impossible to complete something start to finish with wailing about not being picked up in the background.

Grant came home at his normal time, and I am so thankful that the project has calmed down at least a little. I know we'll probably have another couple of weeks where he's gone constantly, but I will suck up every moment of having him home while I have the chance. After we ate dinner, we went on a walk with the two little ones. As much as I feel like whining at times about daylight savings time, it is nice that we are able to eat dinner and still go on a long walk together before it gets dark. Here's to continuing to look forward to the sun staying out later and later.

Before I sign off, a couple shout-outs I want to pass along. Shellie, after we hung up I started thinking that isn't feuding worse than fighting??? Also, RIP Obama kitty :( Oh, and before I forget, GO BLUE tomorrow! Noah will officially be decked out in his gear to celebrate the Clemson defeat (hehehehe) Should be a good game - I'll try to post before tip-off tomorrow night. Until then, enjoy the pictures!

Scary how many toys the kid has...

My favorite little boy EVER

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Hope you've all experienced a little luck o' the Irish today. I know we've been wearing green (mostly to avoid getting pinched) and I made my first ever "jigg dinner." I'm telling you, corned beef, cabbage and potatoes have to be about the easiest thing ever to make... Anyway, Happy St. Patrick's Day.

Noah and I hung out here all day. He played and napped while I worked (like usual) and then managed to get three loads of laundry done. What is it about laundry that makes it seem like it is the most never ending of all the household chores. I swear I never feel caught up. I just did Noah's laundry yesterday and the hamper is already 1/4 full again! Uggh, housework...

I officially booked us tickets last night to go to Ohio in May. I am so excited! We are going for Scott's confirmation. Can't believe he's old enough for that. I swear that all too soon he's going to be graduating high school. I think I'll officially consider myself old then... While we're there Grant and I will also get to celebrate our three year anniversary and we're going to have a family birthday party for Noah as well. I can't believe that the little monkey will be ten months old tomorrow!

Alright, my little one is literally crawling up the bookcase right now, so I better go rescue the books... I mean Noah... ;-) Anyway, I'm off for the night. Enjoy the pictures!

His eye on the prize

The great banana mess of '09

My little leprechaun

Just another manic Monday

Hello faithful Gatchel readers :) So sorry I missed you all yesterday, but I wasn't feeling like I had anything great to share (it was another low key day at the Gatchel house) so I figured I'd save it all for tonight instead.

So yesterday morning we went on another looonnnnggg family walk. It was a good thing Aunt Sarah had already flown back to Ohio as we saw not one, but two snakes sunning themselves in the middle of the road on our walk. Luckily we had Bella to investigate (aka scare them away) I'm not afraid of snakes, per say, but they are definitely not up there on the list of my favorite animals...

The rest of the day we kind of just chilled together again with no real plan for the day. I've enjoyed having a few days to just relax and hang out with my boys and the doggie.

Today Noah and I did our normal Monday routine of running to the store to make sure we were stocke up on baby food for the week. I swear that kid eats more than my brother. Yes Scott, you read that right, I think your nephew honestly might give you a run for your money. At 5 he ate a large jar (6 oz size) of spaghetti and meatballs, a small container of yogurt along with a half hour milk snack afterwards. When Grant and I sat down for our own dinner around 6:30 you would have thought they kid hadn't eaten for days as he screamed his demand to be included in our dinner as well. So after I convinced him screaming was not the way to get anything, he got some pineapple and corn as well. And in another hour, he's going to be eating again. Endless pit, I tell you...

Alright, off to see what else needs to be accomplished before I can call it a day. I hear the little monster in there with his daddy talking like a fish, so I'm thinking a bath is about to commence... Enjoy the pictures!

Noah pre-walk

What do you think of his throwing arm, Papa Larry?

Feeding the human garbage disposal

Is this for eating, Mom?

He was really infatuated with this ball

Going for a ride in his exer-saucer

Noah takes Pippy the penguin for a walk

Helping Mommy make dinner (this is what happens when Noah watches too much Iron Chef with me)

Saturday at home

We decided this morning after a somewhat crazy week we'd take the opportunity to have a quiet Saturday at home. Grant and I cleaned the house this morning, Noah's been playing all day, and I've been reading a book while Grant does some work on some websites. Yes, we're boring but these are sometimes my favorite days around here. Nowhere to be, no one to answer to and nothing really pressing that has to get done. We really have the opportunity to hang out and enjoy each other.

Noah has been "exploring" the house for the majority of the day. The kid is so fast that we're all in one place, I look up and he's suddenly gone. Now that the spare bedroom is officially clean (yeah for no mess!) I feel OK with leaving the door open in there. So of course, Noah has to do his best to explore this "new" room. He is really infatuated with the zipper on the side of the futon. Fortunately, as it is clean he really can't get into too much if he's in there exploring.

Grant has spent the day trying to figure out how to update the website for my office. He's such a good guy that way. And this morning I spent a lot of time looking for vacation rentals for this summer. Anyone have any suggestions of a place to stay in North Carolina or South Carolina, not in the mountains, on a lake or with access to the beach? I'd prefer a cabin type atmosphere, but will take pretty much anything. I need to sleep at least 6... Suggestions more than welcome!

Alright, the kiddo needs a bath here shortly, so I better call it a night. Hope that everyone else has had a relaxing of a Saturday as we have here! Enjoy the pictures :)

Morning snack

Aren't I funny, Mom?

Cruising with his truck

He really wanted to explore his truck today

So if I push this....