Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everybody! We celebrated by staying in today! That's the best kind of day in my mind! Here is Claire dancing around the house. She loves to dance with or without music!
Here she is holding her swim suit and her old lovey. I think she likes the swim suit because it feels silky.

Here is Claire ready for St. Patrick's Day! We actually got these beads at the library last year! I wonder if the librarians know why people get Mardi Gras beads? But man, she loves her necklaces!

Mommy and Me Swimming

My friend Anja sent this pure evil crack-in-a-can. If you have not tried Nutella, you are missing out. Look in your peanut butter section. It is actually hazelnuts and chocolate...aka pure manna from heaven. And Claire loves it too! Why wouldn't she? She totally inherited my sweet tooth! :) But she needs to gain weight, and um, I don't. Aber danke, Anja, es hat total geschmeckt! :) MMM! LECKERLEI!

I've had a very productive day! I put 45 minutes on the treadmill before 10 am. This was definitely due to the helpfulness of Claire's "Happy Elmo" video that Daddy started on his way out the door! :) Yay! She doesn't sit and watch the whole thing...she sort of dances along and does the "I LOVE YOU" signing song along with the kids in it...very cute! Or she'll play with random toys and try to reach around the ghetto baby-proofing and push buttons she shouldn't.

Then I got the crock-pot going and have done um...5 loads of laundry. In one day. It's a new record. I have folded nothing...but it's clean! :) YAY! Then this morning we also had our Mommy and Me swimming class. It was our first class. We sang a couple songs, practiced kicking, floating, and blowing bubbles. CLAIRE LOVED IT! She did not want to leave. We stayed after 15 minutes for open swim, and still threw a fit when we left the pool. But then we got in the shower to wash off the chlorine so she was in heaven again! :)

Now...let me tell you...trying to dress her and myself in a locker room = NOT FUN! She kept running away. Basically taking off her clothes somehow makes her want to make a mad dash away. She streaks around, laughing MANIACALLY. It's pretty funny, but she doesn't look where she is going. She runs with her head turned to see me chasing her...which can be bad as she runs into stuff. It was fine when we were getting our suits on...BUT afterwards we were both wet and cold was not so good! After about 5 times of having to go and get her, I was ready to give up. I also did not want her to slip and fall. I finally spotted a bench that wasn't attached to the floor and I blocked in the corner we were in and she couldn't figure out how to get out. It was just a tad too tall for her to get OVER. And she didn't think of going under...haha. But the class was really fun. She is the only girl though! There are 5 other little boys from 6 months to 24 months. I'd really like to take some other Mommy and Me classes, but this is the first one I have found out about on time!

Then while Claire was napping I managed to vacuum the downstairs! And to my dismay I discovered my Driver's License actually expired on my birthday. D'oh! I had to pay the regular renewal plus a whopping $5 late fee. I've never had to pay a late fee on anything before. Ok, I lied. I've had some...err...several? library fines...but those all go towards good causes, right?! So then we went to the BMV right when she got up. To make my day even better I found a sippy cup that has been missing since OCTOBER. I know because it was NEW in OCTOBER. Luckily, it just had water in it, but it still smelled pretty funky! So I was happy to find her purple BPA-free sippy that had gone missing! But even better, I didn't even have to wait at the BMV! I went right in and BARELY passed my vision screen. I think I need to really start wearing my glasses when driving. But really...who reads tiny letters while driving? I did pretty awful...I almost wanted to ask how many tries I got, and how many letters I was allowed to miss! Claire just scribbled away happily in the stroller. I don't need to bring her toys anymore...I just give her a pen and an old receipt to color on...oh the joy!

YOU CAN'T SMILE FOR YOUR PICTURE ANYMORE. Well you can, but you can't show your teeth. What? Is there a dog you are trying not to bare your teeth to? Nope, I asked, they are now using facial recognition somehow and they need a semi-neutral facial expression. So my picture sucks in a big fat way. The lighting always sucks, but I am also 6'1. This means the picture is always like going up my nose. I thought I was always 6 even, but the last 3 times I've measured taller...so apparently I've grown since HS...which did not need to happen. I have enough problems finding pants long enough. ANYWAY, So I have this evil half-smile on my face. I totally look like a criminal. If I get pulled over ever, I am totally going to get a ticket just because of that evil picture. AHH!

13 year-old Dad

So there is this kids who is 13 and is a Dad already. WOW. Talk to your kids early about sex...like starting with subliminal messages when they are infants. :) And keep talking. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2233878.ece Look at the photos. The kid who is 13 looks like he is 6!

Um Creepy.

http://www.couchsurfing.com/ Yeah, let's stay at somebody's house we don't know. Hello, bad idea. It's not the 1960s anymore!

Happy Birthday, Josh!

And Happy Birthday, Dear Josh! I always tease you about liking older women since I am one day older than you! You are a great Daddy to Claire! She loves it when you come home from work every day and always asks about you several times during the day. "Daddy Home Elmo Happy?" She can't wait to see you! I'm and sure it's more than just her wanting you to turn on her Happy Elmo music video that I'm incapable of turning on... :) Hehe. You are a great Daddy, wonderful husband, and I can't wait to celebrate many more birthdays with you! Thank you for working hard and being so incredibly motivated. I am glad that your infini bidness http://infinistorm.com/default.aspx is doing so well and who knows...maybe you can be a stay-at-home-dad soon like Jon from Jon and Kate Plus 8 http://www.fanpop.com/spots/jon-and-kate-plus-8 Haha. Yes, I do watch that show.

Octuplets Born

Have you heard about the Octuplets born recently? That is 8 babies at one time! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/09/octuplets-unveiled-mom-de_n_165142.html There are a couple videos on that site that you might be interested in watching...if you are interested in babies! Some people think that she's trying to imitate Angelina Jolie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angelina_Jolie by having several children. I think my blogging buddy Amy did a pretty good job discussing her thoughts on the topic, so I'm going to link her here: http://prettybabies.blogspot.com/2009/02/dr-phil-needs-to-stfu.html Hope you don't mind, Amy! She feeds her baby sand! :) Haha...click back a few posts...it's a funny story. I totally agree that nobody should tell anybody they can or can't have kids. Yes, Hitler was a fan of that...and interestingly enough, this article arose today. Um, wow. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,606323,00.html This guy is claiming that the holocaust didn't happen. WTF? I normally wouldn't say wtf, but that deserves a wtf!

In other happenings, Claire was a big fan of the drinkable yogurt this morning, along with oranges, grapes, and some grape juice for lunch (do you know where this is going?), so needless to say we had a little accident this afternoon. And I do say WE as it was totally my fault that I gave her so much of that kind of food. I was just excited she was eating it. So for dinner she had chicken and cheese. Then for a bedtime snack she had some banana. I hear that cheese and bananas do the opposite of grape jucie! :) In other news, this morning, I woke up and was happy to step on the scale and see I'd lost some more weight. I'm a little embarrassed to admit this as admitting that I've lost weight is like announcing that I've gained too much in the first place. BUT now I've lost 20 lbs since X-mas and have managed to work out 5 days/week for the past 3 weeks. We joined a gym, and I've been doing weights, the elliptical, swimming, and power-walking on the treadmill with hand weights in between. Today I REALLY overdid it. My legs are killing me as I tried running for a bit...yes Jenica...so I can beat you! :) But I think I need to back down and not try running quite so soon after being so sedentary for all of Nov, Dec, and most of Jan. I was doing daily walks, but then it got cold and yucky! I did manage to get a walk around the neighborhood with Claire and the neighbors this week...without a jacket...a little strange for Feb! I also signed up for a Mommy and Me Swim Class at the gym we joined that starts this Friday, and while not Cardio or strength training, definitely a good healthy habit, and I LOVE swimming and walking. I had so much energy when I was in HS and in sports throughout swimming, track, cross-country, and basketball...somehow I had time to do seasonal Powder Puff football. And I thought it was fun to roller-blade and bike in my spare time...not to mention jumping on the trampoline and all the yard work I used to do! Now we have a small yard. And I took dance lessons my senior year of HS...I sucked, but I thought it was fun! Haha...I remember Josh coming to watch...I bet he had a ball seeing all the girls wearing basically tights and leotards! SO I need to get back into all these healthy habits! My best birthday present to myself though was putting on a pair of jeans I had bought shortly before I got pregnant with Claire and being able to zip them! They looked great! And since I had been prego...then had not lost any weight, I had barely worn them! So hopefully my body will remember my healthy past...man...I remember in HS in the summers I would go to swimming from 6-8, then open gym for Basketball from 9-11 then mow lawns for my dads apartments! No wonder I could eat everything on the face of this planet and stay thin! And activities back then were usually semi-active like mini-golfing at Wright's Barnyard, bowling at Inmans and/or running around playing laser tag there, going up to the Dunes to hike up Mt. Baldy, or just running around somebody's yard playing kick-the-can. Or the other thing I would do would be to rollerblade FROM OUR HOUSE out to Lakewood and back. That is a hike! I need to measure that in the car next time I'm home! THEN I would blade around all the Hills on Lakewood's property with Daisy Dog! What fun that was! Now Daisy is all old. I want to get a bike seat that I can put on my bike and take Claire on bike rides, but I can't decide if I should get one that attaches on the front or back of my bike OR try to use this one that I snagged at garage sale last summer ... but now I need to go to bed as Claire will be waking me up all too early tomorrow. So I've lost 20 lbs and would like to lose at least 15 more by Holly's wedding in April. I think that's a good goal. And I would like to eventually get back down to my HS weight...Is that even possible? LOL! Well...anyway...I should start running marathons or something like my sister Holly. I think that's probably why a lot of people run them...it helps to have a "reason" to get fit. I also started trying to eat more organic foods as part of my New Years Resolution....and that means cutting out all the MSG and HFCS. I actually used to get really bad migraines until I started food journaling about 5 years ago. MSG was a huge trigger for me. I can still tell if we go out to eat, and I had something with MSG in it. It's a very specific kind of head-ache. And HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) is just evil. It supposedly has hydrochloric acid in it. I need to read up more on that...but for now, good night!

It breaks my heart

Hi,
Have you heard that Ken Starr -- and the Prop 8 Legal Defense Fund -- filed legal briefs defending the constitutionality of Prop 8 and attempting to forcibly divorce 18,000 same-sex couples that were married in California last year? The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in this case on March 5, 2009, with a decision expected within the next 90 days. The Courage Campaign has created a video called "Fidelity," with the permission of musician Regina Spektor, that puts a face to those 18,000 couples and all loving, committed couples seeking full equality under the law.Please watch this heartbreaking video now. If you have the same reaction that I did, you can help spread the word by sharing it with your friends ASAP -- before the Valentine's Day deadline: http://www.couragecampaign.org/DivorceThe more people who see this video, the more people will understand the pain caused by Prop 8 and Ken Starr's shameful legal proceeding. After you watch the video, please join me and over 150,000 people who have signed a letter to the state Supreme Court, asking them to invalidate Prop 8 and reject Starr's case. Thanks.
Maria Starr...no relation to Ken Starr..yikes!

Happy 29th Birthday Maria!

From the first time I saw you on our schoolbus when we were 16, I knew that you were someone special. After our first date when we were 17, I knew I wanted to marry you. You are one of the most kind, caring, loving people that I have the honor of knowing. You are such a great mommy to Claire, and an equally amazing wife to me. I could not ask for more -- I love you Maria! I hope you have a very happy 29th birthday -- we have many, many more to look forward to.

Joshua

Imaginative Play

Claire is growing by leaps and bounds every day! Claire picks up new words daily. She now says "grape, orange, (and have I told you she says:) CHOCOLATE!" She loves playing with her babies She has now switched her lovey from the pink care bear to the baby doll on the right, although she also loves this naked bald Cabbage Patch doll as well on the left. Here she is diapering them. It was sooo cute! But I miss the pink care bear! :(
Apparently they can share one diaper between the 2 of them! She also loves all accessories like hats, headbands, necklaces, and bracelets! She is starting to resist getting dressed as she likes her little "run-around-naked-time!" Oh well, I guess it's all part of normal development!