Year Book Yourself

Want to make a good picture of yourself? http://www.yearbookyourself.com/ LOL! FUNNY STUFF!

Happy World Breastfeeding Week!

The focus should be on support! YAY! http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32234145/ns/health-kids_and_parenting/#storyContinued Read it...good info! Ban the bags and aggressive marketing is step one, in my opinion! :) Claire is 2 and still nursing....I can't believe we made it!!! She only nursed yesterday at wake-up, nap, and bed...haha...I say "ONLY"...yesterday was an exception! Today she's been making up for it!

More party pictures!

We have a 2-year-old! Where did the time go!

Playing with some of her friends at her party!

Blowing out her candle with a little help from me!

Opening presents! This year she did a good job ripping and tearing off paper!

She got the idea that there was something inside of the bags or paper!

A new watermelon hat that she got for her birthday! :)
Claire and I with Catrece (10 months younger) and Christy

Stephanie and Pierce (3 months older) and Claire and I

Birthday Party Time!

For her birthday party, Claire wore the dress that she wore as a flower girl in Holly's wedding. Her little crown was one I found at Babies R Us, and she wore it last year as well. This is the only picture I managed to snap of her alone!
Here is Claire playing at the party. I wasn't organized enough to actually have any organized games at the party. Plus, most of the kids were too young!

Claire knew that the cake was for her. She took her little toy shovel on over to help her reach it better. Yum!

Yes, she has quite the reach on her! Look how far she can reach! Nothing is safe from this little girl. Especially if it tastes good!

For her party I decided to do Sesame Street and Elmo. Yay for commercializing childhood! :) Last year was Winnie-the-Pooh. The little cake on top was for her to eat/destroy as she saw fit. She loved her "ELMO CAKE!"

My baby is TWO. I still can't believe I have a kid sometimes...lol! :)

World Breastfeeding Week

Next week is World Breastfeeding week. Are you on Twitter? Then add this to your profile pix to help spread awareness: http://twibbon.com/join/World-Breastfeeding-Week Thanks!

Beads for Baby!

While I was in VA Beach, Josh went camping at a biker rally. Apparently it's a lot like Mardi Gras...not that I've been...but from what I've heard. So there was a lot of drinking and beads involved. Like any good Daddy, Josh brought home some beads for Claire!
She had lot of fun taking them on and off and on and off. She now wants to make sure I see everything. She will say "Gookie Mommy!" for LOOKIE!

"I SHOW YOU!" "I SHOW YOU MY BEADS!"

Claire's Current Favorite Questions:

• I sleep with it? (Wants to know if she can sleep with something like a book, toy, etc)
• I take it with? (Wants to know if she can bring a book, toy, etc. to the store or wherever)
• I keep it? (Wants to know if she has to give it back!)
• MINE!?! (See above!)
• Gum?!? GUM!? (She always wants to chew gum. All. Day.)
• Daddy home?
  

Terrific Twos!!

I can't believe that I have a two-year-old already! WOW! She is getting so tall, too! She is very tall like Mommy!
This is one of my new favorite pictures of her. She is going to be so tall like mommy! At her 2 year check, Dr. W said they have a formula for determining how tall a child will be. She is projected to be 5'11. YAY! That is a good inch shorter than me. See, I don't fit in the "Talls" like at JCPenneys. I don't even fit in their "Ultra-Talls" which go to 5'11. I have to go to TALL GIRL where they make their clothes with a 36 inch inseam. I'm superfreaky like that. Hopefully Claire will stop at 5'11. Because really, that's quite tall enough.

Last night we went bike-riding. Holly was running since she runs her mini-marathon next weekend. Claire enjoyed saying "Go Holly!" And "Holly running!" She also wanted to get out and run with Holly. She kept saying, "I stuck! I stuck!" So I got off my bike to see what was stuck. I thought her foot was twisted goofy or her arm was wrapped around the seatbelt strange. So I asked her what was stuck. She said, "I stuck IN BABYSEAT!" Haha...yeah...the buckles work! :) So I would get off the bike to push it up a hill...hills are hard with an extra 29 lbs on the back of the bike...and Claire would get mad. She would say "Mommy back on seat! Go! Mommy back on! Now!" We did well over an hour. Holly mapquested the course when we got home, and I did about 6 miles. That's the longest I've ridden with Claire on the baby bike seat.

This morning Holly and I hit up Tall Girl at the Castleton Mall. We actually refer to it as "The Tall Girl Mall" because really, 99.9% of the time, that is the only store we go into! :) Haha! Holly got some great clothes for going back to to school teaching in the fall. I scored some cute new jammies and socks...you know, my official stay-at-home-mom wardrobe. Man, I do not miss teaching at all. I don't have time. I love being at home so much! Josh's goal is to be a "stay at home dad" one day. We can both sit around and watch movies all day. :) Sounds like a great plan to me. Claire had fun at Tall Girls too. She enjoyed smearing fingerprints all over the mirrors and hiding in the clothes.

Then Holly and I hit up the Cheesecake factory. Claire was getting a little cranky by this point, but I ordered her some chocolate milk, which she loves. Haha. I got the Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp which is a (HUGE!) spicy Thai dish with coconut and veggies and yummy curry sauce. I need to start making some curry dishes at home...I love curry! I took home my leftovers and when I put it on my regular plates I use at home for dinner it was another really huge plateful of food.

So then Holly headed out. It's kind of ironic that I just visited Holly and then she just came her for the past 4 days. It's just the way it worked out!

Claire crashed hard on the way home from Castleton and got a good nap in. I just pull into the garage, roll down all the windows, and do something in the kitchen until she wakes up. It's nice and dark and warm. But she will usually freak out when she wakes up because it is REALLY dark in there. If I move her I risk waking her up, and it is so not worth it. Then she gets no more nap in.

We went on a nice walk today! I love this cool summer weather. It was sooo sunny too. I then enjoyed watering my tomatoes and peppers. Today I picked my first jalapeno and 2 tomatoes. I'm excited that they are doing well. I also watered all the new flowers. Holly helped me all day on Friday to weed and mulch around our house to get it in shape for Claire's party on Saturday. I paid her. :) Nobody would want to tackle the mess we had going on here for free! Haha! We got 20 bags of mulch from Home Depot as well as some hanging baskets and wave petunias that she planted in the ground. I got one purple balloon flower and a potted arrangement that has sea grass in it. I like that sea grass looks different, so we'll see how it does.

Claire had a blast at her birthday yesterday and totally got into it. I have an overload of pictures and videos that I need to get around to posting....but you know how that goes.

Born Too Soon

A very touching story about super preemies: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2009/07/25/lovely_life/index.html Check it out.