A Whirlwind Week!

Last Wednesday morning, I flew out to visit my sister Holly who lives in VA Beach.  I brought Claire and Alexander with me and Daddy had to work.  (Haha.  Sorry, Josh.  Thanks for working so hard!)  This is what our week looked like:

Wednesday:  Travel day and settle in and then whoosh...here begins the Mommy meeting tour!

Thursday:
Morning - 
Attended a clothing Exchange at a nearby church.  You bring 10 items, and you get to swap 10 other items.  We scored a 4T snow suit and a bunch of stuff for trading tiny newborn clothes that really nobody else in this family is going to wear!
Attended Best Milk Bistro with Hollly and our kiddos.  It's like a BF'ing support group with a scale.  All the kids/babies wore costumes so it was super fun!
Late Afternoon -
Went to Target and Babies R Us.
Evening -
Went to dinner at the Cheesecake factory.  Super yum

Friday:
Morning -
Went to a LLL meeting at someone's house with a giant yard, including a play house, tree house, swing set, giant sandbox, and plenty of room to run.  They had to be about 20 women and 30 kids/babies there.  Maybe more.  It was by far the biggest meeting I've gone to!  It was fun, of course, and Claire had a great time in their playroom, too!

Saturday:
Morning-
Watched Holly and Mark run a 10 K with baby Nolan, now three months in their jogger.  Everyone dressed up so that was a BLAST to watch!

Sunday:
Morning-
Went to church with Holly.  It was Reformation Sunday, and so there were 5 confirmands.  (Basically in the Lutheran church, where we practice infant baptism, the young adults are "confirmed" which is an affirmation of their baptism.)
Late afternoon-Went trick-or-treating at the mall.  It was packed and 80% of the stores were out of candy.
6 pm - BEGIN the trick-or-treat!   Claire had an absolute blast.  She wore a pink dress and crown and declared herself SLEEPING BEAUTY!

Monday:
Park Playdate with AP group.  Holly brought the parachute she has and balls to bounce on it.  The kids had a blast! :)   We brought a picnic lunch with peanut butter sandwhichs and Claire got to run around on a great big playground complete with swings, which oddly seem missing from lots of playgrounds these days!
Clothes Horse consignment shopping.  I spent $35 and got Claire a huge bag of clothes, all marked down.  I got her lots of solid colored wardrobe basics that will match other various items she already has
Evening -  Indian food out!  NOM!  Alex also tried bites of the Buttered Chicken, Chicken Marsala, and Curry Chicken (all mild) and loved them all as much as I did! :)

Tuesday:
10 am - ANOTHER LLL meeting!  This one was smaller and Claire loved playing with the little girls whose house it was.  They had a princess room and a big Barbie house!  Wawa for lunch subs and another store for more consignment sales shopping

Wed -  We got our hair chopped off in the morning!  Me, Claire, and Holly.  Well, Claire just got a trim ;)  I got my hair super cute!  I'll have to post pictures soon!

For lunch we went to a place for Seafood place called Bubba's for lunch.  Then we raced back to Holly's to grab the 3 suitcases and rushed to the airport at 2..only to find that my 3:45 flight was delayed a full hour.  FUN!  So that meant my connecting flight would be missed in Baltimore.  So my layover was rerouted through to Chicago.  We ended up not getting home until nearly 11pm. 

Luckily, Alex is a great sleeper ANYWHERE and slept the entire 2 flights (nursing on take offs and landings when he was awake).  Claire slept most of the first flight which was longer.  Anyways, she was still up this morning and wanted to go to preschool so I took her.  Then we all took a 3 1/2 hour nap this afternoon.  No 8pm bedtime today ;)

30 Day Challenge: Day 18

30 Day Challenge: Day 18 - Your Wedding



So I should post a picture of Josh and I, but since we got married nearly a decade ago, I can't find the right photo directory. I got this one elsewhere... :)

30 Day Challenge: Day 10

30 Day Challenge: Day 10 is a photo of me taken over 10 years ago:



This is with my older brother David, younger sister Holly, and little brother Richard. I was probably about 8 since Richie looks about 1.

Jamming With Richie

Video taken on Christmas day:

26 weeks!

I am 26 weeks pregnant today!!! YAY! And I haven't mentioned, but I am gonna be an Auntie for the first time in July!!! YAY! My sister Holly is preggers! I have added a ticker above with her EDD info, so check it out in my header.

I met with Dr. L today who is the guy who delivered Claire and despite the way things turned out with her birth, he is my "favorite" OB in the practice of four. The least of the evils. :)

I go EVERY TWO WEEKS NOW! AHHHHHH!!! That means the end is quickly coming near and at my next appointment, I do my glucose screen, which should be fine since it was fine with Claire. It's not a fasting test, although he said not to have a coke and donut for breakfast before I come. (YUCK!)

Apparently, at my last appointment, Dr. N noted something on my chart about me nursing as Dr. L asked about it...but guess what...he actually asked me how often and how long. See. Men are smarter than women. ;) Sometimes...but I just think he has more experience than the other OB who is new to the practice. I said she basically only nurses before nap and bed which is true like today. We laid down for about 20 minutes to "nap" but she didn't fall asleep so we got up...and then she was bathed and asleep by 7:30 tonight. Glorious!!!

I don't even care which OB is on-call...there are 4 so it's like a 25% chance of having the "one I want"...but really there is just one I don't want, who is Dr. S because he's more likely to drape and cut episiotomies. I'll have my doula on him though if that's who we end up with. Actually, I'd like to labor in the car until the baby is like, um, crowning. Hmm. I wonder if you actually deliver your baby in the car, do you still get charged for the labor/delivery fee, or can you just go home!?!

Funny side story...Claire was using the bath crayons tonight, and I had to do a double take. She had colored a big yellow patch on the bottom of the tub while I was reading a magazine. I glanced over and thought she had peed in there because it was super yellow. LOL! Luckily it was just the crayon though! Bath crayons rock. The only place I've found them is at Babies R Us; they are the ones by Crayola.

Swimming in Chicago

We stayed the night in Chicago the day after Christmas and enjoyed the pool at the hotel. I got to try out my maternity/nursing swim suit! Ack! I *HATE* suits that don't have racerbacks. It must be my years from HS swimming.
Claire had an absolute blast of course swimming with everyone.

I have more pictures but they are all blurry or the lens from the camera is foggy from being in the freezing cold car so I think this is the best shot.

Group Photos Xmas 2009

Size What?

Claire trying to pet Daisy, but Daisy runs away!
Claire telling Daisy all about her Princesses. We don't need a dog. We can just go visit my parents. It makes the dog thing that much more fun for her. Have I mentioned that I hate dogs? Well I do. They are dirty, stinky, and smelly. They track in mud, dirt, etc. and leave hair everywhere. Ugh.

Well here is Claire telling Daisy about her Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella.

And here is Claire trying to walk in some shoes that she stole from by the back door at my parents house. They are either a size 13 or 15 depending on whose they are. It's kind of funny because they are like the length of her entire leg.

She had to shuffle in them. It was pretty hilarious watching her!

My Facebook

Claire has her own "Facebook." I don't know where she comes up with this stuff. If she asks what I'm doing or reading on the computer sometimes I'll say Facebook, so this is what she came up with. Watch the video here:

Feeding Mr. Bear

Man. If looks could kill. Click on this one to make it full size. I think she was mad about her chocolate milk being all gone. I do want to say that Claire loves her share of sweet junky and carby foods, too. One of her favorites is Spaghettios. Yes. She calls them Gobi-Os or Gobi Circles. She can't say spaghetti. If I have her repeat it, she will say spa-gobi.
This is what happens if I ask her to say "Cheese." She gets this huge goofy grin on her face and squints her eyes shut.

Notice what she is doing? She is feeding her bear bowl. The bowl is shaped like a bear, with the belly being the bowl part. I've since only been feeding her semi-solid food like her thicker oatmeal in this bowl, or it drips all over the table. She loves this bowl! Holly got it for her, and I do believe that Holly only paid about .75 cents for it!

Birthday Cake Theft!

Claire stealing some frosting off of her birthday cake early, but at least she is willing to share:

Control, Poison

I have a new entry in my phone. It's under Control, Poison. My sister Holly called and told me she saw it on THE DOCTORS that everyone should have the number in their phone for poison control. http://safety.lovetoknow.com/Poison_Control_Phone_Number# 1-800-222-1222 She thought I would already have it in there. She was wrong!

Baby Turtles!

Claire painted for the first time while we visited my sister. There are just too many new things for her to try out! Here she is on Holly's deck saying HI to the little baby garden turtle statues that she had. Check it out:

Run Swim Run!

Mark (Holly's Hubbie) and I (and Claire!) enjoyed watching the race she did while we were in VA Beach. Check out this video of people exiting the water:




About 90% of them tripped and fell! LOL! :)

VA BEACH & TURNING 2

We just went to VA Beach to visit my sister Holly and her hubbie Mark. Plus I wanted to see their cute place all decorated! Just Claire and I flew out there for about a week. Check out the pictures on Facebook I posted while we were out there. I am not re-uploading them because I'm lazy. :) So if you're not my friend on Facebook, then friend me! We had a blast! Claire did super-great on both flights to and from and at the airports (layovers both ways!)!

Since we've been back we have been to her 2 year-old well-check. She was 29 lbs. (It was actually bouncing from 27-29 and then the nurse said...well I saw 29!) That is about the 70th percentile. She is 36 inches tall. That's 3 feet! That's as tall as a yardstick! And for the height she is about the 95th percentile. I don't remember her head measurements, but it was fine. She's back to growing on her own curve well. We don't have to return until she is THREE! WOW! We also went to the Health Department and got her lead check to see if she has any lead poisoning (a standard test). Last time at 12 months, her level was 1 which is the lowest it can be. 10 indicates lead poisoning. So unless she has been chewing on some wacky toy with lead in it she should be fine. Results take a few weeks.

This morning we went to her last Mother Goose Story time. It was a little bit sad when they sang the good-bye song. The next session that starts up she will be with the Toddler Group! It was fun to see her doing all the motions to the "Wheels on the Bus" and "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider" every week. I am excited about her being the "littlest" kid in the next age group again, because that's fun too! :) And of course after story time we play at the library. She loves the block table and the little wooden play house. It has real cloth curtains that she likes to play peek-a-boo with.

Well I can't believe that she's two! And I can't believe that I'm still nursing a 2 year old! Those first several weeks I didn't think I'd last another minute!

Claire's First Easter Egg Hunt

Here is a video of Claire's first Easter Egg hunt:

Professional Photos of Holly's Wedding

I have decided not to upload all the wedding photos to my blog because they are all on Facebook. So if you want to see them, go look at my photo albums on Facebook because there are ton more great shots. I just don't have time to upload them all again! Here are a few of my favs:

Photography by Mary
Street: 10052 West 1500 South
Wanatah, IN
46390-9771
Phone: (219) 733-9329
She does a great job, give her some
business!

Holly's Dress

Holly wore my mom's wedding dress which was made in 1973. It was beautiful. She made the Aberdeen blog. Check out the post here http://aberdeenmanor.blogspot.com/2009/04/making-your-day-your-day.html and you can read more about the dress! Aberdeen was a great location to have their wedding!

Little Sentences

Claire has continue to floor me and others with her words and little phrases. Yesterday before we left Valpo, Holly asked Claire what she was eating. Claire replied, "I eat mac-a-roni-N-cheese!" plain as day. It is one of her favorites. She also picked up the names Gaby and Rachy (short for Rachel) who were the 2 other flower girls this weekend. She also started saying Mark for her new Uncle! One can never have enough playmates! Claire and I were glad to get home yesterday and sleep in a little today. Yay!

Demotivational Posters

Ok, so you've all heard of Demotivational posters by now. They make fun of the nice, encouraging ones. So here are some I made with pictures Josh or I have taken. This is actually Claire's placenta. Pretty freaking cool, huh? It's the underside of it. The other side is smoother. If you think it's gross, don't plan on having a kid as you'll have to have one inside of you for 9 months/+ oh...and give birth to it, which is like birthing a baby...only without the bones. It still hurts coming out! ;)


I used to drink a lot of Gatorade. :( I stopped. It's got a lot of calories. I miss you, Gatorade!

Josh made this one. Make fun of it, and he will virtually destroy you. And if you've not been to our house and seen that creepy giant face on the wall and wondered what it is...Josh did this for work. The plastic face is the result of using an image based 3D-Scanner. They scanned a model, then applied an algorithm that calculated the flow and stretch of plastic. The resulting image was then printed onto a flat sheet of plastic so that when a thermoformer forms it into a 3D sign, the graphic aspect ratio is correct. Please remember that. There will be a quiz.

This is Holly. This is what she gets for taking goofy pictures of herself on my camera. I will make fun of the booger in her nose.

This is Daisy sleeping on the spare bed in my parents room. HER BED! See, this is why I don't like dogs. They think they are people. They aren't. They are just smelly canines that lick their butt and like it.

Claire jumping at about this time last year at about 7 months.

Claire in the fall of 2007 with an outfit Uncle Richie got her. I call it the "Jail baby" outfit.

We have had several sets of bunnies in our yard and flowers. I think they like to eat my tulips and daffodils. So we feed them and hope they go away...lol!

Just having fun taking pictures...this is from around Halloween time. I call this crap candy. I want real chocolate.

This is from when we lived above the flower shop. Wow..we had an awesome apartment. I miss it!

This is a LUVS diaper. Luvs luv to leak. They suck at holding in crap too. Especially if she craps from jumping in the jumper and squishes it all over. I have never had a problem with Pampers leaking. You get what you pay for I guess. And this is why I cringe at the thought of cloth diapers. I wanted to throw the outfit away, too.

This is also from the fall of 2007. Claire was probably about 4 months old. She's daddy's little NEWBIE!

Don't even ask. That is Claire napping on the bed.

Claire at 8 months. Notice the no hair. This outfit still fits. She hasn't gained much weight!

Claire at 7 months on Palm Sunday 2008. She still fits into this 12 month size dress.

Claire trying on her Baptismal Gown at 7 months last year about this time!

Claire, again, last year, about this time at 8 months. She was really a baldy.

Claire "eating" prunes at about 8 months.