Thai Pavilion

The Thai Pavilion was a part of the Botanical Gardens, and it was incredibly gorgeous!

Claire can walk up and down steps super-well now! I don't feel like I need to hover 2 inches behind her on unfamiliar steps anymore!

Claire got a kick out of the Elephant that was in the Thai area.

This looks like it would be so much wade through! The stones would feel great!

Proof I was with!

There is real gold-leaf on the building. It seems like they should have it fenced off or at least roped off.

Claire was tired from running around!

Ahh yes...here she is spinning around with the pumpkin!

This is the ceiling in the Thai building:

And a profile shot:

Outdoors at Olbrich Gardens

The previous post all the pictures were inside. We had a nice day to walk around outside, very sunny!

There were a lot of water features in addition to the trees and flowers!

Claire enjoyed running ahead. They say that your child can REALLY run when he/she can outrun you. Yes, Claire can run. Fast. This was a pretty good place for her to run! No cars!

Here she is sitting to look at these bushes that have been sculpted into bears sitting at a picnic table. She loved them!

Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Claire LOVED these fish!
She wanted to sit and watch them!

I told you Claire carried that pumpkin around all day!

Claire's first time throwing money into water:

Walking with cousin Kami

Check out their website for even awesomer photos: http://www.olbrich.org/

Parasites in Food

I usually post articles related to breastfeeding and parenting for anyone interested in reading them. But here is one about nasty, germy food: http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/Features/Lists/?article=MenuParasites&gt1=27004 Avoid those menu items if possible!

Farmer's Market in Madison

Last Tuesday, I drove to Madison, WI. I visited my cousin Kami. Here we are at a local Farmer's Market.
Claire fell in love with this mini-pumpkin and it became her lovey for the rest of the day!

I love having a stroller. It comes in great as a shopping cart sometimes. :)

This was a very big farmer's market! The local ones here are super tiny!

They had flowers, meat, cheeses, baked goods...and of course fruits and veggies!

MMM! Look at those raspberries! YUM!

Claire wouldn't cooperate, but here she is with me in front of the capitol building.

It looks really cool at night, as it's all lit up!

Beefsteak Tomatoes!

After IN Beach, I spent 2 nights at my parents house. My brother Richie is holding up a HUGE beefsteak tomato grown in his garden. The soup can is for a size comparison.
I've never seen a tomato so big! And we had some yummy home-grown corn. Super sweet.

CHEESE!

Indiana Beach Amusement Park

Last Sunday I headed out on road trip! Josh flew to San Francisco for a business trip. I started out by meeting my parents at Indiana Beach for a day of rides!
Claire got to try her hand on rides for the first time. You have to be 36 inches for most kiddy rides like this.

The cool thing about IN Beach was kids ages 2 and under are free to ride! YAY! Admission and parking were also free, so it's a very reasonable place to go.

Claire had fun riding these boats and ringing the bell. I remember riding these same boats when I was little and having fun sticking my fingers in the water.

Here I am watching her!

Claire was terrified of the big Ferris wheel. But it was very windy and almost cold! It was only about 60!

If you've been to IN Beach, you'll remember these nasty carp that will eat anything, small children probably included.

Here is Claire on the very open train! She had fun!

Her favorite kiddy ride was the cars. She rode on them at least 4 times!

Here is my dad watching her!

Camper!

Here are some pictures from when Matt and Brooke visited. I have gotten behind in posting, but thought I should post these before I post some from our trip last week!
Claire gets excited now when she sees a camper on the road since she's been in one, she knows what they are.

Then she'll say, "I miss Matt Brooke!" It's very cute!

Black Light Mini-Golf

We went black-light mini-golfing with our friends Matt and Brooke. Claire wasn't such a great help. Notice she has taken all of our golf balls!

They had a cute little golf club that was just her size! Of course she is probably close to 37 inches by now!

Claire really enjoyed seeing all the fish and paintings in "That Fun Place." It's pretty close to a locally owned Chuckie Cheese, but they have laser tag, bumper cars, and some kiddy rides in addition to the golf, pizza, and typical skeeball type games you win tickets at. I have never actually been to a Chuckie Cheese in my adult life, but I hear the pizza there isn't bad either? This place tosses their own crusts! Awesome!

She so did not get the game concept, but we all had fun anyways!

Bottle Feeding Mimics Mourning?

Very interesting article about bottle feeding right after birth causing "mourning" in mom http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=bottlefeeding-mimics-mourning&page=2 What do you think?

OFFICIAL ANNOUNCEMENT!

I haven't done much blogging lately, but I have a very good excuse. I am 7 weeks preggers, due April 16th. This baby-boo number two and all these hormone changes have left me absolutely EXHAUSTED! I was able to see the heart beat as well as hear it during the ultrasound. You can see the heartbeat recorded at the bottom of this first picture:
Here is a good shot of the fetus and the "yolk sac" which is like the early placenta. It's amazing really to think of how fast everything grows and changes.

The fetus is already in amniotic fluid. The black area directly around the fetus is the fluid. Amazing! I'm just as excited as I was with Claire! I have been having some morning sickness, so I'm convinced it's a girl, as I heard that it's more common with girls, but who knows. And I'll be equally happy with a boy or girl. :)

Breastfeeding is NEVER weird!

Breastfeeding saves lives. It is never weird. http://blacktating.blogspot.com/2009/08/boobies-are-life-saving-devices.html Cultural perceptions differ, but mothers would never regret breastfeeding in an emergency, whereas formula would be a bit trickier to use!