Other Recent Happenings

Confession:  I'm not going to apologize if I don't update as often as I like.  Reality is, REAL LIFE takes precedence over blogging, any day!  During the summer, I would walk almost every day with Claire while Alexander slept in the stroller.  We would sometimes walk with various neighbors or throw rocks in the neighborhood pond.  I REALLY miss walking, but today we went to the museum and walked a lot there.  If I refer to the "museum" it will be The Indianapolis Children's Museum, which is the WORLD'S LARGEST!  I seriously wished we lived RIGHT smack downtown and the kids could go to preschool there.  SUCH A COOL PLACE!  Also, we didn't take any elevators and I parked far away so we'd get more walking in getting inside.  I'd like to go the museum weekly, but we make it about twice a month, although I'll probably start going weekly in the winter because we can't go play outside!

We finally got Alexander's room done!  This was a royal mess.  We have had a guest room downstairs with 2 twin beds.  We first had to empty out the entire guest room and closet in there and get it completely empty.  THEN Josh had to move his giant desk and computers all downstairs.  Then I put the changing table dresser and matching upright dresser into where Josh's old office used to be.  I found a super cute fireman book shelf and tonka truck bench at Once Upon A Child (separate times) so he has some boyish stuff going on in there.

Then I pulled all the board books from Claire's shelves minus a few girlie ones, and filled up his new fire man book shelf.  I also pulled all the baby toys from her room and put them in his room.  I've also been swapping clothes out like crazy since he's been growing so fast!  He is wearing 24 months clothes!  He has outgrown almost everything that has been handed down to us.  Sigh.  My kids grow too fast!!!  Claire is wearing about a size 5 in clothes and size 12 shoes.  She is the tallest girl in her class, like I ALWAYS was!  And everyone guesses Claire is 5 or 6.  She won't even be 3 1/2 for two whole months!  I try to keep both of my kids in babyish/younger looking clothes for this reason: to make them look younger!  I also had Claire's hair trimmed when we were recently in VA Beach, as 1) it's pain to take care of and 2) shorter hair does indeed make kids look younger!  At least I think so.  I don't know?  What are your thoughts on that?

We've had an expensive week.  Claire's preschool tuition was due early because of the holidays.  Then, we had a furnace repair.  THEN I needed 4 new tires.  The front 2 were bald and the back 2 were nearly bald.  Don't they check these things on oil changes?  Oh, and Christmas is in about a month.  SO in other exciting news, I pretty much broke our good camera, which accounts for the SEVERE lack of pictures lately, as well as here and on Facebook.  I do apologize for the poor-quality phone pictures on Facebook lately.  However, Josh has ordered a new point and shoot camera for me, so I'm very excited about this!  The camera will no longer require two hands.

But the most exciting news is....I got a part-time job!  ***Very part-time.  What is it, you do say?  Well, I shall leave you hanging.  I'll post again soon about that!

Rock Stars

Yesterday we went to the Rock Stars Cars Guitars display at The Childrens Museum. It was pretty cool. Of course they had things for the kids that were hands on. The really cool thing was that they had Ryan White's mom and sister there and I got to say hi to them and get a picture with them with Josh's phone. We didn't bring the camera yesterday so no other pictures. What? Trying to keep tabs on 2 kids is enough without trying to hang on to a camera that you don't want to leave in the stroller someplace.

Some cute things Claire has said lately:

"Alex looks like a caterpillar baby!" when he's on the floor during tummy time.

"Wipe my other face!" when she wanted me to wipe her other cheek!

And we've started letting her go on the ponies at the Museum that move on the carousel since she going to be 3 soon and they don't check IDs ;) They are supposed to be three. Haha. She calls them "Up and Down Ponies" and loves to pick which one she wants to ride on.

Success!

I declare today a success! I went with my neighbor Jessie and her kids to the museum today. We got there right when they opened. We recently got a Children's Museum membership. Alex has already been 5 times. :) Yup...it's a great place to go! No bugs. No sunscreen. No heat! AND! There are tons of places to sit and nurse Alex while Claire plays! I even went solo one day and that was a huge success too!

Claire had a big meltdown right before lunch, but I attribute that to me letting her get overly hungry since she only had 1 bite of banana for breakfast...anyways, once she started eating, she was fine! (PS...she did not nurse all day...just before bed. That is like a first since Alex has been born and she wants to nurse when he does! But not at the museum! Too much fun stuffs!)

Then from there, we had to head back to Greenfield for tumbling at 4:30. Alex slept great in his sling that my friend Patty made. I've been forcing myself to wear it and it finally feels comfy. ;) It is like a new pair of shoes...a bit odd and awkward at first, but before long, a new sling will be like a nicely broken in pair of shoes. It's pouch, and I really love it! (THANKS PATTY!)

So since we had brought our lunch to the museum, I decided to treat Claire and I to Culver's for dinner since we'd been gone all day and Josh is going to a concert tonight. ;) I loves me some Culver's!

And by the time Claire was done with her chicken tenders, I decided it was bathtime for both of them...then bed. Plus she needed a bath since she dumped half her milkshake down her front and into her lap. Early to bed for them...that way I could get my Internet fix. Alex sleeps great! He will sleep a 5 to 6 hour stretch before waking to nurse. Problem has been that Claire has been waking up. We also finally got her a bunk bed in her room...pictures of that to come. So how about transition to new bed and having a new baby brother! FAIL! Actually, she's had her own "Princess Bed" with her pink bedding set and mattress in the corner of our room, but now it's finally in her room on a nice wooden frame!

I've been slacking off on the blog. I promise I've been taking lots of photos and videos in the meantime. I promise you will be inundated soon enough! And today was TV-free! Not that there is anything wrong with TV/movies. We enjoy them just as much as anyone, but you need those once in awhile. Oh wait. I lied. We saw a 15 minute show in the Planetarium. See...it is impossible to go TV free. They even have TVs at the church nursery! Oh well...we are all addicted to our screen-time!

Night all!