A picture is worth a thousand words

I have so many pictures to post from last week, but so little time to do it. This totally sums up how I feel....like i'm trying so hard to get something done, but getting no where....in so many different arenas! Is this not hilarious!

Are They Crazy?

I'm sure alot of you know about the Duggars. They are the stars of 17 and counting on TLC. I just saw the headline that they welcomed their 18th child, a precious baby girl.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28053565/?gt1=43001

I L-O-V-E being pregnant. Seriously, nothing compares to the miracle that happens in your body for those 9 months. As uncomfortable as it may be, I haven't been in any hurry to deliver either of my babies - hence no inductions & 2 miserable, but very quick labors! BUT, Can you even imagine 15 pregnancies?! I sure can't, and that's the easy part. I feel like I'm losing my mind right now with only 2 children. I simply cannot imagine how I'd be with 18. I'm pretty sure they'd have to put me up!

Firsts

I've been writing this post for weeks in my head, but never seem to have the time to actually write it out and post the pictures. I uploaded the pictures several days ago, but having the time to sit down and type isn't easy to come by. So here goes....

The last several weeks have been ones of many firsts. That's one of the best parts about kids..is all the little firsts. Of course, when they're over I tend to be sad that they'll never be another "first time" to do whatever it happens to be. The great thing is that another first is right on its heels, at least for now.

A few weeks ago, Grant attended his 1st Vanderbilt basketball games. We always had season tickets growing up so I went all of the time. Then later, Pookie and I got our own tickets. We had them up until the year after Grant was born. I quickly realized that it was not easy to leave your baby at home on a week night after not seeing him all day to go watch college basketball. I'm a huge fan of college basketball, and I miss it greatly so we enjoy a game here and there when we can. This, however, is the first time we've been brave enough to include Grant. I was really worried about his attention span not lasting very long, but he ended up doing great. He was ready to go 1/2 way through the 2nd half, but I was pretty impressed with that.

I think I already posted a similar picture of claire on here, but this is her eating her 1st Thanksgiving meal! Good thing she went to all table food a week or so before. That girl chowed down on turkey, green beans, corn, etc. etc. She always manages to save room for dessert too!
This first was actually one for me. My 1st black eye. A few weeks ago in church, Grant was making lots of noise rustling around in some paper bag. He'd made it through the entire service, and we were down to just announcements, so I picked him up and was trying to talk him into just sitting in my lap until the end. He was not happy about that and arched his back, thus throwing his head directly into the bone just below my eye (whatever that's called). I went down immediately and it brought tears to my eyes. I could tell by the time Sunday school started, my eye would be black. It was swollen and blue. I iced it all through class, but it still turned black. This picture is actually at the tail end of the bruise, hence all of the yellowing. I kept telling Pookie he needed to take a picture of it, but he never did, so you get this scary self portrait....I love that you get a close up of my mole (beauty mark..right?!).

Grant's 1st tree of his own! We didn't even put up our usual tree in the den / kitchen area. I was so scared Claire would turn it over multiple times that it just wasn't worth it. Surprisingly, she's done really well with this one. She loves to look at it, but usually stops her forward progress when she hears the word, "no."
This is actually a 2nd, but it's the blog's 1st picture of Santa. Grant has now seen Santa 3 times, and had his picture made 2x's. Claire did plop a squat in his lap once, but she wasn't too sure about the old guy, so I didn't force it this time.

Is this not the cutest thing??! I painted this little plate at Clay Treasures here in town and had both kids feet put on it. Then we made them look like reindeer (kind of). I just think it's the cutest thing. Claire was hilarious getting her foot painted. She seemed to really enjoy the feeling of it.
1st matching Christmas PJ's. Last year at this time, I was sooo pregnant w/Claire & just hoping she would hang in there until after the Holidays. This year, I have two kiddos into every thing and ALL OVER the place! But, they sure are cute in their matching pajamas! This is last Thursday night and if you look at the grill behind them outside, you can see it is covered in snow. They were looking out the window watching the snow come down when I got them to turn around to snap this. I can never get a good pic of the two of them so I didn't even attempt it for Christmas cards...then I get one. Figures!

I just love picture. claire is smiling now like there's no tomorrow! Every time I whip out the camera, she gets sooo tickled.
This is the 1st snow of the year! Friday morning, we woke to all of this white! Love it. Grant was making snow angels in the driveway of all places. It melted really quickly every where but our yard. I guess because of the way our house faces, we had a snowy yard through most of Saturday.

Awkward angle, but gotta love these cheeks and those sweet toofers!
Claire's obsession...balmex. Every time I lay her on her changing table, she screams and this is what she wants. She loves to bite open the cap. I have to be very vigilant to make sure she's not squeezing it into her mouth. She cries every time I take it awayThere you have it! Things are crazy at our house right now. We've been super busy with work, parties, trying to shop and trying not to go crazy! The kids have exchanged a virus this week which consists of nothing but a high fever and feeling lousy AND I need a day off! I can't wait till Christmas! It's going to be so fun with these two this year!

11 Months

11 months ago today, Claire made her grand entrance. Little Miss Priss is quite the handful these days! She's been taking steps for quite awhile, but today it was like something clicked. She knew at 11 months, she should be walking and that's all she's done all night long! Crawling is so yesterday...literally! She is so funny trying to imitate us these days and she has the best belly laugh. Grant seems to bring it out better than anyone..shortly before he tries to choke or wrestle her to the ground usually. It's still a love-hate relationship with these two. I keep thinking it will get better, but I guess it is possible that they'll always be that way with one another!

Eating her First Thanksgiving Meal

This is the first month in several that a new tooth didn't pop through. I keep checking for them, but nothing. It doesn't really matter to her, she's eating with the best of them now. She started on real food a few weeks ago, and there's been no turning back. Baby food is a thing of the past, and I'm sooooo glad to be done with it! It's such a headache trying to remember to take it with you if you might be out when she might need to eat. Now she will eat ANYTHING! She's a little piggy and I swear she can pick which things are sweets just by seeing them already! Pretty funny...a girl after my own heart!

Sleep if finally getting better for us. Just in the past few weeks, she's started sleeping until about 5:30. She wakes up then wanting to eat still, but will go back to sleep afterward for an hour or so. One morning, she didn't wake up until 7:15! It was the best night of sleep I've had since she was born. I seriously thought something was wrong with my clock!

Claire is such a fun little girl and we're so lucky to have her. I cannot believe how different my boy and girl are...in a good way most of the time. One more month till the big 1! How can it have gone by this quickly?! I've just come to realize what a huge pain planning a birthday party at Christmas is always going to be :-)! I guess it will just be one of those things we get used to doing eventually.

Back in Business

The computer that is...now if I only had time to post all the things I've been thinking. Funny how many posts I've written in my head, but have no time to put them up. I even worked at home today, but I worked all day and then we took a trip to see Santa & then went down the road to see his reindeer..talk about confusing! Hopefully, the weekend will allow for a post in pictures!

VIRUS = WITHDRAWALS!

Our computer bit the dust Friday, hopefully just temporarily but that remains to be seen. I believe we’re paying both for letting our 3 year old click away and also for letting things slide a bit. We think we got a virus, and are now have a friend trying to extricate it. We’ll see what happens! I suffered major withdrawals all weekend long from email and blog reading. I never realized how much I think about it until I couldn’t do it for 2 whole days. Grant suffered too. He asks every day when the computer will be back from the dr. He does not get it! It’s a good thing though. I would probably be great if I didn’t get it back for the whole holiday weekend, although I’m secretly hoping that won’t be the case. I was really looking forward to the sales online both on Thanksgiving and on Black Friday. Internet shopping is a little addiction! I seriously should unsubscribe to every store’s email list because when I get those special sales emails, it is all I can do not to buy something because it’s such a great deal….at least that’s what they’re telling me! I’d never looked so forward to a Monday as I did this past one just to be able to check my email – like some long lost friend might be searching for me. I guess with Facebook, this could happen. Although, I can’t imagine who would miss me enough to do that. I think I pretty much keep in touch with all of those folks! So, here’s to hoping we get our computer back tomorrow and that it can be fixed! A new computer was not on my Christmas wishlist, and I really don’t want to add it! If not, don’t think I’m above going to my mom’s and hijacking her internet connection. I hope everyone has a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!

A New Fav

So, how many of you continued wearing your maternity camisoles even when you weren’t pregnant anymore? I have had this discussion with so many moms and we all agreed that we liked the maternity ones better than our old pre-baby ones. The main reasons are that they’re longer, they come up higher in the front, and they don’t have those silly shelf bras in them. Seriously, what is the point in those things? Even if your flat-chested, wouldn’t you want a little more coverage than that thing provides?! I’m just saying on a cold day, that little layer of cotton is doing notta for you! Anyway, on a trip to Old Navy over the weekend, I picked up some of their camisoles because TADA, no stinkin’ shelf bra and they were 2 for $12, plus it was friends & family, so they were 30% off of that. Today is the first day I’ve worn one, and I think I have a new favorite! It is just long enough, just high enough and I don’t feel like my ribcage is being squeezed to death by a silly piece of elastic. So, I think I’m saying goodbye to Liz Lange for the time being (or forever)!

Yeah, that was me...

On the radio this morning that is. I love the Big 98 and listen every morning. I often try to get through for contests, but of course, I never do. This morning, they were taking requests if you had a song that you want to hear, but weren't sure of the name of it or who sung it, etc. It was kind of obscure, but perfect. There's this song that Gerry House played several times awhile back, which I believe one of his songwriter friends wrote that is something about an April Fool. Well, I loved it, but haven't heard it in a really long time. Searching online is useless because nothing that I want comes up. So I called in and requested it. Well, apparently the name of the song is April Fool...so I knew too much about the song. SO, my dilemma still isn't solved. He didn't tell me who sings the stinkin' song and he wouldn't play it b/c I knew the title (even though I didn't know it was the title)! As you can imagine, he had fun with my name. He actually said it sounded like a chauffeur's name. I really contemplated using an alias so that everyone I know wouldn't realize it was me, but I didn't. So if you know what song I'm talking about, help a sista out and tell me who sings it!!

They're Back...

Remember this post about my favorite holiday treat? Well, on a quick run into Kroger last night, Grant yelled, "Mommy there's some cakes that look like Christmas trees!" I was in a hurry and not feeling so hot (sinus infection I think), but those words stopped me dead in my tracks and I backed up to see the beautiful little boxes. I showed some restraint and only bought 1 box, since, after all, I'm not pregnant this year. I figure I can't blame them on a craving! Even though I can't taste anything right now due to this yuck all in my head, I still ate one last night just for the texture. I know that's super weird, but there's something about that little crystallized sugar on top that I L-O-V-E!! Why are these the only Little Debbies with that stuff on them??? I'm pretty sure they don't have to be shaped like Christmas trees to warrant some sugar sprinkles. I'd eat them shaped like anything! Maybe I should email them.

10 Months Already?!

Claire Belle, Clareese. Claire Bear, sissom, or sister turned 10 months old Monday. I feel like I say this over and over, but it is all going by so fast. I feel like she was only tiny for 2 weeks, and then she was crawling! This is such a fun age because she is noticing everything around her and really interacting with me and everyone else. She makes this noise over and over, but her tone changes. It’s like she’s really trying to tell me things, but she only has one sound. Ball is by far what she says most. She can say mama and dada, but really she rarely does. I swear she’s trying to say look, but who knows?! She’ll point and say ook, ook. I don’t know if it’s just coincidence, or if she’s really talking to me.

taking a few steps

In the past month, Claire has gotten 2 new teeth one day apart, she has taken her first steps, celebrated her 1st Halloween, she spent her first night without her mommy, and endured her first stomach bug. She has also endured many nights of being left to cry it out. Much to her dismay (and to ours) that is still continuing! Her first steps came about at the beginning of last week. She will take 4 or 5 really quick steps, but they’re still few and far between. She has to really be encouraged to stand up and try to walk. Crawling is so much faster! I don’t think her brother is eager for her to walk because he often pushes her down when she stands up.

Dressed like a kitty for Halloween

Claire is into everything and all over the place. She gets into things that Grant never bothered. Feeding her is becoming a battle now because she is ready to do it herself. She will try to knock the spoon out of my hand as I go toward her mouth and sometimes she even tries to take it from me. I think she’s probably ready for all table food, but I keep dragging out the baby food. It’s just easier sometimes, especially when we’re out and about.

I seriously cannot believe her 1st birthday is 2 months away. I’m already trying to figure out her party. I hate that she has a cold weather birthday because it limits you so much more, especially as she gets older. We may just have one seriously crowded house. Not to get ahead of myself…

Couldn't you just eat her up?! I know I'm not biased at all!

Long Week

It has been a horribly long week around here. Monday started off with a bang at 5 am when Grant started throwing up. That continued all day long. He quit doing that early Monday evening, but continued to run a fever and look totally drained. Tuesday, I ended up taking him to nanny's so I could go to work. I thought he was on the road to recovery, only to discover his temperature was 103 when I picked him up that afternoon. Weds. we made our way to the dr. We had an appt for a recheck of his ears on Thursday, so I just bumped it up a day to see what the heck is going on with him. Well, same ear...same story, still really infected. Thursday, I'd planned to work from home, and I did. I worked my butt off. I feel like when I work from home it has to be non stop just so they know I actually did work while I was here. Then, last night about 11 Claire woke up coughing and crying. I've been letting her cry it out, but I could tell something was wrong. I went in her room to discover she'd thrown up all over her bed. That continued for awhile, and then nonstop crying ensued until around 4 am! I am really hoping that I don't get fired from my job :-)!! Seeing how I've been "in" the office only about 8 hours all week long. I've worked from home a bit each day, but there's only so much I can do here. Claire seems better now, other than that she's fussy and not eating. I'm fussy too..unfortunately I can't stop eating! Here's to hoping the weekend is throw up free!!

Staying home with Grant Monday is why I actually had the chance to redo my blog. I like the design, but I'm not totally thrilled with the name. I need some help. Anyone have an idea for a catchy name for my blog? Seems like something with Summar in it would be easy to come up with, but not for me! I'd love to hear any ideas you have. I don't know when I'll ever have time to take the day and do that again, but I'm getting a little better (and quicker) at making these things!

Halloween Happenings

Friday was a fun (and candy) filled day for Grant and I. He went in to work with me so we could start trick or treating a little early and was excellent. We left Claire out of the afternoon rounds hoping that she would be well rested for the evening. Instead, Claire spent much of the night like this:I, personally, love the tail coming out of her car seat. You can't tell much from this picture, but she was a kitty cat. By the time she woke up, it was her dinner time so mammy had to take her and feed her while the rest of us went house to house to collect some loot!

Grant picked out this banana costume several months ago. I let him look through all of the catalogs and day after day, this is what he kept asking for. I finally gave in and went and got it...right before it went on sale! Gotta love that. I ended up going back to PBK and getting a price adjustment, so it worked out.

Claire was precious in her costume, but due to the really warm weather she didn't last very long in the whole thing. I love her cheeks in a hood or anything on her head. They're so sweet! I didn't get a great picture of her as a black cat, so I think there will be an after Halloween photo shoot! Here's a picture in just the "head" part of the costume and her kitty shirt that wasn't part of the costume.

Why did the banana and the mermaid cross the street?

To get more treats!!

Both of kids were totally freaked out by masked people and witches, ghosts, etc. It was pretty comical. Claire got so skiddish that when we got home, she was scared of any and all of her toys that moved. We couldn't stop laughing at her, but we really hope we didn't scar her for life! I love Halloween and all the treats associated with it! Now, I just have to try not to eat all of the candy. I'm pretty picky when it comes to candy though. I'm more of a baked goods kind of girl just in case you hadn't noticed:-)!

Hope everyone had a fun filled Halloween!

Change

A simple title like change could make you think I’m going to blog about something profound or a major life change, etc. You would be totally wrong if you thought that though! The main change I’m referring to is the weather. The last few days have been flat out cold! I welcome the change in the seasons, and I’m so glad that we actually have 4 seasons here, but it has been such a drastic change this week! No fear, warmer weather is on the horizon with highs in the 60’s tomorrow and approaching 70 for the weekend. That’s what I’m talking about!

Gas prices are another thing that has changed. Thankfully! I actually paid under $50 to fill up our Mountaineer the other day. I don’t remember paying that little in a very long time. Given the fact that Pookie and I both drive over 30 miles one way to work every day that is a very welcome change. I even considered taking a picture of the little “counter” at the pump when I was done. I was afraid someone might think I was crazy though!

Claire’s little look has changed ever so slightly as well. I got her hair trimmed just a bit last Thursday. Her hair in the back that she was born with never fell out and it had gotten so long. The rest of her hair is really starting to fill in and it looked pretty funny that she had several really long pieces. She only lost her hair on the sides, so the front is the same way. I’m not cutting that yet though. I’m afraid if I did that her sweet little bows wouldn’t stay in. Even though I feel like I’m in constant battle with the hairbows, I think they’re adorable! She is a total mess right now! She really keeps all of us on our toes. I cannot even explain the difference between my boy and my girl. Her sleeping patterns have also changed...for the better. We had to let her cry it out for a few nights and since then, she has dramatically improved. She goes to sleep between 7:30 and 8:30 and sleeps until about 5:30. She gets up and eats then, and then goes back to sleep for an hour (or two or three one day). It's the best thing I've ever done. I so wish I'd tried it several months ago, but it was too hard when she was smaller. I actually had to let her cry for a bit last night too (about an hour) but that's only because Grant woke EVERYONE up yelling for me at 3 AM. He got sick last week and has not been able to shake the cough that came with it. He has been coughing all night long! I am going to get medicine today that hopefully will let him (and us) sleep soundly tonight!

Grant is, of course, changing every day! He amazes me with the things that he remembers and the conversations that he starts. He never shuts up! I’m convinced he could carry on a conversation with a brick wall. He’s super excited about Halloween and his costume. Pictures to come! I know you’re on the edge of your seat...hehe!

Claire at 9 months

I'm a little behind on posting this, but Claire turned 9 months old on the 10th. We went to the dr. on Thursday the 16th for her 9 month checkup. She weighed 20 lbs, and was 29 inches tall. For those of you into percentages, she's in the 76th for weight and 90th for height. Her weight percentage has steadily declined at each visit, but her height as been at 90 pretty much from the get go....I don't really think those percentages are all that accurate, but who knows?!

She had 9 month pics taken last week. If you'd like to see them, click here, go to portfolio, then to customers. Our password is Summar. **edited** I forgot to add that the green outfit at the end was mine. My mom had my 6 month pics made in it, so I had to have her wear it at least once. She had her 3 mth & 6 mth pics taken in my dresses, but her dress this time is actually hers, so I threw the green outfit in for 9 months.

Claire is into EVERYTHING! She has figured out how to turn her canvas toy bin over and dump everything out. It is an endless cycle. I should've taken a picture of all three rooms yesterday (both kids' bedrooms & the den) because you couldn't even walk in them. My mom picked them up last night. I'm so over it! It does absolutely no good. *edit* I forgot to mention what a battle changing Claire's diaper and/or clothes has become. She HATES it and so do I these days. She will not stay still, she turns over, she screams..it's awful. Grant was always so laid back about it all..not this one!

She is still just cruising around everything. She will let go for several seconds and you can see the little wheels in her head turning thinking about how she can get some where quickly when she's standing up. No first steps yet though; she's still pretty wobbly. She just never stops moving. I have a feeling that even when she can walk, she'll crawl because it will be quicker and she always seems to be in a hurry. She is crawling all over the house. She tries to squeeze in between chairs and tables, and she gets soooo mad when she can't get through.

Baby girl is a drama queen. She can turn that cry on and off in an instant when it comes to wanting something...her mama, a toy, some food, etc. The list could go on and on. It's so funny how they learn that manipulative skill so early on! She is still really attached to me, but she is getting more and more fond of daddy. She has said "dada" several mornings over the monitor when she wakes up calling for him.

crying for her lamb that I was trying to use to make her smile!

She says dada, mama, ball, bubba, and uh oh. She is also playing lots of pee pie (sp??). She covers her face with her lamb and then pulls it off and grins. Speaking of the lamb, she has become mildly obsessed with it. She gets so excited when she sees it and buries her face in it.

her sweet lamb

We are on night 3 of letting her cry it out in the middle of the night. It's hard, but getting easier b/c I'm so stinkin' exhausted! She actually didn't wake up on Friday night except for a second. Thursday night and last night were miserable though. She cried for 2 hours or more each night when she woke up. Hopefully, I can stick with it when I've got to go to work in the morning.

Claire is a really sweet little girl. She loves to cuddle, but sometimes needs her space. She and Grant are getting along better for the most part now, and they actually play really well together. She knows what she wants, and always tries to take the quickest route to get it. She is still a little shy around people she doesn't know very well, but once she warms up is a smiley little thing. All in all I'd say she's alot like me!!

Cookies & Pumpkins

This past weekend was packed full of fun stuff. Friday night, we baked some more treats! We did iced cookies this time with Jackson, Erin, and Mammy. Grant thought dumping all of the toppings out was the best part. I love cutting out cookies and decorating them, but Jackson was, by far, the best cookie decorator. After everyone went to bed, I stayed up Friday night making the infamous pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I gave most of them away just because I cannot resist them when they're in my house. Claire also turned 9 MONTHS OLD! on Friday!! I, however, am holding off on her "9 month" post until Thursday. We go to the dr. Thursday, so I'll have all of her official "stats" to post then. Let me just say that she is into EVERYTHING like you wouldn't believe!!

Saturday afternoon we headed to Springfield to Honeysuckle Hill. That place is in the middle of no where, at least as far as I'm concerned. They had pumpkins, farm animals, a corn pit, playgrounds, hayrides, a cow train. Grant had a great time. I was exhausted. Pics of all the fun are below.

The Cow Train

The Corn Pit...there was corn all in my dryer when I washed these clothes!

Are these not the cutest pajamas?! They were a Halloween surprise from carrie for my little ones. I really wanted a good pic of both kids wearing them, but Claire was having none of it!

Just so you know, Grant doesn't normally stand like this. I told him I wanted a picture of the front of his pj's, so he was sticking out his chest.

Treats!

I love treats..eating them and making them! I've kidded that if I didn't work, I'd weigh 900 lbs because I'd be trying out new recipes all of the time. I'm not all that great of a cook or baker, but I think it's fun and when you find something good, it's worth all of the failed recipes in between! Halloween is a fun treat centered day and I love trying all of the cute sweet ideas in my parenting magazines. I was really ambitious when I went to Kroger last week and I have the makings to fix up all kinds of things, but so far we've only made it through one. Meet our newest little green friend.. Frank. These are rice krispy treats covered with white (green) chocolate with chocolate sprinkle hair, gummy mouth, and M&M eyes and nose. He is extremely sweet, but pretty cute!

And here's the master decorator himself!

Grant also decorated another treat last weekend with Carrie. It's a haunted gingerbread house. I'd never seen one of these, but it turned out really cute. Getting him not to eat all of the candy as he decorates, is the really difficult part...that and keeping his little hands out of it now.

Last weekend one of Pook's cousins got married. Ella was one of the flower girls. She was precious. Grant yelled (literally), "Hi, Ella!" right as the ceremony began. At least he's good for a laugh. It was pretty embarrassing! Here is a picture of them after the wedding. Grant is being very solemn, but at least it's not a super silly face! Grant and Ella love each other so much! They're 4 months apart, and I'm so glad that they're so close.

And this is a picture of our munchkins doing the chicken dance at the reception. They were really getting down!