Falling off the Wagon

The blog wagon that is. I miss blogging..I really really do, but it seems that when I have a moment to sit down at the computer ALONE, there are more pressing things to do...like check my email or read other people's blogs. I go through my day thinking, "I could blog about that," but then it never happens. I think I could be pretty interesting, or maybe even funny if I had some spare time. Oh well, I guess that's not really what's important, but I do miss it just in case you wondered.

I have taken like 5 pictures in the last month which is sooo not like me. The casing on my camera has cracked & I am so afraid that it is going to break at any moment that I am limiting my camera use. Totally dumb because if it does break then at least I'll have an excuse to buy a new camera. The only problem is that I want an expensive one!

Anywhoo! Last week, I picked up Claire's 1 year pictures & her panel from the photographer. It is so precious, but it totally cracked me up. I didn't realize how badly her hair had fallen out on the sides. I remember talking about it some, but she seriously had a comb over, and it looked hilarious! She never lost any hair on the top or back of her head, but lost ALOT on the sides. You can't really tell in any of the pictures but the 3 month one. It's amazing how much they change that first year, or even in the first few months. The 3 month pic is so much different from the newborn ones I had done at 2 weeks old.

I hung hers right below Grant's. Since they were done by different photographers, they are a little different, but still similar. The main difference is that Claire's actual images are bigger, so it makes her look like she was a bigger baby...which she was a little, but not by a huge margin. I think they really started looking alike around the 9 mth mark, other than their hair color, of course. I don't know how much you can see of them here, but I added a close up of each one too. For some reason though, I can never click on my actual pictures when I upload them to make them bigger...any pointers here?

It has been a pretty long few days around our house. I took Grant for his follow up ear appt. on Friday and all was good. Tubes are in a great spot, the one ear that was draining had stopped, etc. We went to a birthday party Friday night, and I noticed Grant coughing a few times, but tis the season. Friday night we let Grant sleep with us, and he woke me up barking like a seal. There were a few times that he had a really hard time taking in a breath. Needless to say, we made our way to the dr. 1st thing Saturday morning. They gave him a breathing treatment after some severe fighting from him. The funniest part of this was that he was really throwing a fit. At one point, the nurse & I were both holding him down trying to get the mask on his face, and he starts yelling, "poo poo head, poo poo head." I totally busted out laughing. I've never heard him call anyone that, so I guess he was really mad! We finally subdued him, and he sat in my lap for the treatment. They decided he has croup. His breathing was really bad again on Sat. night, but seems to have improved some now. Hopefully, he will be on the mend for awhile. Claire is picking up the slack with her snotty nose. First thing in the morning 2 days in a row, she has been a sight to see with dried snot all over her face & her hair stuck in it. yuck I know! I'm just hoping she doesn't get croupy again!

Grant's 1st "Procedure"

I only have a few minutes, but wanted to post real quick. After several ear infections over the past few months, one of which took 4 antibiotics to clear up, and another that ruptured his eardrum Grant's dr. decided it was time for tubes. I, honestly, had no idea how many he'd had because I feel like we're at the dr. all of the time anyway between the two kids. Tuesday was the day, and I was fretting about the separation anxiety that might take place at the surgery center. He's been really really attached to me lately, and has had multiple meltdowns at Mother's Day Out and at church, so I was afraid the hospital like setting may be disastrous. However, the wagon and the Buzz Lightyear that the Nurse Anesthetist gave him proved helpful. He also got to blow lots of bubbles in the holding area. I guess they are used to little kids. He woke up screaming saying he was hurting, which really shouldn't have been the case. Then, he threw up in the car on the way home and drifted off to sleep. We got home a little before 11 am and he slept until close to 2:30 and woke up a new kid. He was totally confused and thought it was a different day because he'd been asleep for so long. Hopefully, these will eliminate all of those trips to the doc.

I totally forgot to take my camera to document the experience, but did take a pic with my phone. Notice Buzz spinning in the picture!

Now I'm off to traffic court for the ticket I got for going 46 mph on New Year's Eve

totally random

i love this picture. as i mentioned in my last 'real' post, claire and i went shopping a few weeks ago because she was in desperate need of new shoes. her feet might be the thickest things you've ever seen. they are as tall as they are wide, so she's hard to fit to say the least. grant lived in pedipeds until he was 2 1/2, and i absolutely love them. they are cute, plus i feel like they're pretty comfortable. so of course, claire has her fair share of thsoe. she was starting to outgrow her first ones so we were on the hunt for some transitional shoes. the above is what we came home with. the 4th pair was actually sophie's, but we're borrowing them for those outfits that you must have brown for since we outgrew our brown ones. a girl can never have too many shoes right?! everyone has already done all of the circus posts, but just for memory's sake we did attend the circus this year. grant has never wanted to go until this year because he says he's scared of clowns. this time when i asked, he said he wasn't scared anymore. thankfully, none of the clowns got too terribly close to us. we had a great time. the elephants and the motorcyclists were my favorite. claire was really into the whole thing too. she watched all of the people so intently, danced to the music, etc.

we really haven't done much else these past few weeks...just hanging out. we're always busy, i'm just not sure with what exactly. claire is my one woman wrecking crew and may put me over the edge very very soon. the kitchen we got her for her birthday may have been a mistake. i don't know how many times per day i can pick up the same fake food. she doesn't play with anything! she just pulls EVERYTHING out and moves on to something else. it's exhausting, but she is in her own little world and has no idea she's putting anyone else out.

i was getting ready to type that grant and claire are really getting along well, playing well, etc. then i heard a myriad of things flying into the hallway just now. when i asked grant what he was doing, he replied throwing things at claire. so maybe it's not as good as i thought. they are getting a little bit easier to manage. i even took them both to home depot & kroger with me today ON PURPOSE and they were good.

claire won't say anything still except for ball, dada, dog, and the occasional mama. she says ball over and over and over again! she also grunts and makes little noises to indicate what she wants all of the time. there's no question that she knows exactly what she wants, and usually it's independence. i am already picturing teenage struggles :-)! it's going to be a wild ride!

Trying out some new stuff. Maybe I'll actually get around to a new post sometime this weekend!