Can't Get Enough

A big smile and some baby drool. What more can a person wish for?!

Have a great day!

Sweet Things

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter! Claire enjoyed her first Easter and first church service. We've been going to class since she was about 3 weeks old, but this was the first time we went for the worship service since her doctor said not to take her until April. We had fun hunting eggs yesterday and eating lots of sweets! I'll be glad when they're all gone since I tend to be the one that eats the most of them! My favs are the Sweetart Gummy Bunnies, but I've eaten all of those already. Now, I'm munching on the Sweetart Jelly Beans!

This next picture is how I found Pookie and the kiddos when I came home from the grocery store. If you know anything about Grant you know he does not like sleeping. This picture is so funny because he looks like he just fell out climbing into Pook's arms. Apparently, he'd been asleep on the couch and fell off of it. He ran to find Pook and he was rocking Claire, so he climbed in his lap too and went right back to sleep. So sweet!

I've decided to go on and go back to work a little early, so this is my last week of maternity leave. As much as I've enjoyed being off, I think it's harder to be here than it is to be at work. I can't get anything done here anyway, and I'm ready to get back in the groove. I never thought I'd say that! Kudos to you SAHMs. I don't think I'm cut out to do what you do, at least not at this stage. I know I'll miss being home, but hopefully I'll adjust again quickly. Miss Claire might have a little harder time. She hates the bottle, so next week will be interesting to say the least. I'm just going to try to enjoy this week to the fullest with them!

Busy Busy

We've had so much going on the past few weeks! I feel like my house is going to fall down around me if I don't pay it some much needed attention, but I thought I'd update my blog instead. So here's what's been going on with us. Be prepared, this is really long!

Last Monday, Grant went to the dentist for the first time. We'd talked about him going, but this was kind of a spur of the moment thing (they had a cancellation when I called for an appt.) so I hadn't had time to psyche him up about going. Every time I'd mentioned it in the past, he said he was scared and didn't want to go. He ended up doing great! The flatscreens on the ceiling and wall were definitely helpful, but even without them I think he would have been ok. The hygenist was wonderful with him, and when we left he told me that he had fun there. And, it's a good thing... All of his little molars have dark spots in them, all 8 of them. He's had some places almost since his teeth came in, but I really only thought there were 3. I'm not sure what has caused this. I'm way too anal about what he eats and drinks, and we brush really well. The dentist said it appears to be a developmental problem with his teeth, not anything we did but I can't help but feel guilty. He rarely drinks juice and when he does I only give him one made with Splenda. He's never had a soft drink and eats very little sugar. There are so many people that just give their kids whatever and probably none of them have cavities. Lots of good it's done to deny it!

So Wednesday we were off to the pediatric dentist for a consultation. He said that at this time only 5 of the teeth need to be filled. The hard thing is that at his age, they pretty much have to be sedated. He won't be asleep, but will be out of it. I do not do well with these things, so I am really dreading it. He's excited about going back to get more glow in the dark stickers out of the prize drawer, so hopefully he'll do ok. If he doesn't, they don't really try to push it, they'll just stop and we'll have to schedule to do it at an outpatient surgery center where they'll put him under general anesthesia. We don't want that unless absolutely neccesary, so we're praying that all goes well tomorrow when we go.

Thursday morning I broke the mirror off of my truck AGAIN! I have now learned my lesson. I was actually paying attention this time. I watched as it broke off. I can't really explain what happened, it just happened. I had to call several junkyards this time for a replacement, but finally did find one. So Friday Grant and I made a trip to another junkyard and now it's fixed again. I'm glad both of my children have now experienced an auto salvage yard!

Friday afternoon after the junkyard, Grant and I went to the Doodlebops Live concert. He loved it, and it was fun. He danced and sang to every song. The bad part was trying to get out of the parking garage at 5 pm, and then out of downtown. It took us close to 2 hours from the time the show ended to get home. That was bad, and oh, the $15 cotton candy. Seriously, is that not crazy?! It came with a plastic "hairdo" but still! I almost fell out when they guy said $15! Here they are in all their overpriced glory:

And here's my little guy in his new t-shirt that he was SOO proud of

Sunday was the egg hunt at church. Grant told me before church that he did not need my help this year. He is getting more and more independent. Last year, he was terrified of the Easter Bunny and this year, he couldn't get enough of him. He climbed right up in his lap and then followed him around the auditorium. He even pulled his little tail.

This picture is right after Grant pulled his tail. For some reason my camera wouldn't focus when he was doing it.

Yesterday, Claire and I ran around literally all day long. I took Grant to MDO and then didn't get home until after 5:00. Pookie and I pulled in the drive at the same time. She got to meet lots of new people at my old work, and she was so good all day long. She and Grant are getting along better and better. I think he's going to be a good big brother. Babies just take some getting used to. Then, by the time you're used to them, they're not babies anymore!


So, we've been busy this week and we've had a house guest. We've probably been more trouble to her than she has to us. She's not accustomed to being chased by a little boy or listening to screaming babies. I can't complain because she's actually mine, but I left her with my mom when I moved in the sorority house in college and have never taken her back. Although she's been very good, I now am positive that it will be quite some time before we have a dog of our own.

2 months old!

I posted twice today because I felt each deserved it's own. Claire is 2 months old today. She has changed so much this past month and I cannot believe how fast it's going by. I am going back to work in about 5 weeks, and I know I'm going to miss being with this little girl all day long. I couldn't get her to smile for me when I was trying to take a picture this morning.

In the last month, she has started smiling a lot. She "talks" and coos when she's happy, and when she's not, she lets you know it. She has quite the temper. I've called her my high maintenance child from the beginning of my pregnancy, and she has not disappointed. She seeks constant attention, and is rarely content to just sit when she's awake. She likes to be talked to and moved around alot, there's no sitting and watching TV when this child is awake. However, she is now sleeping wonderfully! She goes to bed around 9:30 or so and usually sleeps until between 6 and 7. I was not expecting this so early, but it is a welcome surprise. She fights the getting to sleep part usually with a good long cry, but it's funny how it doesn't bother us nearly as much with the second child as it did when Grant did this. She is sleeping on her belly, which I was hoping we wouldn't have to do this time, but it seems to work for her. She is still in the pack'n play in our bedroom and she scoots all the way to the top of it and sleeps with her head in the corner. It makes me a wreck, but if I move her, she just scoots right back.

This girl also loves to eat and you can tell it by looking at her. Her chubby cheeks and double chin crack me up. She's such a little roly poly. There are rolls on her neck, arms, legs.. everywhere. I know people probably wonder what I'm feeding her, but she's never even had formula, so I guess it's all the sugar I eat that's to blame.. who knows! Another thing that really cracks me up is all of her hair. She has a head full of it, and it doesn't seem to be going anywhere. I comb it out after her bath, and it's straight, but it doesn't really lay down. It kind of sticks up a little before laying over. It looks like it's trying to curl when it's wet. People will be questioning whether she's mine if she ends up with curly black or brown hair and brown eyes.

Claire rolled over for the first time this morning from her stomach to her back. I put her on the floor to try and take some pictures of her holding her head up and over she went. I rolled her back over to try again and she did it again. I don't know that she really meant to, but she did it.

She's really holding her head up well now.

She's on her way over in this next picture:

SNOW DAY!

We finally got a little bit of snow to play in. It was all gone by the afternoon, but Grant had so much fun playing in it on Saturday morning. The first picture is from Friday night. I brought Grant's boots from last year in and he insisted that we put them on. He didn't take them off until bed time. He kept peeking out the window to see if the snow had started yet.

Daddy is so good at playing in the snow (or anywhere) with Grant.

Claire even got in a little snow action. She was not at all happy about all of the gear I put on her to go outside though. The hat she has on was mine when I was little, but this is the first time she's had a reason to wear it.

Can you tell he loved it? When I told him Friday that it was supposed to snow. He said maybe it will be Christmas. I tried to explain that it was just winter when it snowed, not neccesarily Christmas.

We had fun, and I'm so glad we had a little time to play in the snow. Now, I'm glad it's gone and all I can say is BRING ON SPRING!! I'm so so ready for warmer weather, not hot, just warmer. I'd order low 70's if I could. Hope everyone enjoyed the snow as much as we did!!

First Shots and Other Stuff

Yesterday, Claire turned 8 weeks old, and we made a trip to the doctor's office for her 2 month check up and for immunizations. I was truly dreading this, as all mothers do. Claire's "happy" times seem to be short lived, so I was fearful that these shots would basically make last night hell for us. I was so wrong. She has been the golden child these last 24 hours...I'm thinking maybe we should just keep giving her Tylenol every 4 hours and hope it sticks! haha She barely cried at all at the dr. and didn't fuss much at all yesterday. I even took her with us to the park for 2 hours and she was great the whole time. Maybe, this is the new Claire! Anyway, we found out that she's a big girl. She was in the 95th percentile for both height and weight at 23 3/4 inches and 12 lbs, 11 ounces. I had to pull out Grant's baby book and he was almost exactly the same size at this point. Here's a pic of her last night... you can see her little bandaids and check out those rolls! I could just eat her up.

Yesterday was such a nice day. Like I said, we spent all afternoon at the park. I put both kids in the double stroller that I got a consignment sale for $20 for their babysitter and we walked and then I let Grant play. The stroller was heavy to push with both kids in it, but we made it. My double stroller is lighter, but Claire's carrier won't snap into it, so I used that one instead. Today, it's yuck and my neck is stiff. I'm not sure if the neck thing is from pushing that heavy stroller or what, but I can barely move my head. It's raining and I think someone said something about snow later, and the wind is blowing so hard that my house seems to whistling. I cannot figure out where it's coming from. One night last week, we had lots of windows up and I'm guessing that one didn't get shut all of the way, but I have yet to figure out which one. I'm just full of complaints aren't I?! This picture is of the kids in the stroller but not yesterday..

Here's a picture of us before church last Sunday. Daddy didn't go so I took both kids by myself. I put Claire's first bow in her hair, but it had fallen out by the time we got the 1 mile down the road to church. Maybe we'll try again later. I don't think I'd put the bow in yet when we took this picture. You can't really see much detail of the dress Claire's wearing in this picture, but it was one of mine. Grant is such a cheeseball these days. There are no normal smiles anymore unless you just catch him off guard.

BTW, the mirror thing worked out on Monday and all is well with that. Claire took her first and hopefully only trip to the junkyard and so did I. I had the mirror fixed before Pookie even got home. Unless he's read this, he still doesn't know about it. Not that I'm hiding it or anything.. it just hasn't come up!

Oops with a capital O!!

This morning when I was backing out of the garage to take Grant to school, he said, "Mommy, look at that turtle." So, of course, I said what turtle? He kept pointing and said it's right over there. I could not find the turtle anywhere, but kept searching in front of me where he was pointing. I thought he meant a real turtle, but apparently, it was something on a paint can that was on the shelf in front of me that looked somewhat like a turtle. All this time I was searching, I was also slowly inching backwards without even really realizing it until I heard the crunch of my side mirror. I hit the side of the garage with the mirror. Thankfully, it was just the mirror and not the whole side of the truck! I ran by to see the guy that always does work on our cars, and he said no big deal, shouldn't be more than $40, but I'd have to go get the glass from the dealership. So I went by the dealership, but wouldn't you know they don't sell just the glass, only the whole stinkin' mirror which of course they want a couple hundred dollars for. Needless to say, I just left without buying one. I've spent the last hour searching salvage yards for one, and have had a little luck. I've gotta go make sure it's in decent shape before I celebrate though.

After being very irritated at Pookie a couple of weeks ago for his tickets, now I just feel stupid. At least he was actually driving to work when he cost us the money. I, on the other hand, was just searching for a turtle. I didn't blog about his ticket(s) but it was for driving in the HOV lane, not wearing a seat belt, and tailgating. This was not the first HOV lane violation or seat belt ticket, but he's very hard headed or thinks he's above the law.. who knows! The tailgating thing he swears the guy made up just to make the ticket more because the other two things combined were only $22.00. Just our luck. Hopefully our luck with vehicle related things will improve, but it always seems to be something with them.

BTW, my little girl is sleeping through the night still! I think it's been 4 or 5 nights in a row. I'm still waking up, but she's not. Maybe, I'll get used to it soon.. just in time for her to change or something. I'm very thankful for now!