Update

So I write the potty training post tonight and just now (11:45pm) we hear Kaitlin in her room crying. She's sitting up saying "I have to go potty!!!" We take her into the bathroom while explaining that she is still wearing a diaper at night, so she can go potty in it. When we get in the bathroom, we notice she has pulled her diaper down like she would her pullups but she couldn't get them all the way off. Sweet girl was so confused, just sitting there on the potty while we tried to explain. She goes "I want a new diaper," let me put it on her and then without another word climbed up in her bed and went right back to sleep. It must be confusing to change your whole way of excreting overnight!

Random pics

Now that we have a functional computer, I just wanted to post some recent random pics.

Sweet baby

Caught red handed!

First taste of Laffy Taffy. This pic makes me laugh. Guess they chose the right name for their product.

With her teachers at school for the Baby Jesus party.

After mass consumption of sugar at Baby Jesus party. Yes, that's her Cinderella book she's drooling on.

Helping Mommy bake

Helping Mommy lick. :-)

What Claire was doing while we were baking. Sweet cheeks!

Love the look on Claire's face here.

CRAZY dancing queen.

POOP!

For the record, Scott titled this post. These past few days we have made the push on potty training. The more I thought about it, the more it was me holding up the whole process and that's not really fair to Kaitlin. To be perfectly honest, it's easier for her to be in diapers. No reminding about going to the potty, no washing our hands 10,000 times a day, no battles over which color M&M she should get, overall it's just much more convenient to have her in diapers. As a matter of fact, with an infant around who doesn't care to be put down, it'd probably be easier for ME to be in diapers too, but I think that might be construed as weird. But what pushed me over the edge was when Johanna asked last week "So are you trying to potty train at all?" Nothing like brutal honesty from a 3rd party to kick you into gear. Johanna was good about putting her in pullups and taking her to the potty, so I guess the competitor in me came out too.

Back to the subject of the post though, we had always promised K when she went #2 in the potty she would be rewarded with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese. For some reason I thought this would be a long time in the making (I guess just from stories I've heard from friends about poop stage fright). But after one day of full-fledged potty push, K made boom boom in the potty on Saturday. And I wasn't even here to see it! Scott noticed she was hiding as she usually does, so he confronted her and got her excited to sit on the potty and try and sure enough she went. Twice! And immediately demanded to go to Chuck E. Cheese, we had to hold her off until Sunday after church. See pics below of her favorite part of the trip - the Barney ride. Now I'm by no means claiming that we are done potty training. I'm sure there will be regressions and such, but she's kept her pullups dry for the past 2 days and gone #2 in the potty several times since then, so I think we are well on our way. It's like everyone said, once they "get it," they get it.

Last Christmas

We bought a Kids Bop Christmas CD this year, which Kaitlin loves. Her favorite song is track #2, Last Christmas (original by Wham). I thought it was a very strange song to have on a kid's CD, but apparently they knew what they were doing because she requests it over and over again, and is often singing it around the house. Here is a short rendition of it while we decorated the tree last weekend.

Recent cute events

A few things have been said recently that are just too cute, I wanted to make note of them for my memory (ie. not an interesting post to most people other than grandparents).

Last weekend we went to Everybody Fits to see Santa with our Mom's club. Everybody Fits is a big complex that has several studios of around the outside for different dance/fitness things, and then the middle is a big open floor with a bunch of gymnastics equipment. We were up on the second floor which overlooks the gymnastics area, and there were a handful of girls down there working on their routines - lots of flips and vaults and such. Kaitlin was ENTHRALLED with the girls and would not let us leave - she kept saying "Just want to watch one more girl momma." I was enjoying it too so we stayed a while and I was telling her how those girls were called "gymnasts." At one point she started to take off her coat and try and walk down there, saying "my turn." Hah! So cute! But the kicker was Tuesday morning, when I got home from the gym. She was out watching Oso as usual, and asked "Mommy, you went running?" and I said "No, I went to the gym." She goes "Oh, MOMMY, you FLIPPED OVER?!??" She was so excited at the prospect of me doing some gymnastics. Sad to say that would never happen in a thousand years, but it's nice to know she thinks I could do it! I also think it's so neat how their little minds work. I never once called the place we were at a "gym," I just talked about the gymnasts, and she put that together herself.

Another cute thing she's been doing lately is telling me whenever we do something fun that we have to tell so and so about it. For example, we saw a carousel today at Bass Pro Shop and she immediately turns to me and says "We have to tell Daddy about it!" This applies to both mundane things (we ate a waffle for breakfast - "we have to tell Nannie about it!") and the extraordinary. She's also added Santa to the mix, which is probably the funniest thing to me. Tonight we opened the box on the Advent calendar and she had a candy in there, and immediately we were met with "WE HAVE TO TELL SANTA ABOUT IT!!!"

Lastly, she has become quite the little Momma to Claire. It's both funny and humbling to hear my words spoken back to Claire. Since the beginning she has been good at calming her when she's crying, and it's so sweet to hear her go up to her and speak softly "shh, it's ok Claire, I'm here, it's ok." Lately though she's taken it to a new level, with things that aren't quite as sweet. We've been working with her on keeping her hands out of her mouth now that all her teeth are fully in (with the exception of a bit left on some of her 2 year molars). Obviously Claire is at the opposite end of the spectrum and is starting to teeth hardcore so the hands are always in the mouth. Kaitlin has become a big proponent of breaking Claire of that habit though, going up to her and physically removing her hands from her mouth and telling her "Eww Claire, get your hands out of your mouth, they're dirty." She also tells her not to roll over ("Don't do that Claire, hold still!"), not to pull her hair ("OUCH. Claire that's not nice!") and a whole myraid of other things. I will say I'm not really looking forward to the time when Claire understands that she's being bossed and they start fighting.

It's really amazing how much she has grown and how she can communicate now. Even though we have fully entered the "terrible twos," the highs are so much higher than the lows are low, so that more than makes up for it.

Happy 4 Month Birthday!

Sweet Claire-bear I can't believe you are 4 months already! We had your well-child appointment today (even though you are sick with your first cold :( ) and Dr. Meyer mentioned that we could start using the exersaucer and bumbo chair - I can't believe it's already time for that! You continue to be a sweet girl, but you do have a temper when you want to. Try to feed you when you're not hungry - forget it! This may have more to do with your reflux than temper, but you really are not a big eater at all. You prefer to look around and talk, typical girl I suppose. You still LOVE your big sis, although you suffered your first punch to the stomach from her last month, which made you a bit more wary of 'the ogre' as we affectionately call her. But she is guaranteed to make you laugh, even if she's not trying to. You just find her hilarious.

Still not even close to sleeping through the night, and I plan on shutting down the all-night buffet after you get over this little cold. But thankfully your night feedings are just that - eating and right back to sleep, no fuss, no muss. You've fallen into a nice little nap schedule, even with our crazy running around, and if we are out past your bedtime (6:30pm) you have no problem saying "peace out" in your carseat. You rolled over for the first time when we were in Houston for Thanksgiving, so right at the 4 month mark. Since that first one you have been a roly poly bear, even though when you end up on your belly you are NOT HAPPY. But you keep rolling over within minutes of putting you down, so you have no one to blame but yourself!

Here are your 4 month stats:
14lbs 15oz - 75%
24.5 - 50%
head was 75%

Further proof that the steroids taken during the 7th month of K's pregnancy has made her a giant since you are a much more petite little thing. Let's not tell her that though.

We truly are so thankful to have you in our lives, it feels like we were never without you! We can't wait to see what a fun little girl you will turn into in these next few months, when your personality really starts to bloom!

Scaredy Cat

The original subject of this post was motorcycles, and I will get to that later, but tonight I was made aware that not only is Kaitlin a scaredy cat, I apparently do not bake enough (or ever). I pulled out the Kitchen Aid for what I guess was the first time in Kaitlin's life and she was scared to death! She was in her chair finishing up dinner when I decided it would be fun for us to make cookies since Scott was working late and Claire was sleeping. I pulled the Kitchen Aid out and put it on the end of the counter where her Learning Tower is, thinking she would love to help Momma for the first time with this task. Instead, she sat in her chair and said "Umm, Momma what's that? You gonna use that Momma?" I told her yes, we were going to make cookies and she started to get more and more nervous. When I got her out of her chair and started to bring her to the LT, she clung to me like the little monkey she is and would not get off. I moved the LT to the other side of the island (per her request), where she stood and asked repeatedly "Momma, you going to use that one?" When it was finally time to use it, her little face got SO red and she started crying, until she saw after about 5 seconds that it wasn't loud, at which point she laughed and goes "Oh, I'm not scared of that one. That one's not scary" and requested to be moved back to that end so as to see what was going on inside. Silly girl!

In other news, I think she is hilarious with her love/hate relationship with motorcycles. Whenever we are out driving around she gets SO EXCITED when she sees/hears one, but then there are the following incidents that lead me to believe that she's not that excited after all:

• Several times a day she will ask, "Momma, motorcycle won't get me?" No sweet girl, it won't get you.
• If I try and get her to hurry somewhere, I usually say "hurry, hurry" and get kind of frantic, just to create a sense of urgency. Usually it's nothing doing, but these past few days whenever I do that she RUNS to me, monkeys me, and says "Hurry, the motorcycle is coming!!!" Ummm, ok, whatever works.
• We've had this conversation several times: K: Momma, you scared of the motorcycle? Me: No baby, I'm not scared of the motorcycle. K: Momma, you not scared of the motorcycle? Me: Nope. K: Momma, you scared? (3 or more times until I say "Yes, I'm scared of the motorcycle.")
• At bathtime she had this little one-sided conversation "Motorcycle can't come in here? No, motorcycle can't come in the house. Motorcycle stay outside."

I can't believe she already has fears like this. Poor girl, this has probably been compounded by me playing around with her last week at DSW, where there was a motorcycle sitting outside on the sidewalk and I kept playfully pretending I was going to put her on it. For the record, she was laughing and I didn't think I was damaging her psyche, but I guess I did more damage than I thought!

Some parents would get the message about the chile pepper costume...

Not us.




Kaitlin 2007




















Claire 2009

We had a good run...

but Kaitlin's streak of no ear infections came to an end exactly 26 months after she was born. She was up all night Sat night with a fever, and Sunday at the Pumpkin Patch she just wasn't herself. She wouldn't eat anything, which is VERY unusual. We got her into the doctor on Monday where she was diagnosed with an ear infection and some sort of virus attacking her throat too. Poor baby! Other than the 2 puking rallies she's had, this is this first time she's really been sick. Those were just little 24 hour bugs, this was the first time she's run a fever for more than a day and required medicine, and I just felt so bad for her! She was pretty much miserable all afternoon Sunday and all day Monday. We had a freakout when it was time to start her antibiotics on Monday night, but I think she was just so wigged out from feeling so bad and just wanted to go to sleep that she kept refusing to try it. We eventually went with the forcing method (NOT recommended as she puked it all up she was so upset). Momma had a revelation at 3am that morning though when we were in there trying to give her Motrin so she could sleep (she was burning up) and I must say it was quite genius. I suddenly remembered one of her favorite Barney songs is this one that goes "If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gum drops, oh what a rain that would be! Standing outside with my mouth open wide, ah ah ah ah ah ah ahhhh!" (The "ahs" are where you stand with your mouth wide open and toungue sticking out - I've always thought it was a pretty crude song/sight, but very thankful for it now). I told her that was how Barney took his medicine and proceeded to sing the song for her and demonstrate myself. That was all it took - she was excited to try it. And since then she's ASKED to take her medicine, "Want to take my medicine like Barney Momma!"

She's well on the road to recovery now, completely back to herself today and I'm so glad. It was no fun seeing her just wanting to sit on the couch and watch TV, normally she doesn't sit still for more than 5 min. But I will say it was nice to get tons of uniterrupted cuddle time, she was all about me holding her, and I of course didn't mind at all. And we know that she must feel better as she ate an entire Einstein Bagel's pizza today for lunch. These past few days whenever I've asked her what she wanted to eat she's said "Don't want to eat, I'm sick." It was so funny that she already knows how to use it as an excuse. Not the case today though as we sat at Einstein's for AN HOUR as she ate the whole thing. I kept trying to pack it up to take home and she kept saying "NO I"M STILL EATING!!!" and frantically grabbed for the pizza. Alrighty then. Glad to have you back little lady!

More Pumpkin Patch and Nana and Pop visit

We had an absolutely beautiful weekend here in Dallas, the perfect time for Nana and Pop to come visit from Houston. They arrived Friday evening, just in time to take over for Scott and I so we could go out to dinner. It was great for Scott and I to have a leisurely, wine-filled dinner at Carraba's and even better for Nana and Pop to spend some quality time with the girls. Then Saturday we went to the Dallas Arboretum for their Fall Festival. It was so beautiful! The weather could not have been better (mid 60s and tons of sun) and Kaitlin had such a great time going to see all the storybook playhouses again. Then this morning we headed out to the Flower Mound pumpkin patch, where we met the Browns and picked out our pumpkin. It was a super fun weekend and we were sad to see them go today. Thanks for a great time! Pics of the Pumpkin Patch are here and the Arboretum are here.

My Girls

This morning Kaitlin declared at breakfast that she wanted to hold Claire. Since the newness has worn off, it's been a while since she's made that request so I decided to seize the opportunity and take some pics. It's so cute, any time she and Claire are laying together, she always says "take a pic of my girls momma?" so I decided to do just that. Please excuse K's nakedness, we had a peanut butter debacle at breakfast so I had taken off her shirt and I didn't want to ruin the moment by getting her dressed.




















K practicing her photography skills again. I usually have to move the subject to get her to take a good pic, since she doesn't quite understand that she can move the camera to get us in the pic.

Mom's Club Pumpkin Patch Outing

Kaitlin and I went to the Rejoice Lutheran Church pumpkin patch for the 3rd year in a row today! As an aside, it's kind of neat that it's the church she was baptized in and lately she's loved looking at her baptism picture at home, so I got to tell her when we got there that's where it was. Whenever she looks at her baptism picture she says "Kaitlin's head getting all wet. Kaitlin's getting all clean!" How true that is baby girl.

Anyway, they had a great morning planned with "stations" of games, story time, nature time, and picture taking. It was alot of fun seeing how different things are from even just a year ago. Last year the kids were just barely walking and there was no paying attention during story time. This year they were running everywhere, but would also stop and follow directions for the story and the games. I'm really glad we've all stayed friends and the kids have such a great time together, as evidenced by the pictures here! And don't worry, I've taken a clue from Sarah and drastically cut down on the number of pics I post so as to not overwhelm the reader. Sad that 30 is a drastic reduction! And don't worry, I didn't take Claire with us today because it was pretty cold and Johanna was coming anyway, but she will have her first pumpkin patch pictures taken this weekend!

Pumpkin Patch 2007

Pumpkin Patch 2008

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Growing up too fast

For the past week or so Kaitlin has asked "Mommy, can you hold me please?" I'm not sure where she got this formal language from, but I was so tickled by it until I realized that she no longer says "Mommy hold you." Just like that she stopped saying it, something she had said for months that always melted my heart. I don't know why this makes me so, so sad (I am crying as I write this). I think it's because it means that she is growing up and becoming more and more "wordly." My friend Taryn refers to her daughter as her "little piece of heaven" and I love that. Like we are given this small, pure treasure to take care of, and it's up to us to guard and protect it. But no matter how much we try, with each passing day our piece of heaven is shaped and conformed by the world we live in. And though that pure center remains inside their heart, our children are coated with a layer of "earth" or "human" - I don't know what to call it, but it is what we all need to survive in the world we live in today. So when Kaitlin stopped saying "Mommy hold you," I feel like a layer was added and the glimpse of innocence I got whenever she would say that is gone. I know I'm probably being silly and reading way too much into this - I'm sure there are a thousand more times I will look at her and she will still be my baby, but this is the first of many "lasts" of her babyhood and it's hard for me to swallow.

Happy 2 month birthday Claire!

I cannot believe 2 months has flown by! You are such a sweet girl, so laid back and content. Your eyes have turned a beautiful hazel/gray/brown (probably won't stay that way but they are very piercing at the moment) and your soft hair is getting longer and fuller everyday. You love to be talked to and get the biggest, goofiest open mouth grin I've ever seen on a baby when we talk to you. Poor thing, I think you get so delighted because we are actually talking TO you, since you really don't get as much attention as I'd like to give you. Yesterday you were so sleepy and I could tell you just wanted to be held a bit so you could fall asleep, but we were late getting K to school so I just had you laying on the bed. You kept crying and all I could do was keep sticking your paci back in which would calm you down for a minute until you spit it back out. You finally gave in and fell asleep and of course just when you were peacefully slumbering I had to strap you into the carseat to take you with us to drop K off. But you just whimpered ever so slightly and went back to sleep. The life of a second born!

I finally decorated your room and hung your ladybug across from your changing table, and like clockwork, every time I pick you up from changing you, you see it and get the biggest smile on your face even if you were having a screaming fit up until that point. (Thanks Jamie for a perfect gift!) You started laughing a bit this last week, just a short "huh huh" kind of laugh but it is music to my ears. Your sister is usually what gets you going, or your favorite cow toy.

We had your 2 month appt today and here are your stats:

12lbs 11oz - 90%
23.6in - 90%
75% for head

Not a big fan of the nurse today (same one who had to prick your heel twice for your newborn screen) and she wouldn't let me hold you to get your shots. Jerkface. You cried for maybe 2 min though and then passed out in your carseat, it took it out of you!

And because this is such a beautiful post and sums up all the things I love about newborns too, I'm linking to my friend Abbey's blog so you all can read what I love about my babies. Very well written Abbey!

Love Is A Battlefield

I have recently come to believe that Pat Benatar was not singing this song about some lover - no, she was singing about a relationship with a 2 year old. This is truly what I feel like on a daily basis, a warrior going into battle with my daughter. Granted it is mostly a psychological battle, but it can get physical if we're having an exceptionally lovely day. I think Scott has the best analogy - Kaitlin is our little velociraptor. In case you don't remember Jurassic Park, this was the dinosaur that was constantly testing the fences to see if the electricity is still on, looking for a weakness. Kaitlin is constantly testing limits, so much so that I'm wondering if we've done something wrong up to this point? Or perhaps she is just adjusting to all the changes in her life, as well as the growing independence she feels as she gains maturity? Either way, it makes for a long day with my little dinosaur. I don't really want to go into specifics, I just wanted to post this to remind me when Claire goes through it (if she does - still seems to be alot less fiery than her sister so maybe she will skip it - wishful thinking!) and to shamelessly look for advice from those who have been through it before.

Kaitlin's 2nd Birthday Party

Only 3 weeks late with this post! We had Kaitlin's second birthday party at Stan and Cindi's house on August 22. We had it out there because we rented the Fun Bus, which is based in McKinney and they wouldn't come as far east as our house in Coppell so the Keiths were kind enough to let us use their house. I reserved the bus several months ago, in the height of K's bus obsession, but by the time her party rolled around she was kind of over it so that was kind of a bummer. (Let this be a lesson to those planning their kiddos parties in the future!) She was excited when she first saw it, but there was also a man working the bus, and she's been very wary of men lately so I think that scared her when she got on. Every man we see is referred to as "the man" by the way. "The man" is mowing the lawn next door, "the man" is taking our order at a restaurant, "the man" is at the door if the doorbell rings. Scott hopes the wariness of "the man" lasts for 30 more years.

The idea of the bus is basically like a Little Gym or other gymnastic-type venue that comes to your house. They have alot of fun stuff to crawl on, a ring that the kids can swing on, a trampoline, etc and they lead a class for an hour utilizing all the equipment, and also do some music-type things (maracas, parachute, etc). It was alot of fun once K got comfortable with it, and once they allowed all the parents to come on the bus (originally they told us only 2 adults at a time - this was quickly violated as more and more kids freaked out without their mommies.) I think this idea would be perfect for a 4 year old bday party - Scott's cousin Cameron was eating it up and he just turned 4. The 2 year olds were all just a little too wary.

After the bus, we all went inside for a pizza feast and then cake. I made Scott's Nannie Pat's recipe for strawberry cake since every time I asked K what kind of cake she wanted she would just say "a pink one." It was very good, but not the prettiest thing I've ever seen. I think I messed up the frosting, but the family swears that is what it is supposed to look like. K liked it so that's all that really matters! I'm so sad though, none of us thought to get the video camera out and no one captured a still photo of Kaitlin's SWEET FACE when we were all singing to her. I'm not kidding, it was quite possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen because she was embarrassed to have everyone singing to her so she just put her little face down and looked up with her little puppy dog eyes and had a tiny shy smile on her face - precious! And not captured! Darnit!

Everyone hung out for a bit and then the family stuck around to watch her open all her loot and play for a bit, and then it was home for a nap and after that to see her brand new kitchen from Nana and Pop, which was a huge hit. It was a great day! Here are all the pics, highlights are below.


The bus rolls up - we are the envy of the neighborhood!








Some of the action on the inside of the bus...








and some of the action on the inside of the house.










Hmm, not a huge fan of "the man" or the slide...









but she is a huge fan of pizza. To the tune of 5 slices.












Told you the cake was not the prettiest, but the girl sure is!










Candle as utensil?









The whole fam-damily.

Kaitlin's 2 Year Checkup & Toddler Notes

We had Kaitlin's 2 year checkup on Friday. Everything looks good, here are stats:

Height: 38.5in, >97%
Weight: 33.2lbs, 97%
Head: still in the 75%

I did the height predictor on Babycenter.com and it said she will be 6'1"!! They even give you precision - they say there's a 90% chance that she will be within 1.7in of that. So we're looking at a tall girl here!

We talked with Dr. Meyer about discipline, eating habits and night waking. Discipline our issue is that she has started to think time-outs are a game, and sometimes just blatently walks out before her time is up. She said to just stay the course, ignoring her if she is peeking out and just putting her back in the corner if she walks out without much discussion, just saying "no, you're in time-out." This doesn't seem to be working yet so I'm contemplating a chair, in the hopes that that might make her stay? Any advice here is welcome.

As far as eating habits, we talked about how she eats SO MUCH. She said normally between 1 and 2 you see a weight dropoff b/c appetite wanes and activity picks up. Not so much with our girl. I asked if it was normal to eat a can of beans at a sitting, and she said "No, not normal but not a problem." I am just thankful that she eats so really no worries here.

We talked about night waking because Kaitlin goes through phases of months of waking 3-5 times a week in the middle of the night and needing us to come in, whether it be to hold her, cover her up, get her a drink, etc. I'm sure it's a combination of the move, the new baby and the new bed, and Dr. Meyer agreed. We had been going in there and patting her pillow (keeping the talking to a minimum, if at all) and then turning around and standing by the door while she calmed down and then leaving. This worked to a point, because it kept her from going into all her crazy requests, since we wouldn't talk to her, but it didn't really stop the waking. Dr. Meyer said that with her girls she would talk about a special treat they would get in the morning if they slept through the night in their bed without crying for Mommy, so kind of more of a positive reinforcement. We've tried that the past few nights and it seems to have done well. She's on a big honey kick so we tell her if she sleeps all night in her big girl bed she can have a spoon of honey in the morning. I worry a bit that this is starting a bad habit, but Dr. Meyer said after a couple times they forget about the treat and just are in the habit of sleeping through. Hope that's true.

I will say these past few weeks have showed me just how much more difficult toddlers are than babies, just because I have a side by side comparison at the moment. Babies are physically draining with the lack of sleep, but toddlers are emotionally and mentally draining, and I feel it's so much harder to be constantly tested on those levels. I just have to pray for patience and I find myself singing "It won't be like this for long"(thanks Mr. Rucker for a great song) more often than not just to get through the day/night.

Arboretum Round 2

We ventured out for the last of the "Dollar Days" at the Dallas Arboretum today with Catherine, Thomas and Tyler. It was a beautiful day (high of only 88) and the kids loved checking out all the playhouses. The Arboretum has an exhibit throughout the whole park with playhouses designed around some 15 classic children's stories. It's really very neat, although we couldn't understand why they all had signs saying "Do not climb on the display." They are for kids! We had a picnic lunch and then headed home for a marathon nap - I had to wake Kaitlin up at 5:40 after 2.5 hours! Claire of course slept through it all except for her one meal. Here are some pics.

And once we get our furniture for the office, expect an onslaught of posts. The only time I can post pics now is when someone sends them to me (so thanks Cat for these), but once the computer is up and running I will post all the fun stuff we have been doing for the past few months with pics. I've still got K's birthday party post, Fossil Rim and many more!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaitlin!

Two years ago today we were so happy to welcome you to the world! I am so thankful to have such a sweet, happy little girl as my daughter. These past few weeks I've noticed that whenever you aren't talking to me (or anyone else who will listen), you are singing a song to yourself. You are such a joy to be around. You always have a hug and kiss for everyone who comes over, whether they want it or not. You delight in showing everyone things that make you happy - your big girl bed, your new kitchen, your favorite stuffed animal. You tell me all the time that you love your baby sister, and you shower her with affection. She is so lucky to have you as a big sister. You have a temper which has shown itself more and more these days, but I'm thankful for that too because it means you know what you want, and that is a gift. You love to dance and run and skip, and you are always trying to get everyone to join you. You live to help Mommy, whether it be unloading the dishwasher or trying to make dinner, and you don't have any doubts that you can do anything Mommy can do! I'm thankful that you are so confident. You have become more mischievous with your new found independence (ie. times I am nursing Claire and cannot follow you). Today I found you covered in diaper cream because "It helps my cough Mommy." You confused it with the Vapor Rub Daddy had been using last week. You are like a little sponge, learning more in a day than I do in a month. You constantly astound me with your observations, whether it be noticing immediately that I have a new toothbrush or that I didn't put enough sour cream in your beans. I can't pull one over on you. You aren't really a girly-girl, but you do love "pretty dresses" and love to twirl when you have one on. You love it when Mommy wears pretty dresses too. You are a special girl with a huge heart. No matter what, you make us smile and for that I will be forever grateful to God for bringing you into our lives.

Happy 1 Month Birthday Claire Bear!

I can't believe Claire is already a month old! I thought time was flying while I was pregnant - it seems to have only gone faster since she's been here. We had a wonderful 3 weeks together as a family while Scott was on paternity leave and this last week I've been going it alone, which hasn't been so bad. I think it's funny what a little perspective does, because I catch myself repeatedly saying to myself "Why did I think it was so hard with just Kaitlin?" I have a theory that second children are easier because the parents are more relaxed, thereby making the babies more relaxed, and this is certainly true for Claire. I just remember a lot more crying and a lot more walking around in the wee hours soothing an upset baby. I basically wear Claire all day in the Baby Bjorn and she's as content as she can be in there. At night I feed her and she goes right back to sleep on her own, something I never remember happening with Kaitlin. Maybe it's still early yet? I forget the timeline so I'm sure as soon as I post this she will turn the corner and start up with some fiery antics like her sister. But either way, we've had a great first month getting to know each other. Some things I wanted to note:

• She loves her bath. Loves to have the water pour over her and loves to have her hair washed.
• My mom discovered that she loves to have her feet rubbed. She just looks at you and immediately relaxes if she is starting to get fussy. In fact tonight I did it and she fell asleep in less than a minute.
• She loves to watch Kaitlin. She does NOT love to have her diaper changed, so while she is fussing about that I will ask K to come in and entertain her, and it never fails that she calms down and turns towards her.
• She seems to have a bit more sensitive tummy than Kaitlin did. She doesn't spit up alot, but there is definitely a lot of times that milk comes back up and she just swallows it back down, and it upsets her. It seems to be better when I feed her in a more upright manner though, so we're working on doing that. Stinks for middle of the night feedings b/c I can't just lay down with her and go back to sleep like I did with K, gotta sit up. I guess that's the tradeoff for her going right back down after I feed her though.
• She takes a pacifier! And a bottle! Halleiuiah!
• I haven't been successful at putting her down during the day, hence the Baby Bjorn. She just wants to be close to the action I guess, because I have maybe 10 minutes max if I put her down (even swaddled). I don't mind it except for the fact that it sometimes impedes play with Kaitlin, and again I'll take this with the sweet nighttime routine we have at the moment.
  

Overall I really just feel like she is a laid back, content baby. Maybe I'm just remembering the hard parts about Kaitlin and comparing them with the easy parts of Claire, who knows. I think the biggest difference is that for some reason with Kaitlin, it never struck me to back up and look and see that "This too shall pass." I felt like it was my full-time job to make sure she never cried, and that every obstacle was the end-all. Like if she didn't sleep well one night that "Oh my gosh, she's not going to sleep well ever again and she's going to be so cranky from now on and I might as well just get used to getting up every hour." Now I know that both the good times and bad will come and go, so don't get caught up in it. Babies cry and they do survive. So Claire, I'm sorry, you're probably going to have to endure a bit more crying than your sister did, but know that we love you just the same.

Phrases of the moment

I want to document some of the phrases that are high in the rotation these days. I wish I could record her saying them all because the best part is usually her inflection. I've tried to convey that with capitalization and notes below.

• "Cover my up" - said when we are tucking her in and she wants to be covered up with her 5 blankets of the night. She has a blanket obsession.

• "That's MINES" - heard a lot these days, as she is snatching something away from you. We're working on this.

• "I'm a big sister"
  

• "I'm almost there" - said when we're almost home (she somehow knows), or if she's carrying something heavy (said in a grunting sort of way)
  

• "It's hard for me!!" - said when trying to do something by herself but she can't. DO NOT make the mistake of attempting to help, this is simply a commentary and not an invitation.

• "No Mommy do it" - used in conjunction with last phrase as I'm trying to help.
  

• "Look, I did it all by myself!" - hopefully follows the previous phrase (after alot of unnecessary effort)
  

• "Whacha doin' Mommy?" (or Baby Claire, or whoever might be in the room)

• "That's PERFECT" - this is after you've probably spent a lot of time rearranging something that seems insignificant to you (the arrangement of her various food items on her tray for instance), but it is of the utmost importance to Miss K. Everything must be just so. Sometimes used in conjunction with pointing out a boo-boo though. For example, she will show you her hand that has a boo-boo on it, telling you how it happened, and then will show you the other hand and say "This one is PERFECT."

• "Baby Claire want to come?" - if we ever suggest going somewhere, she is very concerned that the whole family comes with. She runs through everyone to make sure we are all in fact going to go.

• "Take my (blank) wit us?" - For example, "take my drink wit us?" She can't get the "th" sound of "with" and she just says it so cutely with her eyes wide and with such innocence it always makes me laugh. Sometimes it is completely unreasonable though, like "take my stroller wit us?" when we are going swimming.
  

• "Want to DANCE Mommy" - one of her favorite activities these days. We spend a good portion of our morning having a dance party in the dining room. This phrase is often followed by "Baby Claire come wit us?"

• "Mommy no get me" - said during dance party, when we are running around and I'm not allowed to tickle her or pick her up or in any way "get" her.

• "Come on guys!" - said when we are ready to go somewhere and she's excited about it. Usually accompanied by a hand motion waving us with her and a little hop.
  

I know there are so many more that I'm missing, I really wish I could just videotape her all day to remember. It's just so fun to watch her turning into this little person with all her quirks and sayings.

Big Girl Bed

This weekend was the big weekend - we moved Kaitlin into her big girl bed. She has been demanding to climb INTO her crib for a couple weeks now and it had gotten to the point where she wanted to do it "all by myself" and was making for a huge headache at nap and bedtime. I always reminded her she was not to ever try to crawl out by herself, but a couple times when I was in there she would attempt it so it was making me nervous. I also want to start potty training soon, so I figured she needed to be able to get out of her bed so thought we'd do this switch first and let it sink in for a bit. She has done really well with it so far, actually she's slept better than she had been for a few weeks prior. Today was the first day she actually ventured out of the bed after I had tucked her and left the room. I didn't see her do it, but she had a stack of about 6 books on her bed that were not there when I had left her. She obviously made it back in and was comfortable enough to fall asleep without a tuck-in though, so that is promising. I've posted some pics here. Please don't hate on the sheets - it was our guest room mattress so I still have those sheets on there. I haven't officially decided on a theme for her big girl room. As Scott will tell you, it is going to take about 10 trips to 5 different stores (and probably 2 purchases that are later returned) before I can commit to a comforter set.

I cannot believe my baby will be 2 next week and that she is in such a big bed! I will tell you that I am LOVING the ability to be able to climb in there with her. She's never been much of a snuggler, but when we are in her bed she is a huge cuddle bug. She loves to curl up next to me and read her stories before nap and bedtime, and I am just eating it up. She asks me every night "Mommy sleep in my big girl bed?" and it's killing me because I'd love to but I don't want to start a bad habit. She also loves to show it off to everyone that comes over to the house. Next up is her big Fun Bus party this weekend! She's also telling everyone about that too. Favorite phrases are:

"My birthday is in AUGUST."
"My birthday coming up."
"Turning 2 (sometimes says dos) in August."
"Get to eat CAKE."

And then sometimes she just sings the birthday song to herself. Needless to say, she is excited.

Claire's 2 week checkup

We had Claire's 2 week appointment last Tuesday. She is doing great, growing fine and overall an easy baby so far. I fear she might have a bit of reflux since she seems to get upset after some feedings and spits up more often than I remember with K, but we're just going to watch and see if it continues. I don't remember all the stats, just the weight which was 9lbs 4oz, which puts her in the 75% bracket. I looked back and Kaitlin was 9lbs 8oz at her 2 week, which was in the over 97%, so I'm guessing there isn't a whole lot of room between the brackets. All her other measurements put her in the 75% range too, so she's very consistent! Kaitlin went with us to the appointment and now she will put a blanket (or a ribbon or scarf) around her neck and tell me she's a doctor (Dr. Meyer always has her stethoscope with Goofy on it around her neck, so I'm guessing that's what she picked up on?)

Big Sister notes

I know we have tons of posts about our "sweet girl" and believe me, there are times when she is not so sweet, but I want to document some more things that Kaitlin has been doing with her new baby sister.

• Sings "Kaitlin's Song" to Claire whenever she is awake. "Kaitlin's Song" is actually Barney's "I love you, you love me song" that she loves so much that it is now deemed her song.
• Wants me to sing "Claire's Song" to her every night before bed while we rockabit. This came about because I always sing her a song before bed and last week I asked what she wanted me to sing. It's usually always "Sunshine" or one of her bible songs, but last week she asked for "Claire's Song." I said "Oh, how does it go?" and she just kind of smiled at me, so that was my clue to make it up. So I did and it's very simple and cheesy, a verse of 'Welcome to the world Baby Claire" followed by a verse of "We're so happy that you're here Baby Claire." She now sings along as I sing it every night, and gets the hugest smile on her face.
• Whenever Claire cries she comes running from wherever she is saying "It's OK Baby Claire" over and over again.
• Constantly wants to blow her besitos and hugs.
• Today when her and Daddy went outside to play, Claire and I were hanging out on the bed. As she left she turned around and goes "Sweet dreams Mommy. Sweet dreams Claire."
• Is genuinely thrilled whenever Claire is awake and exclaims "She's awake!! She's looking at you!!" It's just too cute how excited she gets.
• The other day we went to Fossil Rim which is about a 2 hour trip south. About 20 minutes from home (on the way back thankfully, she was fine the rest of the trip), Claire was less than thrilled to still be in her carseat, and she let us know about it. She would cry REALLY hard for about 2 min, then fall asleep from the exertion of the crying for about 2 min, then repeat. Every time Kaitlin would say "She's crying Mommy. Shh, shh, shh, shh, it's ok Baby Claire." Then when Claire would stop she would say "Look Mommy, she's not crying. I made her happy!!" This happened EVERY SINGLE round for about 20 minutes. It was quite comical.
  

She really is a great big sister and a big help to us around the house. There have been a few regressions. For instance, if I've been holding Claire for a while she will ask me to put Claire down (no matter if we are out on a walk or what) so I can hold her. She also has wanted me to "burp her" like I do to Claire when I'm feeding her. I've indulged her on this a couple times, but mostly I try and tell her she is a big girl and doesn't need to be burped like a baby. We really are blessed to have such a great sibling for Claire.

Newborn Pics

We had Claire's newborn pics at our house last Sunday. I am really pleased with how they turned out! We got some of the whole family too, now we just have to decide which ones to use on the announcement!

Click here to see a preview.

P.S. If you have some more time, here is the slideshow. Great with sound.

Sweet girl

So, last night around 12:15 I heard Kaitlin crying in her room. When I went in there, she was standing up holding both of her blankies and crying. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that she wanted me to wrap "mommy's pillow" up with both of her blankets so she could sleep on that vs. her traditional pillow. Note that "mommy's pillow" is a small decorative pillow that came with her bedding. After I finally got her calmed down and her bed set up the way she wanted it, she finally agreed to be placed into her crib. I covered her up with "mommy's blanket" (again, a decorative quilt that matches the bedding), she looked up at me and said, "Thank you daddy for rock-a-bit, Kaitlin was crying" and the quietly turned her head to the side and went to sleep. Note that "rock-a-bit" is what she calls it when we sit and rock in her chair until she gets sleepy. Talk about a heart melter in the middle of the night!

Claire's Story

Here's a long post for posterity. Since I was showing no signs of going into labor anytime soon, I decided to try all the tricks I could think of on Friday the 24th. Cindi had offered to watch Kaitlin for me, so I took the opportunity to get a pedicure and get my haircut. I told both places that I was overdue and so they should rub my head/feet in whatever way they could to put me into labor. The pedicurist did not listen, I swear she was barely tickling my feet - probably a language barrier there. My hairstylist did a great job though and gave me a 10 min scalp massage which was wonderful. I felt great after an afternoon of pampering. My parents arrived to spend the weekend with Kaitlin that afternoon and that night we tried the Johnny Carino's trick again, this time I got the red wine though. When I tried it last week I didn't get the wine - I felt a little guilty out with my toddler and being hugely prego ordering it, especially since we were there at the family dining hour of 5:30 and there were randomly tons of people there who I thought would disapprove. Friday night Claire was extremely active in the belly before bed, but I ended up sleeping the best I had in weeks.

I woke up Saturday morning around 6am with some cramping. I didn't think much of it though and just went back to sleep. I started having light contractions around 9am, but again, I didn't think much of it. I must preface this with the fact I was convinced I would have a long labor like I did with Kaitlin, and I didn't want to get up to the hospital too early and be stuck in that bed watching Gatorade commercials for 20 hours like last time. So I didn't even mention anything to Scott or my parents because I didn't want them all up in my business asking every 5 minutes if I was ok. I went for a walk around 10:30 a couple times around the block, just to make sure things were moving along, and sure enough my contractions were getting stronger, but still very far apart and sporadic. Scott and I went to the store around noon to pick stuff up to grill for lunch, at which point I told him "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor." He was like "What? How do you know?" and I filled him in. We got back and grilled burgers and ate lunch and I told my mom that I was in labor, who in turn told me NOT to tell my dad. Ended up being a moot point because Scott told him as soon as they got in the car to go run some errands after lunch. I put Kaitlin down for her nap and went to try and lay down myself. I think I laid there from about 2 to 3pm, never really sleeping because the contractions were pretty strong at that point. I never got out a watch and timed them, and for some reason I had it in my head that they needed to be 2-3 min apart before we left for the hospital, and mine were still about 4-5 min apart. So at 3:30 I got in the shower and told Scott we should head to the hospital soon, as they were pretty freaking painful and coming on a lot more regularly.

We left for the hospital at exactly 4pm. I was kind of sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to Kaitlin, but I thought I might not be there when I was putting her down for her nap so I made sure to read her some extra stories and cuddle her just a bit more. We got to the hospital at 4:30 and (this might be TMI for some of you) I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom one more time before I laid down. I went in there and almost sat down and then thought, "No, this doesn't feel right." Cut to 2 min later when I'm on the bed and the nurse is checking me and says "WHOA, her head is RIGHT THERE." Ok, glad I'm not on TLC having my baby in the toilet. When she checked me I said "Please just tell me I'm more than a 2" and she goes "Ok, don't freak out, but you're more like an 8." YIKES! At this point I'm flashing back to what Christine had just told me Jen said about her birth with Ava - that she should've gotten the epidural. It's not so much the getting to 10 cm I was concerned with since I was already almost there, it was really the after part that I did NOT want to feel. Moms you know what I'm talking about - the 30 minute stitch up part. Sick. So I said "Yes, if we have time let's do the epidural" and then it was a mad rush to get everyone in there in time.

In the meantime, Dr. Ryder came in and broke my water and we found out Claire had pooped already. Her heartbeat was good and strong though and Dr. Ryder did a great job making me feel comfortable that it wasn't going to be a problem. They did have to call in the NICU team to be there to suction her in case she had breathed any of it in, so that was a bit worrisome.

Then the anesthesiologist arrived and man, are all anesthesiologists weirdos or what? He was a foreigner and just overall a strange duck. It took him about 20 min to get the damn thing in, all the while I'm pretty much yelling at him because I was going through transition at this point and being bent over is not what I wanted to be doing. Keep in mind I don't think I had said 5 words since we had left the house, I was doing much better with the pain by being quiet and just focusing. At one point I reached back to hit him because all his poking was hurting so bad. He just could not find the right spot, and went into some story about how "Sometimes with larger women, it is hard to find the right spot," and I'm thinking "What the heck, is he calling me fat right now?" and then one of the nurses goes "But he's not talking about you of course." Scott said when that happened one of them looked at him and mouthed "Wow." Finally I said "Should we just stop and let me push?" because I felt like I needed to and the nurse went into some schpiel about how "I can't make that decision for you" all the while the anesthesiologist is frantically muttering about trying one more time. Not a very pleasant experience. He finally got it in and I got to lay back for a few minutes before it was time to push, although the medicine didn't really kick in until then anyways. That was better than it was with Kaitlin though, where I felt like I got way too much medicine and I got so sick afterwards.

Anyways, judging by the time on the texts Scott was sending out, I pushed for less than 20 minutes and then our Claire Bear was here! Dr. Ryder had to cut the cord because they needed to get her quickly over to the NICU team, but Scott got to look and tell me "It's a girl!" which was very exciting. We were both thrilled and I think a little relieved, seeing as how we still hadn't decided on a boy name! They cleaned her up a bit and suctioned her, but it was all clear so she was free to come over and see me. It was nice to get to nurse right away and have some time just holding her, since with K I was so sick they took her away and I honestly don't really remember much of the time after she was born. This time I felt like a million bucks! I think the key for me was to do as much of it at home so I wasn't stuck in the bed not progressing.

Everyone got to come into the L&D room and meet Claire before we got moved up to our room upstairs. I got to announce the name which was fun. Kaitlin was very excited and crawled right up in the bed next to me and looked down at Claire like she'd known her forever. She even told me "That's baby Claire," as though I didn't know. She gave her tons of "besitos" and hugs and was just the sweetest little girl in the world. She freaked out when it was time to leave though, which broke my heart. She wanted me to come with them and was just crying so hard. I think it scared her to see me in the bed with the tubes everywhere and not being able to get up. She did a lot better when she came to visit later, and told me "Mommy has to stay at the doctor." Sweet girl, she tries so hard to understand.

Overall, this birth was much easier and more pleasant than Kaitlin's - probably something to do with the fact that Claire was a pound less and was actually facing the right direction. I'm so glad I decided against the induction and let Claire come on her own, exactly 23 months after her sister. It was a very special day.

Claire Elise is here!

Claire Elise was born at 5:59 pm this past Saturday, July 25 (exactly 23 months after her sister). She weighed 8 pounds, 6 ounces and was 20 inches tall. Summer and Claire are both doing great and we are finally back in our own home as of today. Kaitlin is a great big sister and loves to give Claire hugs and kisses. Summer will do a longer post about the birth and such, but we wanted to do a quick update and post some pics. Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes.

40 weeks...

and NO baby! I had my appt this morning and no change. I cancelled my induction for tomorrow, I just don't feel right rushing it. I think God has a better plan and I don't think Dr. Ruk's vacation schedule has anything to do with His plan for this baby, so I'm taking that out of the equation. I have an appt next Thurs where they'll do a sono to make sure everything is alright with the baby and if so, we wait until Aug 3 to induce. If the baby looks too big or not to be thriving, I guess I will go right in after that sono. Aug 3 is almost 2 weeks past my due date and Dr. Ruk says that after 2 weeks the placenta starts to break down and so you put yourself and the baby at risk. Interestingly, my mom sent me this article which was on the front page of the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday. It made me feel alot better about the situation, even if Scott is a little mad at me for "hogging" the baby.

Swimming Lessons

We just finished up our 2 week session of swimming lessons. Overall I think it was totally worth the time and money invested. We went everyday Mon-Thurs for 30 min. It was given at a family's home pool in the neighborhood - they have 5 kids ranging in age from high school to college, and they all teach lessons. It is the instructor and 2 children for each lesson. Kaitlin learned how to swim to the wall from about 5 feet out in the middle of the pool, how to jump in and swim to the instructor, and how to float on her back. She was never excited about going to the "yessons with Mr. Derek," but at our pool she was more than happy to show off her new skills. This weekend she wore me out jumping off the side and swimming to me! Here are some pics from one of the lessons.

How class started everyday - a little bit of trepidation








Swimming to the wall "all by herself" (someone's favorite phrase at the moment)








Drowned rat









"I believe I can fly..."








Relaxing on her back








High five after a job well done!

39 Weeks

I had my appointment today and no further progress has been made since last week, when I was about 2cm and 50% effaced. He said he doesn't expect anything until I actually go into labor. He asked "So what are we going to do if this baby doesn't come by July 23?" He knows how I feel about induction so I think he was gently trying to broach the subject. I said, "Well, I guess we'll just wait and see." And then he tells me he's going on vacation July 25. Right. So I agreed to schedule the induction for July 24, but I REALLY REALLY hope it doesn't come to that. I don't know why I'm a weirdo about that, I just don't like deciding my baby's birthday or forcing them to come before they are ready. Although given K's size, I guess it wouldn't be such a horrible thing for him/her to come early. But this means I will start all my "natural" methods of induction this week. I plan on walking in the mornings and eating Eggplant Parmesan sometime this weekend. My mom also told me she made this family dish, Hamburger, Noodles and Corn (catchy name, eh?) the night before she went into labor with me, and I was 5 days early. So maybe I'll make that this weekend as well. Please say prayers for the baby to come naturally before next Friday!

Fun Game!

So Johanna has been bringing her daughter Margie to watch K with her since school has been out for the summer. Margie is 5 and just a really sweet little girl, and I think it's been good for K to have an older girl to play with. It's also definitely made her more comfortable with Johanna, which is good for the long run. Some funny side effects of this arrangement have been the things K has picked up from Margie. She has some new sayings ("OH MY GOODNESS!" "It's my FAVORITE" (said to almost everything, but usually cheese, beans or a Barney song on her CD) and "X out the world!!" (done while making an "x" with your body by spreading out your arms and legs - whatever that means)). She's also recently picked up the game aptly called "computer." We discovered this last night as Scott was putting her to bed. She went over to her toybox and pulled out her calculator and old remote control and placed them side by side up on her changing table. She then proceeded to type on the calculator and turn to Scott and say "working on the computer." She typed for a bit, then picked up the remote control, yelled "one fifty four," pointed the remote at him, yelled "doll" and then "psssssst," and then immediately went back to typing on the computer apparatus again. Then she said "Kaitlin's funny" and kept saying it until Scott said it too. This happened no less than 15 times, and finally he had to come get me to see the show. She continued the game this morning, as evidenced in the video below, and we also had another round at bedtime tonight. It's a very physical game, and the number Kaitlin picks is always 154, although Margie likes to mix hers up a bit. I asked Margie about it this morning and was pretty much treated like a fool for not knowing the coolest game around. "It's just our computer game." Oh, right.

Tonight's prayers

I always ask her who she wants to bless, and we've been going through the usual family and friends list for so long she has most of it down and does it herself. There were a few new additions tonight:

"God Bless Baby Bop, BJ, Mommy, Daddy, John, Amanda, Nannie, Pawpaw, Nana, Pop, Handy Manny, Thomas, Tyler, Gabriel, Landyn, children, Jesus, Mary, Joseph."

Some famous characters in there that I've never included in my list! And I'm sure not many people think to bless Jesus. Such a considerate baby!

Much nicer pics

After the last post with some disturbing pics, I thought I'd treat you to some recent pics of KRK. Some from the old house and new.


She caught us taking belly pics one time and wanted to be just like mommy. She's gotten in the habit now of whenever we point the camera at her to lift her shirt - not so good. We'll have to work on that before spring break.







Trying to be like Mommy again.










First glimpse of her new "payroom" (playroom) in the new house. She was so excited.







Relaxing on the floor in her new bedroom









Johanna did her hair like this and I had to take pics I was so impressed. She gets her to do so many more things than I can! I can barely get one ponytail in, let alone 3 on each side!








KRK and Mackenzie at the Rangers game on July 4th. She loved it and kept yelling "GO RANGERS!!"