Church

When we say it's time to go to church, Claire asks "For music class or quiet church?" She does wonderfully at "quiet" church. Since there is no way to put a stop to Miss Chatterbox, she has at least learned that she has to whisper. In fact one morning, we actually got there early (a rarity for us) and I started to say something to Nate in a regular voice, only be told "Shhh mom! Stop talking, you have to whisper!"

She knows the routine of things. She sings during the songs. (No, she doesn't know the words but that never stops her from singing.) She folds her hands during prayers and knows that when the pastor starts talking, she gets a snack! She also notices the Sundays that we don't have communion and will tell us as we're leaving, "They forgot to give you bread!" She knows when there is music to look for her teacher. Her music teacher Pam, is also the church organist/pianist. On occasion Pam will sing for the special music and Claire gets quite proud. She'll tell us, and anyone sitting around us, "That's MY teacher!" During the sermon, she may be eating a snack or playing with books/toys, but she's still aware of everything. Yesterday the pastor mentioned Home Depot, and Claire immediately perked up from her book and whispered to Daddy, "Daddy, he's talking about Home Depot!" She recognizes the pastors and gets really excited if she happens to see one of them wandering the hall on Monday when we're back for music class. "There's the pastor. But he's not wearing his clothes!" (you know, the robes!)

Today was her last day of church music class for the year. This class was basically the same as her other music classes (singing/dancing/instruments), just with the songs being more religious based and all the kids being members of our church. Before long she'll be ready to start singing in the pre-school choir!

Let's talk Baby

I'm having another girl! While of course I would have been equally thrilled to have a boy, I'm so excited for another little bundle of pink and for Claire to have a sister. Nate has said from the beginning that he would love to have a house full of little princesses.

I've started working a little on the nursery. I've also pulled out the baby clothes and have started organizing and sorting them. We'll be pretty well covered in the clothing department with all of Claire's old stuff, minus a few seasonal things that will be off size wise. I hit my first garage sale of the season this morning and got a few summer newborn outfits that we were lacking. We're also narrowing down name choices and have a couple of top contenders. Once we come up with the final decision, we'll be sure to let you know...as soon as the baby is born!

While I'm going through all the same preparations for this baby, things are different this time around. When I was pregnant with Claire, I spent so much time daydreaming about the beautiful little bundle of joy and of the endless hours that would be spent rocking and cuddling. Everything was a mystery, all new and exciting. With a second baby, it's hard to have any illusions about what you're getting into. There's going to be millions of diapers, marathon nursing sessions, months of sleepless nights, endless crying...all while also taking care of a toddler and making sure she doesn't feel neglected.

They say that women are generally less anxious about pregnancy the second time. While I may be less anxious about the pregnancy, I'm much more anxious this time for when the baby actually gets here. I keep wondering if this baby will be like Claire with the acid reflux. I know there is a good chance of it. Am I going to be able to handle the apnea scares and the non-stop screaming in pain that lasted for months? And of course the biggest concern with all of it, is the fact that I'm practically a single mom with Nate's schedule of being gone for 4-5 days (and nights) a week. One on one was hard enough, but now I'll be outnumbered. God never gives you more than you can handle, right?!

But aside from all that, I am seriously happy about this baby. (It's just a more realistic kind of anticipation this time around.) I'm excited to meet the newest member of our family and see her personality develop and how she differs from Claire. I'm excited to see how Claire takes to being a big sister and to see the sister relationship develop between the two of them. I'm excited to face all the challenges and joys that come with being a mom of two.

Flashback Friday - 4/1/08

One of the blogs I follow does "Flashback Fridays" and reposts an old post from the same date from a previous year. It's always fun to look back and see how much Claire's grown, so I think I'll copy this idea. So here's the first flashback, from one year ago.


I heard the sweetest words this morning. "Love you, Mama"

I tell her I love her about a hundred times a day. And I sometimes ask her to say it back. And she will repeat it back, which is so sweet. But what made this morning's words so much sweeter was the fact that she said it completely on her own, without any prompting from me. Daddy got her out of bed this morning and brought her into our bed. We all were just talking and playing on the bed and I grabbed her to give her a hug and she said it... "Love you, Mama."

Life is good.

One more reason I love my kid...

When Claire woke up this morning, Nate got her and brought her back to our bed in hopes that we could snooze for a couple extra minutes. After giving me a big morning hug she turned to Nate and said, "Daddy, let's get up now and go downstairs and let Mom keep sleeping for a couple little minutes." Isn't she a wonderful child?! I thought that was a great idea!

Butterflies!

Today we took our bug lover to the Butterfly House. She had a blast! We spent a long time there and eventually had to bribe her with a promise of a treat at the gift shop to finally get her to leave willingly. She was very excited and was waving her arms, pointing to all the butterflies, and running all around; much too busy for a butterfly to ever land on her. This beautiful one decided to try to camouflage himself on my shirt.

On their admission stickers is the slogan, "I was kissed by a butterfly"...well Nate really was!

Claire was an awesome butterfly spotter. I think this is something she'll be talking about for awhile!

Nap time

While I'm getting caught up on blogs and e-mail, the other two are doing this...
Ok, so Nate was up at 4 AM for work. Claire and I slept in, enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at the hotel restaurant and then watched cartoons while he was hard at work. I suppose he deserves a nap.

Sioux Falls

We are spending a couple of days in Sioux Falls. Nate's inefficient work schedule has him doing early morning flights and then spending full days with nothing to do in Sioux Falls, so we thought we'd drive down and visit him. Today we spent the afternoon at the zoo. We literally had the place to ourselves. Other than zoo employees, we only saw 2 other people the whole time we were there. And then of course, we had to hit the hotel pool.

Feeding the goats.

Frisbee lesson

The last of the ice and snow has finally melted from our front patio! We spent some time outside enjoying the snow free area and digging out some of our summer toys. Our neighbor and the little boy she babysits came over and he went straight for the frisbees. Claire then, of course thought that looked like fun. She however needs a little help on the catching part. The arms up in the air with eyes shut tight, didn't seem to be working very well for her.

Beauty night

After Claire's bath, she got her bangs trimmed and her hair french braided (I definitely need some practice...it's been awhile!) Then of course she got her weekly pedicure. The hardest part is trying to decide on a color!

Enjoying the park

Claire's made it to the park several times over the last few warm days. (Despite the winter wear, it was actually over 50 degrees in these photos, just quite breezy.) I have a feeling we'll be spending all summer at the park!

My parents have been visiting for the past 5 days, so Claire's been having all sorts of fun hanging out with them. And I've been enjoying having the extra help around. We've also been enjoying this warmer weather! Back to our regular blogging soon.

Week 23 Baby Belly

Thankfully there wasn't as huge a growth in these last 3 weeks, as there was in the previous 3 weeks, but I'm definitely starting to feel big.

Oh, and do you think this little summer outfit will look good on the baby?! :)

Baby check-up

I had my 24 week check-up (a week early) this morning. Everything is going well. Nothing much to report. Baby's heart rate was higher this time at 160 bpm. And in case my nurse practitioner wasn't sure what that whooshing sound was, Claire pointed out to her "That's the baby's heart beat. Do you hear it?" I also had my ultrasound follow up. Unfortunately it takes a few days for the results, so I didn't find out anything about the baby's kidneys. My nurse practitioner said that if anything significant shows up that my Dr. will call me within a week. Otherwise to go with the "no news is good news " and we would just discuss the results at my next appointment. So I guess I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I don't get a call from my doctor!

I'm feeling pretty good, although I have had a couple of random mornings of morning sickness but it seems to go away pretty quickly once I get some food in me. I'm already starting to feel the weight of my belly. A lot of discomfort in my hips and pelvis, not to mention the backaches. I didn't really start feeling uncomfortable with Claire until the last month or two, so I may have a long 4 months ahead of me.

Gender guesses?

My follow up ultrasound is coming up soon. We are going to try again to find out the sex.

(Most of these are just Old Wives Tales so there's not a lot of truth to them, but it's fun to think about!)
Signs pointing to GIRL:
-My very first thought when I found out I was pregnant was "It's a girl."
-I've had two baby dreams about girls. (In fact in one of them I just had my 3rd baby...all girls!)
-My OB thinks girl.
-I had awful morning sickness.
-Fetal heart rate has been around 150 every time.
-I've been craving sweets big time. Ice cream, chocolate, cookies...yum!
-My age at conception and year of conception were both even

Signs pointing to BOY:
-I'm carrying this baby much lower than I did with Claire. I compared belly pictures and there's a big difference. And it also just feels a lot different.
-My belly is also shaped differently this time, much more beach ball.
-Nate thinks boy.
-I had awful morning sickness, BUT it was much better than it was with Claire.

Anyone care to take a guess?

My Little Girl

Future Zookeeper

So I decided that Claire should volunteer at the Zoo this summer. We've been there so many times that she knows the names of most of the animals and will correct anyone who says the wrong thing. One example...She was watching one particular animal and a grandma and her small grandchild came up and the woman says "Oh look at the big kitty!" To which Claire turns to her and says in a very authoritative and slightly annoyed voice, "It is NOT a big kitty. It is a Clouded Leopard." She did this several times with several different animals. And at the big coral reef aquarium, Claire took up about 10 minutes of a zoo volunteer's time by asking the woman about the fish/sharks that she didn't yet know (she knows probably half a dozen of them already.) Crazy kid.

Bed Head

For a kid who hates having a comb anywhere near her head even on a snarl-free day...this was a rough morning.

Stuck

Claire was playing in her room while I was putting away laundry in my room and all of a sudden I hear a very panicky "Help me! Help me! Somebody heeeeelp me!" I drop the laundry and run in there to find this...

Yes, she was practically in tears, but I couldn't help but laugh (and take a picture!) before I rescued her. Her shoulders were jammed so tight in the basket she couldn't move. All she could do was kick her legs and yell. I guess she doesn't realize how big she's getting!

Cozy

Claire's not the only one who likes the new bed!

Butterflies and Fairies--Claire's Big Girl Room

At long last, I finally got some pictures taken of Claire's new room! The main reason we moved Claire to a new room is size. Her new room is bigger and can accommodate the bigger bed and more furniture. Plus the crib, changing table, and glider fit just perfectly in the smaller room. She's no farther away from us, our room is in the middle of the other two. The transition has been so easy. She loves her new room and wants to be in there all the time. No issues with falling asleep or staying asleep all night. She has fallen out of bed a couple of times, so I may have to put up a bed rail (I have one, I just haven't put it together yet.) Although the couple of times that I've heard the big thump in the night of her hitting the floor, I run in there and she's basically still asleep. The fall doesn't seem to phase her.

I wanted t0 use a few decorations from her old room, so I kept with a little bit of the butterfly theme. And the kid is obsessed (and that's an understatement!) with fairies right now, so I added a few fairy touches for her too.

(Click on any of the pictures to view them larger)
This is the view from the doorway. When I originally asked Claire what colors she wanted for her room, she was set on blue and green (her two favorite colors.) I didn't have a problem with that, but I couldn't find any bedding the would match that wasn't completely all boy. So we settled on purple and green instead.

This is the mural above her bed. This is all just painted on, I didn't use vinyl letters or stencils. There wasn't a lot of pre-planning involved. I sort of just started painting and this is how it turned out. You can't tell from the picture, but the fairy and the fairy dust is all glittery. And in person there is a little more contrast in color between the quote and the fairy dust.

On the headboard and on the side of the mirror there is a clear piece of plexi-glass. The little sample sheet that came with the furniture displayed notes and snapshots--very teenager-ish. So I thought I'd paint a little simple artwork to use until she's old enough to have other ideas on what she wants to put in there.

A couple more pics...

This is the mirror I made for her nursery as soon as we had decided on a name. We had to hide it until she was born because we were keeping her name a secret. And the picture is a 3 month portrait of her, wrapped up in her purple and green blanket!
These are just two of the several butterflies randomly flying around her room.

This is her name above her closet that I made with letters, scrapbook paper, and mod podge.

I didn't take any pictures of it, but inside her closet she has a little hide-out. I was originally planning on stacking storage totes in that space, but she has claimed it for herself. So we put a little chair, some blankets, books, and toys in there. She spends hours a day hiding in her closet!

I love how her room turned out. And a big, big thanks goes out to Grandma and Grandpa K. for the bed and furniture set. It couldn't be any more perfect for this room!