We're Back! Big News!

Christmas was great! Tom, Clara and I traveled south to spend the holiday with my parents and grandparents in Lakeview, Arkansas. We had a lot of fun laughing at Clara's antics, playing dominos, and eating. We did a lot of that last one. Unfortunately, I developed a bad cold and could not taste most of it. Clara had a really good Christmas. She received a lot of books, clothes, two ride-on toys which she loves, a tool set, a decorative cross to hang on her wall, and a fridge D-J. We all got a kick out of her taking presents from under the tree and delivering them to their owner. She played a lot on the two ride-on toys...they made lots of different sounds and lit up with different colored lights. It was funny to see her ride on one of them and then pull or push the other one at the same time.

I can't share any pictures with you right now, because our little transfer gizmo is lost amongst the Christmas decorations. Hopefully it will turn up soon.

In other BIG news, the Mamaholic will soon be relocating!! My smart and talented, soon-to-be attending doctor husband has accepted a position at Cox Hospital in Springfield, Missouri. We will be moving closer to family (yea!) sometime in late June or early July. We are very excited about being only a couple hours from our families and also looking forward to a decreased workload for Tom. We will miss the friends we have made here too, so there is a bit of bittersweetness about the whole move.

I guess that is all for now...I think one of my New Year's resolutions will be to get back on the blog bandwagon and post more often. 7 posts in all of December is not something I'm proud of ;) I hope you all have a safe and happy New Years! We are looking forward to an exciting 2009!

18 months old

Well...it's the winter solstice which means that it's Clara's "half" birthday. She is 18 months old today and getting bigger and less babylike, more toddler/little girl. Clara has recently grown, I swear, an inch or two. Her pants are so much shorter on her and she just looks so much taller. She can climb up on the kitchen chairs with no help and the ottomans in the living room are no problem to scale. She can reach shelves in the kitchen which were previously too tall for her even standing up on her tippy-toes. Clara's vocabulary is growing every day too. It's becoming more challenging for Tom and I to stay one step ahead of her. One of Clara's favorite things to do is bring me a book, plop down in my lap and listen to a story. Her favorite right now is Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You? by Dr. Seuss. She also likes ABC picture books and the story of Baby Jesus. Clara also has two music CDs that she loves, as do Tom and I. As soon as we go in her room she is pointing to her cd player for her music to start. The music keeps her happy in the car, during diaper changes, and in her crib reading while I get other stuff done...it's just amazing to me how she responds to the songs. Here's a video I took today...nothing too exciting or special about it. It shows a pretty typical occurrence...playing in the kitchen. Clara's favorite word (and favorite doggy) is Chelsea. I love hearing her little sweet voice call Chelsea's name. Also, I'll attach some 18 month pictures and Christmas pictures. Can you believe this is the first family picture we have had taken since Clara was born?

Pots and Pans

For the past couple days, Clara has spent a lot of time playing with my pots and pans. She puts the lids on and takes them off, stacks the pots in each other and takes everything apart and goes at it again. She spends several minutes at a time sitting quietly doing this...sometimes getting frustrated that she can't get a pot out of another pot and other times looking very satisfied that she got the right lid on the right pot. It's so interesting to watch her facial expressions as she seems to be learning so much from something that she has seen me do countless times, day after day. It's great to see Clara becoming less needy for my attention all the time and more of an independent little girl. I guess this means my baby is growing up.

Winter Wonderland

Aren't these snowmen the most scrumptious little guys? My friend Kathy made them. She rolled out gumdrops to make the scarves and hats. The head is made from sugar cookies. So adorable and so yummy!

We had about 3 or 4 inches of snow fall here recently. It's so cold that pretty much everything sticks around and we get to enjoy the beauty of a winter wonderland for a few weeks. Over the summer I picked up a never-used sled at a garage sale. Clara played in it for a while in the living room before it made it to the garage. She had fun pulling it around and getting in and out of it with her books and toys.

After our first big snow fall, Tom was ready to take Clara for a ride. First he joked about hooking it up to his Jeep and taking Clara for a spin! Uh - no thanks! He needed to take something to a neighbor down the street so we bundled Clara up and put her in the sled. It's funny how the sled looks so much smaller now. I guess this is proof that Clara has grown a lot since the summer plus she was under several layers of puffy, warm clothes giving her lots of padding.

Clara seemed to enjoy her daddy-guided tour of the neighborhood...can't wait to take her sledding in a few months in Montana!

Bablablbalbablabl

Last night during dinner I noticed Clara's lips looked kind of red on top, and I asked Tom what he thought was wrong. We talked about this for a few minutes and Clara kept 'piping in' with her opinion. Tom thought Clara's outbursts might have to do with the actual word, 'lips', so we got the camera and started shooting. Here's what happened :)

This Weekend's Christmas Preparations

Friday morning we went to get the tree. This didn't take too long for a couple reasons. It is INCREDIBLY cold here right now and the selection was not huge because of the after Thanksiving, over-achiever crowd. (We are usually in this group, but we were out of town this year.) It is so cold here Clara actually kept her mittens on the whole time :)

This is the one!
Here's a quick flashback to when we picked out the tree last year. Our little girl is growing up!

Back to present day! Now comes the decorating...

Then comes the baking. Clara calls these 'cooks'. She loves 'cooks' and prefers to eat the hershey kiss first in one big bite and then eats the rest of the cookie in little bites.

Originally, there were a lot more Pecan Balls, but I took most of them to a Christmas party and these I kept for us.

Oh and guess what I'm getting for Christmas?!? Not because I really want one, but because ours broke again! Grrrr....

Airport Activities

We got back yesterday afternoon from another interview trip down south. This time we went to Springfield, Missouri. It came as no surprise to us to be in the middle of the first winter storm of the season when we left for the airport. During the past two interview trips we have experienced major weather related problems and this trip was no different! Our plane was late leaving Peoria, but we were so happy it even took off! Most of the later flights to Chicago had already been cancelled.

Once we made it to Chicago, we found out our flight to Springfield had been cancelled. We quickly called up the airline reservation number and got booked on a later flight that day. We now had a 4 hour layover in Chicago and a tired, hungry and restless daughter on our hands! So we walked and ate and walked some more. Clara made a lot of new friends at O'hare and was quite the ham for her bored onlookers. While walking through one of the various terminals, we happened upon some signs for a children's museum.

We quickly found the museum and Tom and I were in awe! This place was perfect for kids and toddlers Clara's age. It was all fenced in with one entrance and exit. There were a ton of creative, aviation related exhibits for Clara to crawl through, slide down, and ride on. We spent about an hour here before getting some dinner and getting on our plane!

Flying a helicopter

Driving the refueling truck.

Clara getting ready to go down the slide...


Clara falling face first onto the mat below...all I got was this shot!

More helicopter flying...



This was really cool. The kids could pick out different fabric sections and hang them up all over to make a maze.
Dad hanging out in the cargo crates.

Kudos to the Springfield airport too. They are much smaller, but still had some fun activities for kids to do while waiting at the gate. Clara had a lot of fun 'flying' an airplane. Luckily, we didn't have to wait much before boarding AND we had no delays, no weather issues and no baggage mishaps on the way home. The flying gods were watching over us!!

One happy traveler

Top Knot!!

Look what I can FINALLY do to Clara's hair!

I think there are about 10 strands of hair up there and I used the tiniest rubber band I've ever seen, but I think this qualifies as Clara's first pony tail :)

Clara gives this hair style two thumbs up!

My ever-so-talented daughter can put her big toe in her mouth...on command ;)

New Trampoline

Clara will try to climb and jump on just about everything. She is a little monkey and keeps me on my toes. As I type this, she is supposed to be napping in her crib, but I hear her jumping up and down in her crib.

This is her newest personal trampoline.

Spoiled

By the title of my post you may think I have been to a spa for a massage, mani and pedi. Or maybe you thought Clara had been indulged with too many toys or desserts. Hmmm...if this is the case, you would be wrong. (Well, the jury is still out on Clara.) I was getting ready for friends from church to come over. We were having a spagetti dinner and one family was bringing salad. I knew I had some salad dressing and wanted to be prepared, so I started getting out the dressings from the fridge. The expiration date caught my eye on the first bottle so I set that one aside. And then it happened again and again. There were eight bottles in my fridge which were past their date! Oh my!! This was pretty eye opening to me for several reasons. 1) I REALLY, REALLY needed to clean out my fridge 2) We don't eat salad enough, or I would have caught this earlier 3) I should take a picture, this would be a good blog post!

So here they are, all the expired (and possibly spoiled) salad dressings in my fridge. Ridiculous I say, ridiculous!!

Slow blogging month

Sorry for the lack of blogs...I must have 'blogger block' or something that has prevented me with coming up with any good ideas for posts. Clara also has gotten very good at turning away from the camera when I try to take pictures which is getting a little frustrating for me!! Doesn't she know I need to capture every detail of her childhood so that she can relive it in 15 years or so!?!

Besides the camera aversion, Clara is doing really well. She is talking more and more and will try to repeat words when we ask her. She 'explains' things to me all the time and I try to come up with replies that sound like I understand what she's saying, but it's a tough thing to do! She weighs 22 pounds now, a petite little girl. Her appetite does not reflect this though. I now cook enough for 3 people to eat...no more of giving a few bites from our plate and filling her up. She loves mandaran oranges and raisins right now, but eats just about anything. She even gobbled up sauerkraut yesterday!

We have started going to the gym and I ran 2.5 miles today! It's been a very long time since I have done any type of workout and my legs are a little sore. There is a really nice child's play area full of toys and friendly workers to watch Clara while I do my thing. She tolerates it and doesn't scream when I leave her, but there are usually some tears at some point while I'm gone...so I have been told. I am hoping we are on the tail end of the separation anxiety bandwagon.

Pictures coming soon!

Future Cowgirl?

I hope you aren't too tired of seeing Clara trying on our shoes...Stop reading if your are :)

Clara found my cowboy boots while playing around in the closet. Here is a step by step pictorial of Clara trying to get her short legs into my tall boots.

Get them set up just right.

Balance on one foot and lift the other foot up, really high.

Push foot down, until boot comes up to mid-thigh.

Repeat for other leg.

Lost Pictures from the Summer of '08

I found these pictures on the hard drive of my camera today. I must have forgotten to put the memory card in when I took these pictures. I thought they were cute enough to share and am already ready for the warm weather we were experiencing when these pictures were taken. It is freezing cold here right now and the days keep getting shorter.

These were taken in Arkansas at my grandparents house. They don't have a pool, but Clara was happy to have her own oasis in the backyard.






Getting her first ride on the jet ski while it was parked in the driveway.

Mamaholic Sleeps In

Clara woke up pretty early this morning. 6:00 am is now becoming the norm and I am more or a 7:30 kind of gal. So I stay in bed and Clara hangs out upstairs, usually looking at books, playing with Chelsea or whining for me to get out of bed. Today, she became unusually quiet and I drifted back into a peaceful slumber. I woke to find this!

Heelarious :)

I think Clara is about as graceful as me in these heels. Walking in our shoes is one of Clara's favorite thing to do...not a day goes by that she doesn't get her feet in a pair and shuffle around the house.

Happy Halloween

Clara went as a forest park ranger and I think her costume was original enough to be the only one I saw all night. Notice the little fawn attached to her shorts. We had a TON of trick or treaters here and I ran out of candy way too early. The weather was really warm which was great for Clara since she was wearing shorts and a short-sleeved shirt. She went trick or treating at a few of our neighbor's houses and got the hang of getting candy pretty quick.

Sorry these pictures aren't too great...I waited until the end of the night to get my camera out and Clara was ready for bed.

We had a great week in Arkansas visiting my grandparents. Before we left this morning, my Grandma brought out an old jacket of my Dad's for Clara to try on. Since she has been rockin' it on her horse lately, I thought it was most appropriate for my little cowgirl.


We went back to the park yesterday and Clara discovered she could climb up a pretty steep ladder and go down a big slide by herself.

Comfortable

Chelsea and Clara have made themselves at home here...I came upon them relaxing this morning...together. How sweet :)

Bull Shoals State Park

Each time we come to visit my grandparents, I say to my them 'We have to get down to the state park and let Clara play around!'. Yet we have come and gone from here three times Clara has not set foot in the park. This is mostly because our visits are so full of other fun things like boating and other water activities, trips into town, and naps!

Not this visit though! G&G, Clara, Chelsea, and I loaded up in the Explorer and took a drive down to Bull Shoals State Park. We got some cute snapshots of Clara playing around.

Then we went down to the river for another walk and playtime at their park.

Does it get any better for a 16 month old?!?