Realizations

I have recently come across some realizations concerning Clara. She is now 19 months old, talkative, needy one moment and Miss Independent the next. She is doing great when I leave her in the church nursery and at the gym daycare - no tears, just a hug and she's off playing.

Clara is a great eater and sleeper. This isn't something I take for granted. I thank God every morning when I wake up and realize Clara has slept through the night again and that I feel rested and coherant after a good night's sleep myself. For some reason I haven't kicked the coffee habit, even though Clara has dropped the night wakings. I probably need to work on that.

I realized I have an obsession with the little girl clothes at Gymboree and their coordinating shoes and hair bows...and tights. I have way more fun dressing Clara up than she does wearing the clothes.

I realized I can put Clara's hair in pig tails and that the top knot is no longer the only style her thin, wispy hair can support.

And today, I realized my baby is not such a baby anymore. She seemed more mature today, bigger physically and older emotionally. Her little face and body is losing the baby look and taking on the shape of a little girl. I am having a lot of fun with Clara at this age, but I already miss the baby in her.

Thoughtful Hubby, Blue Eyes, Church Dress

This is kind of a random post, but here goes!

Even though we have been married more than six years, my thoughtful hubby hasn't forgotten the sweet, romantic things that we women still appreciate. After a long day at work, he brought home flowers for me. Can you tell where Clara gets her baby blues from?

For the OK Grands - Clara looked really cute at church today in her pink dress. Thanks again!

Lately

We have had a good week and are trying to stay busy here. Today went by really fast which is good because it's one of those long shifts for Tom where he works 30 hours straight. We all love those...not! Here's a recap of what we have been up to...

Clara and I spent the morning at my Mom's group at church, came home and took a long nap, ate lunch, and then spent the rest of the afternoon and evening at a friends house. Clara had a lot of fun playing with Carter and all his toys. He is 5 months younger than Clara but they are pretty much the same size. Here's a cute picture of them playing in the kitchen cabinets at Carter's house.

Driving home after a long day of playtime :)

Clara and Chelsea have been very chummy lately.

Clara has also been helping me with the vacuuming.

Colder still...-16 degrees this morning

Today it was -16 degrees when I went to take Clara to music class. We were both seeing our breath in the car as we drove downtown listening to the Music Together cd and talking about playing instruments and going to class. Clara really loves the class - she is excited, smiling and clapping when she wakes up Thursday mornings and I tell her it's music day.

So imagine Clara's disappointment and mine, when we trudge up the stairs to the studio (after paying to park and freezing our behind's off during the walk to the class) and find out class has been cancelled! Clara's in tears and I'm pretty frustrated because the rule for cancelling is if the public schools are in session, than class is on. The rules do not always apply I guess. Big time bummer.

So I decide to go to the Riverplex for the Totally Tots program which is a kid's gym/play time. We drive the short distance and then park, get out, freeze ourselves silly etc....only to find out Totally Tots was cancelled too!! Tears again from Clara, disappointment from me.

We drive home. Better luck next week!

Yesterday, we got stir crazy enough to go outside and play in the snow. Clara had a really good time even though she fell face first into the snow a couple times. Seriously, the girl is small in stature, but not in perseverance. She walked down the street with Chelsea, playing in the snow and enjoying the outdoors.

After coming inside she decided to eat the snow off her gloves...yummy!

One word Clara has been using a lot lately is 'See, See'. She wants us to pick her up and look out the window at whatever. She also knows that after you take a picture, she can see it on the digital camera. So yesterday I wanted to get some pictures of her playing. I could not get her to sit still and take the picture before she ran over to 'See, see!!'. Here's her mid-run back to me to see the picture I took.

The Low temperature is -11 Degrees today!

Is that any way to live life?? Did you see the negative sign next to the 11?!? It's hard enough when the temperature is in the single digits or teens, but when the temp is in the negatives you really cannot do much but try to keep the house as warm as possible. Last night we got about 6 inches of soft, dry snow. It looks so pretty, everything pure white and peaceful. However, for a stir crazy toddler and mom, it's not exactly a welcome event.

We did leave the house this morning. Gosh darnit...we weren't going to miss a workout even if there was some snow on the ground :) Clara likes the child care at the Y and the class I have on Wednesday mornings is well worth the extra bundling up and careful driving it takes to get out in this weather.

There has been a drought in my blogging...I lost the gizmo that uploads the pictures, our internet connection was down for a week, and really folks, there isn't much to blog about because we don't do much more than run the usual errands, workout, go to church, and play inside.

Clara is her usual fun, happy self. She is enjoying the tea set our good friends got her. She loves to wrestly and rough house with Tom. She is sleeping like a little angel!! She loves to go through my scrapbook stuff, much to my chagrin. We love her so much!