The Mamaholic

Basement Kitchen Install

2010-11-10T22:25:00.000-06:00

Back in May of this year, Tom and I decided we wanted to spruce up the basement. It really needed some hlep...we had my couch I bought right after college and it's coordinating chair, along with a tv and our office furniture in a fairly large walkout basement family room. It was a mish-mash of old stuff that we have accumulated and used over the past 9 years.

We first decided to have the concrete floors stained. A crew came and ripped up the carpet, scored the floors to look like tile and stained them a caramal and dark brown combination. Then we ordered some furniture, designed the kitchen and entertainment center, bought a tv and speakers, and prayed it would all come togther nicely one day.

It is still a work in progress, but starting to take shape. The floors are done, the entertainment center has been built and delivered, furniture is here (along with a new rug) and the speakers have been wired, installed and hooked up to a new tv. It's a lot more fun down here now!

The kitchen cabinets were installed today. Next step is to have black granite countertops installed. We also need to put the drawer pulls and door knobs on and pick out a sink.

The openings towards the top right corner are for an ice maker and a small refridgerator. The top middle cabinet above (it's raised up about 6 inches) has four stem glass holders. The cabinet opening underneath is for a micorwave. To the left, in the corner, will be the undermount sink.

This is the raised up bar top...still needs some black granite going across. We will have 2 or 3 bar stools here.

I'll post some other pictures of the floor and the rest of the room soon. It needs a bit of a cleaning right now.

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-26T22:43:00.000-05:00

Last week Clara, William and I along with a friend and her 2 kids, took a trip to a local pumpkin patch. We rode on a hayride behind a big, old tractor to the pumpkin patch where Clara and William found some pumpkins. There was also a bouncy house, corn maze, pumpkin painting, and a train ride. We all had a blast :)

Buddies

2010-10-26T22:37:00.000-05:00

I took these today in the front yard. William really likes Chelsea and she is so good to him too. She is gentle with him and doesn't mind him messing with her ears or pulling on her fur. When I see William being a little rough or messing with her face, I tell him to give her 'nice pats' and he immediately will start patting her head and back. It's really cute!

Can you see the hay bales in the background?

Trip to the Corn Maze

2010-09-20T21:29:00.000-05:00

This past Saturday we took a little trip to a local corn maze. A man with some extra acres next to his house planted the corn and mowed down the paths for the maze. He is working with his church's youth group to raise money for their mission trip and half of whatever proceeds he makes will go to them. Pretty cool idea.

The checkpoints along the way were bible verses and thank goodness for those checkpoints! We could coorelate those with the map checkpoints to figure out where the heck we were going. We might still be wandering through the corn without that map :)

It was fun for Clara - she would run up ahead and whenever there was a fork in the road, she would stop and yell back to Tom about which way to go.

William sat in the hiking backpack and was happy as a clam. It was a tad on the hot side out there...where did our Fall go?

Getting William into the backpack

He loves it in here and I love this picture!

Starting out on our a-MAZE-ing adventure.

"C'mon Mommy and Daddy! Hurry UP!"

How do we get out of here??

11 months old!

2010-09-20T09:35:00.000-05:00

Can't believe my sweet baby boy is one month away from his first birthday!

William is growing up too quick...he's pulling up on the coffee tables, the wall, my legs..however he can get himself in the standing position. Then he lets go and just bounces up and down and balances all by himself! He are encouraging him to try and take a step, but so far he hasn't made a move. Won't be long I'm afraid.

He also is babbling quite a bit, saying dadadada, nininini and pointing at objects and having little conversations with us about them. He especially likes the chickens. It's cute when he spots a chicken - he points and starts getting excited.

Sleeps great, good eater, puts up with his sister's antics...overall a super wonderful little boy!!

Riding in the hiking backpack at the corn maze this past Saturday.

Riding Sassy

2010-09-19T21:10:00.000-05:00

This blog post is dedicated to Clara's Auntie Ann in honor of her first horseback ride :)

Clara got to take her first horse ride yesteray on our neighbor's horse, Sassy. Gary and Mary have 7 or 8 Missouri Fox Trotter's. We frequently drive the Ranger over to their barn and check in on them. Yesterday, Mary's nephews, ages 2 and 3, were down for the weekend from Kansas City and were going to ride. They asked if Clara would be interested in riding also and she said yes. Tom and I both thought she would chicken out when it actually came time to get on the horse, but she climbed right up and sat with Gary. They went on a nice trail ride around the perimeter of their 10 acres.

Clara really enjoyed it and we were pretty proud of her too!

This was taken right after she got on Sassy

I like the little smirk on her face and how she's holding on to the reins.

Feeding Sassy some grass after her ride.

Mid-September Update

2010-09-14T21:10:00.000-05:00

Hello! It is starting to feel like Fall here and it's just beautiful! The weather is cool and breezy, but still warm enough to have shorts and a t-shirt on most of the time.

Clara is still loving preschool. I am so thankful it is going well. Today was picture day and I'm curious how well she cooperated with the photographer. It has been nice to have the mornings to get things done (or not) while William naps and Clara is at school. I am car pooling with my neighbor which has been great because the school is about a 45 minute round trip drive.

Today I took some pictures before nap time. Both kiddos are looking more grown up these days. So are the chickens. They are really pretty, surpisingly. I'm glad we have 5 different types. Their feathers are so different and striking. Not sure if I have put it on the blog, but we ended up with one rooster. He is protective of all his hens (we call them his harem) but headstrong and domineering of us too. We have had to put him in his place (i.e. whack him on the head a few times) because he comes after us. It's kind of scary and funny at the same time.

Also, did I mention my parents are building a house in Arkansas. Here's a link to their blog which they update about once a week with progress on the house. It is coming along so well and is going to be such an awesome place! http://www.lakeviewdream.blogspot.com/

Anyways, here are some pics.

Almost 11 months...getting so handsome! He has been eating so much lately! I am crossing my fingers for another great eater like his big sister.

The black and white chicken is the silver wyandot...pretty cool pattern on its neck and back.

I love her curly blond hair. So pretty!

Caught her in a thinking moment.

Cute little girl!!

I like this picture. It looks like William took off with Clara's flip-flop and she is in the background looking at her bare foot.

First Day of Preschool

2010-09-01T17:17:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was Clara's first day of preschool. She had such a great time and was so excited to be there :) We have been building this day up for a while now and when it finally came, Clara could not wait to go. Here are some pictures

Getting her back pack ready.

Showing me her lunch box.

She was already tired of my taking her picture in the car.

We're at school!!

Walking through the parking lot.

In the hallway by her classroom.

Tom and William came too.

Clara asked several times if William missed her and did he cry. He knew something was different because when we came home and I put him down for his nap, he just cried and would not settle down! I guess he was missing Clara a little :)

2010-08-26T20:47:00.000-05:00

Here are the latest pictures of Clara and William. They both did so well this time. Clara was cooperative and really tried her best to smile and stay still while I played peek-a-boo behind the photographer to get William to look at me. The hardest thing about this whole process was shopping for outfits that coordinated 15 minutes before my scheduled appointment. I usually wait till the last minute and work best under pressure!

Anyways, Clara is 3 years old and William is just a day or two shy of 10 months. Such precious babies!!

Double Trouble and the Farm Park

2010-08-25T20:53:00.000-05:00

The stroller had to pull double duty this evening. Would you believe there was no fighting and only giggles from these two sweeties while crammed right next to each other?

When they were not in the stroller, they were playing in the rocks! Not good for the baby who puts everything in his mouth.

Yesterday we went to a local park that is really more of a farm. They have a story time in the big red barn and then bring in one of the animals for the kids to pet. This story was about a horse, so we got to meet Bandit, a miniature horse. All the kids were able to pet him.

Then the storytime guy brought in the rabbit.

Here are some of our friends with William and Clara.

William and Clara had fun on the playground just monkeying around

Sunflowers

2010-08-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

Our sunflowers are blooming!

Tom wanted to grow some sunflowers this year so he tilled up the ground here, planted the seeds, snaked a soaker hose through the rows, and about 2 months later, they bloomed! The temperatures are so cool today - a good 20 degrees less that what we have been having so we got out in the yard and enjoyed the fall-like weather. Here are some pictures from our walk today after lunch and before naps.

Clara had to hold the sunflower upright because one minute before Tom took the picture, she fell over and bent the sunflower down on the ground. It was the perfect height for her, so we told her just to hold it up :)

William is too heavy to carry on our walks, so we push the big ol' stroller around the land.

Clara loves when Chelsea chases her around.

Almost 10 months old

2010-08-17T14:47:00.000-05:00

William's first year has gone by so fast. I still can't believe he will be 10 months old in a couple days. This past month he has become very mobile. He started crawling and then a couple days later started pulling up on the coffee table and chairs. He has learned to clap and babbles quite a bit too. He is also getting very!! I have his 9 month checkup in a couple days (little overdue!) and am curious how many pounds he is. He feels every bit of 23 pounds or more. Here are some pictures - I swear his hair just keeps getting lighter and thicker. His eyes are still so blue - I love them!

I'm Handsome, I'm Handsome!

2010-08-17T14:40:00.001-05:00

We have had several conversations with Clara about how she is pretty and William is handsome. Clara then usually says something about William being pretty so that we will say "Nooooo, he's handsome!" Round and round we go. You know how a 3 year old will just say stuff they know is wrong, to get a reaction out of you?!?

Clara surprised me the other day by getting into William's clothes. First of all, how does a little girl who wears 3T clothes, get into a 6-12 month outfit? Still not sure how that's possible. However, this really cracked me up because the second I walked into my closet and saw her, she started singing"I'm handsome, I'm handsome".

Country Life...One year in

2010-07-13T14:51:00.000-05:00

We moved out to the country just over a year ago and I have to admit, life is different here! No longer are we surrounded by other houses, hearing sirens, or strolling through the neighborhood on a daily basis. We are now owners of 5 chickens (one of which turned out to be a rooster), maintain two big gardens, ride around on a Polaris Ranger, and we look out the front of our house and see woods, a pond, and gravel roads. This year has had its fair share of challenges...some we would rather not deal with like the Peoria house (I could go on and on!) but other wonderful things like our baby boy William being born, a big house to furnish, and lots of work at the hospital for Tom. We really do enjoy our place and the work we have put into it.

Clara and Tom picked me these flowers this morning. Tom artistically arranged them in the huge canning jar. I think it looks awesome! So pretty and they fit right in on our farmhouse table.

Tending our gardens...this corn is HUGE!

Canning pickles - a new experience for us.

We had these little 'twins' visit us this morning. Can you see their spots?

On a side note, William is almost crawling! He's doing the army crawl right now and should be moving on to the real deal soon.

4th of July pics

2010-07-06T16:15:00.000-05:00

We spent the 4th down in Arkansas at the lake. It was our first time to actually get in the lake this year and the first time ever for William. He had his first boat ride, but didn't get to jet ski yet. Maybe that will come in a few weeks!

Both my parents and Tom's parents, along with my grandparents, live at the lake full time and we were able to spend some time with everyone.

We watched fireworks from the state park which was a nice change. The weather was perfect - cool and a little breeze. So unlike many of the years we have spent sweating it out.

Clara and I jet skiied around a little bit. She and Tom also tried to tube behind the boat but wasn't too big a fan once they hit some waves.

William needed a nap! Luckily Grandma Trent was able to get him to sleep for a little while. He always sucks his thumb with one hand and holds his ear with the other.

Clara was able to play in the lake and really enjoys it this year. The life jacket actually fits her (as opposed to years past where it practically swallowed her up) and she is strong enough and coordinated enough to swim around.

We had brunch at Gaston's on Sunday morning. Yum! I wonder when Clara will actually pose for a picture instead of just turn around or run away!?

Happy 3rd Birthday Clara!

2010-06-28T22:04:00.000-05:00

We celebrated Clara's 3rd birthday yesterday with a Hawaiian themed party. Her Grandma and Grandfather Reubin, Grandma and Grandfather Trent, and her Great Grandma and Great Grandfather were all there along with our neighbors and some friends and lots of little kids. I think there were 11 kids age 3 and under at our house last night for some fun in the pool and a big dinner and of course some cake.

Here's Clara earlier in the day licking the beaters for her strawberry birthday cake.

Clara was overwhelmed to say the least. She had several meltdowns, including a big freak out when everyone sang 'Happy Birthday' to her. She didn't even want to blow out the candles! Poor girl...she really doesn't want to the center of attention in a group. However, if you get her around close family or just one on one, she will talk your ear off and be perfectly comfortable.

Clara did enjoy opening her presents.

After everyone left, she gathered up her new suitcase, purse and golf bag and was ready to head to Grandma's house.

Here's a picture of William playing with Grandma. He was a great little guy for the whole party.

The funniest and cutest thing all day was when she put on her hula costume from Great Grandma Reubin. She even did a hula dance for us!

Do they come any cuter than this???

2010-05-19T15:43:00.002-05:00

Here's my sweet William just being himself. Isn't he the cutest little guy you have ever seen? Can't believe he will be 7 months old tomorrow.

Things are happening

2010-05-13T15:29:00.006-05:00

When it rains, it pours...so the saying goes. There are so many things happening around the house these days. Today, we {finally!!} got our bedroom furniture in. Most of it anyways. Here is our bed and one nightstand. The other nightstand should be here in a couple weeks. Next thing we need, is a comforter set and window treatments. This room is in some desperate need of color!

We also decided to take the carpet out of the basement living area and do stained concrete instead. We are beginning to think about furnishing the room and putting in the mini-kitchen. The room is already plumbed for a sink and ice maker. We are going to have some cabinets built and have a mini fridge and microwave. The guys came today to rip out carpet, take up tack strips and also etch a tile pattern into the concrete. Next they will acid wash the concrete and apply several coats of stain and sealers. They should be done Saturday or Sunday.
The kitchen will go along the left hand wall above.

Can you see the tile lines etched in the concrete above?

We have all our plants and seeds in the garden. We have planted lots of different kinds of peppers, tomatoes, green beans, corn, cucumbers, zuccini, and okra. Clara and William watched as we planted everything. The chickens are doing well. They are all out in the coop now and getting bigger. No eggs yet. It will still be several more months before they will start laying.

It turned cold earlier this week and I put William in some overalls...next thing I know, Tom dressed Clara up to match! I loved it! It's so hard to find stores that make boy/girl clothes in similar patterns or collections, but I'm always looking.

Poor William...he isn't sure what his sister is going to do next.

6 Month Pictures

2010-05-04T16:00:00.004-05:00

I had these taken a couple weeks ago and just got them back. William had just turned 6 months old.

Weekends in Oklahoma

2010-05-03T21:55:00.003-05:00

We have spent the last two weekends in Oklahoma. One week ago we were in Oklahoma City for the marathon. Tom ran all 26.2 miles and finished in one piece! Clara and I, along with our friends, the Long's, cheered him and Justin on throughout the course. We all had a lot of fun cheering for them and watching them accomplish a big goal.

This past weekend, we were in Tulsa for our friend Nick's wedding. Tom was good friends with Nick back at Oklahoma State. He went on to law school where he met his future wife, Belinda. Their wedding was really pretty and a lot of fun. They had a photo booth and Tom and I had our picture made for a change.

6 month checkup

2010-04-22T22:40:00.004-05:00

William had his 6 month checkup a couple days ago!! Time has really flown by since he was born. It's hard to believe he is six months old, sitting up, eating solids, and getting so big. He is 17 pounds and 28 inches long which is the 75% for weight and well above the 100% for height. I think he will take after his Daddy in the height category. We will have to get him a new car seat very soon. No teeth yet, but he wants to chew on everything so we're thinking they should be here soon.

William continues to be a happy and sweet little guy. Clara easily amuses him and gets him giggling all the time. He is not sleeping through the night right now, but has a nice long stretch most nights. He falls asleep in the car so easily - so much different than Clara.

We are going to OKC this weekend for Tom to run in the marathon. It will be a lot of fun to catch up with some old friends and also see Tom's Grandma Trent. We are excited for her to meet William for the first time.

Happy Easter!!

2010-04-04T20:59:00.013-05:00

Easter was a lot of fun this year. We went to church and then came home for the Easter egg hunt and baskets. Clara really got into dyeing, hiding, and finding the eggs this year. She dyed Easter eggs 3 times! Once with my mom, once with Tom's mom, and once with me. She is a pro now!

I filled 12 plastic eggs last night with lots of jelly beans and a package of Hershey miniatures candy bars. Yum! I put in purple and green grass in Clara and William's Easter baskets. I arranged the little gifts etc. Everything was ready to go and looked cute for the morning. I left the baskets in Tom's closet so little eyes would not see them before I was ready. Well, I was pretty tired last night, I guess, because I did not even think to shut the closet door when I put Chelsea in our bathroom to go to sleep. Tom got up at 6:00 this morning and told me Chelsea had eaten the contents of every egg! The little chocolate bars - foil and all, completely devoured. Lots of little jelly beans - gone. (I'm glad I didn't splurge on the expensive Jelly Belly brand). Oh yes - and 2 cadbury cream eggs filled with caramel. Gone. I was pretty ticked off at myself and kinda mad at Chelsea, but what did I expect with two loaded baskets at her level? Thankfully, Chelsea is fine and somehow does not have any problems eating a ton of chocolate.

I had some jelly beans left over and a few little candy bars I had set aside for my stash that I ended up putting in the plastic eggs. Clara never knew the difference.

After church, I hid the eggs and Clara had a lot of fun hunting for them in the yard.

We tried to get a family picture. They are more funny than any good. Here are some decent ones. Tom and I didn't plan on matching, but somehow we did :)

We went to the park later on in the afternoon. I LOVE this picture of William!! The best one I have taken so far of him. He is such a doll right now. Just adorable.

Here are some other good ones.

It was soooo windy today!! Our hair was blowing everywhere. Clara had fun blowing bubbles and playing on the equipment.

The weather is finally warming up right now and it looks like Spring is here to stay. So happy to finally see some green and be done with the cold weather!

Disney Playhouse Live

2010-03-11T21:25:00.006-06:00

We surprised Clara with a special trip this afternoon to see a live Disney show with characters from several of Clara's favorite shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Pooh and Tigger and also Handy Manny.
We made it out to be a special date for Clara and Tom. I painted her nails and picked up a new dress for her. She found the purse and bracelets. So cute!!

They had a great time and Clara was intrigued by the characters and all the singing and dancing. On the way home, they stopped at Bass Pro Shop which is probably Clara's favorite place to go around here. It was a fun afternoon!

Just Hatched!

2010-03-11T11:36:00.013-06:00

We have four new members of the family! Yesterday we went to the local farm store and picked up some super cute baby chicks. They were just hatched and so cute. We have two Rhode Island reds, one Plymoth Barred rock and a California White. They are really young now, only a day old. It was cool how you could see them establish their pecking order right away. The California White is the leader of the pack, while the Plymouth Barred Rock is at the bottom.

We thought about buying full grown birds, but decided against it when we couldn't find exactly what we wanted and also so that the chickens would know us and vice versa and feel really comfortable around kids. They won't start laying eggs until they are between 5 and 6 months old and will not move into their coop until the temperatures warm up - at least 4 weeks from now.

For those of you who have known me a long time, can you believe I'm doing this?? :)

Here is a picutre of the Rhode Island Red and then what she will look like full grown.

Here is the California White and a full grown hen.

Here is the Plymouth Barred Rock and a full grown hen.

Oh - one more little chick. This one is 4 months old :) Amazing how fast they grow and how cute they get!

William's Turn

2010-03-10T14:52:00.006-06:00

William was upstairs napping while I took all those pictures outside. While Clara napped, I thought he deserved some face time with the camera.

He is now rolling quite a bit from his front to his back. He seems to really like to do this when I'm changing his diaper. I'm trying to get a good video of this - I'll post that when I do.

It's amazing how fast William has grown. My friend just had a boy about 3 weeks ago and we were all together last night. William looked enormous next to this little 8 pound baby - it's hard to remember him being that small.

We are thinking we will see new teeth anyways. Can you spot the drool in these pictures?

Chelsea update

2010-03-10T13:38:00.003-06:00

You seldom hear about little Chelsea these days. Just wanted to give everyone an update to let you know she's doing pretty good these days...She's still very tolerant of Clara and will go lay down next to William when he's laying on the floor. She still likes to cuddle up close on the couch with us. What else...she still enjoys an occasional romp in the trash (grrrrr) and we find her drinking water off the pool cover all the time. She's still a dog after all. I took this cute picture today while she was running around outside off leash.

Let's go Fly a Kite

2010-03-10T13:32:00.004-06:00

Clara really loves to go out and fly her kite. Unfortunately, when I ran inside to get the camera, the kite left Clara's capable hands and ended up in the tree. Oh well, these pictures turned out cute anyway.

2...Going on 16

2010-03-10T13:23:00.004-06:00

Forget being a backseat driver, Clara must be in charge at all times.

Spring is here!

2010-03-10T13:09:00.006-06:00

We have had some really wonderful, beautiful weather here the past few days. Even though it was still a tad chilly, I couldn't resist putting Clara in some of her new Spring clothes. I snapped these pictures out on the driveway before we left for our daily errands. Clara's really growing up, isn't she?

This is long...lots of pictures!

2010-03-07T22:15:00.047-06:00

We have been busy over here and have lots to report. I'll try to sum up the past month or so with this post.

We recently came back from spending a few days in Arkansas with family. Now that Tom's parents, my parents and my grandparents live about 1 mile from each other, we can easily shuttle kids, dogs, and each other back and forth to spend some quality time together.

Lots of hanging out and staying inside. It's been really cold here and we are SO ready for Spring.

Lots of art projects to do...

Even with the cold days, Clara had to get outside some.

Clara has been learning the 50 states and puts this puzzle together on her own with a little help from me or Tom.

She's also playing with her legos and having us read to her quite a bit. She is loving the Berenstein Bears, Curious George and the Little Critter books by Mercer Mayer.

We are really going country over here. Recently, Tom and I had the crazy idea to buy some chickens. We bought a coop and are trying to get our little chick out of the coop so we can get some real ones in! We are going to get some laying hens soon and have fresh eggs.

William is a handsome little doll!! We love him so much and just are amazed by his sweet personality and how fast time has gone by with him. He will be 5 months old soon and you can just see him taking new things in every day and becoming so aware of everything around him. At his 4 month checkup, he was off the chart (~110%) for his height and in the 75% for his weight. He gets lots of compliments on his beautiful blue eyes.

I recently celebrated my 30th birthday (!!!!) here and received an awesome camera from Tom. I really love the sharpness of it's pictures and the speed that I can now snap pictures. My parents were also able to be here to celebrate with me which I don't think has happened since I was in high school. We had a lot of fun together plus they babysat for us so that Tom and I could go out for dinner. Good times :)

Tom and Clara made me a chocolate cherry cake that I love. Clara really enjoys helping in the kitchen, especially when there is batter to lick.

Here are my two sweet Valentines. Clara got a big heart balloon and she still plays with it today! When will that thing just deflate?!? Even after a patch job with some scotch tape it still hangs high.

William is now sleeping in his own room! He has new furniture and the room has a vintage airplane theme.

The past couple days have been so nice!! There was a hot air balloon flying over our house so we ran out and I got some cute pictures of Clara riding on Tom's shoulders in order to get the best look at the balloon. It was so funny because after the baloon went down we were walking back to the house. Clara says, "Mommy, let's go to Walmart. I want to get one of those balloons."

Clara continues to be a doting big sister...here's how I found William a few minutes after I asked Clara to give him a toy to play with.

Potty Training and the Dentist

2010-01-30T20:16:00.006-06:00

We have been in potty training mode over here the past week or so. Clara really started to 'get it' and is making huge strides to lose the diapers, once and for all!!

Clara also had her first dentist appointment and she did great! She had an x-ray, her teeth cleaned and flossed and also had a floride treatment. Something that works well for us is to 'practice' or rehearse what will happen during a new situation. Tom or I started playing dentist and have Clara lay on the couch. We ask her name and how old she is, who the little baby is next to her (William), etc. Then we would pretend to clean her teeth and use the sucking device. Pretty soon, the roles would reverse and Clara would play the dentist and clean our teeth. She really loves this AND it prepares her well for the actual event and makes the whole thing a lot less scary. When the real deal actually happens, it's almost old hat to her. The hygenist commented she was one of the best 2 year olds she had seen! Unfortunately, I didn't even think of documenting this with pictures so hopefully I'll remember in 6 months at her next checkup.

William is about to roll over...he has not fully done it yet, but he is so close! He is now over 3 months old and just a sweet, sweet boy. He smiles easily and is ticklish under his arms and chin. It is just so darn stinkin' cute to hear him laugh.

Here are some of the latest pictures of the two and one of sweet Chelsea.

Some cute ones

2010-01-05T14:42:00.003-06:00

Here are some cute pictures of the kiddos and Tom. Clara is hot and cold lately about having her picture taken - she's either hamming it up or pouting and turning her back on the camera. Hopefully that is a 2-year old thing and we'll get past this phase.

William is getting really big!! At his 2 month checkup he weighed 13lbs 5 ounces and was 25 inches long. That was the 90% for weight and 100% for height. He is still an awesome baby. So lovable and cuddly and also a great sleeper.

Clara is also doing well. She had a great Christmas and is enjoying all the books and games she received as well as the scooter and bike.

We recently got several inches of snow. Tom took Clara out on a sled and pulled her around and she also tried making snowballs and a snowman. The snow was too dry and powdery though and didn't giver her much to work with.

It's really cold here!! Last night I think it was around 4 degrees and we are supposed to get more snow late tonight and early in the morning. Fun times.

Goodbye 2009

2009-12-31T21:55:00.005-06:00

Here are a few of the last pictures I took in 2009 of my two little cuties.

Clara's hair looked especially curly and cute today so I took a pic of the back of her head. I hope her curls stay around for a long time!! She has never had her hair cut so I'm not sure if they will last for long or not.

Christmas Recap

2009-12-31T21:13:00.021-06:00

We had a great Christmas - filled with lots of family and friends and fun times.

We got to do something none of us have never done before on Christmas Eve. Since William was born in late October, that made him the perfect age to be Baby Jesus in the Christmas Eve service at church. Which means Tom was Joseph and I was Mary. I have always enjoyed the Christmas Eve service at church, especially singing "Silent Night" by candlelight. William was the perfect baby Jesus - happy and content and so precious.

Tom's parents, sister and her family were with us for Christmas. We had a great time baking cookies and candies together. Clara really got into this, with the help of her cousins, Heidi and Katherine.

Heidi also taught Clara the basics of texting...

It was fun playing Santa this year. We set out cookies and milk for Santa and Clara was ready to tear into her presents bright and early Christmas morning.

Her big gifts were a bike, scooter and a couple helmets. She also got a play kitchen.

We even had a little bit of snow early Christmas morning. Tom took the older kids on a sledding adventure behind our Polaris ranger...unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of this event, but everyone had a lot of fun being towed all over our land at 20 mph. Luckily they were wearing helmets.

My parents and sister and her hubby came a couple days after Christmas. We did a lot more eating and hanging out. My parents surprised us with the news that their house in Houston SOLD! We were so excited to hear this because this means they can finally move to Arkansas and start building their new home. Yea! This also means they will only be two hours away from us and we can easily drive there to see them for visits or they can come up here to see us.

Two's

2009-12-21T21:52:00.011-06:00

William turned two months old yesterday and Clara turned exactly two and a half today. These cuties have been doing well lately. Clara is eagerly anticipating Santa Claus's arrival and likes to pretend to visit Santa throughout the day with Tom or I playing Santa. She also likes to pretend she is Santa and have Tom and I visit her.

Sometimes Clara is in the mood to have her picture made and tonight was one of those somewhat rare moments. Yea!!

Sweet Smiles

2009-12-16T20:49:00.003-06:00

I finally snapped a few pictures of William's sweet smile. Enjoy!

Santa Success

2009-12-14T21:43:00.006-06:00

After waiting for an hour and a half in line and lots of coaxing (and a bribe for chocolate)to get Clara to cooperate, we were able to get a terrific picture of Clara and William with Santa.

Bass Pro Shop has a really, really good Santa. He has a full beard and long white silky hair, good build, and is gentle and soft spoken with the kiddos. Clara told him what she wanted (a bike, a scooter and a helmet) and then, when asked by Santa what William wants, she said a baby bottle. (Hmmm...maybe she wants Daddy to feed baby William every now and then?).

Anyways, Tom and I were both very relieved that all our waiting was worth it and that Clara didn't have a melt down with St. Nick. Here are some pictures of the event

Hanging out with Daddy during the long wait.

William slept the entire time in line.

Going down the ice slide at Bass Pro.

Clara and William Update - new video added :)

2009-12-13T21:19:00.012-06:00

Yea, I'm still alive and kicking!! Baby William and Clara have been keeping me really busy, so I haven't had as much time to devote to the computer lately. Here's what's been going on around here the past few weeks.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with Tom's parents, my parents and my grandparents visiting us at our house. It was my first time hosting family for a big holiday and I think things went really well.

The next day we started decorating for Christmas. Tom, Clara, my dad and Tom's dad went out looking for a tree and came back with a beautiful Frasier Fir. It's around 9 or 10 feet and looks great in the living room.

Clara and William are both doing well. Clara is a few days shy of being two and a half now and is just as talkative and full of energy as ever. Recently she has been telling me, Tom, William and Chelsea 'You are my best friend ever'. It's cute and sweet and funny at the same time when you hear her say it.

Clara started singing in the car today after church and was willing to sing her song again so I could get it on video. I didn't have the patience to edit out the extra footage on the video so bear with us for about 15 or 20 seconds at the beginning and end.

William is doing so well. He is getting so big!! I am hoping I can use all the size 1 diapers I have bought before having to step it up to size 2. He is still pretty mello and laid back. He began smiling a couple weeks ago and seeing his cute little grin in priceless. He continues to eat well and sleep for longer stretches at night.

One Month Old!

2009-11-20T14:11:00.014-06:00

William is one month old today. The time has really flown by since he has arrived...it seems like we just brought him home from the hospital. William is a really good baby!! We are so lucky to have such a laid back little guy since Clara is anything but right now.

William continues to eat well and sleep a lot. He is not very fussy. However, somehow, he seems to know when dinner is going to be served because if he has a fussy time, this is when it happens. His hair seems to be coming in blond in most parts and it looks like it will be a lot thicker than Clara's. I don't have a scale, so I have no idea how much he weighs right now, but I can tell he is gaining.

Clara really dotes on William and loves to hold him. She also loves to color, waterpaint and play hide-and-seek.

Welcome Baby William!

2009-11-04T14:47:00.025-06:00

William David Trent joined our lives on October 20, 2009 at 8:22 pm! He weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces (exactly like his sister) and 22 inches long. He has a lot of super blond peach fuzz. He is long and lean - much like his Daddy. He looks a little like Clara to me, in his cheeks and chin. Overall I think William looks a lot more like Tom than me. Not knowing the sex was SO exciting and I will never forget the moment I saw William was a boy! It's hard to put into words what that moment felt like, but it was just a total rush of emotions with all the waiting and wondering finally paying off.

My labor and delivery went really well - very easy and relatively quick. The induction started at noon and by 5:00 I had my epidural-praise God for those! It was wonderful to have so many family members in the waiting room. They were all so excited to find out if the newest member would be a boy or girl and to meet him or her for the first time. Clara, my parents, Tom's parents and my grandparents were all there, as well as, my sister and one of Tom's sisters were on the phone to hear Tom announce the big news.

William is an awesome baby! We love him dearly already. He is very laid back and sleeps a ton. We have had a lot of help since his birth which has been great. My parents stayed at our house for a week or so after William was born, my entire family came for a day (brother and his wife, sister and her husband, nephew, niece, grandparents and parents), then some friends from Oklahoma came to visit, then we spent some time in Arkansas with my grandparents and Tom's parents. Then yesterday we had some friends from Illinois come visit for a day and night. It's been busy around here!

Here are some pictures from the past few weeks.

One of the last prego pics.

IVs are in, epidural is wonderful!!
William was much longer and heavier than I expected.

Love my little boy so much already.

Clara was so excited to meet her new little brother. She wanted to take him home right away.

Can't believe I am a mother of two now!

Coming home from the hospital

Trying to nurse Daddy's ear.

These are not helping me lose any post-pregnancy weight, but they are sooo good! My old Citgo co-worker friends were so thoughtful to send this beautiful cookie bouquet.

First Bath

So sweet!

Clara wants to hold him, but cannot stand having his hat on. She loves touching his head and face. These were both taken today.

Surprise Visit

2009-10-14T15:40:00.007-05:00

Much to my surprise this morning, Clara walks in at 7:00 am and says 'Hi Mommy, wake up, wake up!!'. Doesn't sound too weird does it? Well, except that neither Tom nor I had gotten her OUT OF HER CRIB YET!

I have been dreading this day...the day Clara can climb out of her crib on her own. She is pretty coordinated and I have felt like this was coming. I should probably count my blessings that this has not happened any earlier.

Tom and I asked Clara how she actually got out of her crib and she showed us. Thought you all might want to see my little monkey.

Baby News!

2009-10-14T15:24:00.011-05:00

I am getting induced on Tuesday, October 20th at 7:00 am if the baby does not come before then! I had a sonogram yesterday to check weight and fluid levels. Everything looked really good - baby is estimated to weigh 6 lbs 13 oz right now (But this is an estimate which can be + or - 13 oz). I am feeling great, sleeping well, and have no swelling. This pregnancy has been so easy which is such a blessing with everything else we have had going on.

The baby will be named William David if he's a he and if she turns out to be a she then we are still deciding between Caroline Marie, Abigail Ann or Rebecca Marie.

Here is a face picture of the baby from my ultrasound yesterday. He/She looked to have chubby cheeks like Clara.

Anyone want to wager a date, weight and sex guess? Leave me a comment and indicate when you think the baby will be born, if it's a girl or boy and how much the baby will weigh. The person with the closest answers wins a cool, fancy prize. Good Luck!

Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

2009-09-24T08:38:00.012-05:00

Clara wanted to 'read' to Tom and I before bedtime last night, instead of us reading to her. I caught it the second time around on video.

Here is Clara on the Brown Bear quilt my Mom made for the new baby. Clara really enjoys looking at it and having me wrap her up in it so she can wrestle herself out of it.

Clara is wrapped up in the blanket about to break free :)

Another Friendly Visit

2009-09-17T21:08:00.021-05:00

Over Labor Day, we had some more friends from Peoria visit. Jill and Jason were in the same Sunday school class at church as Tom and I, and Jill and I did a lot together outside of church. Kami and Clara are the same age and Kaitlin is a great big sister who plays so well with the little girls. They made a brief visit to see us on their drive down to Texas.

We had a lot of fun hanging out in the backyard and then on Tuesday we took a trip to an inflatable jumpy place. The girls had a lot of fun and I even got in on the action. I think I may have overdone it jumping all over the place and helping Clara climb, slide, and manuever through all these obstacle courses. It was crazy, but we had a lot of fun together.

Here are some pictures Jill took from their visit. They have an really nice digital camera that takes such great pictures...plus they know what their doing with it. Enjoy!

Catch up!

2009-09-15T20:03:00.017-05:00

It's been a while...I know!! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update my blog. I have been more motivated lately to scrapbook - most of Clara's naptime and after she goes to bed is devoted to documenting the past two years. I still have a lot more to do but I'm getting there.

Anyways, here are some recent pictures of Clara and the rest of the family. We have been busy - over Labor Day weekend we had two sets of friends from Peoria come visit us. It was so much fun to see them and hang out together.
Derek and Mary came first. Derek really likes to fish so we took them to Arkansas to visit the White River and to hopefully catch some trout. Tom rented a guide for the two of them and the trip was a success!

Mary, Clara and I visited them on the river and I got some cute pictures. Doesn't Clara look like such a big girl here?

Check out this spider web. Cool, isn't it?

When it was time to go home, Chelsea jumped in the car first. She found a comfortable spot in Clara's car seat. Such a good dog!! Clara has some funky hair. There is a section in the back that has a different texture and after a night of sleeping on it, it really goes haywire. You can mold it into any style or shape. There is no hairspray or gel involved...her hair just does this naturally!

Our other friends, Jill and Jason, along with their two girls, Kami and Katlyn, came too. Jill took most of the pictures during their stay so hopefully I will get a copy of those soon and be able to share them with everyone.

Here's a cute video from a couple weeks ago. Clara is really into learning her ABCs right now. She's really good with uppercase letters and is learning the lowercase ones now. The alphabet song is one of her favorites. Here you go:

Newsflash!! Less than FIVE weeks till our next baby makes his or her arrival. I can't believe how fast this pregnancy has gone by. Everything has gone very smoothly and been pretty easy on me. We have been able to hold out and still not find out the sex. Here is the latest ultrasound. You are seeing the left side of the baby's face along with a hand and the chest. In the top picture, the baby's mouth is open. During the ultrasound, the baby was opening and closing it's mouth and sticking it's toungue out. It was pretty cute. I am getting really excited about meeting this little baby and at the same time trying to enjoy these last few weeks of good sleep and one on one time with Clara.

New house is Becoming a Home

2009-08-20T21:24:00.005-05:00

My grandparents drove up to visit on Tuesday and spent the night with us too. It was great because they were able to watch Clara while Tom accompanied me to my doctor's appointment and was able to meet my new doctor. My OB's office has a lot of rules - one of which is there are absolutely no kids allowed in any of the exam rooms. There are signs posted all over about this. Kind of strange for an OB office in my opinion.

Anyways, on Wednesday morning my grandfather got busy! He offered to hang up some pictures around the house and so I found quite a few that needed to be put on the walls. Here are a few pictures from all his work. Thank you very much G&G!

Our new furniture finally came in yesterday and it looks great! Here are some pictures of our new pieces. We are still waiting on one chair and ottoman - hoping that comes next week.

Maybe Barney isn't THAT bad...

2009-08-16T14:33:00.006-05:00

In the past few months I have come to see and understand the merit and benefit that Barney the Dinosaur possesses. Clara's a very busy little girl and Tom and I like to encourage this behavior. We want her to be active, learn and explore new things, and to keep her interest involved in things that don't involve starting at a big, flat screen for hours on end. For this reason we limit her to one or two tv shows a day. However, I am really loving this time of quiet and couch-time because it gives me a chance to cook some dinner, drink my morning coffee or take a fast shower. Anyways, from this Barney watching, comes a cute little song that Clara has picked up. Check her out below:

Somersault Sweety

2009-08-09T22:51:00.006-05:00

Tom showed Clara how to do a somersault yesterday and Clara has been perfecting hers ever since! Check out her new move...

Family Visit from OK and TX Trent's

2009-08-02T15:23:00.011-05:00

We love living closer to family!! Tom's parents and his sister and her family have been down this weekend for a visit. We have had a lot of fun swimming in the pool, going on Ranger rides, and just hanging out together.

Clara and Tom check for bugs in the pool filter

Katherine and Clara playing in the pool

This morning, the guys went out to Wilson's Creek Battlefield to explore around. It's not far from our house and Tom has been wanting to get up there for a while.

Last night we had a big shrimp boil with potatoes, corn, sausage, and shrimp. We covered the patio table with freezer paper and (after draining all the liquids) poured everything out on the table and just ate everything off the table. No plates or anything. It was pretty fun and different and everything tasted really good.

We celebrated Tom's birthday last night and he requested a tres leches cake. I have never made one before, but it turned out to be a very yummy cake. Tres Leches means three milks in Spanish. You bake a pretty basic cake then poke holes all in it. Then pour in a mixture of whole milk, evaporated milk, and sweetened condensed milk. Then let it all soak in and top with homemade whipped cream. Let it sit in the fridge for a little bit then enjoy! Different, but good.

Clara's having a great time with everyone. She is a busy body trying to get anyone and everyone to play ball with her or chase around the house or color or anything else she can think of. Here are some cute pictures of her that Tom's Dad took this morning playing in the backyard.

Our latest family picture - Chelsea looks like a ferocious dog here but was really caught mid-yawn.

The front yard shortly after sunrise this morning.

Clara Learns the Months

2009-07-31T13:55:00.003-05:00

The laundry room in our new house is right off the kitchen and has a nice countertop perfect for changing Clara's diaper. It sure beats running all the way upstairs to her room everytime she needs to freshen up! Tom hung up my calendar cross-stitch picture right at the same place we change diapers and it has become a fun way for Clara to begin learning the calendar.

Country Livin'

2009-07-30T21:29:00.019-05:00

Hello!! We're back and hopefully will be posting more often now. The mamaholic and family has moved into our new house and we're getting settled into life here. Things are different...we are now 'country' folk :) Driving into the big city takes a good 20 minutes. There are more stores that cater to farmers than clothing stores in our little town. There is a rodeo arena next to the park where Clara goes to play. Get the idea???

What's life like now for us, you wonder?

For starters, we have a really BIG yard.

The road to our house is gravel...not paved.

We have a propane tank in the yard...

We get our water from a well, instead of city water pipes.

Tom sold the jeep and bought a Polaris Ranger to get around the property.

Clara loves to drive and sit next to her Daddy.

Even Chelsea likes to go for rides.

We have a garden with corn, green beans, squash, zuccini, green peppers, pumpkins, and onions.

Things here are going well. Tom started his new job last week and really likes it. The other doctors have been friendly and helpful and the shifts are so much shorter than in residency. Yea!! He seems to enjoy the extra big yard we have here and is seen frequently darting across it on his super fast lawn mower.

I am getting further along in my pregnancy and feeling the baby kick more and more. I meet my new doctor next week and should get another ultrasound then. I am almost 29 weeks along...less than 3 months until the baby is here!

Clara has jumped head first into the 'Terrible' and 'Terrifc' 2 year old stage. One minute she is sweet and playing nicely with Chelsea and the next she is pitching a huge fit about which diaper she wants to wear. It keeps us on our toes, that's for sure. In a moment of weakness, I bought Clara a big box of colored, frozen, high fructose corn syrup popsicles and it's pretty much the highlight of her day when she gets to have one. There are usually several conversations each day about which color she is going to eat (usually blue) and which color Mommy and Daddy should have (any other color other than blue). She loves these things and who wouldn't...they are so sweet and cold and fun to eat.

Check back soon...more posts are coming!

So Busy!!

2009-06-24T20:11:00.009-05:00

This month has flown by!! It seems we have things going on every day of the week, especially lately. We are trying to get all our good-bye's in and tying up loose ends around here.

We have also had some pretty big events happen recently.

First, Clara turned TWO years old this past Sunday!!! We didn't have much of a party, but a good friend came over with her little boy and then later on we went over to some friend's house to swim. Clara had fun opening her presents and cards, but she was not happy when we sang 'happy birthday' to her. I'm not sure if it was the candles on the cake or that I was video taping the whole thing, but she was in tears until both things stopped. After that little outburst, she was happy again and loved her chocolate cake and ice cream.

She really got into opening presents. Her Aunt Melissa and Uncle Brent got her a really nice baby stroller. She loves pushing this around the house and we take it out on walks too. Clara also got a winnie the pooh packback from Grandma and Grandfather Trent which she barely took off the first 24 hours after getting! She wears it out on walks and around the house.

Swimming with Daddy across the street on Clara's birthday and Father's Day.

Going home after swimming...pushing the new stroller and wearing her new backpack.

It was also Father's day on Sunday, so Tom had a special day too. He got a new pair of plaid shorts and a new shirt which he seems to really like. He enjoyed his day off from work and relaxed a little here, ate some good food, and went swimming with his little girl. No complaints from him!

Monday was Tom's LAST shift as a resident!!! Wow - we didn't think this day would be here so soon!! The last three years have gone by so fast. It's hard to believe that Tom will soon be an attending at a very busy ER and working pretty much on his own. It's definitely not a job I could do, but Tom works really well under pressure and a constantly changing environment. Congratulations!!

Today was the big day for signing all our paperwork on our new house. We are closing long distance, so even though we do not technically close and own the house until Friday, today was our day to sign a ton of paperwork and get everything notarized. It's all in the mail and pretty soon we will be homeowners in two states!

Friday morning the mover's come to load up all our stuff. I have been doing a ton of packing and the house is about 90% packed. Have I menioned how hot it has been here?!? The heat index has been in the high 90s and low 100s and boy are we feeling it. I forgot what this heat was like. Plus today the electric company was working right behind the house and the electricity was off a couple of times for a while. Being pregnant doesn't help much in the way of feeling cool either. I'll try to update at least one more time before we move...after that I'm not sure when we will have internet again. I spent some time today trying to figure out how to get high speed internet there...there is no high speed internet through the phone company and we can't get cable out there either. Living out in the country is going to be interesting...

Biker Chick

2009-06-18T20:43:00.010-05:00

Clara is really getting into this bike riding. She is getting the steering down a lot better than just a few days ago which means (hopefully) there won't be any (more)new dents in my car. I'm really impressed by her coordination and strength. The video isn't great...My camera skills on this video leave a lot to be desired, but this gives you an idea of Clara's progress over the past few days.

Clara turns two on Sunday! Here's a picture from today and then one from last year on her birthday.

Clara's last day of music class was today. We have been going for a year now and she really enjoys herself. Here is a picture of Clara with her teacher, Ms. Julie.

A good laugh

2009-06-16T23:14:00.004-05:00

Clara came walking into the office giggling this morning and I thought this was about the funniest thing I had seen in a long time. Doesn't she look like something that could be in the Wizard of Oz?

In case you can't tell, this is a child's floaty thing that a kid can sit in to stay upright in the pool.

Reflection on our life here

2009-06-10T13:08:00.035-05:00

We have about two weeks left in our house before the big move. I thought I would compile a list of what I will and will not miss about our life here.

What I will miss about P-town:

1) The friends we have made in our neighborhood, church and through Tom's residency.
Truly, they have been like family here - we have spent Thanksgiving dinners, Christmas dinners, birthdays, and many other special days together when our families were far away and we couldn't get home, not to mention all the times we just get together for no reason at all.

Good Friends Paul and Kathy

Our Sunday School Class on our goodbye cruise on the Spirit of P-town Paddleboat

2) My Mom's group at church. Every Tuesday morning I would get Clara and I up to my church where Clara got dropped off to excellent childcare and I got two hours of bible study and getting to know other great moms. It was so much fun and Clara and I both have made some good friends from my small group there.

3) YMCA workouts. The past 6 months or so, my friend Camille and I would meet up at the Y to workout together. Her son Carter and Clara are close in age and they went to the childcare area and Camille and I got about an hour to ourselves. The motivation and friendship from Camille is what I will miss because, let's face it, if I have no one to meet up with, I probably won't make it to the gym. Plus, Tom's residency paid for our gym membership the whole time we were here. So nice!

My workout buddy, Camille

4) Clara's nursery. Tom and I spent hours and hours before Clara was born getting her room ready. We painted stripes, put up wainscoating, painted trimwork, hung up quilts and pictures and shelves. My Mom and I spent a lot of time picking out fabrics, and sewing her curtains, bumper pads, diaper stacker, pillows, and several quilts. I love her room - it's so sweet and girly.

Sadly, I couldn't find a great picture of the whole nursery, but this gives you a glimpse...

5) Clara's music class - For over a year, every Thursday Clara and I go to her Music Together class with Ms. Julie. Every semester we get new CDs to play in the car and the class is so much fun with lots of different activities and songs. Clara really enjoys herself and it's been neat to see her progress and develop in the class and to learn the songs.

6) Our neighborhood. It's safe, pretty, and there are sidewalks all over. We go on daily walks with Clara and Chelsea and I'm thinking it won't be the same in our new place. We usually stop and talk to neighbors along the way which I enjoy after being home alone with only a toddler to talk to...which is fun, but just not the same.

What I won't miss about living here:

1) Living in an older home. This place needs a lot of TLC. It's a great house with a lot of character, but the upkeep can be time consuming.

2) The LONG winters. It is way too cold here for me and for way too long!! The winters seem very long and gray. I really look forward to a HOT summer and a much more mild winter.

Clara is thinking here...'When will this winter end?'

3) Lack of Restaurants. We haven't found too many places we really like to go out and eat here. Not that we will go out that much in our new place, especially once the new baby is here, but at least we will have the option when we are able!

4) The constant sirens. We live close enough to the hospital and off a busy enough road that we hear sirens throughout the day and night. We are looking forward to living in the country where it's just us and some neighbors a few acres away.

5) Having Clara's room right next to the master bedroom. Clara is a light sleeper and we tiptoe around upstairs while we're getting ready for bed and using the bathroom. Waking up a sleeping child is pretty frustrating to me! In our new place, Clara's room is upstairs and ours is on the main floor :)

6) The basement - It's partially finished, we do laundry down there and store a lot of stuff. There is constant worry when we're out of town if the sump pump is working and a host of other things.

Tricycle Ride and a Family Update

2009-06-06T20:57:00.016-05:00

Clara is growing up! Later this month she turns two years old and I can't help to think my little baby is pretty far from that now. She will tell you she's not a baby, she's a toddler. To show how much of a little girl she is, Clara let me paint her toes yesterday and I think it's the cutest thing!!

She is also really into riding her tricycle now. She's been working on this for a while, but has gotten the hang of it now. Kind of. Her steering abilities are questionable, but she's not even two yet and she can really peddle this thing.

In other family news, Tom's new job is becoming more and more a reality. Last night was Tom's residency graduation dinner where he received a diploma for completing his residency. Then today he received his Missouri license in the mail. Congratulations honey!!

In other very good news, we had two couples look at our house today!! One couple seems pretty interested and is coming back tomorrow. While out on a walk tonight, Tom and I think we spotted them driving very slowly by our house several times. They did this a few times and the car they were in had out of state plates. Hmmm....hopefully they really like our house! How could they not...it's so cute! We are praying for a reasonable offer so we don't have to maintain two houses for any long period of time.

20 Week Sonogram: It's A...

2009-06-04T20:24:00.003-05:00

Surprise!!

Sorry to get your hopes us, but Tom and I decided recently to wait on finding out the sex of this baby until his or her birthday. I had my 20 week appointment today and the sonographer said the baby looked wonderful. She counted 10 fingers and toes, saw the 4 chambers of the heart, looked at the spine and stomach and the facial features. She thought everything looked healthy which was all we really wanted to hear. I may not feel as much movement with this baby as I did with Clara due to the position of the placenta. I'm a little disapointed about that, but I'm feeling little flutters so hopefully I'll still get my share of kicks throughout the next four and a half months.

Here are some pictures from my visit today.

My doctor thought the baby was a girl with a heart rate of 186 beats per minute.

OKC Visit

2009-05-27T14:28:00.007-05:00

After being gone for two weeks, we are all back home and getting back into our routine. We spent the last weekend of our vacation with Tom's parents and his sister's family. The main reason for the visit was to celebrate Tom's Grandma Trent's 90th birthday. There was a nice big party for her and Clara and I were able to meet a bunch of Tom's extended family. It was so funny to hear people say to Tom "Little T!?! Is that you? I haven't seen you in 15 years!"

Tom and I, along with his great Uncle Carl and Grandma Trent

Clara was worn out from running around and meeting so many new people.

Tom's sister Amy, her husband Terry, and their 3 kids (l to r) Katherine, Jared, and Heidi

Clara and Heidi, Jared, and Katherine playing on Grandma's walker

We spent most of our time at Tom's parents house and with his sister Amy and her family. Cousins Heidi, Katherine and Jared were so sweet to cousin Clara and kept her well entertained and loved the whole visit.

I think the highlight of the visit for Clara was swimming in the kiddie pool and helping Grandma water her flowers. Aren't these pictures so cute!?!?

Houston & New Orleans Update

2009-05-19T21:41:00.026-05:00

Here's some pictures from my visit to Houston and New Orleans. We are having a really good time!

We went to the Houston Zoo. The weather was perfect - comfortable temp and very low humidity. Very UN-Houston like! Thanks Auntie Ann for the matching outfits! Didn't the kids look so cute?

Today we went to the Houston Children's Museum. The big highlights were the face painting and the shaving cream wall. Jake especially liked sitting in the cars and pretending to drive.

Here's some of Tom and I in New Orleans. It was pretty hard to leave Clara at first, but I had a really nice time away from her after a while. Phone calls every few hours to keep me updated on her activities helped a lot too :) We walked around a lot in the French Quarter and ate fabulous meals around the clock.

Here are some pictures from Sunday. We had all of my siblings, their kids, and my parents together. This virtually NEVER happens so it was fun to hang out together. Here are some pictures from our trip to the neighborhood pool.

Househunting Trip

2009-05-04T08:55:00.017-05:00

Before we left on our house-hunting/Arkansas vacation, Tom decided he needed some peace and quiet during the long drive. He was coming off a string of night shifts and was hoping to get some sleep in the car. So Clara ended up with this:

Tom's parents drove up to help watch Clara while we went househunting. We looked at 14 houses in one day. From 8:30 in the morning to 6:30 at night we drove and looked and drove some more. Most of the houses were a good distance apart and at the end of the day, we drove around 250 miles total. It was exhausting!

Clara and Grandma and Grandpa went to the Bass Pro Shop and spent some quality time together. I think they all had a great time together.

The next day we had narrowed our choices down to four houses and brought Tom's parents and Clara with us to check them out. They were all really nice, but one stood out above the rest. To make a long story short, we got the house! We close towards the end of June and move in shortly after. I can't wait to be in our new house!!

After the house hunting, we drove south to visit my grandparents. Tom's parents came too and they stayed down on the river to enjoy the scenery and to do some camping. Clara had so much fun being surrounding by grandparents...which means tons of attention. We took a lot of walks down by the river and at the park, ate a ton of great food (pecan pie one night and pineapple pie the next) and spent a lot of time relaxing. Clara saw the tractor again, fed the deer, and went on a lot of walks. She took great naps and slept a long time at night! It was a much needed vacation away from work for Tom and a nice change of scenery for Clara and I. We had a great time and are so happy to be moving closer to this part of the country.

My grandfather is the commisioner of the fire department and was able to get Clara an up-close and personal visit on a fire truck. She enjoyed seeing it, but was a little apprehensive about sitting in the driver's seat.

We are back at home now and Tom is back to work. I think he has something like 25 shifts left in his residency!! Yahoo!! Our house is still for sale...in a perfect world, we would get an offer soon and close towards the end of June! We are hoping and praying this will happen for us. I am 16 weeks along now and have another doctor's appointment on Wednesday. We probably won't find out the sex of the baby for another few weeks. Stay tuned!

A lame duck...

2009-04-20T23:11:00.008-05:00

Well, there are certainly advantages to living in our small city. Easy to get from point a to point b, no traffic, good hospitals (of course!), some big businesses and also lots of locally owned, professional sports etc. It has a lot of amenities that a city would have, but not to the same extent. Where we live has a minor league baseball and hockey team, some parks and recreation, decent schools, a zoo...which is where this blog post begins.

We learned first hand over the weekend the zoo was not quite up to par when we took Clara this past weekend. Unknowingly, Tom and I built her excitement level up with talks of lions,tigers, giraffes, and elephants. We couldn't wait to get her in the doors to hear her squeals of delight when the animals from her books came to life in in front of her.

Too bad that never happened...the zoo was severely lacking in...animals. No lions, bears, giraffes, elephants or other giant animals. But what did we see, you ask??

There were two lathergic tigers laying around which was kind of cool. 10:30 am must be their nap time...

We saw a cage full of monkeys which was good. They were eating oranges, playing in a cardboard box, hanging on the fencing. Clara was pretty interested in those.

There were a couple peacocks wandering around.

The biggest attraction was the sea lions...although that was pretty funny too. There were two sea lions, both in their upper 20s which is pushing it for these creatures. One was completely blind and had to feel around for the fish the trainer was throwing at it. We overheard one boy enthusiastically ask one of the trainers, 'What happened to Lucy? That sea lion was really cool!!'. The trainer bluntly replied 'Oh, that one died'. The kid looked a little crushed.

The zoo does not have a lot of funding. It was evident in the lack of large scale animals, the habitats, and the donation boxes everywhere asking us to give 'anything we have'. Folks, even the petting zoo was pitiful. One chicken, a donkey, and a couple little ponies.

In the end though, Clara really didn't care or notice. She enjoyed running around, being chased by her friend Carter (six months younger and not quite able to catch her), and hanging out with mom and dad.

A Warm Day, Finally!

2009-04-16T21:00:00.011-05:00

We had a nice warm day here...Spring is definitely here. Clara and I spent a lot of time outside playing in the driveway and the backyard. We also took a few walks around the neighborhood. Clara was one worn out little girl tonight!

Clara and I played with her 'chalks' (that's what she calls them) all over the driveway.

While we were sitting on the driveway, Clara points to this tiny piece of pink plastic and says 'Bubbles!'. Wow - so over a month or so ago I ran over her plastic bubble set while backing out of the driveway. Later that day, we cleaned up the shattered plastic and that was pretty much the end of story on the bubbles. I guess it made a bigger impression on her than I realized.

The tulips are blooming, just in time for us to list our house with a realtor and get lots of interested buyers over her ;)

Clara was in rare form tonight. I don't know if she was extra worn out from all the walks and fresh air today or just needed some people daddy/daughter time, but Clara was Daddy's little girl this evening! She curled up with Tom on the couch and just laid next to him while they chatted and listened to the helicopter overhead. They were on the couch for over 15 minutes, just enjoying each other's company. Clara does not sit still for 2 minutes, let alone 15...and as for laying down...that's just unheard of. I even managed to sneak past them and grab the camera to capture these pictures.

Clara's day ended with a bath, much needed after all the chalk and dirt of the day. She loves these Crayola tablets that change the water color...they come in red, blue, and yellow and you can mix the tablets to get green, purple, orange, green, etc. Clara gets to pick the color for her bath and tonight was green. She loves her baths!

Easter Egg Fun

2009-04-11T14:21:00.015-05:00

Yesterday, after the excitement of the helicopter and a nice long nap by Clara, I thought it would be fun for Clara to dye Easter eggs for the first time. She is getting more coordinated and able to focus on one activity, if it moves along. Here's a breakdown of the whole experience...

I got the eggs boiled and everything set up while Clara was sleeping.

Clara woke up from her nap and was excited and eager to get going! Notice the bed head...

Clara dropped the color tablets in the water.

Waiting for the tablets to dissolve was tough for this impatient little one...

Time to drop the eggs in. It was definitely a good thing to have the towel underneath the bowls..Clara took the words 'drop the egg in' literally.

Wait and wait for the dye to cover all the eggs.

Take a big drink and wait some more...

Clara pokes her little finger in the dye and moves the egg around to get even color distribution :)

Take out the eggs and put them out to dry.

Add stickers.

Focus...

I didn't get any pictures of the final egg-celent lineup, but they were beautiful! Clara was not happy at all when I said they needed to go in the fridge and she asks about her eggs every time she passes by it. I let her have one this morning for breakfast and she seemed to like peeling and eating it. One down...eleven more to go. Um...can you say cholesterol overload??

Anyways, Happy Easter to everyone!

Helicopter Visit

2009-04-10T13:40:00.007-05:00

Today we took a visit out to see Tom while he was working on his LifeFlight shift. Clara can usually hear the helicopter before Tom or I and drops whatever she's doing to listen closer for the helicopter coming. We have told her about Daddy working on the helicopter and had numerous conversations about this. A funny story...the way she says 'helicopter' is pretty cute. We ask her to say it and crack up a lot and I know Clara likes the attention from it. Anyways, the other day Tom was getting on to Clara for something and kind of staring her down to show her he was serious. Clara knew she was in trouble and didn't like having her Daddy mad at her. After a few seconds of silence and a look of bewilderment, she says 'helicopter' so sweetly and cute. Tom and I both started cracking up. She knew exactly what she was doing! (For the record, there was no helicopter in the area) Anyways, all this to say, we finally took her out for a real live visit to see the helicopter up close and personal. Here are some pictures from our trip. She was in awe and a little intimidated by it's size, but she had a really good time. She kept talking about it throughout the day.

Clara Easter Pictures

2009-04-08T22:05:00.003-05:00

I had these taken today...I had to delay Clara's nap to get an appointment and that's never a good thing. She did alright and we got a couple cute pictures. Here they are...Happy Easter!

12 Week Ultrasound - Awesome Video

2009-04-08T21:41:00.012-05:00

I had my regular monthly checkup for baby #2 today, but got an unexpected treat when the sonogram lady said she wasn't too busy and was willing to do an ultrasound for me, if I wanted. Uh yea!! I definitely wanted to see our little baby again if possible! What is really cool about the sonogram technology at their office is that you can bring a cd and they will record all the video and pictures for you. These pictures and video are amazing...it's hard to believe that this baby is only a couple inches long, yet so completely formed already and really looks like a little baby.

Isn't he/she so cute?!? Just moving around, trying to get all comfy.

Here's a picture she took today too. The baby's right arm is reaching up, covering their ear.

Surprise!

2009-04-07T20:25:00.003-05:00

Surprise to all my blog mama friends! Due in mid-October 2009. We can't wait!

Thanks OkC Grands!

2009-04-06T20:02:00.002-05:00

Easter came a little early at our house this afternoon. Clara's Oklahoma City grandparents sent her a sweet and cuddly bunny named Regan Rabbit. Clara enjoyed getting the package and loving on her little bunny. Coincidentally, Regan Rabbit's outift is very similar in color to Clara's Easter dress. I'm having her picture made soon and I think it would be so cute to have her holding the bunny in the picture with her :)

Moustache March

2009-04-02T22:23:00.006-05:00

One of the residents Tom works with started "Moustache March" last year and they had it again this year. This is where all the men throw away their razors for the month of March and grow out all the facial hair they can. Then on the last day of the month, they shave their beards into the weirdest looking moustaches possible and hope to be voted on for a prize. It costs $$ for people to vote and all the money goes to the Children's Hospital of Illinois. If it wasn't for such a good cause, I would really dislike moustache march.

Here is my handsome husband...uh..er..kind of ;)

Here is the 'before' shot.

Here is the 'after' shot...yes, he died it black.

The other doctor in this picture tried to bleach his blond, but no amount of dye would turn it any lighter. Tom and the PICU doctor thought they would pose as the Ying and Yang of Moustache March or something like that.

Way too long!

2009-04-02T22:06:00.012-05:00

It's been a while!! I apologize to all our family who haven't got to see pictures of their granddaughter, niece, cousin, friend, etc. I know I have been holding out on you for a long time (way too long!) and honestly, I don't have a lot to show for it. Unfortunately, Clara is going on these anti-picture streaks where she won't stand still for a picture because the second I take the camera out she runs over asking to see the picture. Clara has not grasped the concept of WAITING until I actually take the picture, and then come running over to see the picture I've taken. I put up the digital camera for a few weeks and thought I would try again today. Same old story. Like Tom told me, I just need to start taking a lot of action shots.

Anyways, can you believe my baby is 21 months old now?!? What, you may wonder, is Clara up to right now? Well...she likes to color pictures, likes to play with her giant legos, loves to be read to, loves to push her stroller on walks (and throws a fit when we make her actually sit in the stroller!), and is really good about helping to clean up her toys after she's done with them.

Some of her odder and cute quirky things: she immediately tells Tom or I to 'Buckle! Buckle!' after we get in the car, has specific carts she likes in the grocery store (the blue or red ones that look like little race cars), she gets out her honey and peanut butter for me every morning to prepare her breakfast, she says 'yea church!' when we tell her we're going to church, she swings and tries to climb on the back on her high chair while saying 'Monkey! Monkey!', she carries a stool which is about half her size around the house and it's pretty heavy for her too. She'll yell out 'stool!' and sure enough comes back with it from wherever she needed it last so that she can climb up on something or see something she wants to see. There are so many funny and sweet things...she cracks us up.

Just an update on the house...no buyers yet, and honestly, not a whole lot of interest either. We are looking into getting a realtor soon. Tom has been working a TON up at his residency and doing quite a bit of moonlighting too. Tonight is his last night up at the hospital for a while and we are both so ready for us all to be back on a normal schedule.

Here are some pictures from the last month or so...

It's Official!

2009-03-06T12:51:00.003-06:00

We have officially put our house on the market! That consisted of a whole lot of odd jobs being accomplished around the house and sticking a sign in the yard with some flyers about the house. Let's hope the offers start rolling in!
Here's Clara watching Daddy put the sign in the yard.

It's been a while since I posted anything...We have been busy around here, mostly trying to get the house ready and dealing with the typical viruses that we invetibly catch this time of year.

Clara has been insistant about 'helping' us around the house. She gets her honey and peanut butter from the cabinet every morning, helps empty the dishwasher, goes through the mail with me, and has recently started doing the dishes.

Papa Tom's

2009-02-17T20:27:00.010-06:00

If this whole medical thing doesn't work out, Tom already has a Plan B for what he wants to do when he grows up! Tom has been in the pizza making mood for the past few weeks and has perfected making his own crust. I thought documentation of this process was in order (because it is definitely a process!) and friends and family may want to see the glorious pie in it's finished state.

Step 1:
Measure all ingredients for dough and load into bread maker.

Step 2:
Hand knead and toss dough

Step 3:
Shape dough on pizza pan and add mozzerella cheese sticks for a 'stuffed crust' effect.

Step 4:
Add sauce

Step 5:
The pepperoni layer

Step 6:
Add all other veggies and meats.

Step 7:
Add cheese and bake!

About 25 minutes later, this is what we had to feast on tonight!!

It was awesome. The stuffed crust was a bonus - and a first for Tom. The pizza was great and very filling.

Here's the obligatory picture of Clara (and the real reason the grandparents are still reading at this point) Crazy hair night!

Big Sky was Big Fun

2009-02-14T12:23:00.015-06:00

After a week in the mountains, it was hard to come back to the midwest. We had such a good time in Montana!! We did so many different things, it's hard to write about all of them in one post.

The travel part was so much easier than our ski trip last year. Our flights were on time, weather was good, the car rental went smoothly and we made it easily from the airport to our condo. The drive from Bozeman to Big Sky is gorgeous. You ride alongside the Gallatin River for much of the trip up the mountain. Apparantly this is one of only a few rivers that flows northward and was the river that was filmed in the movie 'A River Runs through it'.

We made it to our condo and were happy with our accomodations. It's 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, nice open floorplan with the kitchen, dining room and living area all together. We were only 150 yards from the ski lifts and had an awesome view of the ski runs on the mountain.

Clara found a few little spots she she enjoyed sitting. This was one of them - she could sit on the windowsill, eat her snack and look up at the skiiers on the mountain. A few minutes after this picture was taken, Clara was messing around, trying to climb up the windowsill and she fell over. She bit through the skin below her lower lip and had a fat lip the rest of the trip. Tom didn't think it was worth stitching up and Clara wasn't too traumatized by the whole thing. She cried for a couple minutes and then started laughing in my arms. What a trooper!

During our week long stay, Tom skiied 5 days and I skiied 4 days. The terrain was great - plenty of snow, lots of challenging runs, and no lift lines! This was taken on one of the rare, clear days. A lot of the time we skiied, there was snow falling and cloudy skies.

Clara, G-ma, and I went tubing together one evening which was so fun. Once we learned how to slow down, it was a little less scary.

The reason we decided to go to Big Sky was for a Wilderness Medicine conference that Tom wanted to attend. Tom would go for a couple hours early in the morning and then come home and we would ski the rest of the day. Several of his resident friends also went to the conference and it was fun to hang out with them in the evenings and on the mountain.

We took a horse drawn sleigh ride one night out to a little cabin in the woods for dinner. There was no electricity or running water. Only a huge 120 year old wood burning stove and candelight. There were lanterns hung from the ceiling too, maybe gas powered?!? I can't remember. The dinner was so good - we had lentil soup, wheat rolls, prime rib, potatoes, veggies, and cheesecake for dessert. Yummmmmm.

We also tried something new this trip. We took a dog sled ride through the woods and it was probably the highlight of the trip. Tom drove our sled, while Clara and I rode, and 8 Alaskan huskies pulled our sled. Clara fell asleep quickly into the ride which surprised Tom and I both.

Here's Clara and I standing behind the sled.

Here's a view from the sled, while the dog's were pulling.

It was an 8 mile round trip and halfway through we stopped for cookies and hot chocolate and took some pictures. Here's Clara sleeping during the ride.

My Mom came with us to help out and watch Clara while Tom and I skiied during the day. She was a huge help and it was a lot of fun for Clara to hang out with Grandma. They played a lot, walked around the base area, shopped, etc.

Clara played several times on this playground which was mostly covered in snow, but was fun for Clara to crawl through and climb on.

We had a really good time in Big Sky and will make a trip back there, maybe next year. It's a great place to ski - huge mountain and not very crowded. It's also a quick and easy drive from the airport. There isn't as much shopping and businesses in Big Sky, like in Colorado, but that doesn't really matter to Tom and I very much. The skiing was good and that's what was most important.

The trip home was pretty easy and uneventful. Clara was a really good traveler this time. She slept when she should and was happy and content while awake. (This is in stark contrast from our trip out west over the summer...). Now that were home, it's back to normal. Tom is back at work today and Clara and I are trying to get the house back in order.

47 out of 47

2009-02-03T17:47:00.005-06:00

Wonder what the title means? You probably would never guess so I'll just tell you. Tom just finished his 47th night of overnight call (over the past three years) and it is his last!! Yea! This means from here on out Tom only (yea, right, 'only'...he is still a resident so is working a lot!) will work his 10 or 12 hour ER shifts, no more of those energy draining, crabby-making, way-too-long-for-Dad-to-be-away-from-his-family 30 hour shifts at the hospital!

I love this picture of Clara with the phones. Right before I took this picture she was walking around the house chattering away with both phones up to her ears! You know how little boys make anything they can find into a gun? Clara makes everything she finds into a phone...like the TI-83 calculator, the remote control, etc. You get the picture.

Here's Clara in her Valentine outfit. I am hoping to get Tom and Clara's picture made together with her wearing this shirt and Tom dressed up nice too. Stay tuned...hopefully you will see it in a couple weeks.
We are getting excited about our upcoming vacation. In a couple days we will be skiing down the slopes in Big Sky, Montana. Clara will be with us too along with my Mom who will lovingly babysit for us while we are out during the day and night! Rest assured there will be a ton of pictures from that coming soon too.

Realizations

2009-01-26T20:08:00.006-06:00

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

2009-01-25T17:19:00.007-06:00

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

2009-01-20T20:28:00.007-06:00

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

2009-01-15T12:53:00.007-06:00

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!

2009-01-14T13:22:00.004-06:00

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!

We're Back! Big News!

2008-12-30T21:10:00.003-06:00

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

2008-12-21T21:26:00.009-06:00

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

2008-12-19T21:16:00.004-06:00

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

2008-12-18T08:10:00.007-06:00

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

2008-12-10T13:39:00.005-06:00

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

2008-12-08T11:25:00.011-06:00

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

2008-12-04T11:39:00.008-06:00

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!!

2008-11-29T19:40:00.005-06:00

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

2008-11-22T10:48:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-22T09:43:00.004-06:00

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

2008-11-19T19:52:00.004-06:00

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?

2008-11-15T08:55:00.003-06:00

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

2008-11-11T21:59:00.001-06:00

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.