We heart playdates

Our daycare provider (aka Grandma) had surgery on her feet last Wednesday so I was home with the kids for a week and my mom watched them for a day.  It was SO wonderful.  I think I'll need to take a week staycation a few times a year because it's just good for my soul.  We had a busy week!  We were going to focus on potty training but that lasted all of 8 hours before I decided Claire wasn't fully ready.  I am a firm believer in not pushing it and waiting until the child is ready on all fronts.  Claire is ready in many ways but I guess it's just not her time yet and I'm okay with that!

Last Wednesday we had a playdate with Melissa and Carson and Dagney and Logan in the morning (I didn't bring my camera sadly).  That afternoon both kids got cute haircuts.  Nana watched the kids on Thursday while I worked.

Friday was the day of potty training and I was thankful Josh was home too!  

Saturday was a super fun and much needed girls' day for me.  Pam, Sarah, Amy and I got pedicures, lunch (with wine for me and Sarah! :)), went shopping, got an appetizer and margarita at Rojo, and then dinner at Crave.  We always do a girls weekend up north but this year we could only find time for a girls day.  Hopefully we'll return to a girls WEEKEND next year!

On Sunday we were heading down to Webster Harvest Days and Omi's house when we got a call from a friend that they were in labor.  They wanted us to watch their daughter because they were worried their sister wouldn't get there in time.  Luckily we were only 10 minutes away so we turned right around and headed home.  They dropped their daughter off at about 1:30 and their son was born at 2:18, just 18 minutes after they were admitted!  Praise God for a safe (and not-in-the-car) delivery!  

On Monday morning, Ami and Everleigh came over for a playdate. 

That's a tomato.  Not an apple. But she eats them like apples. 

Claire and Everleigh are finally at the age where they enjoy playing together.  

On Monday afternoon, my mom and I took the kids to the splash park.  It was Max's first time visiting since he started crawling and he had a total blast crawling and splashing in the water.  What a fun summer day!

On Tuesday morning, my dear high school friend who lives in Ohio came by for a visit because she was in town for a couple days.  Claire enjoyed looking at pictures on her phone, but had a tough time remembering that she had to press the button instead of finger swiping the phone like she does with my, Josh, and Nana's phones.  She is obsessed with looking at pictures on phones!

On Tuesday afternoon we went to my friend Sara's house to play with her kids Lauren and Jake.  They have the BEST house for playdates!  They have an amazing swingset and a real bouncy 'house' in the backyard.  But it was raining, so we got to play in their equally amazing basement. Just look- I told Sara that they could charge admission!

They have a rollercoaster.

And a functioning swing and slide in the house. 

And a ball pit. 

And some zebra ride. And I didn't get pictures of the other fun toys they have down there. 

 This is Jake. He's 10 weeks older than Claire. Can you tell he has a big sister (4 1/2 years) who likes to play dress up?  I told Max that this is a glimpse into his future.

Surprisingly, Claire wanted to play dress up too!  She did NOT want to go home at 5PM when we headed out.  All I heard about on the way home was the different fun things they did (which also included a cookie and juice- a rare treat!)

Tuesday night I worked in my garden after dinner and Claire hung outside with me, munching on a number of tomatoes.  

This morning I made monkey bread for our sixth and final playdate.  Claire loves to help in the kitchen.

We had Cindy and Jessica Marty, and Jessica's kids Rose and James, over.  It was SO wonderful to see them.  Claire warmed up to James and Rose immediately.

Claire and James drawing on the easel (best $15 I ever spent).

"Rose! Look!  Daddy's golfing!" Claire didn't understand why Rose wasn't as enamored with my pictures as she was. 

It's been a fun, fun week. Josh and I agree that the evenings are far less stressful when I'm home during the day.  It gave me a glimpse of what life as a stay-at-home-mom would be like. I think it's safe to say, at least for me, that it's far more physically demanding to be at home and more mentally demanding to be at work.  I enjoyed being able to do laundry, and make pea puree for Max, and sort clothes, and clean the house throughout the days, and not rush to do it in the evenings or on the weekends.

Nom nom nom.

The best part about my week at home, though, was the quality time with my children.  When I was changing Max's diaper in the porch one morning and Claire was eating breakfast in the kitchen, she yelled, "Mommy! Mommy, I love you!  I love you SOOOO much!" Melt my heart.  I am going to miss them terribly when I return to work tomorrow.  But as my favorite poem by E.E. Cummings goes, "I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart)".

Around here

We've been keeping busy around here lately... 

I went on a strike and I'm refusing to eat anything beyond yogurt.  Which makes for a messy meal when Mommy continues to insist I eat vegetables and fruit too.

Mommy and Daddy have nightly tickle sessions with me and Claire.  

Me and Claire got haircuts and Mommy says I look like a little boy now!  Don't worry, she's going to grow out the top of my hair because she thinks it's so cute when it's a little curly.

Claire also likes to feed me my puffs!

Mommy says Claire looks cute in her new jeggings.  And she was proud of her for practicing her toe points.  She says that'll come in handy when Claire starts ballet in a couple years.

And I got two teethers!  I also like to stand at my toys to play but I get frustrated when I'm all done because I can't figure out how to sit down by myself!

Mommy is home with me and Claire for the next 6 days and we're so excited!  Mommy is going to try to potty train Claire.  I'm happy I get to poop and pee in my diaper for two more years! 

Bedtime talk

Claire talks... a lot.  Incessantly at times. And she likes to repeat phrases over and over again.  She also insists that we engage in her dialogue.  I learned a new phrase while eating lunch with a co-worker today-- "casually engaged".  This is how I'd describe Claire's minimum requirement of our engagement in her conversations. :)

Tonight after both kids were bathed, I was peacefully nursing Max in his nursery, with my eyes closed and my head resting against the glider.  In the hallway I heard the following from Claire, all within a minute's time (or less than!):

Daddy!

I wanna go night-night!

I need my paci!

My paci is downstairs!

I forgot!

My paci is downstairs!

I forgot!

I forgot!

I have to get it!

Daddy, wash it!

Please wash it, Daddy!

Turn the light on!

I want to wash my paci!

I wanna go night night!

Sometimes I wonder how she keeps up with herself.  She can be exhausting....exhaustingly adorable. And I (almost) never tire of hearing her sweet voice and the thoughts that flow through her little mind. 



Precious moments

This morning we had 10 minutes between when Claire woke up and when I had to depart for work.  And in those 10 minutes, I gave Claire a time out.  Quality time, huh?  The first thing she said to me this morning was, "I got owwie!  I fell!" (she fell at Dairy Queen last night and scrapped her elbow).  The second thing was, "I don't like Max!".  When she wouldn't apologize to Max, she found herself in time out.  In this house, we apologize.

Needless to say, I was looking forward to spending time with them tonight.  After a delicious meal of take-out pizza and a fabulous walk around the neighborhood, we came home to relax for a few minutes before putting the kids to bed.

She's being a two year old and refusing to look at the camera

When we got home, I laid on the floor and Claire came over to sit on me and wrestle/tickle/play/have fun.  Since Max is now crawling (!!) he decided all on his own to crawl over and join the fun! 

Max loves to show affection by planting kisses (aka sucking on my chin or slobbering on my cheek).  Note Claire's owwie on her elbow from last night.  And it looks like Max and I are making out but we really aren't.  At least I'm not. 

Max takes a breather before going in for more.

And this, here, was the moment that made my day.  The moment that made me forget about my two+ hours commuting, about the chores waiting for me around the house, about everything on my mind.  In this moment, Claire gave me a big hug and said, "Mommy's precious".  Yep, I think this may be my favorite age.

Sweetie Girl

Claire is at a fun age.  She's SO verbal (talking in full sentences and all day long, which can get exhausting!), does the funniest things, and shows spontaneous, unsolicited affection.  I wanted to write down a few of the things she has said and done lately.

Sunday night Claire woke up crying sometime around 2AM.  I went into her room and she said, "I wanna go lay in the bathroom, Mommy".  (She is a super light sleeper and sometimes wakes up from hearing my shower at 5:45AM and won't go back to sleep.  Those days we have her lay down on the bathroom floor while we get ready).  I said, "No honey, you have to go night-night in your crib.  Good night, I love you".  She replied, "I love you SO MUCH Mommy!!!".

Monday night I was doing dishes while Josh was giving the kids baths.  After Claire finished her bath, she ran to the top of the stairs and screamed down to me in the kitchen, "Mommy! Mommy!  I love you SOOOOO MUCH Mommy!"

Claire has a weird reaction to frogs.  She loves to look at pictures on everyone's cell phones and when she sees a picture of a frog at my mom's cabin on her phone, she flips out.  Odd. I don't think she's ever seen one in person.  Well Sunday morning it was really foggy when the two of us walked to the mailbox to get the newspaper. I said, "Claire, it is foggy out here!".  She said, "No, Mommy! I don't like frogs!  Go away, frogs!!"

She can hardly keep her colors straight, yet she has an uncanny ability to memorize songs.  She knows over 20 songs by heart.  She will just start singing songs at random and it always makes me smile.  The two she sings most often at the moment are "Take me out to the ballgame" and "You never let go".

She is terrified of thunderstorms. Tonight it started storming right before bedtime (grrrreat...).  She said, "No boom boom!  I don't like boom boom!  Boom boom is coming!" This went on and on....

Max is a crawling machine and now gets in her business all the time.  You'd think she'd get annoyed but she's taken it in stride so far.  She frequently runs up to him, kneels down, and plants a kiss on his lips or forehead.  She proclaims, "I love Max sooooooo much!"  She stretches her arms out and says, "I love him THIIISSSSSS much!"

This past weekend I went through her new fall/winter clothes that I purchased on super clearance this past year.  After I removed the tags (per her demand), she tried on the clothes to see if they fit (most are size 24 months or 2T and are a little large...).  She would examine each piece of clothing and either like it or hate it.  A couple times she said, "Mommy, this is cute!  And it's com-for-ta-ble!"

It's hard to capture how precious our little girl is at this age.  She also tests us most days so it's good for me to remember the sweet and funny things she says and does. :)

Max's new game

Creative little boy, this one is.  He made up his very own game last week.  He likes to call it, "I make a bridge and crush my friends".  Just look.

The first step is that I lift my bottom high in the air and make a bridge for my friends to go through.  See my three friends there?

Then I slam my body down and crush them! 

I do it again and lift my bottom really high in the air. 

This time I take it easy on them and lower myself slowly.

See! They made it through okay!

Mommy, I love my new game!! 

A life lesson with grapes

Last week we had grapes with dinner.  Claire kept wanting more and more and more grapes.  After she had had what I deemed was plenty, I started giving her grapes two at a time.  She kept asking, "more grapes? I want two."  Josh wanted some grapes too and while I could have given them directly to him (the bowl was next to me), he decided to ask Claire to share some of her grapes. 

You could tell by her quiet reflection that it was a difficult decision for her to make.  After all, she only had two grapes, Daddy was asking for one, she saw a whole bowl next to Mommy but who knows if Mommy would give her more?

Once she made her decision, she joyfully gave one of her two grapes to Daddy.  She ate the other one and then asked me for "two more please, Mommy".  I gave her two more and again, Daddy asked her for one.  Geesh, not again, Dad! Again, she joyfully gave him half of her lot, and ate the remaining. 

The next time, she again shared with her Dad, but then when she asked me for more, I told her that was enough.  I hope she was still glad that she gave one of her last two grapes away.

Later, I thought about how it mirrored our relationship with God.  Claire had plenty of grapes before she was asked to share any.  When she did start sharing, she knew that there were plenty more.  She could never outgive me.  I could always give her more.  But did she trust that by giving, she would be blessed in return?  And if her blessing did not appear the way she had hoped, did she believe she would still be okay, and be all the richer for having shared her possessions?

Max at 9 months old

He's 3/4 of the way to being ONE YEAR OLD!  OMGoodness! Can I just say that this little boy brings me more joy than I could have ever dreamed? Maybe it helps that he is always happy, loves to cuddle, doesn't throw tantrums, and doesn't tell me "no" yet like his big sister. :)  On the other hand, he doesn't yet tell me, "I love you SO MUCH!" like his sister does. They both are precious little people that light up our lives! 

At 9 months, Max:

• is SO close to crawing!!  He can pull himself forward with his elbows (though I wouldn't say he's army crawling).  He gets on all fours and rocks back and forth.  He's working so hard on it!  I'm sure at his 10 month update I'll be writing that he's officially crawling.
• is such a delight.  He is an incredibly happy boy and he shows his happiness through his entire body- by smiling with his entire face, kicking his legs in excitement, laughing and laughing. If you smile at him and say, "boo!!", he will react like you're the funniest thing that ever happened since Dumb and Dumber came out. 
• has his 9 month doctor appointment next week so I'll edit this with his size measurements then.  Without a scale or measuring tape, I can see that he's short and chunky, with a large head!
• sleeps very well! He goes to bed between 7-7:30PM and gets up around 6:30AM.  He wakes between 0-3 times a night, with the norm being around two times (and often it's once before we go to bed and once after we've gotten up in the morning- perfect!).  Last week he was sleeping later and I didn't want to wake him to nurse before I left for work.  He absolutely cannot be nursed and then put back to sleep because that would be a cardinal sin according to our sleep doctor! So I left for work without nursing him and Annie gave him a bottle when he woke up.  Well, apparently, he was angry that he had a bottle and not Mommy, though he eventually took the bottle.  The next day he was sleeping late again but I (unfortunately) woke him up to nurse.  I think he'd prefer being woken up to not having his morning nursing session.  Max naps 3-4 times a day and goes down easily every time (thank the Lord!).
• still just has the two front bottom teeth
• wears size 9 month and 6-12 month clothing
• loves to be outside, talking walks in the stroller or wagon, playing in the pool, sitting contentedly on a blanket with his toys, hanging in the Ergo.
• also loves to eat!  His favorite is Stonyfield organic yogurt.  The only food he hasn't cared for is cauliflower (can't say I blame him).  I have made a squash/pear/carrot puree a few times and both Max and Claire really like it (yes, I occasionally give my two year old a puree but at least she gets some veggies that way...).   He eats twice a day (lunch and dinner) and I'm wondering when I should add breakfast.  He nurses twice a day and has three bottles (when I'm at work). 
• is content playing on his own.  This one is huge. 
• is already getting in trouble!  A few days ago he was playing alone in the porch.  Josh went in to  check on him and saw he was (one by one) pulling the wipes out of the wipe container!  Josh said that we're in trouble now that Max is already getting into trouble!

Mommy wisdom

I LOVE the wisdom this Mommy of seven shared right here.  Sigh...  Very inspirational.  And even better that she's very humble. 

National Night Out

We even had paparazzi !!?!

Sweet Jaden girl.  Claire and Jaden are great buds. 

This is too many glasses of lemonade and a dozen chips later. 

We hosted our street's block party tonight for National Night Out.  I arranged for a firetruck to come although two police cars came instead.  We think we had forty or so people come throughout the night.  We LOVE our neighbors!  Some we know very well and others we know hardly at all, even though we've been here for four years.  Claire was up WAY past her bedtime (she was out until 9PM!).  She loved following the kids around and had a large amount of lemonade (all given to her by Jaden, not by us!), which she never normally gets.  She kept calling it juice.  She doesn't know what juice is either because she's only had it twice!  She spilled a lot so towards the end we just ditched the dress.  The cool hats were courtesy of the Police officers. All in all, I'd call it a success!