4 month check up...

Matthew's stats:

16 lbs and 15 oz---75%
25 inches long---50%
25 head circ---50%

People often comment things like: "What position does he play?" I now introduce him as my linebacker.



Oddly enough, I have neices and nephews who have been even bigger, but I still get these comments. He actually only eats 5-6 times a day and sleeps about 12 hours at night. Then when he does eat, he barfs up almost all his food...no idea how he's so big.

Claire is wonderful. I love this pic. It's so her personality...

Georgetown...

Nick has been in DC this last week. He gets home TONIGHT! It was his birthday on Friday and his boss' wife sent me this photo of him at the game/event that he was over there for. that arena looks HUGE! Claire has been asking for Daddy almost constantly. She has really missed him. I don't know if Matthew knows the difference when he's gone, except he gets more attention ;) Claire has been absolutely amazing this week while I'm ready to tear my hair out (not because of her...just thyroid problems and not sleeping). tonight I told her we could watch a movie and eat popcorn. She was so excited. I asked her to turn the lights off while I carried Matthew downstairs. It took her a while, but she came down and I went back up, all the lights were off. It was too much to expect of a 2 year old, but wow. I'll keep her. I say this as I hear here upstairs thumping in her bed and not going to sleep...waking up matthew---who is now crying. bye!

go aggies!

Claire sees any sort of sporting event and goes nuts! This is our latest basketball game. The fans were crazy as usual. She's sitting next to Miles---who was calm and sedate the whole time. Claire was jumping up and down, yelling and stealing others' popcorn/food.

a post from Grumpy Sorensen!

Yesterday I was reminded of the fact that singing is not one of my talents. This could have been a blow to my almost nonexistent fragile ego, but fortunately I already knew where I stood when it came to my singing skills. The truly comical part of this was the fact that the reminder came from my 2 year old granddaughter.

The reminder came from a conversation with my granddaughter on our grandfather/granddaughter date and it went something like the following:

Matt: Claire, do you want to go with grumpy and get a hamburger?
Claire: Yesssssss
Matt: Ok, let’s go do a little shopping and then we will get a drink and hamburger
Claire: Ok, I love hamburger
Matt: ( singing an old Partridge Family song to Claire ) “ I think I love you ( repeated 3 or 4 times )
Claire: Silence
Matt: Claire, do you want to sing with me?
Matt: I think I love, I think I love you, I think I love you
Matt: Claire, sing with grumpy
Matt: I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire: NO SINGING!
Matt: What?
Claire: NO SINGING?
Matt: ( ignoring my granddaughter’s command ) I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire: Shhhhhhhh!
Matt: ( ignoring my granddaughter’s command ) I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire: STOP!
Matt: ( ignoring my granddaughter’s command ) I think I love you, I think I love you, I think I love you
Claire:(slowly shaking her head back and forth and in an almost disgusted tone she blurted out) BAD!
Matt: At that point all I could do was burst out laughing. In her own little way, my granddaughter got the best of me and had found a way to shut off my lousy singing

pic catch up...

Loves

Come here, Mafew!

I love this pic of his toes. So will Grammie ;)

Claire has curly hair! Who'd have known?

LOL! I just like this...

true love...

Claire is in the bathtub, Matthew is having tummy time and I am doing my hair...I hear Claire singing and splashing in the tub and finally say, "I love you!" and I respond in kind. She keeps saying it and I finally look over and realize...She's talking to her rubber ducky!

new resuarants...or...

Do you ever feel like trying a new restaurant to see if it's good? You know, take the sampler and see if it's worth eating there again and again? I'm starting to feel that way about hospitals. You know, the cafeteria there is not all bad. Maybe we should try a new one this week!

After that charming little antidote, I'll relate the following story:

This Friday (the 5th?) I headed down to Mom's house and went to a very....hmmmm...a play with Mom. charter school production of Cats. Hmmmm is all I can say. Dad watched the kids.

Friday night I put the kids to bed and finally go to bed myself at about 1100ish. I wake up to Matthew having a croup attack. Mom helped me a ton bringing him in and out of the shower and cold. I get back into bed at about 2:30ish. I'm not asleep yet, but Claire and I are sharing a bed. She rolls over and barfs right into my hair! I then rotated between caring for one child or the other all night. Mom came down and helped hold my girl and then Matthew.

Didn't really know what to do, but Mom looked after the kids while I took a nap before driving home.

I get to Bountiful and Matthew has another attack. I call Nick, who calls the doctor, and we decide we need to take matthew in asap. I stop at an Instacare in Bountiful and they totally freak me out and make Matthew ride to Primary Children's in an ambulance. Apparently when babies have such a hard time breaking for such a long time, the second they feel like they can relax, they will just stop breathing altogether. I have the only car, so Nick is trying to find a ride down from Logan to help out. I can't get a hold of Mom (Dad offered to come with before I even left their house. but what did Little Miss Independent say to her dotting father? "No, but thanks dad. I'll be alright"---I digress). Anyway, it was a hellacious day. Test results showed that Matthew has croup with broncialitis and possible tracheal miajia (you better believe that I don't know how to spell this). which means he has croup with RSV with a possible genetic tightening of the trachea that will require surgery to fix.

Sunday, I went to church and nick stayed home with kids because I was in charge of singing time in primary. Nick had to leave his yard job on Sat in a rush and didn't finish. He went back after church to finish. stayed till 2 hours after dark and still wasn't done.

Needless to say...I'm exhausted, the kids are exhausted, nick is exhausted and sore...but we are so blessed! I have a great Mom that helps me with my kids all night long, a dad that would drive with me up to Logan just to make sure everything goes okay. He'd probably even stay if I asked him to, I have health insurance for my kids, great health care providers with exhausting resources, a reliable car, and a husband that would do anything to get to his kids.

I haven't been to that many hospitals, or their cafeterias. I was mostly just being funny. Or trying to be. ;)

carnivore...

I so do not eat much meat. While I was prego with Claire, I did a good job of keeping up my protein. I guess this is what I get!



a carnivore in her natural habitat!

little momma...

yesterday, we had dinner with some good friends that had moved away. Claire was a riot to watch. Matthew had everyone captivated with his charm. I thought I'd share a little scene:

6 adults, 4 kids (Claire, Matthew, Miles---18 months and Jayne---2 1/2 years)

it's about bedtime for all the kids. Miles is laughing and happy, but a little whinney from being tired. Jayne is exhausted (from travel) and lays down on the ground and just whines. Poor kids.

Que Claire:

"Ohhhh, sad!" Claire brings Jayne her blanket.

"Feel better?" Claire FORCES Jayne to drink from her sipper.

Jayne does.

Claire steals blanket, Jayne cries.

"Claire, give it back. It's hers. You can ask her if she will share, but please give it back."

Claire lays down next to Jayne and tries to cover herself and Jayne up with TINY blanket. Claire wraps arms around Jayne. "It's all right, Son." (that's what I say to Matthew when he's crying) Pats her back.

Night continues on with Claire being a mother to all those involved. I had no idea kids had such maternal instincts!

too big...

I bought some costumes online. buycostumes.com gave me two kids costumes for 3.99 each + 4.99 for shipping + 30% off. We got them the other day. I was amazed to receive such high quality costumes for such an amazing deal. This is what they look like:




I sent these pics on to my mother-in-law, so proud of my amazing deal. She sent them on to great grandparents. This is what one had to say about them:

Am getting the impression that our new Great Grandson is not to pleased with his costume. Rumor is he wants to be Batman.

Come on! it fits like a glove! LOL! So, if anyone has a spare batman costume, send it my way ;)



More cute bedtime stories. Claire's routine is teeth, potty, pj's, scriptures, prayers, cuddles, fan on (for a noise barrier), lights out. We have recently allowed Matthew to help with the cuddles.

Evel Knievel...

Yesterday was the LDS Church's General Semi-Annual Conference (what a mouthful!) AKA stay at home church. I LOVE going to church in my pj's. Claire was very entertained by seeing the 'pophet'. She kept seeing 'follow da paphet, follow da paphet, don'tch you, follow the paphet, stray!"

In between the two Sunday sessions, I was making lunch and Claire and Daddy were playing "kick the ball up the stairs" (which is a lot harder than it looks). The game soon migrated into our bedroom with roaring, screaming and chasing. The ball was forgotten and Matthew was added instead. Nick would chase after Claire, carrying Matthew and landing him on her, so he was essentially jumping on her head, back, tummy, whatever. Claire would squeal with delight and keep going.

Soon, Nick was doing anything to make Claire laugh. At one point, Matthew was 'placed' upon Claire's car and took Evel Knievel dives while 'driving' said car.

It ended shortly thereafter to the sound of the phone.

Did I tell you that I adore my husband?

croup

Well, Matthew has it...sigh

I've never heard such painful breathing/coughing.

On a happy note, check out Matthew saying cheese for the camera...


... just like how Nick taught Claire to say cheese.


Also: Grasshoppers

Claire has been seeing a lot of grasshoppers lately. At first she would just try to smoosh them, because that's what Dad taught her to do.

A little while ago she switched to saying: eat it? grasshopper? eat it?
Nick thinks this is from watching Lion King and seeing them eat all the bugs.

Now she applauds them:
On Saturday, I was mowing the lawn. Claire was following me around and yelling at the grasshoppers. Then, I notice she is waving her arms and yelling. I turn off the lawnmower to hear her saying, "yeah, grasshopper!" clap clap clap, waving arms in air, "you walking! good job, grasshopper! Walking grasshopper, yeah! good job!" clap clap clap


who's going to feed me?

growing...

Claire was eating lasagna on yesterday. She became covered in sauce quickly. We were prepared and moved her shirt prior to eating. Out of no where, Claire looks at us and says, "I see mirror?"



Matthew is growing like a weed. He was weighed at about six weeks and he has grown to be a round 9 lbs 11 oz!



He loves:
his head rubbed
his belly full
to be held
to sleep
warm baths
to burp
playing horsey with Daddy and Claire
his swing
his sucker (binky)
swaddling
to smile at Mom!

He hates:
Claire pulling him (argh!)
gas
changing clothes/diapers
Mom cleaning out his eyes and nose (WOW this kid gets crustys!)

He is the sweetest baby. I'm so grateful. I am used to hearing moms saying that 'it feels like this baby has always been with us'. I'm beginning to know what they mean. He started to sleep through the night (with TRAINING! THIS WAS NOT NATURAL! Thank you BabyWise!) a week ago. Though it is still erratic, he has done it 4 times this week. HURRAY!

Nick is crazy at work. He's working really hard on so many projects. He is not 'in love' with his job, but he really loves his boss. Last week his boss was in like 40 meetings back to back and Nick knew the boss' car was acting up and he didn't have lunch plans. Nick took his car in, had it fixed, filled up the gas, bought his lunch and didn't tell him any of this. Just didn't make a big deal about it so it was one less thing the boss had to worry about. The boss noticed and was grateful. So typical of Nick. I have such a great husband.

I am crazy with students and kids. I'm trying to loose weight before Christmas starts. I've already started training for my next Ragnar (okay ladies! Let's do it!!! I hope you have started training, too). I'm exhausted---my thyroid is out of control again---but overall, we're doing so well.

Brother-in-law (Daniel) just became engaged (to Sarah)! Hurray! Hurry up and have kids so Claire and Matthew will have close in age cousins on the Sorensen side.

My sis Becky is entering her 3rd trimester with her girl, Elizabeth Jane.

My dad is recovering from his second stroke (last Saturday).

My new nephew Rodrick is doing GREAT in football. Go Arborview!

That's about it for now.

a whole different kind of naked...

We were at the pool just before Matthew was born, waiting in line to get in. In front of us were two girls in VERY revealing bikinis. Claire looked at them, smiled, pointed, turned to me and said,

"look! Boobies! Bum-bum!"

I'm trying to contain my laughter when she just puts it plainly:

"Naked!"

The girls were looking for attention, I just don't imagine that they expected to get it from a 2 year old.

double tub...

I let Claire play in the big tub while I wash Matthew in the little tub. The first time I did this, I got Matthew out, wrapped him in a towel and looked up to see this. I think it's rather adorable. Especially because she got in to wash her own babies.

comic strip

Moses...

Claire and I were reading a book based on the movie: The Prince of Egypt. The book is focused on Moses' older sister, Miriam. How it was her job to take care of her brother. How she promised God to protect him from the Pharoah's decree that all male babies were to be thrown in the Nile River.

We sat and talked for just a second how it was Miriam's job to take care of Moses and comparing how it is also Claire's job to take care of her brother, Matthew. I didn't think she was interested in hearing it, so I let her go. She sat there with the book, singing (because they have the song in there and we sing it together) for a few more minutes and I started to finish vaccuming. I turned it off to hear this:

"Father...thees day...grateful...bessings...brover, Mafew...amen."

Translation: Dear Heavenly Father, Grateful for this day, grateful for blessings, grateful for my brother, Mathew, Amen.

Ummm...wow.

horz? horz? Mafew?

Claire is such a good big sister. She does her best to maul him with love as often as she can. Even with mother standing over her saying, "Too much, too much!" because she's squashing him flat and he can't even breath to scream to Momma.

Yesterday, I was in the bathroom. Usually I leave Matthew in places that Claire can't reach him (or isn't supposed to be able to reach---she can climb in the pack and play, the swing and the crib), but she was downstairs playing and I was just going to be 30 seconds. I was, but at about 15 seconds, she was upstairs and on my bed. I get there as fast as I can, but also trying to be okay with her wanting to be with her brother. She would never intentionally hurt him. Anyway, she is on the bed with him, laying down next time. She's pulled him into a loose hug and has her head resting against his. I don't have a camera right now, but I sure took a picture with my heart. It was the sweetest thing in the whole world.

She also always wants to play with him like her daddy plays with her. So, 10-15 times a day, she asks, "Horz? Horz? Mafew?" and points to her shoulders. She wants him to ride her shoulders like a horse. We always try to do it, if he's not asleep. Pretty adorable kids, I think.

matthew's birth story...

This kid has been trying to come out for a while now and he finally made it. We went in on Thursday July 22nd and the doc said "any day now". That night I had EXTREME contractions and had started counting them at about 3 minutes apart. I woke Nick---or tried to. He told me to go back to bed, still not coherent enough to realize I was saying WE NEED TO GO TO THE HOSPITAL, Nick! GET OUT OF BED! He got me to lie down again and I fell in to an exhausted sleep about an hour later, the contractions having calmed down to about 6 minutes apart and lots less intense. I was furious with him the next morning. He didn't remember a thing, so I couldn't stay too angry. Obviously he didn't do it on purpose. He did, however, wake up to Claire screaming about an hour after I fell asleep. She was barfing on and off for the rest of the night. I think we had to change her sheets 3 times and ours once. Poor girl.

The next few days were uneventful. I went to work a few times, as did Nick. We went to the Pioneer Day Parade in Logan. Claire loves the candy and still asks to go to parades. It's probably the only time I have let her eat candy without restraint.

Monday we went back into the doc and he said we were far enough that we should probably just go to the hospital because I tested positive for Strep B and he wanted the antibiotics in me before my water broke. We went in and Claire came with us. She was still barfing through the nights and it was obvious she didn't feel well. We sent her to Camilla's house when it was time for a nap and she stayed the night with her.

My water didn't break after sitting there with strong contractions for 5 hours and I hadn't progressed in any other way. My doc offered to just break the water. I was hesitant, but we went ahead with it anyway. We wanted to get home to Claire asap.

I really had planned to go with out an epidural, but I gave in when I had only progressed from 4cm to 5cm after another 4 hours of contractions, the last hour had me screaming at times. I wouldn't even let them check me before they gave me the ep. I didn't want to wait. If I had, the probably would have said it was too late! I wish I had just waited! I got the ep and about 5 minutes later they had to call the doc. He came in and had me push THREE times and he was out! No complications, no four hours of pushing, no meconium, no cord wrapped around his neck four times, no being breach, no heart problems, no lung problems (all of this happened with Claire) and NO NICU! He nursed right away and only doesn't nurse when he's not hungry (I say this because he went a few hours longer than he was supposed to without eating and the nurses tried to force feed him a bottle---he barfed it right back up, twice.). He doesn't scream (at least yet) the way Claire did for four months solid. He is sweet and I can't help but love him.

Claire spiked a fever to 103 the next night and we sent her to the doc the next day. She has strep throat and an ear infection. It was hard to keep her off the baby! Especially because she wanted to hold him and kiss him. Krista (my MIL) watched her the second night (we had to stay two nights because of the Strep B). Claire earned her name as Monster #1 that night. She didn't really sleep until 3 am. Poor Grammie.

All in all, we feel so blessed to be healthy and happy. Matthew arrived 2 weeks early (our last ultrasound moved our date back to the 10th of August---but I was UNWILLING to wait THAT long! LOL) but is a keeper! Claire has developed bronchitis and is on an other round of antibiotics, but she is still happy. I am crazy-hormonal, but I'm trying. I get grumpy at Claire for silly things and I'm exhausted, but hopefully I'll be able to sleep more after I die ;) Even with a few bumps in the road, we are so great and happy. We are grateful for God's hand in our lives.

claire and maf-ew

matthew bradley sorensen

he's here!

Monday July 26, 2010, 10:05pm
7 lbs 2.6 oz
19 inches
Ratings: 8 & 9

Ummmm...wow. so completely different the second time.


more story later.

fing? fing?

My momma bought us this swing that we really wanted. Last time we just borrowed one from our friend, who borrowed it from a friend. We used it for like six months, so we were glad to get one. It came in the mail yesterday. Claire was so excited! She calls swings, 'fings'. I guess that blend of letters is just a little hard for her. te he

Anyway, we opened it up and put it together---a nice little 2 hour project, no big deal with a 2 year old around...It probably would have been faster, but the screwdriver kept disappearing and reappearing in strange places. I would be using it and then Claire would ask for help with something and I'd take it with me to the potty, or wherever it was she needed help, and then when returning to my task, forget where I put it. Placenta brain.

I finally finished with it when she was down for a nap. I didn't make a big production of it to her. Just put it in a corner. But when she found it, I wasn't there. I did hear "fing? Fing? help?"


She didn't wait for me or Nick...


I also love her outfit. Some coworker of Nick's (a girl named Mallory) decided that Claire needed a birthday gift. Overly thoughtful of her. It's a Princess Arora costume with a crown, shoes, top, skirt and purse. Ummmm...wow. talk about pink. thank goodness no one will gift Monster #2 with pink (although I would not be surprised to receive something pink for him just because everyone thinks its so funny that I don't like it!).

BOM camp...

Nick:
Nick went to Youth Conference in our stake (he's in the YM presidency). It was three days of reenacting the BOM. The kids were all supposed to have read it through before they came. Nick played a priest in the court of King Noah. He even had to say a line! Obviously, he loved that. But besides that, he really did enjoy it. They had great speakers, great kids and went through the whole BOM, even with a earth shattering midnight on their last night to represent Christ's crucifixion in the Americas. He came home with a sword that he had to battle with during the Alma chapters.

Deb:
Deb is so anxious to get this kid out of her! Contractions are called "useless pain" by a SIL when they do nothing to further things along but still cause pain and sleepless nights. I have thought that we were ready to have this kid four times now. The first time, we went to the hospital with minute and a half apart contractions and were sent home (35 weeks) because nothing else was happening. $400 dollars to basically check my progress is so not worth it, so deb has made a goal: only going in if the water breaks. Thought we were close three other times, but after HOURS of painful contractions, they would go away for a few days before returning with a vengeance. He'll come when he's ready, despite my efforts of mowing lawns and taking long walks. I need to be more patient. Especially cause when he does come, I might be wishing for peace and quiet. ;)

Claire:
such a super star! She is still whining and doesn't listen as well as she did a month ago, but ohmigoodness is she the cutest thing in the whole world. Her vocabulary is astounding (to the bias mother, of course!). She asked to speak with her dad on the phone this morning when he called. I had just put yogurt in front of her and she said to her dad, "Hi Dad! I blue spoon! Yogurt aldiging ha so eat. Yeah... High chair." Then she hands the phone to me and says, "More yogurt weease?" I love that kid.

We went to Grandma Rosi and Grampa Bill's house while Nick was at camp. She asked to go to Emma's house (her cousin) every day about 50 times. Her cousins came and had a sleepover with us and slept in the big family room in the basement. Claire saw Emma, Ty and Quincey's sleeping bag and knew right what to do. She curled up in Quincey's sleeping bag and refused (more on that later) to get out. I didn't think she could handle sleeping with all those cousins without staying up late so I wasn't going to let her stay until I saw she was practically asleep already. I made her her own sleeping bag out of blankets and she got right in and fell asleep with a little of my prompting and a little reminder from Emma to lie down. It was the cutest picture when I would get up to pee in the night and see all the cousins sleeping together. At one point, Quincey had rolled right over the top of Emma and they both stayed asleep.

Claire is really starting to be able to share. Not willingly at first, but she's learning. If you tell her it's Emma's turn, she give it right over to Emma and then wait (for about 30 seconds) till she can have it back. She sometimes will give it to the person she's to be sharing it with and then stomp her feet (well, stomp her ballerina toes---she still never walks flat footed. you should see her calves!) and yell "uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhhh uhhhh!" because she didn't really want to share, but she did because Momma asked her too. This is exactly what happened when I asked her to let Quincey have her sleeping bag back. She knows she's supposed to share, and she will, but it is not always with positive enthusiasm. All of her kookiness makes her that more endearing. I couldn't have asked for a better kid. I'm so grateful.

potty update...

I don't know if I'll ever get this right, but I'm sure trying. Claire will go to the potty, only if I tell her she's going. I think this told her brain that she doesn't have to tell me/herself when she needs to go because I get her to go whenever I do (as a 37 week prego woman, that is plenty!). Anyway, I don't think she's learned to feel the 'urge'. I've started asking her if she wants to go potty, and she ALWAYS says 'no'. I don't think I want potty training to become a traumatic event for her, but I am loosing my patience! I gotta back away...again! AGH!

On a happier note, she did tell me "potty" in the middle of breakfast. She headed straight for her room to play with toys (or something) when I got her down. I redirected her and she went potty! YEAH! Small success....sigh

Silly note: I try to leave her without a diaper so she'll 'feel' when she needs to potty. it has worked two or three times.

I got her out of the shower today (she likes the 'sprinklerrr' of a shower instead of a bath now), and put a towel on her and she ran around with her cute purple hippo hooded towel on trying to ride her little car. I called her the purple-hooded-bandit because she was trying to be mischievous about getting her car outside!

Prego note:

This kid is causing contractions like crazy! Last Sunday, we thought he was going to come and headed to the hospital. The contractions were about every 1 1/2 minutes, but nothing else was progressing fast enough---which is good, he would have been considered a preemie. This Sunday, I thought we would end up going again because the contractions kept me up all night long. Nope. We rode out the pain and they went away on thier own.

Yesterday, I was walking down Old Main Hill from work (about 125 steep steps) to meet up with Nick and Claire to go home. The sprinklers were running on different parts of the hill and I didn't think about it much, just avoid the water kind of thoughts. Well, the steps about half way down were covered in quite a lot of water. I slipped and fell pretty hard. Gashed up my legs pretty badly and went down about seven steps before I stopped. I've had contractions ever since and feel like I'm wetting my panties all the time! Not sure if it's that or leaking amniotic fluid. Doing tests per the doc to find out right now. We are all fine though. Every time Claire sees my owies, she kisses them better and says "sowwy, Momma." We're just fine, just wanted to note this for posterity! I love my kid. She is so gentle hearted.

"how old are you?":

For a few days, Claire has been able to answer "2!" whenever we ask her age. But, sometimes she gets the question confused with "what's your name?" and will answer with "Claire Sore-sen" when she should have said "2!" Pretty adorable.

Anyway, yesterday was her birthday. we have pics coming from Nick, but I'll start out without them.

Friday July 2, 2010
Claire, Dad and Mom went and had a picnic in a parkish area and watched fireworks. Claire was up til 12pm! Ouch!

Saturday:
nothing special

Sunday:
Almost had a baby brother! Claire keeps asking about "Mat-thew" and kissing and touching my belly. She's such a sweetheart. I hope she won't be too upset when she has to share the attention.

Monday:
Claire, Mom and Dad when to the Hyrum Parade. It was about 2 HOURS long. Claire was plastered with fliers, candy, a helium balloon (red, if you're wondering), water from water guns and Popsicle. She loved it.

She went home to take a reluctant nap that Daddy had to actually wake her up from so that we could go to her BBQ. Was a little fussier than we would have prefered. but, once the other kids got there, she was swinging on a robe swing, playing in the dirt (including throwing dirt in her friend Rayliegh's hair and Ray threw it back at her and they giggled a ton), eating hot dogs, chips, corn on the cob and about 2 bites of birthday cake. Must be a true Sorensen not to like birthday cake!

Then the kids all played with sparklers (with adult supervision) and went home.

Claire, Daddy, Momma and one of the families that was at the party, went with us: the Pabists, to Hyrum to watch a firework display. I have a feeling Claire will be asking for fireworks for a few more months. Great day and celebration.

sucker, sucker?

When Claire tells me she wants a sucker, it's code for: "I have to pee, Mom." She has been pretty successful at it. I can't get her to go #2 and if I try and catch her in the act and put her on the toilet, she holds it in for a few days and then I have poopy diapers that leak! help? anyone?

pee pee...

Claire was picking me up from work on Friday (with Nick). She was adorable, and kind of a pain in the neck (what kid isn't). She decided that she HAD to run up the hall (pretty long hall) so she said, "Run, run?" No one was there, I work after hours, so I said, "okay! run!" She took off down the hall. Stopped for a second, said "uh-oh." and then started running again. She didn't want to come back, but as soon as I started counting, she turned around and starting running back to me. Again, she stopped, said 'uh-oh" and her diaper totally FELL OFF! It was stuck to just one of her legs and she was, half running, half shaking the leg to get the whole thing to let her loose. It was a scream.

Eviction Notice...

30 Day Eviction Notice!

**(I saw this on another blog and thought it was cute. I just had to share)

My Dearest Baby Boy,

Your current eviction date of July 28, 2010 (to the elation of your grandfather---being that it is his birthday and you are being named after him) has been set for the past 240 days. In the past few months, I understand that you have become extremely comfortable in your current dwelling. Unfortunately, I need to discuss some of the key points of your lease with you.

The 4:30am dance parties were not discussed in your lease, and they've been doing damage to the walls.

The blockage of a numerous amount of pipes and the leaking of others has to be put to an end!

Also, as far as adding square footage to the dwelling, we discussed a reasonable addition. You have surpassed that by much more than we discussed.

I have prepared another home for you to reside, so don't let house hunting be the reason you stay. Should your eviction date come and pass, please note that I will use forceful measures to remove you. I would like for this transition to be as painless and quick as possible. Please don't make this any harder than it has to be.

Love,
Moma

purebred, corn fed...

A while ago, we invited some good friends (the Frenzels...they have the son Miles that I've posted about before---Claire's boyfriend) to dinner. We had corn on the cob. Claire thought it was the best thing ever and asked for corn for the next few days. Sometimes I would try and give her frozen corn or corn from the can, but I think it was the novelty of the cob that really had her interested in it.

Anyway, we gave Miles some corn too. He refused to eat anything else. Or allow us to help him. He was content to just gnaw on this cob...We were laughing hysterically. We'll let you see why:

a trip to grammies...

Nick's mom, Krista, had Claire two weeks ago. These are some of the more adorable pics she sent us of Claire's time there. It was hard for me to have her gone so long ( a whole WEEK!), but I know it was good for me and then she had so much love from others, how can you complete with that!?


Sabby's (Savvy's) shoes

chasing after Grammie!

Got her!

Found a bug!

Got it! But apparently she's never taken shooter safety courses. I'm sure her dad will set her straight as soon as he sees this pic! ;)

"hellllp?"

Nick's old rocking horse from G Grampa Dennis

Too cool!

tip toes---she always walks around on her toes...I guess I need to sign her up for ballet.

Listening to Ariel---The Little Mermaid