what daddies do with little girls...

The perfect place to change a diaper!


ohmigoodness, isn't she adorable! Nick still plays with her hair. I love that.


Claire wanted to be like Daddy. He even 'shaved' it off for her.

paddle boats...

It was harder than we thought to find things to do in a city as small as Boise. Nick and I usually take books with us that tell us about the city we're going to, but our library only had books on the state at large. Very little to do with downtown Boise. This was at a park next to the zoo.

We had a blast running into Krissy, Kiera and Katrina. Nick steered the ship (but only when Claire would let him) and had us find the most interesting predicaments. Giant carp---Clare saw this bright orange thing under the water and I thought, garbage! Yuck... Nope, it was a giant carp that eats the garbage! Claire was completely enamored.

She loved her life jacket. Was mad at me when I tried to take it off of her.

Emma, is that you?

ZooBoise...

Claire with penguins!



Katrina, Claire and Keira with penguins. I love how poised Keira is! ;)



riding a tiger baby! These were SO CLOSE to us! I'll bet there was (at times) less than a foot between us and a tiger that had shoulders as tall as I am! I forget to take pics of the animals, because I don't remember what to do with them! I prefer pics with people ;)


She didn't want to leave this! kept coming back. I love the different facial expressions.






Mir Cats: Katrina and Nick's forehead


Claire, Katrina, and Nick's forehead


Keria, Claire, Katrina and Nick's forehead




Nick was the hero father for this pic. At the end of the slide, just as he shot this pic, Claire started cartwheeling hazardously down the slide. Nick made a one armed save! all the parents around us cheered.







Keira showed Claire how to use her feet to slow herself down.
Wes to the left and Nick starting down the slide in pursuit of Kiera...


...almost caught her!


cute little hut. You can see Katrina's hands poking through to Claire's right.



A range rover, I don't know why we loved it.


Nick has terrible feet. The poor things are mainly bone and get tired out super fast! After walking around for 2 hours at the park, he decided to take a turn in the wagon. Krissy is pushing, Wes is to Nick's right, Keira to the left. This was one of the moments I realized how much we NEEDED a vacation. I haven't seen Nick be fun like this in....I don't know how long. Especially in public. Glad Claire and Monster #2 have a fun dad. Wait till you see the day at the park pics! I have to wait and get them from Krissy.


Nick, Kiera's eyeball, Claire and Katrina

the crazies...

I have had a few nervous break downs. All that crap with Claire and how it was never ending really REALLY was eating at me to the point that I was livid with everyone. from Kelli (who I haven't even spoken to---because she hasn't thought to speak to me! how silly is that!?) all the way to my Hubby (who I would get mad at if he looked at me funny) to myself (I know this is stupid to be so mad! Why am I so mad!? why can't I stop being so mad!?!?) and even to Claire at times (I spanked her! I don't believe in spanking!). I think being prego just added to it and I am still going through it, but my hubby took me on a much need vacation last weekend and then this weekend my mother in law stole Claire and took her to Colorado for a week. I'm trying to focus on being relaxed and letting things go.

Apparently I can't win the perfect mom/wife/woman/daughter/aunt/anything contest. Which I never entered, but gosh it would be nice to be that way!

avoiding the boise trip...

We had a GREAT time in Boise for Memorial Day Weekend, but I don't have any of the pics, so I will avoid telling you about it until I do!

I received my results back from the glucose test a while ago, but didn't remember to tell you about them. Gratefully, I'm not diabetic, my thyroid is showing good progress but I'm ANEMIC! AGH! I was thinking I was so tired all the time because of all the stress. I have noticed that when my body is unusual in some way or another, it is usually for a reason that I ride off as normal. What are they trying to do to me? Make me a hypochondriac?!

Claire is doing well! I still 'see' rashes that appear and magically disappear the same day. I'm wondering if I just have an active imagination with them right now. Her biggest thing right now is actually that she will point at a joint and say, 'owie'. Most common this week is her hip. This makes me nervous, but I try to just roll with it for now.

We started potty training yesterday (again---after we were told to wait via doc's order's). Claire wants a sucker SO badly! She went to the store and picked out suckers and stickers for when she is successful on the potty. She received her first sticker for peeing (sort of) on the potty today! GO CLAIRE! She wants to try all the time so she can get her suckers. She still isn't telling me when she's going, like she has in the past, but I hope to bring that back out. She's a great kid, ya know that?

boy names...

we are so taking ideas on boy names!

we like:

-single syllable names, but names we can shorten work too.
-non-exotic (no justineal-llo or shufunkwas)
-family names
-something that goes with Matthew being the first name, and him going by his middle name...but we're not opposed to other ideas as well.
-names with great meaning or after great men
-old school names (you know---like Claire is an old school name)

we don't like:

-names with a past ("i knew a kid with that name and he used to put boggers in my hair!"---we won't be using those ;)
-if someone in the family already has the name that is within two generations, we probably won't use it. ie---my FAV name is Daniel, but he has an Uncle Daniel.

Some ideas we have:

Matthew Gideon:
I love the idea my brother Tim had: Gideon is a family name, but they would call him Eon (Ian). I think that's AWESOME! Nick does not agree.

Matthew Jacob:
I love the name Jacob and call him Jake, but Nick doesn't like Jacob.

Matthew Taylor:
Nick loves Taylor, but I don't love that it is a unisex name and more popularly a girl name, right now.

Matthew Bradley:
Just not sold on it yet.


We are LOST! We have so many ideas, but none both of us agree on. Help us!

princesses...

One of my students (Kiki) won her 'natural' beauty pageant. She wanted to show me the crown. I think Claire was more impressed than I was.

fungus...

Claire's mouth started to bleed...a lot. Took her to dentist and doc. They said it was thrush ( you know, fungus in you mouth). Apparently you only get it if you are immune compromised or an infant. I am considered immune compromised because I'm prego and Claire is because of the steroids. We both got it, but Claire's is worse. It got to the point that when she would move her mouth at all, it would bleed. Her gums still bleed when anything touches them. I can't brush them without making them bleed. It's horrible.

she is doing alright, though. She's eating better now that she's been on the thrush meds for a few days. What a relief! yucky, yucky stuff. She is sure a trooper.

from marlies, melissa, tim and jill...

We have had so much love from our families and friends. Recently, my sister Marlies and my "sister" Melissa, my brother Tim and his wife (and my sis) Jill took it upon themselves to send a package. This is of her opening it:




Marlies had this one all set up: A suitcase full of princess fru-fru ( you know I love that stuff), 'snacks' (fruit snacks), 'fishy-s' (goldfish crackers), tu-tus, sippers (sippy cups), books and a princess blanket. So that it's ready for when she goes to the doc next. ;)





Apparently, it's more important to feed yourself instead of your babies.









'chap-it' (chapstick)
I think this was her fav







Obviously, we feel loved. And maybe a little overwhelmed by pink/princesses!
She now asks for her "ah-ree-ahl" books (Ariel) daily.