Dress up!

Claire got 3 dress up dresses for Christmas this year, and she LOVES them.  I have them hanging at her level in her closet, and she will bring them out to me about every other day wanting to wear them, and it is so stinkin cute.  A couple weeks ago she added sunglasses and a necklace to her ensemble...and then Daddy had to wear this sunglasses too. :)  

2012

2012 was a busy, exciting year for our family.  Here is our year in review!

january

January was busy--Claire and I were in MN for half the month, and headed back to NC after a nice long MN vacation.  Claire and I found our routine again with just the two of us, and she really started turning from a baby into a big girl.

february

February was busy!  We spent a lot of time outside, Claire and Lacey officially became BFF's, and I accomplished a big goal in the house.  With the help of a friend, I put a tile backsplash in our kitchen that I am still completely in love with.

 march 

March brought warm temps back into our world.  The countdown to Bud being home began and my parents came for a whole week to see us.

april

April was an exciting month.  It was our last one with out Bud, Claire turned 18 months old, we celebrated our last holiday with out Bud and I finished all my last minute projects.

may

MAY was finally here!!  The first day of May brought our favorite guy home, and the rest of the month was spent as a family, enjoying figuring out our new normal again.  Bud and I got a much needed vacation just the two of us thanks to his parents coming to watch Claire.  May was probably my favorite month of the year. :)

june

Early in June, we found out Claire was going to be a big sister!  I spent the rest of the month feeling pretty crummy, and trying to keep up with Claire. :)  Claire and I spent a lot of time in the garden--her favorite thing was to pick broccoli right off the plant and eating it. We also had visitors in June that won the prize for longest travel--our friends from Alaska came to visit for a couple days!

july

We celebrated the 4th of July with some friends and my sister and her sweet family visited!!  Having Lainey and Claire play together was SO fun.  

august

We took a trip to MN in August!  It was a WONDERFUL break from the heat of NC, and Claire loved having her daddy around so much, which also meant a nice break for mama!  I was still feeling pretty awful in August, so all the extra help from Bud and grandparents was very welcome!!  We were able to help sweet Lainey celebrate her first birthday--and it was the first time my entire family had been together since 2010, so it was extra special to me!  We also learned that Claire was going to have a baby brother!  August was a busy month!

september

After such a crazy August, September was a quiet month.  We spent lots of time playing inside (still very hot and mama still feeling not so hot), and doing yard work when we could stand being outside.  Claire starting learning her alphabet and caught on very quickly--she knew about 10 letters by sight within a week or so!  I was very impressed!

october

We were so happy to have Bud home this year in October!  He got to help us celebrate Claire's 2nd Birthday, and took her trick or treating for the first time.  We celebrated Claire's birthday with a Mickey Mouse party with her best friends, and the night before her birthday we took her to dinner at one of her favorite places (she LOVES the nachos at O'Charleys!).  She caught on to trick or treating very quickly, and would run from one house to the next saying, 'more!, more!'  The clown costume was mine when I was her age--and she is WAY cuter as a clown than I was! :)

november

We spent a lot of time outside in November.  I finally was feeling good, and the weather was beautiful!  We got our first Christmas tree in this house, and started decorating for our first Christmas at home.  Claire vocabulary exploded after her birthday, and it seems like she was learning a new word or phrase every day!

december

We started December with a trip to VA to see Bud while he was away for work.  DC is clearly very tiring when you are 2!

Right after VA, Claire and I packed up and headed to IA to meet this little dude, Wyatt!  Claire completely fell in love with her baby Wy, and asks for him almost daily.  She had a lot of fun playing with Lainey too, even though she did 'poosh' her a few times.  Stinker. :)  My parents are loving the complete choas that comes with having all the grandbabies so close together...it is quite the experience! (There will be 4 kids in less than 2.5 years!)

We celebrated Christmas with our very good friends, who are like our family here.  The kids loved playing with new toys and the adults enjoyed some Just Dance.  So many laughs were had after a very yummy meal...we are so thankful for our life here!  

2012 was a wonderful year, and 2013 is shaping up to be pretty great as well!!  We will welcome our first little boy into this world, and besides many (many) work trips, will spend the entire year together as a family, and that is more than I could hope for.  We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and have a happy, healthy 2013!

Big Sister in Training

Oh, hey, remember this thing I have called a blog? It's about timeC I get back to this, sorry folks.

We have been crazy busy lately....between the holidays, traveling and getting ready for the baby, things are a little crazy around here.  I could really use a laundry maid right about now...any takers? :)  

Here are some pictures from November to update you a little bit...

 Claire got a stroller for her birthday and loves to take her baby for walks around the house.  On this day, she asked me if she could bring her baby and stroller outside, and I told her I thought it was too cold for the baby (or in mommy terms...I don't want to), so Claire quickly grabbed a new outfit for the baby that has a hood, some socks, and a blanket.  Sooo, baby came out with us. :)  She's too smart for me!

 Claire really loved helping me decorate the tree and wanted all the ornaments to be 'up high!'

 She really loves her bitty baby, and has been getting really good practice in for when her brother gets here.  She loves to change, feed, burp and snuggle with her baby.  She will put her blankie on her shoulder, hold the baby and bounch and sway saying 'shh shh shh' to help her baby settle down.  It is SO sweet.

I will try and update again soon with pictures from our visit to VA/DC to see Bud while he was away for work, our trip to IA to meet 'baby Wy', Christmas and my ever growing belly.  Stay tuned!

She's 2!

Our baby girl turned TWO on Thursday, and we celebrated on Saturday with her friends.  We had a fabulous Mickey party complete with the best bounce house ever, all of Claire's favorite foods, and of course, cupcakes!

I can't believe that in two short years, our beautiful baby has grown in to such an amazing little girl!  She is wild and hilarious like her daddy and sweet like her mommy, the best of both worlds. :)

 2010

2012

Daddy's Girl

Claire is absolutely loving her daddy these days, and it completely melts my heart.  She has always been more of a momma's girl, but the past month or so she just adores him.  She cries when he leaves with out her, runs to him when he gets home and her newest favorite thing is to sit down in the morning and share a bowl of cereal with him.  So sweet.  They are out running some errands right now, and she was so excited to go.  She just looks and me and waves and says, "Bye, mama! Love you!"  When he leaves with out her? Big alligator tears and my sweet girl standing at the door crying for her dada.  It breaks my heart and makes me completely dread the next time we have to say good bye to him, because her heart is going to be just as broken as mine.  Here are my two favorite pictures of them from the past couple weeks.

Bud was really hesitant when we found out Claire was a girl, and now being a Daddy to a girl completely fits him.  We even had friends comment that they were surprised he didn't want a girl with how wonderful he is with her.  They are two peas in a pod, and make each other giggle like no one else can.  I am so thankful for my little family!

Happy Birthday, Rah Rah!

Today is my favorite sister and Claire's favorite aunt's birthday!  Claire absolutely adores her Rah Rah, as do I.  I am so thankful and blessed to have such a wonderful big sister.  

  From matching Christmas sweaters to matching baby bumps!

It is so fun to me that we both had our sweet baby girls, and now we are getting ready to have baby boys!  Some day we WILL live close to each other so that our kids can be wonderful friends.  

We LOVE you, Sarah!  Happy Birthday!!

Halfway!

Finally!   I feel like I am a whole new person this week.  Apparently it took half the pregnancy, but oh well.  My house has been clean for a whole week, little dude's room is making some progress, Claire's room has gotten a lot of attention and our room is clean.  That's a lot, people.  I am SO thankful to be feeling like myself again!  Our little guy doesn't feel so little, and makes his presence known A LOT.

The next few months are going to fly--we are packed for October, November is very busy and then Christmas in December...it seems like it will be January before we know it.  So, we are trying to get as much done now as we can so we are ready for him if he decides to come early.  (Not holding my breath on that one, but better safe than sorry.)