Baby its cold outside

Burrr!! We didn't have any snow over the weekend but it might as well have been because it was freezing outside! Grandma and Poppa were here to have a little fun (and to escape from the never ending snow coming down in VA) and we spent most of the weekend inside all warm and snug.

Of course we had to take out always necessary girls trip to Target and Chris & I got a night out on Friday but other than that it was a cozy few days!

Claire and Grandma got some good play time while Daddy and Poppa worked on her new room. They primed and painted all of her new big girl furniture and I spent time picking out bedding and paint colors.

Daddy still has a few weekends of work ahead of him to get it all done, but it's all coming together and Claire is excited about her big girl bed!

Kindermusik Fun

Daddy's Girl

Painting nails with my fairy wings on

Baby Update

I don't know how I did this every week when I was pregnant with Claire, but I'm lucky to even get some sort of an update on here with this baby!! I need to do better and hopefully can start making it a priority! And I promise to post some belly pictures....we haven't even taken any yet, so I will work on that! Funny how different things are the second go around!

I had a regular checkup appt today and everything went good. I've gained 8 pounds so far, my BP is still good & low, and that sweet little heart beat was busy and loud at 150 bpm. It even gave a few kicks into the Doppler when we were listening as if to say, "hey mom, I'm here!"

We get to go back in 3 weeks to have our big anatomy ultrasound. They will check the baby over head to toe, check the heart, brain, all the major organs, measure all the limbs, do head and body circumference and just make sure all looks healthy and normal. And of course the best part, if it cooperates, we'll get to know if there is a boy or girl in there!

We get more excited after each appt and cant wait to start calling it he or she! We are really anxious to start getting the new nursery all set up, pull out those adorable newborn clothes (or start buying blue ones) and of course all the fun accessories....swing, bottles, blankets, burp clothes etc!

I have to say the best part about today's appt was sitting with Claire at breakfast; I told her that Daddy was coming home early because Mommy had to go to the doctor. (That word immediately makes her uneasy, no matter who it is going). So when she gave me her "not so sure" look and asked, "mama sick?" I smiled and said no love, mama is fine, I get to go hear the baby's heart beat today and make sure everything is ok!

So that was that and we went on about our morning....fast forward to lunch and nap time. We're sitting at the table again and she looks at me and says, "listen to heart beat baby today, make sure everything is OK." I said, yes, you are exactly right, that's what I get to do.

Then as I was rocking her she lifts up my shirt (which is the only way she'll talk to the baby, she thinks I have to be "naked" to see it, ha!) and says "come out baby, need to rock you!"

It was so precious and made me smile the rest of the day. Of course I told her, it cant come out yet, not for 5 more months, it's still growing! So she told her Daddy later that night, "5 more daddy, still growing!" We just laughed and said yes, you're right!

It's so amazing to watch this process through her eyes. Even the things that we explain in the simplest terms that we have no clue if she really takes in or not, she seems to know exactly what we're saying! She is so cute with the entire thing and we cant wait to see how adding this new little person to our family makes us feel even more whole!

Stay posted....pics to follow and big news coming on the 23rd!!

Sick Days & Snow Days

Well pretty much after Tuesday evening the rest of the week went down hill fast! A yucky cold virus hit our house and then SNOW. So needless to say we are all a little stir crazy and along with sneezes, snot and coughs have a case of cabin fever! But we have found ways to keep ourselves entertained and have made the best of our week at home. And a big thanks to a fun art package that came from Grandma & Poppa that saved the week! Lots of paint, stickers, glitter and glue- what more can a 2 year old ask for!!

Watching Dora with Caitlin & Carson Tuesday night
Enjoying my first experience at water color

What an easy fun thing, just water and my minnie book!

I still dont feel good though....

Making some Valentines with Daddy and Mama

Watching it snow

Just playing around...it was full jammie day!

Showing Daddy how this works, I love my art easel

22 Months

So we're on the official countdown to her second birthday....8 weeks and 3 days! I can't believe it every time I think about it! But if you spend more that an hour with her, you definitely know that it's right around the corner!

She is the talker of the house....never stops, always processing and constantly repeating! She loves to say anything new and is up for the challenge of something difficult. Her new favorite movie is Charlotte's Web and not only does she say and do what she sees in it, her favorite word she picked up is salutations. We laugh and think of all the words for her to choose, she decided on that one! A long 4 syllable word that she already knows the meaning of!

She is out of her high chair and sits in her new booster seat at the table for every meal, which she loves. She feeds herself with her fork and spoon and is still very adventurous in trying anything new. She loves any type of "sauce" and wants you to "dip it" for her.

She enjoys talking about and trying out her new potty. We sit on it whenever she asks to and every night before bath time. We've started a sticker chart and every time she goes, she gets a sticker and after 10 stickers she gets a prize. She is very proud of it!

She still enjoys the library, it's one of her favorite places. She will sit at the little table in the children's area and read books for hours. She and Daddy went to story hour this morning and made sock puppets for her craft. She was excited to tell me all about it when they picked me up afterwards!

She is quickly outgrowing her playroom and over the next couple of months we are going to move it into the bonus room. One for more space and two the playroom will soon become the nursery. She is excited about getting her new big girl bed and big girl room. It will be much for interesting for us to see how she adjusts to staying in a bed without rails to keep her in! We're hoping for a smooth transition and that we wont lose our 12-13 hour a night sleeper!

She still loves playing outside, taking walks and the park, however between the cold temps and all the rain, that hasn't been possible over the last couple of months! She likes to color, paint and do crafts though, so we've been filling our afternoons with some fun indoor activities.

I think her absolute favorite thing is talking on the phone...she loves to pretend and do it for real. She will tell her pretend phone all she has done that day and just talk away. And of course when she's on the real phone, it's nonstop no matter who is on the other end!

She can sing several songs, which are absolutely precious to hear! She knows her ABC's, can count to 10, and we are still working on colors, she knows them, but lately everything is red. Ha!

We are looking into preschools for the fall and are anxious to see how she does with that. She will just go 2 mornings a week for several hours. I think it will be good for us all, especially once the new baby is here.

Well there is a quick and condensed Claire update, but stay tuned for some more baby bump pictures and baby #2's gender...we're hoping to know in a few weeks!

Such a big girl

We got back from dinner tonight with some friends and started playing around and Claire was being such a little performer that we had to break out the camera!

She was patting and kissing my belly and saying, "oh that sweet little baby!" as she calls it. I'm still trying to squeeze into my regular jeans, so I just realized how much that little bump actually looks like a gut over a tight waist (ha, or it was my full belly of pizza!).

Just being silly, sassy and somehow looking like she's 3 or 4 years old!! She just seems like such a big girl today, I can't get over that my baby is gone! And yes, we have on matching outfits and I didn't even realize it until I started looking at the pictures!

She got another hair cut last week and if you look closely at her hands, we had to get our nails painted again too!