Art Class

Clara and I are taking a mommy and me art class through November which has been really awesome. This week Clara made a beautiful picture using markers then painting water over them. We also have circle time although Clara isn't a huge fan of the sitting still part but we are working on it. 

We've also been playing outside a lot since the weather has been amazing!! I love days and nights with the windows open!  We put some rice in the water table since its cooling off and that was definitely a hit!

Its a boy!!

This morning we had our big ultrasound and found out that baby no. 2 is a boy!! I'm so grateful baby boy was cooperative and started moving around so we could see everything. He was pretty content just to sleep the first part of the ultrasound although I don't really blame him. I was wanting to sleep too after Clara kept me up most of the night with her teething issues then we had an 8AM appointment! Everything looks healthy with baby boy and as of today we are 19 weeks, so about halfway there!

Clara is 18 months old!!

Clara started off her 18 month birthday with a 24 hour virus. Luckily she only threw up one time but did wake up 5 times last night and was super cranky with a fever all day. About 6:00 pm this evening she clearly started feeling better and we are very grateful! Here's to hoping for a full nights sleep!!

At 18 months Clara is very active and talking all the time. She is putting two words together like "Dada outside" or "Mama mess" meaning Mama made a mess although its usually Clara that has made the mess. We are so fortunate that Clara is such a loving, good natured little girl. She loves to give hugs and kisses and makes sure that if she gives one to Mama she gives one to Dada too. Some of her favorite foods are bananas, noodles (noo noos), pineapple, eggs, nilla wafers, raisins, cheese and sweet potatoes. Clara sleeps from 8PM till 7AM and naps for 2-3 hours after lunch. Clara loves watching Elmo, playing outside, reading her 4 favorite books (I don't get to read anything but those few that she likes), playing with her baby dolls, and playing in any kind of water (the beach, the pool, the dog water bowl, etc.). This week I let her play with play dough and she loved it! She did really well not eating it and has played with it several times for at least 30 minutes each which is pretty amazing! Mimi bought Clara a pair of Crocs and Clara loves them! She especially loves that she can put them on by herself. She puts them on and takes them off again all day. She also loves talking on her pretend phone and if one isn't handy, she will find something else to use as her phone. She only talks to Mimi-Pop pop on her pretend phone. Sometimes I will ask her if its Dada or someone else on her phone but she always says no, Mimi-Pop pop. Funny that on the real phone she won't talk to anyone.

I'm really excited for things to start back up now that summer is over. Our lambs Bible study starts tomorrow and today was our first mommy and me crafts class at the Cary Arts Center (although we didn't get to go since Clara was sick). We are going to start doing a new activity each week from several different preschool blogs I've been looking at. Last week we played in a bowl of cornmeal and Clara practiced using her spoon to fill up different containers. Next we have some activities using rice.

Brian and I love every day that we get to spend with this sweet girl and can't wait to see what she is going to be up to next!

18 Weeks with Baby No. 2

Today I'm 18 and a half weeks with baby no. 2. I finally got around to Brian taking a picture of me and my ever growing belly today. Its not glamorous but it takes a lot for me to get looking glamorous with Clara to keep up with. We also took a trip to the park after nap time. I finally broke out my real camera for the first time in months (the last pictures that were still on the camera were from May...) My iphone camera is just way too handy but I need to do better about taking the Nikon with me places because there is absolutely no comparison in the picture quality. Plus I paid a small fortune for it swearing I would use it every day when Clara got here.... ooops. The exposures aren't the greatest (its been a while) but by the end I got a great pic of Clara and Dada.

Paint chips

Who knew that some old paint chips, a ziplock bag and a jar can entertain a toddler for an hour!!!

Clara's first weekend without mom and dad

I was told Clara did great for her first weekend without mom and dad. She went to the beach with my side of the family because Brian was in a wedding in Wake Forest and we had lots of wedding stuff all weekend. It was definitely hard not having her around but good to have some adult time too. Here are some of the pics the family sent me and a few wedding pics.