Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Two!

So I apparently suck at keeping up with this thing! Somehow time has flown and a month and half has passed since I last wrote. Speaking of time passing quickly my baby bear is now 2! A whole 2! At one year old one sounded small only one finger. Now she is 2 and loves to tell you that she is 2. I have a talking opinionated 2 year old! Holy moly!

Right before Claire's birthday we took a little trip to visit some dear friends in Jacksonville FL. This was our first family vacation as well as many firsts for Claire. It was her first trip on an airplane. We were so thrilled because since we were flying before her 2nd birthday she didn't require a ticket and therefore was FREE! We quickly learned "free" did come with a price. She really did fabulous for most of the trip there and back. It was the way back restlessness kicked in and we were all tired and ready to be home so I really can't blame her. We got really lucky on the second leg of our flight on the way there. The flight wasn't full and we had an extra seat which really helped because little girl just happened to fall asleep on the way there.

 Playing in the floorboard and looking for new "treats" in Mommy's bag is the most fun ever on a plane!
 
 
While in Florida Claire got to go to the beach for the first time. At first she wasn't so sure of the whole thing. The sand was "dirt" and she doesn't like dirt. While she loves water, water that kept moving on her wasn't really settling well. Luckily after an hour or so warm up of lunch on the beach, playing in the sand building things and a little help from Daddy she ended up LOVING the beach and the ocean.

 
A few days after we got back from Florida was Claire's birthday party. A huge thanks to my family and friends who helped me quickly pull the party together. This year's theme was "tutu's and ties". I thought it was fitting for a 2 year old birthday party. All the the little girls got tutus and the boys got little bow ties. The girls loved their tutus, but as I expected the little boys really could have cared less about wearing their ties. Everyone seemed to have a great time. We served bow tie pasta and did a build your own pasta bar. The kids played outside on the swingset (which was also a birthday present from us and her grandparents) and we had a bouncy house that our wonderful neighbor let us borrow. By the time the party was wrapping up I figured Claire would have been ready to crash for a nap, but boy was I wrong. A combination of grandparents and cake and ice cream made for a hyper and silly birthday girl. Once she did finally crash I did manage to get almost a record 2+ hour nap out of her.
 
Nana made the cake!
 
 Silly princess!
 


 
I thought this was a fun pic to compare how much she has changed since her 1st birthday!
 
Not much new to report in baby Luke news, which I think is a good  thing. Everything is going smoothly. He is growing big and strong and his kicks are showing me exactly how big he has gotten. I am now 25.5 weeks and time feels fast and slow all at the same time. I have been really nervous about going back to the baby stage. I always loved babies and loved Claire being a baby. Every stage has been fun, but for some reason I have been scared about having a baby in the house again. I think partly because I have a toddler now too to chase after. Plus with Claire leaving the house is easy. No diapers and for quick trips I can get away with no drink or a snack. Only one nap to work around. Leaving the house with a baby just requires alot more thought than leaving with a toddler. Although a new baby will sleep (hopefully) through most outings, at least in the beginning. Recently I got to love on some new babies and it made me feel more at ease about taking care of a newborn and a toddler. At least for that moment Claire played with her "baby" and didn't fuss at all. It also amazed me at how quickly taking care of a new baby comes back to you. I was already of course excited to meet my little guy, but now my excitement just grows everyday. I love the "newness" a baby brings and how everyday things we take forgranted such as just smiling, is such a huge deal with a new baby.
 
Not the best picture (it had been a long day), but a 25 week picture.