What's Going On in Our World: The Photo-Free Post

I am so behind on sorting photos, and I keep waiting until I have everything organized to post, but I feel like I'm missing the chance to record our "current events".  Time for a Crawford House Gumbo-style post!

• The beginning of the summer was busy.  We had something big every weekend for a month - I was out of town for a MOPS Steering retreat (I'm going to be a table leader in my Mothers of Preschoolers group next year - I'm excited!), we had family in town to celebrate Robert's grandparents' anniversary, and we went to two family reunions.   
• Will & Claire started swim lessons at Aqua Tots last month, and they love it - one of the highlights of  their week.  Will started out in a parent-child class and was ready to move up to the 2.5-3 year old class after a few weeks.  It's nice to be able to just sit on the sideline and watch!
• The kids and I are really enjoying our summer days - trips to the zoo, berry picking, museums, play dates, a few fun craft/science projects, and lots of time outside.
• Robert has been busy with work and travels a few times a month for meetings.  It's usually just an overnight trip, and on those days, Claire likes to have a sleepover at Nana and Granddaddy's house.  They all love their time together - games, movies, bubble baths in the big tub - and it makes the evening and early morning much more relaxed for me.  Will enjoys the one-on-one Mommy time, too.
• Claire and Will moved to a new preschool program this week.  We have been at the same place since Claire was about 11 months, so I thought there might be somewhat of an adjustment period, but we are making a pretty smooth transition.  Will is going to continue there in the fall after Claire starts Kindergarten.
• We are planning a family trip in August to San Diego - one last trip before school starts!

The Fall Routine

Wow - I am so behind!  Today I tried to get caught up by starting to organize photos, and I have over 100 that I want to share.  We have been busy with our new fall routine and enjoying the last days of summer.  The kids still go to school on Tues/Thurs, and while they are away I go to pilates at the Y (reformer on Tuesdays and mat on Thursdays), shower, clean a little, run errands, work on my Bible study, do laundry, appointments, finally get people out to fix the floor in the hall, etc.).  Claire has started speech therapy on Mondays and is really enjoying it.  On Wednesday mornings we go to Bible study, and we go to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meetings every other Friday.  This is my first year in MOPS, and I am loving it!  The kids have fun in their classes, too, so it's been a great thing for all of us.

A few recent pictures...Will stayed with my parents on Monday while Claire was at speech.  C and I picked him up, and the 3 of us went to my parents' neighborhood park for a picnic lunch and to enjoy some cooler weather.  There was definitely more playing than eating - we had to have Lunch #2 when we got home.

By the way - Will LOVES this t-rex shirt.  When he sees it, he'll exclaim "Dinosaur shirt!  That a 'T'! ROAR!" and will roar many times throughout the day with his hands up high like claws.  So funny!

At the park

These pictures are old, y'all.  I had the best intentions when I took my camera to the park in mid-May to try to get a cute photo of Will and then do a "Will at 18 months" post...that never happened.  But, I still have cute pictures to share!

Will at 18 months  :)


Such a happy kid!




Showing off how loud he can be - all boy!


A few of Miss Priss - she was fancy that day with her big headband.




Suddenly camera shy


Climbing up a new way

Will at 10 Months

On September 11th, Will turned 10 months old!




Big milestones for Will this month included crawling, learning to pull up on everything in sight, and getting his first taste of ice cream.  :)

Catching up on Will

12/30/10 - Will at 7 weeks:

Will continues to be a healthy and happy baby! He is settling into a nighttime routine, going to bed around 9 or 10 and waking up around 2 and 5 to eat. He usually will go back to sleep for an hour or so after the second feeding which we all appreciate, especially now that Claire is back to sleeping until around 7. We're still tired, but feeling much more rested than we were a few weeks ago.

A few other things:

- Will has given us a few intentional smiles in the past week - I can't wait to see more of them! He gets excited when he hears Claire - I think her enthusiasm has rubbed off on him. She is still completely in love with her little brother, although we have to watch her very closely around him to make sure she doesn't smother him while showing affection.
- He can follow an object with his eyes and turns his head towards a sound.
- He sleeps great in his car seat, which helps when we have to run errands (and during our recent long trips to Dallas and Vernon!).
- He only gets really upset when he's hungry.
- He weighs about 12 1/2 pounds, which is more than Claire weighed at 4 months.

My full-time maternity leave is almost over. The school had an opening in the infant room for Tuesdays and Thursdays, so Will is going to start going to daycare and I will go back to work for those days as of the 18th. Right now the plan is to do the two day a week thing for the second half of January, then move up to 3 days a week in February. After that, my bosses and I are going to decide if I will stay at 3 days a week or go back to my 4 day schedule. I'm so glad my job is flexible!

I never posted Will's 5 & 6 week pictures, so here they are. Obviously, in week 6 I forgot what he was wearing in week 5. I really wanted to be sure to get a photo of him in this outfit, though. Before Claire was born, I bought this outfit in blue and pink to be the coming home outfit for her (not yet knowing she was a girl). It absolutely swallowed her, and she was a four months old before it fit properly - I wrote a post about it here. I was glad that I saved the blue one, and I think it really illustrates the size difference between my two children!

Five Weeks:

Six Weeks - Merry Christmas!:

Over the past two weeks...

I just realized last night how long it's been since I did a blog update! We've had a busy couple of weeks...

• Robert's sister got married on the 13th at a ranch in Bandera. Claire was the flower girl, and she performed her duties beautifully! I'm planning a whole post on the wedding.
• We had one set of Robert's grandparents, Ma & Bob, and his uncle Clark, aunt Gayle, and cousin Tom staying with us the weekend of the wedding. We had a great visit and enjoyed showing them some of the missions of San Antonio.
• Monday the 15th was my last day of work at the accounting firm I'd been working for here in San Antonio. I left for a variety of reasons, but the main reason was that my request to go to a formal part-time schedule was basically ignored for months, so I found another job that I'm very excited about. I'll be working for a local restaurant here in San Antonio with 3 locations, doing some accounting, analysis, strategy, planning, etc. for the owners. The office is VERY small, so it will be a change, but I love the industry and am looking forward to starting on Monday!
• I've stayed busy on my days off, painting a room, working on a list of things we've been needing to complete for months, cleaning, spending more time with Claire, etc.
• Last Thursday, we got a scary call from the daycare. Claire fell out of a chair and hit her head on the floor, and the director was concerned about her and called the ambulance. I was at home painting, so I threw down my stuff and headed over. Robert got the message before me, and by the time I got there, he was already there and the paramedic had come and gone. The paramedic thought she was okay but said we might want to get a second opinion, so I took her to the pediatrician's office for another look. She was acting normally but sleepy, and I kept talking to her and reaching back and messing with her to keep her awake. Fortunately the pediatrician agreed that she was okay, told us a few things to watch for, and we all headed to lunch. She was fine by then, ate a good lunch, and went down for a nap when we got home. I checked on her every half hour to make sure she was okay, and we didn't have any issues other than a bump, a huge bruise, and a sore noggin. Overall, we were thankful that the school reacted so quickly and didn't hesitate to call for medical attention, and that things weren't any worse (and that there is time for the bruise to go away before our family portraits in a couple of weeks :) ).
• Mom and Dad came to visit last weekend. We hadn't seen them since our big trip in January and enjoyed spending lots of time with them - and putting Dad to work on lots of projects with Robert!
• While Mom and Dad were here, Robert and I managed to see two movies - "Up in the Air" and "Avatar" in 3D. Really enjoyed both of them, although "Up in the Air" was a little depressing. We realized that we hadn't been to the theater since we saw "Star Trek" - it had been too long!
• Claire is going to her first Easter egg hunt this weekend, and we're excited to see how she reacts.
• Claire is still taking some small steps on the potty training front. We are taking it very slowly and letting her set the pace at this point. Most nights she will sit on her potty before her bath, and after a couple of weeks of nothing happening, she's started using it again. We give her a sticker every time she sits on it for more than a few seconds, and she gets another one if she actually uses it (and she gets to flush the big toilet, which she thinks is really fun). I'm trying to avoid any food-related rewards after hearing some stories from friends with children a little older than C, and fortunately she loves stickers. She definitely understands the concept, which is what we're going for right now, and we're not planning on full-on potty training for awhile. Selfishly, I like being able to run errands and not worry about finding the nearest bathroom, or having to get up multiple times during a dinner out to go to the restroom. That will happen soon enough, I'm sure!

Look for posts soon about Carol's wedding, our crazy night trying to leave Hawaii, and more!

Claire at Fifteen Months

Claire is fifteen months old - how is it possible that she's already a quarter of the way through her second year? Her checkup was last week, and she weighs about 18 pounds and is 28 3/8 inches tall (still around the 5th percentile for both). Her head is in the 40th percentile, though - got to have room for that big brain!

Pointing at everything - even the camera lens

The biggest development we've seen in the last month is Claire's comprehension. Although she only says a few words, she understands so much of what we say to her and is learning to follow directions. Our development has community mailboxes, so most nights we walk over (a block or so) to check the mail. A few days ago we started talking about going to get the mail, and she was getting excited. We told her "Go get the key!" and she took off towards the hook on the wall where we keep it. She loves this time and gets so excited when we start out the door.

Her favorite toys right now are her books, the giraffes from her Little People Noah's Ark, and any sort of cup or lid. She loves nesting cups and putting lids on things (and taking them off).

Claire has been eating more things - she still loves her yogurt, blueberry waffles, applesauce, Puffs, and cereal bars. I can usually get her to eat things that are breaded - chicken nuggets, fish bites, mac & cheese bites, and broccoli cheese bites. She doesn't really like many vegetables, but we still offer them almost every meal. We introduced peanut butter, and she loves it, so peanut butter sandwiches make frequent appearances in her meal rotation. We also found that she really likes grilled cheese sandwiches. Girl loves her carbs.

Claire is still really shy but observant. She loves to watch other people but ducks her head when they look at her. She definitely likes to sit back and watch until she feels comfortable joining in. She will "ham it up" for us, though. She is a character!

Claire loves hugs and kisses from Mommy and Daddy, and is a great snuggler. We love our sweet Claire!

Claire at Fourteen Months

Claire turned 14 months old on June 8th. The biggest milestone she hit during the month is learning to walk! She took her first unassisted steps on Mothers' Day (thanks Sweetie!) walking a couple of steps from the couch to the chair. Since then she's worked her way up to being able to walk several yards without help. Her confidence grows every day, and she likes to practice when she doesn't think anyone is watching.

She still only says a couple of words consistently, but she's added the sign for "water" which she also uses to mean "drink" and the sign for "eat" to her regular usage of "more." She likes to use "more" anytime she wants something, so we hear that word and see that sign many times a day.

Claire is beginning to be more adventurous with her eating, and she will eat just about anything we're eating, unless it's too spicy or hard to chew. Her favorite foods, though, are still yogurt, applesauce, bananas, Puffs, crackers, and cereal bars. She usually gets at least one of those at every meal. Claire has also given up all her bottles except for her one before bed and loves drinking from her sippy cups - our our cups.

She enjoys playing with lots of toys, but her books have become favorites. She loves to sit in our laps and listen to the stories and help turn the pages.

Along with her increased mobility comes an increased willfulness as her explorations lead to hearing the word "no" more often and redirection. She moves past her frustration, though, and is still our happy-go-lucky girl who is quick to smile - and bring smiles to our faces.

We are so blessed to have such a good natured baby who is always a joy to be around!