2+2=4

It's true! I'm pregnant again! We are so excited to welcome a second baby into our home! 

We had our first ultrasound yesterday and everything looks good so far. The baby is healthy and I'm due September 19th. (Just a few days after Joe's birthday!) So far this pregnancy has been a re-run of Claire's. I'm super tired, nauseous ALL the time, and I throw up a lot. But thankfully I have my zofran during the day and unisom at night to get me through. This might be too much information but I've gone from throwing up 12+ times a day to about 2-3 times with my zofran (I'm telling you, that stuff is GOLD!). I'll take any relief I can get! 

Joe has been a lifesaver for me. I could not do this without him! He is my comfort when I cry. He is the dishwasher and cook. He is my personal grocery shopper when I get a craving. And he does it all in between working full time and going to school full time. He is pretty much the best husband ever!

It's been a little harder this time around since I have a toddler to chase after and keep out of trouble. Claire and I watch a lot of movies and have a lot of cuddle time on the couch. Most days she is very patient with me. Other days...not so much. On those days, there is a lot of tantrums (her), a lot of tears (both of us), and overwhelming feelings of inadequacy (me). Sometimes I freak myself out and think, "I can't do this! I can't even take care of one baby, how will I take care of two?!" Hopefully I'll get a little more used to the idea as the time draws closer.

The day we found out I was pregnant, I was in such denial. I KNEW I was pregnant two weeks before I finally took the test but for some reason I was not ready to find out yet. Joe went and bought the test on his way home one day and practically forced me to take the test. It didn't even take 5 seconds before the two little pink lines appeared. I went into pure panic mode and immediately ripped open another test. A few minutes later I was sitting on the bathroom floor staring at three pregnancy tests with two perfectly clear, pink lines on all three of them. Joe stuck his head in and asked, "So? What's the result?" He was practically jumping up and down with excitement and all I could do was lift up a test for him to see and barely whisper, "It's positive." His whole face lit up, he was so excited. Me on the other hand, I burst into tears and had a total melt down. Yes, we were trying to get pregnant but we didn't expect it to happen as soon as it did. With Claire we tried for 9 months before finally getting a positive result. This time it didn't even take three months. I was prepared for a long trial run so when it happened I was completely caught off guard. Ha I guess the joke was on me! 

I think all along it was a really hard decision for me. We weren't even sure that we wanted to try for another baby so soon but I kept getting a really strong impression. For a couple of months it was all I could think about...more babies. I kept pushing it away, telling myself, "Not until Claire is two. That's what we agreed on. " But no matter how hard I tried to push the feeling away it would just keep coming back. I asked Joe how he felt about it and he said we should go to the temple and pray about it together.   I have never had such a direct answer. I still think it's amazing that we both got the same answer. We both felt that we should not wait. But even with my confirmation I still continued to pray about it everyday. And the answer was always the same...don't wait. 

 Now, I'm 11 weeks and getting more and more excited about this tiny little baby. Hearing the heartbeat for the first time yesterday was exactly what I needed. It all finally feels real to me...I am having another baby! We will become a family of FOUR! I love my little family!

Claire gets excited when we talk about the baby but when we ask her if she wants a brother or sister she either gets really mad and shouts, "NO!" or she starts to cry and looks like this...

I think it will take her a little time to get used to the idea. I know she will be an amazing big sister!

17, 18, 19, and 20 Months

Our little Claire Bear is not so little anymore. She's closer now to being TWO than one. I still can't believe that she will be two in a matter of months. Everyone always warns you that they grow up fast but it's not until you have your own kid that you realize they really do grow up so fast. It's like one minute they are born and the next they are walking, talking, and becoming their own little person. I keep wanting to hit the pause button but at the same time she is so much fun at this age. So here is a little update on our sweet little girl! 

She talks....A LOT! Most of the time it's just gibberish in her own little language but she knows quite a few words and animal sounds. Here are a few words and phrases she knows:

cat/kitty (If you ask her what a cat says she will say, "Wow wow!" instead of "meow".)

dog (She will bark or howl. When we watch the Lady and the Tramp she will howl with the dogs when they sing. Haha so funny to watch.)

llama

fish (comes out "Phish")

please

hello, hi, hey

good-bye (comes out goo-bye), bye-bye

cracker (a word used for any food, not just crackers)

drink

juice

toy

wanna watch (means she wants to watch a movie)

baby

pretty

no

yes

hot

coat

snowball

ball

car (and will say "vroom, vroom")

hat

gone

go go (uses this when she wants to get out of bed or her highchair)

ok
And the list just continues to grow daily. It's nice being able to communicate with her a little better.

She is 100% girl! She loves anything girly....jewelry, hats, purses/bags, shoes, and wearing dresses. When I do her hair she looks at herself in the mirror and says, "Awww! Pretty!" If she sees me putting make-up on then she has to have make-up on too. I love how she giggles and smiles as I lightly run my powder brush over her face.

Trying on Daddy's shoes.

Wearing one of my clip on earrings. She kept it on for a full hour!

Sunglasses, purse, and a cell phone. What more do you need?

Claire loves playing outside, especially in the snow!

I was called to be a nursery leader back in September and was allowed to bring Claire with me. (Such a life saver!) Around Christmas time she turned 18 months and was officially welcomed into nursery and she loves it! She plays well with the other kids but I'm afraid she is becoming the class clown. She will sing and dance in front of the class during singing time and get all of the kids laughing and pointing at her. She loves being the center of attention and will seize any opportunity she can to do so. It doesn't help that the leaders laugh at her and say over and over how adorable she is. I told Joe once that I'm going to be that mom who gets a call from the Elementary School Principal saying, "Mrs. Reed your daughter was being disruptive in class, AGAIN!" Haha hopefully she'll out grow it?!

Claire is quite the little mama. She loves her baby dolls and babies in general. "Baby" was one of her first words. She just loves to cuddle them and push them in her stroller around the house. She feeds them, wraps them in her dirty laundry (don't ask me why, she DOES have baby doll blankets. I guess she feels those clothes are good enough for her so they must be good enough for the baby!), and she will even rock them and sing a little song to them.

Carrying her baby around on a pillow.
 Haha she was so frustrated that day because the baby
 doll would not stay on the pillow.

She would not leave the house without her baby. So the baby got to go on a walk too.

Kissing baby Claire. I keep my fingers crossed that she will have this much enthusiasm  for her siblings when we decide to have more.

Completely outfitted with sunglasses, stroller, baby, and diaper bag.

She is a pro at drinking from a "big girl cup" and can eat cereal without getting any milk on herself.

Some of her favorite foods are fruit snacks, apples, applesauce, cereal (it has to be cheerios), peas, green beans, graham crackers and milk, chicken in a biskit crackers, olives, spaghetti, ramen noodle, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets, and m&m's. She's really not too picky of an eater. I think the hardest thing with her is trying to find things that don't have lactose in them.

Spaghetti covered toddler and Daddy in a white shirt don't exactly mix. haha

She loves to watch movies. Some of her favorites are The Lion King, Tarzan, Despicable Me, Tangled,  Peter Pan, and The Lady and the Tramp.

She loves to color and draw. We are just working on her staying on the actual paper and not mommy's furniture. :)

She loves reading time and looking through her books on her own. Even magazines in the mail get her really excited.

She has a pretty funny little personality. She is usually all smiles and giggles, mixed in with a good dose of silliness. She loves to make people laugh and will even resort to tickling (which she is surprisingly good at) if she has to.

I told her to smile...this is what I got! 

She decided that Daddy was a good place to lounge.

And she decided to sit on his head.

She brought me this ribbon and wanted me to tie it around her head. She kept it on for a good hour.

She wanted to play with Daddy but he was asleep, so she brought her piano over and started pounding away on it. Haha he woke up pretty quickly.

Her best friend is Sammy! (Or Sam-Sam as she calls him) They really are best buds.

Claire is an awesome sleeper at night. She will sleep 8 pm-8 am no problem but nap time is a completely different story. She will scream and cry for as long as I leave her in there. Finally I started resorting to "quiet time". She still had to lay down in her crib but was allowed a few toys and books. But even that is beginning to become a huge battle. I am at the end of my rope because she is so cranky by the time 5 pm rolls around. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

She is pretty cute when she's sleeping though.

She's a ball of energy but we sure do love her! Some days I feel like she is the one thing that keeps me going. I love being her mom and feel so blessed that I get to stay home with her and take care of her. Love you happy girl!

Christmas 2012

So now that it's almost the end of February, I thought it would be the perfect time to blog about Christmas. Apparently, I'm all about making the Christmas spirit last as long as possible. ;) Our little family enjoyed a wonderful Christmas here in snowy Rexburg. It was perfect!

As per tradition, we spent Christmas Eve with the family at mom's house. Everyone except Kayleen and Rex were there (we missed them terribly though!). We enjoyed a yummy dinner, opened up our sibling/cousin gifts, and enjoyed each others company. I love the feelings that Christmas brings, the warm atmosphere filled with love, contentment, and mingled in with a touch of excitement. Add in the glow of the Christmas lights, smell of fresh baked goods, and Christmas music playing softly in the background and you've got yourself a pretty amazing Christmas. I just love this time of year. 

Claire and Sammy waiting (impatiently) for their dinner. They got to sit at the kiddie table this year.  

 GG reading Sammy a book. 

Openging Sammy's gift.

Claire opening her gift from Grandma. She loves ripping the wrapping paper.

I've been trying to make a more conscious effort of getting in the picture with my Claire Bear.  

Savannah trying on Sammy's new tool belt and hat. Haha she's stylin' don't you think?

My gift from Kay. A basket for blankets in the living room.

Sammy refused to take those safety glasses off for the rest of the night.

Joe drew Adam's name this year and gave him a lovely plunger! Haha just what he wanted! (it was accompanied with the new Spiderman movie)

Joe got a new fishing net. Stan made sure that it was made in the US and made sure that Joe knew that. Haha so Stan!

The kiddos opening their Christmas jammies.  Sammy got very attached to Adam's plunger.

I asked him if he was going to be a plumber when he grew up and he spent the rest of the night saying, "Plumber! Plumber!" Haha too funny!

Getting tired and loving on her baby doll.

Second dinner...for the kiddos. Sammy's dinner was underneath the "plumber" (that's what he calls it now) . Yum, nothing like rubber tasting zucchini bread. :)

I LOVE this picture. She looks so sweet and cuddly. She just loves all her baby dolls.

 After our little family celebration was over, we headed home and got to work at Santa's workshop. We had fun putting Claire's new table and chairs together and setting up the stockings and gifts under the tree. 

All ready for Christmas! I was so excited I wanted to wake Claire up and let her play with it all right then and there! But Joe said no. 

Her little stocking. We had to use baskets this year because the stockings I bought are too skinny to fit anything in. So new stockings are on my list to buy this year.

I think this Christmas was extra fun because Claire was old enough to understand what presents are and it was exciting for me to see her reactions. On Christmas morning we got her out of bed and let her wander into the living room. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw all the presents and shouted, "Wow!! Mama, WOW!"

Loving her new table and chairs and her jar of  m&m's.

We lazed around in our pajamas all morning. My mom, Adam, and GG were all coming over to watch Claire open gifts and have Christmas brunch with us, so while we waited for them we skyped Grandma Meloney and let her watch Claire open the gifts from her.

Skyping with Grandma and playing with her new Bitty Baby food and blender.

Haha trying to drink from her new baby bottle.

She loves unwrapping gifts. We took it pretty slow. She wanted to play with each new toy so we didn't finish unwrapping presents until that night. 

Unwrapping my stocking...kind of silly that I wrapped the presents in mine since I knew what they all were. And some how my mother escaped the camera both days except for this picture. 

Joe was pretty excited for his new electric razor. Claire wanted to play with it and kept asking, "Please, Da?"

Daddy has learned pretty quickly how to play tea party.

Once the majority of the presents were unwrapped we made some delicious Christmas brunch.  My mom, Adam, and GG returned home to enjoy opening their presents and Joe and I relaxed and watched movies while Claire played her little heart out. We enjoyed the seven layer dip and pigs in a blanket that I made for dinner. That's been an old tradition of my family's for as long as I can remember. It's just not Christmas Day if you don't have seven layer dip.

Love her face in this one. Silly girl, having fun with her new toys. She was extra spoiled this year. The thing about having divorced grandparents is that you get twice the amount of presents. Each grandparent sends a gift instead of it being a joint gift.

Family photo...the best we got that day because the cute little stinker with the pigtails wouldn't look at the camera and Joe thought it was hilarious. Oh well, we are just trying to keep it real over here. No posed pictures for us. ;)

It was a wonderfully relaxing holiday. 

She insisted that there be a friend in every seat and that they each had a tea cup. She knows how it works!

Like I said, spoiled! Or well loved. Which ever way you want to look at it.

Grandma Meloney gave Claire a Bitty Baby and Bitty Baby booster but they didn't arrive until a week after Christmas. Claire drags her baby with her everywhere!

All in all, it was a wonderful, perfect, magical Christmas.