"thank you for reading me a book"

this is what claire told me tonight as i put her into bed. wow - how i love this kid. she is seriously so sweet. without prompting, she regularly says please and thank you. she absolutely LOVES to read. we read books all day and right before bed. she has even figured out she can stall going to bed a bit by asking for another book. who am i to refuse her reading time?!

we have one more Kindermusik class next week and auntie taya will join us. i think it has been good for claire to see a bunch of other kids. she plays really nicely with kids on play dates but she doesn't often interact with a bunch of them at once. she is quite tentative in the group setting. hopefully she will overcome this hesitancy with continued exposure to groups of kids through some fun activities this fall. we plan to enroll her next in a tumbling class and a dance class (not simultaneously!)

laura is absolutely adorable. she is really coming into her own. she has the sweetest little smile. both dimples pop when she beams at you. i was looking at the posts from when claire was 4mos old and it is amazing how alike they are. laura is munching on her fingers, she is starting to show interest in the tv, she giggles and coos and she LOVES to snuggle.

lola, uncle paul and auntie taya are coming to visit this week and laura will be baptized. we are so excited for their visit. we can't wait for them to meet laura and to hang out with claire. oh yeah, and spend time with us!

we have lots of new pictures. i will try and get them posted in the next day.

--lynn

ps - i got my hot tub -wahoo!!!

My Growing Girl!

Laura had her 4 month doctor's appointment today. She measured in at 25in and 13.5 lbs. (78% for height and 48% for weight). She is an "A+ baby" according to her doctor.

Claire went with me to Laura's appointment because she had Kindermusik class right after. I brought along Haley, our babysitter, so she could watch Laura while Claire was at Kindermusik. Claire was so cute wanting to do everything that Laura was doing with Dr. Hardin (standing up, lying down, wiggling her hips). When it was time for Laura to get her shots, I told Claire she had to stand by herself so I could help baby Laura. Well, when Laura let out her first scream from the first shot, Claire shot right over to our babysitter's arms. With the second scream, Claire just started bawling. I felt so bad for her. I mean, it's great that she is so compassionate, but I hated to see her cry. Laura was over the trauma of the shot well before Claire.

Both girls are resting now and I am trying to get some work done, so I will keep this entry short.

Until next time, keep eating your wheaties!

Lynn

This one's for Lola

So, I am lying on the floor yesterday and Claire comes over, lies down beside me and says, exercise?! When Lola was here at Christmas and in April, she and Claire would do exercises while lying on the bed. Can't wait to see Lola, Uncle Paul and Auntie Taya in just a few weeks!

Lynn

Photos and more

Well, we have had a busy week. Claire went to Kindermusik on Tuesday and seemed to enjoy it. She was a bit shy but I have a feeling she will soon warm up to the other kids in the class. She is quite funny in the sense that she might just be too nice. When the music therapist brought out the basket of bells for the kids to play with, all the other kids rushed forward to grab their bells. Claire hung back and looked and me and said, "Mommy get the bell?". I told her she should get one for her and one for me. She waited until the mad dash was over and then she went and picked two out. A little too polite? We may need to teach her to be a bit more assertive. I don't want her to be the kid who pushes others out of the way, but I don't want her to be too timid, either. It is kind of funny, though, because she certainly isn't timid around us!
Claire is doing a great job with being polite. Lots of please and thank yous without being prompted. Her latest is when she says, "bye, see you later, thanks for coming" all in one breath and all at the end of a skype conversation!
Her last funny (and then onto news about Laura) is yesterday Claire and I were heading out to meet some friends for breakfast. I pulled over on my street to check my purse to look for some cash (rarity, I know - the cash, not the pulling over!). I said, Mommy just needs to find her money before we go. Claire pipes up from the backseat, "Daddy took it. Daddy took money from mommy's wallet". I just busted out laughing. Particularly because Daddy raiding Mommy's wallet is not exactly a regular occurrence in our house. Too funny.
Laura is doing great. I had an amazing day with her today. I was able to spend a lot of time with her, just holding her, feeding her, smiling with her. She is a really sweet little baby. She loves to watch Claire and is really fascinated with Kayla. And, of course, her daddy gets these big goofy grins from her. She is still very much a momma's girl, though. I have to say, knowing that she will not always think I am the best thing on earth, I am soaking up every minute.
She is still sleeping really well at night - 10-12 hours and napping about 2 hours in the morning and in the afternoon, with a power nap around 430 or so. My latest challenge is getting her to stay asleep at nap times. She falls asleep and then wakes up 15min later crying. The swing (thank you Uncle Joe and Aunt Kathy!) seems to help with keeping her asleep.
I know I keep saying how tall she is. She just seems super tall. Only 3 more days until her 4 month dr. visit, so we will see. I said today that Claire will be a guard or forward and Laura will be our center. By the looks of Laura's feet and how they are too big for 6month footie pajamas, I am not sure that is too much of a stretch to say. Maybe Laura's nickname will be Stretch!
And for those of you wondering, no, we haven't come up with a nickname yet. I think it will just come to us one of these days. Claire seems to like the idea of baby bubbles, but that may not be such a great nickname later on.
I have uploaded some pictures. These include a couple from the girls' first joint playdate with Avery and Sam. I hope Jamie sends the ones from Monday and Kimmy sends the ones from Thursday soon. Will let you know when I get those.
Have a great weekend.
Lynn

Playdates galore

well, claire has had quite the busy week with two playdates and a special treat on tuesday mornings. last friday, we had avery (age 3) and baby sam (age 5 months) come over to hang out with my girls. the two older girls seemed to have a really good time together. baby sam and laura grinned at the big kids and i think at each other once and a while. the moms (michelle, kristi and i) supervised and stayed cool with mimosas.

today (monday), maggie and her mom jamie came over for a playdate and the girls got along swimmingly - literally. we went to the neighborhood pool and the girls played for about an hour and a quarter in the pools while laura hung out with our awesome babysitter magen at home.

i am so proud of claire and how she plays with other kids. she shares her toys so nicely and asks the girls to come back and play another time. she is polite and sweet and funny. "claire, can you share your [insert name of toy here]" "okay, sure!" a great role model for her little sis. claire then proceeds to talk about how much fun she had with avery and maggie for the rest of the day and into the next day.

tomorrow we are going to start kindermusik classes. just claire and me. mark says we need to enroll her in something because neither one of us has rhythm. {wow, have you ever had to type rhythm , that is one weird word to spell}

claire has also taken to identifying stop signs (from the front or the back). i guess i don't have to worry about running any stop signs, because if claire is with me, she hollers, "stop sign!" she has also memorized goodnight moon and cinderella. you can stop anywhere in cinderella and she will finish the sentence. it is adorable to watch. her other favorite books are three of the little critter books given to her by auntie nancy. she reads them over and over again. you can hear her, "i was so mad" or "all by myself!" from across the room. finally she has learned to count to 6 in spanish. it is really funny because she starts at dos and not uno.

laura continues to grow and flourish. we have gotten a lot of smiles and laughs out of her these days. she is sleeping really well at night for about 11 hours. her naps seem to be a bit off this week, but mostly because she doesn't want to be left alone, i think. she will happily nap in your arms :)

i swear laura is extremely tall. she is chubbin' up a bit, but she just seems to get longer by the day. guess we will find out for sure next week at her 4 month appointment. can you believe it! our little bitty one is going to be 4 months old next week. laura is still a mommy's girl. she will be crying for someone else and the moment i pick her up she quits. while it is nice to have the magic touch, it can be tiring.

i can't help but reflect every evening on how truly blessed i am. i have an incredible, wonderful life. two amazing daughters, a sweet and loving husband, a job i love, great health and the best friends and family a girl could ask for. so, thank you to those who read this blog. you make up part of that incredibleness. and for my girls, who will someday read this blog. know that you mean the world to me.

hugs and much love,

lynn

p.s. pics to come today or tomorrow

Mom's pudding pop

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