MOMS group

So we went to meet this MOMS group that Lisa (Lexi's mom) told us about. It was sort of nice that they have an organization like this for people but it was sort of like I was budging in on an already formed group. Lisa ended up not making it because Lexi slept in, so I met four other moms who all have older kids (all between 1-5) and they all either had two kids or was working on the second one. Anyway, we took a walk at the Spring Valley Nature Preserve (or whatever it is called). It is a nice place. There is a little farm area which was sort of fun (and smelly :)).

Anyway, I think I am going to join the club even though I felt like a bit of an outsider at times but Kelly, the section leader or whatever, said there were about 40 members or so and different people show up at each event. There seems to be about two events a week so it would be nice to have options like that whenever we do have free time. Especially during the winter when there is going to be less stuff to do!

Standing in her crib

Clara's latest thing is that putting her to bed has become QUITE an issue. She sits and stands in her crib now and does not know how to get down. It does not help that the weather has been quite warm lately so she is also sweating her ass off. Matt went in there once and he said that she was grabbing the top of the crib and just SCREAMING her head off because she was not ready to go to bed. We have taken to taking her out of her crib and hanging out with her until she is tired and then we put her down. So basically she has been going to be at like 9 o'clock! It makes for later evenings because I still need to get some stuff done after she goes to bed. Not sure what to do about that one!

My trip to the Ozarks is coming up closer and closer and I am getting pretty nervous and upset about leaving Clara. I am getting really sad about it and it makes me sort of upset just thinking about it. AHHH!!!!

Clara is really moving now. She is not crawling like a normal baby yet, she sort of pushes along with her left leg and her right one sort of flails about. She is moving to where she wants to now though and I think she feels better about that. She still makes quite a lot of noise when she does it though which is pretty funny. I was joking that she does it as a last resort and pretty much is not pleased when she HAS to crawl :).

The gym class is going well. The new session started and now there are 8 kids in the session. Our original teacher, Miss Elizabeth, had to leave for some reason, and there is a new lady now, Miss Terri, who is OK but a bit too crazy energetic. She made me tired. I liked how laid back Miss Elizabeth did the class. We signed up again for the next session, so we will see how that goes!

This Friday we are going to join the MOMS club and going for a stroller walk. Hopefully it will be fun and the weather will be good. It did not rain for most of July and June and in the last week, it has rained a lot so hopefully it will clear up! According to weather.com, it will.

Clara has been eating VEGGIE BOOTY, and loves it. They are sort of these corn/rice puffs covered in spinach and kale. I like them and the LOVES them. She gets really excited when you start feeding her (she pants like a little puppy) and gets annoyed when you do not feed her fast enough.

My TiVo is Republican

OK, this has nothing to do with the baby doll but I just wanted to say that I think my TiVo is Republican. Night after night it REFUSES to change the channel to record The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It works for almost every other channel and every other time slot it is supposed to be taping. But NOT for that... What is that all about?

Almost distant memories

I was thinking about how fast Clara changes and there were some memories I wanted to write down before they write themselves out of my brain. Which could very possibly happen at any moment so I better get my act in gear and start logging some of this stuff.

Paddle arms: That is what we used to call Clara when she would get angry because her arms would rhythmically (sp??) paddle: left, right, left right.

Peanut: Her first nickname because she was so darn small when she was born. She grew out of that fast! :)

Clara would always sleep with her arms above her head. Sometimes when you would put her down to sleep she would thump her arms above her head: Thump Thump, really fast. It was very very funny.

It is so hard to remember what she was like when she was an infant. It is really amazing how quickly you forget what they are like since they grow at absolute lightening speed. It makes me sad sometimes that it is SO hard to stop and smell the roses even if you want to!

I will be adding more of these as they come to me. Currently, I am listening to Clara moan herself to sleep. We lowered the crib ONE last time and it is hard to put her down without disturbing her. I am going to try and put a stool there for me to stand on and see if that helps.

Watch out world!

The baby doll is crawling! Well... sort of :). It is more of an army crawl and she can only go on a diagonal for now. I think she is pushing harder with her left foot than her right so she sort of angles to her right.

Anyway, she is on the move now so watch out! I am actually not ready for her to full out crawl so I better get my ass in gear :)

My babydoll

Clara is moving around a bit more these days. She is sort of army crawling and can turn 360 degrees easily. She gets a little frustrated at times and it is hard to not want to help her! She is such a wonderful little girl. Her smile can literally make my day. It is so nice that she loves me so much! There are definately times when she favors me. It is sort of nice!

I leave for Molly's bachelorette party/shower in about two and a half weeks. I am FULL of anxiety about it. I really know it is something that in the end would be good for her and I, but itis going to be a difficult task to get through.

Bye bye a-goo

I noticed recently that Clara no longer says A-Goo. It has been replaced by a scream. Not an always pleasant scream either. It can get quite loud at times especially when she wants something, like nursing for example! I am trying to get her to be comfortable to take a bottle but it really has not been happening yet. I don't think I am ready to wean her because I really enjoy our nursing times but I don't want it to be too hard on her when I go away in August. And that time is quickly approaching...

I felt that tooth

Last night when I was feeding Clara. It made me sweat.

Clara's Chompers

I can't believe that I forgot about this one! She has been doing so many new things it is hard to keep track! Clara's first tooth is coming in. It is on the bottom and I noticed it for the first time on Wednesday. It was just beginning to peek through. I felt bad that I did not notice it earlier! I think she is in a little bit of pain because last night she was awake from between 11 to about 2. Very cranky and very sad, not much would calm her down until I realized that Tylenol might help!

Our Pool

So today and yesterday Clara and I went to the Bartlett Pool. Yesterday we met some people from the Beginning Sounds class and I liked the pool so much, that Matt and I went this afternoon. It is a really nice pool. Pretty big and is zero depth, so it starts with a slope at zero depth to 5 feet. We think that we are going to get a season pass because it is pretty cheap for a family of two (C gets in for free), 79 dollars!

Clara seemed to enjoy the pool more today. We stayed a little deeper than we did yesterday and Matt bounced up and down with her. She seemed to love it and actually started to splash a little! She liked it until she got herself in the face. I have not gotten brave enough to dunk her head under water, I really do not think she would like that very much!

When Matt bounced up and down with her she would kick her legs, smile and laugh or stick her tongue out. She was having fun, she even yelled with happiness a few times. We had fun, though we really cannot stay very long because she gets tired and TAN! Her legs and arms are so tan even though I have been putting 50 SPF on her. She must have my coloring! Yesterday when we got back from the pool, she slept for 3 hours! She would have slept longer if I did not go in there and wake her up because we had to run an errand (get more bathing suits!).

Today she did not take as long a nap when she got back but she did go to sleep at 6:15. I went to go to Costco (and got completely distracted getting Amanda's bday present) and by the time I got back, I thought that I would have to give her a shower, but Matt had already done all that and she was in bed! I was a little sad that I did not get to put her down :(. But Matt did a wonderful job putting her to bed.

Her other new thing is pretty much attacking us when we lay on the floor with her. She crawls all over you and tries to pin you down. I am not sure what she is trying to accomplish but she gets so excited when we lay on the floor with her.

Another one of her new tricks is the sound "Pbbfft". It is short and sweet and really cute. THe first time she did it was when Matt was giving her a kiss on the cheek and air sort of escaped from her pursed lips. Now she does it all the time. It is so cute.

Shake shake shake, Shake shake shake, shake your rattle

Clara started to shake her maracas today for the first time (which Matt keeps calling Moroccos). Her music class is finally over, 5 weeks. I really did not like that teacher very much. But we learned some good songs and met some new people! Tomorrow we are meeting for our first play date at the pool. I am excited about it but not so excited about the fact that our first play date involves me getting into a bathing suit.

Clara also waves good bye... Sort of. When Evelyn does it, it is more clear cut. Clara sort of uses her whole arm. Very cute, can't wait to see what else this little girl can learn.

My latest thing is wanting another baby. Is it nuts?

OK for now

I think Clara is OK now. She made it through the night and had bright eyes in the morning. I still feel pretty awful over what happened but after much consideration, it is probably a common thing to occur with a first throw up like that.

Ugh

I am still sick to my stomach over what happened

Vomit vomit everywhere

We had a bit of a scare this evening for Clara and I. I was brushing her hair like I just started to do at night and she likes to get a hold of the brush that I am using. So I have been giving her a brush to play with and then I will use the other one to brush her hair. I noticed that she had a rubber band stuck in her mouth that fell off of the brush so I took that out of her mouth, took the rubber bands off of ALL of the brushes and gave it back to her. All of a sudden, she started to vomit. I think she stuck the brush too far in her mouth and gagged herself. The vomit was coming out of her nose and she started to gag and she could not catch her breath because there was vomit everywhere. It was SO scary. I was so terrified that she was going to chooke or gag to death. She was naked because she had just gotten out of her bath. I picked her up and started to pat her on her back but I don't know if I was helping or hurting the situation. After a while, she seemed to be able to breath OK. I called Matt and then the doctor and they told me to aspirate her with the bulb thing. That sort of made things worse because I had finally calmed her down and she HATES that. I was so scared. I started to cry after that. If anything EVER happens to that child, I seriously don't know what I would do with myself.

Anyway, she was so tired so I fed her and she fell asleep. I figured she was OK because if she can cry normally, then she can probably breath OK. I just hope that there is not a rubber band in there causing problems. I think that would pass if it is what she swallowed. Since she has fallen asleep, I think we have checked on her at least 5 times. I love her so much, I really really need her to be OK.

Fireworks

Clara saw her first fireworks tonight. I just put her down after they were done. She sort of woke up when they started in town so we decided to grab her and have her watch them! We could see them perfectly from our backyard. It was so nice. She sort of just watched them in a sleepy daze. I think she was rather confused! It was so convenient to be able to step out of our door and see them closely :)!

It was almost as cool as when we were leaving the cubs game last year and we could see all of the fireworks in all the towns going at the same time. Very cool memory I had tonight that I thought that I would try and remember...