Claire Turns 2

If you can believe it, 2 years have come and gone and I am officially the mother of a toddler. I guess she has been a toddler for awhile, but for some reason, now that she's two, it feels more official. Silly, I know, but that's my brain for you!

We celebrated last weekend with Dallin's family, opened a couple gifts on her actual birthday and then will be spending this weekend with my family, so needless to say, Claire is getting spoiled rotten. :) She doesn't seem to notice, except that she has a couple new toys to play with some new outfits, and a new pajama sleeper with a "tee-tee" (translation: Kitty) on it. She is OBSESSED with cats. Takes after her mother on that one. I could not leave cats alone when I was a little girl.

Just a few things to mention about Claire at 2:

Favorite Foods: Yogurt, Granola bars, French toast, Fish crackers, Graham crackers, Popcorn, Ice Cream, Pizza and Apple Juice.

Favorite Activities: Taking walks, chasing "tee-tee's" around our apartment complex, reading, hauling stuffed animals around, putting pennies in containers and transferring them to another container, singing, talking on Skype to family, "talking" on the phone, lining up her farm animals in a perfectly straight line... :) She is meticulous in some things, it's kind of funny.

Favorite Shows: Arthur, A Bugs Life and How to Train Your Dragon seem to be the favorites right now.

Whenever we say, "I love you" she responds with "too!" every time. It is so cute. She has become ok with the term, "night night" and doesn't really fight us on going to bed, but will lay in her bed sometimes for almost an hour just talking, singing and laughing. She has also started hoarding stuffed animals. :) There are probably 8-10 in her crib right now, which she refuses to take out. I didn't even know we owned that many stuffed animals, but they came out of the woodwork and now, here we are with a million, it seems!

She has been very attached to me, but just in the last week or so, she has started getting super excited to see Dallin and will even kind of "shun" me and just go to him. It's making both of us very happy, since she has been refusing to go to him for the last little while. She is still very much a momma's girl, but we're working on that. She likes nursery again (hallelujah!) and loves to play with other kids. Whenever we have the windows open in the apartment and she hears someone talking or shouting outside, she starts yelling to them, like she's having a conversation. And whenever she sees any kids she'll start yelling to them too. She's a people person. She also says "Bye" to anyone that looks like they're leaving. Literally, everyone. And it's not a quiet "bye" either. It's a super loud, everyone turns and looks kind of "bye". I just laugh and shake my head. :)

Her rainbow birthday cake! She apparently doesn't like cake, as she would not eat her piece on her first birthday or the piece that we gave her of this cake. She loves ice cream, though!

 

She LOVES shoes. I thought I had a problem, but she's even worse than I am. She cries if we try on a pair of shoes that she likes and don't end up buying them. Boots are her favorite, I am finding. (She is SO her mother's daughter!)

She still speaks mainly in her jibberish language that we fondly call "Claire-abic" but we occasionally catch one or two words that make sense. I am hoping that one day she just suddenly busts out in full sentences. She can count to 5 all by herself and then needs a little help with numbers 6-10 from us. She also knows the tune to the alphabet and is pretty good to get to "G" all by herself, and then we step in and help her the rest of the way. She is a bright little girl and is learning by leaps and bounds every day. It has been such a blessing to help teach her and see her grasp new concepts. I feel so blessed to be her mother. She's the sweetest little thing with a stubborn streak a mile wide. We're learning to work with it though and she really is very obedient. We love her sweet little spirit and can't wait to see what's in store for the next year!

All of these next pictures are from her actual Birthday day. I love her expressions, they are priceless!

She thought sitting on her wrapped presents was what she should do instead of open them!

Daddy's girl!

She put the block up to her eyes and said, "Where's Care? Deek-a-doo!" She is a funny child. :)

Labor Day Weekend

I just realized I never did a post on Labor Day weekend! Silly me. We have kind of started a tradition of going to Ellensburg for the Labor Day weekend so that we can watch Dallin's three youngest siblings show their steers at the fair. This year though, I came up early because my sister Jennifer was visiting my family in Pasco. So, Claire and I headed up Wednesday afternoon and played with my family until Thursday evening. It was fabulous! I even got to do a "girls day out" with my 3 sisters and Mom. There haven't been too many occasions lately where all 4 of us girls get to hang out sans kids with our Mom, so this was a rare treat. (Ok, Claire was actually with us, but she was a little gem the entire time we were getting our pedi's, so it was like she wasn't even there!) :)

Pedi's!

Our pretty feet. :) Clockwise from the top- Jen, Rachel, Me, Tara

The 5 Henry girls. L-R: Me, Tara, Mom, Rachel, Jen

On my drive between Pasco and Ellensburg, I just had to pull over on the side of the road and capture the amazing sunset. It was beautiful. I love Eastern Washington sunsets, they're my favorite.

The fair was wonderful, as always. Too much greasy, delicious food, lots of stinky animals (which Claire LOVED) and an entertaining Extreme Bulls and Rodeo. The kids did great. Bradley, who is now at BYU-I ended his showing career with a bang and won Grand Champion in fitting and showing. Seriously, he is an amazing showman and his steer looked fantastic. If he wouldn't have gotten it, I think I would have given the judge a piece of my mind. (Because, you know, I'm an expert on all things steer-related. Or not.) All three kids did awesome though, and we were so proud of them! Nice job, guys!

Here are a few pictures from the Rodeo on Monday.

Claire decided looking at the camera was not nearly as entertaining as all the horses running around the arena. I don't blame her.

Once again, we couldn't pull her attention away from the horses. Ahh well.

She cheered so loud whenever anyone would start clapping, it was hilarious. Can you tell by the look on her face how serious she was about cheering? :)

All in all, it was a great weekend with lots of family, food and fun and we loved every minute of it! Thanks Mom and Dad for letting Claire and I crash at your house for a night and thank you Jeff and Valerie for letting us join in on the party that is fair weekend. We love you all!

A Little Bathroom Makeover

When I say makeover, I use the term very loosely. Makeover would imply big changes. What I did was add three frames to a bare wall. I know, I'm daring!

Our poor bathroom has been looking rather sad for the last... well, ever since we moved in, which was almost 2 years ago.

*Insert gasp here*

Our original plan was to either buy an over the toilet organizer or a cupboard to store all of our random bathroom supplies, i.e. toilet paper, hairspray, gel, toothpaste, etc. For almost two years nothing has come of that and we have decided that the limited space we have under the sink is obviously sufficient, as we've been making it work! So, I decided to spruce up that little space with some quotes and a picture. I'm crafty like that.

Here are the before and after shots.

 

Like I said, not a huge change, but I think it makes the space a little more friendly! Oh, and just ignore all the crud on the counter. I thought I wouldn't catch it in the picture but unfortunately, I did!

Here are the two prints I made up.

I figured since I was putting up something in the bathroom it should talk about being clean, so I googled quotes on being clean and then found a cool scripture to go along with it! I really love how they turned out. They're also great reminders of how we should be acting. Bonus!

I know they are tailored to my bathroom, but if anyone wants to use them for their own home, feel free! Just link back here if you post them on your own website. Also, I ask that you do not sell these, as they are my own work. The prints are 5x7 and if you just right click, you should be able to just download and save!

And here's the picture I used of us from Memorial Day at Lincoln City.

Ain't we cute?!

As for the frames I used, two were from Goodwill, and the one on the top right was from Walmart. (It was only $3, score!) For the two from Goodwill, I used this awesome spray paint and I love how they turned out. They were a little darker than I originally thought they'd be, but I still like them!

This is just one of my MANY projects I have had in my head for the past month or so. I've got so many things I want to do before this little munchkin gets here in January (or more likely, in late December). Some of the projects I have in mind include, but are not limited to, making a headboard for our bed, painting and re-upholstering a little rocking chair for Claire that was my Grandpa Henry's, painting a matching dresser to Claire's for the little man in my tummy, painting the bookcase in our room, and put together a gallery wall in our dining area. Like I said, a lot of projects floating in this head of mine. Plus, I just want to get this apartment organized before baby boy gets here. We're short on storage space and I am determined to find affordable storage solutions so I can feel like this place isn't a disaster area 24/7.


So there you have it! And just because I haven't posted a belly picture on here for awhile, here I am, in all my glory, at 23 weeks.

Have a happy day, friends!

Linking up here.

Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails

I feel bad. I never really update this blog because I find most of the people who read it are also my friends on Facebook and just get their updates on our life there. But, just in case there are some out there who are not on Facebook, or not friends with me through that social media, here is a little update!

I went to my 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Dallin and I will still holding firm to the, "we're not finding out" line of thinking, and actually stayed true to that through the entire ultrasound. I walked out with Claire, loaded her up in the truck and waited for Dallin to get home from class (he left the ultrasound about 20 minutes earlier than we did in order to make it to said class.) When he got home, has asked me if I had found out the gender of the baby after he left. Of course, I hadn't! I stayed strong!

A few minutes later, he says, "I really want to find out with this baby. Wanna call the ultrasound tech?" I laughed out loud, grabbed my phone and was on the line with Salem Clinic before he could change his mind. :) Our tech was busy when we called, but a few minutes later, she told the receptionist to call us back and tell us what we were having. If you couldn't tell by the title of the post, it's a BOY! We are beyond thrilled. I have absolutely NO idea what I am going to do with a boy, since I have been in a world of pink, tutus, dancing, shoes, and general girlishness for the last 22 months. We can't wait to see this little man though. Just from the pictures he already looks so handsome. :)

His stats as of yesterday were-

Weight- 12 oz.
Heart Rate- 144 bpm

Our tech said he looked perfect. We're feeling so blessed that we have another healthy baby that will soon join our family and I am just a little giddy about having a mama's boy. Dallin and I started discussing names yesterday and of course, could not agree, so it's probably a good thing we have another 20 weeks to figure out what to name this kid.

And now, onto the ultrasound pictures!

Left foot

He wanted to let us all know that he's #1! :)

My sweet little man's profile

Right foot!

Sucking on his hand. He kept putting his hand in his mouth or up by his forehead, it was so cute. At one point, he actually yawned and rubbed his eyes! I about died, I was so in love.

What I'm Lacking...

I don't know about all of you out there, but I find some of my best thinking comes while I'm washing dishes. Can I just tell you how much I hate washing dishes though? Really hate it. But, as I just stated, I find myself doing some productive thinking while I'm elbow deep in suds. Today was no exception.

I've been lacking in the Gratitude department and it really hit me hard today. I don't remember how it came about really. My thoughts tend to be scattered and random while I am pregnant and I'm so forgetful these days, I hardly remember how I got to a certain point in my thinking. (I know, it's bad.)

I think it started when I realized how lucky we are to live on the bottom/basement floor of our apartment building. We're partially underground, which keeps us a lot cooler in the summer than most apartments. Claire and I had just gone to visit our friends in the next building over and they live on the 3rd floor, and it is very warm in their apartment. So, I started thinking about how grateful I was to live on the bottom floor. But then, oh yes, THEN, I started thinking about other friends of mine who live in homes and who have A/C and have the cars, the clothes, the lives that I think I'm yearning for. They look like the perfect mothers, as their kids are talking, eating healthy foods, playing in yards, swimming in pools, and doing things I think my daughter should be doing. So questions arise, like, "am I good enough? Am I really doing my best? Am I a good mother? Am I a GREAT mother? What am I doing wrong??" And then I remembered this little gem that I had pinned on Pinterest a few months back.

"Comparison is the thief of joy."

-Theodore Roosevelt

"What am I doing to myself??" I thought, as I continued loading dishes into the dishwasher. "WHY am I doing this to myself?" I looked around my apartment and saw the things that matter most to me, pictures of my family, the Temple Dallin and I were sealed in, my sweet little girl as she runs around with a head full of curls and lungs the size of Texas (with a sound to match). What was it that I was really lacking? Was it the clothes, the cars, the house, the talents, the perfect children? Oh no. Not at all. What I was/am lacking is the gratitude for the things I do have. 

I find myself repeating these words as I pray, "I am so grateful for all that Thou has given to me". Apparently, to me, they've just been words. If I was truly grateful, the complaining would stop, the wishing for the next best thing would stop. So today, I'm going to make a change. I'm going to stop wishing for what I don't have and start being grateful for the things I DO have. Because, really, I have SO much. So much than I really deserve. Here are some things at the top of my list of gratefuls.

1. My hardworking husband. It's hard in the summer time when I don't see him too much, but I am so grateful that he works as hard as he does to provide for us. I am so lucky.

2. My daughter. She has entered this terrible two phase in full force, but the sweet moments, the ones I cherish the most, far outnumber the grouchy moments.

3. My husbands decision to attend graduate school. I can't tell you how proud I am that Dallin has decided to go on and get this higher level of education. It's been a sacrifice in many ways, but one that I (and he) will forever be grateful for.

4. My apartment. It lacks A/C, but it is home to so many memories that I would not trade for the entire world. 

5. Our truck. It might be a little cramped when this next little one comes, but it runs (and runs well!) and it has A/C, so I can just jump in there when the apartment gets too hot. :)

6. The Gospel. It keeps me grounded, gives me hope, lifts my spirits, and reminds me that I am a beloved Daughter of God. 

7. My family. All of my family. Mom, Dad, brothers, sisters, Mother-in-law, Father-in-law, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, everyone! They are the examples I look to, the support system when times are tough, and the love that keeps us going. 

I could go on, but I'll stop. I needed a little kick in the behind to remind me how fortunate I really am. Life isn't always easy, but there is always, ALWAYS something to be grateful for. I just need to to remember, even when it's difficult.

{My greatest blessing}

22 Months!

I haven't done a post focusing on Claire for a while now and I figured, if nothing else, for my future reference, I should do that! I am amazed at how quickly I forget things that she's done and she's only been on this earth for a couple months shy of 2 years! So here are some things I want to remember about Claire at this age.

We are entering the terrible twos. It's a sad day in this house. She hates being in a shopping cart and likes to run away from me at any given moment.

She loves to scream! It's usually a happy scream, but nonetheless, it's loud!

That would be her screaming!

She loves to sing. We are really happy about that, because it's much sweeter than the screaming. The first song she ever sang was "I am a Child of God" which melted my heart the first time I heard it and continues to melt my heart anytime I hear it now. Just today she started singing along to the songs on Tangled, which I thought was pretty darn cute (that might be a sign we watch it too much though...)

Her vocabulary is hit and miss. Sometimes she repeats what I say and other times she will say a complete sentence that totally pertains to what we are saying and then she speaks in a language that we have affectionately named, "Claire-abic". It makes no sense whatsoever, but she talks a mile a minute like we should know exactly what she's saying!

She loves the piano. She always climbs up and plays (or pounds) and turns the pages of the Children's Song Book while she does it. I'm pretty sure she thinks she's actually playing a song.

She loves to be outside. I wish we had more of a lawn area where she could run around, but we don't. We do have a park that's like a minute walk from our apartment, so that is nice. She loves to climb on the jungle gym and swing and just run around (and away). She never walks anywhere either, it's always a run. Why walk when running is faster, right??

Claire LOVES animals. Dogs and cats are the favorite right now (probably because they're the only kind we really have in close proximity) and she is finally getting brave enough to pet them. Her petting is hilarious. She holds her hand out with her fingers totally extended so that her hand is rigid and just rubs back and forth a bunch. I wish I could more accurately paint that picture, but that's the best I can do!

Her imagination is expanding. She plays with her toys a lot more, especially her animals (go figure) and tries new things all the time. It's so fun to watch her learn and grow!

She loves to dance. Oh she loves to dance! Anytime there is music, she gets her groove thing on. It's hilarious. She is adding new moves into her repertoire everyday, too. Tonight my brother, Marcus recorded her dancing on his iPhone and we were all dying. She is so funny. She loves to perform in front of a crowd. At least as far as dancing goes. It seems the more people there are to cheer her on, the more into the dancing she gets.

Claire is a girl after her mothers heart. She loves shoes. Her favorites right now are her Jellies, her tennis shoes and her white ballet flat Sunday shoes. Those are really the only ones she wears anyway, because it seems we haven't had a ton of flip flop occasions around here lately. We were in Costco the other day and I saw they had some really cute rain boots in Claire's size and I went to look at them. As soon as she saw them, she wanted her shoes off and those boots on and threw a major fit when we left the store without them. A little birdie told me that Grandma Henry bought some for her today for her birthday, so all will be right in the world in a couple months. :)

She's starting to have an opinion on what she wears. She only likes certain Sunday dresses and sometimes the outfit I put on her for the day will just not do. Luckily, if I put her jellies on, it seems to make up for the, in her eyes, less than satisfactory outfit and we avoid a major meltdown.

She does somersaults when she's mad. :) It's kind of funny, actually. She throws herself on the floor and then sticks her bum in the air and decides to do a somersault. I have no idea why that is the reaction, but it is!

Her "scrunchy mad, but not really mad" face

She is a picky eater. I can hardly get that girl to put anything in her mouth that isn't a chicken nugget! Luckily she loves green smoothies and so I make her one almost everyday to counteract the lack of nutrition everywhere else in her diet.

She loves to give kisses. She puckers up her lips and will kiss just about anyone who will ask for one. :) We might need to curb that pretty soon so that she knows she can't kiss just anyone!

She's very attached to me. I am kind of dreading what life will be like when the new baby gets here, because Claire is quite possessive of me. Hopefully by then she will get super attached to Dallin :) She also has been having a really hard time going to Nursery the last few Sundays, which is a shocker for us, seeing as she practically ran in the first Sunday and never looked back. We're hoping that now we are back in our old building and have a much better time (10:30-1:30, holla!) she'll do better. At least we are crossing our fingers!

So that is what life is like with Claire these days. We love her so much and feel so blessed to have her in our family, even with the temper tantrums :) She really is a sweet girl and loves life, I just have to run to keep up with her! Being her mom is so rewarding, especially when she grabs both my cheeks and plants a huge kiss on my lips and says, "la-loo" (translation: "love you"). I couldn't ask for a better job than this.

Oh, What Do You Do in the Summertime?

I looked at my last post and realized it's been over a month since I last posted on here! My goodness how time flies. We've been so busy, sometimes it feels like we've barely caught our breath when we move onto another thing. At the end of June, Dallin and I both got food poisoning (yuck!) Dallin got it much worse than me and we ended up in the ER one morning after a particularly bad night. Needless to say, it will probably be a long time before either of us eats at that restaurant again!

Claire swimming at Rachel and Chad's in June. She's a total water bug!

 The first week in July, as is tradition, we headed to Priest Lake with the Calaway's and had ourselves a wonderful, relaxing time! The water was FREEZING this year, so the majority of us didn't get in the lake until Friday, when it was super hot! Janelle, we're convinced, is part mermaid, seeing as she was in the water almost everyday for hours at a time. Seriously, I don't know how she did it, but she was in the lake constantly!

For some reason, my SD card wouldn't work and I didn't figure out how to format it to my camera until Friday, so I took the smallest amount of photos this year than I ever have. I still need to get a bunch from Jeff and Valerie, so once I do that, there will be more documentation of our trip :)

Claire "swimming" in Priest Lake

The Firework show at Kalispell Bay. It was AMAZING!

The group floating on tubes, working on tans :)

 After Priest Lake, we headed back to Pasco for a few days with my family and then finally headed back down to Salem mid-week. I had my 14 week appointment and a presidency meeting and so I figured it was time to get back to real life. We miss being around family!

14 weeks!

Claire on her cousins trike. I think I know what we'll be getting her for her birthday!

Two of Claire's favorite cousins, Emiline and Savannah.

 Now that we're back down in Oregon, harvest has begun and the craziness has taken over our lives! Dallin has probably slept in our bed 5 times in the last 2-3 weeks, which stinks, but that's life in the summer time. Claire and I have gone out to the fields where Dallin is working the last few days and Claire absolutely LOVES it out there. She loves the tractors, she loves running wild in the fields and I love picking blackberries from all the wild blackberry bushes that surround the field. There are thousands upon thousands of blackberries! They're just barely starting to ripen, so as the season wears on, I will be out there more and more so I can store up tons of berries for the winter. And the best part? They're free! My favorite part of the summer is picking blackberries out at the fields. So fun!

Claire making sure Dad's truck is all safe and secure!

She picked up hay off the ground that the baler missed and tried sticking it back on the bale. It didn't really work.

Once she discovered she could sit and stand on the bales, she didn't want to get off!

Claire's first tractor ride with Daddy!

Riding with Uncle Derek while he stacked bales.

Claire and Mom! I had the camera focused way too close, so that's why part of Claire's head got cut off. She wouldn't let me take another picture with her after this. Ahh well! We got one cute one, that's all that matters, right??