Fun with Grammie and Grampie

Grammie and Grampie are simply wonderful.  Benny loves to spend time with them.  A few weeks ago, Benny went to Sesame Street Live with them.  He was so excited!  The best part?  Apparently, they were in an aisle seat.  Cookie Monster was dancing in the aisle and touched Benny's arm.  Benny is still talking about how Cookie touched his arm.  That night, I didn't get him to bed until 10:00 because he was so excited about going to the Elmo Show as he likes to call it.  The next day, I'm pretty sure he asked me at least 100 times if he could go to the Elmo Show again.  Today, probably over a month later, he asks me if he can go to the Elmo Show again.  A highlight event of the year!  (The pictures are little because they were from Grammie's cell phone.)

An additional favorite activity from this winter/spring was going to the car wash with Grampie.  Grampie purchased this monthly package from the car wash to have unlimited car washes each month.  They put it to good use!  My guess for Benny's future occupation at the moment?  Car wash operator and owner.  He begs to go to the car wash with Grampie pretty much every day.  Benny is so popular at the car wash that the car wash guys gave him one of their drying towels.  After all, I'm pretty sure Benny is their only true fan.  He also likes to pretend to wash his toy cars.  He and Brutus often 'wash' the toy cars together.  He has now decided that the Elmo Train that he got from Grammie and Grampie for this 2nd birthday is a car wash.  You put the cars through the tunnel and then pretend to dry them with a dishtowel.  He has gone so far as to get a bowl of soapy water and use a toothbrush to wash the cars.  Now that is nice outside, he likes to wash the cars with Daddy.  This makes Daddy pretty nervous.  Daddy is a car nut.  Benny---wash his cars!?  Why, he might scratch them!  Thus, Benny has been designated as the official washer of the Hyundai.  Apparently, Daddy is less concerned if the Hyundai gets scratched.

Cleaning his toy cars with some soapy water and a toothbrush

Happy car washer.

Sometimes, when you are on the way home from the car wash, you stop and get a Krispy Kreme donut.  Benny always asks for a brown donut with a hole in it.

Sweeter than Sugar

My little Claire is a sweet girl.  And, as far as babies go, she is pretty easy I think.  I'm quite grateful to report her sleeping skills are far superior to her brother's.  Knock on wood, last night I put her to bed at about 9:20.  She woke up at 3:30 for a 20 minute snack and slept until 7:30.  Now, if only her brother wasn't getting a molar tooth that caused him to wake at 6:15.  Well, you can't wish for everything.  Here is a video of some of her sweetness:

http://youtu.be/Mo0oJjiKpS8

Also, as of this weekend, Kevin only has one more semester before he is done with his MBA.  Hallelujah!  The end is in sight!  What we do with hours upon hours of free time not spent reading books, writing papers, and planning presentations?

Brotherly Love

People always ask how Benny has done with the transition to not being the only child.  I'm happy to say its gone much better than expected.  Benny is a 'mama's boy' so I was concerned that he would be jealous or feel left out when I had to take care of Claire.  Plus, so many moms seemed to say that he was going to have all of these regression issues.  Up to this point, we have not!  His reaction to Claire's birth:  "It came out!"---and he would point to my belly.  He is my side-kick and enjoys being the big brother.  He helps get the diapers and wipes.  He gets her washcloth and towels for baths.  He shakes her rattles and enjoys turning on her swing.  Recently he declared his potty chair was 'for babies' or 'that is Claire's.'  Sounds good to me!  I'd far rather he do 'his business' in the big potty.

The biggest concern: excessive love for Claire.  He has a hard time leaving her alone while she is sleeping.  He will insist that she needs a hug or a kiss.  What's super cute?  He likes to give her a kiss on the lips.  If I suggest that he could just give his sister a kiss on her hand or her cheek, he gets upset and says "No!  On the lips!"  Yes Benny.  At one point in your life, you gave your sister kisses on the lips all the time.

You can't just leave your sister be content in her swing.  She needs some love.

Claire needs a tummy time buddy.

Claire was born during a snow storm they called "The Polar Vortex."  Its March 27, and we still have snow on the ground.  However, we had one day a few weeks ago that made it up to 50-some degrees.  Kevin and I took the kids on a walk.

Claire isn't always that impressed with Benny's signs of affection.

Just cause she's pretty.

Ready for a walk!

I'm sure once Claire is old enough to bother his toys or get in his way, he may think less highly of his sister.  But, for now, we enjoy their happy coexistence!

St. Patrick's Day

Today is Claire's first St. Patty's Day!  To celebrate, I had her wear the same outfit Benny wore on his 1st St. Patty's Day.  Let's do a Claire and Benny comparison in their green attire....

Mommy and Claire

Mommy and Benny

Claire's froggy butt

Benny's froggy butt

 To make the day a little more fun for Benny, we made green pancakes for breakfast.  He was quite pleased with the idea.  I'm going to guess that it will be quite some time before I am ever allowed to make pancakes without adding food coloring to the batter.  Colored pancakes are just more fun!

Baptism

 On Feb. 16, Claire was baptized.  It truly was a joyous occasion.  Lots of family in town for the whole weekend.

The pretty little lady, the day before her baptism.

Cousin Clay came all the way from Minnesota to meet his littlest cousin.  He was kind enough to bring his wonderful mama along too :)

Godparents Cassandra (Kevin's cousin) and Aron (my brother)

A family of four!

Claire shares a baptism day with Faith.  11 years ago on Feb 16 Faith was baptized in this same baptismal gown.

All of Grammie and Grampie's grandchildren

My mom made the cake.

Grammie stealing some extra snuggles at the end of the baptism day.

We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.  Romans 6:4

Happy Birthday!

Since its Feb. 25, it seems appropriate to blog about Jan. 25.  Our sweet little Cupcake was born at 4:12 PM.  She was 2 ounces bigger than Benny at birth---7 lb 11 oz.  We named her Claire Capri.

The birth story?  Here goes...

On Friday morning, I had an appointment with my midwife.  Cupcake still seemed to be pretty comfy in there :)  However, by the afternoon, I was having more contractions than I had ever had (although not at regular intervals.)  I had a bad cold all week and hadn't been getting much rest because I was so congested.  I admit.  I started getting nervous.  I couldn't sleep because I knew I was having the contractions, and I was just plain exhausted and miserable from the cold.  So, we headed to the hospital at about 2:30 AM.  I'm sure this was earlier than I would have went to the hospital if I hadn't been sick.  But, I felt more relaxed being there and was able to get a little rest during the night.  In the morning, they started me on pitocin to speed things up.  All went quite well, and our sweet baby girl was born at 4:12.   I really like the midwife I see.  She was able to be there for a large part of the morning with me.  Also, we had the same nurse Heather who had delivered Benny too.  She is young and has 2 little boys of her own.  I was quite happy that she got to be with me the whole day too.

Proud daddy.

Future godmother!

Getting ready to go home.

Not impressed with her first time being strapped into the car seat.

Benny was pleased with the Welcome Home brownies.

A few days later, Faith came to visit.

Callie and Claire share a birthday!

Uncle Chris

Benny loves to give his sister kisses.

Everyone always asks how you pick your baby's name.  We just liked the name Claire.  In retrospect, I learned that my great grandmother's name was Clara.  Not planned, but a nice coincidence.  The name Capri came from a Colbie Callait song I really like.  Here is a link to the song.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-6HXmTuu50

Horses

We have great neighbors.  They are very kind, sweet, and love Benny.  They own a farm not too far away from us as well where they have 7 horses.  We went with them to the barn in early January so Benny could see the horses.  In typical Benny fashion, he wasn't scared of the horses one bit.  Let me love on the horses, kiss them, hug them, and ride them.  No fear.  Kevin walked on one side of the horse and the neighbor's high school aged daughter walked on the other side to make sure Benny wouldn't fall off.  The faster, the better.  He had a blast!

Thanks Gayla and Stormy!!!!