While taking this picture Clare had a bit of an accident, her worst yet. As you can see Gail was holding her for the pictures, although she quickly passed her off to Jeff. We all had a pretty good laugh after cleaning up.
Ruth made the perfect comment; she was making a memory. Making memories is exactly what I hope she does each time she visits with family, our memories are so important and sometimes all we have. Hopefully next time she chooses not to make a memory by pooping on Gail :)
I can remember going with my Grandfather, Grand, to visit his Mother, we took her mints that she loved. Unfortunately I don’t have very many memories of Grandma Tarbutton; she passed away when I was fairly young. I do remember her funeral and the ‘chicken impossible’ sandwiches that were served at the church after the funeral.
Some of my best memories of my Grandfather are of him taking me to the symphony on Friday nights. He would pick me up and we’d go to dinner at the University Club downtown, we’d sit downstairs and have Fritos and cheese and then go upstairs for dinner. I recall one evening he said I could get dessert, a rare occasion, and I asked for mint chocolate chip ice cream but they didn’t have any – he then asked the waitress to find some, which she did! After dinner we’d walk to the symphony. I can still remember where our seats were, the feel of the red velvet on the seats and eating mints that I’d taken from dinner. I may have only been 9years old, but he made me feel like a Queen.
I have lots of good memories of Grand and think of him often; I hope that Clare will also have lots of good memories of her Grandparents.
Our first stop on the family tour was Ruth, Clare is Ruth’s first Great Great Grandchild; not many little girls are lucky enough to have five generations in their family. It was so nice to see Ruth and Clare visiting with each other, Ruth has a very special touch, Clare was happy as could be in her arms. They must haven been sharing secrets with how closely Clare was watching her.
Clare also spent time visiting with Merrell and Imo, her Great Grandparents. Merrell was kind enough to chat over an afternoon snack; again she couldn’t take her eyes off of him. Clare must be able to sense how special of a person Merrell is; she seemed to really be at ease in his arms, maybe she was hoping to hear stories of when Jeff was little and he and Imo would watch him. Imo also had a way with Clare, although it seemed as though all they wanted to do was chat. Clare really enjoyed spending time visiting with Imo and Merrell.
Julie and Dillon were also at Ruth’s house for a visit. Clare is the first baby in the family since Dillon.
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Steve came by Thursday evening after mowing. I wasn't sure if the towel was in fear of Clare spitting up or to keep her from the sweat and grass on Steve, maybe both.
Friday evening Gail had everyone over for dinner, we spent the evening visiting while enjoying good food. Clare wore one of her new outfits that she got at the mall earlier in the afternoon; she wanted to show it off to everyone. Can you see her wings??
Steve was happy to introduce Clare to Pauline.
Kai hoping someone might 'accidently' drop a piece of brisket.
We also visited with the Sweet side of the family. Rick and Cinda came over on Thursday evening since they were leaving for vacation on Friday, we were very glad to see them before they left. Satina also came with her boys, they sure do have a lot of energy!! It was very sweet to see Hayden with Clare, he came in the room where she was and said she was beautiful and how adorable she was, he then of course wanted to hold her, it was very cute.
Four generations of Sweets, four by birth and one by marriage.
I am so glad Clare has such a large family here in Joplin; she is a lucky girl to have so many people that love her. Like Ohio, we don't get to Missouri as often as we'd like. I'm sure that Clare will love visiting when we can, even if it is hot and humid.
There was some of this... She's covered like that because I am convinced she gets car sick, because I was prepared she didn't get sick, thank goodness!
A little of this...
But mostly this...
Our first stop was in Colby, the Oasis on the Plaines. I’m not sure it’s really an oasis, but that’s what the sign said. We left mid 80 degree weather in Colorado and got out of the car in Colby to insanely hot and humid weather, reminded me why I moved from the Midwest!
That would be the Conoco station in Colby.
After getting back in the car Clare had a meltdown. I was driving at this point and it broke my heart to hear her so unhappy in the backseat, I felt helpless. Jeff did his best to console her, but it was one of those moments where nothing was going to make her happy. I somehow held it together and didn’t pull over or start crying myself. My poor little girl was so unhappy and tired. She did eventually calm down and fall back asleep, but that didn’t stop us from stopping again in Hays for another rest and some dinner. After Hays things were much better, we didn’t stop again until the infamous Quick Trip in El Dorado. Another 3 hours in the car and we were finally at Grandma and Grandpas, and it was only 3:45am!
Kansas is one of those things that is a necessary means to an end, nobody really enjoys it but it’s worth it. While it makes for a long day it is nice to drive at night, I think Jeff has the right idea on that.
Jeff hard at work, we couldn't get out of Kansas fast enough!
We spent the entire morning and early afternoon walking around the gardens and on the Platte River trail, before long we ended up at Panera 1.5 miles from where we started. Both Clare and McClellan slept the entire time, with a short break to eat of course. True to their style they both had their heads slumped over to the right; my neck hurts just looking at them!
A photo of the girls along the trail at one of our resting spots. What you can't see in this picture is the incredible sun burn I got from not applying sunscreen on my arms and neck. I now have sunscreen in the diaper bag.
Side note about this entry… I was going to mention a spot along the trail in Hudson Gardens where there are beehives, the kind that a farmer would place in order to collect honey. I asked Jeff what they were called, I knew it wasn’t a beehive but couldn’t think of what they were called and wanted to use the right word if I was going to blog about it. He said he wasn’t sure, so I decided to mention the chocolate garden instead. A few minutes later he says ‘is it an apiary?’ Ummmm, a what? Sure enough I googled the word and this is what came up “An apiary (also known as a bee yard) is a place where beehives of honey bees are kept.” I swear; he amazes me everyday. Another example of how it was just easier to bring home A’s. Did you know it was called an Apiary???
Tonight was bath night. We washed behind her ears, between her toes and every hair on her sweet little head was washed with care. After her bath I gave her a little massage as I put lotion on, she really enjoyed that part! I’m happy to say that bath night was far less traumatic as it once was, she might even enjoy it someday. Maybe once she’s old enough to have some toys to play with she’ll look forward to a bath.
See, that wasn't so bad!
Clare’s hair is really growing, we don’t need any bows or pony tail holders just yet, but it’s growing. She does have a few hairs that are considerably longer than the others;they stick up and are pretty darn cute.
Can you see her fuzzy hair? Too cute!
This picture is from this past weekend. We had unseasonably cool weather, a high of 50 something on Saturday. It was the perfect weekend for staying in and napping, as you can see.
Clare had her first play date today! I decided to bite the bullet and meet some new people; Clare went with me as my side kick and instant topic of conversation. Melissa is a woman I’ve met thru a chat board where women from all over Denver chat about anything and everything. Laugh all you like, I’ve met a few really nice ladies and plan to continue chatting and meeting them IRL (In Real Life).
Melissa has a little girl, McClellan, who is two weeks younger than Clare. The original plan was to meet and take a Stroller Strides class at the Rec. Center, but it was cancelled but failed to mention that on their web site. Rather than blowing the whole idea we ended up meeting at another Nesties house who was having a garage sale. We had a good time chatting and talking babies, oh and we did go for a walk around the park since our class was cancelled.
Clare and I had a great time hanging out with Melissa and McClellan, hopefully we’ll do it again soon.
As you can tell the girls had a wonderful time!!
I try to read to Clare at least once each day. She seems more interested in the sound of my voice than the pictures at this point so I try to be as animated as I can to keep her entertained. It doesn’t matter what the book is about, I read her the Your Baby’s First Year Week by Week the other day and she liked it; we learned about diaper rash and how to pack a first aid kit.
My favorite books to read are her books; they are far more entertaining than the books I’m reading. If You Give a Moose a Muffin is my current favorite, but I’ll always enjoy The Giving Tree and of course all the Curious George books. I’ve found myself thinking of all the books I want to get for her – Guess How Much I Love You, Love You Forever, Falling Up, and so many others. I can’t wait to visit the bookstore, although I’m sure my wallet would enjoy a trip to the library.
I’m sure we all have favorite childhood books, mine is The Best Loved Doll. I wonder what books Clare will have as her favorites. Will she be more of an animal story person or will she like stories about princesses? Maybe she’ll like bugs and other gross things, Jeff will have to read those books to her, ick! Whatever her favorite may be I hope she loves books and always wants to read.
Speaking of pictures, is anyone following the Shutterfly website? I haven’t updated it in a week or two so maybe people have just given up on me. I’d like to do whatever it is that people would like, maybe this blog is your ‘go to’ for when you need your Clare fix? If you’d like me to keep updating the Shutterfly web site please let me know, I’m happy to upload pics there as well.
Many bloggers have a weekly Wednesday entry titled “Wordless Wednesday” where they simply post a picture or two. I don’t know that I’ll do that every Wednesday, but tonight I will post some cute moments from the past few days. If you’re anything like me, you can’t get enough of her :)
Clare and I have moved our afternoon nap to the couch. The last few days Jeff has walked in the door to us asleep. I love holding my sleeping baby, I never want to put her down.
According to the book I've been reading she should be able to hold things. Well, she can hold things, but she doesn't seem interested in them.
Ok, lesson learned, I promise I won’t do it again!
Last night I made a huge mistake, one I’ll never make again, one I paid for all night and am still paying for today. I decided that since Jeff had to work late, he didn’t get home until 7:45, that I wouldn’t put Clare to bed at her normal 8:00 but rather kept her up till 9:00.
Oh my goodness, this sweet little girl does not do well when she doesn’t go to bed on time. She fell asleep easily; I thought we were in the clear! Then it started. She woke up for the first time at 12:30, and then again at 2:00, and 3:00 and 3:30 and 4:00… Holy moly was it a long night, and is turning into being a long day.
You can tell she’s tired, I feel awful for being so selfish. I told Jeff this morning that never again will I keep her up, she will go to bed on time no matter what. As much as I enjoy spending time with her and can’t get enough of her it’s not worth keeping her up.
She’s finally fallen asleep, and of course now I’m worried she hasn’t eaten in 4 hrs and what about a clean diaper? Oh, so many things to keep on top of to keep her happy and smiling.
Clare has gotten really pretty good at holding her head up; she’s no longer the wet noodle she was a few weeks ago. Everyday I try and help her work on it, either by having her sit in the Bumpo chair, holding her without supporting her head or having her do baby push ups when she’s on her belly.
Most likely discussing the Rockies.
The deer in the headlights look is probably because I was making dinner - there's proof in another picture :)
You can see the improvement in these two pictures.
May 22nd
June 5th - also much happier :)
Thursday was Jeff’s first Softball game of the season. Clare was a hit, lots of people were happy to meet her and welcome her to the team. Hopefully we’ll get to a few games this summer so she can cheer Jeff on.
Jeff is playing first base.
Ever the chef Jeff though it would be fun to see how Clare liked salt, pepper and carrots. It was pretty funny to watch her face in response to the tastes.
She doesn't look so sure about that carrot.
A little taste of salt.
You can see my 'dinner' in the back ground here. It's not that I can't cook, but rather lack the motivation as Jeff says. I figure if he enjoys it and is better at it than I am why should I cook?
So that has been our week. I will make it a goal to update more frequently so those further than 25 miles away can see us regularly.
