Mothers Day 2018

Mother's Day 2018 was so fun and lasted days! First was Mothers Day Tea with my gorgeous girl, where she serenaded me with The Butterfly Song & The Mom Song and presented me with a card and a plant.

Next was the highly anticipated Mothers Day Tea with Ben & Jack at Newman. They escorted me into their rooms (separately, I got TWO teas!) and served me my choice of tea/lemonade, and scone/cookie. Then I got to read the sweetest cards and crafts they had made me. I learned that I was 6? years old, I love shrimp, and I'm nice & strict - the perfect combo, according to Jack!  They have such wonderful teachers, what a special time together this was.

 Over the weekend the boys had their first piano recital, and both sets of grandparents + Gma Lainey & Uncle Mark came to listen. They played so well! We love Ms. Leah, she is such a great teacher and Ben & Jack have come so far in a year!

On Mother's Day, Jonathan and I each had breakfast with our moms, then I got to take the kids each out for special one-on-one time. The boys each chose the Crayola Experience, which was really fun. Claire was feeling too tired (from an allergic reaction to medication) to join an outing, so we will raincheck our sushi & fro-yo outing. J surprised me with flowers & a gift :)

Sweetest loves, you're my favorite thing about every day. XO

Birthday Girl

We got to celebrate baby Claire's birthday twice :) I loved that she got to wear her little cupcake outfit more than once!

She had a baby playgroup party at her bff Rebecca's house on Monday. Rebecca was born the day after Claire and at this playgroup we celebrated both girls and their pal Ford, whose birthday was just a couple of weeks ago. These sweet babies had no idea what was going on, but they chowed down on snacks together and played in the bounce house. C is below, in between Grayson & Rebecca, two of her little baby friends from birth! G has a birthday coming up in a couple of weeks. So much fun!

On Valentine's day we got to celebrate a year of baby C with family. Gigi, Poppy, Honey, & Papa were there, along with Tia Katie, Uncle Guy, & Aunt La. We missed our family who couldn't make it. I debated on whether to throw a big party (a la Ben & Jack's first) but love that it ended up being a casual party with family. Claire LOVED the attention and took a 3 hour nap after the festivities! We just had pizza & cupcakes, opened presents, and played. She loved the balloons and the big hit was a PBK pink monogrammed anywhere chair, now she has her own chair to match her brothers and she could not be more pleased. Thank you to Honey & Papa, G'ma Lainey & G'dad Lawrence! She also got some super sweet girly outfits from Gigi & Tia Katie, and lots of other goodies. Her big present from us was her TBBC bonnet - its SO cute!! I think she will love it :)

A Baylor girl and 2 pirate dudes

We haven't had a weekend home together in a month; that's probably some kind of record for us! Jonathan was in Germany, then we went to Houston, then Tyler, then Houston again for my nephews' birthday party. This weekend was much needed for relaxation and family time! We had a soccer game Saturday morning, where Jack scored 3 goals (not that anyone is keeping score) and Ben did a great job following the ball! They have teammates that don't go on the field to play at all, so they are doing pretty great just to attempt to chase the ball. :) After the game we had lunch with Honey & Papa, and La came over so that Jonathan and I could go to a fall party.

Since we have an Ebola scare right now, I decided not to put the boys in their church class, so we stayed home. They have been asking me to go to church since it's been so long, so hopefully we will make it soon. We're trying to limit our activities until we (read: I) feel more secure about this Ebola thing. Unfortunately it is happening all around us, the three cases and the hospital are probably all within about a 5 mile radius of us. This has been scary to worry about, and I have to remember to be thankful that this is not the norm for us; it's so much worse in Africa, and my heart breaks to think about mothers trying to protect their children from this over there. I have been especially grateful for the Bible Study Emily invited me to participate in this fall, as our book is called Calm My Anxious Heart. One chapter reminded us that God knows the number of hairs on our head and the number of days of our lives, so that takes away some of the fear! All I can do is pray, and so I do. And wash hands a lot.

Our Sunday was very low-key and I think everyone got a nap in, which makes the weekend complete! We took the boys to the playground at their school and they loved showing us what they do outside and peeking in their classroom window. They are so sweet, and as Claire and I sat in the grass and watched J and the boys play, I thought: how lucky these guys are that their daddy loves them so much and spends so much time with them. I had encouraged him to go play golf this morning but he wanted to spend time with us; guess we're all pretty lucky :)

Here are some super sweet pics of my Baylor girl and her soccer-playing bubbas this weekend:

8 months

I'm skipping the Dear Claire letter because it would be too similar to her baby book for this month. What a month! Let's see....Claire started sitting up, pulling up, properly crawling on all fours (no more army crawl), got 2 new teeth, and started waving. We dropped to 2 (1.5-3 hr) naps a day and she is finally sleeping 12-13 hours without waking once or twice and fussing for her paci! Jonathan says he misses seeing her in the night. :)  She got her 2 bottom teeth and has started demanding big people food. Seriously, if we are eating when she is eating, she refuses her baby food and wants small pieces of whatever we are having, or her baby puffs/etc, so that she can feed herself. It's pure craziness. Sister also has a mind of her own - she has started to assert herself with us and let us know she has her own agenda! She bit Jonathan on the nose purposefully when he picked her up from doing something she shouldn't, and when I pick her up or redirect her from something she shouldn't have, she will arch her back and fuss at me. Too soon!! Too soon for that! She ADORES her brothers. I went to get her from her morning nap and she immediately started saying "buh-buh-buh-buh," and craned her neck to look for them down the hall (they were at school). She woke from her afternoon nap and ignored me, heard their voices and strained around me until I took her to smile and coo at them in the living room. Then she acknowledged me with a grin. She is wonderful, and a pint-sized force of nature in this house. I love her :)

She also refuses to sit still for these monthly pictures - stinker wants to throw herself out of the chair to get down and move! She also is less agreeable when we are shopping or out and about - she does not want to sit in a stroller or seat anymore, she really wants to be moving. 

 

 

Baby playgroup, taunting R with her own Sophie the Giraffe. At one point they were chewing on Sophie together :)

Loves bread! Mmmm

Kindermusik - she loves it! Maybe not this activity though. Her friend Ford tumbled in his basket right before this...

Girls lunch with Britton & Carly!

 

Her favorite toys right now are her ball popper, ring stacker (loves taking it apart), stacking cups (boys stack for her, she loves to knock them down), and Sophie the Giraffe. Had to buy a new one because she lost hers at the fair. She loves throwing little balls around and chasing them around the room. I LOVE when she loses one under the couch or furniture and she bends her little body down to look underneath. I remember loving when the boys would do that too, it's so cute.

Loves pulling out ALL of her baby toys from this basket

First sensory bin! Edged in while brothers were playing and thought she was getting one over on me by participating :)

She loved this!

First time to pull up

Loves bedtime books

Bananas! Will eat them like this. Not from a jar :)

Can't do laundry around this little girl, she pulls everything out and thinks it's really funny :)