Claire at Christmas and a few more Claire-isms

Claire LOVED Christmas this year.  The second I told her that Christmas was coming, she reverently asked, "Santa Claus come to our house?"  I had never said anything about Santa to her before.  Her love and interest in the topic of Santa Claus continued through out the season.  We visited Santa three times and talked to him on Skype, and every time, she wasn't the least bit afraid.  She hopped right up on his lap and told him what she wanted ("presents" or "treats.")  I tried to turn a bit of focus to the birth of Jesus, but she wasn't really into it until she got to dress up like Mary for our family home evening Nativity.  Then she wanted to play "Jesus's Mommy" for the next few days.  Every once in a while, she would notice the decorations and say "OH! Look! The door a present, there a Christmas Tree, and A-vent Calendar, and Santa Stocking...'cause it's Christmas Time!"  We bought her lots of presents this year, but we really didn't need to.  She was perfectly happy with the contents of her stocking- especially because it had a juice box!

With Santa and her brother

Random Antecdotes

She has  recently learned the word, Why.  It is a vicious cycle of a word that turns every statement and request into an endless and useless debate.   
One day when I asked her to go get me a spoon.
"One Mommy spoon Come-ing Up!"
(We think this is a variation of a quote from Team UmiZoomi- one of her favourite TV shows.  We also get a lot of "Okay Team!" thanks to this awesome show.)
When we were trying to clean up the living room in our multi-level home.  Daddy kept asking her to take toys down to the play room.  On his third request she said,
"No, Me Fine.  Your turn."
The other way she gets out of doing what she doesn't want to do:
"Me too little fold my arms. Me a little Baby."  
As soon as we take out the camera, she turns her head away. Sometimes she will face the camera if we tell her to stick out her tongue...

So flattering

Life with a two year old and a newborn...

Is Hard!

I am lucky, though, because I have an awesomely calm and helpful husband.

I'm also lucky that Ethan is as good of a baby as Claire was.  He loves eating, and most nights he's happy and goes quickly back to sleep as long as I nurse him as soon as he starts his wake up fusses.  (Which almost always include a lot of snorts.)  He has very expressive eyebrows that make him look very concerned most of the time.  He smiled at 6 weeks and now at around 10 weeks, he is smiling more often, which brings up his down turned cheeks and just changes his whole face.  He's adorable and roly poly squishy sweetness. 

And then there's Claire.  Yes, I'm lucky to have her, too. She's so smart and hilarious.  She's definitely two, though, and just like her mother at this age, she has a "whim of iron. '

 I actually thought to write this post because of how fast she's changing and learning.  She's at the age where she's learning to talk and make sense of the world, and I just want to remember things, like

• How she calls Meaghan: "Mea Mea," Jacob: "Djabok," Sienna: "Nenna", and Ethan: "My baby E-an Brother" 
• She is also possessive of her parents.  A common morning greeting: "Hi My Mommy! Me wake up now!"
• After Halloween, this is what she thought her portioned dinner plate should look.

•  She went through a major Annie phase.  She loved that movie and wanted to watch it all. the. time.  Her favourite scenes were the most dramatic, and she wanted to talk about them constantly.  Solemnly, she would say, "Hannigan wake up the girls." (This refers to the scene when the character of Mrs. Hannigan is introduced and, to very foreboding music, forces the orphans to get out of bed and clean the orphanage.) Or, almost reverently, she would tell strangers, "Punjab save Annie."  (This is near the end, when Mr. Warbuck's Indian bodyguard uses his turban to hang from a helicopter and rescue Annie from Mrs. Hannigan's conniving brother Rooster, who is trying to throw her from a railroad track that for some reason, goes up in to the air for several stories...What kind of mother lets her two year old watch this movie, anyway?)  These two scenes still show up in her imaginary play. I use the Hannigan scene as leverage to get her to do what I want, promising to "wake her up" if she promises to go to bed afterwards.  (This game involves her laying in my bed and giggling as I call her a pig dropping and throw the covers off of her.)   When she trips or wants me to come to her, she will often "REACH" her arm to me so that I can save her like Punjab.  
• When we made deviled eggs for Thanksgiving, she got a few of the ugly eggs that didn't peel nicely.  She put two yolks together and told me they were a snowman.

 

•  She fake laughs and fake cries to get attention now.  So far, they are pretty obvious.  My favourite is when she starts and then notices her reflection in a mirror and watches herself, changing her face and tone as she laughs (or cries) to see how she looks. What a girl.
• This happened one time...

 

There are so many other things, but since I never really sleep any more, I can't remember what they are!  There will probably be another post in a few days as I remember more stuff...

Ethan is Here!

Disclaimer: This is yet another personal and detailed post about birthing children.

As you may or may not recall, dear reader who doesn't really exist, Claire was born six days after her due date.  Since this was my second baby, I assumed that little Ethan wouldn't be that late.  I actually hoped that he would come on his actual due date- October 2nd- since that was my Mom's birthday. But it never even occurred to me that he would arrive early. We just barely fit in family belly pictures- and I thought I was taking them a bit early!

August and September were busy months.  We had Jason's birthday party and Claire's birthday party.  I had Activity Days to plan, new girls turning 8 that I needed to visit, I was covering for a primary teacher (who just had a baby-ha!) and we had our annual Food Drive.  I kept on looking at my schedule and thinking, "Okay, on September 22nd, I will be done with all of these events, and then I will have two weeks to relax and finish getting ready for this baby to come." 

On Tuesday, September 16, I went to a massage school where they were looking for pregnant women to "practice" on for free.  (How could I turn down an offer like that?)  It was very nice, and Ethan moved around a lot during the massage.  Immediately afterwards, I went shopping with my sister-in-law.  I found a pair of maternity pants that (miracle of ironies) actually fit me!  I knew that I would only be pregnant for a few more weeks (which ended up being only a few more days) but I bought them anyway, because I really was desperate for clothes to wear and I plan on getting pregnant again someday.  Anyway, while we were out, I started having Braxton Hicks contractions...like a lot of them.  They didn't hurt, but they were coming pretty regularly, and it started to stress me out.  I kind of wonder if the massage set them off, because the one really did seem to flow in to the other.  They slowed down after a while, though.  The next day I had a doctor's appointment, and I told her about the contractions.  She offered to strip my membranes, but I quickly declined (I still had an ADG event, a girl to visit, the food drive, and a primary lesson- before I could even start getting ready for the baby to come!)  But I started to think more about having that baby.  I wondered if he needed to come early. I was still having contractions, although they weren't coming as regularly.  The next day I had my ADG event, which was the last event on my list that I really couldn't delegate to someone else if I had to.  I made it through that, and then I bought a pack of newborn diapers and a pack of size 1 diapers, and I sat down and had a little talk with Ethan.  I told him that he was welcome to stay "inside" for up to four more weeks.  I wouldn't kick him out before he was ready.  But if he wanted to come early, I would make it work.

On Saturday the 20th, I woke up and I did not feel good.  We were collecting food for the food drive in the morning.  Jason let me sit in the car for most of it, but I did walk back and forth as much as I could, waddling a bit as I helped collect the food along our route.  (FUNNY FACT: Two years ago during the food drive, I walked several miles delivering flyers, and the next day, I went in to labour with Claire.  Last year, for reasons that I can no longer remember, we decided to move in to our home the same week as the food drive. This year, I went in to labour with Ethan as I was collecting food for the drive.  I am really hoping that next year will be a little less eventful.) Jason's Mom met us at our house afterwards so that Jason could take our food and hers to the church.  Jason invited her to stay for lunch, since we were all planning on driving out to Chilliwack together to go for a short hike with Jason's brother.  At this point, I told them that I should probably stay home.  The aches and pains had started to concentrate themselves in to short painful bursts that were coming at regular intervals.  Jason dropped off the food and we made and ate lunch, all while things continued to progress. Jason decided that maybe he shouldn't drive out to Chilliwack, and I agreed.  I started to pack for the hospital (because I hadn't done that yet!)  It took a long time, because things were starting to get a little foggy.  Sometime around then, my Mom called to check on me.  (I found out later that Jason called my Mom and told her that she should call me.  I thought that she was inspired, but it turns out that my husband was.)  As I described how I was feeling to her, we both decided that I really was in labour (I had been entertaining the idea all day that this was false labour that would go away because I just couldn't believe that I would be the type of person to go in to labour two weeks early.)  She was about to go work her shift at the temple. After talking to me, she was stressed about going, but since there was nothing she could do anyway, she went.  She told me later that she was in the Celestial Room at around 7, and she had the strongest feeling that Ethan was there visiting her on the way to being born. She got home a little after 9 and as she was getting in to bed, she had a strong impression that he had arrived.  She was right.
Anyway, back to me.  After I was done packing, I called the primary presidency to let them know that I wouldn't be able to teach a lesson the next day.  Then I had Jason give me a blessing.  The contractions were getting a lot worse, and then... my water broke...all over the couch in the playroom.  It was the weirdest feeling.  It felt exactly like you would imagine.. a pop and then a gush.  Then the pain got unbearable.  We called Jason's Mom to come back over so that she could watch Claire.  We took turns taking showers while we waited for her to arrive.  By then, I was miserable.  Poor Claire kept saying, "Mommy hurt...okay!"  When Grandma arrived, we drove to the hospital quickly, and I was grateful that we live so close.

We arrived and, just like last time, the stupid nurse at the counter was in no hurry to let me move along (Why?  I'm the only one here- why is it so difficult to look up my name in your computer? I called you 5 minutes ago!), but we finally got into triage.  They checked me and I was dilated to a 5.  It was my goal to be at a 5 before I got my epidural, so I was pretty happy, because at that point, I was demanding an epidural no matter how far along things were.  They put in my IV and walked me to my room.  Doctor Driedger (one of my favourite docs from my maternity clinic) came in and checked me and told me that I was now dilated to an 8, and the anesthesiologist  wouldn't be available for an hour.  He told me that things were progressing so quickly that I would not be able to get my epidural.  I flipped out.  I had basically already been in more pain than I ever wanted to be in for the past two hours.  I have never been a girl that desired a natural childbirth.  My thought is- Heavenly Father put me on this earth at this time because he knows how much I hate pain and He wants me to enjoy the perks of modern medicine.  I was not mentally prepared to go through it all without that spine numbing goodness, and my body and mind knew it.  The contractions kept coming, but I stopped progressing.  The nurse kept checking me, and I kept going no where.  I wasn't doing it on purpose, but I was so stressed out, my body just stopped moving that baby down.  After an hour the doctor came back in and said, "Okay, well, do you want your epidural now?"  YES!  A while later, the blessed anesthesiologist finally arrived and set me up.  In the end, he probably only saved me the pain of a few contractions.  A few minutes after the numbing set in, I was feeling the urge to push.

Man, pushing is hard.  It is SO HARD.  I want to know if there's a way to train for it or something, like a marathon.  I really want to be better prepared for it.  I was pushing for about an hour before that kid and his big head started to push through.  Then things got EXCRUCIATING. That "ring of fire" hurts SO BAD.  I've heard that some women don't feel any pain after they get an epidural.  I want to know what magic those women have in their epidurals, because both of the ones that I got just weren't that good.  I was in AGONY.  And when I'm in pain, I start getting really cranky and bossy.  So here's the thing.  When I had Claire, I was pushing for several hours, and after trying just about everything, the only thing that got her out was my episiotomy.  I saw it as the miraculous relief of my unending pain.  Sure, there was a recovery afterwards, but it wasn't that bad.  During my pregnancy with Ethan, I read that the current advice to doctors is that they try everything to avoid an episiotomy.  I also read that if you don't get an episiotomy, you pretty much have an 80% chance of tearing, which sounded a whole lot worse to me.  So... as things got painful, I got VOCAL.  I started yelling at my doctor to cut me, and explaining to him loudly and repeatedly why he  should (as if the online article that I read made me an expert over this trained professional with years of education and experience!  Yeah-  Jason says I need to write a letter of apology.)  Anyway, my wise doctor didn't give in to the pressure.  I was only in the worst pain of my life for about 15 minutes, and then I ripped a little bit and out he came.  (By the way, my recovery with my two small rips has been much easier than my recovery from my cut, so Dr. Dreidger was right and I was wrong.)  After the doctor guided Ethan's shoulders out, he told me to reach down and take my baby.  What a weird and miraculous experience that is.  A gush of blood came out of me, soaking two nurses and the floor.

And then this happened:

Like Claire, Ethan came out looking perfectly fine after our harrowing ordeal.  He was super alert at first- looking at me and everything he could, like he was trying to soak it all up and learn it all as fast as he could.  He weighed in at 9 lb and 1/2 oz-  I'm so glad that he decided to come two weeks early! 

My sister in law, Meaghan, came to the hospital and took a ton more pictures.  She brought Claire and Jason's Mom.   

 

Claire was very excited to meet her baby brother.  When we asked what she thought of him, she said "CU-UTE!"  She was happy to kiss him and hold him, and loved playing at the hospital. 

 

A few cute stories about Claire. On our first night home, Ethan was crying during a diaper change.  She had been asleep when we arrived home, so she hadn't even seen us yet, but I heard a little sleepy voice coming from her bedroom "Baby- OKAY!"  She's always happy to hug, kiss or hold Ethan when we bring him up, but otherwise, she kind of seems to forget about him.  The other day, though, we took her to pick out a Halloween costume and left Ethan with Grandma.  As we were driving home, she started saying "Baby Ee-An go? " (Where did baby Ethan go?)  We told her that he was at home with Grandma and we were going home to see them.  "Yay!  See Baby Ee-An!"  She will also occassionally and randomly say "Yay- Baby Ee-An Out Mommy's Tummy!"  I guess she had that concept figured out after all. 

Ethan is such a sweet little newborn.  Of course, at this stage, there's not much happening beyond nursing and sleeping, but he has a really sweet spirit about him.  He loves sleeping with his lips resting on my nipples and he hates getting his diaper changed.  Once, I swear I caught him chuckling in his sleep.  I think he looks like pictures of his Grandpa Ralph Harvey, but of course, time will tell what he will look like as he grows up.  I'm totally in love with this little guy.  I feel like I can't get enough cuddling time with him, because I'm too busy chasing Claire.  Hopefully the benefits of having a loving older sibling will make up for the lack of cuddles. I'm still soakingup as much of this sweet time as I can.

Four Fun "Activity Days"

I'm still loving my calling. Over the summer, families are often out of town, so Bishop advised us to only meet once a month. We did a "summer of service". In July we got together to make a care package for our recently "graduated" Activity Day girl who has been very sick. Check out our "box of sunshine." So easy to make- just pick things that are yellow and include some "sunshiny thoughts." 

In August we made dinner for their primary teacher who was moving and having a baby in the same month. Here are the recipes we made:

Cornbread Taco Casserole

Ingredients

 2 packages Jiffy Cornbread Mix

1 ½ lb lean ground beef

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 can white or yellow corn

½ cup water

1 can of pinto or black beans

1 ½ cup salsa

1 envelope taco seasoning

2 cups pre-shredded cheddar cheese

cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cook meat and onion in a large non-stick skillet over medium high heat until meat is browned, stirring to crumble meat.  Drain well and return to pan.  Add corn, water, beans, salsa, taco seasoning and cheese.  Taste and add salt if needed.  Simmer on low heat for 10 minutes.  Mix cornbread according to directions on box.  Spray a 13 x 9 baking pan with cooking spray.  Pour meat mixture into pan and spread cornbread batter on top.  Bake until cornbread is baked through, about 20-25 minutes. 

Sister Harvey’s Favourite Salad

Ingredients

Romaine Lettuce

Iceberg Lettuce

Strawberries

1 can mandarin oranges

almonds

sugar

Poppyseed salad dressing

Directions

 Candy the almonds by putting them in a pan with the sugar and heating them on the stove.  Watch carefully as you stir!  As soon as the sugar starts to melt, vigorously stir until you no longer see any sugar, and then quickly remove from the pan. Allow them to cool a bit. Cut the lettuce and strawberries, open and drain the oranges and mix all together with the candied almonds.  Put the salad dressing on when you are ready to serve

Awesome Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 (12 oz) bag of chocolate chips
Directions:

Cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl mix together flour, salt, and baking soda.
Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and beat well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees F for 12-13 min, until lightly browned.

Since the summer we have had two successful activities to start out the year. For the first activity of the year, we decorated journals. I read a few entries out of my own journal from when I was eight, and talked about the importance of personal record keeping. I found some "journal prompts" they could use when they don't know what to write about. We put them in a pocket that they glued to the front inside cover. On the back inside cover, for a getting to know you activity, I had the girls write kind words to describe each other. (For example, Sarah's journal now has her friends' positive descriptions of her.) It was a fun activity. Here's a picture-  aren't these girls cute?

Our second activity in September was a popcorn making night.  We made caramel popcorn and candy popcorn.  (I can't find the recipes I used right now and don't feel like typing them out again- sorry.)  Then we talked about making good choices when we pick what kind of media we will watch.  We learned the song "Choose the Right" (which is part of a Faith in God goal) and then ate popcorn while we watched a little Veggie Tales movie. I can't really take credit for this activity, because I totally copied the idea from this blog. 

I am letting my assistant take care of the October activities.  (An ice cream sundae party where they get toppings for every Article of Faith that they have memorized and a Halloween crafts and treats night.)  I figure I need a month off because... I just had a baby!  I guess I'd better write a post about that, huh?

Father's Day Fear Factor

So I got a new calling as the Activity Day's Leader.  I miss my Young Women, but I LOVE my new calling.  Twice a month is much more manageable than weekly activities, and I am much less intimidated by 8 year old girls than I am by 14 year old girls- you know what I mean?  I mean, my 14 year olds are great, but they still just dress a lot cooler than I know how to...
Anyway, we planned a really fun activity for Father's Day, and I need to write about it, before I forget it all.  This is one of those events that I definitely see myself doing again some day.  (By the way, we did a tea party for Mother's Day, and I relied heavily on my blog post from the Young Women activity I did a couple of years ago.  It was also a hit.)  So in June, we invited the fathers to join us for a "Fear Factor" competition.  We split the girls and their Dads into groups of 3 and 4, and then had them compete in 6 different competitions.  (I remembered my camera for a few activities, but completely forgot to record others.  My apologies.  I was busy.) 

1. Blind Fold Challenge- The fathers put on blindfolds and the girls had to give them something to touch.  The Dads then tried to identify the items.  Most of the stuff was gooey plastic eyeballs and bugs, but we did have them touch live earthworms, which got some great reactions, although I wish we had organized this event a bit better. 

2. Baby Food Challenge- For this competition, we gave everyone a plate with 6 different types of baby food.  As a team, they had to correctly identify what type of pureed food they were eating.  Great game- challenging and fun. 

3. Gummyworm Grab Challenge- For this contest, the girls had to stick their faces (no hands) in a plate of whipped cream and take out all of the gummy worms hiding inside.  They LOVED this one, and asked for more whipped cream and candy afterwards.

 

4. Cold Feet Carry.  For this activity, I filled a small pool with ice water and plastic bugs.  Everyone took off their shoes, and they had 10 seconds to put their feet in the pool and transfer as many bugs as possible out of the pool and into a nearby bucket.  Great game- important to keep it fast paced.

5. Crickets and Keys- This game was my personal favourite.  I had the three teams line up and I put a box with a hand sized hole at the top several feet in front of each team.  I had borrowed three padlocks that opened with keys and gave the padlock to the first person in each line.  Then I put the key to the padlock, as well as many other keys that didn't open the padlock, in each box.  The person at the front of the line had to run to the box, pull out a key, run back and try to open the lock.  If it worked, they won, if not, the next person in line had to run to the box and get another key, so it worked like a relay.  The kicker: I had gone to the pet store and bought a bunch of crickets that I put in each box.  They jumped around your arm as you tried to reach for the keys. Lots of fun.

6. Blender Challenge- We thought this activity was brilliant- so simple and funny.  We brought in a happy meal from McDonald's and put it in a blender- hamburger, fries, apple juice, yogurt, everything- all into one chunky beverage.  Then everyone got a small cup that they had to drink.  Only problem- it was WAY grosser than we thought it would be!  None of the teams had everyone finish!  And everyone got so quiet and serious after that.  I felt like some of them were mad at us for making them do it!  This is the event that everyone talked about afterwards.  I guess I'm glad it was memorable, but I don't think I'll be doing this one again...

Rewards and Refreshments- I just kept it simple and did candy bars for the winners. Note for next time- I need to make sure I have some quick and easy tie- breakers ready just in case.  I was struggling to come up with a winning team there at the end when no one finished the last challenge.  For the refreshments, I made a kitty litter cake and Sister Bulan made dirt cups.  We thought we were pretty awesome, but there was a lot of leftovers.  I think maybe everyone had lost their appetite a bit.  Oops!  

It really was a lot of fun, though.  The girls and their Dads all said they had a great time, and I had fun, too! 

Claire at 19 months

A Big Girl
I will never forget the Thanksgiving that my Grandpa said to me, "You're a big girl.  You're built like my mother- she was big boned like you."  I was 16 and mortified.  This was the most insulting comment you could have given me.  I had not yet figured out that it is awesome to be a big girl.  These days, I'm quite okay with it. I found a nice tall boy so that I can still wear heels.  I can reach tall shelves, and I don't feel too nervous going walking by myself.  Late pregnancy doesn't seem to be as uncomfortable for me as it is for other women because the baby has somewhere to go. There are a lot of benefits to being a big girl.  Somehow I have to let my daughter in on the secret of being happy "big," because chances are, that's where she's headed.  At 18 months, she was in the 95th percentile for height, and was off the charts (just barely) for weight at 31 pounds.  She wears a size 3T now, and jeans are out of the question- they just don't make it around those thighs.  She towers over her peers in nursery.  Sometimes she gets confused for an older child, and people get frustrated when she acts like a one year old.  She sure is a cute big girl, though.

The Picture Problem
Jason has complained that I'm not posting as many pictures of Claire on Facebook these days.  (No one else is complaining.  I'm pretty sure every one else is grateful that the online shrine to our firstborn has slowed down.)  The reason the pictures have slowed down, though, is that I'm finding it a lot more difficult to photograph a toddler.  Everything I get these days are blurry action shots.  Claire is a BUSY girl.  The latest problem is that when I tell her to come here, she runs as fast as she can in the opposite direction.  She thinks its funny.  Any advice on how to deal with that?

Go go go!

Talk, talk, talk
Claire's verbal vocabulary is still limited, but it's increasing daily. Her favourite thing to talk about is animal sounds.  She excels in this subject.  If only they offered it as a college major, she'd be all set.  First sounds- Sheep (baa) Cow (mnoo) Cutest sounds- Lion (wawr!) Cat (neow) Pig (I don't even know how to spell what she does.  She's trying to copy the more realistic back of your throat oink, so it is kind of a -ka ka) She still hasn't mastered dog, but in her defence, there are so many options, she is understandably confused. I'm thinking that would be, like a 400 level class. 
Claire has also started COUNTING!  Or at least, she's starting to understand the timing and intonation of counting.  She will sit down and very deliberately hold up one finger and say something like "bee...bee...BEE!" and then jump up and do whatever action she was gearing up to do.  Sometimes the second bee will become "Doo" if we prompt her with "one."  Occasionally she counts higher than three, but the numbers and the ending stay the same.
A few more recent words- Nak (milk- obviously) Oo-pS (emphasis on the S- so cute) Map (thank you Dora) Blue (which she can correctly identify 2 times out of 3.) 

The Evolution of Hugs and Kisses
If she is in the right mood, Claire will hug and kiss anyone (or anything) you tell her to.  This is really convenient in situations like my brother's wedding where she was constantly meeting strangers who turned out to be related to her.  When she gives you a hug, she leans her head in and, quite loudly, says "AWE!"  It's pretty much the most adorable thing ever. Her kisses used to be big open mouths, but she has figured out the pucker.  I'm glad she has figured this out, but I'd be lying if I said I don't miss those big wet ones.  She recently mastered the kissy sound, which she now sometimes does a good 6 inches away from her kissing subject, deciding that the sound is all that is really required.   We have told her that there is a baby under my belly button, so she now frequently lifts my shirt to say "herro baby!" and give it a 6 inch away kiss. 

Before she mastered the pucker.

 Nursery
We were nervous about taking Claire to Nursery (the LDS Sunday School class for toddlers- they can go at 18 months.)  She had a lot of separation anxiety at around 17 months.  We started to occasionally go visit just to show her the toys and her friends, and she liked it, but if we started to sneak towards the door, she flipped out.  We were in Arizona visiting family when she finally turned 18 months, so we were too chicken to try out nursery in a strange ward. Finally the day came when we could drop her off.  She screamed for 10 minutes after we left.  Then she was fine.  And she has been fine ever since!  This last Sunday, she saw her nursery teacher in Sacrament meeting and followed her all of the way to class without even looking back to say good bye to me!  She absolutely loves seeing all of her friends- June, Tony, Wesley, and Zachary.  She loves her teachers who spoil her rotten.  And we love going to a meeting at church without having to chase her!

Scribbling
Claire loves pens, pencils, crayons, markers, stickers ("stickies!") and anything she can get her hands on to decorate a page.  She marked up her drawing table (which we weren't really worried about) and the wall (which we were) a couple of times.  Together we cleaned the wall with a Magic Eraser (an amazing thing) and we talked a lot about colouring only on the paper, and she seems to have figured it out.  We still monitor and occasionally have to correct, but for the most part, she only colours on the page.  She has a nice firm grip and draws good solid scribbles.  This teacher/mom couldn't be more proud. 

Claire colouring with her friend Wesley at a recent activity at the mall

Reading
Claire likes quick books, but won't tolerate long stories. That is, unless it's Clifford or Blue's Clues.  Then she will demand that you read the long stories cover to cover over and over.  When she sees something that she knows how to say, she will say it AT THE TOP OF HER VOICE until you acknowledge that you also see that thing.  "DOGGY!!" she screams in my ear every time we turn the page and find a doggy.  (Coincidentally, there are a lot of doggies in Clifford and Blue's Clues books.)  I'm trying to get her to sit and enjoy story time at the library, but so far she just weaves in and out of all of the obedient children sitting on the carpet, and goes and gets into the librarians things until she gives me a dirty look.  I wish I could just tell her to read Clifford books for half an hour. Claire still likes TV, though!  I'm hoping she gets some vocabulary from those, too.

Keeping her entertained- watching Blue's Clues on Jason's phone

 We love Claire!  She is such a blast!

Way too personal

I've let some time pass since my last post.  I need to do some catching up.  For example, our awesome creation, Claire, is such a blast at a year and a half.  More on that coming up.  I've also been busy creating for my calling and for our new home.  I may or may not get around to telling you about some of that.  But guess what?!  I've got another creation to tell you about!  BABY #2!!  I'm about 14 weeks along now.

I'm sure you want to know every little detail about our efforts to get pregnant, right?  No?!  Too Bad!  (Or you can just skip this post.  In fact, that would be my recommendation if you're the type of person who gets uncomfortable talking about things like... menstrual cycles.  You know who you are.  Just scroll on down to the next post.)

If it was up to Jason, I would have gotten pregnant again 6 weeks after delivering Claire.  Poor guy isn't going to get the 8 kids he was hoping for. Maybe next time he won't wait until he's 31 to start looking for his wife...Anyway, I told him that for every 9 months that I'm pregnant, I must have at least 9 months NOT pregnant.  So, true to my word, I put all of the birth control away when Claire turned 9 months old.  There was only one problem.  I was nursing Claire, and I still hadn't started my period.  Nothing to chart, no sign of any impending fertility.  I kept on hoping that somehow I would get pregnant during my very first postpartum cycle (you hear about the girls who do.)  I'd randomly stress out that I was pregnant and look for little symptoms.  I got my first bladder infection during this time, and I was sure I was expecting, because I'd read that they're more common during pregnancy.  The doctor was able to squash that hope pretty quickly, much to my disappointment.

 I decided to stop nursing when Claire turned one.  Honestly, Claire and I both loved nursing, and it was really hard on both of us.  I will probably end up nursing my last child until they're 5.  (Not really.)  Weaning was sad, but I don't have any regrets.  Claire got a good year of breast milk, which I feel was enough for her.  And by that time, I was as anxious as Jason to get Claire a little sibling.  I was completely dry for a month or two before my body finally decided it could care for another baby.  My first period was a HUGE relief and also a little disappointing.  I started charting immediately (I highly recommend the book, "Taking Charge of Your Fertility.")  The next month was less of a relief and more of a disappointment, but we continued on.  It takes most couples a few months to get the timing right.
 
According to my charts, I found out that I was due to start my next period right before Christmas.  I knew I shouldn't, but I started to plan that I would get pregnant that month.  I bought a pregnancy test and a little gift bag, and I created fantasies in my head of giving Jason the positive test on Christmas morning, and telling both of our mothers at a family dinner that we had planned for early January.   (Jason's Mom would be with us in Arizona for a wedding.  How often are both of our mothers in the same place at the same time!?  Never!  It was going to be perfect!)  When my period started on Christmas Eve, I cried for about an hour.  Even more disappointing was when I realized that Jason and I would be apart during my next fertile window, which would probably mean another month of menstruating and this time it would be ON MY BIRTHDAY (Jan. 25- one month after Christmas.)  It definitely put a damper on Christmas.

Of course, we decided to try the next month anyway.  We went to Arizona for the wedding, and he returned to Canada right away to get back to work, while I stayed behind to visit with the family for five extra days.  According to the charts, those 5 days were critical baby making days, but the tickets were already purchased, so we worked with what we had.  As my friend put it, we had a nice good bye when he left for Canada, and nice hello when I came home, and we hoped for the best.  I wasn't very hopeful.

But then... the day before my birthday, my period didn't start.  I started to hope just a little bit.  At 5 in the morning on my birthday, I woke up and couldn't go back to sleep.  So I snuck into the bathroom and took that pregnancy test I had bought before Christmas.  Positive!!  How's that for a birthday present?  Sweet angel baby made 33 my very best birthday ever.

Claire holding a positive pee stick back on January 25th and Harvey#2 captured sneakily at our first ultrasound