Just Claire

Bumbo Seat

Claire's Aunt Jennifer let us use her bumbo seat. I wasn't sure if she was old enough to sit in it yet, so last week we tried it out.







Not sure what we think.



Survey says- We don't like it!

I guess we will try again in a week or so. :)

Matching Again

My friend Kirsten made these dresses for my girls. She is extremely talented. I am not sure if you can tell, but their dresses have their names embroidered on them.

Let's Go Yoga-ing

Brian got me a membership to a gym in town for Mother's Day. I am very excited about it and have gone twice. Last night (my second time going) I wanted to do the 6:30 class but didn't know what it was until I showed up. Turns out it was "power yoga." I was a bit nervous after Jennifer's post, but I thought I would try it out. Here are some of my observations:

1. Up dog and down dog is a position in yoga, not a command to a dog.

2. Apparently, my hamstrings are glued in a too-tight position and have been since 1978.

3. I am not flexible.

4. I do not have good balance.

5. Yikes! I do NOT bend that way!

6. I enjoyed the relaxation part of the class. However, Brian wants to try Yoga and he would fall asleep during the relaxation part and I would have to drag him home. (He falls asleep in less than two minutes).

7. Men don't look attractive doing yoga. (Sorry honey, but maybe you should just try it at home). I too had one male in my class and he looked a little funny doing some of the moves. Then again, so did I.

All in all, not a bad experience, but I couldn't tell if I got a work out or I was just plain worn out from trying to figure out all of the strange positions people were getting themselves into.

First Hair Bow

Smiley Face

Mary Kate has discovered an interest in drawing. She will make all kinds of cute squiggles and will say that they are anything. She drew the features on the face. I made the circle. This is her very first face, that actually looked like a face, so we took a picture of it!

"Claire-Bear"

When Brian and I were talking names and were deciding on "Claire" we decided that we absolutely would not call her "Claire-Bear." Well, we are calling her that. I think it suits her. Not because she acts like a bear, but because she is cuddly and soft and very sweet.

Yes, We Are...

the kind of people that like to match our cute kids!

Throwback Post:Balloons and Bows

Balloons and bows? If you think that sounds like more girl stuff, you would be right. When we arrived home from the hospital with our brand new baby girl on March 12th, here is what our mailbox looked like:





The bow is courtesy of Cabell Sweeney, our most talented friend. Ever been to Cracker Barrel or someplace and seen the college-themed pottery? That's her. She also painted an awesome picture for Claire's nursery as a shower gift...now we can be snobby and say that we have original artwork in our house. I guess we should say that while holding a glass of shiraz or something.

The balloons are courtesy of David, Julie, Ellen, Meredith, and Christina Tomlin, our across-the-street neighbors. Christina and MK were born six weeks apart, and have become fast friends:



And, in a flash of diplomatic genius, I managed to talk the entire Tomlin family into standing next to each other and smiling:

Little Cowgirl

MK is apparently following in her cousin Haley's footsteps with the cowgirl thing.





Meanwhile, I am more and more happy each day that we have girls, who like hairbows and pretty stickers and things like that. I have found that they also like to decorate things. The only fitting caption to the following pictures is "MK lives here."





When I rounded the corner and saw that, the look on my face was not unlike the look on Claire's face here:

Updates via Picture

So we haven't been great about updating the blog with pictures of baby Claire and our new situation. I don't know why...it's not like we have been busy or something.

Here is an update:

MK has learned the joys of playing on Daddy's back:



Baby Claire has learned the joys of tummy time:



MK is showing potential of becoming the next Jackson Pollack:



Aggie, as always, is hanging in there quite well:



MK is extremely affectionate and doting toward Claire:



Claire met our good friends Ben and Kristie Hogue, who are expecting their first child this summer:



And Bryan and Krista Pierce - Bryan is our pastor at Seven Hills Fellowship:



More to come!

MK is settling very well into life as a big sister...a few shots of her life these days:

(brian writing) Just wanted to give a shout out to Jenny for being a wonderful mother. We are now three weeks and two days into the two child world, and she has proven herself to be a master. Those of you with more than one child know that going from double coverage to a man-to-man is tough enough, and then I go back to work, which leaves Jenny running a zone all day long. I am very proud of her.

We also turned a corner in our lives earlier this week by......purchasing a minivan. Could someone please shoot us?

Pics of the Girls

Welcome Claire Olivia!

She is here!

Making Pizza

Mary Kate has decided that her new favorite hobbies are 1. Making large messes and 2. Helping mommy cook. Both are demonstrated below.

Belly Bump

It is bigger now. This was taken around two weeks ago! We are almost 36 weeks!

The Big White Lie

Last week the weather man lied to us two times. Last Wednesday he told us that it was going to snow 1-3 inches. Guess what? It maybe snowed 1/2 an inch and was gone in an hour. Mary Kate got to touch a snow flake, but as far as anything fun in the snow- nope! The snow didn't last long enough.

Then again on Friday the weather man said that it was going to snow 1-3 inches overnight and all day on Saturday. I was so excited! Every time that I got up to use the bathroom (it is alot these days) I would look outside to see the snow. There wasn't any. When I woke up in the morning Brian and I checked the weather and they kept repeating that it was coming. About noon it did start to snow and it snowed for about two hours. It was completely gone in 30 minutes after it stopped snowing. I don't know what kind of training the weather man gets to be able to be on t.v. and lie to all of us, but that is exactly what he did. This was supposed to be the "mother of all snow storms." Well, it was a big white lie.

I do not have any pictures of Mary Kate in the snow because it didn't last long enough! :)

Winter Attire

Sorry to you folks who check this often. I guess I am in a "blogging slump". I will try harder to keep you updated.

Old man winter has arrived and with him comes some fuzzy, warm, and cozy clothes. Mary Kate loves putting on coats, hats, scarfs, gloves, mittens, etc. And by loves I mean screams and cries loudly when you try to take any part of it off- even if it is a toasty 80 degrees inside. For some reason she will let me take off her coat at home but not when we leave to go out somewhere. Even today she cried when she took her nap because I took off her sweater so she wouldn't sweat while she napped. Crazy Kid!

This hat/scarf ensemble was knitted by my friend Brianna for MK's birthday. She wouldn't put it on in September and she won't take it off in November!

The Mormons and the Good News

I know that Becky already posted a picture of this, but I could not let my picture go without blogging. I mean it really is striking how much they resemble mormons in this picture.




Now for the good news. For those of you who read this and don't know we are having a girl in March! We are very excited and can't wait for her to get here. Mary Kate on the other hand might have a few things to say about having a little sister. When we ask her what is in mommy's tummy she says, " a belly button." She did let her guard down one day and decided to share her sippy cup of milk with my tummy. All kids have to adjust sooner or later. I will get Brian to take a belly shot of me and I will post it later.