Claire and Owen

Monday, May 28th

Memorial Day Weekend

On Friday night, the babies got to have a date with their great aunt and uncle and Dave and I went out for a much needed date by ourselves. It felt amazing to be baby-free for a few hours. We really need to make an effort to do that more often. A few drinks and some quality time with the hubs does wonders for a girl’s sanity.

On Saturday, we hung out around the house and relaxed. Then, on Sunday, we took Claire and Owen to the splash park. They’re still a little small to really enjoy the splash park, but I think that we had an okay time for our first visit.

We attempted to take the babies to their first parade today, but by the time everyone woke up from naps and got changed, we only saw the very end of the parade. We tried.

After our failed attempt at parade watching, we played in the air conditioning and Claire and Owen helped Daddy install locks on the drawers before going to a cookout at the neighbor’s house.

Claire and Owen are probably just as frustrated that the long weekend is over as we are. We were so excited that both babies fell asleep early tonight by 7:00… but, by 7:15 Owen was awake and by 8:00 Claire was awake. Sigh.

Wednesday, May 23rd

The house is clean (thanks to Grandma visiting and entertaining the babies), lunch is done (although remnants remain on faces and clothes), diapers are changed, babies are contently playing (and adorably laughing at each other) and I have a moment of peace with my Dr. Pepper (thank you 5 am wake up call) and computer before we attempt naps. No complaints.

I wanted to spend these 5 minutes planning an overnight getaway for Dave and I since our FIVE year anniversary is a month away, but instead I’m posting about my kids. I’m such a mom.

I can’t wait to spend a night with just Dave. It’s been over two months since we’ve been out together, and we spent that evening with friends. We are definitely overdue for a date night.

As much as I love these crazy little people, I can’t wait for some adult time! June is packed full of fun events with friends, just Dave and I, and even some with the kiddos. I can’t wait!

The kids are still happy, so back to browsing the internet I go.

Saturday, May 19th

These photos are from a few weeks ago. I’m playing catch up.

Our new shades!

At the Botanic Gardens for Daddy’s 5K. The babies and I attempted to walk it, but the babies’ pre-walk nerves called for diaper changes and bottles at the start of the walk. And, that double stroller is a beast! If only I had a jogging stroller… sigh…

Sunday, May 13th

My 1st Mother’s Day! I had a wonderful weekend with my favorite two little people and my baby daddy.  ;)   We spent Friday playing outside and swinging at the park.

Claire and Owen love playing in the grass. They are not afraid to crawl around in it and they like to grab handfuls of it. They are mesmerized by it.

On Saturday, we went out to brunch for Mother’s Day and Claire and Owen had their first meal at a restaurant. It felt so good to see them eating the same food we were and enjoying every single bite. I still get a little nervous when we get out of the house and try new things, but going to brunch gave me a lot of confidence. They were so well behaved and loved sitting in the high chairs and eating their food. 

After brunch, we chilled in the wagon (by far, the new favorite thing) and played with bubbles (our second favorite thing). We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing at home. It felt so nice to not have to go anywhere for the day as it feels like we’ve had plans every weekend. I love the days that we get to spend together as a whole little family. Playing together with my three loves was the best way to spend Mother’s Day (we celebrated early as we knew that Sunday would be a little more busy).

This morning we had a little breakfast in bed. It’s Mother’s Day, so someone should get breakfast in bed, right?

After the usual bottles, diapers, laundry, dishes, lack of naps, and fussy time (the babies did not get the memo that it was Mother’s Day), we got all dressed up in our Sunday best and played before heading to dinner with the Phalens.

Today was a beautiful day! We spent the entire afternoon playing outside with some pretty sweet toys.

The best part of my 1st Mother’s Day was all the snuggles and kisses… it’s the best part of every day. AND, Claire and Owen each sent me the sweetest emails (from their own gmail accounts) on Saturday morning. They are the most loving babies ever, and Daddy’s pretty loving too.

I totally cried. I’m a cheese ball.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom and mother-in-law! The two best moms and grandmas ever!

And, Happy Day to the three people that made me a mom, Dave, Claire and Owen! Thank you for changing my life and showing me that this much love is possible.

Monday, May 7th

I have my 1st meeting for my internship and I have a sick baby boy. Feeling like the worst mom ever.

Monday, April 30th

10 months!

Claire and Owen turned 10 months old yesterday! Ridiculous!

Claire’s 10 month stats: 17 lbs. 5 oz., 27 1/2 in.

30th percentile for length and 13th percentile for weight.

Owen’s 10 month stats: 18 lbs. 10 oz., 28 1/2 in.

40th percentile for length and 11th percentile for weight.

Claire and Owen are trying new foods almost every week. The new foods in the rotation are zucchini, cantaloupe, mango, kiwi, dried strawberries, dried peaches, white grape juice, cheesy puffs, and shredded cheese. We’re trying to give them more table food if we’re eating things that they can handle.

Owen loves crawling all over the place. He’s pulling up to his knees, but loves when you help him stand up. He loves eating ANYTHING, babbling, blowing raspberries, calling for Dada, playing his drum, his yellow ball, playing outside, bathtime and making funny faces.

He hates getting his clothes changed and holding still on the changing table.

Claire loves climbing on EVERYTHING, especially Owen. She loves smiling, giggling, talking, playing outside, her bath, looking at pictures of babies (especially herself), drinking from her sippie and reading books. She’s now pulling up to standing and is walking along the couch. She is very brave!

Claire hates being confined to one area and laying on the changing table.

Owen still has two teeth. No new teeth since the last update. He chews on anything he can find and leaves a trail of drool everywhere he goes. He’s so adorable when he chews his little puffs with those tiny teeth.

Claire’s second tooth broke through last week. Poor girl was so miserable. She eats her left thumb and index finger all the time. She is constantly playing with her tongue and smacking her lips. She can flip her tongue upside down. Weird.

Claire and Owen obviously don’t know mad dance skills when they see them. This was their reaction to our after dinner dance party. They were not impressed.

Chilling. Just like Daddy.

Claire and Owen love playing together, even when they’re kept apart by the pack and play. They kept touching each other’s hands through the mesh.

Claire is so helpful. ;) She has to play with everything that Owen touches. As soon as he learns how to pull himself all the way up we’re going to be in trouble. He’s a lot bigger than her and I’m sure he won’t let her take over for very much longer.

10 months. We’re all healthy and very happy. I couldn’t ask for anything more.

Friday, April 27th

It’s bittersweet. Last night was my last class of the semester. I’m beyond thrilled to not have to worry about homework for the next few months, but I’m bummed that I will never have class with my classmates again. For the past four years, I’ve had every class with the same group of people. We were all in it together. Next week, everyone is graduating. Everyone but me.

I am so excited for everyone to move onto the next chapter of their lives and careers… I just wish that I was doing it with them. I have many mixed feelings about school and didn’t realize how much it was getting to me until the past week.

When we decided to try to get pregnant, the plan was to have a baby in the summer of 2011 and to finish grad school the following school year. I was determined to make it happen. There was nothing that was going to stop me from finishing school, not even a baby. But, plans changed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m soooo happy that plans changed. Having Claire and Owen has been the best experience of my life. Even though I have these wonderful little babies, there’s still a part of me that has a hard time knowing that plans changed and it was out of my control. I couldn’t make the decision to finish school like I thought I would.

With two babies, especially two babies that were in the hospital for so long, there was no way that I could have gone to class and had an internship this past school year. As much as I wished that I could have, it just wasn’t possible. Being a mom is way more important than getting my MSW.

Next year, I WILL finish this degree. I’m registered for classes and internship is all set.  Over the past four years, I’ve met some incredible people and formed some awesome friendships. I think that I’m more upset about not being with these people anymore than not getting the degree. Not only did we learn together, but we experienced some pretty intense life events together. Wedding swimming!

Next year, I will join another group of students who have been in class together for three years already. I’ll be the new girl. I’m not looking forward to it. At all. I’ll graduate with strangers. But, hey, I will graduate.

Alright, I’m done being feeling mopey. Had you asked me three years ago what my life would look like right now, I would not have imagined this. Not in a million years. But, my life is amazing. I am one lucky girl. I have two healthy, sweet babies, a husband that loves all of us so much, a roof over my head… and in one year, I’ll have this dang degree.

Okay, picture time…

Claire and Owen will be 10 months old on Sunday, so I’ll give an update on all the fun new stuff going on with them after their Dr appointment next week.

Playing guitar with Daddy.

Baking cupcakes with Mommy.

Sunday, April 22nd

We’re only two weeks late with posting Easter pictures. That’s not too bad, right? Since Easter, we’ve been trying to get back in the swing of things. There haven’t been too many posts since we’ve been busy just living life. Everyone has been off their sleep schedule over the last couple weeks, both at night and for naps, so blogging was the last thing on my mind. School is coming to an end (for the semester) and the babies are sleeping a little better since yesterday (knock on wood), so life is slowly starting to calm down… for the moment.

On the Saturday before Easter, we had an Easter egg hunt at Grandma Lora and Papa Mark’s house.

Claire wanted to help her cousin, Anna eat the treats in her eggs.

After the egg hunt, they had a blast swinging in the treehouse.

With the recent additions of Maisie and Allison, there are now 12 cousins! As you can see, the boys are outnumbered.

We had a sleepover at Grandma and Papa’s house and the Easter Bunny had filled their baskets on Easter morning. They both had on their matching Easter jammies, but Claire was too cool for matching jammies and decided to take it upon herself to make them unwearable.

Since Claire and Owen are getting bigger, they’re having a harder time sleeping in new places. Our sleepover at Grandma and Papa’s allowed for very little sleep. I think that Papa is going to get some WD-40 for Father’s Day to fix the squeaky door. I would have Claire so close to sleep, then she would wake up each time I would try to sneak out and close the door. While Claire and Owen enjoyed their time with Grandma and Papa, Mommy and Daddy enjoyed large amounts of coffee.

Before heading out to Great-Grandma and Grandpa Phalen’s house, we got dressed up and played by the flowers.

At Great-Grandma and Grandpa’s house, Claire and Owen had fun playing with all of the Phalens and their new Easter toys.

When we got home after the LONG weekend, we found another surprise that the Easter Bunny dropped off at our house (the bunny didn’t want to pack more than we had to for the weekend). A new drum! This thing is a hit! Ba dum ching.

Lessons of the weekend:

No matter how much you pack in advance, it will always take 3 hours to get everyone ready to leave the house. Even if you have the help of others.

Always pack extra diapers. Always.

Buy baby food to take with. Packing, storing, freezing and thawing homemade baby food is just an added stress when traveling. The store bought stuff will work just fine.

Pack extra clothes for the babies and yourself. Your backup outfit will always get spit up on. Bring a back up for your back up. Doing laundry at 10 pm is not ideal.

Bring WD-40 everywhere! That stuff is magic.

Don’t wait for the kids to fall asleep to meet up with your sister and brother-in-law for margaritas. It won’t happen. They’ll stay up until 10. Lay the kids down, yell “see ya” to grandma and grandpa and run out the door. Run fast before grandma and grandpa know what hit them.  ;)