Some September

So I am WAY WAY behind in this, but we are having...

A BOY!

We are super excited. And to be honest I am a little nervous. Boys scare me. I have no idea how to deal with them, but I guess I will learn! I am due December 17th, so just ten more weeks! We are slowly putting together the nursery, I will post pictures later.

But we also have the task of buying boy clothes. And seriously I feel clueless. We were so very blessed with Clara in that we had basically EVERYTHING given to us. Chris' sisters gave us all of their little girl clothes. I can probably count on my hands the number of items of clothing I have bought for her. So this shopping thing is really new to me. I guess I will figure out if I am missing something when he comes eh?

My pregnancy update is that all is pretty good. I was measuring a little small at the last appointment so they are keeping their eye on it. To be honest, I am not too worried about it. When I lay on my back, he sinks right into my hips. I definitely don't feel small! I now have heartburn, and my lung capacity has gone way down. It is pretty strange to be out of breath after talking out loud for two sentences. Then there is the back pain. My back has issues, and always had, pregnancy just really brings it to the forefront. It is always popping out of place and giving out on me. I seriously worry sometimes about collapsing while holding Clara. Luckily when it has given out while I was holding Clara, it was on the stairs which sounds bad, but it is a lot easier to catch myself since their have been stairs right at hand level in front of me. But I will survive ten more weeks. I don't mean to be all pessimistic, because really I am doing pretty well. I am lucky when it comes to being pregnant. I am very blessed!

I think that this summer has been one of the best summers I have ever had. I have enjoyed being with my little Clara every day. She is so much fun. And... she forces me to do fun things that to be honest I probably would not do otherwise. Most of all Clara makes me laugh. She is such a hoot. Yes, I am probably a little bias being her mom and all, but really she has such a big personality. She is definitely the stereotypical girl though, she is VERY emotional and moody. I just have to laugh at her, or I think I might get myself in over my head. She is also loves to make people laugh. But she does take a while to warm up to people. Everyone thinks that she must hate them at first, but I tell them not to worry because she gives everyone that same stare at first. Well almost everyone, all except other kids. She LOVES other kids. It is almost a joke with those that see Clara fairly often, they talk to her so they can get "the stare".

Also, she is still an extreme Mommy's girl. When people say attached at the hip, they are describing Clara and I. Seriously she is always on my hip. And if she is not on my hip she is on my legs or whatever else she can get a hold of. Except when we are at home, then HALF the time she is running around like a wild child.

She also loves learning. It is hard to believe how much she is learning now, and how fast she is taking it all in. It has been really nice to be able to communicate with her and have her be able to let me know what she needs or wants. And she DOES let us know. She is very opinionated already. I guess that is a good thing? Right now she is loving songs. Wheels on the bus, happy and you know it, and popcorn popping are her favorite. I am working on getting it on video because she knows all the actions and loves to do them. She also makes sure everyone in the room is doing actions as well. If not she keeps pointing at them and will not continue the song unless they join in.

And bubbles, all sorts of bubbles, she loves bubbles. So much so she smothers herself in them as you can see in the picture below.
Then she laughs.
And coloring, she probably asks me ten times a day to color. If we ask her too she can even draw circles!
And the cutest thing is that I think she tries to write. She concentrates very hard and draws little scribbles and lines.
We have also been able to go to the Zoo several times. She loves it. ( By the looks of her face I know it does not look like she loves it, but she really does, I promise.)

Getting SO big! She is almost as big as a teenage gorilla! She really is so tall though, she was off the charts for height. She is also several inches taller then the kids her age we know or have seen. (For the record in these pictures she is seventeen months).







Here she is eating a popcicle, one of the few things she will actually eat. She also LOVES ice. But seriously I have no idea how she is alive and functioning right now. She eats about five bites of food a day. But somehow she survives! It must be the milk, she is still a milk-aholic. Maybe when she starts eating food I will have to find a Milk-aholics Anonymous program we can put her in.
I had to document "the box". This box was seriously in our family room for months. We ordered the crib for baby Liam (p.s. that is what we are naming him), and we had the box in the room and Clara had decided she wanted to color on everything, so I decided that the box would give her a whole lot of space to color, so it turned into one huge coloring book.
Chris got a promotion at work, and in celebration I surprised him with a Real Salt Lake hat, which he has been wanting for a long time. Clara loved it almost as much as he did!

Ah, and I can't forget this little tid-bit. Some kids find comfort in bottles, binky's, blankets, or maybe a stuffed animal. For Clara, it is her BELLY BUTTON. Yes, her belly button. I seriously just returned from Clara crying in her crib and she would not calm down or communicate with me. So finally I asked her "do you want your belly button?" Her response "peez." (Please). This is what she always says when we ask her if she wants something or other. It is the cutest thing EVER. Anyway, I unzipped her jammies enough that she could reach her belly button. Immediately she was calm. Her belly button is usually a bit red because she plays with it so much. Hopefully one day before she gets too old she will grow out if this little quirk, because we can't have her lifting up her dress at church (like she did Sunday) to reach her belly button. But for now it is just a funny little development we like to laugh at.