Regan's Soccer Game

Around 6:15pm we found out that my cousin, Regan, had a soccer game at the fields about 5 minutes away from our house at 6:30. Boom! Our evening plans were made :) we really enjoy watching Regan play.

I *think* this was Clara's first soccer game, although I am not positive. (Does anyone remember if I took her to one last year?)

It was fun - we visited with Uncle Keith while Clara unpacked her diaper bag and squirted applesauce all over herself and me :)

Regan is on the white team #10 in the picture.

Indoor Playground

If you've lived in Houston or a city with a similar climate, you know summertime can be brutal outside. I've been trying to develop a variety of options with A/C that we can do instead of our semi-regular treks to the park after Clara's morning nap.

So, after this mornings Breakfast & Book routine:

Eating & reading is exhausting

Morning walk, and round of swinging (this child is addicted!)

It's sprinkling, Mama

And then a morning nap, we met up with Mrs. Lauren & Landon for a playdate at The Woodland's Mall. This mall has such a GREAT play area for kiddos 0-6. The floor is soo soft and bouncy, that I didn't worry about Clara falling at all, even from the tops of the smaller climbers. Thankfully since it's not summer break for most people quite yet it was fairly calm, which was good for these two babies' first time. Plus the bigger kids aren't always very aware of when they knock the wee ones over. I sincerely hope that when Clara is a "bigger kid" I still pay attention to what she's doing and intervene if I notice she's scaring the babies.

When we first arrived, Clara immediately got down and started exploring. Anyone surprised? :)

Landon took a little while to warm up, and made sure his mommy was close by. He eventually started checking things out.

Pretty quick after we got there and let them start playing, they closed the play area for 15 minutes to vacuum and wipe down all the play equipment. The 4 of us took that opportunity to go get a drink at Sonic and give the kiddos a snack.

Fortified with some applesauce and cheerios, both Landon & Clara were ready to take on the play area when we got up, no warm up needed.

Once Clara found the tunnels and how it works (makes for some perfect peek-a-boo opportunities with Mommy) there was no keeping her out of them :)

Video of Clara playing in the tunnel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xE_ZWNUvG8

Of course there were lots of other fun things to check out too.

Clara & Landon just crawling around

Landon decided to follow Clara through the tunnel

 

A video of Clara & Landon playing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqHVG4rsUd4

And THEN Landon and Clara discovered the slide. It was the most amazing thing ever. Up and down and up and down and up and down ..... seriously, I think Clara climbed up those steps somewhere between 40-50 times. You'd think she'd be tired!

Come on up, friend!

Short video of climbing up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QrI6yPDQiVA

Steps are overrated, climb the slide!

Does it shock anyone that Landon is playing calmly in his stroller while Clara escaped and is playing on the floor?

Once we got home, Clara took an EXTREMELY short afternoon nap. She was so pooped she needed more, but what can you do?

So we decided to play outside.

And then go swimming with Ayden!

 

By the time Clara was done swimming, Daddy was home and it was dinner time. 

Just a typical day of keeping Miss CB busy  and Momma sane! :)

Thank you

I really want to send out a huge thank you to all of you who sent flowers or cards, emailed or sent messages, called or visited me when I was sad and lonely, and prayed for our family the last 2 weeks.

I realize that other than my blog post I haven't been very forthcoming about the miscarriage, or been very willing to discuss it. I am a huge talker I know, but I tend to keep "bad stuff" safe inside of me where I can "control" what happens with it. I found that as soon as I started discussing it with someone or writing about it, down poured the tears again, which was just exhausting. So, I allowed myself to grieve by myself for a little while. I am doing much better now. I got the all clear from the doc today, they did an ultrasound to check for anything that could be lingering since I opted to miscarry naturally rather than have the D&C operation. I'm still feeling a bit more emotional and hormonal than I usually am, and it hits me in waves at random times, but other than that I feel like I'm almost back to the "real me."

Real me doesn't necessarily equal the old me, though. The old me didn't have to grieve for this child, or know that in January we would be greeting another miracle. I am able to move forward, however, and I think this has really strengthened my faith.

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of the heart for loving our family so much.

Ladies' Meetup

Today Jan, BreAnna, Ruthie, Marissa, my mom, Clara & I met up for lunch at Spring Creek BBQ and then the girls played at Bouncing Bears for a little while, and then a little at our house before being too worn out to enjoy it anymore.

Playing is hard work!

This was Ruthie's first time at Bouncing Bears. It took her a few minutes to warm up, but once she did I think she had a good time.

Having the 2 grandmas there was a HUGE help! I'm not used to having lots of spare hands to help. It's pretty amazing stuff.

And they're off!

2 babies with BreAnna

Hanging out on the massive trampoline

Starting to feel a little CRABBY. (See what I did there? :)

Down the slide!

At our house after Bouncing Bears.

I think Ruth enjoyed the school bus:

The open mouthed expression of glee was followed by a puppy kiss, mmm

Clara showed her friend the ropes.

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58q8CFtzMvY

Of course Maverick & Goose loved the attention. Auntie Marissa gives goooood scratches.

Pooped out but anti-nap. Poor baby.

Now she's snoozing away. It was fun and I hope we can meet up more often!!

Pool time Playgroup

We still meet every Monday but I'm not always on top of my game enough to do a post.

Last week was a Chicfila playgroup.

It looks like we left 3 babies to their own devices, doesn't it? can you imagine?

Clearly ready to take on the chef role

This week the kiddos went swimming. 

AKA: sitting and standing in 8in of water playing with dinosaurs and cups.

Or, in Clara's case, doing the above activity for 20min before deciding it was a terrible idea, and she needed to swing ASAP. Okaaayyy, missy. 

{The swing is a new acquisition to our arsenal of items-to-keep-Clara-entertained-and-wear-her-out-to-preserve-our-sanity toolkit. We hung it up this weekend. Naturally CB was a huge help :)}

Let me help hold the ladder!

This is the BEST.

I'm gonna swing foreeeevvvvaaaa!

Okay, back to today's playgroup.

Filling the baby pool up with some water:

 

Love the disgruntled expression here :)

"Hiya, Mommy!"

Shortly after this ^^^ we changed to the swing, per CB's demands.

The other kiddos continued swimming

Pretty sweet blow dryer

Once everyone was dried off, we trooped back inside. Who knew the safety gate would be the most amazing toy around?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO4Sqt8s5sQ

Of course, the bus was a pretty close second.

After playgroup was a suuuuper quick nap (sad face) and then we "mowed" for a while waiting for Daddy to get home. Ayden was a big help teaching Clara how it's done :) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJkyRTSiswA

makes me smile :)

Don't mess with conventional methods!