Bathing Suit Beauty

It feels like forever since I last posted. So much happens in just a few days when you have a toddler to chase around all the time. Tuesday was playgroup day as usual. Claire was so excited to see all of her friends, but that didn't compare to the fact that we would also be swimming. Claire thinks she's an Olympic swimmer and constantly tries to free herself from my grasp. Tuesday, however, she was especially interested in the latest swimsuit fashions. While I was getting ready for the day, she sneaked into my closet and found one of my swimsuit tops in the laundry basket. She put the halter style top on over her head and wore it around the house like an apron saying, "Mommy's swim-moot. Like it!" She was all smiles when I asked to pose for a picture in it. It took quite a bit of coaxing to get her to take it off and get out the door for playgroup. Thanks to Leslie for an awesome time - we had a blast!

Pops Visits Flower Mound

Yay! Finally Pops came to visit our family yesterday. He hasn't been since we moved into our new house. Sadly, he was only able to stay one night. It's so funny how comfortable Claire is around him. She is immediately at ease in his presence. Perhaps it helps that he arrives with yogurt treats, books and a puzzle in tow, but I think it's much more than that. She had no hesitations holding his hand as we walked into the restaurant for lunch yesterday. She showed off incessantly by singing, showing him all of her toys and puzzles, and bossing him around. She was so wound up at bedtime last night that she kept jumping up and down on her bed. She was up bright and early this morning, and instead of the usual cuddling with Mommy and Daddy in our room, she was playing and loading up her grocery cart with Pops. We were so happy to have him for the day and can't wait for him to come back. We love you Pops!

Claire and Pops enjoying a book together

Chloe's First Birthday Party

Saturday was Chloe's first birthday. She's Alli and Brian's daughter - some of our good friends. Here are some pics of the kids playing and having a good time!

Claire checking out her goody bag

Me and Heather with the girls

All the ladies

Claire and Daddy

Claire and Mommy

Me and Stacy - the preggers. She's due September 29!

Claire playing with her boyfriend (Parker) in the bounce house



Claire "torturing" baby Jonah in the bounce house

Fun in Music Class

Today, I took Claire to try the music class at Gymboree. The last time we went to a regular Gymboree class, she had no interest in climbing on the equipment and seemed to enjoy the music part the most. Today was interesting. She was unsure of the teacher - he was great, but she is unsure about most men other than Daddy. She was glued to my lap for the first ten minutes or so. Once the musical instruments came out, however, she was a lot more into it. At some points she was even smiling and laughing. After class, she immediately ran out into the main Gymboree room and started climbing all over the equipment. It took me ten minutes to get her out of there. Needless to say, I think we're going to try a regular Gymboree class again before we decide if we want to enroll. The great thing about these classes is how sleepy they make her. She passed out in the car before we even got half way home. She went down for her nap without even eating lunch (good thing I gave her a huge breakfast and a big snack before class) and was out for the count for two and half hours! Here are some pics of Claire playing with a variety of cool Gymboree instruments.


Claire looking just like her uncle Dustin


Notice the pink toenails!

Pretty In Pink Toes

I have been wanting to paint Claire's toenails pink for a while now, but I wasn't sure how Derek would react. He is anti doing anything out of the ordinary to our baby's body (ie. getting her ears pierced is White Trash and apparently equivalent to putting makeup on her). Yesterday afternoon, I finally decided that she simply needed to have her toes painted. At first, Claire was not so interested in the idea until I showed her the intriguing bottle of OPI pink. She immediatly climbed up onto my vanity stool and watched in awe as I dipped the little brush in the paint. I started to paint her big toe and all intrigue went out the door. She started jerking around and I practically painted the entire toe before I got it to look ok. Evidently, getting your toenails painted for the first time is a very strange feeling. After seeing how pretty her big toe looked, she held out her little toes to me and said, "Other ones." I knew she was a girly girl at heart! She patiently let me paint all of her remaining toes and sat very still while I used the hair dryer to quickly blow them dry. Then she walked around the house the rest of the afternoon checking out her toes, curling them under and releasing them so she could get a new look at her pretty pink nail polish.

The Mother In Me Honors The Mother In You - Namaste

Tonight is my first night back to prenatal yoga, or any exercise at all, since going into the hospital on Friday night. I was having muscle pains from the right side of my uterus all the way up the side of my body and into my shoulder for about 12 hours on Friday until I finally decided that maybe I should be seen by a doctor. We spent four hours in the hospital's L&D wing being monitored by a fetal heart rate monitor, having blood drawn and finally being given some painkillers. The pain I was experiencing was thankfully and annoyingly assessed as simply strained muscles and perhaps some trapped gas in my stomach. Hip-hip-hurray for second pregnancies! Though the pain was much less throughout the weekend, I begged my way into my doctor's office for an early appointment on Monday afternoon. Once again she confirmed that pretty much, second pregnancies just suck. I'm just experiencing excruciating back pain - nothing out of the ordinary. Thank goodness for muscle relaxers and Tylenol PM! The past two days have been mostly pain free, so I feel that I am ready to reemerge and head back to the gym. Oh how I've missed the sweet stench of LifeTime Fitness.

Sadly, I still have to endure the oh-so-wonderful glucose test (a test given to check for Gestational Diabetes) tomorrow. For those of you who don't know, this consists of drinking the equivalent of Minute Maid Orange soda with an extra cup of sugar added to it, on an empty stomach. Then you sit around for an hour while you feel like you're going to pass out, only to have them draw tube after tube of blood from your weakened body. Woohoo! On a happier note, my next doctor's appointment is Thursday, August 7 followed by a 4D ultrasound! I'm so excited to see our baby's sweet little face.

Claire's Crazy Cute Comment of the Day: When I first introduced Claire to the uncomfortable wooden Potty Chair with removable plastic bowl dangling from the bottom, she acted like it was a pint size electric chair. She simply refused to go near it with her little booty. Since then, the chair has been replaced by a softer seat that fits atop the big toilet and the old wooden contraption was relegated to our huge pile of junk in the garage. Today I found Claire sitting on the potty chair in the garage, making grunting noises followed by a loud and satisfied AAAHHHH. To which I said, "Claire, what are you doing." She gave me the "duh face" and said, "I goin' potty."

My Very First Blog

Well, I'm jumping head first onto the blog bandwagon. I have a couple of friends who have been successfully blogging for a couple months now, and I feel that I might be able to handle the task. If you know me well, you understand why this is huge for me. I am one of those ambitious people who generally sets a lot of goals, but only occasionally sees them through. In other words, I like to come up with the cool ideas and let somebody else handle the execution.

Here are a few examples: Claire's baby calendar (good thing I have a decent memory as I scrambled to fill in a month's worth of anecdotes all in one day). Claire's handmade Christmas stocking (I gave up on step #5 out of 75) - who knew sewing took so much concentration? Cooking at least five days a week (3 out of 5 ain't bad, right?).

I figure I spend enough time checking email, reading Perez and staring blankly at Myspace that I should surely be able to take 5-10 minutes out of each day to gush about my lovable and sometimes crazy family. Hopefully, you will all visit often and enjoy catching up with my "cast" (FYI Heather, this is what a group of crabs is called) of Crabtree's.



The Crabtree Family - Christmas 2006


Claire Hailey



Mom and me on my wedding day - October 8, 2005


Bella

Claire's Crazy Cute Comment of the Day: "Look Mommy, a vacuum," she says with a huge smile as she points to the man edging the lawn with a weed eater.