a case of cabin fever and gold

pretty sure that claire is as sick of this yucky weather as i am. we don't leave the house much when joe has the car most of the day. she spends time gazing out the window each day, and no, we don't go play. i don't like being cold. i really kind of hate it. i do give in on the sunny days, but those are not so frequent. spring, we cannot wait for you!
see? i have to have a blanket. constantly. i am sure a snuggie would be my best friend.

yes, i know. she should not be playing behind the blinds. i'm perfectly aware. the girl just wants to CLIMB! and the love sack is right underneath it to catch her, should the agile cat fall. and yes, that is snow outside. i am trying to convince joe we should move to arizona. no snow there!

speaking of joe..... today is his GOLDEN birthday! he is 25 on the 25th- so he is super ultra special today! so. 25 things about joe.

1. he makes really good breakfast and steak.

2. he has the funniest laugh.

3. he is all guy- but a total softy.

4. he can make claire laugh more than anyone. and me.

5. he's a daredevil, and i hate it, so he respects that.

6. joe is a the most protective husband and father. so watch out.

7. joe would totally be willing to go on "what not to wear". not that he is a horrible dresser, but thinks getting a ton of new clothes would be great.

8. he works harder than i could i ever ask for.

9. hes pretty photogenic. (not photo-electric). which i think is awesome.

10. he really likes to help people. he really understands the joy you get from serving others.

11. joe tells me i'm beautiful everyday. even when i KNOW i look less than desirable.

12. he's honest.

13. he is dependable. as in, he doesn't flake out, and gets things done. i appreciate that.

14. he talks on the phone more than i do. ha.

15. he's good lookin'. pretty sure i've made an ex-girlfriend jealous because i snatched him up.

16. i think that joe could live in an igloo and be fine. he's pretty tough. and he just doesn't like the heat.

17. he has the best dreams. like when dreams in spanish. he doesn't speak spanish.

18. he is extremely thoughtful. more so than i sometimes give him credit for.

19. he is patient. he puts up with a lot.

20. he probably knows more about wedding dresses than you do. not his choice, but he deals with it.

21. he's a jack of all trades- a mechanic, an athlete, a student, a physical therapist, a custodian, a dad, a husband, a cook, and my best friend.

22. he likes dancing. he has a special dance for claire. and we are always dancing in the kitchen.

23. he has a southern accent when he talks to his grandfather. he "lost" it on his mission, but it makes an appearance every so often.

24. very few things can make him really mad. he is really even tempered.

25. joe is a rock in the church. he has a testimony that can't be shaken. and i appreciate that more than anything.

LOVE YOU BABE!

yikes.

i may or may not have been craving cherry pie last night at around 930....

and i may or may not have devoured half of it by 11:00 pm, by myself. and finished it for breakfast. anyone see something wrong with that?

miss fishy face

not sure where this face came from, but she thinks its pretty funny. we do, too.

what a yucky morning. really. still in our pjs, can't seem to get moving. snow. but little monkey's face make it all better.

happy day

we were a little lame yesterday with v-day. we did enjoy sleeping in, steaks, and some olympics. claire was surprisingly un-monsterish considering the night before, and actually napped for quite a while at church. we have no pictures, because pictures we cannot take until we get a new memory card. sigh. we did a little skype action and claire performed her latest tricks: sliding down her slide, jumping (and getting air!), and blowing kisses. we reminisced about how three years ago today (yesterday) we decided to start dating.

sorry this was lame- perhaps we will get a new memory card this week?

oh. my.

just glancing through some old posts and pictures. oh. my. goodness. am i really ready to get THAT 'uge again? my sister has this awful picture of my bare belly on her cell that she so lovingly likes to pull out and ask if i'm ready for. all the time. pretty sure this picture doesn't do it justice. i was a whale. and i already feel like a whale again.

not. good.

all i want to wear is joe's sweatpants and a sweatshirt. ugh.

little princess

when did my baby become a little girl? i cannot figure out when she grew up! i feel like she became a little girl overnight. shes starting to repeat things we say, and is learning 'tricks'. she can blow kisses, tell stories, and point out ears, noses, and bellybuttons. i totally love it, but i just can't figure out where the time went.

showing off the curls for grandma! we loooooove them. hope she will appreciate them.

say hello

famous baby-face {and moi} on p. 9 of february ensign. pretty sure she looks like a boy and you can't tell its me. ah, well. still fun. fun for the g-pas. so sad that i forget how bald she really was! here's to hoping little nugget comes out with some hair.

thoughts:

anyone else think its funny that the picture is in line with all the non- photos?

glad we weren't the one getting our picture taken in a font. i HATE being wet, and posing for a photo while wet would have been a nightmare.

still 100% sure that the girl that bought a poofy wedding dress the other day does NOT look like the Savior. not symbolic, not a representation, there was absolutely NOTHING similar about it.

happy sabbath.

claire really wants a puppy

she flips out whenever she sees one, and just dances around with them. she does her own little woof woof, and gets crazy when there's one on tv or in a book. its quite hilarious.

but a puppy we did not get. and will not be getting any time soon. even though we both grew up with dogs, and i really love them a lot, its just not gonna happen. as happy as it would make claire, it would make me ten times unhappier trying to potty train a dog. and trying to keep the carpet clean- i have enough of that with trying to keep claire from ripping her diaper off and running free, and then cleaning it up. for now, the furby she is trying to kill have to do. but it is on its way out.

so. claire needs a new buddy. and as the giving and loving parents we are, we obliged.

baby #2 is due sometime in august!

we are really, really excited. we had an ultrasound this afternoon, saw the baby's heart beating, claire screamed the whole time, and we are happy. we would be thrilled with a boy or girl, but hoping for a boy- obviously for joe's sake. i feel awful, but surprisingly better than last time. food is disgusting, except for, once again, grapefruit. i'm really mostly exhausted, no matter how much i sleep. at least i'm sleeping, right?

the baby is the blog in the middle of the black- the head is the rounder, larger part :)

little baby was movin and groovin the whole time- we couldn't get a very good photo! we are really pretty stoked. i hate calling the baby an 'it' so this one shall be called little nugget. happy little nugget wiggling away.

munchkin

oh how i LOVE this little pill. she is all energy, nonstop, and a ball of fun. she is cheesy and hilarious, and will put a smile on ANYONE'S face. she is into everything, and while its a total pain, i love how incredibly smart she is, and that she just wants to discover the world around her. she reminds me to be patient, and to hang on a minute while we enjoy the moment. i can't get enough of how she dances to everything. she always stands up and conducts the music at church, and shakes her little bum to good music. she is finally growing some taste buds, and her most favorite thing in the world is pickles from grandpa- she goes crazy for them! claire is not a huge snuggle bug, but she has her moments when she wants to be held, and i savor it. i can't get enough of the pull she has on my parents- its like they become young parents all over again as they watch her discover. oh and her GIGGLE! when she gets going, we do everything we can to hang on to that as much as possible. she has her little chuckle thats easy to get, but her giggle is just contagious. she is ticklish, just about everywhere. she is all girly, with her tutus and pink everything, but can stand up to any little boy. she loves playing rough with her daddy, and loves being outside in the sunshine, like her momma. she definitely has a sweet tooth, but loves the tang of citrus. like her momma, when its bedtime and her head hits the pillow, shes out like a light. she is a chatterbox. she'll talk your ears off if you let her. she'll carry on a conversation with you, and while it seems to make sense to her it is all just jibberish. she says "ummmm...." like its nobody's business. we talk all day long. we can't let her have remotes or phones because she has figured out that if she throws them on the floor, the batteries will come out and she can chew on those. {she did it to my dad's wireless mouse this morning- we were laughing pretty hard at that one} i don't think i understood what a joy a child could be for me. i have always wanted six kids (three boys, three girls, and including a set of twin girls- call me crazy but it seems perfect). if i can have five more kids that bring this much PURE JOY into the world, i think life would seriously be fantastic.

anyways. just a few thoughts about my little 'g-funk' that i had today. she can be shy sometimes (usually if shes tired), but at church this morning (morning church at my parent's ward=heaven) she just kept running from person to person smiling and saying hi. wish i was more outgoing like her!

we went to ihop with my dad- going crazy over a pickle

what a ham bone!

squity eyes, scrunched up nose. yup, thats us.

where she stands to have conversations with her daddy. it may look like a yelling match, and it kinda is, but its just plain funny to watch

too cool for school

{she absolutely LOVES being nakey. gotta have nakey time sometime during the day.}


lindsay's little buddy

visiting grandpa at work. all the ladies loved her!

grammy decided she needed to ride the merry-go-round. she loved it!

little rain gear outfit with her tu-tu. naturally.
{doesn't my mom look so young here?}

Love you bub-a-chub.

at least its over.

just thought i'd share my delightful experience from last night. claire charmed everyone on the plane, fell asleep like an angel, and sat on my lap quietly. ha. no. not my child.

flight #1 went by quickly, no problems. flight #2 was to take off at 4:30, and she still hadn't had a nap. i decided it was time, so i bundled her up and she screamed. bloody murder. and then crashed. ahhh 45 minutes of bliss.... should've known better. an hour and a half later she started to feel wet so i jumped up and headed as quickly as possible to the back of the plane because the front was occupied, and we all know that there is to be no congregating at the front of the plane. i begged my way to the front of the line at the back, only to find out that bathroom is changing-table free. WHAT? i have to go back to my seat and wait and hope i make it to the bathroom faster than anyone else, meanwhile i can feel it spreading, down the legs, up the back, and now all over me.... the stench was becoming overwhelming. it was all i could do to hold it in. we finally get in the 1-foot by 1-foot space and i strip her down. the damage is worse than expected. the flight attendant handed me three garbage bags, and then a fourth to double bag both the garbage and the clothes. 20 minutes of wipes and paper towels, peeing everywhere because she got cold, and refusing to look at myself in the mirror so i could avoid seeing the horror i reluctantly went back to our seat. i would have preffered to stay in the stall and wait til everyone left, but the last time a guy stayed in the bathroom for an hour he almost got arrested. red-faced i brought her back in nothing but a diaper, got her jacket on her and held the tears back. i still stunk to high-heaven, but there was nothing to be done. by that point we had started the descent, and she hadn't been drinking or sucking on her binky. the screaming commenced. the lady next to me tried to convince me that the only person it was bugging was me, but i am very well aware that screaming on a tiny airplane is a pleasant experience for no one. we landed, i fairly ran to the baggage claim, and then was almost hysterical when my mom asked if the jacket was all i had. no blanket? nope- that one is covered in orange juice she spilled earlier. she got my jacket while we ran through the cold 22 degrees to the car. and then i sighed when i walked in my parent's home, sat in my dad's coveted leather recliner, and he laid a warm, fuzzy electric blanket over me while watching the biggest loser, making it all worth it.

sorry to share the gross- but it has a point. looking back i just have to laugh. as i was washing the clothes this morning- incredibly grateful for washing machines to finish cleaning all that yuck- i turned to my mom and said "the things we do as mothers!" i wouldn't have it any other way. it makes me love claire even more. and made me even more grateful to my mom. funny how it happens. ya know?