Claire's last kiss of 2011 before bed...

2011 last kiss....take one!

Last kiss....take two!

Last kiss...take three! No giggles and a good shot of our kisses!!

New Year's Eve 2011

I'm so happy to be ringing in the new year with my husband I love so much, our sweet Claire bear (she'll be asleep) and sweet baby bean (baby may be awake and moving). In one week we will know whether or not baby is really another girl or a boy. The doctor guessed and I can't imagine preparing the room for a baby girl and find out on baby's birth day that baby is really a boy! I am so happy to know one way or the other. Two girls would be so much fun and so would one of each! Just as long as baby is healthy!

I've wanted to get new art supplies for Claire and last night I made a late night run to Target after we put her to bed. The Crayola Color Wonder markers are awesome!! A little spendy but definitely worth the money! I know she loves to try to attempt to color on other things with her crayons and thankfully hasn't ruined anything with them. Now these markers give me peace of mind that she won't ruin our furniture or her clothes and she still has so much fun!! Also she really seems to enjoy our new kitchen table we got last night!

This morning I made bacon, egg, and cheese breakfast burritos! My Dad came over to eat and it was our first real meal at the new table. We got ready for the day and went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) to see the Body Worlds exhibit. It was really neat. A bit different from what I expected but still really cool to see what the body looks like when it's all together after someone has passed away. Some people thinks it's creepy but things like that have always fascinated me. I'm kind of a science geek I suppose. I'm really looking forward to science kits with Claire as she gets older. I hope she is fascinated by science as well!

Here she is at the museum trying to eat her whole fist. She has been doing this a lot lately due to teething. They look like they are super close to popping through so maybe within the next couple days she will have more teeth and won't have to do this for a while until her next set of teeth try to come in at once.

Happy New Year everyone!! I really hope that 2012 will be a great year for us and for others!

Our little angel!

Here are some recent photos of our sweet girl that I love!! She is growing up so fast and I'm happy to have these photos to remember her as she is now always as she grows up!

Planning dinners...

So since Christmas is over we will have some ham leftovers for tonight and probably tomorrow night. Stacie is going to be making some delicious ribs on Wednesday when my Dad gets into town and I still have some meals to make for the following nights. I have clam chowder (slow cooker), cheese & broccoli casserole (pg. 106, Campbell's cookbook), and grilled picante BBQ chicken (pg. 42, Campbell's cookbook). I'm going to post up some meals I have in mind for the next grocery shopping trip whenever that may be after meals and left overs are all eaten! This is also because I have a pregnant brain (ask Chris, the baby's suck my memory away) and I cannot ever remember things. I will lose a piece of paper with the page numbers so I better just stick to posting it up on my blog! Plus for any of you kind people who actually read this, if you want any of the recipes just let me know in a comment and I will gladly type it up for you!

Here are some more dinners I have in mind:

1.Skillet Fiesta Chicken & Rice (pg. 89, Campbell's cookbook)

2.Autumn Pork Chops (pg. 95, Campbell's cookbook)

3.Beef & Rice Taco Casserole (pg. 102, Campbell's cookbook)

4.Tuna Noodle Casserole (pg. 125, Campbell's cookbook)

5.Melt-in-Your-Mouth Short Ribs (pg. 162, Campbell's cookbook)

So I'm sure these 5 meals will last us much longer then 7 nights with leftovers. I also need to get some new tupperware that will work in the freezer because I want to have a leftover night and we can save some leftovers for other nights for more variety! As you can tell all of these are from my Campbell's Busy Family Recipes cookbook!! It's awesome!! These meals don't take long to make them or many ingredients which works well for me!! I start to get overwhelmed when I go grocery shopping and I have to get too much for just one meal specifically. I'm excited to start making different things then just the usual. I want to step out of my comfort zone and try new things. It also helps that I've always made notes next to certain recipes I've made so I know if I should make it again or never again!

It's finally here!

Claire woke us up at the early hours of 5:30am. I was at least hoping for another 30-45 minutes of sleep. haha She must have known that it is a special day and that presents were waiting to be ripped open in the living room! I preheated the oven for the cinnamon rolls and we started to open presents. Chris recorded her reaction walking into the living room to see all of them. He moved the couch over from in front of the tree and you could get a better idea of how many were really there!!

Opening her car!

Not quite sure what to do with it. haha

He looks super happy to be up this early and opening presents!

Opening presents together.

Minnie Mouse!

She has the baby doll shot in her mouth from her doctor kit.

Getting some help with the paper!

Feeding her baby!

Coloring....like I've said, a morning ritual! This time it's with her new desk/easel.

More coloring but this time she's in her princess skirt too!

Working on his BSU puzzle!

It's been a great morning. I'm ready for a nap and Claire is already back to sleep for a super early nap. I'm gonna bake a honey ham for dinner along with mashed potatoes, rolls, veggies, and an apple pie. I think it will be a memorable first Christmas here in Oregon. It definitely would be so much better if all of our families could be here with us but we can plan for that next year!!

More Christmas Eve festivities...

So after we had our naps it was time to make chocolate chip cookies for Santa. My little helper loved standing up on the step stool so she could help stir the mix!

What a good helper!

My sweet girl and I having a fun time in the kitchen!

It's always easier to mix cookie dough with your hands!

My little helper even insisted she needed to clean up with the wash cloth!!

After dinner we needed to test the cookies to make sure they are good enough for Santa.

She got to open up her Christmas jammies!! Love our baby bear in her polar bear jammies!

Time to read a story to Daddy!

Checking out the polar bears on her feet!

Mmmm milk & cookies for Santa!

Can't wait for tomorrow morning! She will have so much fun unwrapping her presents and I'm hoping it will be a fun day playing with all of her new toys! Merry Christmas everyone!

Merry Christmas Eve!!

Merry Christmas Eve!! I cannot believe that today is here and that tomorrow is Christmas already!! The year has flown by!! This will be Claire's second Christmas and after having her, she just makes the holidays so much more exciting!! I know it will continue to get better and better each year as she gets more and more into the spirit and is excited for Santa Claus to bring presents and to spend fun family time together!! This morning we started out with a pre-breakfast snack since she was getting cranky and the cinnamon rolls weren't done baking yet! She was in the zone watching the Disney channel!

This is what our tree looks like at 6am. So early but so pretty, even if it's not decorated this year!

Mommy's friend at 6am!

Sweet girl watching Mommy ice the hot cinnamon rolls!! Mmmm!

Mmmmm!

So excited for some breakfast and milk!

After breakfast time it was coloring time....with "uppy". Coloring still is an every morning event!

Oh my gosh I was so excited to finally put her hair in pigtails!! She didn't keep them in for long but she looks so darn cute! And she kept trying to add her head bands in every picture.

Don't mind my after shower look!! So happy with my sweet girl!

Someone was starting to act sleepy. She was leaning back on the couch and kept covering herself with the blanket all while watching TV. What a multi-tasker!

Since that wasn't comfortable for long she decided to just eat the blanket instead for a post breakfast snack!

More to come as the day goes on...

Wow, I'm tired!!

This is her "uppy". She loves to give him hugs.

Here's a picture of some more pictures I put up today while Claire ate lunch! You can see my sneaky girl walking into the living room while I take a picture!

She loves PB&J sandwiches!!

I can honestly say that I'm loving being at home with Claire bear!! It really is fun and I know we will get more into a routine eventually with more activities involved once the whole house is really unpacked and settled in and Christmas time is over! I can also honestly say that I am more tired at the end of each night being a stay at home Mom then I was when I worked twelve hour night shifts at the hospital! I know some people have a perception of stay at home Moms (or Dads) that they get to just lay around the house all day and it's so easy to just play with your kids.....let me just say that the clean house you come home to and the nice lunches that are packed for you and cooked meals take time, planning, and lots and lots of energy all on top of caring for a toddler who needs a ton of attention, diaper changes, interaction, and food. I'm lucky to have a husband who appreciates what I have been doing at home so far!

Today was supposed to be a more mellow day but it turned into a very busy one. This morning Claire and I made our way to the post office AGAIN so we could pay to have our lock replaced on our mailbox. They don't have normal mailboxes in front of each house like they do in Idaho. There are clusters of 16 mailboxes on each road and you have a key and you need to know your box number. Well it's not your address, that would be too easy. It's any number 1-16. Our keys we were given didn't work so when I had one last stop for errands yesterday morning we stopped at the post office. I go in to pay this fee that I expected and how weird....they only accept check or cash. What the heck!! I had called the post office the day before yesterday and the lady couldn't tell me this over the phone. Most places don't ever take checks and I rarely keep cash on me. It was too close to Claire's nap time to drive home, pick up the check book and go back. Well today I went there and they took my check and fixed our lovely mailbox!! It's only been about a week without knowing what's in the mail and luckily there wasn't too much in there! Claire and I made an adventure out of it and she pushed her lawn mower down the sidewalk. It was a nice walk and the sun was out! It was so nice out! After getting the mail I sat on the front step and opened up everything while she played.

Back to when we were running errands....we made our way to Target and I found a great new comforter/sheet set for only $45. Complete with sheets, pillow cases, shams, bed skirt and comforter!! I was super happy because we were in desperate need of something new! I hung up some pictures and put Claire down for a nap. I attempted to nap and slept for maybe 45 minutes but couldn't sleep anymore. Once Claire was up I put her bed skirt on her crib and changed her bed sheets. I put the new bedding on our bed after it was all washed. The last load of clothes is in the dryer too as I type this!! I'm loving our new washer and dryer. I made lunch for Claire and she inhaled the peanut butter and jelly sandwich!! She loves PB&J lately!

Back to playing outside...we eventually made our way to the backyard. I asked her if she wanted to come inside and she told me, "No." I didn't want to stay outside with her and I thought I would test out how she does playing outside while she's by herself. I told her I was going to go inside and she could play. She didn't even care. She kept on playing with the yucky soccer ball she found and her lawn mower. I recorded her playing for a little while and watched her through the window. She played for about 5 minutes and then she wanted to come in!! It will be so nice when it's warm outside and I can just leave the back door open with the screen door shut so I can hear her if she needs me!

We made another trip to Winco, I swear I've been there everyday since we've moved here! We ran out of milk and needed more bread. I didn't even think about making a small ham for Christmas when I planned our meals for the week so I bought some things to make. I bought a small ham, rolls, potatoes to make homemade mashed potatoes and I bought an apple pie since I don't feel like attempting to make one on my own this year. It's only going to be us 3 plus baby bean in my belly since Danny and Stacie are both working and Dad isn't here until next Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it!! I also bought cinnamon rolls to make Saturday and Sunday morning because they just sound super delicious!

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and I am planning on us making chocolate chip cookies for Santa!! It should be fun. I hope to make it a tradition with the kids each year as they get older!! I will take pictures and post them up! Claire also gets to open her jammies tomorrow night and I'm excited for her!!

Now we just finished up dinner....yay for leftovers!! We have always been bad about eating leftovers but now it's going to be the thing to do. No more wasting food because I don't want to keep going to Winco everyday! The meals I'm going to be making over the next few nights until I'm out of ingredients or left overs are: homemade clam chowder, cheese and broccoli casserole, turkey and tortellini alfredo, grilled picante bbq chicken, and chili spaghetti and also our dinner for Christmas!

Now that the dishes are washed and the kitchen is cleaned up it will soon be bath time for miss Claire and then shower time for Mommy once she goes to bed. I can't take a shower in the morning or else I'd have a little girl in there with me and Mommy needs some time to relax!

So this post ended up a lot longer then I thought but this is seriously all just in a day and the day isn't over! I'm sure I left out some stuff also. I'm ready for a relaxing night with my family!!

Getting settled in.

We've been here for almost a week already. It's gone by fast and we've been so busy. We are just about unpacked completely. It's a great feeling. The only big thing left that I would love to get is a kitchen table. We never had one in the apartment because there was no room. I've been so tired of eating on the couch in front of the TV but that's what we did for so long. I'm hoping to get a table next week sometime so I can actually have people over for dinner once my Dad gets here from the East Coast.

I've really been enjoying my kitchen!! It's so much bigger and I love it. I just started a meal list and went grocery shopping for all of the things I need. I will post up what kinds of meals I'll be making a little later since I don't have my cookbook right by me.

Yesterday Claire and I took a nice break from the house and spent two hours at the Portland Children's Museum. It was a blast and I bought a membership for us!! Now I can take her every day if I really wanted to and not have to pay $9 each time. It's right next to the Oregon Zoo and I'm really looking forward to taking her there when it starts to warm up a little bit. Who knows if that will be before or after baby girl arrives.

I never did update about that I guess. I had my ultrasound and last doctor's appointment last week before we moved. I loved my doctor and I'm really sad she won't be delivering our second baby. Today that is on my to-do list. I need to research a new doctor and set up an appointment. She tried to look for baby's gender but baby had it's ankles crossed and all she could see was the umbilical cord. She kept measuring baby and then going back to check. Baby looks healthy and is measuring right on time for our May 7th due date. The doctor wrote the gender in a card and I saved it for the Friday when Chris came back to Idaho so we could pack up the U-haul and move the next day. She wrote that she thinks it's a girl!! Wow, another girl!! How exciting and very unreal. I was mentally ready for a boy I think but I am super excited to think about having two girls. I did find a local 2D/3D/4D fetal photo place here and they charge $75 for a guaranteed gender scan. I'm thinking we may do that since it's cheaper then having the doctor do another ultrasound. I guess we will see what happens after Christmas this weekend. I really feel the doctor guessed and really didn't know. I will be happy if baby is really a girl and I will be happy if baby is a boy. Baby moves quite a bit and it's a fabulous feeling! Claire keeps me so busy still, and with the move it's easy to not think so much about my pregnancy until baby starts to kick around in there! :) Melts my heart every time!

Christmas is in 3 days already!! Oh my gosh, I can't believe it. We put up our tree in our house but didn't decorate it. haha. It's pre-lit so it looks just as good plain with lights on. Next year will be different. We'll decorate it, have a 2 1/2 year old and have a 7 month old baby!! That is so crazy and exciting!

Today I'll be unpacking a few boxes, and vacuuming. I have to go to the post office to pay $40 for our mailbox key to be replaced with a new one. The property management company said they'll reimburse us for it but we have to pay for it ahead of time. The post office said the maintenance guy will know which cluster of mailboxes we are in on our street since there are two about equal distance from our house. It's annoying. haha We've gone almost a week without checking our mail and it's driving me crazy. I actually like checking the mail with Claire and I'm hoping we aren't missing any important papers. Tonight is the bowl game! BSU is playing Arizona in Las Vegas. It starts at5pm here so Chris has the DVR set to record it. We are inviting some of his co-workers, Danny, and Stacie. I bought some wings, poppers, and mozzarella sticks to snack on. I wish I could have a nice, cold beer!!! Mmmmm. haha It should be a fun day!

Change of plans...

I warn you that this is a lot of rambling. Just getting my thoughts out and it may not even make sense so I apologize ahead of time.

We have a big change in our plans. Our rental house is available to move in on the 15th of December. After the 15th Chris's work won't continue to pay for him to stay in a hotel until Christmas Eve. I totally understand that, it wouldn't make sense for the company to spend money like that if we have a place to live. So that means Chris would move into our house and have absolutely nothing except for his suitcase. It doesn't make sense for him to go to the store to buy pots and pans, towels, a shower curtain, and an air mattress, sheets, pillows, etc. when we have it all here at home. The original plan was he would come back here on Christmas Eve and we would move within a couple days after Christmas day....all while he still stayed in a hotel but we don't want to afford to have to pay for him to stay in a hotel. His boss let him know they would prefer us to move next week instead of during the week in between Christmas and New Years. That's what we're gonna do...we're moving next weekend.

I'm excited to not have to wait another 2 weeks to see Chris. This past week was good but it's just not the same when you are a state apart. We tell each other about our days but we can't just sit and enjoy each others company each night like we normally do.

I really worry about our family and friends. I worry so much about trying to not hurt everyone's feelings. I understand about being sad to move, my whole life is about to change a state away....but I don't want to feel guilty about being excited about our move. It's not anybody specifically making me feel this way except for myself. I have looked into so many things for us to do to keep busy with Claire before baby arrives. I'm really excited about all of the things we can do and that there is so much more available to us now that we will be living in a bigger city! I do really want to be able to plan trips to come back to Meridian and Boise but this year will be tough. I can't travel a whole lot during the last part of my pregnancy. After Claire is two in March then we will have to start paying for a seat for her on the airplane (I think) and trying to travel with two kids will be a whole new experience. I'm hoping that we will get some visitors after baby is born. I really want my Mom and mother in law to be able to come to see baby and to visit with Claire. I know we are all going to miss Claire being able to go over to the grandparents' house every so often.

I'm going to miss all of my friends. I'm really going to miss my closest friend, Sarah!! We've known each other since Sophomore year of high school!! We've done so much together and been through so much over the past almost 10 years!! I just hope that we can have her come and visit over the summer. I'm gonna start saving up a little bit now for a plane ticket for her because she's coming whether she wants to or not. Haha We don't get together as often as we used to but that's just life after having a baby but I will miss not having the option of us just getting together when we both have a free day. It all has to be planned out ahead of time now!

It's all a big adjustment to get used to again. Chris is flying home on the 15th and we will be leaving on the 17th. We don't think we will be back for Christmas. Chris would have to work on the 23rd...we would have to try to drive back that night, stay for the 24th and part of Christmas morning and then drive back home. It's just so much driving in such a little time with a toddler. She will hate being in her carseat if she's stuck in it for that long within a three day time frame. If we won the lottery we would fly back but we haven't won it yet....still hoping!

Next week is going to be so busy. Tuesday we find out baby's gender. We've decided to have the doctor write it down, put it in an envelope and we will open it on the Thursday when Chris gets back here! I think that will be more exciting for us to find out together then to have him find out over speaker phone. Wednesday is my birthday. All I look forward to now is just having cake and spending time with family and friends! Thursday night Chris comes home. Friday we pack up all day and Saturday we move. We will unpack Saturday and Sunday....or maybe just Saturday if we're lucky enough to get it all done once we get there. Chris will go back to work on Monday I believe, which leaves me and Claire to get the house organized. So much in such a short amount of time!

That's pretty much what's going on in my head this morning. I've been up since 6:35 with Claire bear. Too much on my mind and it's nice to blog again to get it out!!

Time to add some pictures...

Lately all my posts have been are just writing. Here are some photos so it's not quite so boring! This is me at 18w3d. Only 5 more days until we find out if it's a boy or girl!! Claire bear was goofing around last night with her sunglasses before bedtime and we read "Llama Llama Red Pajama". Such a cute story!! Last but not least, she got to see Santa Claus yesterday and did pretty well. Just happy she wasn't scared and didn't cry!