Almost TWO!

OMG! I can't believe Clara is almost two! How come time flies by so fast when you are having so much fun? And fun we have! Let me tell ya :). Clara is such a joy to be with, most of the time. Naturally, she has toddler moments, but for the most part she is a great little girl. She has such an imagination and I marvel at how new things excite her. For example, the other morning she and I were sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast. Out of the blue, she looks over to the wall under the kitchen counter and says "Look, a picture!" She had discovered our shadows on the wall. It was so cute, now if we are eating breakfast she waits and waits for the sun to get high enough to make a shadow or she's quite perplexed as to where the "picture" has gone. So sweet and innocent, I love it!

Sweet, innocent, and goofy! That's our Clara. We captured a short video of her playing with her blanket. She played this little game 3 or 4 times before we stopped laughing long enough to think to grab the video camera.

Sweet, innocent, goofy, daddy's girl. It is so beautiful to me to watch how close she has become to Aaron since he's been home and as she's grown. He is such a wonderful daddy to her; never hesitating to help with anything, never too tough to play princess castle and always seems to have enough energy to give horsey rides or fly her around the basement. Clara can't get enough of daddy and he certainly can't get enough of her. Here they are sharing a special little breakfast on Saturday morning. It doesn't matter that Clara had already had eggs and waffles or "awffles" as she calls them, earlier that morning, she's always got room for "more bites". And sweet daddy, exhausted from working from 6 am til after 10 pm three nights this week and not feeling well, tries to offer up a little smile for the Nikon moment.

Another sure sign Clara is getting big...she's getting a big girl bed. We have decided it's time to trade up for a twin size bed and bought a nice new bedroom set for her. It gets delivered next week. Which gives us motivation to get a mattress set and new bedding. We've decided to start getting things ready for the new baby and since the plan is for him/her to get Clara's crib and dresser/changing table, it's time for her to make the transition. Of course, the fact that Clara has shown some curiosity about getting out of the crib, means it's definitely time! She hasn't exactly tried to climb out, but she's good at throwing out dolls/animals and then trying to lean over the edge to get them. Needless to say, we'd like to avoid the consequences of that little experiment.

Potty training is coming along. Most days we have success once or twice and a few days we've been able to do the potty cheer 3 times! Connie is doing great with her and Clara is still interested most of the time. I guess she's quite confused and upset when Zaine (Connie's 2 year old son) gets a sticker for going potty and she doesn't get one too. Isn't this a team effort?

Our first Kentucky winter has proved to be a snowy one. We've already had 2 different snowfalls of several inches, lots of smaller ones and another big one is on the way tonight. I know, I know, our friends/family in SB/IN, Minnesota, MI and the east coast will say "several inches, I'll give you several feet!" Still, it's more than they usually get down here in the "south". I have to put south in quotations because I personally have a hard time referring to Kentucky, let alone northern Kentucky, as the south. Texas was the south, this is southern Midwest to me! Anyway, I felt it quite ironic and had to photograph the moment when Aaron was outside using the snow blower he said we didn't need, but my dad brought down anyway. It's a good thing my parents had held on to it for us while we were in Texas. It's come in quite handy twice already, will probably get fired up tomorrow again and we are the envy of our all our "long driveway'd neighbors". :) It turns out the Army is good for more than just good health insurance, crappy work hours and inconsistent schedules, they also issue their soldiers some incredibly well insulated cold weather gear.

Baby is doing good. I was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of the little guy/gal squirming around in my belly the other night. Watching that blobby wave (very sweet I know) move across my belly is so weird, but cool! He or she is definitely enjoying the space in there before they get too big to move around quite so freely. I'm still feeling pretty good, which is lucky considering we still have about 15 weeks to go. I'm tired at night but not too achy to sleep great and that's a great combination.

Well, the big "Clara turns Two" Elmo themed party is this weekend. Grandma and Papa will arrive Thursday afternoon, and we've got several other people coming over Saturday to celebrate the big day. I'll be sure to post some pics and a short video after the festivities have concluded.

Take care and until later, xoxoxoxox, and have a Happy Valentine's Day!