Thank Heaven's for Papas!

Papas are such a special and wonderful thing! Especially when they take time from their busy lives to come to Kentucky and babysit Clara while Mrs. Connie is on vacation for the week so that mommy doesn't have to take time off work. And it's been nice having the extra hands since Aaron is super busy this next 2 1/2 weeks. He's attending WLC, which is the Warrior Leadership Course at Ft. Knox. All Sergeants have to complete this course before they can be promoted to Staff Sergeant. It's pretty much 18 days of training exercises, classes, drills, and bunch of other things I'm sure, that keep him on post about 15-24 hours a day. So needless to say, he's not going to be around much until after graduation day on April 13th.

My dad came down Sunday afternoon after a lengthy countdown the days leading up to it. Clara was so excited and couldn't wait for him to get here. A simple explanation of how many "night nights" until he came seemed to help put it in perspective.

Clara is simply in love with her Papa and I a get the impression it's a mutual thing! My dad is so good with her. Patient, helpful, and over-attentive as a Papa should be. He's even got the whole potty training thing down! Clara has kept up her 2-3+ times a day potty successes with Papa's diligence. I know she's wearing him out with all her playing, but he's being a good sport and sleeping great at night!

"Peek-a-boo Mommy!"

Papa and Clara have had quite a nice time and kept the days busy with walks and trips. Today was fun-filled with a trip to the "orange store" as Clara calls it. The rest of us call it Home Depot! Papa had to get some extra chain so we could put up the swing we bought to hang on a tree in the yard. Of course, Clara's favorite part of going to the orange store is seeing the ducks. She gives them a lot of props considering they are 3 plastic ducks in the yard pond display in the garden center! She saw them last weekend when she came with Aaron and I to pick up a fire pit for the yard and hadn't stopped talking about them all week.

A little stroll with the wagon

After the excitement of the fake ducks Clara and Papa were off to the mall, aka the "brown store" because of it's brown bricks, to play in the kids area and have a little visit with the Easter Bunny. After nap time and when I was home, the three of us took a trip to a park we'd never been to before. The "play park" as Clara calls them was very nice. The weather today has been perfectly gorgeous and we had a nice time. I snapped so good pics of Clara and Papa playing. As usual, here a few cute ones with more in the slideshow at the bottom of the blog.

All smiles on the swing

Love that genuine smile coming down the slide

Teaching Clara how to climbPosing with Papa at the play park

I'm not sure what this pair has in store for Wednesday and Thursday, but they'll be flying solo since those are my two long days at work on post. It's supposed to be in the mid to high 70's both days with a chance at 80 on Thursday; I'm sure they'll have some adventures at the park or long walks. Whatever it is, I know they'll have fun and I'll hear all about it when I get home.

On Thursday night, Papa, Clara and I are heading to Detroit. Aaron is busy with WLC and can't get time off for Easter. Then the three of us will head back to Kentucky on Tuesday and Papa will head back to Detroit to recuperate on Wednesday. It'll be a busy several days, but that's what family is for!

Happy Easter!

Slideshow

Hey, so I scanned in some of the pictures that were taken at our recent "photo shoot" and put them in a slideshow. There are some really cute ones. It sucks that I'm so cheap and settle for having to pick only one to buy prints of (the one I posted last time of Clara in the chair). I have to say, I'm quite fond of the daddy/daughter picture. Enjoy!

Two year old pictures

We finally got new family pictures and Clara's two-year pictures. The family picture is at the top of our blog; you'll have to go there to check it out. But, here is the one of Clara. Such a darling!

A Pregnant Mom's Reflections on Potty Training...

It isn't really fair when a two year-old girl tells you she has to go potty, holds it long enough to get on the toilet, successfully goes, and then two minutes later her pregnant mother can't even sneeze without peeing her pants just a bit.

Peek-a-Boo!

It's these sweet little moments about parenthood that I want to remember always. Recounting this is just as much for my own memory's sake as it is to share with the others I love who love the sweet little things kids do.

We were getting ready for bathtime this evening and undressing on Clara's bed. Lately, she has been into playing peek-a-boo. Not just the crazy cute kind with her dress, but the good ol' peek-a-boo with your hands over your eyes. When she says it it sounds more like "peek-a-boom" which is also why it's so stinking cute! Anyway, I said to her that playing peek-a-boo is a good game to play with Baby when he/she comes home. Immediately, she lifted up my shirt, poked at my belly button (the most obvious portal to easily get Baby's attention) and started playing peek-a-boo with Baby. She was so sweet, patting my belly, saying "peek-a-boom".

I love being a mommy!

Just Another Week

Just another busy week at the Barrett's. We enjoyed the fact that Aaron was home for dinner most nights; which hasn't happened in quite a while. He's sometimes home maybe one or two nights a week in time to have dinner with Clara and I. But this week I think it was more like 4 of 5 days this week! It's so nice to have a normal family time in the evenings. It just makes busy, crazy, hectic days seem perfect when we have dinner together, do bedtime and bathtime as a family, and Aaron and I can relax on the couch before we head to bed.

Potty training is going well. Wednesday was great because Clara went on the potty 5 times! How awesome is that? :) She's even gone poop on the potty most days. I certainly hope all this "potty talk" doesn't bother you guys. As I'm sure most of you remember, it can be the highlight of the day when you are in the throws of training.

Clara is all about playing hide and seek with her dresses! First of all, have I mentioned this gal will ask to wear a dress, tights, and pretty shoes everyday? Where does she get that from? I'm certainly no girly girl and we haven't pushed dresses on her. But she has developed this preference for looking pretty. But it's pretty cute to see her all sweet in her dress, tights, and pretty shoes, and holding her own with all the boys at Connie's. Connie has 3 boys she watches including her son (1, 2 and almost 3 years old) and then tough little Clara.

Back on track...so, Clara loves flipping her dress over her head and playing "Where is Clara?" She was doing it the other night and Aaron grabbed the video camera. Now, we think this video is absolutely hilarious, but we are pretty partial. I had to splice it into two short videos in order to accommodate the video size limits. We hope they make you smile and giggle like us :)

Have a great week. Happy St. Patty's Day! If you celebrate, celebrate safe! xoxoxox

Why?

That's right, we've hit the "why's"! Most of the time it's pretty stinking cute; Aaron even says it's the cutest "why" ever. I will agree for the most part except that it's not so cute when it's being asked in a loud voice over and over and over again during mass this past Sunday. Which then resulted in a time out in the bathroom. Oh well, the trials and tribulations of a 2 year old!

We've had some fun since the last time I posted and update. Our temperatures are warming up and we had our first rainy day. Clara got all dressed up in her raincoat and rain boots. Since then she wants to wear the raincoat all the time! Most days it's been warm enough so we indulge her and it's become her new favorite jacket. She'd wear the boots too, but I do draw the line there... most days!

This weekend we had gorgeous weather! Mid 50's and ridiculously sunny - it was glorious. We've been thoroughly enjoying it, too. Lots of walks and short bike rides. When I say short, I mean down the driveway and barely 20 yards. I think she gets frustrated that she can't keep her feet on the pedals. She needs another 1/2 inch to reach then well. We need to get some blocks to put on them. We end up walking down the street instead while I push the tricycle. We like going to visit our neighbor Mrs. Peggy and her little dog Daisy. We went for a walk with her this weekend and Clara thought it was so much fun to walk with a doggie and hold Mrs. Peggy's hand.

We also took a trip to Funtopia on Saturday. It's the huge park in town and it's so much fun! Clara enjoyed the trip, but I think she had more fun relocating handfuls of wood chips then she did actually playing! It was a good lesson in sharing and taking turns since the place was jam packed. Here are a few super cute pics (we think). And pay attention, one of them has a decent profile of me; it may be the closest thing to a "belly pic" you get! There are more at the bottom of the blog page in the slideshow.

Clara has been very well with potty training. Most days she only wets or soils two diapers (not including overnight of course). The other times we got on the potty. Today we had a big "first" as she asked to go potty and then went pee pee and poop. I was so excited! She's asked to go potty before but never when she actually had to go. The other "first" today was Clara learned to open the refrigerator. That one's not so exciting.

Things with the pregnancy are going well. I passed my gestational diabetes test with flying colors. At the last check-up I was measuring exactly on track and baby's heartrate was great. My only complaint is the permanant resisdent of feet and/or butt I have in my ribs. I'm pretty much only comfortable when I'm standing or lying down...which means sitting on the couch now is getting uncomfortable and I'm going to sign off now.

Until later xoxoxoxox