Three!

Before you were conceived I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you. Before you were here and hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of life.

~Maureen Hawkins

Has it really been three years since I held you in my arms for the first time? Where has the time gone baby girl? In some ways it seems I had not lived before you were in my life and in then there are moments where it seems like just yesterday I heard your first cries and comforted you in my arms.

What a fun year I have had being Claire's mommy. This has actually been my favorite stage of her life so far. Claire is hilarious, she has such a great personality and she is a little drama queen (which is almost always a good thing). She continues to be strong willed, but can be open to negotiation as well. Recently she has started being able to recognize that other people's feelings matter and that she does not always have to be the center of the world, that is a pretty hard lesson for people of all ages, but it is especially hard when you are between two and three. I am so proud of her. There is really nowhere I would rather be than staying home with her everyday (although the occasional break is nice). I am madly in love with my daughter and I am so thankful that God gave her to me three years ago today.

I'll love you forever. I'll like you for always. As long as I'm living my Claire Bear you'll be.

Holding

I think she likes him and he is becoming more and more fond of his big sister each day. I had wondered if the new would have worn off by now, but she is still just as in love with her baby brother as the day he was born, although she is not quiet as gentle all the time. I love their relationship and I can hardly wait to watch their love grow and see how much fun they will have together as he gets older and can interact more. It is still fun to hear her say "can I hold my baby brudder" throughout the day and I almost always stop what I am doing to let her cuddle for a bit.

My New Favorite Place (in the house)

**not my shower**

I have decided that my shower is my new favorite place in the house. I usually get in there after Allan is home from work and he watches the kids while I crawl into my room and lock the door behind me. I love the silence of being in the shower. It is a win win for both Allan and I- I get to relax and wash off a days worth of bodily fluids that were placed on me by my loving children and Allan gets to have special daddy time with the kids for a while and a non-stinky wife.

Just thought I would share ;)

"Eleflets"

Today Claire and I had so much fun making a lot of jewlery. We made necklaces for her and her daddy and "eleflets" for ourselves. What is that, you don't know what an eleflet is? Silly, it is what we call braclets around these parts. This is one of the words that Claire has come up with and I will be sad when she stops saying it.
I love finding ways to capture her attention and spend time doing things with my girl. It was a good day!

One Month (and two days)

I cannot believe that it has been a month since Jacob joined our family. It has been a great month. I fall deeper in love with this little guy every day. We have had a lot of family in and out which has been such a blessing. I have been "on my own" for about two weeks now and I have to say it has been so much better than I ever dreamed it would be. I have loved finding our (flexible) routine. I have been more adventurous than I thought I would be at this point, we get out of the house almost every day even if it is just a Sonic run.

Jacob is proving to be a strong boy. He can hold his head up for a few seconds at a time and has almost rolled out of his bath seat a few times. He loves his paci and napping on his tummy on the couch while I sit beside him. He doesn't mind having a pumped bottle every once in a while and that makes me really happy (it is nice to know that I can take a break if I need to and he will still eat). He seems to have a bit of a sensitive tummy so I have to watch what I eat so that we all get a relatively good night of sleep. As for sleeping, he usually wakes up every three hours at night, but he is a fast eater and usually goes right back to sleep so it is not too bad. We are just about to try to start a bit more of a schedule during the day with him. He has just started having a little more awake time during the day and is starting to engage with us a bit. Just today he was staring into my eyes and I was singing quietly and talking to him and he started to coo a little...be still my heart. I still think that he looks like my side of the family, but his blue eyes throw us off a bit, they look like his daddy's eyes. He is looking more and more like his own person and not a clone of Claire. He is a little chunk. We have not been back to the doctor so I don't have any measurements, but it is obvious that he is not missing any meals. He just feels like a boy, very stout. I love that he already has rolls on his legs and dimples on his hands. He is stinkin' cute!!!

I am really pleased with how smoothly the transition to two kids has gone. I am so thankful tat God gave us Jacob Allan, he is such a joy to have around. I can't wait to continue to make memories with our little man and watch him grow into his own little person. I still wonder what his personality will be like. This is such a great adventure!

Friends Are The Best!!

Yesterday the kids and I went on our first road trip. My bestie, Sarah, and her family are back in Texas for a couple of weeks seeing family. We had to take advantage of being in the same state again and I really wanted her to meet my son before he is half grown. It was so great to be with her again even though it was for only a short visit. I miss her so much now that she lives out of state and we both wish that we would have taken advantage of the time when we lived only forty minutes apart. It is one of those "you never know how great it is until it is gone" life lessons.

Our sons, Jacob and Cooper, were born eight months apart
Claire and Caroline were so cute together. I love that their little friendship picks up right where it left off just like their mommies'. I am pretty sure they thought they were the princesses of this small town, walking around like they owned the place.

Our daughters, Caroline and Claire, were born just four months apart. They had so much fun together and were sad when we had to say goodbye.

While we were at Sarah's parents' house the girls found the piano and began playing and singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and The ABC Song.

Sarah and I have been friends for ten years now and I am so thankful she is in my life. I was so glad that I braved a two and a half hour road trip with two kids to spend a little time with her. She is so worth it! I love her.

Saying goodbye was not quite as hard this time because we already have another get together planned for September....yeah!

How Babies Get Out

This is the conversation I had with Claire at bedtime tonight...

C: Mommy I love your squishy belly. Is it squishy because Jacob wanted to come out and hug us?

M: Yes, it was hard when Jacob was in my tummy but he wanted to see his family really bad so he came out and then my tummy was squishy.

C: He came out of your belly button mommy? How did he come out of there?

M: I pushed really hard and he came out of my tummy. (I chose to ignore the "where" he came came out part)

C: Why did you push him? We don't push mommy it is not kind.

M: It is a different kind of pushing, it helped Jacob meet his family that loves him so much.

C: And he met Dr. F? Dr. F loves my baby brother?

M: Dr. F was so happy when he got to hold Jacob after he came out of my tummy.

C: I share my brother with Dr. F and Mimi.

M: That is really sweet of you babe! I am proud of you when you share.

C: I want to hug your squishy belly. I love your squishy belly. Look mommy I am drinking my juice like a monkey.

I think that went pretty well...how about you? It pretty much took all I had not to laugh out loud a few times during that conversation. I have to say that the way she brings Dr. F into the conversations about Jacob cracks me up. I guess he has made quite the impact on her.

By the way I do not love my squishy belly, but I am glad there is someone out there who loves every part of me, even the not so perfect parts. My plan is to not have the squishy belly conversations in about six months.

Dance Me Daddy

Allan received a book for Father's Day from his mom titled Dance Me Daddy. It is one of the sweetest most perfect books that is a perfect depiction of Allan and Claire's relationship. What they share is so special and I am honored to watch the love they have for each other and the fun times that they have together on a daily basis. The book was written after a song by the same name and there was a CD in the book that plays the song. Every night Claire and Allan read the book then listen to the song and dance in her room before bedtime. It is a tradition I hope they carry on for a very long time. I will listen to them on the monitor and have tears in my eyes nightly. Allan is such a great daddy!

Today I videoed Claire singing the song and thought I would share it...

Dance me, dance me around.

So my feet don't ever touch down.

There is nothing better than being your girl.

If I am your princess, then Daddy you are king of the world.

Our Weekend- Fourth of July

This weekend we stayed pretty low key and had a great holiday weekend. We decided to head over to Southlake for their Independence Celebration on the 3rd and were not too sure what to expect, it was a much bigger deal than we had anticipated. We wish we would have gotten there a little earlier to take part in all the fun kid activities and listened to more of the bands. The fireworks show was fantastic and Claire loved it! Jacob was a trooper with the heat and stayed really happy and awake the whole time.

We had dinner at our favorite burger joint- Five Guys
I absolutely LOVE my two kiddos

Claire cannot get enough of her little brother

Check out those baby blues on our little man

The only space left to watch the fireworks was on the blazing hot sidewalk

Allan loving on his kiddos

As always Allan and Claire were full of energy. It was so fun watching them play together before the fireworks began.

Claire getting in another hold before the big show

It got a little hot for Jacob so he watched the fireworks in his skibbies

Claire watching the sparkles in the sky with her daddy

On the Fourth we wanted to go to a parade and were thrilled when we heard about one being held INDOORS. Claire and Allan had fun decorating our wagon. It was great to see some of our friends there as well and celebrate our great country. The rest of our day was spent napping, going to Saturday night church, eating apple pie with the neighbors, and watching our city fireworks show from the backyard. It was a good day.

Claire and Jacob getting ready to be in their first parade

Me and my chunky monkey

Claire wearing her special visor she made at the kid craft table

The Kavalich family of FOUR

Hanging out with our friends Luke and Lila

The Patriotic Princesses

Swim Lessons

This last week Claire joined her friends Luke and Lila for swim lessons with Mrs. Michelle for four days. I was so proud of her. It was amazing how much she has grown and improved since last year, for starters this was not a mommy and me class, she was on her own in the big ol' pool. She had a great time and was so proud of herself when she went under and Michelle let go of her hands. She told me "I did it all by myself mommy" (any of you who have an almost three year old know what a big deal doing things all by yourself is at this stage in life). It was such a great four days and I enjoyed getting a little time to chat with friends everyday as well. We kind of wish we had another week of lessons it was so much fun.