5 Months!

Clara is 5 month old! Some days it feels like we just brought her home from the hospital and others like she's always been here with us. 

Cedric and Clara are like peas and carrots. He loves her and is still very patient with her and her needs. He wants to hold her and watch Curious George together. He wants to talk to her and make her laugh. He loves when she "figures him out" by touching him and babbling. 

 Cedric has started getting bothered by all the napping. He chimes in when it is nap time that he doesn't want her to nap or wants her to keep napping when she is waking up. I think he doesn't want me to leave. Cedric has been dropping his nap about half the days of the week so it makes for longer days and more TV. 

 

Clara is still a very smiley girl. She loves to laugh at silly faces, Cedric and funny songs and voices.  Cedric is the funniest. She likes to try to pet the dog and get into whatever Cedric is doing. He gets a little worried when Clara drools on his stuff. 

She likes bath time, splashing and post bath snuggles.

Clara loves to smile most at her mommy. Obviously, I'm the best :). She is only cranky when tired and hungry. She is starting to get a little worried about strangers. We are working hard to keep her happy with her daddy, which can be hard during this time of year when Bob works a lot. I bet she will end up being a daddy's girl.

She is such a cute girl, I have cute clothes for her but I put her in comfy onesies and pants every day. She is still in 6 month clothes and probably hasn't grown too much since her last appointment. Occasionally I pull out bows but it's usually when she is rocking the hand me downs (which isn't as often as I thought). 

Clara has been putting everything in her mouth lately so I thought maybe we might as well try some food. Cedric has been such a picky eater that I wonder if we had introduced food and new flavors earlier than 6 months if he would have had an easier time of it. 

First food was pureed sweet potatoes from the store (pausing for your gasp). Last time I homemade all my baby food and mixed it with breastmilk and Cedric wouldn't touch it. So this time I'm letting the professionals take care of it. 

So far so good! She has also had carrots and peas and seems to like them all. I am worried about her system being ready for solids (even though literature says she should be) so we only do a little at a time and not every day. It's more for practice swallowing and tasting the food. She is eager to take bites and wants to shove the spoon in her own mouth, so maybe she will be a good eater! Would be a nice change :/

About a week or more ago Clara started grabbing her feet. This has lead to a little rolling to her side and a happier baby when left on her back. 

It messed up sleep a little for a few days, she kept waking herself up kicking her legs up (even though she's in her Merlin). This lead to a frustrated mommy who left her awake and crying in her crib one bedtime. Clara fell asleep after 10 minutes and I realized maybe she could put herself to sleep better then I thought. We aren't in full extinction mode but after a few sleeps letting her fuss a few minutes she no longer needs my help going back to sleep unless it is a feeding time. Also we moved up bedtime a bit to go with Cedric's no nap bedtime. Naps during the day can get messy but she is usually in a good mood so I'm not too worried. Having the power to sleep when she needs to and not rely on me is important. It doesn't work every time but we are moving in the correct direction!

 Clara is getting better at sitting unassisted. I still use the Boppy pillow around her incase she gets tired or knocked over by Cedric or Siena. She prefers to be sitting upright and gets frustrated when left in a reclined seat. 

We also pulled out the old Exersaucer. Clara isn't as strong as Cedric was at her age but she is just as aware of her surroundings. She has been getting very interested in toys so I wanted something to help stimulate her. Clara has been better about riding in the car because she is entertained by her toys. Crinkly ones are her favorite. 

Anyway, Clara is getting good at balancing in the seat and can turn herself 360 degrees. She tries to chew on the toys and can hit some of the buttons.  She is eager to touch and grab everything and is able to reach toward what she wants. We have a doorway bouncer that she is still too little for but I'm looking forward to having more ways to entertain her. Our little "sack of potatoes" is growing up!

Christmas 2015

There have been very few Christmas' that we've spent at home, one in Cayman and one in Boston, so I was very excited to have a chance to do Christmas in our new home in Lawrence. Plus Christmas is more fun with a child that can understand what is going on a bit and get excited. Cedric was excited for Christmas starting the day after Halloween, maybe before because of the decorations in Hobby Lobby. We celebrated Christmas morning at our house on Christmas Eve morning then drove down to Wichita in the afternoon. Here is shot after Santa came on Christmas Eve eve.  

Christmas Eve morning I actually got out of bed before Bob and ran downstairs to turn on the lights and put some cinnamon rolls in the oven. I went to get Cedric at 7 and Christmas started!

Santa had filled our stockings and gave us a few other gifts (I think?) but we didn't push the idea this year and I'm not sure I will. 

Clara watched Cedric open all her presents and enjoyed the tree and the wrapping paper. 

Good thing Clara is a good sport, next year will probably be a different story!

Cedric's big present from us was a motorized ATV type toy we got on Black Friday from Target. We didn't intend to get it but the deal was too sweet. Bob and Cedric went across the street to try it out while I made eggs benedict (with mimosas!) and Clara napped. It was a relaxing Christmas morning and I was happy to have time to ourselves to do it! Part of the perks of being back in Kansas, being able to have our own holiday traditions. 

So we drove down to Wichita on Christmas Eve afternoon and had a low-key dinner with my family. Then woke up to Christmas morning, again!

Cedric loved having another Christmas morning, this time at my parents house. Who doesn't love more toys and candy?

Next we headed to my grandma's house in Kingman for lunch and presents.  Here is a great shot we got of my mother and Clara in her Christmas outfit (She had three, two casual and one fancy). 

And Clara finally got to meet her Great-Grandma Mason. They are a nice pair, don't you think?

I tried to get some nice shots of Cedric and Clara before presents but someone was always making a face or moving. That's probably just the way it is going to be for a while!

And then Cedric opened more presents. The kid has too many toys. 

Then on New Year's Day we celebrated Christmas at the Podany's. More chances to wear our cute Christmas outfits and more presents!

Do I have the cutest kids in the world or what? 

Look, I was at Christmas too!

And the luckiest boy in the world got more presents. Seriously, next year is money for college and zoo memberships. 

I didn't get the kids with Bob's grandma this time but I did get some nice ones of Bob and Anne. It was a great Christmas season - I was definitely exhausted but it was nice to be in Kansas to do it all!

Christmas Preparations

"Christmas preparations, you can see them all around. People getting ready, almost everywhere in town. Are you ready, for Christmas Day to come? Sing it with me or if you're a monkey hum." - A Very Monkey Christmas, Curious George (watched WAY too many times and not just at Christmas). 

This was our first Christmas with two kids in our new home and we wanted to do it up right. We started with some lights for the house. We went for cheery and want to head toward border-line annoying in the future. Bob was a little annoying, not making a plan, just hanging some and placing the rest on the rocks out front. 

We also send out a Christmas/Birth Announcement/We Moved card. I had them all ready to go the week of Thanksgiving so people could have out new address. I was pretty proud that I killed three birds with one stone!

We went to the Lawrence Old-fashioned Christmas parade. It is all horse drawn carriages and carts, which was fun to watch. EVERY single person who lives in Lawrence must have been there as there was ZERO parking and just tons of people. We ended up taking shifts watching the parade and walking to/from the car which was 45 min away. Cedric saw horses and got a free hot chocolate, so he was happy.

I bought Cedric a gingerbread house after his preschool class spent a week learning about the gingerbread man story and baking. 

It was basically an excuse to eat candy all afternoon. I didn't realize how hard it would be to limit the candy intake. 

I built the house in the morning so we could decorate after nap. Cedric was concerned with making the house look exactly like the one on the box. Sometimes he is a chip off the old block!

We ate some of the house over the week then had to toss it as it was getting too hard. 

With no mall in town we were thinking outside the box a bit on meeting with Santa. Cedric had never met Santa before, mostly because I thought he'd be too scared. We saw on the kids calendar that there is a local railroad called the Midland Railway that does a ride with Santa in December. Santa plus an antique train with cookies and hot chocolate? Yes please!

We bought the VIP tickets to sit in one of the dining cars and have unlimited drinks and cookies. It was okay, probably better than coach which was more like a bus. The train ride was almost 2.5 hours (which we didn't know) and near lunch time so Cedric was antsy, hungry and tired by the end. Clara was a trouper and slept in my arms for a bit. 

Cedric was too nervous to sit on Santa's lap but he did tell him what he wanted (a kitchen) and smiled for the camera, so I call it a win. (Side note: When we got dressed in the morning I told Cedric he had to wear a nice shirt for photos with Santa and he chose the Royals jersey saying it was his "best shirt"). 

Cedric had a school concert a week before Christmas and it was super cute. He sang the songs, did the actions and watched the piano. We sat in the wrong seats and ended up wondering around the balcony but we got to see him sing. He said he saw us waving, so that was nice. The concert was followed by a cookie reception. 

 The week of Christmas we made sugar cookies for Santa. I made a special frosting with the remainder of my homemade brandy butter. Cedric had fun rolling the dough, cutting out the shapes, and adding sprinkles.

 And on Christmas Eve eve we set out cookies for Santa. We didn't enforce Santa that much, which I don't mind. We decided that Santa was going to knock on the door at night and Daddy would let him in to have his cookies and leave presents. Cedric is a bit of a worrier, so anything to keep him calm :). Oh and Clara was along for the ride, either in the bjorn or watching from my lap. Next year I'm sure she will be much more involved in our preparations!