two months old.

Clara's two month stats: (taken at her appointment which was 9 days BEFORE she was two months old)
weight - 11 pounds 8 ounces - a little above the 50th percentile
head - 15.5 cm - 75th percentile
length - 24 inches - 90th percentile (she IS my daughter!)

This month, Clara has started cooing like crazy.  She continues to smile a lot.  She has slept through the night twice this month (11pm-6:15am).  She is nursing with ease.  She discovered the mobile above her swing and smiles at those cute bears often.  She still sleeps in the bassinet next to our bed and usually wakes up once at night to eat around 4 am.  She grew out of her newborn clothes and started wearing size 3 months.  She also moved from newborn diapers to size 1 diapers.  She got in her first car accident this month (April 11 - rear ended by an older gentleman at Eagle/Overland), and also went on her first vacation to visit her cousin Ben in Palouse, Washington.  She was babysat by both grandmas this month to give Mommy a quick break to do things like get her hair done and go to doctor appointments.  She is so loved by both her parents and extended family.

I took a bunch of photos on April 25th - Clara was 2 months and 3 days old, and I couldn't pick a fave so I'm posting them all!  Enjoy!

At two months, Clara is...
getting chubby...

 giggly...

 a little drooly...

 pretty chill...

 serious (only at times)...

 chatty...

 hilarious...

 a little bashful...

 slightly precocious...

 lovely...

 goofy...

 full of smirks...

 thoughtful...

 learning to hold her head up...

 adored...

 and perfect!

more yardwork.

It has been so much fun having a blank slate of a new yard to play around with.  (I say this because I'm not the one doing the hard labor!)  We've had great success with a small 4 x 10 ft. garden box the last few years at the townhouse.  But we've always dreamed of a much bigger garden.  Saturday, we took steps to make that happen. 

We rented a sod cutter and went to work.  Kurtis manhandled the sod cutter while I rolled the sod, cut it into smaller chunks with a shovel, and moved it out of the way.  Can I just say, my hammies were killin' me the next day from all the bending and rolling.  I'm totally out of shape! 

Clara was a good babe and just hung out in her bouncer, wearing her sunhat and lovin' life!  I only had to stop once during the project to feed her! 

Here are some shots!

 Yeah...we used a 4 wheeler to move the sod from the garden spot to our trailer.  Our next door neighbor has volunteered to take the sod!  Yay!

 Kurtis getting the fence set up.

 These two bozos are the whole reason we need a fence.  They snuck into our garden a few times last year and made beds among the tomato plants and ate anything ripe they could get their grimy mouths around!

 Gwen feeling disheartened that she's locked out of a space in the yard.

 Clara-belle!

 Happy girl!

 Clara has been playing with her tongue a lot lately! 

 Presh!

 We also added topsoil to the perennial garden to finish it off!  It looks great!  Kurtis used the 4 wheeler to cart the topsoil around the yard.  Does this make us lazy or smart?

 She loves it outside!  She is so content outdoors that she usually falls asleep!  She is so good to her parents!

Easter festivities.

We started the day at my mom and dad's house for dinner at noon.  Emily was in town, so we were able to spend some time with her before she had to leave and head back up to Moscow for her last few weeks of school.  The meal was fantastic, and so was the company! 
My mom puts together an Easter egg hunt for us grown kids with moolah inside the eggs instead of candy.  This year, Kurtis opted to act very adult-ish and not race around like a 5 year old to get eggs.  Instead, he leisurely wandered around and found a few eggs which he claimed were actually Clara's eggs. 

Emily and I were not this mature.  We ran around like crazy to get eggs.  I've been notorious in my life for following people around during egg hunts, therefore not getting to many eggs first.  I fell into this old pattern again this year.  In the end, Emily found almost 40 eggs and Kurtis, Clara and I found less than 20.  I claimed that having a baby 2 months ago made it hard for me to run...but really that was just an excuse!  I suck at egg hunts!  But the little extra cash was fun to "earn".  Thanks mom and dad!  Here are a couple shots from early in the day.

Later in the day, we headed over to the Brooks' house for supper.  The meal was delicious, and the company was great!  We're lucky to have such great families.  We finished eating, had a quick photo shoot with Clara in her presh Easter dress, and then spent the rest of the night playing Taboo!  Love it!  We left their house with some great loot too!  I got a pot with geraniums, Kurtis got a little Easter candy, and Clara got a couple of books.  Thanks Jeff and Janet!  We're lucky we get to spend holidays with both sides of our family.  Clara is especially lucky to have all her grandparents so close! 

happy Easter.

Happy Easter to all you blog friends from this little bunny!

hair.

After her bath this evening, we dried Clara's hair with the towel and didn't brush it at all.  This is what happened when we let her hair do its own thing.  She has some wild locks!  The first thing EVERYONE says when they see/meet her is, "Wow, wouldja look at that hair!".

I'm sorry...

but she's the CUTEST baby ever!  Yes she fusses, makes messes, makes me even more late than I would have been on my own, and wakes me up at night to eat, but I wouldn't change her at all!  Tonight I was downstairs and I heard a bunch of ruckus up in Clara's room (Kurtis was changing a poopy diaper).  I went upstairs, armed with the camera, and we were able to capture lots of chatter!  We absolutely can't get enough of Clara!  She's simply delightful!

She discovered herself in the mirror yesterday!  She loves to chat with the cute baby staring back at her!

a "come to Jesus".

As the countdown to "back to work" for me progresses too quickly, we thought we better review how to drink a bottle with Miss Clara.  After her "nipple confusion" was over at around three weeks, Kurtis enjoyed feeding her the first bottle.  Since then, she's only had one or two bottles.  Last weekend we decided we better start practicing taking a bottle once a day till I go back to work on May 2 so the grandmas don't go nuts when they need to feed her during the day.  At first, it was a disaster!  Everyone was a little panicky about Clara REFUSING to take the bottle.  It was an absolute fight...Oma even threatened to have a "come to Jesus" with Miss Thang!  But after about 5 days in a row, she finally has the hang of eating from a bottle!    You can't even see any tears in the photos!  Whew!

we're famous.

So, if you click on the link, can tell who's lurching in the background for the first two minutes or so.  Hint - we're at the jewelry table which is seen best from the straight on camera view.  It was a fun time!

http://video.pbs.org/video/1863196990/

Clara goes to first grade...and a shower.

It was a great day!  We slept in (but that's the norm) and then we headed to Reed to visit some long lost first graders!  At first, my class acted shocked - like they almost didn't recognize me!  Then, Mrs. Rupp (my fantastic long term sub) suggested I sit in the rocking chair and let the first graders ask some questions.  I think we heard about 5 questions and heard a cajillion stories.  After all, that is what question time is all about in first grade... story telling.  It was great to see them all.  I got to meet my new student- who is from China, and I remembered every name (something I was worried about). 

Thanks Miss Hall for sneaking in to snap some pics for me!

After meeting the first graders, we headed down to one of the first grade classrooms and my team threw me a fantastic shower!  There were treats, lots of fun conversations (I miss all the fantastic people I work with!), and they gave me an over the top gift - a huge gift card to Babies R' Us.  I work with such wonderful people who are entirely too generous.  I teared up when I opened the gift...it was just too much! 

Thanks for a great day Reed staff!  I am looking forward to seeing you all everyday again...as long as I don't think about NOT being with sweet baby Clara 24-7!

Here are a few cute pics from today!  Clara's sportin' a flower clip given to her at the shower.  The hunt for the elusive smile continues...one day we'll be successful!