Brooks

5.15.2011

remember this?

Well, since early March, Clara has filled out a little! See for yourself!

5.14.2011

Teenie and Ben surprised us this week with a visit to Boise! Emily came home from college on Wednesday and Teenie hitched a ride south with her, and then Kurtis took her and Ben back up north when he went up turkey hunting on Friday! We had so much fun, even though it was brief. It is exciting to watch Ben and Clara starting to interact with each other. Ben still loves baby Clara and Clara was very entertained by Ben. My mom watched Clara both Thursday and Friday while I worked, and the cousins got lots of quality time with each other. Here's the proof!

Isn't my nephew the cutest baby boy EVER! In his superman attire especially!

Trying to get shots of the babes together is a lot harder than it seems it should be!

No, don't palm her face Ben!

Maybe if I hold them both...we'll get a good shot! Ha! Jokes on me!

Cute of Ben...

Cute of nobody...

Cute of Clara!

We'll try again next time!

5.10.2011

jammies photo shoots.

These first shots I snapped Saturday morning. She was just as content as could be in her bouncer. She's wearing some new jammies because she's fitting into size 6 month pjs now, and it is fun to see her in something new when we wake up in the morning.

And these were taken last night. Some are a little blurry. If you couldn't tell, she was NOT in the mood for a photo shoot. But I was...and her cute little lemon/lime/orange jammies from one of my first graders were too! I can't believe she's getting so big! Slow down Clara! I don't want you to grow up too fast!

Sucking on my hands is a new thing - and sometimes it is soothing.

But sometimes, I just really want my binkie!

Ahhhh - better!

Here she's thinking - MOM, get out of my face! And still, she looks so pretty!

Are those real tears?

5.09.2011

happy mother's day.

My first mother's day was fantastic! I slept in a little, Kurtis fixed me delicious pancakes in our cast iron pan, we went to the grocery store, I did some laundry, and then we had a bbq with my parents and Kurtis' parents and bro and sis in law, Brad and Angie. It was a great day. Kurtis and I agreed that this year, we aren't doing Mother's/Father's day or birthday gifts because we're doing lots of work to our backyard. We've got plans to get a cover built for our patio this month! Yippeeee! So he treated me to help around the house and a relaxing day, which is exactly what I wanted after my first week back to work!

The best gift anyway is having sweet Clara around. These shots were taken last night after the bbq. If you can't tell, Clara is exhausted and ready for bed. We kept trying for a livelier shot, but it didn't pan out! Oh well. She's still just presh! I love being her mom!

5.07.2011

the latest.

This week, I returned to work. We get out of school the last Friday in May, so I'm only back for about 4 weeks before summer begins. This week, the mornings have been surprisingly fine! I'm usually the teacher who gets to work 5 minutes late. A bad habit...I know! But this week, I've been lucky enough to have Jeff or Janet or my Mom here every morning by about 7:05, which means Clara and I need to be ready to go by then. As soon as Clara is off to Grandma or Oma daycare, (she's been behaving beautifully at daycare, by the way!) I'm off to work, which means I've been arriving at work 15-20 minutes early! Wow - I can't believe how much I can get done in that amount of time. I really hope I can keep it up!

Lately, Clara and I have been wearing matching outfits, as seen here! We both are loving peach right now!

We've been letting Clara's hair go WILD - think Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

Clara's been having more and more tummy time. She doesn't love it, but we keep practicing. She can hold her head up 45 degrees, and we're working on getting to 90 degrees. Tummy time usually makes her pretty grumpy! She's eyeballing me here and trying to convince me to pick her up!

And I'm saving the best thing for last! Clara has slept through the night 5 out of the last 6 nights for Kurtis and I! I think she knew that this week I was returning to work, and she wanted to give me the best mother's day present ever...great sleep! She is so great! I hope she keeps it up! Here's a shot of the sleepy baby, working her magic!

OK - I'm not saving the best for last because I almost forgot to add that my younger sisters and nephew were rear ended two days ago - there was lots of damage and poor Teenie has whiplash! You can read about it here on Teenie's blog. Please, crazy drivers, I'm begging you, stop hitting us Waldon girls! Just stop!

5.03.2011

new.

Here's what's new...

It is beginning to feel like spring!

We put in 3 garden boxes and bark. The boxes are each 8ft x 4ft and should grow lots of great things for us. Jeff, Kurtis' dad, was nice enough to help us do lots of shoveling and heavy lifting!

Since these pics were taken, Kurtis went and bought a bunch of sandstone - so now we have stepping stones around our garden!

Clara was well behaved as usual. She loves being outside. Grandma Janet came over to help take care of her while the rest of us worked on the garden.

Clara is still smiling a lot! She is so fun to be around.

I went back to work on Monday. This photo of Gwen shows how I feel about it...a little down. I miss Clara lots during the day. Good thing I'm a teacher and only have 20 more work days till I'm off for the summer. I love my job and love the people who I work with, but I love my babe more! I've heard it gets easier with time - thank goodness!

Oh...and another thing...back on April 11, Clara and I were rear-ended by an older gentleman. His insurance cut us a check for the damages. Thankfully everyone was ok.

Well the crazy thing is, last Friday, my mom and I went to Edward's Nursery to celebrate my last day of maternity leave, and I got hit AGAIN! I can't believe it! Poor Clara has been in two car accidents in three weeks. This time, a lady in a mini van with huge shoots of bamboo in the back (which were obstructing her view) backed right into me. My mom, Clara, and I were all in the car and I was honking like crazy as soon as I saw her coming, but she just backed right into us! She was British, and I'm afraid she was up all night watching the royal wedding and therefore was so sleep deprived that she hit me! So sometime this week, I need to make yet another call to another insurance company! My car may be red, but I SWEAR, it isn't a target!

That is what's new with us. I've found out that being a working mom is pretty exhausting...and therefore I've been neglecting the blog!

4.25.2011

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...