Motherhood

Claire turned two this week and we have been celebrating all week long! Where has the time gone?! I have been pulling some pictures of her to print and wanted to share a few of my faves, plus a little update of what two looks like for her.

Eats: Literally everything. Claire is never not asking for a snack or trying to eat something off someone else’s plate. Loves cereal, yogurt & pasta. All of the messiest foods that we try to avoid at all cost. Pretzel sticks, Pirates Booty & gum.

Loves: Snacks (did I already mention that?) and stealing sips of my coffee. Baby dolls (especially if they are Ellie’s) and her blanket collection. Wearing underwear over her diaper. Holding food off the side of her high chair while staring us in the eye to make sure we know that she knows, that she is going to throw her food on the floor in protest for whatever it is that she might be mad about. Her play phone that records voices & the wooden toy cracker box that she pretends is also a play phone. Brushing her teeth & eating as much toothpaste as possible. Getting her nails painted. Wagon rides & the sprinkler. Mickey, Little Einsteins & Sing.

Says: “I want snacky.” (basically the firs thing she says when she wakes up each day). “Meeeeeeeeeeeeeoooowwww” (her response to most things, aside from “No, I don’t wannu!!” “Olweez! Top it!” (Eloise, stop it! Because ellie is always trying to snuggle/hug/kiss/lick her). “Sang! Moomie!” (When she talks to the microphone on our remote to play the movie Sing). “Want toenails!” (I want ponytails, this is new, and is my favorite). “Hold you!” (you hold me).

Claire is FULL of personality, she is either all the way happy or all the way mad, usually nowhere in between. She makes us all laugh all the time, especially when she walks around with her eyes closed with her huge gap toothed smile, knowing she is funny. She loves to be held, snuggled or sitting on my lap at all times. She still wants to be rocked before bed every night, loves to sing Twinkle Twinkle and needs all of her blankets/stuffed animals to be a certain way before she will go to sleep. She loves her sisters so much and looks up to them like crazy, watching her imitate them is one of my favorite things in the world.

We are so excited to celebrate her this weekend & see her excitement over getting to eat an entire piece of cake. Happiest second birthday, Claire Vivien, we love you to infinity and beyond. 

Going into this summer, we knew that it was going to be a magical one & so far it has been just that. We have been working on checking items off the bucket list, last weekend Brandon took Harper fishing while I took the two little ones to the splash pad & then on a muffin (and coffee) date. The girls had their very first sleep over, Harper’s bestie spent the night and the girls camped in the living room in our tent. They stayed up late eating popcorn and watching The Parent Trap, and we learned our first parenting lesson in overtired-sleepover-repercussions the next day. We’ve been to the zoo, the pool & the beach, and the adventures are just getting started.

But let’s get real for a second, we are all riding the summer strugglebus over here. There is a reason that moms have a love hate relationship with summer break. Our house is in a constant state of emergency, dining room chairs are tipped over and draped in blankets, clothes are strung down the hallway from whatever game of dress up the girls’ played this morning, and the kitchen floor is almost always wet now that Harper & Ellie have decided that doing the dishes is their favorite activity. Everything is sticky and covered in grass. Last week I found a dino nugget under the dvd player and a glue stick stuck in the back of Ellie’s hair.

Our kids have been waking up at six in the morning and doing ALL of the things before 10 am. I’m talking play dough, sidewalk chalk, pool, art, forts, books, snacks, fighting, hugging, snuggling and minimum three outfit changes. And I am looking at the clock thinking WHEN IS DINNER and we literally have four hundred hours left in the day.

Expectations & standards are at an all time low over here, and we are all ay-oh-kay with it. So cheers to all the summer fun, made of equal parts adventure & struggle. I hope you are all enjoying it as much as wee are, and as always, thanks for taking the time to hide in the bathroom from your screaming toddler to read this. XO