Yum-Yum

This is what happens when you are trying to teach your 15 month old how to use a spoon. Note that while she is holding the spoon in one hand, she is using the other hand to scoop yogurt into her mouth. What a messy girl!!

Claire has started the transition process to the toddler room at school, which means no more spoon feeding. Could be interesting...I have a feeling she will be going through a lot of shirts these next few weeks.

Baby Boylan Update

I'm finding that there are a lot of things that are true about having your second child:

1. You start showing A LOT earlier than the first time around. When I was pregnant with Claire I didn't start showing until I was about 20 weeks along and didn't need maternity clothes until around that time. This time around I started showing much earlier. I hit the 17 week mark yesterday and my belly has definitely popped out. I'm still not in maternity clothes (I'm trying to hold out as long as possible), but am guessing it won't be long.
2. Your second pregnancy goes by much faster than your first. I can't believe that I am almost at the half way mark. Time is flying by and I am already starting to freak out about all we have to get done by the end of July. While we don't have to prepare the nursery this time, we have to get Claire's 'big girl' room ready by the end of May, so we can give her plenty of time to transition to her new environment (including no more crib).
3. While your second pregnancy goes by much faster, you are far more exhausted. I honestly feel like I could successfully go to bed at 8pm every night if I were disciplined enough. By the end of the day, I am completely exhausted. I'm sure that chasing Claire around has a lot to do with it, but I was hoping to have a little more energy by now.
4. There are far less pictures of the second born. With Claire, we made sure to take a weekly belly picture of me. We had high hopes of doing the same with this baby, but we are lucky if we get a picture every other week.
5. You feel the baby move a lot sooner. Within the last week I have started to feel a few random 'flutters'. It took me off guard at first because I didn't feel Claire until close to 22 weeks. It is such a reassuring feeling at this point in my pregnancy.

I'll try to get a picture of my baby bump posted in the next few weeks. So far everything is looking good with the baby. Our next appointment is in about a month, so four weeks to decide if we are going to find out the baby's gender or not. We are leaning toward finding out, but are still not 100% sure.

Nap Mania

While Claire is a great sleeper overnight, she has never been much of a consistent napper. She gave up her morning nap about a month ago, and we had high hopes that her one nap would become a little longer. Unfortunately, that has not been the case. Some days, especially at daycare, she only naps for a little over an hour. This makes for one very tired girl by the end of the day.

The last two Fridays, Claire and I have had very busy mornings. Last Friday we ventured to Edinborough Park. Claire ran through tunnels, went down slides, and played in the open gym until she was thoroughly worn out (mom too!). When we returned home, Claire napped for not one, not two, but THREE hours!

This Friday we headed to the Children's Museum to meet up with an old E&Y coworker of mine and her adorable 2 year old son (thanks for the fun time Heidi and Caleb). Claire played her heart out, and when we got home she slept for not one, not two, but THREE hours again!

I'm definitely not counting on this happening every Friday, but I'll take what I can get! Getting a little break is nice, but the best part is that she wakes up such a happy little girl!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

First Ponytail

Claire came home from daycare today sporting her very first ponytail. Pretty funny.

Learning to "Share"

Claire's cousins Sam and Meghan came over to play on Sunday. I think the picture below says it all...Claire was not so happy about sharing, especially her ride-on car. Sam, however, was having a great time. Thanks for the fun afternoon!

Our Little Musician

Claire has loved music since she was a baby. Given this and the fact that we are always looking for new things to do with her, we signed her up for a music class at MacPhail on Saturday mornings. We have attended two classes so far and she is loving it. The class is 60 minutes long so I was a little worried about the class keeping her attention, but the instructor does a great job of keeping things moving. She does have a tendency to wander away from the circle from time to time, but always manages to come back. Here's a few photos of our little musician before class on Saturday.