Our Beautiful Girl

We went to the park today to take some family pictures and some baby bump pictures.  You can check those out on Cale’s blog.

Some of My Favorite Claire-isms

Claire is a chatterbox these days.  She talks almost non-stop and is very entertaining.  She’ll do anything for a laugh and then will repeat it a hundred times if you laugh just to keep you laughing.  What a girl!

Some of the funny words/phrases she uses:

“Pickle Dots” – translation polka dots  (We have no idea where she got pickle dots, but we LOVE it!)

“Eee Yelcome” – translation you’re welcome  (This must have something to do with raising her in Memphis and in Houston.  She’s got a crazy Southern way about her.)

“I are a princess” – Claire loves princesses these days, and she loves to dress up.  She loves necklaces and bracelets and tiaras.  Every time she puts on a dress, she twirls in it and says, “I are a princess.”  (We definitely agree.  She is the princess in our world!)

“Shimming” – translation swimming  (Claire’s favorite activity.  She’s a great swimmer and improves every time we head to the pool.)

“Meal” – translation oatmeal  (Recently Claire has started requesting “meal” for breakfast.  Of course, it must have brown sugar and half-and-half in it!  She loves it!)

“Strawberry Comes Out!” – translation “I’m bleeding”  (Claire fell and skinned her knee.  When she realized it was bleeding, she exclaimed “Look, Daddy!  Strawberry comes out!”  We’re not sure where she got this, but it’s very cute.  And it stops the tears since it’s strawberry.)

Topics of Discussion:

“Monkey Eating Banana” – A few months ago, during Claire’s two-year-old check-up, her doctor needed to look into her ears.  To get her to hold still, the doctor told her that she had a monkey eating a banana in her ear.  Claire still tells everyone on a regular basis that she has monkeys in her ears that are eating bananas.  If you question her about it, she tells you that the doctor said so.

“Horsie Naughty on the Floor” - In June, we went to the stables with Aunt Shannon to watch her ride her horse.  While Shannon’s horse was in the stall to get brushed down, he went to the potty.  Almost every single day since, and often several times a day, at some point Claire will announce, “Horsie naughty on the floor.  Eww!  (while holding her nose)  Shannon cleaned it up.”

Claire is so sweet and entertaining.  We’re having a blast being her parents!

“Pedal! Pedal!”

For Claire’s second birthday, she received a pink tricycle.  She loves it!  She gets on it almost everyday and says, “Pedal, pedal.”  She puts her feet on the pedals and wants to be pushed.

But today my baby pedaled herself!!!  Check it out!  (At the end of the video she puts her feet down and does a celebratory dance.  Then she runs to her daddy for a big hug.)  What a big girl!!!  How fun!!!

I’m so proud of you, Claire!!!

“Let’s Go To The Movies!”

Today we took Claire to the movie theater for the very first time!  We went to see The Lion King.  We had popcorn and root beer during the movie.  Claire LOVED it!!

I sneaked a picture on my iPhone.  (Well, as much as one can sneak a picture in the dark with the flash on the camera going off.)

After the movie, we did a little shopping and then came home for dinner.  After dinner, we went to the park.  Claire’s favorite thing at the park is the swings.  Check out how high she goes.  The whole time she yells, “Higher, Daddy!”

What a fun day!

A Few Pics from Tulsa and a New Train

I took these while in Tulsa and failed to get them posted.

Here’s PopPop with three of his girls. (All of whom think that PopPop belongs just to them.  It’s quite entertaining to watch them “fight” over him.  He, of course, adores the girls and the attention they give him.)  PopPop, Allie, Analise and Claire

Here’s Claire, GiGi and Mommy

Today, we got Daddy a new train to put around the Christmas tree this year.  Claire couldn’t wait to get home to play with the “choo-choo.”

Claire thought Bear should go for a ride.

Daddy and Claire playing with the choo-choo train!

Bring on Christmas!

Update:  Cale is due in about 8 or 9 weeks.  (Babies come when babies are ready, so we can’t be more specific than that.)  He’s doing well.  He’s growing and kicking a lot.  I’m doing well.  I am much more tired with this pregnancy since I’m playing with Claire all day as well; but I have no swelling and no other complications or side effects other than some heartburn which seems to have subsided lately.  All is well, and we are just looking forward to meeting our little man.

Tomorrow we are taking Claire to her first movie in the theater – The Lion King!  We can’t wait!

“Livin’ On Tulsa Time”

Steve has been in St. Louis for the past two weeks completing his Q400 training.  He successfully passed his check ride on Saturday and is now a Q pilot!!!  I am so very proud of him!!

This week Steve is completing his IOE, so Claire and I have been in Tulsa for almost three weeks.  We’ve had a great time, but we are really missing Steve.

Uncle Doug (GiGi’s brother), Aunt Marilyn and Lynette came to visit.  We met them and Uncle Duie (another of GiGi’s brothers) for lunch and then went by to see GiGi.

Uncle Duie, Uncle Doug, Claire, GiGi and PopPop

Aunt Marilyn and Claire putting together a puzzle.  Playing with Aunt Marilyn is so much fun!!!

MiMi and I took Claire to Reasor’s.  She got to drive the grocery car!  She was so serious and so cute!

Claire and Analise had a pajama party at PopPop and MiMi’s house.  We had McDonald’s Happy Meals and ice cream.  We painted finger nails and toe nails.  We had a tea party.  We brushed each other’s hair and watched movies.  It was a great party!

Claire brushing Analise’s hair during the movie – I LOVE my girls!  They are so sweet!

On another night, we took the girls to Incredible Pizza.  They had so much fun!  We did too!

Claire and Analise loved driving the car.  They rode this ride the most.

They also liked riding “the horsies.”

This ride was great!  The girls watched the screen, and their seat moved according to what was on the screen.

Enjoying a roller coaster (Aunt Shannon was having fun too!)

We also enjoyed some mini bowling.  The girls had a blast!

Steve and Aunt Shannon showing Claire and Analise how to bowl while Allie looks on.

Claire showing off her pro-bowling skills

We’ve had a great time in Tulsa!  Steve is flying in tomorrow night and will overnight here.  We’ll fly out with him on Thursday.  (How exciting that he’ll actually be the pilot of our plane!)  Can’t wait to see him!

Pregnancy update:  I am now in my third trimester.  Cale kicks a lot and is growing.  I’ve done a lot of shopping for him while in Tulsa.  (Since we live in a tropical climate, we can wear “summer” clothes year round.  All of the summer clothes are on clearance right now, so I’ve been able to buy Cale a full wardrobe for his first year of life without spending too much money.)  It’s been a lot of fun preparing for his arrival!

My Baby Daddy

I failed to blog about Father’s Day this year, mostly because I was waiting to show you Steve’s Father’s Day present, which we didn’t buy until this past weekend.

I knew what we wanted to get Steve, but he’s so picky about some of his gadgets (as most men are) that I wanted him to go with me to pick it up.  Turns out that it wasn’t that easy to just go pick up.  We searched for months and finally found the right one this past weekend.

Here’s my wonderful Baby Daddy making use of his Father’s Day present:

When we moved to Memphis last year, we left our grill behind for our renters to use.  (We didn’t really have a place to keep it at our apartment.)  We have really missed grilling.  So this year, I decided to buy Steve a small, portable grill.  Steve wanted one that would last (This one is stainless steel.) and one that could be built into an outdoor kitchen once we eventually move back to our house or get a new house.  We finally found the perfect grill!

Happy Father’s Day, Steven!  You are an amazing husband and father.  Our babies are so blessed to have you as their daddy.  I love how fun and sweet you are with Claire.  I love hearing her laugh when she’s playing with you.  I love that you’re willing to “eat” what she “cooks” in her little kitchen and that you’re willing to love on her babies and play anything she wants to play.  I love that you “nuggle” her and comfort her.  I love that you’re a “hands-on” dad, helping me with every aspect of parenting - from bathing to changing diapers to playing to disciplining to feeding, etc.  You are the best daddy,and I love being the mommy to your babies.  I’m really excited that we’ll soon have a boy to play with too.

I hope you had a wonderful Father’s Day and that you enjoy your grill.  I know that Claire, Cale and I will certainly enjoy the delicacies that you prepare on it!

I love you more than anything, Steven Lee Norton!  I love sharing my life with you.  I’m so glad you married me, and I love having babies with you!  Happy Father’s Day!