Daddy's Girl

Well, I knew it was coming... Claire has said her first words. "Da-da." Well, technically, she's been saying da-da and ma-ma and other things for awhile, but yesterday Claire said "da-da" to Mark as soon as he got home from work and greeted her. Precious! I mean, she has a great daddy, so who can blame her. She is so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy, and she just loves being with him. So do I!

Blue Eyed Baby at 8 Months

I can't believe our sweet girl will be 9 months old in a week. Crazy! We went to the lake house with The Kolendos last weekend (more pics to come) and I captured some outdoor photos of Claire. She's the easiest baby to take pictures of because she has such a joy about her that will brighten your day. What a blessing this girl is to us! Love you button!

5 Year Anniversary

I can't believe it's been 5 years since Mark and I got married. Time really does fly! It's really neat to look back and think about some of the amazing things that we have experienced over the past 5 years. We feel so blessed that we have had this time together. We are looking forward to many more!

Here are some of my favorite moments in our 5 years of marriage...

Our wedding...

Our Honeymoon in Mexico...

Our first Thanksgiving... in London!

Our 1 Year Anniversary, eating the top of our wedding cake!

Our ...

Trip...

to Europe!

Buying our first home!

Bringing home the Myks. (I don't know if Mark would count his as a "favorite moment," but we were really excited!

Christmas in Chicago...

Our trip to Lake Tahoe

Finding out that we were going to have a girl!

Preparing for Baby Girl...

Claire's Arrival...

Our First Thanksgiving at home. With baby...

Watching the Lord heal our baby girl...

Special...

Moments...

With Claire!

Finding out about McBaby #2!

Excited about the road ahead. May we be blessed with 5 more years, plus 5 more, plus 5 more, etc...

Mobile on Land and Water

She is starting to master the land...

Well, as I posted earlier, Claire is crawling now! So fun!

Here she comes!

See me mommy?

How about now?

And now, the water!

Claire is a fish. A dolphin. A sea creature, perhaps. We started swim lessons this week and will continue next week. We had a great time. I think that I was more exhausted after the lessons than she was. Ha!

The point of these lessons was really just to get the babies acquainted with the water by kicking, splashing, and blowing bubbles in the water. Claire was really great at kicking her feet and splashing her arms. It's a lot of fun! Mark was off the day of our first lesson, so he was able to come and document all of her hard work. Here are some more pictures of our little fish, Claire!

On the boogie board!

Our little noodle with a water noodle.

Going after the swim toys...

Scooting off of the lily pad.

We had a good nap after our first lesson! We are excited to see how C does the rest of her lessons and how much she learns every time. I don't quite know how I will do this with 2 babies, but I'm sure I'll figure it out! Happy Summer to all!

McBaby #2

Well, I am starting to feel MUCH better, and the first trimester is really close to coming to a close. Mark is glad that I am starting to feel well enough to do dishes and cook a little, and Claire is happy that Mommy can play during the day instead of nap and be sick. :)

Here is a belly shot at almost 11 weeks. Now, for all of you "1 child mommies," let me just warn you... the 2nd time around you wake up the 3rd week or 4th week of pregnancy the 2nd time and boom. Nothing fits. I mean, your body is like, "been there, done that." It is crazy! I just popped right out!

Claire wanted to help show everyone how big her new brother or sister is, so she added a visual...

In this pic, she is saying, "Mommy, the baby is a bit bigger than this grape. Can I eat it?" Um no, sweet girl, you'll choke and mommy will have a heart attack, which will harm the baby. This is for a picture only.

But don't worry sweet girl, you are my first baby, and of course I will let you have grapes one day. Oh, and I love you very much.

Kisses for mommy...

Love both of my babies!

Crawling Claire

Guess who's ready to go???

This was Claire's first attempt at crawling or "scooting" about 3 weeks ago.

And look at her now! This was about a week ago. There's no stopping her now! She's getting so big. Time to baby proof our house, huh?

Claire Has an Announcement

Claire has some news...

and she's reaaallly excited about it! :) On January 25 she'll be a big sister! Here are some things that she has been asked recently:

How far apart will you and your brother or sister be? 14 mos. and 11 days (if the due date holds up).

Were your mommy and daddy planning to make you a big sister? Yes! Mommy is a twin, and daddy's brothers are all pretty close in age, so they wanted a close family. :)

Are your parents crazy? They may just be.

What is the plan for you and your brother and sister for day care? Well, I'm really excited because mommy just finished teaching, and she is going to stay home and take care of me and my new baby brother or sister.

What if the new baby turns out to be twins? Well, mommy and daddy said there was just one heartbeat at the doctor, but you never know...

How is your mommy feeling? Mommy is feeling pretty yucky right now. She doesn't like to eat much of anything except for potatoes, plain pasta, chicken nuggets, and fruit. She said it's a lot like when I was in her tummy, but this time she's a little more tired. I think it's because she is taking care of me, too!

We can't forget daddy. How's he feeling? Daddy is excited about another baby, but he is spending a lot of time helping around the house. He does the dishes, gets food for mommy, and he has even been taking me to the park and on adventures away from the house to give mommy time to nap. I love daddy.

What does Myko think of all this? Myko was a little bummed because he's going to be outnumbered again. Mommy said that she had a feeling she was expecting because Myko was acting crazy, but he's always crazy to me.

What do you think about all of this? Well, I really am just focusing on putting everything in my mouth, trying to crawl, and eating big girl food. I haven't had time to focus on it, and mommy doesn't think I'll even remember, but I'm pretty smart. I'm excited to show my new baby brother or sister how much fun it is to be a McSpadden!