With summer in full swing, this has been a very busy month for our family.
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| waiting for dad to come home |
Clara's appearance has not changed much. Her hair has gotten longer, long enough to mostly fit in a pony tail. Her front bangs don't quite fit in, but it looks like she has a fringe and makes her look fashionable.
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| first pony tail |
As far as sleep, we are struggling to get Clara down for nap/bedtime. She seems to not know what she wants. She wants to snuggle, but can't sit still long enough and eventually pushes away. Then when you put her down she cries and screams for mom. Mom has found out if she snuggles with her until she pushes away and then puts her down, lets her cry for a minute, picks her up again and snuggles for her a little longer and then puts her down she seems to not cry much the second time. Ever since she gave up her bottles a couple of months ago, she has wanted someone to hold her until she was sleepy and she went down super easily. We are not sure what caused this change of wanting but not wanting to snuggle, but it's been a bit more challenging. Once down, she will chat to herself happily and when she falls asleep, she sleeps through the night or for her 2 - 3 hour nap.
Clara's latest skill that has developed is she is able to push the chairs/stools around the kitchen and get into pretty much everything. She mostly likes to get into things on the counter and likes to wash her hands at the sink. The stools are higher, so it's easier for her to get into things, so mom moved them into the basement for now. She will be excited when this phase is over.
Clara is a helper. She wants to help mom with everything that she does. When she is cooking something, she always ways to "mell" it (smell). She likes stirring things, helping put laundry in the machines and pressing the buttons, sweeping the floor, she loves to wipe off things and wants a rag of her own. When she wants to help, she can also be heard saying "hep" (for help).
We had lots of family in town to celebrate her brothers' birthdays. We had Gramma, Papa, Uncle Brian, Aunt Laura, Uncle Ryan, Aunt Christine, Grammy, Grandpa, Mia, Jason, and Ethan stay with us. This meant lots of extra attention and people to entertain. While they were in town, we enjoyed a trip to the Franklin Park Conservatory. Clara loved looking at all of the butterflies. We celebrated father's day by grilling out, and walked around Uptown Westerville the next day.
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| water table at the party |
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| conservatory |
We went to the Big Machines exhibit at COSI. Clara mostly got to watch her big brothers, but mom did get her out to walk around towards the end and she got to try out a few tractors. We then went inside and played around in the kidspace for a while to let Clara get her wiggles out since it was starting to get really hot outside.
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| driving the big trucks |
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| water table fun |
The boys went to a Metro Parks Summer Program, which meant that Clara had one week just to hang out with just mom. We went to the Inniswood tomatoes program, ran a lot of errands, bible study, and she helped mom do some deep cleaning at home.
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| hanging out at inniswood |
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| exploring |
We traveled to Indiana for the 4th of July weekend. We had a very busy time with arriving on Saturday morning and mom and dad leaving shortly after to go to a wedding in Holland, MI. Ms. Jackie watched our kids and Mia and they all went to bed for her, although the boys were still awake when we got home. It was the longest break we have had from all 3 kids ever.
We then celebrated Grandpa's and Papa's birthdays the next day. While we only got to talk to Papa, everyone came over to Grammy and Grandpa's house to swim in the pool and grill out. Grandpa and dad left right after dinner and went to a baseball game, which ended up getting rained out only a few innings in. The kids were already in bed when they got home, so it just meant a relaxing evening for dad.
The next day we got up and went blueberry picking at the Blueberry Ranch, our favorite place to pick berries. Clara hang out in the Ergo for part of it because as soon as we got her out, she started gobbling up blueberries as fast as she could pick them off of the bushes. We ended up picking around 17 pounds, so we have more than enough blueberries to last us for a while. After naps, we went to Aunt Wendy and Uncle Clark's house for the Gregor Family Reunion. The boys had a blast going on the boat and Edmund caught his first fish. Clara ran around the yard and dad tried to keep her from not getting into everything.
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| picking blueberries |
The next day was the 4th of July. Aunt Lissa and the cousins came over and we grilled out again and splashed around in the pool. We put Clara in the puddle jumper. She's not quite bit enough for it, so you have to help her so she doesn't tilt over into the water. She enjoyed being in the pool and jumped into the water off the side all by herself. (With mom and dad right there, of course.) The uncles bought some fireworks and lit them off in the cul-de-sac. We put Clara to bed before this so that she wouldn't be up too late. She amazingly slept through it all. Mom cranked her noise maker up all the way, so that helped.
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| 4th of july |
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| in the pool |
We also enjoyed a couple of trips to the zoo, making the most of the nice weather and our zoo pass. The kids love playing at the park there and being able to pet the sea creatures at the aquarium. They got to pet a starfish, sea anemone, and a horseshoe crab. The lorikeets were also open, so the kids love looking at them.
Even though we don't have our own big pool, we did get out our kid pool and let the kids splash around in it. We had to get a new one this year because our other one developed multiple holes and kept leaking, even though we kept patching it.
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| splashing in the pool |
Here's to more summer and more adventures with our Bella.
-anna & eric
