Hallie's "Pink Princess" Room

I am so excited about Hallie's new bedroom. So much so, I am posting photos before I have even put up the curtains.

You can see from the photos that she is quite pleased. She kept spinning on her bed and saying "Oh, thank you so much!" Chris and I are thrilled with how it turned out-- particularly me. I think it reflects her personality perfectly. It's both sweet and vibrant at the same time. I think it will be a place that can inspire her to dream. Because, honestly, that is what it is doing for me so far! We still need a bed skirt (we want it done in white matelasse). And we need to hang the curtains and new blinds. I also forgot to take pictures of the word "dream" above her closet door. This was a really fun, creative project for Chris and I to work on together. It was great to bounce ideas off each other and then turn them into reality. Chris is the one who found the bedspread that looked like what I kept picturing in my head. He is also the one that spent the most hours painting the Pottery Barn pink and perfecting the white trim. I taped and painted the stripes on the main wall using a color I mixed myself. We created the faux canopy by painting a basket we had and hot gluing old IKEA curtains to the inside. Then, we screwed it to the wall. We did a similar treatment in our studio apartment when we were first married. I put scrapbook paper in picture frames to repeat our pink stripes and black checked patterns. Then, I used ribbon and more scrapbook paper to reinforce the theme again on her bulletin board. Hallie picked out each picture for it herself. The side table is the one I had growing up, Chris painted it last year for me. Everything in this room (except the wall paint and bedspread) were either heavily clearanced or re-used from other rooms we've done before. Thank goodness for paint! We hope you enjoy her sweet room as much as we do! Updated pictures with curtains to come soon.

Hallie's Pinkalicious Day!

It is no surprise that Hallie loves reading. She has her books memorized. It is straight fact that Goodnight Moon was memorized at eighteen months. She often quotes lines from her literature to me. For example, if she ever falls down she says "I trip! I slip! The tray does a double flip!" These lines are from Fancy Nancy. (Of course she normally finishes the rest of the book from memory, but I will leave you with just these lines).

One of Hallie's most-cherished heroines is the title character from Pinkalicious. Pinkalicious, as you might deduce, loves all things pink. Hallie likes to run lines from the book as if we are doing a play. She'll tell me "Mommy, say 'What color do you want?'" (Pinkalicious' mother says the same thing). Then Hallie will enthusiastically respond "Pink!" and smiles "Pink, pink, PINK!"

Today, Hallie had a Pinkalicious day. She made Pinkalicious cupcakes, had her finger and toenails painted pink, wore a pink dress with "pinktails" (pig tails), and officially started life in her new pink bedroom. It was Pink-a-tastic!

nine months old

I can't believe that Claire has been alive for as long as I was pregnant with her. Last week, Claire turned nine months old! I can't tell you how much I love my little "lovey baby." She is just a ball of cuddles and giggles this month. Hallie and Daddy have her laughing all the time. She still loves to be held and loves to snuggle. She can do hand motions to several songs. She even recognizes if she is doing the wrong signal and will self-correct it. It looks like she is holding up to the French meaning of Claire, "smart girl." Clairey still has the craziest hair on the planet. Now that more is growing in, it looks a little darker. She holds her own bottles now and I think she prefers it that way because she will pull it out and think about life, and then smack it back in when she is in the mood for some more. She laughs at toys that have flashing lights and loves to snuggle baby doll toys. Her crib is filled with her current favorites: her "my first baby," glow worm, elmo, cookie monster, and a new brown-haired soft dolly (pictured below). I let her play with it at the store the other day and because she was laughing so much with it, I just couldn't go home without it. I cried to Chris the other night about how fast Claire is growing up. I think eight and nine months is my favorite baby stage. They can laugh and try to be social, but they still are cuddly little babes. In ways I want her to stay this age forever! I like that both my girls wait to crawl around. It preserves their baby status just a little bit longer. Happy nine months, Clarinet!

John's visit

We were so thrilled last week when John called and said he booked a flight to see us. On Saturday night, I picked him up from the airport. On the way home, we dined on burgers at Culver's and shared an ice cream. The greatest thing about having John is that he is a.) enthusiatic and b.) gracious. He acted like we had the best house in the world and that we lived in the best city in the world. Of course we firmly believe both but it is great to hear it from someone else. On Sunday, Hallie was sick so Daddy stayed home with her while John and I went to sacrament meeting at church. Afterward, I drove him through Palmer Park.

John requested our family tradition for lunch-- tacos (just like Grandma Skaggs makes). We talked and played with the kids. Uncle John even wore Belle's dress for a second and played with the prince while Hallie played princesses.

After the girls napped, we packed in the car and drove through The Garden of the Gods.

The following day we did a little window shopping, took John out to Chinese, Hallie opened her Christmas present from John, and Chris, Hallie, and John went to the zoo.

We had such a great time with Uncle John. We love him and appreciate his thoughtfulness.

for the record . . .

The stomach bee hurt Chris and I on the arm and then flew back to his home in the tree. If you are totally confused by that sentence, see post below.

P.S. The stomach flu is miserable.

The Stomach Bee

Yesterday we were eating lunch when Hallie asked me "Mom, remember when I had the stomach bee?" I racked my brain trying to recall what she was talking about. "Oh, you mean the stomach bug?" I vaguely remembered telling Chris' mom how Hallie had a 24 hour bout with stomach flu about a week ago. I tried to explain that "stomach bug" is just a name that we call being sick like that -- that it was just like her name was Hallie. But, it doesn't work in her brain that way. Later she told me "Mom, remember when the stomach bug came and hurt me on my arm? He made my tummy sick and then he flew away back to his home in the tree."

The Books of 2009

Last year, I published a list of my "Books of 2008." I read 39 books total for 2008 and some of them were FAT novels. Today I would like to present my list for 2009. There were only 31 this year. But, I didn't include books I didn't finish. Last year, I included The Book of Mormon. Although I read it frequently (daily when I was good) I didn't finish it from cover to cover so I'm not counting it. I also have been slowly reading Gordon B. Hinkley's Standing for Something but have yet to finish it. The first book for 2010 will be Anna Karenina. I got it for Christmas and it will still take me several weeks to complete (700+ pages of 8-type font translated from Russian). Although I am somewhat dissapointed that my count in 2009 was less than my count in 2008, I just realized that I gave birth in April (newborn babies don't offer lots of reading time) and we did a huge move in June (it took months to truly get settled). So all things considered, I almost read more for the available time I had in 2009 than I did in 2008! I will add more to the list if I remember books along the way. I wasn't as diligent about recording them this year.

Here's to another great year of literature.

The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) Collins, Suzanne
Julie of the Wolves (Julie of the Wolves, #1) George, Jean Craighead
Catching Fire (Hunger Games, #2) Collins, Suzanne
The Penderwicks on Gardam Street Birdsall, Jeanne
The Castle Corona Creech, Sharon
The Demigod Files Riordan, Rick
The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5) Riordan, Rick
The Battle of the Labyrinth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #4) Riordan, Rick
The Titan's Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #3) Riordan, Rick
The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #2) Riordan, Rick
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #1) Riordan, Rick
The Hunger Games (Hunger Games, #1) Collins, Suzanne
The People of Sparks (The Ember Series, #2) DuPrau, Jeanne
The Chronicles of Narnia:The Last Battle Lewis, C.S.
Leaves of Grass Whitman, Walt
The Lost Symbol Brown, Dan
The Christmas Sweater Beck, Glenn
New Moon Meyer, Stephenie
Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Rowling, J.K.
The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia, #6) Lewis, C.S.
Inkdeath (Inkheart, #3) Funke, Cornelia
Mike Mulligan and More: Four Classic Stories by Virginia Lee Burton
Inkspell (Inkheart, #2) Funke, Cornelia
Brisingr (Inheritance, #3) Paolini, Christopher
The Tales of Beedle the Bard Rowling, J.K.
The City of Ember (The Ember Series, #1) DuPrau, Jeanne
The Catcher in the Rye Salinger, J.D.
Inkheart (Inkheart, #1) Funke, Cornelia
Grip of the Shadow Plague (Fablehaven, #3) Mull, Brandon
Rise of the Evening Star (Fablehaven, #2) Mull, Brandon
Fablehaven (Fablehaven, #1) Mull, Brandon

eight months old

Claire is eight months old. So many things have happened in her last month and a half of life. She started her eighth month having never had a bottle in her life. Now, she only drinks a bottle. Between surgery and recovery my food supply for her diminished quickly and we both really struggled to get her the amount of food she needed. I nursed Hallie a full year so I was very hesitant to cut Claire off at seven and a half months. After some tears (from both of us) we switched to the bottle and have been happy ever since. I am happy I could nurse both my babies but having Claire on a bottle equals freedom for me. Before bottles, life was measured by when I needed to feed Claire again. Now, I can go as I please and my sweet, willing husband feeds Claire a bottle while I grocery shop (or see New Moon again). And guess what? Claire loves me just as much. (I honestly worried about how our bond would be. Silly, huh?)

Claire is just like her sister with crawling-- it hasn't even crossed her mind yet. In order to get from point A to point B, rolling does the trick. Or, she can just look at Mom with her helpless big eyes and start to shed tears and Mom simply picks her up and answers all requests. (I admittedly spoil Claire rotten with all the holding).

Claire has a sudden interest in toys and finds great joy in biting and shaking them. When reading lately, it is a competition between who can be heard louder, Claire or Mom. She gets so excited that we are reading she talks through the entire story and slaps the book repeatedly.

Claire recently learned how to clap and it has become the new favorite pastime. She loves any song that involves clapping like "Five Little Monkeys" or "Patty Cake." If you clap, she gives you huge grins and joins in. She will also clap on command if you say "yay!" She even says "yay!" too but it comes out as a soft "ehhhhh."

Claire received her first tooth days before turing eight months old. Now she has two cute bottom teeth that make her look more grown-up. I cried the first time I discovered her little white pearl poking through. It is such a little milestone that illustrates babies aren't as little anymore.

Even though Claire has always been a happy child, her laughs were very few and far between. They were so rare, we wanted to alert the media when it happened. Recently, Claire learned how to do a laugh that sounds like a fake cough. She does this frequently to show her pleasure. On Christmas Eve, Claire was so excited about life we thought she must sense something exciting was happening. Apparently, that is the new Claire. She has been a happy, go-lucky baby every day since. She has always been a laid-back sweetheart, but she has a new energy and enthusiasm for life.

Recently, Claire has become more and more attached to her Daddy. She leans her head on him when he holds her and cries when he leaves the room. The other night I was giving her a bottle. She cried every single time Chris walked by the room (which was three or four times by the end of the bottle). She finally was at peace when he came in the room and stayed there.

Our little baby's personality is emerging more and more and her little spirit is starting to contribute to the family dynamic. She's not just the cute little blob in a baby swing anymore. She is an active, happy participant who looks around, absorbs everything and tries to add her say. She adds color and beauty to our life and we truly would not be the same without her. We love you, Claire.

Winter Wonderland

I just took my longest blogging break since the summer of 2007 when my parents internet connection couldn't support photo uploads so I blogged thrice that entire two months. We have been busy with the holidays and then busy getting back into routine after the holidays. It is hard to march down to the basement to post photos when I could be upstairs playing with the Hallie, Claire, and Chris. Here was a great day of playing in December. I bundled up the kids and we went to play in the backyard. I was overzealous though because it was 49 degrees and when I took off Claire's snow suit she was sweaty! Even though Hallie hadn't been down the slide in months she still did her same routine. Go down the slide. Proclaim "I did it, Mommy!" Then shout "I'm gonna give you a hug and a kiss." Deliver said hug and kiss. Repeat routine. Twelve times.