Christmas 2009

What a busy week we have had. Grandpa Jeffrey arrived last Friday and while Amy isn't allowed back to daycare until the New Year (because of her pneumonia/asthma) she has been spending her days with him (telling him what to do!). Last Sunday we went to Jennifer Garner's house to decorate Christmas cookies. Amy was a little shy at first but was then having a great time with all the other kids. During the week I took Dad and the girls downtown for dinner and a ride on the boat along the Riverwalk so we could see all the Christmas lights. It was a long wait in line for the boat but definitely worth it once we got on - Amy loved it and wanted to stay on the boat. Caitlyn was looking all around too and clapping her hands. Although little Caitlyn fell alseep pretty quickly on the way home in the car!

Christmas morning was exciting for the girls and I think Caitlyn was better at tearing apart the wrapping than Amy. Both girls got plenty of things to play with and mum had trouble finding places to put it all. We spent Christmas lunch at the Eckert's place. There was plenty of food and drink for everyone. Caitlyn spent most of her time trying to get to the stairs and Amy loved playing outside with Stephen's daughter Maddie. Amy even came inside wanting her own scarf and digital camera so she could be like the older girls!! The most exciting Christmas present of all though would be that Caitlyn has started walking :-) She only takes a few steps at a time but it is so cute to watch. She'll be into everything now. The day after Christmas Grandpa Jeff and I took the girls to the park - where we were once again instructed on what to do by Miss Amy - this time we were to push her high on the swing. Caitlyn loves the swings too and seems to like going higher than Amy.

So long between posts

To those of you that follow this blog i am sorry it has been so long between posts. Life has been very hectic and i just never seemed to find time to get to this. So here i go trying fill in the last 2 months!

September was fun when Grandma Liz came over for a 5 week visit. The girls loved it of course and Amy for some reason calls her Grandmother instead of Grandma - sounds very formal when she says it. Amy is really talking up a storm these days and singing little songs to herself - it is so cute. Caitlyn is saying sounds but not real words yet. She is really cute when she blows kisses and plays peek-a-boo. Caitlyn is a real cheeky little thing. Both of the girls are now in daycare at Country Home. Amy loves it and goes running in to play with Miss Samantha each day. It was embarassing the other day when I went to pick her up and she proceeded to tell me (in front of all the other kids) how some other kiddies had been naughty and were running in the calssroom. Hopefully she will learn in time it is not wise to tell on your classmates! Caitlyn surprised me and actually cries some mornings when I drop her off. She is usually so laid back and doesn't get bothered by much. She of course is fine within minutes of me leaving.

While Grandma was here Caitlyn turned 1. We had a little party for her at home but it was rescheduled to a week later because Amy had been sick with a tummy bug. She had a little cake all of her own but needed some encouragement to get in there and get messy with it :-) Amy loved it because she seems to think all the new toys that Caitlyn got were for her. She might as well enjoy it now because I am sure once Caitlyn is bigger I know who will win those battles out of the two of them!

Fall is here of course, so last month Blake and Amy had fun at Lovecreek Orchards (about an hour away in Medina, TX) at the Harvest Festival. They built scarecrows, painted pumpkins, petted the farm animals, went through the maze and just had a great time. Amy is also looking forward to next weekend when she goes to Blake's 3rd birthday party.

We had a bad week the other week. There was a Saturday night where poor Amy was coughing literally all night long. I took her to the med clinic on Sunday morning and we were sent to the ER at Methodist Children's. After 9 hours, blood tests, chest x-rays etc she was admitted to the intermediate care ward with pneumonia and has been diagnosed with asthma. Our poor little girl looked so tiny in that hospital bed with tubes and monitors everywhere. She was a real trooper though and takes her medicine every day, she even did well with getting her iv put in. So now we have daily albuterol and flovent morning and night. We go back to the doctor on Friday and we'll see what they say for long term treatment of her asthma.

Despite Amy just getting out of hospital we were still able to have a fun Halloween. We headed over to Jennifer's house to go trick or treating with Nicholas and Olivia. The kids all looked so cute. Amy was a pink pirate, Caitlyn a pink leopard, Nicholas was Harry Potter and Olivia was Piglet. The kids had a great time and certainly bought home plenty of candy. Mummy will be rationing it out for weeks to come.

The other exciting news is that Grandpa Jeffrey is coming to visit us for Christmas/New Year for 3 weeks. So plenty of fun to come.

Caitlyn walking (kind of)

Well it was a week of firsts this week. On Tuesday Amy had her first day at daycare. She seemed to really like it and was talking to me all the way home in the car about pre-school. In fact when she got home she had a little bit of a meltdown and kept saying she wanted to go back to pre-school NOW. On Thursday however, when she had day 2 she was in tears in the morning when I dropped her off. That afternoon when I picked her up she was fine though. She said in the car that she didn't like Miss Betty (the morning teacher) but Miss Samantha in the afternoon is nice. The only downside of daycare was that Amy of course picked up a little bug and all weekend has had a runny nose and cough. She seesm to be doing well though and tells me she "feels much better after having her med-med". But then 10 minutes later she'll say she "feels terrible". I hate seeing her sick but she is so damn cute! We'll see how she does this week at daycare.

Also on Tuesday when Amy and I got home, Caitlyn had started saying her first sounds (Ba-Ba-Ba). Then this morning at breakfast Caitlyn got up herself behind the walker and started walking!! So of course I had to get a video of it. She certainly loves getting all over the place and into everything she shouldn't. It's hard to believe she will be 1 soon. Our little girl is definitely growing up fast. She has the cutest little smile and giggle. Even when she is in trouble she is a cutie.

We were going to go to Seaworld today as the weather finally seems to be out of the triple digits. But with Amy sick it will be another day at home for us.

Amy is starting Daycare

Today was the last day of the summer semester at Little Gym. We have not registered for the Fall/Winter semester as there has been a change to class times. The class for Caitlyn would start at 9 and Amy not until 10:30. With the 45 minutes wait in between and the fact that your entire Saturday morning is then shot -we have decided to have a break from Little Gym for a semester. But this Tuesday Amy is starting Daycare. She is going to go 2 days a week to Country Home Learning Center (near my work) http://www.countryhomelearningcenter.com/
So on Tuesdays and Thursdays she will drive to work with mummy and then I will pick her up on my way home. I hope she has a fun time there. They provide breakfast, lunch and 2 snacks, she gets a nap after lunch and lots of play time (inside and outside) in between. Most of all I hope she makes some friends there and enjoys interacting with the other kids. I've been trying to explain to her what will be happening and for a while there she somehow had the idea she was going to Seaworld and would see Shamu! Now she tells me she is going to play with other kiddies! With Amy at Daycare it also gives Caitlyn some time just with Dad - no competition for his time from big sister. So I'm sure it will involve some golf games!!

Well I'll post some pictures later in the week on Amy's first day of daycare.

It's been a while between posts!

Where does the time go? For those of you that follow the blog regularly I'm so sorry I only got around to posting once last month - no excuses I guess. Since my last post I turned 1 year older! It was a fun birthday, friends at work bought me candy, starbucks voucher, took me out for lunch and we had cake. I got another cake when I got home too - lucky I like chocolate cake!

Amy is talking up a storm everyday. She is so cute trying to sing her ABC's and counting to 10. She has even started making up her own songs and just singing away to herself (and to Caitlyn of course). It took her a while to start talking but she is doing just fine now. She of course has also mastered how to tell Caitlyn "No" when she doesn't want Caitlyn touching "her" stuff. Most of the time Caitlyn just laughs and continues doing what she wants to do anyway. Can't wait to see some more sisterly love as they grow older. All in all though they love playing with each other and I'm sure in no time they'll be scheming with one another.

I have also had my first trip away for work since Caitlyn was born with a week long trip to Boston at the end of July. Poor Jerad was counting the days until I returned I think. It was a busy week and it was nice to be in cooler weather for a change, but equally nice to get home. The heat here in San Antonio this summer is incredible. It is officially the hottest year on record with 42 days in triple digits and the summer isn't over yet! I am surprised that we have not gone to stage 3 restrictions yet - I guess I better not speak too soon.

Caitlyn turned 10 months old this week. I really can't believe where the time has gone. It doesn't seem that long ago we were adjusting to having 2 kids and now she is crawling and pulling up on furniture. She also has 7 teeth with others coming in. She has a cute little smile but definitely has a gap in her front teeth - looks like we may be up for braces if her permanent teeth come in the same way! But then again, it looked like Amy had a big gap in her front teeth when they first came in and now they are fine.

One of my favorite times with the girls is still bathtime each night. They love splashing and playing together. I place the small tub inside the big tub and usually Amy sits at the end of the bath but lately she has started getting into the small tub with Caitlyn! It's gets very squishy in there when they decide to both try and start kicking.

Caitlyn's 9 month check-up, Circus & Tinkerbell!

So much has happened since our last post. Last weekend we enjoyed the 4th July weekend and went downtown to see the Ringling Brothers circus with Blake and his family. It was a great show. We were allowed in 1hour early so we could get up close to the animals and see some of the performers. Then the show itself lasted 2 hours plus an intermission. Amy and Blake loved seeing the tigers, elephants and acrobats. Mummy and Daddy were impressed with the 7 motorcycles that rode around inside a metal cage. It was certainly a full afternoon and everyone was tired that evening.
On Monday Caitlyn turned 9 months old so during the week she had her check-up visit with Dr Gideon. Caitlyn is 28" tall (70th percentile) and 18lb 6oz (40th percentile). Luckily this time she only needed 1 needle instead of 4 - she seemed to handle it OK. Big sissy went along for moral support too. Also during the week I bought a new camera since my old one had started putting this pink line through the top of the photos. When I bought the new camera I was amazed at how much you get for your money these days. I paid nearly half of what I did 5 years ago for the first digital camera I had and yet this new camera has double the features it seems and is tiny.
Jerad and I are continuing to plan for when we move back to Australia. We have my house back home on the market and then we plan to invest the profit so we can build something when we go back. So we have been looking at different house designs online and getting an idea of what we could afford.
Yesterday was time for little gym again and while we were there they have started selling little girls dance costumes (they now have a dance class for 3+ yrs). One of the costumes had Tinkerbell on it so I couldn't resist getting it for Amy. She wore it all day yesterday and it was quite the drama last night when it was time to take it off! Needless to say I have hidden it today. Amy and I also had a fun night last night - the girls "camped out" in the play room. Amy slept in her little indoor tent while mumy slept on a mattress on the floor outside the tent. Amy kept talking and talking and of course not wanting to go to sleep until well after 10pm. It was hard to get Caitlyn off to sleep in her room too as she seemed to sense she was missing out something and was crying from her bedroom. She came to the playroom with us for a little while but after 3 attempts I did get her to sleep in her crib.
This afternoon I am taking the girls downtown with Jackie, a friend of mine from work. It is the annual River City Dog Show and another lady I know, Kathy, is showing 2 of her golden retrievers in the agility course. I'm sure Amy and Caitlyn will love seeing all the dogs down there and it gets us out of the house. Maybe Amy can start training Domino and Buka after she sees how well the other dogs do :-)

Hot summer days

Once again this week every day is over 100, the low at night is only 78. and we're about to go stage 3 water restrictions. Gotta love south Texas in the summer. Needless to say with this heat we stay in the air conditioning as much as possible. It's been another busy week for us. Jerad and I have been looking at options for when we move back to Australia, so step 1 has been looking into selling the house in New Lambton and then using that money to buy or build something else. At the moment we are leaning towards buying a block of land and then building something closer to the time when we would move back. There are so many things to consider with selling and moving from here, shipping things back and then getting set up back there. I'm sure we can do it though - many have done it before us. It's a bit of sticker shock though when you look at the cost of things in Australia compared to the same item here in the US.

Caitlyn now has four teeth - two on the top and bottom - she looks so cute when she smiles! She is still crawling everywhere but it doesn't look like it will be long before pulls up on the furniture and stands on her own. Amy of course still loves being the big sister and gives Caitlyn kisses all the time. It was funny yesterday with Amy when I was grocery shopping. Since she is such a "big" girl now she likes to walk rather than sit in the shopping cart. So we head off down the aisles of HEB getting groceries and Amy wants to help mummy push the cart (of course this makes it easier for mummy to push the cart and walk behind her while having Caitlyn in the sling.....not). Anyway, we're walking along and whenever someone was up ahead Amy would say "scuse me". I don't think the other shoppers knew where it was coming from - very cute though.

Not much planned for us today - just a trip to Babies R Us, off to Target to pick up some photos and then I might take the girls with me when I go to the gym this afternoon so that they can play in the Kids Club there. We might go for a quick swim too late in the afternoon. Looking forward to next week with the long weekend for 4th July. We are all headed downtown to see the circus with Blake and his family. Then we may go on Sunday night to Seaworld to see some fireworks from their "Summer Nights" show. Well until next week here's to wishing the weather cools down and hope we get some rain.

Caitlyn's crawling!

Well i tried to post last week with a cute video of the girls but the video wouldn't upload. So we got another this week of Caitlyn starting to crawl.

Last week was a busy week this week not made any easier when both Amy and I had a bad stomach bug on Wednesday night. It was a long night - if Amy wasn't being sick, mummy was. Poor little girl ended up having another bath and change of clothes and then she finally got down to sleep again in the wee hours of the morning. Amy bounced right back by the next morning (of course) - but it took Mummy until the weekend. Daddy also had an upset belly for a few days too. Thankfully Caitlyn wasn't affected by it at all. Amy has been saying more words each day - for some reason she likes to make a face like a pirate so she shows that off for the camera too! Caitlyn is almost crawling too, she pulls herself forward with one arm while her legs are out behind her. When she rolls from her back to her belly she almost has her knees in the right position to crawl but then for some reason just flattens her legs and drags herself along instead. It's amazing how much speed she gets though when she is trying to reach something of interest. I know I've said it before but it is amazing how quickly both the girls are growing up and changing. It's fun to see them together and developing their own little personalities but sad too that they aren't little forever.

Amy started her summer semester at the Little Gym last Saturday and thankfully some of the kids from the prior semester are in her class again, so she knows some kiddies. The Little Gym has also started to offer a new class for 3 yr and older to do half dance and half gym. So next year I'd like to get her started in that. Especially since she loves music and dance. Caitlyn will be old enough to start at Little Gym too next semester. Hopefully the girls classes will be back to back.

Today is Father's Day here in the US. The girls bought Daddy the new Tiger Woods golf game for the Wii. I'm sure there'll be plenty of playing this game while mummy is at work. Later today Blake and his parents are coming over for a BBQ. That should be fun and we may go for a swim after lunch since it is so hot. Will post some pics next week.

Show-week at Little Gym & Caitlyn turns 8 months old

Amy had fun this morning at Little Gym. It was the end of the Winter/Spring semester so she got to show off all the skills she had learned and took great delight in showing everyone how she can reach for the bar and swing (repeatedly!) Caitlyn was of course there to cheer her on too. Amy is starting to say more words each day it seems and finally will say her name. Another "skill" she asquired during the least 2 weeks was waking up in the middle of the night and going downstairs in the dark to sleep on the couch. She never cried or came to wake us up - just woke up and found her down there. Daddy got a bit of a shock when her was downstairs and heard this "Hi Dadda!". Needless to say Mummy will be closing the gate at the top of the stairs each night from now on. Speaking of sleeping habits, this week was the first week that Caitlyn consistently slept for 8+ hours each night - way to go Caitlyn. It won't be long before Caitlyn is crawling, she already drags herself forward on her belly with one arm. She can certainly get to wherever it is she wants to go.

Today the girls went to get some photos taken of Caitlyn and then we went for a walk around Barnes & Noble. Amy picked out a book about Little Girls using the Potty and we sat down in the Starbucks within the store to have a drink and share a blueberry scone. Amy quite liked licking the cream and chocolate from the top of my mint mocha chip frappacino. We don't really have any plans for tomorrow so we'll see what the day brings.

Caitlyn sits up on her own

Today Caitlyn sat up on her for the first time!! Up until now she has been rolling to wherever she wants to go but whenever you tried to sit her up she would arch her back and lay down. But not today - I was on the computer this morning and when I turned around she was sitting there smiling at me. You could tell she was so proud of herself. She seems to be more mobile than Amy was at that age. Already pulling up on things - so I lowered her crib yesterday. We think she is teething again because she has been waking up more than usual and just a little grumpy some times with bright red cheeks. Poor little thing. She has the cutest little smile right now with her two front bottom teeth shwoing. Amy is loving her "big girl" bed. I converted it when we got back from vacation. She is such a good little sleeper. She will walk upstairs with me around 8:30 each night, climbs into bed herself, lays on her tummy, I pull the covers up and kiss her good night and then we don't see her until 7:30 the next morning. Hopefully Caitlyn will inherit this trait too (although given her track record it is doubtful).
It's hard to believe our vacation was over 2 weeks ago. I can't believe how quickly the weeks are going by. It's Memorial Weekend here so it's nice to have a long weekend. On Saturday we went to work friend's place for a BBQ. Amy loved it because hamburgers were involved :-) Oh and Michael had baked some yummy brownies for dessert - so we all enjoyed that. With the long weekend it has also meant that Jerad got to play golf twice. So while Daddy was playing golf the girls went shopping. There were some really good sales that's for sure! Yesterday when we were at Lowes we picked up some really nice hanging baskets overflowing with petunias. So Amy helped me pot them when we got home and felt very important using her pink watering can to water them when Mummy was done. We had a few showers yesterday afternoon so Amy also enjoyed running around in the rain barefoot on the grass.
Amy is starting to talk more and more and picking up new words each day. The cutest this week is when she asks for grapes (sounds like gipps). But at least she knows to say please (peeezzz). The other cute one is when she says "Oh no" (imagine it with a Scottish accent if you will).
It sounds like Daddy needs some help peeling the shrimp for the grill tonight so I'd better go. Til next week.............

Port Aransas continued

We are back from vacation now, but we had a great time. Amy and Caitlyn both enjoyed going to the beach each morning and swimming in the pool in the afternoon. Daddy managed to fit in 3 games of golf while we were there (but we won't mention how many balls he lost) - it looks like Tiger's status is safe. Most nights Amy also got to watch her Tinkerbell DVD, so she was happy with that. The dogs loved being able to run on the beach. Although when Buka was catching the ball she did get a few mouthfuls of sand and salt water. On Wednesday we went for a drive to Corpus Christi and went through the Texas State Aquarium. It was really neat - they had all of the displays at a height that Amy could see easily. She loved the otters, sting rays, dolphins and turtles. While we were there we saw the show they had with birds and Daddy got invited up on stage while a hawk flew directly toward him. Unfortunately we didn't get a good photo as the bird was way too quick. After the Aquarium we went next door to Pier 99 restaurant for some more seafood. Thursday was another day of golf for Daddy so the girls went shopping (of course). I stopped in at a local shop called "Popsicle Toes", they do custom fit toe rings. We also went to a souvenir shop and bought 2 t-shirts. It was pretty cool, you could choose from hundereds of decals and they make the shirt up for you while you're there.

The video I included is Amy's second day at the beach. It's hard to hear her over the wind in the background. Jerad also added a slideshow to the blog which appears at the top. Well we're back in San Antonio now and of course it's only May and already reaching 100 F each day (great!)

Port Aransas

Well our vacation has finally started. We started our Saturday with the usual trip to Little Gym and then went home to finish packing. We then had an uneventful drive to Port Aransas and checked in a little early to the house we rented "Tropical Niche". It is a really nice 3 bed / 2 bath house with plenty of space. The dogs like it too as there is plenty of room for them. We didn't really feel like cooking so we went out for dinner to a seafood restaurant called "Castaways" and came home for an early night. But Sunday was a fun and tiring day. After breakfast we went to the local grocery store to pick up some things and then we came home and got ready to walk to the beach. We packed the beach bag and umbrella and the 4 of us set off for the beach. From the house to get to the beach was about 3/4 mile walk. Beaches here are not like Newcastle - there are very lengthy boardwalks to take to get to the actual sand. But we made it there just to find out that you can actually drive onto the beach! So you can guess what we did in the afternoon - we purchased a pass to be able to drive and park on the beach. It must be a US thing too because in general most cars don't drive on the beach and you're usually not able to because the sand is so soft. Here it is moist and hard and all types of cars and vans are on the beach. Anyway - Amy then got to experience the ocean water. Caitlyn did too, although from the safety of the sling and holding on to Mummy. Amy was a little hesitant at first not wanting the water to touch her feet but when she saw Mummy and Daddy doing it she gave it a shot. She loved it and was wanting to walk out deeper (and by that I mean just up over her knees!). Luckily Daddy was standing next to her for the first 2 times she got knocked over and got a mouthful of salt water. I was sure she would be not wanting to go back in the water after that - but she did, she loved it. I took her a bucket and spade to dig and make a sand castle but she wasn't interested, just wanted to keep playing in the water. After all the activity and walk back to the house it was time for lunch and a nap. Directly across from the house is a pool so we went out in the afternoon to buy some floaties for the girls to use in the pool. I didn't want Caitlyn missing out. So we then came back home and we all went for a swim in the pool. Amy loved laying back and floating around the pool. Caitlyn just hng out with Mummy and was nearly asleep again. Both Jerad and I can't believe how warm the ocean and pool water is at this time of year. Not complaining at all, just pleasantly surprised. Today we'll have more beach and pool time and Daddy is going to play golf in the afternoon. There is an Arnold Palmer course next door to where we are staying. We'll have to see how he does playing with an ocean breeze!

Count down to vacation

It's hard to believe it's nearly May and we will soon be headed to the beach for our vacation. Since my last post we have had another 2 trips to Seaworld. The weekend afternoons have been so nice so we headed out to SeaWorld for the last 2 weekends just for a couple of hours each time. We saw the Viva and Shamu shows - they were both great but I think the favorite is Viva with the diving and acrobats along with the dolphins and beluga whales. Plenty of music for Miss Amy to dance along to as well. On Sunday we went there with Renae, Dave and Luke - it was Luke's 2nd birthday. The kids played in Shamu's Happy Harbor and Amy went on her first ride with me - it was like a toddlers ferris wheel is the best way to describe it. I wasn't sure how she would do, but she seemed to love it. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera with me but hopefully Renae will email some photos to me.

Amy also had her 6 month visit to the dentist and did very well. She was most pleased when Dr Ochoa gave her a pink toothbrush to take home. She held on to it all day, but then she could have worse habits I guess. The other big news is Caitlyn now has 2 teeth!! She looks so cute when she smiles and you see the bottom 2 teeth. Amy has also finally started to talk somewhat and gladly tells us how old she is, when she wants to get down from the table and of course No when she doesn't want to take her bath right now. Well next post I should have photos to share from our trip to Port Aransas - can't wait :-)

Easter 2009

What a fun Easter weekend we all had! During the week Cailtyn had her 6 month check-up. She is the same height and weight that Amy was at that age (15lb 13oz and 26 1/4 in). Caitlyn of course was not impressed with the 4 vaccinations it involved but our little girl was brave and by the time we were back in the car she was doing OK. She was sleepy for most of the rest of the day. That afternoon Daddy, Amy and I decorated Easter eggs. We even got fancy using a white crayon to make patterns on the eggs then of course we had to finish the masterpieces with some Sesame Street stickers.

Saturday was our usual morning at Little Gym. Daddy had a game of golf so it was just the girls Saturday morning, so after Little Gym we went to the shops of course and we stopped for a drink and cookie at Starbucks! Easter Sunday it looked like it was going to be a miserable day with wind and rain, but it cleared up in the morning and the afternoon was perfect weather in the 80's. When Amy got up in the morning we all headed downstairs to see what the Easter Bunny had left us. Despite my better judgement Amy did get to have chocolate for breakfast :-) We all headed out to Blake's house for lunch and an Easter Egg hunt. Ashely and Chris have a beautiful home out toward Lake Medina and had prepared a really nice lunch. There were two other kids there and some of their neighbours. After lunch the kids grabbed their Easter baskets and started the hunt for the 50 odd eggs hidden throughout the front yard. The kids loved it - especially when they realized there were toys and chocolates hidden inside the eggs. The kids had some more play time and then it was time to head home for a nap. But once we got home Daddy "watched" the Masters while the girls and I kept playing upstairs. Our neighbours Mandy and Dave visited after dinner with more Easter presents for the girls. Amy got a cute little teddy bear with Jelly Beans and Caitlyn got a cute little snow globe with a bunny inside. All in all it was a fun weekend but I think it wore everyone out :-)

Playing in the Park

Another fun week for the Clay Family. Friday night we went to the zoo for "Feast with the Beasts". From 6:30-9:30 there were food vendors at the zoo and once you paid admission you could have as much as you wanted to eat and drink from the various booths. We had BBQ, mexican, ice-cream and all sorts of goodies. There were also games and prizes for the kids, face painting and people dressed up in costume. The one thing we came to find out was that Amy does not like the costumes at all!!! She would start crying when we approached them so rather than try and get her photo with some of the characters we just kept walking :-)
Sunday was a nice day and in the afternoon we went to the park. There were a lot of kids there but Amy still had fun and enjoyed swinging and climbing on the equipment. Obviously all her practice at Little Gym is paying off. Caitlyn was content just sitting in the sling with mummy while Daddy supervised Amy. This week Caitlyn turns 6 months old and we have doctor appointment today for her regular check-up. Unfortunately it also means more vaccinations for our baby girl. Can't believe Easter is nearly here - we will be decorating eggs and on the weekend we are heading to Amy's friend Blake's house for an Easter Egg hunt - so that will be fun. Will post more and some pics on the weekend :-)

Amy loved the Big Bird show at Seaworld

It's been a fun 2 weeks for us. We ended up going to Seaworld last Sunday as the weekend before it was too cold (yes believe it or not it got really cold here in San Antonio in March!). Jerad and I can't believe that we had not been to Seaworld before now, considering it is only 6 miles from our house. It was such a great afternoon. When we first arrived we went to line up and see the Big Bird Beach Party show. We were sitting right down the front and at first i wasn't sure how Amy would react to the crowds and the noise etc, but she loved it. Her little eyes lit up when she saw Big Bird and Elmo and all the characters she knows from the TV show. Being a kids show they had a lot of music and songs and encouraged the kids to get up and dance as well. So she loved standing of the seat and clapping her hands along with everyone else. Cailtyn even seemed to enjoy it. After that we headed over to the Dolphin Cove where she was able to lean against the angled wall and look down into the pool of dolphins (Jerad standing behind her to support her of course!). She was fascinated watching the dolphins as they were being fed. Then it was time to go to the Sea Lion show. This was one packed with people so I stayed with Caitlyn asleep in her stroller up the back while Jerad took Amy down closer. It was a fun one to watch with them doing their tricks and getting the front section of the audience all wet. By this time it was starting to get late so we stopped by to see the Clydesdale horses and then headed home. It is so nice having the season passes because we can just have 2-3 hours at a time at the park without wearing the girls out and essentially we will see something new each time we go there. We barely saw 1/4 of the park during this trip - there are still all the rides to go on, more animals to see and a lot more shows that are on and different ones throughout the year. Definitely a lot more family friendly park than Fiesta Texas - feels like there is a lot more space, plenty of shade and seating and landscaped beautifully.

As you can see from the photo Caitlyn is holding her own bottle now for Daddy during the day - such a big girl!! She is rolling over a lot more too and trying to push up when she is on her tummy. I am sure she will be crawling sooner than Amy did (granted that won't be hard :-) Jerad has got back into playing golf on Sunday mornings now that the weather is starting to get nicer. Although he missed out on his game this morning as he has a delivery to Laredo. He bought one of the 20 game players cards though so he has plenty of weeks ahead of him to play. When we go on vacation in May there is a golf course 1 mile away so he'll be able to play a couple of rounds then too. Yesterday we went out in the afternoon and bought a Wii game system. Jerad set it up last night and it looks like so much fun. Jerad just played the golf and the bowling and has tried the boxing - it looks like her got a real workout with the boxing game. There are a few games that Amy can play too so we'll see how she does tonight on it :-) Mummy bought the Wii Fit game, I can see Amy wanting to do that with me because when I was pregnant with Caitlyn and did my stretches each night Amy loved to "help" me.

Nothing much else happened during the week. I had a follow-up appointment with Dr Washington and everything is well - I am back down to the weight I was pre-Amy, blood pressure fine and checked out OK. I also went during the week to visit a friend I work with, Edda, who has metastatic breast cancer. This is her third time fighting it and she is having a rough time. She looked well though and is in good spirits and was being discharged yesterday. My thoughts are with her and her family.

Caitlyn turns 5 months old

Once again I have been slack and didn't update the blog last weekend....sorry about that. Well as you can see in the photo Caitlyn is getting ready for Easter early and has had some photos taken of her reaching her 5 month milestone. She of course rolls over now, seems to really like music (just like her sister) as she kicks her legs and "dances" whenever we play particular tunes. She is also a lot more vocal than Amy was and really gets some loud high pitched laughs going at times. It is really cute watching Amy play with Caitlyn and Caitlyn will reach out to grab Amy and just giggle and giggle.

It was an exciting week this week as a friend of ours from Charlottesville was in town for the week attending a conference. We picked Joanne up last Sunday night and took her to the hotel and then she stayed with us on Friday night and got to spend time with the girls. Hopefully she traveled home safely yesterday. It was great catching up with her and learning about her new job and how people are doing back East. After I dropped Joanne back at the airport yesterday I finally went and used some of my gift card at Spa d' Sante and had a dead sea salt body scrub. It was pretty good - I'd never had that treatment before. They mixed the salt scrub with tea tree oil and man I must have had a lot of dead skin to remove because I felt so smooth afterward. Oh and I have to get one of the Vichy showers they had - 5 shower heads at once over your whole body......pretty nice. Next time I go back I think I'll get a massage maybe with the hot rocks.

Today we are all off to Seaworld to meet Big Bird!! Luke (Amy's friend from Little Gym) and his parents asked us if we wanted to go and we thought why not. We have wanted to go to Seaworld for a long time and with the Sesame Street characters there at the moment doing their show we figured Amy would like that. I have purchased season passes for us so we can go anytime we want until the end of the year. It will be another option for Jerad and the girls during the week too.

I am also looking forward to next week, thanks to our tax refund and a bonus from work we are able to pay off the car next week. It will be sweet not having a car payment again!

A quiet couple of weeks

Sorry I didn't get around to posting last week. I think after the long birthday weekend we were all worn out. So the last two weeks have been pretty quiet for us. You know fun stuff, like getting taxes done, grocery shopping, playing at home. The most exciting news is that we have booked a small getaway for the first week in May. We are going to pack up the whole family (Buka and Domino included) and head to the Texas coast (Port Aransas) for a week. We have rented a 3 bedroom house at the beach. It seems like a great deal for us since it is pet friendly, a house rather than a condo, we can buy groceries rather than eating out every meal and if needed we can be back home in 2 hours. It will be nice to take the girls to the beach as neither of them have ever been to the coast. It won't be too hot or too busy that time of year either. There is also a golf course 1 mile away so Jerad can have a few games of golf.

Caitlyn is just getting cuter and cuter. As you can see from the video she really enjoys her jumperoo and I think she has the cutest little smile and giggle. It's hard to believe she will be 5 months old next week. It didn't seem that long ago that I was pregnant. Still, it sure is fun watching her grow each day and interact more. She rolls over more now, smiles and laughs a lot (more than Amy did at that age) and reaches out for objects (which unfortunately sometimes includes my hair or necklace!) Both of the girls are taking a nap right now..............correction were napping. Well it looks like I'll need to cut this one short - so until next week then.

Our little girl turned 2

What a busy week in our household this week. Friday was Amy's 2nd birthday which unfortunately for her started with a trip to the doctors for her and her sister. I took the day off work so I could take them. Amy is now 23.5lbs and 35.5 inches tall. She is in the 10th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. She had to have 1 vaccination but is now all set until she is 4. Caitlyn had her 4 month check-up and now weighs 13lb 11oz and is 24.5 inches long. She is in the 50th percentile for weight and 70th percentile for height. Funnily enough she is tracking nearly identically to Amy when Amy was that age. Caitlyn was a brave little girl and also had 4 vaccinations and an oral vaccine. Of course as soon as she started crying Amy started too. So for about 10 mintues I had them in stereo!! Luckily by the time we left the doctors both had calmed down and all was well as we headed to shops for some retail therapy. In the afternoon Amy had fun opening her gifts she had received from the family. She received a Tinker Bell pop-up book, Tinker Bell blankets, Tinker Bell DVD, Tinker Bell wand (are you picking up a theme here :-), a growth chart, new pair of swimmers, cover-up, Peter Rabbit books, crayola crayons, crayola magic coloring books and a dirt devil toy vacuum. By the end of it she was an expert at unwrapping.

Friday night we went to Madison's house for her 2nd birthday party. She lives in The Dominion in a very nice home. We arrived there in the afternoon with 3 other little kiddos and played in her playroom before heading downstairs for pizza, cake and ice-cream. Before leaving Amy was given 2 pink balloons to take home and she has been playing with them ever since. On Saturday we went to Little Gym in the morning and then came home for an early nap. While Amy and Caitlyn were sleeping I headed out to pick up the Tinker Bell birthday cake. Then it was nearly time to get the party girl dressed and head downtown for her party. Amy looked so cute and when we arrived there and her little friends showed up she was so excited - literally squealing with excitement. We had plenty of food and drinks for everyone and the kids loved looking around the Children's Museum. It is so great because everything is their scale and they can touch everything. Amy had the party room upstairs and they had signs made up for her and the room of course was decorated nicely. The host we had for our party was great - she helped with everything. After the kids had played for a while we called everyone back into the party room and each child decorated a fabric square with handprints and pictures. At the end of it our party host tied all the squares together with bright colored ribbon and made a quilt out of it. It is such a neat momento and we love it. We have it hanging in the girls play room near where Amy does her coloring in. I took a photo to add to this post. Once the quilt making was done it was time for more play out in the museum. Then it was back to the room for cake and gifts. As you can see from Amy's choclatey grin she loved her cake. She was a very lucky girl and received some fantastic gifts from her friends (clothes, a Tinker Bell doll, Tinker Bell book, Build-A-Bear gift card, Little People play castle, puzzles, coloring books, clipo hippo). And the Children's Museum gave her a t-shirt, pencil and beanie toy. Needless to say when we left she was worn out and fell asleep in the car on the way home. But once we were home it was time to watch..........you guessed it Tinker Bell. Mummy and Daddy are tinkered out to say the least. It was a fantastic day though and while it saddens us to think she is growing up so quickly it is great to see the little girl she has become and how happy and friendly she is. It also reminds us how quickly Caitlyn is growing up too and we can't wait to celebrate her milestones too.

Where does the time go?

I can't believe it is February already with Caitlyn turning 4 months old last Friday and Amy turning 2 next week. The weeks and months just go by so quickly. Both of the girsl have their well visits at the doctors next week so we will see how much they have both grown then. Nothing too much to report this week. Amy and Caitlyn had fun during the week playing in their playroom - and big sissy did a very nice job of reading to little sissy (as you can see in the picture). Of course I don't think poor Caitlyn has a choice as Amy is always sitting next to her or on her and giving kisses etc. Poor little Caitlyn probably wants some time to herself some days :-) Jerad also took the girls to the park during the week and Amy went down both of the big slides on her own. Jerad said she absolutely loved it and went down about 10 times. Needless to say she was very disappointed when it was time to come home.
We have been talking to Amy about her birthday and seeing if she will hold up 2 fingers to show old she will be. She doesn't quite do that but gives a great two thumbs up action instead! It was also funny this week she has started to mimic Jerad and I when we hold a finger to our mouth and say "Sshhh". At night after Caitlyn goes to bed whenever Amy is heading upstairs she now with a quite little voice says "Sshhh" but holds her finger sideways across her mouth. It is very cute to see. I am taking the girls later today to have some photos taken. Fingers crossed they both behave and smile for the camera. Sometimes Amy is really good and will pose for the camera and sometimes she just screws up her face and looks everywhere except at the camera. Caitlyn thankfully doesn't really misbehave for the camera just yet - I'm sure that time will come.

Next week we'll have a lot more to report as we have Madison's birthday party on Friday and Amy's on Saturday. I'm sure we'll be on Tinker Bell overload by then!

Jerad's in business

Another busy week for the Clay family. Amy is really enjoying listening to music with Daddy during the day. As you can see in the video she loves dancing and is trying to show her little sister how to dance too. It was the start of a new semester at Little Gym and they have now split the class so some of Amy's friends are now in the older kiddies class. But she still has Blake, Abigail and Lillie in her class and is now able to meet some new little kids too. She had fun with her new teacher Miss Beth and was also able to hand out her birthday party invitations to her friends. This week has involved a lot more birthday party planning - we have ordered her cake and went to Party City to buy party supplies (all Tinkerbell of course!). Mummy and Daddy had fun picking all the little gifts to go in the favor bags too. We also went shopping on Saturday and bought Caitlyn some new clothes and socks. I love shopping for little girl clothes - they are so cute and so much to choose from.

This morning we all went out and got the car washed, did the grocery shopping and bought Amy some birthday presents with money sent by Grandma Liz. Thankfully Amy had a nap after getting home so we can hide the gifts without her having a meltdown as she sees us unpack them and not allow her to play with them! Caitlyn had fun playing with Mummy while we were waiting for the car to get washed but then while we were shopping it was all too tiring and she had to have a nap. She has been such a good girl lately - sleeping through the night, not fussing when we are out (e.g. we ate out twice during the last week and she just lays there while we eat our meal smiling at everyone), laughing and giggling at nearly everything. Of course she is also getting cuter each week. Hard to believe she will be 4 months old this week - she is growing up way too fast. But it is so much fun seeing her with Amy as they interact more.

The other exciting news this week is that Jerad now has a business of his own. He signed up this week to become an Arbonne Consultant. His friend Amy in Oklahama is a stay at home mum and has been doing it for 2 years. They specialize in skin care but also have a baby care line, mens products and health supplements. So Jerad thought this might be a way to make a little extra money while being a stay at home dad. Check out the products at www.arbonne.com
If you want to order something just use his Consultant Number 18105090

Well until next week...................bye

Presentation Day at Little Gym

We all had a fun day yesterday. It was Amy's Presentation Day at Little Gym where all the kids get to show off what they have learned throughout the semester and do it on their own. At the end the kids all get presented with a ribbon. At least this time (unlike last year) Amy didn't throw her ribbon on the floor. She was quite happy to show off for us and the camera. Unfortunately when I went to upload the video of it this website was having issues so the video didn't upload. I'll try again next week.

Jerad did get some good photos of Caitlyn this week though. One of her smiling and enjoying her BIG beanbag and another where she is worn out from playing in the Jumperoo and has to catch a few zzz's. It's amazing how much she is changing week by week. Jerad was also very pleased during the week with Amy and the fact that she appears to really like Tom Petty. She was dancing up a storm when his music came on the TV. Jerad is a huge Tom Petty fan for those that don't know. We also had fun yesterday upgrading Jerad's cell phone and adding me to the plan. Of course when we got home we had to work out how to use the new toys! Nothing is simple any more it would seem.

Mummy had a busy week at work and it will be that way for the foreseeable future as things are very hectic. Then when weekends get here they seem to go by so quickly - too quickly. Nothing much else planned for the weekend other than grocery shopping. So it should be a quiet Sunday, and if the weather improves we'll be planting some seedlings out in the garden.

A chilly week.............well by TX standards

It was a shock to the system this week with the cold weather each day. It was in the 30's each day on the way to work and some days only getting into the 40s. Now I realize for others in the US this is pretty warm for winter - but for South Texas, it is almost frigid :-)

Thankfully Amy is doing much better this week and back to her normal self. Caitlyn is fine too, in fact she actually slept for 10 straight hours on Thursday night. I was in a panic at first when I woke up and realized that I hadn't got up in the early hours of the morning. But when I went to check on her she was just snoozin'. Had me worried for a minute there. Of course she hasn't bothered to sleep like that again for mummy and daddy!

I've made more progress on the planning of Amy's 2nd birthday party. I've ordered the invitations and a cute little outfit for her. Next week I'll start thinking about the cake, goody bags and the food. We also had a fun afternoon together in the kitchen making a pumpkin cake. Amy was such a big help measuring the dry ingredients for mummy. We tasted our masterpiece while it was still warm out of the oven and now she has gone down for an afternoon nap. Depending on when she wakes up we may go for a walk to the park. During the week in Daddy Daycare Amy and Caitlyn were busy teaching daddy some songs (and the actions that go along with them of course) as seen in the video :-)

Learning to drive and full of smiles

I think we could best describe this week as tiring - due to busy days and lack of sleep. We once again (or I should say still) have a sick household. Amy went to the doctors on Wednesday but wasn't improving and by Friday still had a nasty cough, runny nose, fever etc. So she is now on antibiotics and doing much better today. Of course she has been very generous and shared her illness with little sissy. So now Caitlyn has a bad cough and runny nose. There isn't much we can give Caitlyn and just need to watch her to see she doesn't start wheezing etc. Daddy still isn't 100% either and it is peak allergy season here in San Antonio with all the cedar in the air so let's hope this coming week is healthier!

Due to being stuck indoors though we did get to take some video this week - 2 in fact. Caitlyn was full of smiles on Thursday and Amy is already learning to drive a car (well a Tinkerbell car). She just needs to learn to keep her finger on the red button (accelerator) and then of course how to steer - minor details! During the week I also booked Amy's 2nd birthday party at the Children's Museum, so now I just need to get invitations and all that jazz. It should be a fun day with all the activities the kids can do there.

As we moved the TV and cabinet from the playroom to the downstairs guest bedroom Jerad found my old Nintendo Gameboys (including Gameboy Color) - they seem like relics now but I'll manage to have some fun with them playing Zelda and Metroid :-) I had forgotten I had them - see the fun you can have when tidying up. Clearly it doesn't take much to amuse me. Well we don't really have much else planned for the rest of the weekend while the kiddos are sick so I'll end the post here. Have a great week everyone!

Happy New Year

It was a pretty low key week for us as most of the household is again (still) battling the cold/flu. On top of that it has been particularly cold outside (well by San Antonio standards at least). I had my first day back at work and thankfully the office is pretty quiet this time of year so I was able to start catching up on stuff without too many interruptions. We didn't do anything special for New Year's Eve this year - I didn't even make it to midnight. But when I woke up the next morning it was 2009! Hard to believe the year went by so quickly.

Caitlyn is growing more and more each week and is now sleeping about 8 hours at a time at night, so it is good to get a night's sleep again. I'm sure she'll start giggling soon, she has huge smiles when you play with her during the day and is starting to make little laughing sounds. We pulled out Amy's old Jumperoo for Caitlyn this week and she seems to enjoy it. Of course she doesn't stay in it long as her little neck muscles get sore being in the upright position. Amy wanted to get back in it when she saw it but seems content playing with her little sister in it.

I'm in the process of planning for Amy's 2nd birthday. I went and checked out one place yesterday but it wasn't that great. So this week I am going to look into booking the San Antonio Children's Museum. They have 3 party rooms and special activities for the kids to do during the party. They really seem to cater to all different age groups and it looks like the adults might enjoy it too. So we'll see what I decide during the week. I have printed out some pictures of dresses for Amy so that she can pick a birthday dress - at the moment her favourites seem to be a hot pink one or a blue/brown one. She changes her mind everyday of course, but we'll try and get her to narrow it down.

No other real news this week, I'll try and post more next week and include some pictures.