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.

Back to work tomorrow for me.....

What a busy week we've had with Santa and all. We picked up Tim and Deb from the airport during the week after their trip to New York. Deb was pretty hapy because it snowed while they were there and that was what she really wanted to see while there. Also during the week Grandpa Traynor was in town until Christmas with a load going through to North Carolina. Christmas Eve we ventured over to La Cantera to get the girls photo with Santa. Unfortunately after lining up Amy was not having any part of a Santa photo. It was so strange because as we lined up she seemed all excited and even tried to walk up to Santa with the group of girls in front of us. But when it got to her turn she was clinging to me for dear life. Since I used to be that way myself when I was younger I wasn't going to force her to have a photo taken so she got some jingle bells from Santa and happily waved bye-bye to him from the safety of Aunty Deb's arms. Meanwhile Uncle Tim and Mummy had their photo taken with Santa. Last time we did that together I was 17 and heading off to Uni. So after our long morning at the shops and picking up last minute groceries we came home and decorated Christmas cookies that Grandma Mary-Ann had sent Amy. You can see from the photo that Amy did a great job decorating these. She must have because we left the cookies out and some milk for Santa and to Amy's surprise in the morning Santa had been!

Amy wasn't too sure what to make of it at first but Caitlyn seemed to enjoy herslef all morning. Although she did take a nap about half way through the present unwrapping. Everyone did really well with presents from Santa and family. The girls now have a complete playroom with furniture, storage and toys. Daddy Daycare will be in full swing starting tomorrow. The rest of the day Deb and I cooked the ham, turkey, sides and dessert for Christmas dinner. Needless to say with a 3lb turkey and 6lb ham you can imagine what we have been eating ever since Christmas day. The day after Christmas Deb and I went and had manicure/pedicures done and then went out for a coffee. In the afternoon we all went down town for a walk along the Riverwalk to see the Christmas lights. Uncle Tim also wanted to stop at Coyote Ugly and then Aunty Deb had some last minute shopping at Macy's before they had to leave. Tim went to visit the Alamo but it closed at 5:30. Good to know for the future - luckily he had been there before. So we all headed home for some Christmas left overs while Tim and Deb packed their bags for Fiji. We dropped them at the airport on Saturday and we all then came home for a nap. Tim rang from Dallas airport and told us they had a 2 hour delay in San Antonio but should still make it to LAX and onto Fiji in time. I'm assuming they did or we have heard from them again by now. Today has been a lazy day too as I have my last day before going back to work :-( Jerad and I have installed the car seat in Jerad's car so now both vehicles are equipped to take both girls wherever they need to go. This afternoon we may head out to the Christmas sales so that Jerad can spend his Christmas gift certificate.

5 sleeps 'til Santa comes

Where has the year gone? I can't believe it is only 5 more sleeps until Santa is here. It doesn't seem like it has been a year already. I also have only 1 week left of maternity leave! Monday was a busy day - a lady I used to work with in Australia was in San Antonio at a breast cancer conference so we picked up Dianne and started the morning with a late breakfast at Mimi's cafe. Of course we had to have the pumpkin spice pancakes :-) Then we went to La Cantera and did some Christmas shopping. It was a very cold day (especially for San Antonio) so the mall was pretty much empty. Made it much more pleasant to walk around. Tim and Deb then got back home late Monday night after their trip to Dallas. Unfortunately for Tim the Giants didn't win. Tuesday was pretty quiet for us around home but we did manage to go to Bobby J's for dinner. Amy was occupied there with her burger and for some reason a little plastic cup that she kept putting on her head and then letting it fall off kept her amused for days. Wednesday we had a make-up class at Little Gym, so Aunty Deb, Jane, Caitlyn and Amy went to that. While we were doing that Tim and Jerad went shopping for baseball gear. Wednesday and Thursday were more shopping days for us. You can see from the picture that Amy was all dressed up (sunglasses) and all ready to hit the shops and have her morning Starbucks to get her through the day! Friday we took Tim and Deb to the airport as they are headed to New York for the weekend. It seems from the weather reports that it is going to be very cold up there with snow/ice as well. I know Deb is looking forward to the snow but let's hope there isn't too much ice - not very nice to walk around in that. This weekend is going to quiet again for us and we are just avoiding the shops as their are LOTS of people doing last minute Christmas shopping. I figure we can go on Monday or Tuesday when they aren't as many people. Some of the furntiure has arrived that we ordered for the girls playroom so we'll concentrate on buying some pictures for the walls and other little accessories. We also found out that Grandpa Traynor has a load coming through San Antonio, so it will be fun to have him for Christmas with us all too.

Watch me on my Sit'N'Spin!

What a busy week we have had - so much so I am writing in the blog twice this week. For those observant readers, you will notice that I have updated the blog and added some features to the left hand side of the blog:

For some of us working out the time difference between San Antonio and elsewhere is sometimes a little tricky. So I have added a feature "Is it OK to call now". It shows the time and date in San Antonio and also the time and date of our friends and family in Australia and the UK. My brother Tim also told me that he and Deb also have a blog so I have added a link to their blog. Lastly I added a gadget whereby you can list yourself as a "Fan" of this blog (or follower). Just thought it may be interesting to see who keeps up to date with the Clay Clan.

Amy is still getting over her cold so we are all having a day at home today while Tim and Deb have gone up to Dallas. We were in the girls playroom this morning and Amy went and grabbed her Sit n Spin. She has had it for a few months and typically we need to sit her on there, hold her there and spin it for her. But not today......you'll see in the video that she has mastered spinning herself around and pressing the button so that the music plays.

Yesterday we all went to Little Gym and Amy had to show off her Aunt and Uncle to all the kids at the gym. She was having a great time showing them her forward rolls, hanging from the bars and using the balance beam. The funniest part was at the end with the good-bye song she was off playing with Uncle Tim when we all started singing the song and she started doing all of the actions for it then walks up to the middle of the red mat (in front of everyone), sits down with the instructor and shows everyone how to do the actions for the song. It was hilarious to sit and watch.

Anyway, just wanted to share more video and alert you all to some new features of the blog!