snow day | january 2016

The first real snow fall this year FINALLY happened. Nora has been so excited to use her new Frozen sled from Santa. We didn't get more than a few inches, but it was an absolutely beautiful sight to wake up to! 

They had so much fun! 

Xo!

Caity

clara eloise | 6 months

Wow. S I X months. It feels like yesterday we brought our sweet little lady home from the hospital. While the transition to a family of four wasn't without bumps, we are really settling in and wouldn't have life any other way. We truly LOVE our little Clara girl. She brings so much JOY to the day to day and has a smile the LIGHTS up a room. Nora can't wait to run into Clara's room in the morning for good morning hugs. She misses Clara when she is asleep and often wants to go in her room to check on her while she is napping (and mommy feels the same). I've always MISSED my girls when the sleep!

F E E D I N G
Clara and I have had a challenging journey with breastfeeding. Around 4 months of age, the two of us FINALLY figured things out. Breastfeeding went from stressful and upsetting to truly enjoyable. I finally can read her cues and have confidence she is feeding well. She stops feeding to regularly look up at me, study my face and give smiles that could light up a room.  She currently feeds 6-8 times per day, still waking up 1-3 times regularly at night. As a newborn, she was virtually impossible to wake to feed at night. Now, I would L O V E longer stretches of uninterrupted sleep. That being said, I will always cherish the smiles, cuddles and the peaceful quiet time we share at night.

We started solid food with her Christmas day--maybe a little too early (debatable in my opinion :-)). The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until 6 months. However, she was consistently showing all signs of readiness to eat (and was very nearly 6 months). She LOVES to eat and cries when we don't feed her fast enough. Her nickname is "hungry monkey." We have tried oat cereal (a favorite), squash, carrots (NOT a favorite), sweet potato, bananas, and mango.

D E V E L O P M E N T

Clara has changed so much this past month. She went from newborn to older baby literally overnight. She has never enjoyed sitting, from day one (literally) wanting only to stand. Christmas day she decided she was okay sitting and actually sat VERY well. Over the past two weeks, she has perfected this skill, falling rarely. She has started to reach for toys from the sitting position (wearing a PROUD expression) and remains very stable. Over the past week she has started to move herself into the crawling position, although her little arms struggle to hold her adorable baby C H U B (best ever). This girl P L A Y S hard. She loves her sister Nora.  Clara smiles constantly. Nora definitely wins Clara's smiles on a regular basis. Clara will go from screaming to laughing when she even sees her sister. The relationship between the two girls has become so unbelievably wonderful to watch. Speaking of laughter--this girls gives giggles away for free. She laughs (BELLY laughs) constantly. She is incredibly ticklish (especially right under her arms).

She is not yet babbling but squeals and makes happy noises regularly. Her happiest time is in the morning when she wakes up. We usually hear her playing and talking for a bit before she gets impatient for us to come rescue her from her crib.

S L E E P
A challenge. This girl is famous for her 25 minute naps. She wakes easily when shes not in mommy or daddy's arms. Night time (since our visit to Phoenix in early December) has been H A R D. She has a difficult time falling asleep on her own and in the early part of the night wakes up every 30 min-1 hour. Prior to December, Clara only woke once per night at about 3 am.

F A V O R I T E S

Clara LOVES her baths. She sits in her little pink seat and kicks and splashes her chubby legs. When bath time is over, she actually cries and tries to lean back towards the tub. She loves to suck on the wash cloth and loves very warm water.

Clara has some clear favorite toys.  She still loves her little elephant (from Becca, Tyler, and Zoe), as teething is in full swing. She mostly gnaws on his ears (Nora LOVED Sophie the Giraffe's legs. Really she puts everything in her mouth that she can get her fingers on. She also really loves her car seat caterpillar (from Auntie Bri). She bats and grabs at the caterpillar while we are out and about. This has been a life saver. Clara HATES being in her carseat and does not like riding in the car.  For Christmas, Clara received some textured balls from Santa Claus. She holds and throws the little yellow one with large bumps ALL DAY.

T H E  S T A T S
Weight: 14 lb 3.2 oz (15%)
          Birth: 7 lb 0.3 oz (46%)
Height: 24.25 inches (3%)
          Birth: 19 inches (32%)
Weight for Length: (61%)
          Birth: (72%)

We L O V E you, Clara girl!!

XO,

Caity

a new year | 2016 resolutions

2016. A new year. A chance to start fresh. Each year I make New Year's resolutions, but by the end of the year I have become so distracted, I hardly remember what they were, no less have successfully achieved them. This year I am documenting them in an easily accessible place.

The following are the resolutions I hope to L I V E by.

1. L I V E   S I M P L Y |  This resolution is multipronged for me. This simplicity is related to life in general, as well as, the material items that fill our lives. As a dietitian with a love for cooking and healthy fresh foods, I often find myself disappointed in feeding my family simple meals. However, there is no shame in simple meals. I can create a healthy nourishing meal for my family in 10 minutes or less. It may lack complication, but it nourishes their bodies and often saves my sanity on hard days. Sometimes the simplicity allows for more meal preparation participation from my adorable 3 year old, Nora. She LOVES to stir (with a SPATULA--every spoon/cooking/baking tool is currently labeled this way). I also spend less time in the kitchen and more time enjoying my family. As far as the material portion of life, I desire simplicity. With social media and our consumer culture, it is easy to feel like we NEED things to live a fuller life. This is the opposite of true. Life is not enhanced by things. It is enhanced by the time we share and how we choose to share it with the ones we love.

2. E M B R A C E   T O D A Y | I don't know about you, but I often find myself counting the days until the next season, next age, or next phase of life. Living this way strips us of the happiness of  right NOW. For example, we are currently freezing in the St. Louis winter. Instead of being disappointed we cannot be out for walks, playing outside or even comfortably running errands, I am F O C U S E D on the moments we having indoors. The girls love snuggling, drinking hot chocolate (or hot apple cider), and wearing our slippers ALL DAY LONG. This brings me to my next resolution.

3. F I N D   J O Y |  Every event or moment, even the superficially tough ones, is capable of giving us J O Y.  Since setting this resolution nearly two weeks ago, I have really found a change in my internal happiness. In my current life, I find myself up many times at night and feeling exhausted and sleep deprived. Now, for those moments of sleep deprivation, the ones in the middle of the night with my sweet Clara, I find a true love and appreciation. I recognize how fleeting infancy is and likely so is this quiet time we have, just us. This little lady cuddles, loves to be rocked and shares infinite smiles. She is so incredibly H A P P Y in the middle of the night. I love this. I know, despite the constant desire for a full nights rest, I will miss these moments.

4. LI V E   F R E E | Mommy guilt. This is the unfair result my type A personality, the high standards I set for myself and my constant comparison with the unrealistic images displayed all over social media today. I want to set myself free of these feelings of inadequacy. My children are healthy, safe, happy and well-cared for. Whether I puree all of Clara's baby food from organic foods myself or buy it does not change this. Whether Nora is enrolled in dance class, gymnastics, or swim lessons or all of them, does not change this. Whether we get outside to play most days or stay indoors, does not change this. Whether Nora watches the IPAD more than the ideal amount of time, does not change this. What matters most is that Nora and Clara feel our LOVE in all of life's REAL moments. My best is GOOD enough. Even days that are less than my best are GOOD enough. Accepting this will help me to succeed in the four previous resolutions and lead a HAPPIER life for myself and my family.

In addition to ways I hope to LIVE. The following are resolutions I hope to D O/ A C C O M P L I  S H in 2016.

1. Take a photography class

2. Cook more for fun.

3. Get outdoors more (despite life's barriers).

4. Play hard EVERY DAY.

5. Yoga/meditate most days.

MOST OF ALL--I WANT TO APPRECIATE ALL OF MY LIFE'S B L E S S I N G S!

XO!

Caity

christmas | 2015

Christmas came and went quickly, as it always does. Daddy had to work Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and the day after Christmas. The girls and I did our best to make the holiday feel festive, despite Daddy being gone and not having our family in town.

The days leading up to Christmas, Nora and I spent baking (most of which we sent Neal to work with...). Nora picked out several cookie recipes from Pinterest (here and here) and we made our family fudge recipe. Both recipes were a D E L I C I O U S.

Christmas Eve, the girls and I spent relaxing. We started a new tradition this year. We give the girls "christmas eve boxes." The boxes have Christmas jammies, a Christmas movie, hot chocolate and movie snacks. This year the girls got adorable matching jammies and we watched the Polar Express. Neal and I have always loved this film. However, watching it with the girls, I realized it is actually pretty C R E E P Y. I was expecting Nora to be up all night with nightmares!

Nora enjoyed putting out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeers before she went to bed. She was really disappointed she could not wait up and feed them herself. The next morning she was devastated the reindeers ate her carrots... Maybe next year she will be more excited to S H A R E.

Daddy woke up after only a few hours of sleep to enjoy Christmas morning with us. Nora was so excited to open her presents, but played with each one before excitedly opening the next. It took us all day to finish opening her presents. She was most excited about her "goggles for the swimming pool." She wore them around most of the day. For breakfast, Daddy made Santa pancakes. They were S O yummy--a true daddy specialty (maybe a new tradition?).

The rest of the day was spent playing with the new presents, napping, enjoying each other and FaceTime with family. We missed everyone so much. Maybe next year we will fly back to Phoenix.

Christmas with children is absolutely amazing. We have so much to be thankful for and many Christmas blessings. C A N N O T wait to see what next year has in store.

XO!

Caity