Back to Reality

I have been so busy this past week and really this whole month. My sis in law, Carol, has been in town every Tues and Thurs this month and we have been having a blast hanging out. Then came my trip to Santa Fe. We had a blast. It is a really great town for a girl's trip. The spa we went to was amazing. I have never experienced anything like it before. The rose petal bath with the fireplace at my feet while eating fruit and sipping tea....divine! I was sad to leave but happy to see my 2 favorite people at the airport! There is not a better feeling in the world than the anticipation of seeing your baby again. We hugged and laughed and jumped around. Then Tuesday morning came and shook me back into reality! HA! Back to poopy diapers and bottles and cranky teething mood swings. It's the best kind of reality I can imagine but it was still hard to drag myself out of bed and put on the mom hat!

I have pretty boring pictures of the trip so I won't be posting them. Kaylan has the one pic of us from the whole trip. I will post it when she sends it to me.

The Arizona Cardinals advanced to the Super Bowl while I was away on my trip. Claire and her daddy celebrated with lots of beers and apple juice. Eric dressed her up in her Cardinals jersey to watch the game and took a picture of her playing outside. He wanted to show the family the kind of fierce determination the Cardinals will be bringing to beat the Steelers!

Girlfriends

Friday I leave for Santa Fe, NM, with my oldest and dearest friend Kaylan. We have been friends for 25 years. Almost our entire lives it seems. I don't remember a time in my life without her. We got braces together, had crushes on all of my older brother's friends, went to junior high dances together, wrote letters to each other in college, and survived losing parents together. We always joke that we are like the movie Beaches. Friends til the end! I feel so blessed to have the good friends that I have in my life.

I can't wait to go away for the weekend. I haven't had a girl's trip since Cancun in 1996! Even then I was always partying with friends and doing co-ed trips. I don't think until I got married and had a baby did I realize the true importance of one on one time with a good girl friend. All friendships have a journey and I cherish that much more now.

I will be back on Monday and I sure there will be pics to follow!

Big Bird

Claire is very attached to her Big Bird right now. Elmo was so last week! She still loves her Elmo movies but she is much more interested in her Big Bird right now. When you squeeze Big Bird's hand it plays the Sesame Street theme song. I swear I have heard it a 1000 times now! This last round of immunizations did not make Claire feel good at all. I took this pic of her after her doctor visit. She was just lethargic and down. Poor little Biscuit! She is all good now and getting back to herself.

It hasn't been a banner weekend for the Cox family. I realized as I pulled out of my driveway Friday on the way to Claire's 15 mo checkup that I had a flat tire. Great! Luckily my brother in law was in town and he drove over and hooked me up with the spare and off we went to her appt. On Sat, Eric and I went to Discount Tire to get some new tires because we realized mine were pretty bald. We took both cars so I could drop him off. I was driving his car and on the way home we got rear ended/sideswiped on the back passenger side of his brand new car. So sad. We were just so happy that we were all okay. Claire was in the backseat. She was mad because her DVD player slid off the console! Her car seat is the mega sized Britax Boulevard and it has a the "true side impact" crash test approval. She sits in the middle seat though so it wasn't really an issue. If she ever sits on the sides of the backseat I will always be glad to have this car seat. So, there is my plug for Britax! HA!

This next week will begin the insurance and rental car yuck. Since I was the driver I get to talk to the super fun State Farm guys! But on a happier note...Friday I will be sitting pretty in Santa Fe, NM!! Girls weekend here I come!

A year ago today

a year ago

now look at her!!

The outfit was sort of a mishap. I wanted to try this cute dress from her Aunt Carolyn on her and she still had on her tennis shoes. Cute ensemble! Spring time in January! It's impossible it seems to get a normal picture these days. She is always in motion or busy looking the other way!

To think there was ever a time when we could put Claire in her infant seat...on the kitchen table...and NOT buckle her in the chair! ha!!! WOW! How times have changed. She would just sit there while I washed bottles or we would have breakfast together. Bottle for her...coffee for me! I don't think I knew how good I had it then! She couldn't even sit up by herself. :) Now we are on to bigger and better things. She has likes and dislikes, runs, talks, laughs at Elmo videos, and gives kisses. It's a whole new world one year later!

I just can't help it....

...but I think my kid is a genius!! :) I am sure I am no different than most parents. Everything your baby does is the best thing on earth to ever happen. Eric and I are in constant awe of her growth, skills, and beauty. I took Claire to her 15 month well check up today. She impressed the doctor with her verbal skills. When he said "good girl, Claire" she repeated him with "goo guhl". She told him "tank you" and "bye" as he left the room. Such a smart girl! I have to give Daddy a lot of credit for reading to her every night before bedtime and using such good manners with her. She is off the charts in height for her age and 50% for her weight. Tall and skinny! Now if we can just work on getting her off the bottle. She only wants juice and water from a cup. She is no fool when we put milk in her cup. She throws it down on the floor and demands her bah, bah. It will be a long road but we will get there. The doctor also warned us that tantrums will be starting soon. I told them that we are already there! She is ahead of the curve in all aspects not just talking! With the good comes the bad. She is the sweetest little girl I could ever imagine and so full of love. It's hard to comprehend when we see her throw herself on the floor screaming or hit us. Yes, she has started to hit us if she doesn't get her way. It's something we hope will go away if we don't feed into it. We know that our little baby has turned into a toddler and that will bring challenges. It will be another learning curve for us all.

aim high! i hope she will always follow her dreams. (just not to UT. she can't leave Arizona! i will be pulling for U of A where her grandpa welker attended)

daddy's girl

15 months

Stamped concrete complete

Here is our first look at the finished project. We are waiting for the concrete to cure then we will put our furniture back onto the patio. We have rocks for the rest of the yard. No trees or plants at the moment.

Before (not the best pics of before or after)

After