August and Everything After

(Warning: there may be a mini pregnant lady rant to follow)

I have to say, being 30 weeks pregnant and spending the day with a very active two year old in the height of summer is a challenge. I remember when I was preggo with Claire, it was also the summer (she was born Aug 27th) but I was on summer break from grad school and until a month before she was born we lived in a nice apartment complex with air conditioner and a resort-like pool. I used to spend hours sipping decaf lattes by the pool and reading books, then I'd retire to the air conditioned apartment for a nap. HAH! Now, no pool, no air conditioner, no ice maker for iced coffee beverages, no naps (well, not entirely no naps, but far fewer and at the expense of cleaning the toilet or folding the mountains of laundry) and no time for books unless they are of the Hop on Pop variety.

Claire is in a crazy-fun, sometimes beat-your-head-against-the-wall-and-then-go lock-yourself-in-your-room phase. She loves to tell stories about her day. She constantly astounds us with her capacity to understand and explain her world. She also has an uncanny memory for events from months and months ago. She speaks in complete, mostly intelligible sentences (more intelligible to me because I hear them ALL DAY LONG!) I've had to institute a "mommy's taking a break" time occasionally just to stay sane.

Kevin's favorite thing Claire does: She calls him "my daddy." He converted her crib into a toddler bed, and she was so proud to show it off. She told everyone "My daddy made it [for] me!" And speaking of toddler beds, Claire transitioned to hers without so much as one single issue. I was all prepared for a few nights of up and down, but it was all unnecessary. She is such a sleeper! She goes down between 7 & 8 and sleeps until 8 or 8:30. When she wakes up, she calls for me, "Mommy, I'm awake!" from the edge of her bed and waits for me to come in before climbing down. It's unreal!

I am not ready to lose this sleep!!! So, I'm trying to capitalize on the time I have left before Jude arrives.

Here's a few pictures from our latest visit to the beach:

So far this summer

It has been an eventful summer for our family so far. We went camping for the first time with Claire at the end of June. That went much better than expected! (Kevin already posted the pictures from that weekend!) Then we spent a week in Northern California with my parents. There we had our first scary late-night rush to the ER... turns out Claire had croup. She had to be on an oxygen mist for 3 hours and was pumped full of antibiotics and steroids. It was not a good time! But she (and we) recovered eventually.

A big milestone for us: Claire is potty trained! It was a long few days of constant vigilance, but she has caught on super quickly! We're about 4 weeks "dry" now... of course there are accidents, but they result mainly from not making it to the toilet fast enough. We're to the point where she is even dry during nap time (but not at night, of course!)

Jude is growing fast and strong! My belly is huge already (compared to where I was with Claire) and I still have three more months to go! We've started rearranging the furniture to prepare for his arrival- decisions like whether to convert the guest room into his nursery or put his crib in Claire's room. For now we've decided to try and retain our guest room and have the kids share a room once Jude is sleeping more regularly. We'll see if that plan becomes permanent or not. I've picked out fabric for Jude's crib bedding and Claire's new toddler bedding and Kevin's super-talented mom is going to make it!

July has flown by, and August is already all booked up so I know it will disappear before we know it. Right before Claire's 2nd birthday, Kevin and I will be taking our FIRST-EVER night away! Our fabulous friend Tammi is going to stay at our place and Kevin's sister Mikkele may also be here (she's moving back from Amsterdam next week and staying with us until she has secured an apartment/roommates/job, etc.) So Claire will be very well taken care of and we'll be able to enjoy a full 24 hours in San Diego with no worries! Kevin planned the whole trip complete with a fancy room at the top of the Hyatt (the kind where they give you robes!) and a nice breakfast/late check-out package in the morning. Needless to say, I'm excited.

There's more to say about our cheeky little daughter and all her adventures- and misadventures- because I waited so long to post this, so I'll save it for another time.

Photos from the Beach

Hey everyone,

We are in Northern California at the grandparent's house (we have many stories about our time here as well, but they will have to wait for another post), but Meghan sent us these photos she took of Claire last weekend while we were camping and we wanted to share them. They're quite fantastic as Meghan is a great photographer. If you're looking for someone to shoot something for you (with a camera...) I highly recommend her and would love to put you in touch with her.

But for now, enjoy!

It's a...

BOY!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, we are adding a son to the mix! We are super excited to experience this new and crazy world of boydome (that's not a word, but it should be.)

Introducing Jude Daniel Bringard (or possibly spelled Daniyel, we have to wait and see who wins that battle)

picture #1: face and tummy shot

picture #2: foot

picture #3: little boy bits :-)

Here comes another one...

Hello all! I have been horrible about writing. I was working (student teaching) and going to school at night and mommy-ing and wife-ing. It was all just a bit too much! But I turn in my last paper tonight, and I graduate on Saturday!! NO MORE SCHOOL!!

It's good that I will be able to focus on staying home because we are expecting Squiddy #2 in October! Baby is healthy and kicking around quite well. No news yet on boy or girl... but soon! So hopefully after I get through the week, I will have more opportunities to blog--and more importantly--to catch up on all my blog reading!

Claire is wonderful when she's not coming to pieces during a tantrum (which is happening more and more these days!) She's learning to spend some quality time in "time-out." She talks CONSTANTLY! Even random people in the store remark on the non-stop stream of semi-intelligible chatter she keeps up. It's great, but tiring after the 385th "Mommy, Mommy Mommy" that she resorts to when she's run out of anything else to say. Her new favorite thing is the Tikki Room at Disneyland, and she always makes us sing the song. In fact she often demands "Mommy sing _____" Our other favorite demands: "Boy come! (talking to any random boy passing by) "Mommy watch me eat!" (really, kid? Do you need an audience for everything?!) "Walking all by myself!" and the always present "Eat food, I want snack!" Little Miss Bossy is in for quite a change when she's got a little brother or sister at home in the mix! I hope she can survive sharing the spotlight!

Disney Fun!

Hey everyone!

It has been quite some time since we posted, and I felt it was time to remedy that.

Yesterday we spent the day at Disneyland with Ryan from Sleeping at Last (one of my all time favorite bands) and Jeremy Larson of, well, himself. They are both great musicians, and I highly recommend you buy their stuff post haste. Shameless promotion aside, Jeremy took some great photos of Claire and we would be derelict in our duty as parents to not share them.







I dare you to find photos of a cuter child. In fact, dare etiquette be darned... I triple dog dare you.

She emerges from the cold hard fall (semester) and looks to the horizon (vacation) with hope for a New Year

Ok, ok, ok. So, that title was a bit dramatic! But, I didn't want to just put, "Happy New Year." I was feeling both long winded and silly. So, that was the result!

Well, school is out, and that means I actually have time to devote to my long-neglected blog! This post is going to be photo-heavy in an attempt to compensate for the neglect. In no particular order we have:

Claire in San Diego on a recent trip. She loved looking at the ocean and chasing the sea gulls. We loved eating one pound carne asada burritos from Adalberto's.

This next one was taken at Claim Jumper at our friend Tammi's birthday party. Claire WILL NOT SIT STILL in a restaurant! She was driving me crazy until I remembered some sage advice from I don't know who about letting kids gnaw on bones to keep them busy. Worked like a charm! Here she is trying to get two baby back ribs in her mouth at once.

Mikkele took this on her iPhone with a Polaroid app.

We were in Merced in November for my Great Grandfather's funeral. It was wonderful to celebrate his life with my family. This is Claire and Daddy in the hotel. I also have an amazing video from that trip of Claire and my niece Lucy dancing outside the door to a restaurant bar. I'll post it later.

Don't remember when I took this, but honestly, she's stinking cute!

Today we went to the park to play. It was so nice outside, that I let Claire run in the grass without her shoes. She had a blast! You may also notice her rocking the pigtails. It was the first time I've been able to get her hair up like that. It's hilarious though, because from the front you can't see them at all, they're so small!

She LOVES the slide! It was hard to get her to pause on the stairs for a photo. What a sweet face!

We spent New Years in Colorado Springs looking at property and celebrating my best friend Gwen's birthday (she actually lives here, but was in Colorado visiting her folks.) This is Claire on the plane to Denver. It was not a full flight, so the seat next to us was vacant. Claire loved sitting in her own chair. She eventually fell asleep and Kevin took a hilarious picture of her all sprawled out, but I don't have it.

We have a few resolutions for 2010:

1. Start aggressively saving money for a house

2. Decide where we want to live

3. Make Claire a big sister

Happy New Year everyone!