Happy Half Birthday, Claire!

This past sunday was Claire's 6 month birthday! We woke up and she opened her presents!

She got a teething bunny!

She liked the bag more than she liked her gifts. Go figure!

A cell phone!? The best part is that every time you open the phone, a new image comes up on the screen. So one time Ms. Kitty called her, another time a puppy called her. It's so cute!

And then this thing that makes these balls go around.

We went to the doctor today for her 6 month check up and here are her latest stats:

Height: 26.5 inches

Weight: 16.2 lbs.

I can't believe that she is getting so big so fast! She's eating solid foods and is starting to sit up (assisted) by herself! The doctor said to expect the baby babble to pick up and that's when the fun begins! What I love most is that she is so nosey! Wonder where she gets that from?! She has to see what is going on, where people are, and what they are doing. Sometimes she won't sleep because she wants to look around! Too funny! Just love this little girl!

Whoa! Long time no post!

It's been forever since I've posted and my sweet friend, Michele, reminded me today on facebook that I've seriously neglected my blogging life! Right now, my entire life is consumed with trying to change a million schedules at work, a varsity basketball game every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday night, and I'm also trying to be a mommy and wifey. Whew! Life is hectic right now! This is probably why my nose has decided to revolt against me and it's running faster that Teresa Nicole Roberts! JK! I am definitely feeling like crud lately, so I'm trying to slow down. The positive is- I'm almost done with basketball season!

A few wonderful things have happened since my last post.

1. Claire Parker is a rolling over fool and is starting to sit up (with adult assistance of course)! This solid food this has been sorta fun. On Christmas eve, we fed her a little apple sauce, mashed potato, and sweet potato. Then the next day, I decided to be cute and make rice cereal. Talk about barf city! I read somewhere that babies with acid reflux (which Claire kinda has) don't do well with rice cereal. Needless to say, we kinda skipped the rice in general. Then, we fed her fruits, which she loves, and now she doesn't want to eat the veggies! Crap, I think I did that backwards. If there's one thing I've learned in my almost six months of motherhood, everyday you have to try and be a good mother. There is no possible way that you can read every piece of information and/or follow every thing that all of the "experts" say. You will drive yourself crazy and never get sleep. So, we are just trying things as we go. Of course if my doctor says not to do something, then I won't. I probably started her too early on solids, but A) it's kinda fun to watch Claire give me the WTF?! face when I put peas in her mouth; and B) she's sleeping through the night. Also, I'm trying to let her soothe herself back to sleep at night. This is a really nice way of saying, "I let Claire cry her lungs out until she falls asleep. Meanwhile, I'm also hysterically crying in my bed because I feel like this must be some sort of child abuse." Another thing I've learned- it's okay if babies cry.

2. I was able to spend some time with my wonderful friends this past Saturday. With all of these basketball games, I've forfeited any "me" time. Saturday we went to Kylee's mom's memorial. I've met Kylee's mom once, but I'm so thankful for her because she gave us Kylee. I really like her- she's fashionable, funny, a great singer, and really creative! P.S. She's engaged and her ring is gorgeous! I also saw another girl who I really like- Michele F. Rikard. She's currently fostering the cutest little girl and it was fun to see Michele be a mommy. By the by, she is with child and I am putting my money on it's a girl. Later that night, a bunch of us went out in Midtown for Emily Munteanu's bachelorette party. I WAS A DANCING FOOL!! We went to twiested taco, which I think is the whitest bar ever! The DJ was great and we all sang off key and danced like no one cool was watching! I really miss hanging with Kelly, Teresa, Suzanne, EClare, and Emily Munteanu! If only Brandi were there... Great times were had all around! How about I didn't get home until 3:15 am! Thank goodness my wonderful hubby was sleeping soundly and so was my baby!

3. Our good friends, Michael and Meredith, are home with their handsome boy Evan. I'm so glad that his cold (understatement) is much better now! They're such a wonderful and strong couple and I'm glad everything is going well. I can't wait until Evan and Claire can play together. When I first met this little man he was so TINY!! Claire was huge compared to him. But his mommy tells me that he weighs about 8 lbs now. He's gained about 3 lbs. in a few short weeks! I bet next month he'll be 6'2" and 180 pounds! Great people those Rands!

4. So what's next Viola?! Well, I feel like once basketball season is over, I can start being me again! I really miss my family (I haven't spent time with Marci or Ardis in forever- I really miss them!). My plan is to spend time with friends and family and start my interior decorating portfolio. My first room will be my "formal living room," which I'm not making formal at all. Yeah sure it will be cute, but I'm going to use it as a reading room/ craft room. I'm really excited about this! I'm also going to work harder on my goal of running the peachtree. I'm sorta running now, but not consistently and I need to add on more miles- yikes!

So I leave you now with my cute pic of the week. Today while at work, Mimi (Jeff's mom Marci) sent me this picture to my phone. Yes, my little girl loves to look at herself in the mirror. Some would say she is vain, but I say she is just curious about the beautiful face she sees in the mirror. Too cute!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year everyone! I feel like I spent most of 2009 pregnant and tired; then after Claire came, I spent the last quarter of the year happy, smelly, and very tired! She's so worth it though! Good news, two teeth are coming in!

I put her on her tummy, and she managed to roll over 5 times! Still working on how to roll from back to front, but she is really good at rolling back to side.

This was such a fun moment! Claire and Era parallel playing (I learned that term from my super smart sister in law). Era was so excited to see Claire and it was funny to hear Era "talking" to her.

The cousins took a Christmas eve bath together. It was really fun hearing Ardis sing "Rubber Ducky" to Era. She probably doesn't know that I heard her, but she inspired me to be more fun and singy when I'm talking to Claire. Man am I glad someone else had a baby before me! She sure does know a lot!

To change the subject, I'm extremely excited for the new year. It's a new year, a fresh start, and another chance. Since I had Claire during the beginning of the school year, I feel like my first semester of work has been nothing but trying to keep my head above water. I'm part time counseling and part time ISS coordinator now, so I had to learn a new job. Plus, there's a nasty funk over schools this past semester. It seems like no matter who I talk to, every person in education is feeling the "yuckiness" that's going on. Can't quite put my finger on it, but I've decided that I have no power to change big laws and decisions, but I can be the best counselor and ISS coordinator Kell has ever seen! So, I'm spending my break recharging, reorganizing, and loving on Claire and my plan is to ATTACK second semester head on!!

Some of my other new year's resolutions include:

- Going to church more often

- Go on a date with my husband. I realized that we haven't been without Claire on a date except for the Georgia Tech game. So part of our new year's resolution is to carve out some time to spend with just the two of us and Claire is going to play with someone who is nice enough to babysit her :o).

- Of course lose weight- who doesn't have that goal???

- I want to run the Peachtree- so I'm going to start training for the 6.2 miles

- I want to host at least 3 parties. I just may host one and invite you!

- Take advantage of my mommy nights! I miss my friends and I love hanging out with them!

- Stick to Claire's schedule!

- Redo a room each quarter- I'm stoked about this one!

I have more, but those are just a few things that I will be working on in 2010.

I'm attempting each one of these resolutions, but I need the support of everyone!! 2010 is going to be my year to shine! - This is what my Shape magazine said to me :o)

Long time no post!

Wow, I haven't posted in quite some time and a lot of things have happened!

1. Claire is now 5 months old!! I can't believe that she has been here for 5 months and I can't believe all the cool things she can do! She's so funny and will smile really big, loves baths, rolls over (not often), loves her exersaucer, and has a kinda quiet personality.
2. Claire's boyfriend, Evan, is about two weeks old- he's a cutie! I can't wait for more play dates with Meredith and Michael!
3. The semester at school finally came to an end. Holy cow, that was the LONGEST semester of my life! Good news is we will have a better calendar next year and we already have a family vacation planned!
4. My parents, Jeff, Claire, and I went to Biloxi, MS. On Sunday, we went to New Orleans. Claire did so well rolling around in her stroller looking at all the fun people and cute buildings. I love the shotgun homes on Magazine street!

I'm really excited about 2010 and I can't wait to start- and finish!- my new year's resolutions! I know I have a lot!!

They grow up so fast...

Sometimes it feels like I've been a mom forever. Probably because I spend most of my sleeping time being awake. But to think that I've only had her for 4 months is crazy! I remember wishing she would wake up so that I could play with her, and now all I think about is getting her to sleep. I still love playing with her, but I find that the better she sleeps during the day, the better she sleeps at night! She is such an active little girl. She rolls over from front to back and from back to front (it's not often, but she's practicing it!). She is cooing and talking back, which is the cutest thing ever! When she eats, she will pull away and smile at me and then goes back to eating. I love all the little things she does and I feel like she's growing up way too fast!!!!

4 Months Old!!!

Happy 4 months old to Claire Parker!! We went for her 4 month check up and she's growing so fast! Here were her 2 month stats:
Height: 22.5 inches
Weight: 11 lbs. 7 oz.

Here are her 4 month stats:
Height: 24.5 inches
Weight 13.10 oz.

Can you believe it! She's doing so well! She is starting to teeth, she has rolled over a few times, she is a smiley girl, and she loves to play! We are so blessed!!!

Random Thoughts

1. MapQuest really needs to start their directions on #5. Pretty sure I know how to get out of my neighborhood.

2. Nothing sucks more than that moment during an argument when you realize you're wrong.

3. I totally take back all those times I didn't want to nap when I was younger.

4. The letters T and G are very close to each other on a keyboard. This recently became all too apparent to me and, consequently, I will never be ending a work email with the phrase "Regards" again.

5. There is a great need for sarcasm font.

6. I would rather try to carry 10 plastic grocery bags in each hand than take 2 trips to bring my groceries in.

7. I think part of a best friend's job should be to immediately clear your computer history if you die.

8. Was learning cursive really necessary?

9. Whenever someone says "I'm not book smart, but I'm street smart", all I hear is, "I'm not real smart - but I'm imaginary smart."

10. How many times is it appropriate to say "What?" before you just nod and smile because you still didn't hear what they said?

11. I love the sense of camaraderie when an entire line of cars teams up to prevent a jerk from cutting in at the front.

12. Bad decisions make good stories.

13. Why is it that during an ice-breaker, when the whole room has to go around and say their name and where they are from, I get so incredibly nervous? Like I know my name, I know where I'm from; this shouldn't be a problem ...

14. You never know when it will strike, but there comes a moment at work when you've made up your mind that you just aren't doing anything productive for the rest of the day.

15. Can we all just agree to ignore whatever comes after DVDs? I don't want to have to restart my collection.

16. I hate when I just miss a call by the last ring (Hello? Hello? Darn it!), but when I immediately call back, it rings nine times and goes to voicemail. What'd you do after I didn't answer? Drop the phone and run away?

17. I hate leaving my house confident and looking good and then not seeing anyone of importance the entire day. What a waste.

18. I like all of the music in my iTunes, except when it's on shuffle, then I like about one in every fifteen songs in my iTunes.

19. Sometimes I'll look down at my watch 3 consecutive times and still not know what time it is. 20. I keep some people's phone numbers in my phone just so I know not to answer when they call.

21. I disagree with Kay Jewelers. I would bet on any given Friday or Saturday night more kisses begin with Miller than Kay.