The Royal Wedding

Grace and I spent the morning watching the DVR of the royal wedding and she even put on her hat for the occasion. You always hear people talking about watching Princess Diana's wedding, so since Grace won't remember, I wanted to document that she did in fact watch Princess Kate and Prince William get married with her mom!! It should also be noted that the most famous picture of the wedding is during Kate and William's kiss in which one of the bridesmaids is covering her ears and frowing. That darling 3yr old bridesmaid just happens to be named Grace : )

Claire's 1st trip to the Dentist

Claire had her first trip to the dentist yesterday for a check up and had a really "positive visit" as the hygenist said. The toys in the waiting room were enough to make her happy, then getting to watch a movie about dogs going to the dentist, riding up and down in the special chair, wearing fun sunglasses are enough to make any 2.5 year old happy. She had no problem letting the hygenist and Dr. Tally "count her teeth", and brush them with a special tooth brush. She even got a private spitting lesson and of course a new pink toothbrush and prize from their prize box.

Swaddle free and scratched up

Well Grace is officially sleeping swaddle free as of her morning nap on Monday. Since that involved some "crying it out" sessions, I decided since she was almost 4 months old (the magic age that our pediatrician says bad habits start)I would also sleep train her at the same time as I really don't like those cry it out sessions and if I can break two habits at once that is what I wanted to do. Happy to report that her "laid back demeanor" has resulted in very few cry it out sessions. She now soothes her self to sleep (sometimes more easily than others), I can put he down awake and she is sleeping from 7pm to 5am with no feedings and is also on a more regular nap schedule...all swaddle free. The only side effect is that she has scratched the heck out of her face...I tried to take a pic, it doesn't do it justice, just trust me there are A LOT of scratches and since this picture she has added a doozy to her nose. I am sure this is not over, babies don't go down this easy, but we are on day 4 and are not going to turn back now!

8th Anniversary

Although today is cold and rainy and nothing like the warm sunny day we got married 8 years ago, it has been fun to think back to that special day. Honestly, a house, a dog, 2 kids and lots of memories later it seems much longer than 8 years. I had fun with the scanner yesterday and shared some more of our wedding pics on facebook for all our friends to enjoy, but am just going to put this one on the blog of me and my handsome groom. I love you Mike!

Perspective

Life has sent quite a few reminders to me over the last month about how important it is to live life to the fullest each day, appreciate your blessings and don't sweat the small stuff, as it is not important. It was the year anniversary of the death of Morgan, my friend Anna's little girl. I lost two sorority sisters tragically, one after a long fight with breast cancer and another in a small plane crash alongside her husband and 2 girls. Finally, the neighborhood Grandpa, Gary (and the dad of one of Mike's friends from college) who has been fighting lukemia for about 18 months found out last week that the cancer has taken over his body and there is nothing else they can do for him. Each situation unique in it's own way has touched my heart and made me more thankful for all my blessings. No matter how much whining, crying, fighting, little girl snot, relentless dog scratching or laundry overtakes my day, I hug my girls tighter and love my husband more, and grow in my faith thankful to have had another precious day with them.

Grace - 3.5 Months

Where is time going, Grace is getting so big! She is 3 and a half months old and continues to be a happy and content little snuggle bug. She has recently had her first cold, first Easter and first visit to Hallmark and Great Grandma's to meet some more admiring fans. As the weather has gotten nicer and she is getting bigger and can stay up past 6pm, we have started going on our nightly family walks again. We ordered a double BOB stroller which we call the "BIG BOB", and the girls like to sit next to eachother and get all "bundled up" as Claire would say since it is still pretty cool in the evenings. I wouldn't trade this family time for anything, it's a nice transistion into bedtime for all. Here is a pic of my little angel on Easter, happy as can be despite the last bit of a snotty nose!

Easter

Despite the lack of sleep occuring in the Hochberg house we had a pretty good Easter. Mom and Dad had bloodshot eyes and Claire was a little more "sensitive" than usual due to not feeling well, but we still had a fun day. Claire woke to find that the "white easter bunny" had visited her house and brought her candy. She had fun finding eggs and trying to shove as many jelly beans in her mouth before Mike or I could get them out of her hands. The easter bunny brought both the girls books, K-state dresses, sun hats and a few other odds and ends. We went to church as a family, enjoyed some time and naps at home and then stopped in at my Grandma's for dinner and another easter egg hunt and more treats for Claire. Here are a few pics from the day!

Exhaustion

As every parent experiences there are points in time where you are simply exhausted... last week has been one of those for Mike and I which makes us both plesant and lovely to be around...NOT! Now that it is over (hopefully), I have the energy to comment on it. Both girls were sick with lots of snot and coughs (plus Claire ended up with a double ear infection AGAIN!!) making for lots of night waking. Our little munchkins do a good job of also making sure they are NOT up at the same time which means we are up basically all night long, good thing they are so dang cute.

Claire's Spring Program

Claire's school had a spring program last week. Each class sang 3 songs and although you really couldn't hear what they were sigining, it was pretty cute. Here is a video of the one song you could hear from her class. Claire did great and didn't have any stage fright. Grandma and Grandpa stayed with Grace so we could take our time and have an ice cream date with Claire afterwards which she loved!! We went to a new self serve frozen yogurt and she had pink and white icream with sprinkles, M&M's, Strawberries and cherries...yummmm!

"Bath with Grace?!!"

Everynight Claire asks, "bath with Grace?". They have fun together, Claire helps me wash Grace's feet (a very important job in her mind), and Grace just watches Claire. Grace has started to get more excited in the tub, and splashes her feet and hands. Some of the splashes are pretty big and last week, one got Claire pretty good in the face. Claire and I both started laughing so hard we couldn't stop, and Claire said "Again!". Of course Grace continued to splash but to Claire's disappointment none of them quite lived up to the big one!

Sister shots

Here are a couple of pics of the girls together. Some people take a picture of their baby next to a stuffed animal every month to show how big the baby is getting, I just use Claire! : )

Claire Dance Class

It's week 3 of dance class and although she says she has fun every week, this week she DANCED and participated in the class. Here is her favorite dance (they do the same things every week), she loves to march with "props". I apologize for the bad quality and the shot of my leg at the end, I was using my blackberry and don't have the same editing options!

Staring Contest

Grace challenged her lion to a staring contest...I think she won, who wouldn't be intimidated by that look??!!

Castle Building

Claire likes to build castles, and then likes it even more to take pictures of her castles. That's a pretty serious castle if you ask me!!

Doesn't Cali look distinguished?!

Thumb Sucker....Maybe

Grace works hard everyday to suck her thumb, but as of now she is not very good at actually get her thumb out of her fist and into her mouth. Plus she is still swaddled when she sleeps, so that makes it hard too! Every so often I catch her looking like this...

Grace - 3 Months Old

Grace is 3 months old today, what a big girl! She contiues to be so happy with more and more laughs coming every day. She has started to really splash during bath time and especially likes taking baths with her sister. She is already looking up to Claire, watching intently all that she does and just smiling. I will remind them of this in 10 years when they are fighting! Grace is also a good little shopper, as we have started to get out more during the day since it is warmer and she is older. I am so thankful to still be at home and have this time with her, we enjoy our lazy days at home and just being together.

Miss Music Director

Claire and I go to church every Sunday (ok, most Sundays), and we sit pretty close to the front because she pays better attention and behaves better. The side we sit on is close to the choir and this Sunday during communion, I thought she was reaching out and pointing as people walked down the asile. I was about to correct her, "pointing is not nice" when I realized she was instead mimmicing the choir director and he conducted the song. I told her Aunt Beth would be proud!

I caught some smiles....kind of

I think my camera is too slow to catch Grace's real smiles, so what you are getting is the moments AFTER the big smiles....I will keep trying!

Toy Story on Ice

Claire and I went to Disney on Ice last Saturday with Emily and Ellen. Considering her double ear infection, she had a pretty good time. She really doesn't know the characters that well, so she definitely was not squealing every time a new one came out like Ellen was, but had fun. Highlights for her included the yellow water bottle I bought her, the bag of popcorm that the 4 of us shared (and she ate half of), the pink barbies (not to be confused with the yellow or green ones) and dancing with Ellen.