TOYS!

Grace has really loves her toys, gets excited for them and entertains herself with them...here is her favorite!

My Pi Phi Girls

Pi Phi for life...that is the "phrase" the national sorority uses as it talks to seniors in college about staying involved in the alum clubs and the benefits of doing so. As someone who still volunteers for Pi Phi and believes that being involved in college prepared me for much of my professional success today, I am the first to admit, that sounds a little hokey and causes many an eyerolls by collegiate members. I am here to tell you it is true though...not in the sense of alum clubs or professional success, but in the sense of the personal support network I still have. Not only my pledge sisters of 40 something in number, but the classes ahead and behind us too. No matter what anyone of us goes through, or how many years (many cases not since college) it has been since we have seen eachother the support is there. We also still know how to have a good time and love to think back and laugh about the not so smart things we did in college, that our kids won't be allowed to do (yeah right). Although some of the girls I am closest with live out of town, my pledge sisters that live in KC attempt to get together every month. Here is a pic of most of us last week. What we really should have had our cameras out for was this past Saturday, I hosted our first ever get together with the kids. My backyard had about 10 moms, and at least 15 kiddos running around having a good time. I am thankful for my Pi Phi girls!

My Flowers make me happy

These "annual" flowers that I planted about 3 years ago were a great investment, turns out the willow tree gives them enough protection to be perrenials. I LOVE this time of year, watching all my flowers bloom, makes me so happy...I think my lillies will be next!

Purple Bird House

When we bought this house almost 7 years ago, part of the package was a homemade bird house hanging in the back tree. We have left it there and many birds have called it home over the years. Mike has always talked about painting it, I said it was just fine how it was and therefore was NOT going to put that on my list of projects to coordinate supplies for, I have enough other things to do. Ever since Grace arrived, Mike and I are very conscious of making sure we both have alone time with Claire and he decided that this weekend they were going to have a date with paint and the birdhouse. After trips to 3 stores he finally found the paint he wanted at a craft store, bought 5 colors only for Claire to determine that it would only be purple. He did all the set up, clean up and even used a shoelace from his beloved track spikes to hang it with. It turned out great....now if he would only get those paintbrushes with purple paint on them out of my fridge!

Mother's Day

I had a great Mother's day, thanks to a combination of a great husband, two little girls and mother nature who gave me sun and warm weather. We went on a long walk in the morning, had lunch with my parents and then just played in our backyard and grilled. I will be enjoying my gift tomorrow, an hour massage which is a treat now that a 6 month maternity leave, new car payment and soon doubled daycare expense has knocked my regular massages right out of our budget...that's okay it's worth it to be Claire and Grace's mom, would not have it any other way! Here are some pics of our day!

Popcorn

Claire has a new favorite snack and will eat the whole bag if we let her (we don't). She prefers it in a silver bowl, will share willingly, and is very careful not to eat the "beans".

Grace 4 months old

Miss Grace had her 4 month birthday last week and when I was thinking about how it felt like she just was "3 months" I realized we had had a busy month and accomplished a lot. She won her battle with reflux and is offically med free and sleeping flat on her back for hours and nights at a time. We have ditched the swaddle and moved into the official thumbsucker category. I officially love this stage, she is a happy, happy baby which makes for a happy, happy mom. She is all smiles and plays most of the day with her mouth wide open in a half smile. She loves to lay and watch her mobile and grab her toys in her play gym and most of all loves to watch her sister, take baths and sing songs and just flirt with anyone interested. She has a sense of humor and often times will try to play games while she is nursing and ends up just laughting and smiling at me, all without missing a bit of breast milk. She also will stop eating for a few seconds and just turn her head and look up me and smile...talk about melting my heart. Her hair is really coming in on the top where she can't rub it bald and although it is too soon to tell how blonde she will be, she definitely has lighter hair than Claire did at this point. I have just over a month left at home with my little angel before I go back to work and I plan to get more than my fair share of kisses, snuggles and quiet time between now and then.

Proud Mamma

So there are a lot of things that make me proud of Claire and Grace, but I think I had my proudest moment yet yesterday. Claire had her 2nd week of "big girl" swim lessons, the kind that mom doesn't get in and the teacher makes them struggle to learn to swim. Last week was okay, about how I expected, a lot of tears, but she completed the whole class. I was afraid that might of scarred her, but she was excited to go again yesterday. Then there was me, I could not think of another time in which I had to watch my daughter struggle so hard and me not be able to help her. I just kept the smile glued on my face and told myself it would get easier. On our way I told her it was okay to be scared, but she didn't need to cry because Miss Debroah (the teacher) wouldn't let anything bad happen and neither would I. I told her I just wanted her to try hard and and have fun and I would be so proud of her. I wouldn't say it was her most favorite experience during the lesson as she still had to really struggle as she learned to swim, but she made it through the whole class with no tears, kept her goggles on the whole time and acgtually was swimming with her "foam" bubble on her back. She also was able to pull herself out of the pool in the deep end. That little girl showed a mental toughness that made me so proud and even made herself proud I think. I know she was trying not only to do what the teacher asked her to which was physically so hard for her, but she also was trying to hold it together emotionally when she was scared. I saw a few quiviring lips, but most importantly a HUGE SMILE at the end of the class when she knew she had made it through and swam "all by myself". Here she is kneeling on the side of the pool as she waits her turn again....Mom is so proud!

Princess Kate

I promise I am not obsessed with the Royal Wedding, but now Claire is. Claire has a princess carriage that she was playing with late last week and growing restless for dinner to be ready, so I asked if she wanted to see a real princess and carriage. Of course she did and I turned on the last 20 minutes of the Royal Wedding when they are walking out of Westminster and ride in the carriage to Buckingham Palance on our DVR and told her that was princess Kate...she was obsessed instantly. Now we watch the "princess Kate movie" at least twice a day. She wants to know everything and talks endlessly about it, "where is her mommy in the blue dress, the queen wears yellow and rides in the black carriage, that is a big church, and there is her castle, sister, etc..... She has now started calling her Belle doll Princess Kate too....oh my what have I started . The worst part is that we are going to switch to a new cable company in our area with much better prices, yet when we do next week the Princess Kate movie on our tv is gone......uh ohhhhh!

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! : )