First Official OB Appointment for Baby #2!

I just got back from my first official appointment! I will be 14 weeks along on Saturday, and am VERY much looking forward to that second trimester! :) Hooray!

We got to hear our baby's heartbeat today! Baby Palmer was right there at the very top of where I am measuring, and the heartbeat was 161. :) The doctor has now officially declared my due date (right where I guessed it)--as June 21, 2014.  I'm right around where I should be size-wise, so I don't anticipate any doubly exciting announcements, if you know what I mean. ;)

I set the date for our sonogram on the same morning as my next appointment--January 15! Stay tuned to find out if we are having a boy or girl! :) Exciting happenings are ahead! :) Merry Christmas everyone! :)

The Pumpkin Patch--HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :)

 Several weeks ago, the mom of the little girl that I babysit for invited Claire, Austin and I to go to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch with them. So one of the Saturdays at the beginning of October, we headed out early in the morning. I couldn't believe just how HUGE this was! It was really fun. :)

 This little airplane drive was probably Claire's favorite part of the whole pumpkin patch experience. We played around the pumpkins for a while, looked at some animals, rode a hay ride, and did a bounce house and one of those big bounce slides...but there is just something about driving with a big steering wheel that made Claire feel big. :)

 Claire makes all kinds of funny faces these days. I especially loved this look...like she's saying, "I've got you now, my little pumpkin!"

 Family photo! Not the best of Claire, but that's probably because she is always looking to be going, going, going and doing, doing, doing. That girl is a mini-tornado! :)

 I loved all the little places you could take pictures with the pumpkins. Claire loved to sit on every pumpkin she could!

 Daddy and Claire. :)

 Claire and her friend, looking at the baby goats. They both really loved the animals. There were some horses, baby goats, and pigs there that you could look at. The baby goats were the biggest hit, though.

 Climbing the haystack. I would post pictures of our hayride, but Claire pretty much screamed the whole time, so I decided to post this picture instead. :)

 Claire is lucky to have such a good daddy who will do fun things with her, and let her chase after whatever her little heart fancies. :)

 Okay, so I admit--I was V-E-R-Y nervous about this particular activity. These bounce slides are huge! Claire certainly has the strength and energy to climb these, but I was worried she would get to the top and freeze, or get almost to the top and lose her balance and fall backwards a LONG ways to the bottom of the stairs. This particular bounce slide was only for kids who were 4 and under, but still. Anyways, I agreed to let Claire do it (probably helped that she was begging to go on it)...but I told Austin it was on him if something happened. ;) But Claire did it just fine! She climbed all the way up without any problems. Now, getting to the slide part is a different story, but we were lucky that a little boy who climbed up after her helped her walk to the slide part. Then she slid down like a pro!

It makes me feel like my baby is turning into a big girl! Where have those days flown by to??? I feel so lucky to have Claire for my daughter. :) I'm pretty sure I'm going to treasure every minute (you know...once I get past the screaming terrible two phase, that is...haha!). It's hard to believe my baby is 2 now! Happy Halloween, everyone!

Claire's First Camping Trip

 Claire did an awesome job helping Mommy unload while her Daddy set up the camp! We got to Lake Ray Roberts State Park around 6 pm or so, ready for our first foray into camping with kids (or at least one little one, anyways).... Claire carried quite a few things, including her camping chair, my purse (I was carrying the big bags), a kettle, and the flashlight.

 Some of the pictures came out blurry, it seems like, but I really like this picture anyways. Claire and I played on a rock at our campsite, climbing up and jumping down for almost a half hour (which was great as a distraction while Austin set up the campfire and got it going). There were all kinds of fun sticks and rocks to discover out here far from the city! :)

 Claire wanted to help her Daddy do everything...and she thought the tent was especially neat to explore.

 Claire slept really well in the pack-n-play, only waking up once...which was quite amazing because it was C-O-L-D!!! Good thing we brought a good heavy coat, hat, and mittens for this little girl! The picture above here is of Claire and her moth (it looked a lot like a butterfly) on a little stick that she picked up.

 This picture shows how well the moth blended in. On the ground, it almost looked like all the other leaves!

 When the wings were open, they had beautiful red and orange colors!

 We were a trio of happy campers! :)

 Here is our campsite...we were site #9! It was the best family spot ever...very close to the bathrooms and the parking lot, but still a little ways away so that the parking lot lights weren't a bother when we wanted to sleep or enjoy our campfire.

 After we packed up in the morning to go home, we headed to some of the trails to go for a short hike. There is a trail with the remains of an old homestead chimney left that we decided to take. :) It also helped that it was the shortest trail for Claire's first camping hike.

 A great Daddy and his daughter. :) I love this picture. :)

Claire with her "walking stick" from the hike. It is appropriate that her shirt says "cute and wild" because this was a WILD hike! Claire was VERY tired by this point...our hike took us to about 2 in the afternoon, and she (and Austin and I) were all very ready to take a nap. We loaded everyone up in the car, and drove home. We got back to our house around 3 pm and everyone took a good nap--we didn't wake up until 5! We were very tired, but it was so worth it...we had the best camping trip ever! :)

Happy Halloween!

 Here is Claire on her third Halloween! :) We carved our pumpkins yesterday, and Claire was unbelievably excited...she kept telling us, "Pinkus--hooray!" Pinku is her own version of pumpkin. :)

 Claire and I made our "happy" Halloween pumpkins...Daddy likes to make his pumpkin be a little spookier.

 We all had our own spoons to carve our pumpkins. At the beginning, Claire did NOT think carving the "guts" out the pumpkin was exciting. In her words......

 "YUCKY!" Doesn't  her face just say, "I don't know about this???"

 Of course, her parents remarkable powers of persuasion about how fun pumpkin carving was cracked the shell eventually. Then Claire REALLY got to enjoying herself! :)

 Claire's change of heart: "Here are the guts, Daddy!" :)

 "Fun, fun!"

 And of course, I couldn't pass up an opportunity to be silly with my girl. I love to pretend to eat the pumpkin slime...especially when Claire will ham it up with me! :)

 Austin carved a pretty spooky pumpkin while Claire and I carved our happy pumpkin. Of course, we bought a tiny pumpkin for Claire, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

 Claire and Mommy's happy face pumpkin! Cheery Halloween for us girls...Claire likes to call our pumpkins the "happy" pumpkin and the "sad" pumpkin. Silly girl. :)

The finished products among the destruction from the carving. Happy Halloween! :)

Halloween Fun!

We are excited that it is October! :) Claire found this dress in her closet, and begged to try it on today. We hope you are looking forward to Halloween as much as we are!!! :)

Claire's Birthday, Part 2 (scroll down for part 1)

 After we enjoyed some cupcakes and ice cream, it was on to the presents!

 This time Claire was a little better at opening her presents. Here she is starting out her presents with the packages from Grandma and Grandpa Palmer!

 Claire's favorite part of the presents from G & G Palmer was the play food. She plays with them all the time every day since then!

 Here is Claire with her Pinkie Pie pony that her cousin Ansley bought with her own money! This was so sweet, I think it brought a smile to everyone's face. :) And Ansley couldn't have picked better--Pinkie Pie is Claire's favorite pony of them all!

 Here is Claire relaxing on her birthday (as is her birthday prerogative) in her new chair from Grandma & Grandpa Whitley. She loves to sit in this "seat" (as she calls it) during the day and snuggle her dollies and feed them bottles. I bet she will be a great Mommy herself someday!

 Something about presents just brings out the kid in us all, I think. :) Everyone was just as excited as Claire to see what she would open next! The playhouse that is on our back porch was from Steven and Amanda a few months ago, but they also brought her a couple of flashlights as well. :) The tiger flashlight especially has sure seen a lot of action at our house the last couple of weeks! :)

 Here is Claire with her play food from G & G Palmer. She is also in the process of opening a big package of lollipops (a present from Austin and I) that she shared with her party guests as well. What a treat! Right before this, Claire had opened up a bag of cute clothes from her Aunt Kristie and Uncle Barth. Claire said "cute!" but I think it was Mommy who drooled the most over the clothes! :)

 Like I said, Claire loves to be sweet with her little dollies. Every time she wants to give her baby a bottle, she runs up to me saying, "Mommy! Where's the binky? Baby binky!" :) I think every day she talks more and more. :)

 She also likes to feed her stuffed animals and babies whatever she is eating. In this instance, it was her lollipop.

 Claire calls the meat part of the hamburger (the pretend food) a cookie. She likes to pretend to eat it and say, "Yum, yum, yum!"

 Sometimes the mustard and ketchup bottles are used as baby bottles, too. Mustard to drink, anyone? ;)

 "This is so exciting!" says Claire. "I want to have a birthday party every day!"

 This playhouse is from Aunt Heather and Uncle Michael. This has been up since Claire's party. :) She likes to put her babies "night night" on the picnic blanket from G & G Palmer in here, and do her puzzles in here as well. :)

 Secret hide-out!

 Looks like "Queen Claire" is holding audience in her castle today. :)

 Better not forget to take a break for "lunch" though. ;)

 Can't forget the dessert! After Claire's party, she kept asking for Austin and I to sing her "Happy Birthday" with her play cupcake, and then she would blow out the candle afterwards. So cute! :)

 The girls all had fun in here, I think. :)

 "Let me show you how to feed a dolly, Grandma."

 "Never mind, I need to serve up some yummy food instead." :)

If this face is anything to go by, I'd say this was a successful party, don't you? Two years down, and many more to go! :) Happy birthday, my sweet daughter. Every day is a joy because the Lord blessed me with you. :)