Aunt Rachael visits Bearsy

Dear readers of Mommy's blog,

I just wanted to stop by and visit with you while Mommy is off washing things that I've spit up on or done *other* things to. She's very handy to have around for those sorts of jobs. While she's doing that, I thought I'd tell you about my Aunt Rachael's visit.

Aunt Rachael is my Daddy's sister, and I had not gotten to meet her until last week. She is the same age as my Bo, and they even go to college together. Isn't that cool? Aunt Rachael plays soccer and is very good at it. I practiced my kicks for her. 

She got to come and visit when she finished her exams. Because she did such a good job on those yucky exams, I took her around my Boston and showed her things. Here's a picture of us waiting on the T. (The T is what we locals call the train. Don't want you to be confused.)

We went to lunch at Regina's in the North End. Regina's is a wonderful (but really tiny) pizza place that Mommy and Daddy love to take people to. My Uncle Karl introduced them, and they keep saying that they are "eternally grateful"...I'm not sure what that means. (By the way, I'm not related to Uncle Karl, but we pretend that he's one of my uncles.) After pizza, I took Aunt Rachael to Mike's. It's my show-stopper, that Mike's is. We got some of their famous cannolis, and I think Aunt Rachael fell in love with Boston there. That was my plan the whole time.

We walked down to the harbor, and Mommy changed my diaper on a bench. So embarrassing. But after I was all clean, I took this picture with Aunt Rachael. Can you see the boats? The sun was in my eyes. 

Here I am, being way of the wild and hanging out. I practiced my kicks, and we watched "Duck Dynasty." I had to show her my favorite parts of the show. 

The next day, I took her to Cambridge. We walked around Harvard and saw the ivy. Mommy and Daddy think the ivy-covered wall at an Ivy League school is clever. They're silly, but I humor them and pose anyway. Do you like my chariot?

Here I am, hanging out again. It's what I do best. Also, I want everyone to know that I did NOT spit up on Aunt Rachael. Mommy told me not to, so I didn't.

Don't be fooled by this picture; I was actually sad that she was leaving, but Mommy wanted a good picture of us, so I helped her out. 

That's what I did when Aunt Rachael came to visit. We had so much fun, and I can't wait to see her again! I think my mommy has cleaned up all of the things, so that is my cue to give her more to clean up. I don't think she'd know what to do if there wasn't something to clean. I have to help her out! I'm a good baby.

Love,

Claire Bear

Letter to my Little Bear

Dear Bearsy,

Wowsers. You are three months old (well, this past Sunday...oops on my timing). It's like I blinked, and now we're at 3 months old. What?? 

I still feel like such a lucky duck to have ended up with you as my baby; you are still such a sweetheart of a baby. You've started sleeping through the night (well, from, like, 11:00 pm to 7:00 am...not 12 hours straight or anything. Not complaining, though!) and you still only cry for about four things: hunger, dirty diaper, need to burp, and tiredness. You just aren't a cranky child, and I can't get over it sometimes. 

You're starting to get a bit bigger- not exactly chubby but a little more filled out. Your legs are looooong. They go on for days. And you kick them them like crazy! It's your happy dance-type thing. It's a little dangerous to the rest of us, though. You're really starting to hold your head up now, too. I'm not going to sugar-coat it, though: you look like a bobble-head doll. I get a kick out of watching you get excited about it and being quite proud of yourself. When you're tired of holding your head up, you just kind of let it sink down until your chin touches your chest. That's our cue to cut you some slack, for goodness sake. 

I know that we're supposed to give you tummy time so that you can build up your muscles, but Bear, you do not do tummy time very well (although you are realllly strong). Up until recently, you fell asleep as soon as I put you down there. Now, you mostly just lay there, making noises.

Speaking of noises, you started cooing this month, and I LOVE it! You like to carry on conversations with Daddy. He coos right back at ya (the things grown-ups do to entertain babies...). I got a video of it a few weeks ago, and I know for a fact that I'm not the only one who has watched it multiple times (thanks to Dropbox, the whole family gets to see your cuteness). You also are really into smiling! Like, big, open-mouthed grins. It melts us a little bit.

You're not really into toys yet, but you do have a little lovey that you hold while you nap in your swing. We call her Lambsy (it kind of goes with Bearsy). That's the one you use the most, but we also have a monkey lovey in the car and a pink elephant in the back room, for when you hang out with Daddy while he studies. You're totally into licking them. I'm scared you're going to get a fur-ball. Ew. Licking and blowing bubbles are sort of your thing right now. Poppy says this is because babies your age are "orally fixated." I'm glad there's a medical explanation.

Your dad invented a game that we all play. We call it "Nose-ies." This is how we play: one of us touches our nose to yours and whoever pulls away first loses. I hate to tell you this, but you tend to lose more than you win. I'm sorry to say. Maybe you'll win more as you get older.

I wrote a song for you, and you love it (only because you don't really know the difference between what I sing and actual good music). It's called "Baby Bearsy," and it's to the tune of "Frere Jacques":

Baby Bearsy,
Baby Bearsy,
I love you!
I love you!

You're the sweetest Bearsy!
You're the sweetest Bearsy!
Yes, it's true.
Yes, it's true.

Sometimes I change the words up. It's all nice stuff about you, though.

We've discovered that Boston (and New England in general) loves babies. Bostonians are usually quite mind-my-own-business, but when they see you, they can't help but come over. Seriously, everywhere we go, people want to meet you. It happened yesterday in the grocery store. And a few days ago at Boloco. And at the frozen yogurt place (apparently, we're in food joints all the time...). They think you're adorable. When they ask and we tell them your name, they usually repeat it in a VERY Bostonian way: Clay-eh. We like it better our way, wherein the "r" is pronounced, but they're very kind to you, nonetheless. Oh! The other day, the train conductor gal was very smitten with you. That wasn't a food place.

You will still let basically anybody hold you, which we think is great (not strangers. Just friends). Our neighborhood group from church pass you around often. You're pretty comfortable with them, and they VERY much love you.

A few of my favorite things about you are that you seem to like Duck Dynasty (Uncle Si is your favorite, I think), bath time (oh so very much), and being in the way of the wild. That's the term your dad used once when you were wearing just a diaper. I said, "Bearsy, we need to put some clothes on you," and Daddy answered in "your" voice and said, "Mom. It's the way of the wild. It's my destiny." I couldn't stop laughing, and now, that's what we call it.

And lastly, one of my favorite things about you is that you curl your toes under. Just like me. :) Auntie Molly and Auntie Amanda used to laugh about that little habit of mine when we were in college, so I love that you do it, too. Maybe it's genetic? Like rolling your tongue? 

I love love LOVE you, Bearsy! Just like my little song says.

Bonus: A few of your 11-week shots. I'll try to get the other weeks up sometime.

Live free or die!

That's what the license plates for New Hampshire say. Isn't that intense? A little research led me to this explanation. Brad and I always get a little chuckle out of it, nonetheless. 

So far, New Hampshire is my favorite thing about New England. It's so absolutely beautiful and quaint. The people are so friendly (New England-style...not exactly the same as Southern-style), and we've just had really fun experiences in NH. Last week, Brad scored a great Groupon deal for a little inn in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Um, yes, please!

We drove up on Thursday afternoon, spent the night, and mosey-ed our way home throughout the day on Friday. The views were beautiful, the people were so kind, the food was yummy, and the baby was so very good. We even used cloth diapers for the whole trip, which was a first for us. Also, on Friday, we visited Littleton, NH and saw the world's longest candy counter. It was 120 ft. long and is documented by Guiness' World Records. Of a little more interest to me, though, was the poopoopaper that they had. It's literally made from moose poo. Yuck. But intriguing...

We had a grand time and thoroughly enjoyed our adventure (which included a stop at some outlets on the way home!). Way to go, Brad!

Sunset Hill House. 

View of Mt. Washington, the tallest mountain in New England.

Brad, Bearsy, and some pretty tulips we saw on our walk.

Bearsy and me in our room.

Mountain that we saw on our drive.

Maybe if you come visit, we'll drive you up for the day. If not the White Mountains, then perhaps Portsmouth. We love Portsmouth. Let's be real...we just love New Hampshire.

My favorite weekend

Back on my very first birthday, my grandmother experienced quite a disappointment. Do NOT misunderstand me: she loooooooved me and thought I was awesome. The disappointment was that I was born on May 11, not May 12. May 12 was not only her birthday, but that year (as well as many May 12ths since then), her birthday and Mother's Day were on the same day. 

I'm guessing that my little tiny baby subconscious wanted my own day. Either way, my birthday is very often very close to Mother's Day, and every few years, it actually falls on Mother's Day. 

This year, my birthday was on Saturday, and Mother's Day was Sunday. Boom. The perfect set-up. I had a weekend that was entirely about me. Yessssssss!

Saturday started with Brad getting up with the baby for her middle-of-the-night feeding. That was awesome. He then made me breakfast, which was followed by the best lunch: Chick-Fil-A! It takes about 45 minutes to get to the closest Chick-Fil-A, so it's not a "let's swing by and pick up dinner" kind of thing. It was glorious. 

The Chick-Fil-A is located in a mall, so we did some strolling while we were there and ended our outing by sharing a slice of cheesecake at The Cheesecake Factory. Yum. 

Sunday involved Brad grilling steaks, Skyping with some of my Alabama family, and just hanging out before church. It also involved changing one of the worst diapers of Claire's short little life. Happy Mother's Day to me.

More than a few wonderful people in my life sent me two cards apiece: one for my birthday and one for Mother's Day. How kind is that?

I got some super fun gifts, too:
*Vera Bradley tote and a new diaper bag for Bearsy.
*Duck Dynasty season 2 and this awesome t-shirt.
*A couple lovely checks.
*A Nikon Coolpix 510 in red. Woo hoo! (That was from Brad. It covered my birthday, Mother's Day, and anniversary.)

I loved my weekend and couldn't think of a better way to spend it. Thanks to everyone who made my birthday so much fun!

All over the map.

We have been blessed by so many people. Very blessed throughout our lives but exceptionally so surrounding Claire. Truly, it's a little overwhelming how many people have sent Claire (and us) gifts. So. Much. Kindness.

The other day, I was thinking about all the different locations that my thank you notes have gone to, and it was so cool to think of all the different states that are represented in Claire's gift basket: Alabama and Tennessee and Massachusetts (obviously), South Carolina, North Carolina, Washington (state), Texas, Missouri, Ohio, Florida, Mississippi, Virginia...I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I can recall off the top of my head. How neat is that?

We've gotten a lot of really handy and practical gifts, as well as some really unique and fun ones. Here's a little listy for ya:

Handy and Practical
*Our cloth diapers. We've gotten several as gifts, which has been so nice.
*Several different kinds of gift cards. We've used a few of them to acquire more diapers (among other things). One thoughtful friend sent us a gift card to diapers.com, from which we ordered a cloth diaper and some more disposables (Claire is still just a taddy bit too miniature for her cloth diapers).
*A ring sling that looks something like this (although it's not this exact one). We have a carrier, too (that we got off Craigslist!), but I actually like the sling for while she's this tiny. The carrier kind of swallows her up right now.

Unique and Fun
*A card with cash in it- for Brad and me to use for a meal. This has been a fun blessing from out-of-state friends who can't bring us a meal in person. So sweet.
*Crocheted blankets and clothes.
*Monogrammed clothes, blankets, and burp cloths. You know, to make sure she doesn't lose sight of her Southern roots. :)
*A baby swimsuit!
*An adorable board book about Boston. We read it almost everyday.
*Nursery room spray (you know, to cover up the yucky)
*A handmade Matroshka throw pillow. This is one of my very favorites! In fact, I take Claire's weekly pictures with it. Oh wait...y'all probably didn't even know about her weekly pictures, did you? Nope. Because I haven't posted pictures yet. It's on the to-do list.

I really do plan on posting pictures and whatnot. This is step one of that process. Yay for baby steps, right?

(Also, I did, in fact, notice that no one held me to my commitment to post more. I did it all by myself! Good job, Self.)

There's a real blog post somewhere in my mind. I know there is.

But today is not the day in which I write that post. 

However, I did want to tell y'all about an article written by a former English professor of mine, Gene Fant. He's one of my favorite professors ever, and I really love reading his thoughts and musings. Brad described him as brilliant yet accessible. I think that sums it up nicely.

Anyway, he recently wrote an article about the upcoming film version of The Great Gatsby for First Things. I'm no Gatsby fan, truth be told. It's just not my cup of tea, but I know that lots of people love it. Love it or not, this article is really interesting and insightful. Whether or not you're planning to see the movie, I think you should give it a quick read. 

And, I will post a real post with pictures before the week is over. Someone hold me to that...

Spring Fling...fling it off the calendar, please!

You're probably going to read this and think that I'm ridiculous. And a super-no-fun person. I've gotten those responses before. 

It's ok. I've come to terms with it myself. 

Here's my- rather unashamed- declaration: Spring is my second least-favorite season.
(Summer is actually my least favorite, as I truly HATE to be hot. Or sweat. I love the beach, but when I can't be at the beach or Harry Potter World, I have very little use for summer. I know...weirdest person ever.)

But back to Spring. Spring is a horrible time of year for me. I'm completely allergic to the outdoors. In fact, this week, I haven't been outside in days. I have had adult interaction, though; we started hosting our church neighborhood group at our house, so no worries about me going crazy (at least not for that reason). For the past two days, I've spent much of my time on the couch, going through tissues like it's my job. (note: I was also taking care of Bearsy and working on my actual job...have I even mentioned that I've had a extremely part-time job for the entire time we've lived here?)

I don't sleep well at night anyway (pre-pregnancy, during pregnancy, or post-pregnancy...so, you know...ever), but the whole not-being-able-to-breathe-and-coughing-nonstop business makes it worse. The flowers and trees are lovely, but the pollen is out of control. I'd been trying to get out and walk quite a bit recently (you know, trying to shed those last few baby pounds; I'm in single digits until I hit pre-pregnancy weight! Woo hoo!), and I really enjoyed looking at all the loveliness.

No more. 

It's slowly killing me, y'all. I grew up in the Tennessee Valley of Alabama, where many a person who never struggled with allergies before moving there suddenly found him-or-herself miserable from the pollen. Then, I lived in West Tennessee, where apparently the same thing happens. When I was student teaching, I lost my voice for an entire week because of allergies. It's almost impossible to teach middle schoolers when you have no voice. Seriously. Try it sometime. In Ukraine, I was out of commission for about a week both years I lived there because of vicious allergy attacks. 

Apparently, Boston is planning to treat me the same way. And this time, I get to do the blowing-my-nose-coughing-like-crazy-not-breathing thing with a baby to care for. At least she's a sweetheart.

So, that rant is to say that Spring is not my thing. 

Oh, but I hope YOU are enjoying the weather. :)

(I'll write an actual post sometime soon...assuming I don't keel over from the allergies.)