Who do they look like?

This is just horrible to admit out loud, well write about, but I remember at one point or another during each pregnancy thinking, "I wonder if this baby will be cute?"  After having two babies, I now understand that you never think your baby is ugly.  Ever.  I do however, look back at  newborn photos of the girls and think they are much cuter now.

When we were pregnant with Claire we didn't find out what we were having and while the cute question crept up every now and again, my bigger question was, of course, "Will the baby be a boy or girl?"  Followed second to "I wonder who the baby will look like?".  We had joked around if we were having a girl, we hoped she looked like me and acted like Ryan.

When Claire was born, there was NO DOUBT who she looked like, she was nearly identical to Daddy.  It was so strange how a little girl could look so much like her dad, but she did.

Newborn Claire

Newborn Ryan

I was feeling a little jipped, I mean, I carried her for 39 weeks and she didn't have an ounce of my looks at all.  As she got older, I only heard the occasional "I think she's got your eyes" or "She's starting to look more like you" but this was primarily from mommies who had kids that looked like their dads too. I think it was all for sympathy purposes.  These pictures will illustrate why I felt this way:

Not only does Claire look like her dad, she acts just like her mom.  Go figure.  

Fast forward almost 2 years.  While we were at the 20 week ultrasound for Natalie, Ryan pulled up Claire's ultrasound pictures on his phone so we could compare baby profiles.  I was shocked at the profile resemblance at 20 weeks!  So I left the ultrasound convinced that this baby would look like Claire.  We toyed around with the idea of finding out the gender this time around.  We even had the ultrasound tech put the gender in a sealed envelope so we could open it on Christmas morning as our gift.  We never did open that envelope, but considered doing so multiple times.  It never just felt right - I know, this sounds so strange.  So the second time around, our question became, "Should we open the envelope?".  My question of cute-ness never came up, since we had settled on the fact that Baby #2 would look like Ryan/Claire. Since Claire has always had red hair, I anticipated baby #2 would have red hair, so I bought green stuff for baby to wear home from the hospital.  Green with pink flowers for a girl and green frogs for a boy.   

I was so excited when Natalie was born that Claire had a sister.  For those of you with sisters, you know that special bond that sisters have.  Since I have a little sister who I am still close with, I desperately wanted Claire to experience this.

Natalie didn't look anything like Claire when she was born.  Her hair was thick and dark, her skin was a different completion and her face structure was slightly different.  However, when my parents came up to the hospital they couldn't stop talking about how much Natalie looked like me as a baby. I figured the resemblence had to do with the hair, since I had a head-full as a baby.  When we got home from the hospital, I pulled out my baby pictures and was shocked and elated, she actually looked like me :)

Newborn Natalie

Newborn Heather

However, as she has gotten older, I think she is starting to look more like her sister.  It helps that most of her dark hair has fallen out and her new hair is lighter.  I think pictures tell this part of the story better than I do anyway:

2 Weeks Old

Claire

Natalie 

1 Month Old

Claire

Natalie 

2 Months Old

Natalie

Claire

3 Months Old

Claire

Natalie

4 Months Old

Natalie

Claire

5 Months

Claire

Natalie

So we will see as they grow how much they look alike.  Either way, the special sister bond is apparent already and that makes this momma very happy!

Wordless Wednesdays :: Daddy's Girls

I have been blessed with a wonderful husband who is a phenomenal father to our little girls.  Here are just a few photos of Ryan with his girls.

 

Wow, a blog award!!?

I'm pretty new to this blogging thing.  I don't know how to make a fancy background, a cool graphic header or even a button to link to my page or connect to me on twitter or facebook.  I just like to write (blame it on my days of yearbook back in HS) and I like to talk - a lot.  This blogging thing is both, so I really enjoy it.

I was very surprised when a new friend of mine from twitter gave me a blogging award.  She has all those fancy things in a blog, including fun giveaways and advertisers.  I even had to ask her what I was supposed to do with the award, that's how new I am to this whole thing.  Here is a little bit about Melissa.  She has two kids that are very similar in age to Claire and Natalie so it is fun to hear their stories!  Her blog is http://www.the-mommyhood-chronicles.com/ make sure you go check it out.

So these are the awards that I was given:

After asking what I needed to do to 'accept' these awards, I discovered that I had to tell 7 things about myself so here it goes:

1.  I am recently addicted to twitter, it has surpassed my facebook on my most frequented sites on the Google Chrome browser.

2.  I have a degree in mathematics and a statistics minor, however I sell brick and stone for a living.  

3.  My favorite part of my job is putting all the colors of an exterior together - so un-math like.

4.  The hubs and I have been together for 12.5 years and married for 7.

5.  I buy my girls clothes because I hate shopping for myself since nothing fits and their stuff is SO much cuter.

6.  I don't tighten caps on anything and it drives my husband crazy.

7.  I have a hard time taking me-time.  I have horrible mom-guilt about working full time so any time away from work I want to spend with my girls.

Now I get to pass these awards on to some other bloggers who I love to read, make sure you check out their blogs :)

http://www.fillingourbucket.com/

http://nobryan.blogspot.com/

http://confessionsofamagnoliamom.blogspot.com
http://melissadell.com/

Thanks again for the awards Melissa!!

Top 5 Saturday Laughs

It's hard to believe it's been a week since I last did this.  So many things have happened, yet it hardly feels like there has been much time in between.  Isn't that strange how time moves on?!  This week I was attempting to be a little more prepared for this post, actually writing down things that happened through the week so I wouldn't forget.  I had my five laughs all ready and grabbed my laptop to get writing, a couple minutes later I realized that I would have to change it already!

#5:  I was beginning to log onto the internet and blogger when Claire noticed the laptop.  She runs over to me and exclaims, "MOM!  I will get my pu-uter and work with you."  "Whatcha think mom?"  "Does that sound like a good idea to you?"  She runs to her toybox and digs her play laptop out and proceeds to sit down next to my feet and work.  A few minutes later, she exclaims, "This won't work for me, let's switch pu-uters!"  So I proceeded to show her photos from the blog and a few minutes later she was bored with the whole idea and was off to play.  I did tell her she could write a sentence, so here you go, straight from Claire: "tsssxzzdghgrrtt56vbbjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj;;;;;;;;;;;;;pppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppppkik7ujjjjjjjjjjjjjjyteeee"

#4  Natalie does the normal baby chatter, "ma-ma", "da-da", "ga-ga" but this week she started making this very strange sound, the only way to describe it is like a velociraptor (or at least how Jurassic Park made a velociraptor sound).  She gets excited when Claire comes around and will kick her legs and wiggle all while making this squeal/squawking sound.  It is the strangest sound, but so funny to watch all the animation that goes with it.


#3 The other night the girls and I were hanging out in Natalie's room, where we currently have our extra toddler bed (currently on loan from the in-laws house).  Claire is a jumpy kid.  It started when she was about five months old, she would jump in the jumperoo for hours on end.  She jumps to get places, she jumps to dance, she jumps when she gets excited, jumps when she's angry - ok I've proved my point, she's always jumping!  So she was jumping on the bed trying to teach Natalie to jump like her.  Natalie found it hysterical that Claire was jumping which only egged her on further.  Then I made Natalie jump on the bed which caused Claire laugh even harder too.  We were all cracking up laughing, what fun it is to have two girls!

#2 Claire is currently obsessed with gender.  There are certain colored plates that are girl plates, cups, suckers (her potty reward) that are designated for girls and boys (purple are girls and green are boys) and my car is a girl car and Ryan's jeep is a boy car.  Ryan and I had switched vehicles one morning.  Claire was all sorts of upset because we had to drive the 'boy car'.  I don't know what started this, but she is stuck on it for the time being.  She was about to go to bed, so I asked her to give Natalie and Daddy hugs and kisses.  She said, "I will give Sissy a kiss, but not Daddy."  When we questioned why, she replied, "I don't want to kiss boys EVER!"  She was so sincere and serious, but I couldn't help crack up over it!

#1  Natalie is such a sweet girl, pretty mild mannered as long as she's in the action.  If you leave her in a room by herself, she is more than likely going to get ANGRY.  However, she is not able to smile without giggling.  it is so precious and just makes my day.  Her whole face smiles and then the giggle follows. I love baby giggles, so genuine and joyful!

Wordless Wednesday :: The 9th Annual Backyard Bash

For 9 years my in-laws have had a HUGE party in September.  The fire is started by burning something that my Father-in-law has made.  There is a band, fireworks, tons of food and people.  It's always a riot!

Top 5 Saturday Laughs

I'm stealing this idea from my twitter friend (@dentistmel - if you're on twitter follow her!) who does it every week.  What a wonderful way to celebrate the best moments of the week.  So often, I am left thinking, 'what was that funny thing Claire said last week?' this will help me remember these moments and cherish them always.  I hope they also leave a smile on your face too!

5.  Claire is obsessed with the Christmas story.  She pretends that we are all part of the story.  Natalie is baby Jesus, Ryan is Joseph, I'm Mary and she of course, is the angel.  She then talks about what each of us is doing, calling us by our character names.  I love her imagination.

4.  Natalie has started the good ol' baby belly laugh.  I love that laugh!  However, we have to be careful how much we make her laugh since she will get the hiccups if we push the laugh limit too long.  What is it about hiccups that last WAY too long?

3.  Since the weather has been so awesome this week, we have been able to spend lots of time outside.  We go out after dinner and run in the front yard.  Claire cracks up whenever we run after her, she is always asking us to chase her.  We taught her tag tonight and it was such a wonderful time!  We also play lots of hide and seek, chase/kick the ball and somersaults in the grass (her not me).

2.  This is the appropriate number for this one.  While Claire was going potty, we had a conversation about the said #2, it went something like this:
C: "Mom, animals go poop.  Cows, horses and pigs all poop"
M: "Yes Claire everyone poops"
C: "Do you poop mommy?"
M: "Yes"
C: "Do I poop?"
M: "Yes"
C: "Does Natalie poop?"
M: "Yes"
C: "Daddy has stinky poop"
M: *Laugh*

1.  My favorite laugh of the week has happened nearly every morning this week.  The second Claire hears Natalie on the monitor waking up, she has to run in the room to see her sister.  She likes to talk to Natalie and then yell back to me what is happening.  "Mom, Natalie is smiling at me.  Her likes me."  "Oh, do you have big smiles for me Natalie?"  "She's smiling again Mommy!" While this makes me laugh to hear her talking in a high pitched voice to her sister, the funniest thing came when she climbed in the crib with Natalie so her sister could see her better.  I was shocked to see these big legs come over top of the rails on the monitor.  After my initial reaction, of "Don't step on your sister!"  I couldn't help but laugh at it.  She loves her sister so very much!!

I will quote my friends' blog that I stole this idea from "The things kids say.  Now, tell me your funnies from this week.  I know you have some..."

A visit from the tooth fairy

When Claire was just over 18 months old she had a fall off an elevated stage and jammed one of her two front teeth way up into her gums.  After an emergency trip to the dentist (my dentist since it was at night and you must be a patient of record to be seen by a pediatric dentist) and lots of tears from both her and mommy, we made an appointment to see a pediatric dentist.  Initial x-rays revealed no immediate danger to her tooth so we began visiting the dentist every 6 months to check and have her teeth cleaned.  Claire does great at the dentist, a real pro at this point.  She has a very crooked smile, partly because of the direction both teeth were pushed, partly because she still has that stinking pacifer and partly because she got her mamma's big teeth and small mouth.  So needless to say, the orthodontist envisions lots of dollar signs and I've pretty much settled on the fact that she'll need extensive work.

This was a picture taken a couple days after the accident.

About a month ago, I noticed what looked like the start to an abscess on the gum above the 'trauma tooth'.  As a general rule, nothing medical happens in our family during normal business hours.  I discovered this on a weekend, at night and Claire's dentist was closed the following Monday.  We couldn't get in for 2.5 weeks, but they called an antibiotic in to control the infection so it didn't spread.

Claire got examined and had a set of x-rays.  When we sat down to go over the results, my stomach dropped...she was going to lose that tooth after all.  I really, really, really didn't want this to happen for a variety of reasons, but a few were:
1.  It can't be an easy process to take out a tooth that isn't loose.  This would probably be extremely painful and scary
2.  I don't want her to have a fear of the dentist as she grows up
and I'm totally ashamed to admit the third reason, because I sound so concerned with appearance but here it goes
3.  I really didn't want her to be without her front tooth for 4+ years!!

However, I knew that it had to come out and I only had a week to mentally prepare her (and me) for it.  Claire is the kid that needs to be told everything ahead of time.  She doesn't like surprises, so we started talking that night.  We told her that the next time we went to the dentist, that she was going to have her tooth taken out, she would put the tooth under her pillow and the tooth fairy would come and give her money.  She was excited about the tooth fairy thing and I was coming to terms with her losing her tooth.

This was taken minutes before they started at the dentist.  Crooked, but cute is how I referred to her smile!

We went to the dentist, who is wonderful, but it is something that I hope none of my children have to go through again.  EVER.  She got sick of the mask being on her face.  Then the shots started and I felt like they weren't ever going to end, so I can only imagine how she felt.  It was heartbreaking to listen to her cry and scream.  I was getting emotional about it (and whoosy thinking about what was happening) so I actually had to leave the room.  Thankfully, both Grandma's joined me at the dentist (they just knew that I would need the reinforcements).  So, Maggie Grandma (my mom, named after her dog Maggie) went in to be with Claire while Riley Grandma (Ryan's mom, named after her dog Riley) took care of Natalie.  I don't know what I would have done without them there.

This is when they just had started, the camera went away after this.

Finally, the tooth was out and she got lots of mommy hugs.  Then she got to get a few prizes out of the token machines.  She selected three bouncy balls and an ice cream ring.  By this point, she was back to her normal self; jumping around and wanting to play with the cupcakes in the waiting room.  She has done wonderfully since, no issues eating, drinking or talking.

Here are some pictures of Claire after the extraction, I am still not thrilled with the toothless look but she's cute regardless.  I know I will always think so, I'm her mom ;-)

This is the tooth, no wonder the hole in her gum is so big!

So we put the tooth in the cute hot pink tooth box that the dentist gave us and put it under her pillow that night.  After some discussion that the tooth fairy wouldn't take any teeth from her mouth, she was good with the tooth fairy leaving her money.  She went right to sleep that night and woke up the next morning as her typical self.  She did have a brand new 50 cent piece under her pillow, but she was more excited to play with the prizes that she got from the dentist.

The next morning with her money from the tooth fairy.

She doesn't seem scared to go back to the dentist in a couple months, so I hope she's forgotten the trauma.  I wouldn't mind if we didn't ever have to go to the dentist for anything other than cleanings in the future!