The Clinnin Family: Catch Up Post

Nate now says, "Mommy", "Dada" "Doggie" and some two syllable concoction for "Charlotte." It's kind of a double edged sword for me because I love that he calls me Mommy....but it is extra heartbreaking when I leave the room or put him in his crib and I hear, "Mmmmoooooooooommmmmmmmmmiiiiieeeeeeeeeee." He is a walking machine and he is sooo fast. He is also into everything. He gets into cabinets, drawers, etc. I had to baby proof all of our kitchen cabinets today...I never had to do that with Charlotte. She had no interest. She just wanted to know where the tupperware was, that was it. It was very hard drilling holes into our beautiful new cherry cabinets to install ugly looking plastic safety latches.

Proving that we probably need a few more "boy toys," Nate's favorite thing to do is push this little baby doll around in the baby stroller. What's interesting is that the baby doll he loves is this little newborn baby boy that I bought for Charlotte before Nate was born so she could get used to being gentle with a little baby.

Charlotte had a doctor's appointment last week, she is doing great! I had a couple concerns about her speech because I thought she was starting to stutter a little but. Everyone told me that she is so far advanced with her vocabulary that she was just struggling to get it all out. That sounded like a nice excuse, but I wanted to be SURE and not just say, "Oh it's because she's sooooo smart." Everyone loves those type of moms.... Well, the doctor said that it was absolutely normal for advanced talkers like her. She heard two sentences of what Charlotte had to say and said, "Yeah, she's advanced." Apparently, you are supposed to be able to understand about 25% of what a 2 year old says, 50% of what a 3 year old says and 75% of what a 4 year old says. Considering I can understand pretty much everything she says and I can have full out complete thoughtful conversations with her, I am inclined to agree. She had to get two shots and since she is older now, she gets them in her arms, not her legs. She did great, she didn't even cry. The nurse that came to do the shots was wearing Dora scrubs. Charlotte looked at her and said, "Hey! I watch Dora the Explorer!!!" It was like when you find out that you have something in common with someone...like, "Hey, I went to the University of Iowa, too!" It was that tone. The nurse started laughing After she got her shots, she looked at the nurse and said, "Thank you very much." Not sure she hears that too often! Char did have a reaction to the shots the next day...she had a huge welt on her arm...but it went away.

With Kevin's work and travel schedule really taking over, I find that I am having to figure out how to do a lot of things on our own. I know...people do it every day...I'm not claiming to be a rock star or looking for sympathy, but it can be tricky grocery shopping or doing things like that with 2 kids in tow. I can't trust Charlotte to be out of the grocery cart...Nate has to be in the cart...so, he sits up front and she sits in the cart. Can you imagine how many groceries I can buy with that situation? Charlotte can only hold so many turkey burgers on her lap. I love going to Costco because of two reasons....1) they have HUGE carts with room for two kids up front! That leaves the whole cart for stuff...which I always need and 2) the free samples all over the store. We went there on Tuesday right after the kids woke up from their nap and they basically had a free lunch. They had chicken, yogurt, croissants with strawberry preserves, applesauce, juice and granola bars. And of course, every sample person was throwing food at my cart of cuteness :) Those kids were stuffed when we left! I even took both kids to the DMV by myself the other day. (not sure if I mentioned that earlier). There is no spontaneity...each outing must be planned to the utmost. Can I fit a double stroller through the doors of where we are going? Will there be food, do I need to bring food? Are there carts? etc.... Plus, if you know me...you know I have to pack a bag that contains anything we might possibly need for an outing including sunscreen, bug spray, neosporin, snacks, drinks, diapers, wipes, hand sanitizer, toys to distract, etc. Yeah, I'm that mom. I don't travel light.

Time to start planning Nate's big first birthday bash! We finally get to have a party at our own house!!! What drink will I think of for his big day??? Hmm....

Here are a few pictures from this weekend. It was Kevin's Grandfather's (the kids Great-Grandfather) surprise 80th birthday party. It was his first time meeting Nate and both kids had a great time playing with him...Charlotte and Grandpa built a pretty awesome tower!

Nate all dressed up for the occasion (we had to take his shoes off...he's not too steady in shoes yet)