Clara 1 month old

I can't believe that Clara is aready 1 month old. We have loved getting to know our sweet little girl. Lily loves being a big sister and is constantly giving kisses and hugs and always wanting to hold Clara and show her things....she also tries to pick Clara up....we don't let her. On Jan 4th (1 1/2 weeks after birth) Clara weighed 8lbs 8oz. Two weeks later she's 11 lbs 2 oz and 21 inches long!!!! In other news I'm no longer worried if she's getting enough milk. She's outgrown all of her newborn clothes.

THIS MONTH
Clara loves:
-Tummy time
-Her ladybug crib mirror
-being warm
-Her swing
-the baby Bjorn
-smiling
-bath time

Clara hates:
-being swaddled
-lotion at bath time

This has been a month of firsts for Clara. These include her first (and second) birthday party, her first bath, shopping with mommy, trips to both Maryville to stay with my parents and to Kingston to see Andys mom and her first time at church.

Two days after we brought Clara home we headed to the Pediatric ENT because we susupected (and were correct) that Clara had a upper lip tie. In other words the little bit of skin/ tissue that connects the gum to the lip was too tight and made it very painful to nurse her. Seriously I thought her first words might be curse words. Luckily, I work for a pediatric ENT and we were able to get an appointment very quickly. I'm very happy to report that getting her lip tie clipped wasn't traumatic for her at all (she was asleep before they got back to the room) and has made a HUGE difference in nursing. Lily came to the appointment too and was thrilled that we wern't there for her but for Clara.

Later that day we went out to my parents house to spend some time with my sister and her family before they left to go back to Brooklyn.

Daddy taking a nap at the kitchen table....on a diaper bag

A few days later we went back out to my parents house for New Years Eve and to watch the UT bowl game the next day. GG (my dad's mom) got some good Clara holding time.

Some of Andy's family came to meet Clara.

The weekend before Clara turned 1 month old we knew that some winter weather was headed our way and I packed up Clara, Lily and CJ in the car and went to my parent's house for some awesome sledding. Clara spent most of the weekend being cuddled and napping next to the fire.

Clara napped by the fire while we were sledding

 



Other pictures from this month:

 

 look what Santa left under our tree

 

 Lily was using her toy kitchen to cook for Clara

 Lily enjoys Claras toys

 she's been smiling since birth

 trip to the office to meet mommys co-workers

helping mommy clean the bathrooms

Lily 2 year (27 months)

This month....because we've lost our minds we are potty training Lily. We're using the "Naked and $75" method which lets the child run around naked from the waist down and the $75 is for getting your carpet cleaned once they're potty trained. She's doing well (usually better at daycare than at home) but has at least 1-2 accidents per day and enjoys getting M&Ms when she goes potty. I just have to keep reminding myself that she will get this eventually.

THIS MONTH:

Lily Loves:
- Clara
- daddy making breakfast
- Disney movies (so far we've watched Little Mermaid, Peter Pan, Aladdin, Tangled and Frozen)
- snow
-Eskamo kisses
-M&Ms
- Playdoh

Lily Hates:
-occasionally she throws a tantrum about going to school

Favorite phrases:
- "______ have teeth?" (For some reason she's very interested in who has teeth.... including dinosaurs, clara, cj, the wicked witch, Ursula, Santa, and Dorothy.)
- "Where a Cara" (Where is Clara?)

At the beginning of this month we went out to Maryville to spend a little more time with my sister and her family before they left to go back to Brooklyn.

Toddlers dancing on a table

Nana and Pop with all their granddaughters

 



This month we've gone on a few outings but have spent a lot of time at home due to having a newborn and the cold weather. I can't wait for the warmer temperatures to come back so we can go for more frequent walks and trips to the park again. The few outings we have taken have been to a local play area and to gymnastics where Lily has decided to become a dare devil.

 gymnastics climbing area...Lily called it a spiderweb

 At Lily's BFFs 2nd birthday party

 Sure mom we can take a selfie with my cupcake

Ok mom enough with the selfies



We've also had a lot of friends and family come over with food, their kids or a willingness to entertain Lily and CJ. Thank you SO much if this applies to you. The food was delicious and we will never turn away anyone who wants to entertain our children (either human or furry).

Towards the end of this month we had a few days of snow and Lily was delighted. With the first snow that will allow for sledding we become very popular with the neighborhood kids because we have such a steep driveway. Lily enjoyed riding on her sled and riding on the laps of the older kids down our driveway. She also liked eating snow. The second snow day we headed out to my parent's house with its excellent hill in the front yard for some extreme sledding. Lily didn't like sledding at Nana and Pops house as much. The snow was very powdery and would fly up in her face. The only 2 times she sledded that day ended in tears. Later that day we made a snowman and that was much more her speed.

 watching the Wizard of Oz with Pop

 she kept saying "I singing. I singing" (transalation: I'm swinging) for 15 minutes straight

Snowman that Lily named "Sugarbear a whole bunch"

 

Other pictures from this month:

 Outbreak of playdough-itis. Luckily we have fully recovered

 Lily loves playing with Clara on her playmat

 She's going shopping....apparently dressed as Annie

We've totally got this potty training thing down.



Lily 2 years (26 months)

2 years (26 months)

December (at least the first part) was only slightly less crazy than November....I attributed this to the end of weekly football/tailgating season and to already having all our Christmas shopping, decorating and Christmas cookies done by right after Thanksgiving. Lily was excited this month for the McFalls annual cabin weekend and Christmas at Nana and Pop's house with her aunts, uncles and cousins.

THIS MONTH:

 Lily Loves:

- counting down to Christmas and the visit with her cousins in the form of an advent calendar and a paper chain that we take one link off of per night

- Elmo, Dorothy, Mary Poppins, HoHo, and Baby Cheez-its (Baby Jesus) are all favorites right now.

- Scawwy Witch and Monster (the abominable snowman from Rudolph)....apparently Lily is destined to like the villain in every movie 

- gymnastics

- inflatable Christmas decorations

- Making us aware that some men have facial hair (ex "Mommy look Paul have a mustache!!!")

-painting with watercolors

Lily Hates:
-not having chicken nuggets for dinner
-jeans

Favorite phrases:

- "What are a you doin?" (she asks everyone this....repeatedly)

- "More time" (translation: that thing you just did....please do it 75,000 more times until you lose your mind)
- Me "Lily what is your name?"
  Lily "Lily Mcfalls."
  Me "What is Mommy's name?"
  Lily "Mommy McFalls."
  Me "What is Daddy's name?"
  Lily "Subberbear" (Sugarbear is what Andy calls Lily....apparently this is his name now too)

At the beginning of December we headded to the mountains for our annual McFalls cabin weekend. Which generally includes lots of food, games, crafts, presents and quality family time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. We are always one of the first to arrive which allows us our pick of all the rooms. We picked one that had a BIG walk-in closet which became Lily's bedroom. The first year she was in a laundry room, the second year she was in the bathroom so this is an upgrade. As a bonus Lily got to take baths in a jacuzzi tub (she told us she was going swimming). Lily had a blast at the cabin and constantly wanted to know what her cousins were doing.

 Lily was ready to go to the living room and play with her cousins.

Andy was off for a few weeks in December so he got to come with us to a Christmas pancake breakfast at the local high school and to gymnastics twice. We also surprised Lily one night with getting in the car after bath and driving around to look at Christmas lights

she's a suspicious elf

Ready to look at Christmas lights

 

On Dec 23rd Lily's cousins, Hazel and Bea, flew in from NYC. The three of them were like a tornado of chaos and cuteness but they had so much fun playing together. On Christmas eve we all went to Church and participated in the Christmas pageant (Lily and her Uncle Ross were birds, Hazel and Bea were both angels). Lily had a meltdown at the end of the pageant when I told her she couldn't take her feathered bird boa home with her.....never thought I would be having that argument in church.

 

 

 

Grandma with her 3 great grand daughters

 

On Christmas morning we continued our family tradition of Santa leaving the stocking at the end of the bed and the girls got to open their stockings before seeing the tree. Madness ensued when it was time to open presents. Lily's Santa present was a play kitchen (she asked Santa for a "kitchen sink"). It was complete chaos and there were a few times we caught the girls opening presents that were not for them. Once it was nap time the adults got a chance to regroup, eat lunch and open our own stockings.

Opening her stocking

Christmas morning picnic with Hazel and Bea

 

 Santa brough Travis baloons for baloon animals

Lily requested a sword....and then stabbed her Uncle Ross....what violence!!

 



Around 6:30-7:00 that night I started having contractions and my dad and I headed to the hospital (Andy was working night shift and met us there). After getting admitted, checked and given an epidural (seriously whoever invented them should be given an award) our second daughter, Clara Miller McFalls, was born on Christmas night at 11:27pm. We got to come home from the hospital on Dec 27th. Unfortunately, Lily was sick and wasn't able to visit us in the hospital or be around her baby sisiter at all until she was fever free. They eventually were able to meet on Dec 28th.

 

Here are some more pictures from this month:

 

 School Christmas party

 

feet on the table

 PB and J Sandwiches with daddy