Trip to St. Petersburg!

Part of Claire's birthday present (and reason we had a small party this year) was a trip to St. Petersburg for Yo Gabba Gabba live! I am pretty sure most of you that know Claire know Yo Gabba Gabba. It is her MOST favorite tv show on Nick Jr. Our friends came with us, and Claire was extremely happy to have Rhea there with her to run around and play.

We weren't sure how she would do at the show, but she loved it! Just like everything we did in Disney World, she had a very serious face the whole time. She seems to like to just take everything in. But she seemed to really have fun! And at the end she said "Bye Bye" to each character. That night she was SO wound up she didn't fall asleep until 11:30!

The next morning (after Claire woke up saying Yo Gabba Gabba!) we took her to the Dali Museum. She was such a good girl. She got loud a few times but we have been working on "inside voice" and she seems to be catching on... when she wants too of course!

The best part of the museum was a little outside area her and Rhea could run around and play. That, of course, ended up being where we spent most of our time. But it was a fun weekend and Claire had an absolute blast! I had trouble narrowing down the pics, so I'm just posting all of them. Enjoy!

Party Time!

Birthday Girl!

Today our sweet little birthday girl is TWO!

Hard to believe it has been 2 years since this...

We had a fun family birthday party for her on Saturday. Grandma and Aunt Amanda were able to come in town for the festivities. Claire LOVED all of the attention and had a great time showing off for everyone! She loved all of her presents, especially the "cozy coupe" from Ce-Ce & Papa Don. It is quite a sweet ride.

I will post an album from the party soon!

Almost Two!

Hard to believe our little Baby Claire will be 2 in less than a week.

Over the last few days she has amazed me at how much she is talking and learning new things everyday. I now hear the dreaded "no" when I ask her questions. She says it so cute though it is hard to get mad. I am still trying to turn it into "no, thank you" instead!

She has also decided that she should be the one in charge of Zoey. She frequently tells Zoey to sit, back-up, hush, and to go into her "ken-ken" (kennel). Poor Zoey takes it like a champ. Claire pays her back by giving her plenty of treats. She also says "Bye-Bye Zoey! See you soon!" every time we leave the house. How cute is that!

I know we are getting into quite a trying time as we hit the terrible twos. Claire definitely keeps us busy and on our toes. But I also think to myself at the end of each day when she runs up to me saying "give mama HUG!" that there are times when it just isn't so terrible!

We are going to celebrate her birthday this weekend with a small family party, and then we are taking Claire to see Yo Gabba Gabba live the weekend after! Lots of pictures to come.

In Memoriam...

This past weekend Clay and I headed to Bedford, Pennsylvania for a memorial service in honor of his father.

It was a long trip for such a short time, but we all take comfort in the fact that his dad can now rest in peace. The service was held at the same church Les was baptized in as a boy. He had family and friends attend the service, including a few he graduated high school with. It was really neat to hear stories about him growing up in that beautiful small town and meet some distant relatives for the first time.

Les was buried in a small private cemetery on the side of a mountain. His mother, grandmother, and other family members are buried there too.

Being out there on a beautiful crisp day was so serene and calm.

Tough Week Ahead...

This week Clay and I will be heading up to Pennsylvania for his dad's memorial service. We have been going through some old pictures, and it is amazing to see the wonderful life Les had.
This Friday Clay's parents would have been married for 50 years. How is that for an accomplishment?

Quite a beautiful couple, don't you think?
We miss you Les. I'm glad we get to honor his memory this weekend.

Alligator Farm

We spent this Veteran's Day at the Alligator Farm! The Mom's Club got a special group deal, so Clay joined us on his day off. We had fun! Claire absolutely loved feeding the alligators. She also enjoyed seeing a little monkey they had... by doing her best impression of a monkey.

Here she is feeding the alligators...

She attracted quite a crowd!

Walk to End Alzheimer's

This past weekend my family did the Walk to End Alzheimer's in support of the Alzheimer's Association.

Unfortunately, this is a disease that has had a very big impact on my family. My grandfather, better know as Bepaw, was diagnosed with this disease fairly close to his passing 2 years ago. Clay's father was also struggling with dementia prior to his passing last month. It is such a quiet disease, and isn't talked about very much.

My entire family came together as a team called Bepaw's Beauties. We also had two of our very good friends on the team as well. As a team we raised $1000! I am very proud of that, and happy to support this cause.

We all can't wait to do it again next year!

Halloween Festivities

Well we have understandably been thrown for quite a loop the last couple of weeks. Also, Claire had croup this past week! For those of you that don't know what that is, it is the most horrible sounding respiratory virus I have ever heard. She had trouble breathing, so the cough was loud & deep. At one point she coughed in her crib & I thought Zoey was barking. So, needless to say, we missed out on quite a few of the halloween festivities we had planned on attending. At least she isn't old enough to know that yet!
We still made the most out of this weekend. Saturday Claire got dressed up in her costume... just for pictures :)

Our Little Foofa!

Love Lives on Forever in the Heart...

Such a sad time for the Waddill family as Clay's father passed away last weekend. We believe all things happen for a reason, and God was looking out for us as Clay was sent home early from this deployment. Since he has been home he was able to visit with his dad two times in the past month and a half.

We try to take comfort in the fact that Les is no longer suffering and is now in a better place. He loved his family with all of his heart, and was extremely proud of Clay and the accomplishments he has made in the Navy. He was also very proud of his granddaughter Claire. On every trip to Ocala Les would come running out as soon as we pulled into the driveway. He would immediately pick Claire up and bring her inside to play. He would always compliment me by saying Claire is beautiful just like her mother.

We will miss him so very much, and know he is watching over us now.

The memorial service will be held November 19 in Bedford, PA where Les was born.

Pumpkins!

We took Claire to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. It is one that is right down the street from our house & they have the cutest stuff! We didn't stay too long but Claire enjoyed walking around and she loved the little baby pumpkins. We took her to the same Pumpkin Patch last year, and it is just so crazy to see what a difference a year can make. She is growing up so fast!

And last year's picture

We came home with 2 pumpkins ready to carve. Happy Fall!

Back to Work

After a wonderful month off Clay headed back to work this week. We were sad about that, but have to say we definitely made the most of his time off with trips to Ocala, Savannah, and Disney World! Now it is time to get into a new routine. We are very happy because this new job is considered "shore duty." That basically means NO DEPLOYING. Woo-hoo! It's actually pretty close to a "normal" job. No weekends and very few nights. We will take it!

Claire has adjusted well so far but you can tell she misses seeing her Da-Da. The first morning I went in to wake her up she started saying "Da-Da!" over and over. Didn't take her long to go back to being a daddy's girl! So she has now taken to getting up extra early - I think it is just so she can see her da-da before he goes to work.

P.S. Sorry about the crooked picture, it was early and I didn't have my coffee yet!

Disney World!

We just got back from our family vacation in Disney World! We had such a great time. We stayed for 3 nights & it was perfect. Claire had so much fun!

Our first afternoon we went to Downtown Disney and walked around for a bit. We had dinner at Rainforest Cafe, where Claire learned how to tell us what a monkey says... "ooh ooh aah aah". We really enjoyed our hotel. It was actually a cabin at the Ft. Wilderness campground. It was perfect for us! It has a full kitchen and little living area, so Clay and I didn't have to tip-toe around while Claire slept.

The first full day we headed over to the Magic Kingdom. It was a fairly quick boat ride over there from our cabin. Claire's very first ride was Peter Pan. She was mesmerized! She just stared and took it all in. We were very proud of her for not being scared, it was pretty dark! After that we went to It's A Small World which she really warmed up too. She stared in amazement at all of the "kids" singing.
We also went on Winnie the Pooh, the carousel, Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride, and Mickey's Philharmagic. That one was a little rough - it's a 3d movie with songs from all of the Disney movies. It was suggested for little one's but it scared the heck out of Claire! She cried and jumped every time they moved around. I think she's a little young for 3d! Other than that we had lots of fun walking around and checking everything out.

After that we spent the afternoon hanging out at the little kid's splash park at our campground. She loved it! That was nice because previous splash park experiences have not been too great!

That night we grilled out hot dogs at our cabin and ate on our front porch. Much better than theme park food!

We got up bright and early the next day and headed to Animal Kingdom. What a neat place! We went on the coolest safari. We got to see all kinds of animals - lions, elephants, warthogs, giraffe, hippos, and even rhinos! Claire really liked that ride too. She had to sit in my lap to see and she just stared at all of the animals!

One of the best things about Animal Kingdom is you can actually see the characters! The lines to see characters in Magic Kingdom are so crazy. Claire got to see Minnie Mouse - which she was SO excited about. She walked right up to her and said "minnie!" Even took her hand and touched her nose. After we took our pictures she walked away yelling "bye bye minnie mouse!" over and over again. We were cracking up. She is definitely not shy!

Overall we had a great time. Lots of fun memories and even more pictures! I have so many good ones I'm trying to figure out the best way to share them. I promise I will soon! Here is a teaser in the meantime...

Fire Station Tour

I'm pretty sure that I posted before we joined a Mom's group that is for Stay-at-Home moms in our area of town. It was been quite an adventure for Claire and I! Last week we went on a tour of the local fire station. Claire absolutely loved it. Maybe even a little too much. She wasn't to keen on giving the other kids a turn to sit inside the truck. So even though it ended with quite a meltdown we at least had some fun and got some really cute pictures out of it!

Fall, Friends, Food, & Football

In that order! We have had a great weekend. The weather man kept telling us it would be cool this weekend but I sure wasn't going to believe it until I felt it. And I did! It has been so nice since waking up Saturday morning.
Saturday late afternoon we headed over to our friends the Wolf's house for some fun and food. Clay had not yet met their little boy Zane who is almost 6 months old. They also have Rhea, who is 6 months older than Claire. She loves to play with "Quaire" but unfortunately Claire doesn't quite return the favor. Once we headed outside for some swinging and bounce house action then Claire warmed up to her rather quickly. We enjoyed a fun cookout catching up with old friends.
This morning we headed out to the park so Claire could have some more outside playtime. She is obsessed with the slide! She is brave enough to slide down on her own so she wants to do it over and over again. She even climbs up to the back of it herself, saying "Step Up!" along the way. It is fun to watch her run around and enjoy herself.
So now, we are watching a rough Jags game but still enjoying the nice Sunday. Tonight we are having Roasted Butternut Squash and Bacon Pasta... if that doesn't say fall I don't know what does!

Words

Claire has really starting talking A LOT lately. She listens to everything we say, and picks up on so much now.
We love how she says some of her new words, it is so sweet to hear how excited she gets when she says certain things. You can tell she is very proud of herself!

Some of our favorites...
banana - Claire: ma-man-a (pretty close to "Amanda" if you ask me)
yummy - Claire: yuu-ee!
barney - Claire: marney!
good morning - Claire: goood mar-ning
peek a boo - Claire: bee boo!
binkie - Claire: winkie

Her other favorites are spelling her name (C-L-A-I-R-EEEEE! CAIRE!) and yelling out airplane! every time she hears one... even if we are in the house. It is fun watching her grow and learn everyday!

We've tried to break out the video camera to catch some of this but she has gotten pretty smart about stopping whatever she is doing as soon as she hears it beep. Then she just stops & stares at the camera! As soon as we catch some stuff we will post it though!

A Day at the Museum...

Well, more like a morning at the museum! Over the summer we decided to become members of the Museum of Science & History (MOSH). I took Claire there twice over the summer and we really liked it. There are lots of fun exhibits and it is definitely somewhere she can run around and learn neat stuff.
Today was the first time Clay had been there. He loved it too! We had lots of fun walking around and looking at some neat stuff...

Claire & Daddy looking at the fish!

Claire brushing for fossils...

Claire & Daddy learning how the stomach works!

We are so blessed to have quality time together as a family!

Savannah!

As I said just a few minutes ago, Clay and I got to spend a couple nights in Savannah! Claire stayed with her Ce-Ce. We had a wonderful time, and are so thankful that we have so much family around to babysit! We enjoyed catching up on time together since we have been pretty busy since Clay got home.
We did SO much walking. There is so many neat things to see in Savannah! Luckily our hotel was really close to everything. We did some shopping & ate some extremely delicious food!
Our favorite thing we did was a haunted pub crawl. We met the tour guide and as a group walked from bar to bar while hearing spooky stories about how the different bars are haunted. It was so much fun! Luckily neither one of us felt too bad on the drive back Sunday.
Enjoy the pictures!

Happy Birthday Clay!

Today Clay turned 36. I can't say he had a very exciting birthday day... but we did have an awesome pre-celebration in Savannah this past weekend!

Clay decided he wanted to eat Thai food for his birthday dinner, so I picked up take out for him :) I did at least make him his dessert of choice - chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips. Here he is celebrating with Claire. She thought the cookies were YU-EE! (Claire speak for yummy)

Ocala

Last weekend we took a family trip to Ocala. And by family, I mean even Zoey! Luckily Ocala is a fairly quick drive from Jax.

We had a wonderful time, and Claire loved playing with Grandma. Mean old mommy thought the water would be too cold for Claire to go in the pool, so I didn't bring her bathing suit. As you will see from the pictures, that did not stop Claire!

Busy!

The Waddill's have been quite busy since Clay came home! Clay has been spending much needed quality time with his girls. We are having so much fun since he has time off of work for a few weeks.

I am going to update a few posts in a row to try and catch everyone up!

Claire has already become a daddy's girl all over again. She loves playing and singing with daddy all the time. She is talking up a storm, she pretty much just copies everything we say! (yes, we have to be careful what comes out of our mouths!) Her favorite things to say are "good morning!" and a phrase she picked up from Clay, "alright!"

Clay is so happy to have some time off so he has been spending some daddy-daughter time with Claire while Mommy runs and works out. Did I mention I'm training for a half-marathon? Yikes! Anyway, he took Claire to Auntie Annes in Town Center for some pretzel-making! Claire wasn't really in the mood to do the work, so Clay rolled her pretzel while she watched. But she was very happy to eat it afterwards! Oh, and that reminds me of her other favorite thing to say. "Thanks!" She says it every time you hand her something, or every time she hands you something. It is pretty fun to see the personality come out now that she is hitting the full-on toddler stage!

Family, continued

Our official Welcome Home family picture. Thank you Ryan for taking it!

Family

Today, September 11, 2011.
It has been a day of prayer & reflection. It is just so sad to hear the stories of everyone affected by that tragic day 10 years ago. It definitely makes me appreciate all of the blessings I have in my life, especially that I have my husband home and my family back together again after another deployment.
It is easy to get caught up in the "woe is me" mentality as you are living day-to-day life. But really, when you stop and reflect, is it really that bad?
I know I am blessed with a supportive husband, beautiful daughter, loving family & wonderful friends. What more could a girl need?


My Happiness...

Last Flight

On Sunday Clay had his last flight as a member of the VP-45 Pelicans. True to Pelican form, it was a flight that briefed at 5am! He is really excited to come home, as are Claire and I. I think even Zoey knows something is up (maybe it's all of the cleaning I'm doing... I mean... that I always do...) I can't wait to update the blog with Welcome Home pictures! One more day and a half.

And on another homecoming note, an observation that I made earlier today. I have had a new dress for Claire to wear for Clay's homecoming for 2 months now. Today I decided I'm just going to throw on something I already have. My how things have changed!

Pictures!

We had a wonderful time in Tennessee last week. Claire and I got to spend time with the Morenos and with Aunt Amanda. Claire absolutely loved running around with her cousins and followed them everywhere. I tried to narrow down the pictures but there were just too many good ones! Enjoy.

Little Gym

Uncle Ryan was nice enough to join us at Little Gym class a couple weeks ago to take some pictures. Claire really likes going once a week, and these pictures are from her last class of the summer. We decided to join again for the Fall since we had so much fun! Enjoy.

OSC Dinner

So some of you know that I have been the President of the VP-45 OSC for a couple (yes, 2) years now. But I also know some of you have no idea what OSC means. It is the Officer's Spouses Club for Clay's current squadron.
Well, Clay is coming home very soon (yay!) so I finally stepped down as President. We will be transferring to a new Jacksonville squadron in October.
Anyway, the ladies of the OSC surprised me with a nice farewell dinner at Cantina Laredo! It was awesome. We had so much fun drinking margaritas & catching up. Then they surprised me again with a gift card to Ponte Vedra Spa! How nice is that. I almost cried. It really feels good when you know you are appreciated. I never expected all of that, it really made my night.
The picture is of me & my dessert that came with a sparkler. The waiter thought it was my birthday and said "Happy Birthday!" to me at least 3 times. I am pretty sure he was wondering why everyone at the table laughed those 3 times.
I had lots of fun as the President ... but now it's time to move on. Wonder what I'll get involved with next?

BOO!

In Ocala, Claire & I started a new 'thing'. When she would come around the corner into the bathroom I would yell "boo!". She loved it, and started saying it too. Well, it is more of a "ba" but you get the idea.
So yesterday I was coming out of our bathroom at home and I had no idea she was standing there. When I walked out the door she yelled "boo!" and I literally jumped into the air. I immediately started cracking up. Little did I know my 20 month old could scare the heck out of me!

Tea Time

Today Claire and I met our friends Amy, her daughters Abby & Ally, Tracy, and her daughter Hallie for some tea. We had fun!

First Baseball Game

Last night I took Claire to her first baseball game! We met some of the spouses from our OSC at the Jacksonville Suns game. It had rained prior to it starting, but it cleared up just in time for the game! And it actually cooled it off a bit!
Claire had lots of fun. She liked when the outfielders ran to catch the ball (that is what we were closest too). She also liked clapping and yelling "yay!" whenever something good happened!
It was a late night but definitely worth it. We had a great time.

Play Group

Well, Claire & I finally joined a play group! I have been a member of the Intracoastal Mom's Club for a couple months now - and was assigned a small play group of other kids Claire's age. So we do club activities throughout the month, and then meet in our play group once a week. I have really enjoyed it so far! Claire was not very happy with other kids around at first, but between the Mom's Club & Little Gym classes she is adjusting really well.
Claire still doesn't really "play" with other kids but she does now let them stand next to her! Now that is progress.
I am glad we are keeping busy and that Claire can make some new friends in the process. I haven't taken any pictures yet but I will next time!

Pictures from Ocala

We had a nice time in Ocala and spent most of the time outside by the pool.  Neither one of us were ready to leave this afternoon!  We can't wait to visit again soon, hopefully with Clay :)

Ocala

Well, Claire and I decided to take a little break from the homestead.  We are in Ocala for the weekend visiting Grandma.  So far that has involved lots of pool time and yummy food.  That is my kind of break!  Tonight we had dinner with Carolyn's friend Mayfair.  It was a nice night and Claire was a good girl.  She showed off by singing Twinkle-Twinkle-Little-Star.
Oh, and grandma has two cats!  I think Ashley has been secretly trying to convert Claire into a cat-lover while she watched her last month.  Every 5 minutes she yells out "HI KITTY-CATS!"  It is cute.
We left Zoey at home - out of the kennel to roam free and enjoy the house to herself.  I have a feeling she is sprawled out on the couch and loving every minute of it.
Pictures soon.

Observations about Claire

First, I must say for those that haven't heard, Congratulations to Clay!  We found out today that he has been picked up for Lieutenant Commander Select!  We have been waiting for this news & we were happy to finally hear it.  You all know how hard he works and that he definitely deserved it.

Okay... back to the official reason of the post.  As Claire has really started developing a personality these last few months, I have noticed something.  Besides a bit of a stubborn streak that she definitely gets from me, her personality is SO similiar to Clay!

Examples:

1. She cracks herself up.  Claire literally lays in her crib at night before going to sleep laughing at herself.  I seriously think she is telling herself jokes.  All I hear is "babble babble babble babble ...pause... HAHAHAHA!"  It is so funny.  I can only imagine what she is saying to herself to make her laugh.
2. She talks to EVERYONE.  She definitely has her shy moments, but for the most part she tries to talk to everyone she sees.  And she very much expects them to talk back.  She gets a very funny look on her face if they don't respond.
3. She never stops moving.  I know some of it is age, but seriously the girl can't sit still.  She is always busy busy busy.  The only thing she will stop for are books (just like her Daddy) or to sleep (okay that's from me).

Yes, the above pic is an example of our little ham.  And yes, she put the hat on like that and walked around for quite awhile with it tilted just like that.  She's got style.

So basically, I just have to say that I'm very happy all of the things I love about Clay have been passed down to our little girl!

Clay's Deployment

I finally got the pictures Clay has taken so far all organized and uploaded for everyone to see! There are some really neat ones, just click on the link below...

CLAY'S DEPLOYMENT 2011 

 Enjoy!

Lately...

Well, quite a bit has happened since my last post in April! Clay is on deployment - first in Djibouti, Africa and now in Sigonella, Sicily. The latter is much better. He is very busy though, so time is going by quickly for him.
With our independent little 20 month old time is going by quickly for me too! Claire is developing quite a personality, so we have lots of fun playing and learning new things everyday.
We miss Clay so very much, but are fortunate that we get to talk to him on video calls every other day or so. It is Claire's new favorite thing to do ... she yells "HI DA-DA" from whatever room she is in when she hears that distinct skype ring.
As I said, Claire really is learning new things everyday. My goal is to update this frequently with what we are up to!

Costa Rica!

Mom and Dad got a vacation! We went to Costa Rica with our good friends Trevor & Tracey. We had a great time, but definitely missed our little Claire. She had a great time spending the week with her Ce-Ce and Papa Don. She got to hang out at Jupee's house too! She definitely had a vacation as well. All she wanted to do the first week back home was sleep.
We had a wonderful time in Costa Rica. Clay got to surf, and I got to lay on the beach. It was just what we needed!

First Trip to the Park

We took Claire to the park for the first time in early March. It is a great little park at the beach. She loved the swing, but wasn't too sure about the slide!

Catching Up

Okay, so my track record on blogging so far is not so good.  I am going to get better about it I promise!  We are all doing well.  Clay has been extremely busy with work, but now has 12 days off for his pre-deployment leave.  We are enjoying spending some family time together.
The Morenos came to visit us for the weekend.  We had a nice time and Claire loved playing with her cousins.
And now Clay and I are leaving for Costa Rica!  We will be gone for 6 days.  I am quite nervous about leaving Claire, but I know her Ce-Ce and Papa Don will take good care of her.  And Clay and I definitely deserve the vacation, if I do say so myself!
Here are some pics from the visit with the Morenos:

February

Where did February go?  I can't believe it is already March.  Claire is 15 months old today!  I seriously don't know where the time goes.
We have done some fun stuff since I last posted!  We had a girl's tea in honor of Ce-Ce, Memaw, and Aunt Grace's birthday.  Claire loved being the center of attention at that one.  Then we went and visited Grandma & Grandpa Waddill for a nice weekend.
No walking yet, but we are OH so close.  Newest milestones are saying "HI!" which she does all of the time now.  She even says it when someone says "Bye Bye".  It is pretty funny.
She has also been going to Stroller Strength classes with me.  She no longer likes to sit in the stroller, but has been doing fairly well on a blanket.  She is not too sure of other kids yet... she doesn't like when they play with her toys.  However a little boy gave her a pretzel this week and she let him sit right down and play with her.  I guess we know how to win her over.
So now, on to March.  She has her big doctor's appointment on Tuesday so I will post her latest stats after!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We had to say goodbye to Clay this afternoon.  Luckily this is a quick trip, should be about 9 days.  It always sad to say goodbye though!  Claire cried as soon as Clay put her back in the car.  She is quite a daddy's girl.

We definitely wish he was here to celebrate Valentine's Day with us, but we are just going to make it a girls only celebration.  Hope everyone has a happy day!

Starting Out

Well, this is it.  Our new blog.  We are going to use this instead of the other website from now on.  I thought this would be a better way to share all of the fun and exciting things Claire is doing these days.  She learns something new everyday!

So, bear with me as I figure this out!  It is a little more complicated than I thought :)