Vacation

We survived a whole week together! Reimers family Michigan vacation was a success. 

We started planning this vacation in February.  We drove by some amazing beach

 front property. We picked out several "family compounds" that would be suitable for all our future vacation needs. Too bad nobody had any spare millions to invest.  

Highlights:

Adam-reading on the beach, bike ride on the first day with Molly, Matt and Dad that was 5.5 hours long, including a hike up to a look out above the tree line, ice cream and lunch break. 

Marie-eating meals together, relaxing and Kilwins salted carmel ice cream cone

Dad-Tunnel beach with everyone, flying kites

Mom-relaxing at the house and eating meals

Molly-everything, Tunnel beach the best

Matt-I still need to ask him! He was there from Sunday-Tuesday evening. 

Lows: 

Road closures, detours, 19 hours without power and water, the house was a little far from town/beach, no bathtub and thus Claire had her first shower, much to her chagrin. 

Obsessive

Sometimes, I get a little obsessive about books. If they are in a series, it gets worse. I read at the table, in car, before bed, in bed way too late. I am currently on a reading binge. Our friend, Jake, bet that I would try and read during a performance of Midsummer Night's Dream, however, I resisted. I was sitting in the front row, I don't want to be rude to strangers. To my family and friends, however,....

 I take Claire to the gym so I can read on a bike. I don't think that is so bad. I pay a monthly fee and it gets us out of the house and gives Claire some socialization time. Today, it got a little ridiculous. I paid our babysitter to come over so I can do some work for the upcoming school year and mow the lawn. But, it was raining and they hadn't assigned me my students yet. I did some chores at first, but the books were calling my name. As I was reading, it got very quiet. Claire must be asleep, I realized. That means I was paying someone to watch Claire sleep so I could read..... well sort of, she was also holding Claire.

Lauren, the babysitter, is the sleeping miracle worker.  She can get Claire to go to sleep without a bottle. She walks in circles singing and Claire snuggles up in the fetal position and starts snoring on her chest. Lauren will hold her for her whole nap instead of laying her in her crib for fear of waking her up. Claire's sleeping habits are still exhausting. She'll sleep 4-5 hours for the first stretch, but then only 2 hours after that and sometimes  she just cries and cries even though she is tired she can't go back to sleep. I contemplated paying Lauren to come from 3 am-7 am while Adam is out of town.

Just thought I would update my blog for the first time in MONTHS to give you a sneak peak at what is going on inside this House of Houghtons.

Grass part 2

She is willing to tolerate the grass to get to one thing she loves the best.

Teeth

We've tried to get a good picture of her teeth for a month now. How many can you see?

Grass

  I had heard that babies don't like the feel of grass right away. Claire is no different! She shuddered and then cried when I sat her in the grass.

She prefers sitting on a blanket and either pulling one grass blade at a time or brushing it with her hand. 

We think she is precious! Summer is going to be extra fun this year.

Freak of Nature

I should really blog about Easter, but I'll have to get to that later.

I am just in shock because Claire now has 5 teeth. I dropped her off at Michelle's today and went and did a speech/language evaluation. I came back and Michelle said something like, "oh, I didn't know she got another tooth." I looked at her like she was crazy and then she pointed out that to the left of the middle top tooth was another tooth. Michelle noticed that Claire was biting the bottle on that side of her mouth and wondered if that was why and she was right. I guess I too noticed her biting on that side of her mouth, but I couldn't imagine it was another tooth.

Michelle called her advanced and I called her a FREAK OF NATURE. Who needs that many teeth before their six month birthday? And I know you want to ask, yes, she bites me sometimes when she is feeding. OUCH! Since she has been teething for the past 3 months and hasn't slept for longer than 3.5 hour stretches (that is on a good night) in 3 months, I am assuming they are related. Will it ever stop or will she just keep getting teeth until there is no more room in her mouth and we have to start pulling them out!?!?

I'll try to get a picture, but it is hard to catch!

Spring Break Part 1

I've got a two week spring break from my tele-therapy job so I thought I would update you on what has been going on at the House of Houghtons.

Speaking of my job, the therapy itself is going fine, however, all the paperwork, resolving tech issues, scheduling and lesson planning (all of which happens after I send the babysitters home) wears on me. Plus, I am permanently sleep deprived and I don't feel like I am doing anything well these days. So I don't know. I'm trying to keep a positive attitude until June and then decide if I want to keep doing it.

Back to Spring Break, the first week was full of visitors. Adam's mom was here for 4 days and babysat while I worked Friday and so Adam and I could go out, rocked the baby while I napped, cooked and cleaned, shopped and let me get a pedicure and probably much more that I can't remember. My friend Liz and Courtney came on Wednesday and Thursday for their Spring Break. We ate, played games, watched a movie, shopped and talked. Then on Friday , Mary Sue, Maile, Mom and Molly came and we went to Shipshewana for some good Amish food and shopping and Saturday we ate some more and died Easter Eggs. So to sum it up, I shopped and ate too much so my wallet is lighter and my belly heavier.

This week I don't have much planned at all. Hopefully, I'll get to the gym and get some naps!

Adam's been busy working on peds. He starts nights tomorrow and he works through Saturday morning and then we'll go to Havana for Easter.

Have a great week!

What's New?

Molly asked me, "what's new with you guys?" today. I thought maybe I'd share my answers with you all.

1. I am trying liquid eyeliner. It might be start of something beautiful. Or a stay at home mom's pathetic attempt to dress up sweat pants.

2. Claire is cutting her 3rd tooth. Top left. Molly described it as "aggressive teething." I agree.

3. We didn't go to Havana this weekend because one of Adam's clinic patients is due any day now, first time mom and he promised her that he would be here. He's just that kind of guy. He could have signed her out to another resident, but instead he gave up a trip home.

4. On that note, Adam is the chief resident for next year. So he'll be making the schedule for the residents and interviewing all the new candidates for next year. I think those are the 2 main responsibilities.

5. I am working next week and then I have a 2 week Spring Break with lots of visitors. Woohoo!

6. We got the carpets steam cleaned. I feel so much better about having the baby on the ground.

I think that is all for now! We spent most of this gorgeous day tag-teaming babysitting and catching up on sleep. Feeding this baby every 2 hours day and night takes a toll on me and Adam's crazy schedule is hard on him, too. He only worked 5 days this week, vacation day on Wednesday, and only one of those days was terribly long, like 8:00 am.- 2:00 a.m. long, gross!

What's new with you???

28!

Adam's birthday was Friday. His first birthday as a dad! Last year on his birthday, I was in my first trimester and barely made it through the dinner without getting sick.

Adam always looks forward to being able to say he's one year older the many times a week he gets asked his age.

He actually had the day off from work. He hung out with Claire while I worked during the day. I made breakfast and lunch and neither went very well, but it's the thought that counts. Time flew and all of sudden it was 7 pm so we headed out for some sushi. We enjoyed each other's company and a nice time even though I didn't like some of our food (bust #3 if you're counting).

Here is a pic of Adam using his new vacuum. I love you, Adam!!

adorable little fingers

My baby can use her hands! She grabs and holds on to everything now. Some of her favorites are my hair, crinkly toys, burp rags, fingers, the dog, the carseat cover and her bottle. Also, she can hold the bottle in her mouth... sort of!

She still needs help keeping it in her mouth.

 Oh yeah, that's me in the robe. I wear it all the time because it is warm and snuggly.