Things I Couldn't Live Without-- Part Two

There is one question I get asked every time I go out in public with the kids. Every time. Today only two people asked me and another person emailed me- it was a light day.

It's not any of the questions you would think- How old are the kids? How far apart are they? What are their names? Did you plan them that close??? (Although I do get all of these questions a lot.) Nope. It's not any of the common questions.

Here is the magic question that I think even Clay could answer at this point--Where did you get that car seat cover? (Funny, huh?)

Since the kids are so close in age I didn't want to buy a whole new car seat but I also didn't want my little pink precious to sit in her brother's black and silver seat. So, I started researching online and found the one I loved. (And let me just tell you that some of the covers I saw were more expensive than just buying a whole new seat!)

Anyway, this cover was reasonable, adorable and pink- so it met all my requirements. Here's the car seat Clay-style:

And Carolina-style:

What a difference a cover makes! So, if you're in the market for a car seat cover (or know someone who is) I would highly recommend this one. I wish I got some kind of kickback from the company every time I dropped their name but the cover really is cute, easy to throw in the washer (hood cover and all) and just plain fun!

I always laugh because when people approach you with your kids you expect them to ask you something about your kids- not your car seat! Oh well, it's kind of funny having strangers ask us about it but I'm always happy to share a good buy! (Mike thinks they should send us some business cards so we don't have to repeat ourselves all the time and wait for people to dig for a pen and paper to write it all down- I'm considering it.)

And that's the story of my most FAQ. So funny.

*I know this is the "Things I Couldn't Live Without" post (and I could live without a car seat cover) but the whole point is telling people about my favorite things (and this cover counts!). *

Clay Day at the Arboretum

This week's Clay Day was at the Arboretum. We had the children's pictures made with a real Easter bunny and walked around and looked at the beautiful flowers. The Arboretum is gorgeous during the spring with thousands of flowers every where you look.

Every time we go I leave a little sad because we never get really good pictures from our camera there. It's the ideal place to have a picture made of your kids but Clay NEVER cooperates when Mike and I try taking pictures (and Carolina can't sit on her own yet). Why should we jump around sweating and getting exasperated when we can just pay someone else to do it in a studio? Sometimes paying the money is just worth it!

So, instead of spending our time trying to get the perfect portrait we decided to go the petting zoo part. Here's some pics of Clay petting the animals:




After checking out the animals, he was very happy to roam free around the paths of the Arboretum and he got some energy out of his system. (With all of the other pics I used my "real" camera so I have to get them developed and can't post them just yet).

Clay is teething (again) and so we kept his Clay Day a little shorter yesterday. The poor guy has a runny nose and is grouchy as can be. He had a good time, though, so our Clay Day was a success!

Feelings...

Sometimes it's easy being 4 months old.


And other times (5 seconds later) it's not so easy...

Becca

We had lunch and played with Aunt Rebecca today. She left just as Clay was going down for his nap. When he woke up he started running up and down the halls looking in all the rooms saying, "Becca? Becca?". He wanted to play some more! It's so neat to see that little memory clicking and the words being associated with the right people. So sweet!

Our Newest Addition

Last week Mike had some time off from work. We had been looking forward to it for a while since we would be able to just relax and not have much going on. Ha! Have you met our kids?? Just kidding!

Anyway, for the last couple of years Mike has been trying to talk me into buying a new car. I wouldn't have it because I love my car. I bought it a few months before we got married and it was brand new.

I remember sitting at the dealership with Mike and him telling me how he hoped I LOVED my car because I would be bringing our firstborn home in it. He said this because up until that point I had only lasted one year in each car I owned. Fickle would be a good word to describe my relationship with cars. I got bored easily!

Anyhow, I drove my beloved Buick Rendevous for four years, brought every member of our family home in it (one dog, two cats and two babies!) and loved it! All 92,000 miles. Yikes!

One day a couple of weeks ago I suddenly realized that 92,000 miles was probably not such a good idea given that we travel a lot. Sooo, I started checking out new cars and we bought one. Just like that.

It's not new but it's new to us. It has all of the features that I wanted in a car and I had the best time (not really) negotiating a ton of money off the sticker price. Mike said he was super impressed when he saw me sitting at the table with three guys negotiating the deal. So funny!

We spent all day Monday and nearly all day Wednesday at the dealership. Let me tell you how fun it was to have the kids at a car dealership waiting and waiting and waiting.

We did almost get a free car when Clay pulled a car rim over and it almost landed on him. Mike and I had no idea how heavy it was and that it wasn't secured (it was on a stand on the floor). Even I couldn't pick the thing back up and put it back on the stand. I think Clay has super strength or something. You should have seen all the guys running to secure that thing after it happened. Since we'd already been there 3 hours, I think it definitely sped up the process for getting us out the door. Thanks, Clay!

All in all, it wasn't fun but we got the job done. So we said goodbye to one sort of member of our family and hello to another.

We went from this:

To this:
We ended up with a Black 2006 Expedition Limited that had just come off a lease. My Rendevous had nothing fun but this car has some really fun stuff. I told Mike I think this car is much cooler than we are! I will be traveling soon with the babies (and without Mike) so I'm going to try out all the toys. It has a DVD player so I won't have to rig the portable DVD player up between the seats and hope it doesn't fall or shut off (fun times!).

Here's the best part: It came with Navigation- but only for California and Nevada (Vegas, anyone?). We tried to use the Navigation the first day and figured out that you have to have a CD for each geographical area. It originally came with 12 CD's but the people only turned in 1 with the car. Apparently, they lived in California considering all the prior destinations in the system were California addresses. They also loved Bank of America and Burger King based on their Search history! So now we have to wait for the dealership to get us the other CD's so we can actually use the Navigation. Bummer!

So that's how we spent the first three days of Mike's vacation. I guess you do what you gotta do! And that's the story of our newest addition. We are looking to many road trips and hopefully bringing home some more family members in it!

I'm Not Tired

Carolina is doing pretty well at sleeping through the night but she is definitely a cat napper during the day. Clay sleeps in long stretches but this girl doesn't want to miss a thing!
The best part about her not wanting to take a nap is the faces she gives me when I pass by the swing as she's trying to fall asleep (sometimes she sleeps in the swing, sometimes the Moses basket). She is almost always grinning at me. Here's a little sample:

When I first approach, she gets this giddy grin:

She laughs at me when I tell her it's nap time

Getting sad- "Awww, Mom, are you serious about this nap time?"

She does a little stretch to prepare for her siesta

Trying her best at holding that pacifier in

Vic-tor-y, Vic-tor-y!


Good Night, Carolina!

Cute Girl

If you're happy and you know it...


Clap your hands!

A Day at the Zoo

This week's Clay Day was at the zoo. He's been kind of a cranky guy lately so we thought some sunshine, exercise and animals might do him some good. He had such a great time and ran until he had to sit in the stroller to rest (very rare for our little man).



Mike and I were very excited to take him to the zoo since "monkeys" is one of the words we hear all the time. He has been talking about them ever since we drove past Rainforest Cafe last week. He'll talk about monkeys all day and repeat the word fifteen times in a row. We were very excited to be able to show him some monkeys and gorillas (close enough to a monkey) in person.


Most of the time he was more interested in running than looking at the actual animals. We bought a zoo pass so hopefully he'll notice there are animals in the cages at some point!

Carolina rode in the stroller and napped most of the time. She wasn't too impressed with all of the action. She did wake up for a little bit and rode in the front seat of the stroller. The kids on their school field trips kept talking to her as we drove past them. This one little girl told me as she nudged past me, "Excuse me! Oh, and I like your baby!" So funny!



It was such a beautiful day to be out and about yesterday. We can't wait to go back again for some more zoo fun!

Carolina's Cereal

Carolina is a big girl now! She had her first rice cereal over the weekend. It was clear she wasn't a big fan of the cereal but she didn't fuss about it at all. Her personality is pretty easy going (most of the time) so it didn't really surprise us that she didn't have much of a reaction. She just kept spitting it back at me and giving me disgusted (but cute) faces. This was so nice compared to Clay who cried the whole time!

We fed her while Clay was taking a nap and I think she loved getting all the attention (Nana and Papa were here, too). Have I mentioned lately what a cute girl she is??

Wondering what was coming...

That first bite
"Ewww...."
"Seriously, Mom, who eats this stuff??"

"Do we have to do that again??"

What a Deal!

Chuck E. Cheese is running a promotion through the end of the year where you can print up charts for your child to complete and they get 10 free tokens for completing them. We love taking Clay to Chuck E. Cheese in the middle of the day when it is TOTALLY deserted! Not as many kids, not as many germs, not as many lines!
Examples of the charts are: The Potty Perfect Calendar (2 weeks), Good Patient (1 Dr. Visit), Clean Your Room (2 weeks) and Getting Dressed (2 weeks). Each kid who completes a chart gets 10 tokens.
We are working on our first chart- Potty Perfect. We can't wait!
P.S. I promise not all my blogs are going to be about deals! I just love to pass on a good one when I find it and I don't know the emails of everyone who reads my blog. The next blog will have my babies in it- promise!