Thursday, May 20, 2010

And you thought Barbasol was just for shaving?!

Yes, I'm way behind on my posting. I've got lots of pics to download in between keeping up with big guy and getting our nursery ready for baby sister's arrival! Many more to come, but here's one from a few weeks ago that Clay just L.O.V.E.D!

This is an activity I used to do with my dyslexia kiddos {when I was feeling brave!} and thought Clay would love it! Doesn't hurt that we reinforced our alphabet letters and practiced our handwriting. :)


love, love, love this book! we used it as our guide for drawing our letters.



up first....exploratory time! lesson learned many years ago...must let them explore first or your whole lesson will go down in flames because all they want to do is DIVE IN and GET MESSY! ;)



obviously a little too much shaving cream here...toned it down a bit once we started tracing letters.



Clay came up with such creative words for the texture like "ewwwey gooey", "smooshy" and that it reminded him of
"white, fluffy clouds."




okay, here is where the real "learning" takes place. we'd choose a letter {his choice} from our book, mama would trace, and clay would trace over and attempt his own if he wanted.




tracing over the letter



Although we practiced many more letters, {this activity from start to finish lasted us close to an HOUR...no kidding!} it became too hard for Mama to trace, clean her hands, grab the camera and help Clay all at the same time.


  • Messy...yes.
  • Smell like a barber shop for the rest of the day...yes.
  • Worth it to hear these words, "Mama, let's play alphabet shaving cream letters. That was soooooo fun"....absolutely!!!



Friday, May 7, 2010

Because sometimes breakfast needs a little "pick me up"


Please excuse the fact that it's served on my "fine china!" :)






This guy didn't seem to mind one bit! One happy camper! ;)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Mama and Daddy's "Babymoon" Adventures

Mama & Daddy decided to sneak away for a little "babymoon" before baby girl arrives in August! So, we packed our bags and headed west to The Four Seasons in Scottsdale, AZ. Daddy planned for a whole 3 days of resting, relaxing, napping, laying out by the pool, and just being lazy together! We had an amazing trip {although we missed big guy like CRAZY...he was never far from our thoughts and we often found ourselves saying..."Wouldn't Clay just love___"} and so enjoyed our alone time together!

Beautiful weather for lunch at Olive & Ivy's in downtown Scottsdale!


Pretty sure that spot on my belly is remnants of lunch spilled on baby girl! :) Seems to happen more often than not these days!


Home sweet home...our little "casita" at The Four Seasons


View from the balcony...rustic! I thought for sure we were going to wake up to one of those huge boulders at the foot of our casita. Amazing how they stay in place?!



Pool area where we spent a lot of our time! :)



Hotel lobby headed to dinner



Hands down...the most amazing steak ever!!!



View of the pool from our cabana where many a naps were taken!



Daddy about to hit the pool!



more pics of the hotel lobby...i'm in love with the whole western flair and wished I could pack up many pieces to bring home with me!



there were beautiful, lush gardens scattered around the property...this one in particular was the site for a wedding while we were there...amazing at sunset!


Mr. and Mrs.
I had such an wonderful time with you, Daddy! I love you so and am truly blessed to be married to my very best friend!

As sad as we were to say goodbye, we were more than ready to hop on our 6am flight back home to Austin! There truly is "no place like home"...especially when you've got this guy waiting on you....

Monday, May 3, 2010

Shiny Grill!

At Clay's 2 year well check last year, his pediatrician, Dr. Jolet, suggested making a dentist appointment for him sometime between then and when he turned 3. Well, after leaving that visit and seeing how terrified Clay was to even step on the scale to get weighed or have his temperature taken, {can't blame him...his last trip to the doctor was for his 18 month check up that I'm sure he had already long forgotten!} Mama thought she'd hold off as long as possible.

As 3 was quickly approaching us, I asked a friend for a referral {thank you, Jenny!} and called to schedule Clay's very first dentist appointment! About 2 months before his visit, I purchased this book...


We Incorporated this into our daily and nightly reading and it did a WONDERFUL job of explaining what a dentist does and the tools that will be used. The dentist in this book is named, Dr. Bearson so every time we talked about visiting the dentist Clay would refer to him/her as Dr. Bearson! ;)

After much reading, talking, and prepping, a week before Clay's appointment, Mama decided to schedule a trip to the dentist for her own teeth cleaning and big guy got to tag along. Clay saw how easy it was for Mama and even reminded me when I was finished, "Mama, remember you said the dentist would show me the scraper, yanker, tamper, and tickly toothbrush??" Thank you, Patty and Dr. Davidson for letting Clay look at all the "dentist tools" and overlooking the fact that he might have called you Dr. Bearson a few times! :)


Today was the morning of his visit! Of course, we talked about it before bedtime and when Clay woke up this morning he was sooooo excited to go see "Dr. Babot!" {Yes, he learned her name and didn't mix her up with Dr. Bearson!} "Mama, today I go see Dr. Babot and when I'm done I get to pick a toy from the treasure chest!" On the drive to her office in Buda, Mama was giving one last pep talk to her big guy, but when I opened the backseat to get him out this is the face I saw...

I just knew he was ready!




Climbed right on up in the chair and was ready! He told the technician, "Let's get started!"


YES...he even let her take x-rays of his teeth! Mama is standing outside of the door holding my breath at the moment! Clay put on his brave face and did GREAT!



Getting that shiny grill! No trouble cleaning or flossing...yes, flossing!



Checking out those pearly whites!
The only time he got a little nervous {but still no tears} was when Dr. Babot came in and tilted the chair all the way to the recline position {does NOT like that venerable feeling of being flat on his back!} to count and check his teeth. Mama was kneeling down by his side for this, which explains why there is no pic with Dr. Babot.
All in all, Clay got a great report and even got to pick 2 toys from the treasure chest! Whoo hoo! Dr. Babot said his teeth look wonderful and are clean and strong and healthy! This report alone makes the morning and nighttime brushing routine {yes, for 2 minutes while singing the "Sugar Bugs" song} all worthwhile!
Mama and Daddy are soooooo very proud of you big guy! Thank you, Dr. Babot and your team at the Buda office for making Clay's first dentist experience such a pleasant one! See you again in 6 months!