I’m now eight months pregnant and have been waiting and waiting for that nesting urge to kick in. Finally a few weeks ago it started, but before that I kept looking at messy closets and a messy office and thinking “I’ll tackle that when I’m nesting.” Uhhhh, yeah, then I started to realize that the baby is due in less than eight weeks (!!!!!!!) and that if I’m going to actually have a room to bring him home to then I better kick my nesting butt in gear.

As for the nursery, I’ve decided to keep it fairly simple and with a nice, straight-forward balloon theme. My inspiration is this funky old lamp that JP and I had in our bedroom as kids. It has this great shade that’s made up of balloons. I was looking at it one day and realized that bright, basic shapes are what infants like to look at. By keeping the theme fairly simple it will be easy to change out as Lil’ Guy grows up and develops more of his own tastes. Until then, this is what I’m thinking with the decor.

I bought this mobile a few months ago. I’m excited to put it over the crib – or maybe hanging in a corner… I’m not sure.

Mom and Dad bought us this rug (Thanks guys!). It’s super-soft underfoot so it’ll be great for the baby and I to hang out on. It also has a bunch of colors in it – soft greens and browns, bright reds and blues, very versatile colors that we can use in a bunch of decorating themes in the next several years.

Lastly, the big decorating “focal point” in the room will be a bunch of paper lanterns (like the ones pictured) arranged in the corner of the room with strings coming down like a bunch of balloons (high enough where the baby can’t reach).

And no blog post could be complete without a picture of Clare (or, at least until the new guy comes). In the picture above, Clare and I were waiting to have dinner and J snapped a pic with his iPhone. Doesn’t Clare look at least three with her hair pulled back? She has a bit of a pony tail obsession right now and requested “two pony tails” on Saturday morning. So she rocked “two pony tails” all day along with a “grass” hula skirt she found in a drawer. It was quite a look, but Clare pulled it off nicely.

Our pediatrician recommended that I keep a little notebook to write down the cute things that Clare says and the fun conversations we have. Since this is my baby book I figure I’ll write them down here along with some pictures from the last few weeks (some of which coincide with the pictures).

I took this picture a few days ago. Clare was not happy that I picked her up at nannyshare that day (she wanted to stay and play with G) – I asked her if she was sad to leave G and Adam. She said, tearfully, “yes Mama! I want to stay and play!” When we got home I started dinner and she packed her play phone into her purse, tucked her lion under her arm, and went out into the backyard. When I tried to follow her she told me “No! By self!” She and Lion spent about 20 minutes playing on the climber, chatting (no doubt about how mean Mama is), sliding together, and generally having a good time.

This is a family picture that my mom took of the family over the weekend in Bend. I like this one because the belly has made an appearance in family photos! It’s the first sighting of Our Baby. As for Clare’s quotes about the baby, we talk a lot the new baby coming. Clare talks about “baby coming soon… in a couple of days” “baby in Mama’s tummy” and “baby will cry, but it’s OK.”

The picture above is Clare on her new tricycle. My parents bought it for her, and darned if she didn’t immediately start pedaling. It took her an additional day to figure out the whole pedal/steer at the same time thing, but she’s got it and is now the sassiest thing on three wheels. She woke up from her nap and I told her “There’s a surprise for you downstairs.” She looked at me and said “is it my birthday?” I told her no, it wasn’t her birthday. I don’t think she believed me and sang “Happy Birthday to Clare” the whole way down the stairs.

One day, after a particularly yummy Mexican lunch with a fair amount of guacamole, J said to Clare “You’re so messy!” Clare looked at him and responded “you’re so lucky!” This cracked us up, because this is something that Aunt Donna and her husband Mike say to each other jokingly. We didn’t realize Clare had noticed it, but she filed it away and I’m pretty sure even copied Donna’s Southern accent.

A fun little game that we’ve started playing together is Clare will look at someone (usually me) and say “Hi Daddy!” I respond with saying “Hi G!” She giggles and says “Hi Grandma!” I’ll respond with “Hi Sadie” and back and forth with calling each other the wrong names. Those silly little intentionally-wrong games are popular around here – like Clare walking around the house, pretending not to see me and calling “Mama! Mama – you in the kitchen? You in the living room? Where you go Mama?” Silly girl…

Today, on the way back from the store, Clare pipes up from the back seat “Do you have wings Mama?” “No sweetie. Do you have wings?” “Yes!” She then flapped her arms like little wings. I have no idea where this came from but it was incredibly cute!

Lastly, a couple of months ago we went to the zoo. Clare seemed to have fun but didn’t seem to love it as much as J and I thought she would. Suddenly, last week she walks into the dining room and says “I brushed a goat at the zoo.” Yes, yes she did brush a goat at the zoo. “And I see lions and elephants and zebras and giraffes.” That’s all, just a zoo memory from weeks ago that we haven’t talked about lately. Those little wheels are always turning!

Hooray! More Adam pictures from July and August! We love Adam for many reasons but I LOVE that he does such a great job of capturing the day-to-day toddler moments. Literally, each month he’ll take 400 photos of the kids in their various activities. Between the pictures and his daily naptime email updates, it keeps us very informed and involved in Clare’s activities even when we’re not with her all the time.

One theme for the summer has been “toddler” Clare becoming “kid” Clare. At the playground she’s able to pretty much play with all of the equipment (sometimes with some spotting) and has been enjoying the teeter-totter, big slides, bid-kid swings, monkey bars, etc.

She’s pretending to put her foot over the edge of the climbing structure and saying “careful!”

Clare’s first big-girl art projects – glue sticks with supplies. Glue sticking is serious business, as you can see.

I’ve decided this picture is called “underdog pease!”

Clare reading a book to her baby. We got her this baby a few weeks ago to practice being a big sister on, and he’s a very loved baby already. He’s read to, given his binky, rocked, put to sleep, wrapped in blankies, burped, and given bottles. He is, however, often naked since Clare likes to take off his pajamas. I guess I shouldn’t be to surprised. If you look closely you can see that Clare’s pajamas are actually on backwards. This isn’t an accident. Clare likes to take her pajamas off too, especially when she’s supposed to be sleeping. This is an issue because she doesn’t stop at her PJs and will take off her diaper and then pee in her crib. So far we are still smarter than our kid, so the solution has been putting Clare in backwards pajamas for naps and nighttime.

Sprinkler day! Clare loves the “sprinkle” – though sometimes she prefers to run in it, and sometimes she prefers to wave at it.

Sand box time with our happy girl!