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Posing for a photo in her new dress from the Childers family (made by Meredith Brown) before heading out to the Hibatchi Grill for dinner. She hadn’t napped this day, and was extremely tired, but loved the cooking show after the large fire part was over.

Silly girl at McDonalds for breakfast

Using magic markers to make a hat at the Cary Lazy Days Festival

Silly face! I swear there is a photo of me somewhere making the exact same expression. And, no, it wasn’t taken recently!

Hat was just a tad too big, but she tried to pose with Daddy anyways

My most fun purchase as of late. I went in with two other neighbors, and now own 1/3 of a bouncy house. The kiddos LOVE it and we’re looking forward to getting a ton of use out of it next weekend during the 1st Annual Heidinger Drive Cookout!

Another fun addition to our backyard! Our fabulous neighbors gave us this swingset, and I purchased a few pieces for it on Craigslist. Claire absolutely loves her $20 swingset and Daddy and I have been known to play a bit too!

Daddy is so silly!

“Look at me, Mommy!!!”

Showing off that upper body strength again!

Can you tell she loves it?

Eating lunch at Macaroni Grill after church on Sunday

Celebrating Arden’s mommy’s birthday with lunch at Sweet Tomatoes!

Note: If you are reading this in email or on Facebook, you’ll need to visit our website, www.ericandcolleen.com to view the videos. If you’re already here, welcome!

I’m trying to wrap my head around the fact that my sweet baby turned 2 almost 2 months ago. Although I’ve done a better job with the blog posts over the past couple of months, I’ve failed in the monthly “record keeping” ones. I hate that because I so want to remember all the cute little “Claire-isms” and I know there’s no way I will be able to in 20 years (okay, probably not even a year from now!).

So here’s a “quick” run-down of what Claire has been up to. Some of these things she’s been able to do for a while, some are more recent.

BTW - I don’t blame you if you choose to just look at the pictures and not read a single word of this ridiculously long post. This is more for my record keeping….

• Talks non-stop. Up until about 22 months it was just single words, but then she started putting 2-4 words together. Popular phrases at this time included “too tight”, “all done”, “all better”, “night night, baby”, “baby book”, “mommy sit”,  “diaper off”, “bye bye, (whatever)”, “big truck” and plenty of others. She would use colors to describe items such as “blue dress” or “green frog”. At 24 months she repeated everything and had a stream of short sentences and phrases that she used often. Favorites were “How are you, Mommy?”, “Wake up, Daddy!”, “Thank you, Mommy!”, “Our street, Heidinger”, “Claire Baby’s stuff”, “Pink yogurt, please!”, “Tickles, Fun!”, “Go get it, Mommy” and “Look at me!”

• Now, at 26 months, she is carrying on full conversations. It’s crazy. Her understanding of the English language blows my mind. Once I told her that we would leave the door open to her room only if she wouldn’t fuss. She looked right at me and said “Happy girl!”. Ha! She also likes to bargain by saying “How about (opposite of what you said or another choice)?” Phrases heard around our house these days include “I do it again!”, “A little spicy!”, “It’s not hot, it’s warm!”, “Mommy, come home!”, “I go get it, too!”, “Mommy read Dora book, please!”, “Daddy play matching game!”, “What’cha doin’?”, “I love you too, Mommy/Daddy!”

• She loves to sing and it’s the sweetest thing ever. Her favorites are “Happy Birthday”, “God is so Good”, “Jesus Loves Me” (she calls it “the Jesus song”), “The ABC Song”, and “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” (which is one of my favorites to listen to because she pronounces it “Finkle, Finkle” - ha!).

• She calls herself “Claire Baby”. It’s quite funny and totally her Daddy’s fault! Even funnier is the fact that she can’t pronounce a sharp “c” or “k” sound, instead replacing it with a “t”, so it sounds like “Tear Baby”. Ha! When asked what her last name is, she’ll respond with “Stafford”, and then inform you that both Mommy and Daddy’s last names are “Stafford” as well.

  

• Still loves to read and recognizes TONS of words from her books. There are some that she pretty much reads by herself. Her favorites lately are Busy, Busy Timmy; Baby Looks; and Baby Dear - all from a collection of older Golden Books. She also loves to read anything Dora & Diego.

• She loves arts and crafts time. She does a lot of painting, coloring, gluing and stickering. Her favorite things to draw are rainbows, houses, happy faces, mommy, daddy and baby.

• At 22 months, she knew and recited the ABCs (minus a couple of letters here and there), numbers 1-10 (but skipped 4 & 5), shapes (including octagon!), and colors. Before her second birthday, she would count to 10 in both English AND Spanish perfectly!  She recognizes and identifies several letters and most numbers 1-10. This past month she learned to count from 10 to 20 in English, but skips 14 & 15.

• She knows a lot of “opposites” - including up/down, open/closed, full/empty, high/low, big/little, cold/hot (and warm!)

• We’re about 6 months into gymnastics classes and she is improving rapidly. Her favorite is still the balance beam - so much so that she turns just about any object outdoors into one (curbs, railings, etc.). If I’m having trouble getting her to move along, all I have to do is find something that can resemble a balance beam and she’s all over it. She also loves to “fly” in the harness over the trampoline. When she first started this, she had this “deer in headlights” look, but now she squeals and smiles in delight. She also just learned how to do a forward roll by herself and is always eager to demonstrate.

• She expects “milk and cuddles” in the morning, where she snuggles up to mommy & daddy with her milk, blanket and “Moo Moo”. After she finishes her milk, we’ll lay in bed for a while and talk about all sorts of things. This is my favorite time of the day!

• “Dora the Explorer” and “Go Diego Go” are her two new favorite tv shows, replacing “Yo Gabba Gabba” when it comes to watching. Too cute to listen to her interact with phrases like “Say Map” and “Swiper, no swiping!” She still loves to play with her YGG themed toys and often sings the theme song.

• She continues to have a fantastic appetite. Favorites include any kind of pasta/noodles, yogurt, cheeseburgers, macaroni & cheese, all fruits, broccoli, mashed potatoes, french fries, lunch meat, provolone cheese, ice cream, and scrambled eggs.

• She loves to chase her daddy. And wrestle with him. And, well, just about anything with daddy! The two of them playing just melts my heart. I love that they are getting more one-on-one time together this summer.

• I’ve trained her well. She is a pro at making coffee with our single-cup maker. She removes the old pod, puts in a new one, starts the brewer, then carefully stirs in two spoons of sugar and three creamers. Ahhhh - the joys of parenthood!

• Speaking of helping, she still likes to be right under my feet, mimicking what I’m doing or assisting. Washing dishes, loading the washing machine, washing my face, etc. She pretty much cooks dinner with me each night. She stirs and pours like a pro and can even bread chicken quite well!

• Her security items are definitely her “blankie” and “Moo Moo” (she named her stuffed cow). She LOVES these two items and getting them away from her is sometimes a challenge. However, she doesn’t seem to mind when we give them a “bath” (washing machine), but wants to check on them every 10 minutes or so. Just recently she adopted a new favorite item - an ugly blue dog from an arcade that she named “Emma” after the Scofield’s dog. Funny!

• She’s still a big girl, weighing in at 29 lbs. at 22 months. Probably at least 30 pounds by now - we’ll know in a couple of weeks (little late in getting her official 2 year well-child visit in). She wears size 2T shorts, mostly 3T shirts, size 7 shoe and size 5 diapers. She is constantly mistaken for a 2 1/2 to 3 year old!

• Speaking of diapers, the potty “training” isn’t really in full swing, but we talk about it often. She’s goes in the potty at home & school sporadically.

• She’s a class one goober. Funny as all get out. Constantly giving us these wide grins and silly faces. She’ll walk out the front door, sit on the steps and exclaim “Picture, Cheese!”. I guess I took her picture one too many times on those steps. Ha! We love that goober child of ours!

• She’s very nurturing. She likes to put a diaper (and cream!) on “Moo-Moo”, tuck him in “night-night” and feed him. This last action results in lots of baths in the washing machine for a certain cow!

• She loves water. Baths, showers, pools, and her absolute favorite - the beach! She runs right to the water’s edge with her sand bucket and will sit and play for quite a while. When she knows we’re headed to PaPa and GaGa’s house at the beach, she will refuse to nap in the car, no matter how tired she is, because she’s just so excited! She also likes to jump in the pool or lake, but still needs a bit of help. She tries like all get out but can’t quite make it by herself.

• Her favorite toy for the past couple of months has been my iPhone. She can work that thing like a pro. She unlocks it, scrolls to “her” pages, chooses a program, plays, then repeats when she becomes bored. She can complete the “Memory” game in less than two minutes.

• Her hair is really coming in and (yay!) is staying a beautiful red color. She gets compliments on it daily. Most of the time I pull it up in pigtails because of a stubborn middle part and unruly curls, but every now and then she gets a different ‘do.

• She is a big organizer just like her Mama. Constantly wanting to line things up or make sure things are “just right”. It cracks me up!

• She’s a good girl. Really. She listens well for the most part, is very affectionate yet independent, adapts to new surroundings easily, and is generally a pleasure to be around. Her daycare teachers say the same. I’m praying that she bypasses the “terrible twos and/or threes”.

The month of August is proving to be a busy one - just like the other summer months. We were in Williamsburg, Virginia visiting Josh & Meredith 2 weekends ago. Josh gave us the hook-up again and we enjoyed a great day at the Great Wolf Lodge indoor water park. It was so much fun to watch Claire show off her independence and fearlessness on the slides. Although it’s only been 4 months or so since our last trip to VA, we could really tell a difference in how much she was able to do by herself.

We also went back to Busch Gardens where Claire got her fill of Sesame Street characters and we waited in too-long lines for overpriced not-quality food. Ahh….good times! But really, we did have a great time and were so happy to visit with Josh and Meredith.

 
Claire learning how to work the spray fountain with Daddy and Uncle Josh

Navigating the BIG water tree house all by herself!

Finally something that makes her look little! Ha!

Watching the Sesame Street performance with Daddy

Trying to convince us that the Abby doll should come home with her…

Ready to watch the 4D Sesame Street movie - this time she wore her glasses with no complaints!

Quick pic with Uncle Josh and Aunt Mere Mere after lunch

Riding the horsies all by herself - and lovin it!

Waiting in line to ride the carousel with Mommy

CHEESE!

This past weekend we were out of town yet again. This time at Eric’s Aunt and Uncle’s lake house in Westminster, Georgia. It’s a fairly easy drive - about 4.5 hours - most of which Claire slept and watched DVDs. She’s a pretty good little traveler! We met friends Jason & Tricia, their two boys, Caleb and Jake, and their dog, Emma. Uncle Joe, Jason and Eric did a lot of floating in the lake, Tricia and I did a lot of chatting, and the kiddos had a blast playing together and jumping in the water. It was fun to see how much Claire & Caleb had changed since last year’s trip. We’re already looking forward to another trip!

Little Miss Diva on her way to the lake house

Annual picture of Claire and Caleb sitting on the ping pong table…
So different from last year’s photo!

Funny faces!

The cutest little redheads ever!

Telling Daddy she wants to jump BIG!

Precious Baby Jake!

Claire posing for a photo with Baby Jake - who was more interested in the water bottle than her!

Claire and her new best friend, Emma. She LOVES this dog!

June was such a busy month for us, that we didn’t get a chance to have Claire’s 2 year portraits made until mid-July. Michelle at michellestudios.com took them in her home studio and we love them! Michelle had a wonderful setup, with tons of furniture, props, hair bows, tutus and more.

Claire was quite the little model for the first 20 minutes or so, but after that, took a bit more coaxing to sit still and smile. Thus, most of our favorites are of her wearing a brown shirt and jeans to match her Mommy & Daddy in the family pics.

I’ve added a lot to this post, but you can view the entire session either in the gallery on our site, or by going to michellestudios.com/slideshows and using the password “claire”. Most of the others are family pics where at least one of us (usually me) isn’t showing the most flattering look. Ha! There are a couple of me and my sweet girl that I just love, but I was disappointed we forgot to take some just of her with Daddy. They have the most precious relationship and it would have been nice to capture that on camera. Oh well  - maybe next time!

I need to place our order by Thursday, so if you would like me to order you a print, please let me know ASAP.  5×7s and wallets are $20, 8×10s are $30.

Here are a couple of photos from the fun we’ve been having on our back deck this past month. Grilling out, playing in the water….ahhh…family time! Now if only we could find a more effective way of getting rid of those pesky mosquitoes we’d be in heaven!

Unfortunately, we weren’t able make it to the lake house to help celebrate Uncle Joe’s 60th birthday (bummer!), but we did spend the holiday at the beach with out-of-town family that we rarely see. Eric’s cousin, David, and his two kiddos, Daniel and Lillie, came over from Virginia to spend a couple of days playing in the surf and sun.

Claire LOVED her two cousins and they were so sweet and good to her. We really enjoyed getting to spend some quality time with them. Lillie will definitely be a fantastic babysitter in a few years!

We didn’t go anywhere for fireworks, but had a pretty good view from Les and Shirl’s back deck. I thought Claire would like them, but she was pretty adamant in saying “No fireworks, go inside!”. Oh well. Maybe next year!

Photos from our weekend below - lots more from Claire’s birthday, our cruise, and other happenings in the June and July photo galleries.

My beach baby!

Not really sure what’s going on here, but funny all the same!

Isn’t he absolutely adorable??!!

Claire and her new best friend, Lillie!

Daniel, Claire and Lillie spending the afternoon at the beach

Showing off her pretty patriotic dress

Hanging with Daddy

The best pic we have of the four cousins - pretty good!

Back in 2005, while on our honeymoon cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, Eric and I vowed that we would take another one in five years - no matter what. And with the much appreciated help from Claire’s LeLe and Auntie Bonnie, we were able to do just that. We spent 4 nights on the Royal Caribbean’s Grandeur of the Seas and had an absolute blast doing everything from dancing, rock climbing and jet-skiing, to sleeping in late, relaxing by the pool, and catching up on our reading.

Our ports of call were scheduled to be Key West, Miami and Cozumel, Mexico - but unfortunately bad weather and hurricane threats kept us away from Mexico and we ended up in Nassau, Bahamas instead. Although we enjoyed our time at Nassau, we had really hoped to visit a port that we hadn’t seen before (Nassau had been one of the stops on our honeymoon cruise).

We weren’t in Key West long, but the time we were there was spent driving around on a motorized scooter and seeing popular landmarks. We also made a stop at the post office to send Claire Baby a postcard.

Front part of our ship, “The Grandeur of the Seas”, while docked in Key West

The beginning of US1 in Key West

Self portrait taken while driving the scooter
(probably not the safest thing to do…)

 We rented another scooter in Nassau and saw a LOT of the island. We were headed to the opposite end, but after about 20 minutes of driving and being very close to the destination, we realized we had a slight problem. No cash. No credit cards. No form of payment whatsoever. I could point fingers here….but in the spirit of wedded bliss, I won’t. Ha! So, we headed back towards the ship (stopping on the way for a quick dip in the ocean to cool off) and then I did some shopping at the straw market while Eric replenished our money supply.

Nassau, Bahamas - pretty!

Showing off our secluded part of the ocean-front

By this point we were starving, so we stopped for a quick bite, then headed across the bridge to the Atlantis Hotel and Casino. We had heard stories, but were completely amazed at the sheer size of this place. We walked around for a bit, but quickly realized that we weren’t going to see much of it, considering we weren’t actual guests. We headed out to Atlantis Beach, where we rented a jet ski for an hour and LOVED every moment of it!

View of the Atlantis Hotel as we crossed over the bridge (on a scooter again)

Another self portrait on a motorized vehicle - this time a jet-ski!

The last time we were on one of these things was our honeymoon.
I’m now obsessed with finding a ridiculously cheap one on Craigslist - ha!

Highlights from our time spent on the boat included our fabulous dinners with four beautiful ladies - twin sisters from Venezuela, Vanessa and Vallerie, and two friends from Brazil, Betanea and Helena. Although the language barrier was a bit tough at first, we broke through and managed to learn quite a lot and really enjoy each other. I was actually thankful for Claire’s love of Dora - I at least knew a few words in Spanish! These girls were SO much fun and Eric and I looked forward to dinner with them each night.

Toasting to five years of wedded bliss!
(Formal night on our anniversary)

Our fabulous dinner table - Eric was fond of the male/female ratio…

We also were contestants on a game show similar to “The Newlywed Game” which was a LOT of fun! There were three other couples and everyone had to try and guess their spouse’s response to embarrassing questions about their significant other. I’m pretty sure I shared a lot more with a large group of strangers than I ever thought I would! Ha! They didn’t keep score, and everyone walked away with a Royal Caribbean gift pack. Anyone interested in a RC highlighter or hat?? Our friends from Brazil were there, and they have pictures of us on stage, which I will post once I get them.

A big special “THANK YOU” to LeLe and Auntie Bonnie for watching our munchkin while we were gone. Although we missed her like crazy, it was extremely comforting to know that she was in good hands! They even posted pics & videos to Facebook so we could see how much fun our sweet girl was having. You guys up for another babysitting round in 2015???

Claire loved playing with her Auntie Bonnie!

LeLe helping Claire cool off “bites” of her favorite food - SOUP!

Two priss pots painting their piggies!

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