Skyler and I had a wonderful Valentine’s Day this year. I entered into a contest that our apartment held to win a gift certificate to a restaurant called “La Baguette”. To win I had to make a handmade Valentine. I used all of my crafting/scrapbooking/artsy skills and made a fabulous Valentine (it’s the one I posted a picture of two week ago). I turned it in, waited anxiously for the deadline to pass, and got a phone call saying I won! Skyler knew I entered the contest, but I wanted to keep the news that I won a surprise. It was SO hard for me NOT to tell him about it! Those who know me can imagine how I talk to him about nearly everything, so this was a big deal that I could keep mum about it until V-Day morning. He was completely surprised, and his reaction was just as awesome as winning. So we got a babysitter, dressed up, and ended up loving the food. We are definitely going back!

Claire’s Valentine gifts included cards and gifts from family, the nursery, and we shared our gifts of chips and chocolates with her. She also really enjoyed playing with a new friend while we were out enjoying an evening together.

So Claire has learned how to say “no.” Half the time she doesn’t know what she’s saying, and we’re learning not to ask her questions because most of the time she’ll say “no.” For example:

Me: Are you all done? Do you want me to take you out of your highchair?

Claire: No.

…

Claire: Done!

Yeah, sometimes it’s sad, like when we ask her if she wants a hug. “No.” *sniff*, okay. So I just pretend she’s a big joker and doesn’t really mean it, or I think she really means “no” and I try to respect her agency, but forcing her to do things has to happen more often now than ever before.

 The random things we play with.

 The only time I've seen her do this. Silly girl.

 In the science building walking around. I love it when those blue eyes look up at me.

 She can see our picture as we take it on my phone.

 Gorgeous weather. The window is open and we're going to the park more often.

My most recent project. Flowers bring a lot to a house.

Cell Phone Pictures

Happy Valentine’s Day! We’ve got a lot of heart decorations and plenty of love over here. Ready for another batch of Claire pictures? These are from the present all the way back to November when David came to visit (for some reason it loaded backwards). Thankfully I was able to find the right cord to plug my cellphone into the computer right away, so I could transfer all of the pictures to a folder. 

Saturday morning

Claire loves to read. Here's a clip from Saturday morning.

Guess What...

Hello Again World! After the holidays, waiting for the library to open after putting in new carpet, and getting back into a routine of tutoring at the library weekly, we should be posting regularly again! We hope you had happy and safe holidays and are meeting your personal goals.

We have some exciting news. We’re expecting again! We don’t have an ultrasound yet, but we are positive we’ll have another little one in the summer! Skyler and I are way excited. Claire plays with her baby doll all the time and I just can’t help but think about how much she’ll enjoy being a big sister.

Oklahoma weather is now just starting to look a lot like Christmas, so we’ve been indoors a lot. I caught the crafting/sewing bug, so some of the pictures will be of my recent creations. I just get so much joy out of them! Skyler’s new semester schedule is keeping him even busier, so we cherish every minute with him. Claire is starting to get to the stage where she’ll miss Skyler and specifically say “Dada”, especially around bed time if he’s not home, or will say “Dada, Car?” It’s super cute, but I feel kind of sad that I can’t magically make him appear.

Other exciting news is that Skyler and I now have our own, separate cellphones. If you need our new numbers just let me know on Facebook or contact one of our parents. I still use a camera to take pictures, but I want to find out how to transfer pictures from my smart phone to the computer for Blog posts; I think they’ll be a higher quality. If anyone knows a quick way to do that without internet, please let me know.

Love, The Hebdons