Not alot of change from Month 2 to Month 3, though Clara began to settle down just a little bit and consistently sleep a bit longer.  She took a trip to the beach with her grandparents and aunt and uncle.

Here are some pics from the beach trip:

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Happy 3rd Birthday to Mollie!

Its hard to believe our sweet Mollie is 3! We celebrated at Mulberry Fields Community Garden with a ballerina themed party. These days, Mollie:

• loves to play dress up and wear her "beautiful dresses" 
• enjoys puzzles and can put them together quickly on her own
• loves her ballet class and looks forward to it every Tuesday
• Is a little obsessed with Fancy Nancy books and all things fancy
• Pretty much only wants to wear dresses, and still mostly will only wear purple
• has moved out of her crib and into a big girl bed
• Is a great big sister and makes a big effort to play with Clara 
• Is suddenly asking "why" constantly. I imagine this will go on for a while! 

Clara @ 2 Months

It's been a very busy month for little Miss C.

At 2 months, Clara:

• Is smiling up a storm, which balances out the shortage of sleep we are all experiencing here at the Bloomfield house.
• Weights 9 lbs 13 oz (almost double her birth weight!)
• Enjoys bathtime
• Definitely does not enjoy riding in the car, especially in the late afternoon when its time to go pick up her big sister from preschool 

This month has been a total whirlwind! It's hard to believe a whole month has gone by since Clara was born. She has definitely been growing like crazy. We'll get the official stats at our doctor's visit on Friday.

At 1 month, Clara:

• Spends most of her time sleeping, and while she hasn't quite gotten the hang of sleeping more than 3-4 hours at a time, she goes down pretty easily and is still happy to sleep wherever and on the go. 
• Doesn't mind being on her tummy for tummy-time, and can hold her head/neck up really well
• Seems to really enjoy bath time, and sits quietly
• Smiles occasionally, and seems to be looking at us while she is doing it, but still not sure if its a coincidence or if she is really smiling socially yet. 
• Seems to be pretty calm overall, but when she does cry it goes from zero to loud pretty quickly! Luckily she is easily soothed as well. 

In the meantime, big sister, Mollie is loving her new role.  She loves to hug and kiss Clara, and shake her hand and say "nice to meet you!". She also enjoys pretending to feed her own baby dolls, and spends alot of time reminding us that she is a big girl, a ballerina and a princess. She is also feverishly anticipating her 3rd birthday coming up next month, and is eagerly awaiting her transition to big girl bed, which we plan to do around her birthday.

Here are some pics of both girls:

Clara's Newborn Photos

Welcome Clara Anne!

Little Clara Anne came flying into the world on Father's Day, June 16, 2013. At 5 lbs 12 oz, she is a little peanut, and very sweet. 

Mollie was so excited to meet her new sister: 

Here are some photos of Clara's first few days at the hospital and at home:

Mollie at 2 and 3/4s

Its been another busy few months, but here are some highlights of what Mollie's been up to lately:

• Getting ready  for ballet lessons, which don't start until June, but she is already practicing her moves constantly: 

• and wearing her ballet clothes whenever she can: 

• She loves spending time with her friends: 

• And spending time with her family: 

• She also loves to be told stories, and she is always the star of them. They go something like this:  "Once upon a time there was a girl named Mollie....(and then usually a description of what she did that day)." She often requests that the stories involve her eating at nearby restaurants. Here she is living out one of her favorites, The LaFonda Story: 

• Also, every character in every book is also Mollie. When we are reading a book she'll point to a person (or animal) on each page and say "that's Mollie!"

• She is also getting really excited about her baby sister arriving and talks about it alot. She loves to visit baby sister's room and practice pushing the swing gently. She also talks about what she is going to say to the baby she meets her at the hospital ("Hi Baby Sister! I love you!"), and how she is going to give baby sister her old clothes. We are looking forward to seeing how it goes when all of this actually happens.  Video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8CQFnz9jJE

• Nap time is getting tougher and tougher--some days she skips it altogether, but we always try. 
• She still loves wearing fancy clothes, often asking to wear her flower girl dress, but settling on other outfits as long as they involve ruffles, or a dress hanging in her closet (nothing from the drawer). And loves to sleep in her nightgown instead of footy pajamas. 

Mollie at 2 1/2

We've gotten a little off track with monthly postings, but wanted to make sure I record a little snapshot of our sweet 2 1/2 year old Mollie before she begins her journey as big sister this summer!

Here are a few things that she loves to say and do:

• Mollie: Tell me a secret!
  Mommy or Daddy (whispers): I love you!
  Mollie: That's not a secret, everybody knows that!
• Loves talking about letters and the alphabet and does a really good job of sounding out a word to see what letter it starts with. She can spell her name really well, and for some reason says the letter "L" with really thick country accent:

• Likes having the stereo on (usually Daddy's choice of music) while we eat breakfast in the morning, and loves to say "I like this music!" or "This is the Beatles! The Beatles have umbrellas!" because we once saw a poster of the Beatles in a bagel shop where they were holding umbrellas. 
• Is very opinionated, especially about things that Daddy does. "Daddy, put your hood off" (if he is wearing a hooded sweatshirt". "Daddy stay on your own pillow!" (if we are cuddling in bed in the morning). Sometimes if we are singing a song quietly during her bedtime routine she says "No, not whispered, sing it happy!"
• Loves to visit the dinosaurs at the natural history museum in our neighborhood, and shout "BIG DINOSAURS". She sometimes shouts this randomly at home. 

• Still loves building with blocks, but has moved on from making towers and now spends time building "baby beds" and even makes little "babies" out of bristle blocks, along with tables and chairs.
• Loves talking to the baby in mommy's tummy and has decided we should name her little sister "Snack" or "Babydoll". 
• Is a great climber and loves to climb at the bouncy castle place and slide down the big kid slides, and also climb trees and playground equipment.

• Loves riding her tricycle and is getting better at pedaling herself. 
• Loves the Fancy Nancy books, but calls them "Fancy Fancy", and will do almost anything if we can think of a way to make it seem fancy. 
• Is still completely obsessed with the color purple and really only wants to wear purple clothing (this has been going on about a year now!) 

Valentine's Day 2013

Mollie had a really fun Valentine's Day at school. This year her class and the other older toddler class put on a Sweetheart's Ball. The kids were matched up into couples and presented, couple by couple. Then they all danced for the parents. Mollie was paired up with her friend Luca. They did a great job!

Here are some pictures:


Here is a video...its a little long, but if you skip ahead to about the 4 minute mark, its perfect!

November 2012

Mollie had a great November, although we didn't take too many pictures this month. 

Our sweet girl performed in the school Thanksgiving program. Though really the teachers did most of the singing. Mollie did sing her "gobble, gobble, gobble" song alot at home before and after the performance. 

Here she is at the after-party back in her classroom: 

Mollie also enjoyed a trip to Memphis, and couldn't stop talking about Grandma & Grandpa's house for at least a week afterwards. While she still remains mostly a vegetarian, and anti-turkey, she was a great helper baking our pumpkin pie! 

October 2012

• Is potty trained! She is doing great wearing underwear all day at school and at home. She wears a pull-up for nap time, but is otherwise out of diapers. Hooray! 
• Loves singing loudly. Favorite songs include Twinkle Twinkle, ABCs, Wheels on the Bus, and Itsy Bitsy spider 
• Visited a pumpkin patch where she got to go on a hay ride, cow ride, watch baby pigs race, and do lots of other fun Fall activities
• Dressed up as Minnie Mouse for Halloween and had her first trick-or-treating experience.
• Is more obsessed with purple than ever. She only ever wants to wear purple clothing.  

September 2012

Happy Birthday Mollie!

Mollie had a great 2nd Birthday celebration. It started with a special cupcake snack at school on Friday, a fun weekend with all six grandparents, a pancake breakfast made by Daddy, and a fun party at Mulberry Fields Community Garden with all of her friends.

2 Years Old

This last month has been especially exciting for Mollie.In the last month, she:

She had a long visit with Uncle Kiss,

 a nice visit from her German cousins,

got to be a flower girl at Uncle Justin and Aunt Shana's wedding,

experienced a rickshaw through Times Square where she got to see Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Minnie Mouse,

got to meet lots of her cousins,

spent lots of time with all of her grandparents,

and spent quality time with her friends.

In addition to all of these exciting things, Mollie:

•  Is really using full sentences 
• Has become super opinionated. She only wants to wear her purple dress (she currently owns two) or purple socks. She only wants to wear diapers that have cookie monster on them. This list could go on and on. 
• Loves to sing and often surprises us all the time with songs she knows all of the words too (though it shouldn't be that surprising since we listen to the same music over and over) 
• Can sing her ABCs start to finish.
• Can answer the question "how many", and sometimes gets the number right. 
• Spent a good portion of the month anticipating her birthday, talking about cupcakes, hats, etc.