Therapy

Sewing is so therapeutic for me!  Here are a few of the outfits I've done for Clara in the last few weeks!

$5 shirt at WalMart and some scraps!

School Spirit Dress

A dress made for a fundraiser for a local family. 

Baton bag...$35 on Etsy or $4 made my momma!

I hosted a babyshower for a good friend and I made these corsages that can be converted to bows for big sister!

Spririt day shirt for mom!

Baby niece's outfit!

My friend found this long sleeved shirt at goodwill and I made it into a dress for her daughter in July. 

My daughter's BFF really wanted a towel with straps!!! So I made her one.. And the. Clara one that matched!

Should have done the gig em in a different color :(

First time ever doing anything with furniture!

My son's teacher was displeased with his first draft, so I did my best on the 2nd.  

Made both these dresses for preschool graduation. 

I've really found my green thumb this year!

-and I really love it!

Christmas wreaths for each window. 

Diva 1 and diva 2!

More Christmas! 

Aggie game day dress for myself. 

Front door Wreath.

I made each guest a super hero cape for Connor's 3rd birthday party!!!

Infinty scarves. 

School Spirit!

More infinty scarves!!

Seahawks outfit!

There is about a year's worth of crafting and gardening for me ;). I am going to attempt some tutorials as I sew since I never use patterns and sometime forget how I did something...  Check back!'

Obviously a LOT has happened...

Since I last wrote..

Connor Edward Ingrao was born!  Aug. 17, 2010.  He was 8lbs and 13 oz and 21.5 inches long.  We are done having kids, because I am afraid of them getting bigger...

Labor was good and completely NATURAL...  which is another reason we are not having anymore... it hurt like hell!

So now Connor is a little over 2 months and Clara is 19 months.  Everyone says "oh, it must be so hard", and truthfully, it can be.  I have my days where I feel like adding some rum (my liquor of choice) to my 5 daily diet cokes... but I don't (only because I am nursing and may feel a little guilty).  But for the most part it is a lot of fun! Chasing Clara around is the hard part.  Connor is cake compared to her.  She is slowly getting into the "terrible twos" and since she is only 19 months, I am really not looking forward to the rest of this phase.  Her favorite word is "Noooooooooooo".  It is not just "no" it is a long drawn out whiny "no" that she says while slamming her head on the ground or sitting/laying on the floor in the most public of places.  She is using it in context, so I can be proud of that, at least!  I feel some relief that we are in Germany during this phase, because when she throws the fit and I get looks and comments from the German people passing by, I have no idea what they are saying, so I just smile and wave.  If I knew that they were critiquing my parenting I would probably cry, so this is when the language barrier comes in handy.

She is also getting a larger and larger vocabulary that extends beyond the word "Noooooooo" and right now her word of choice seems to be "poo poo".  When I change Connor's diaper, she is right there next to me saying poopoo, in a perplexed way, as if to ask me "did Connor poo poo?"  Then as soon as she sees that Connor did poo poo, her tone changes, but she still tells me "poo poo", but this time it is as if to tell me, yep he did it.  She also LOVES to tell everyone when she has poopooed.  I was at a meeting, and when it was very quiet, Clara walked over to me and in a very sure voice told me "poo poo" then proceeded to go lay down on the ground and lift her legs up, like "get over here lady and get this out".  So then I feel guilty for her not being potty trained.... but I have tried and that is a WHOLE story itself about why we now own all leather furniture.

I also had to cut her bangs the other day, thus leaving her with a slight mullet... better she have a mullet at 19 months than 19 years I guess!

Connor seems like he will be more like Nick (thank you, Jesus) as he seems pretty laid back and just takes it all in.  It could also be that he is only 2 months old, but I am really hoping he is just a lot like his daddy!  He already flenches when Clara comes near him, which I don't blame him, but he also watches every move she makes!  He has bright blue eyes and blonde hair and looks a lot like my younger brother, Zach.  At 2 months, he started wearing 3-6 month clothes and fills them out pretty well!  He likes to sit up and look around too!  Not much you can really write about the life of a 2 month old... but I can assure you that he is absolutely handsome!

I love both my children very much, and they are a HUGE blessing for Nick and I and I can say that there is NEVER a dull moment.  I cherish the time I have at home with them now because I know Nick will be sending me back to the workforce soon enough.

Here are some pictures of the last 3 or 4 months!

We went to Rome when I was about 8 months pregnant in the middle of summer.. never doing that again!  

We visited the Alsace Region of France!

We visited the Black Forest to purchase our Cuckoo clock!

We climbed to the top of a random castle on the WeinStrasse.  I made Nick take this picture to prove I waddled my way to the top!  

We visited lots of random festivals going around in small towns by us!  This was a Renaissance Fest in Kaiserslaturern. 

We had a baby!

In a German hospital... and my midwife spoke NO ENGLISH! I cussed her out all I wanted and she would just smile at me..

Clara started dressing herself!

Clara and Connor became BFFs!

Clara got a mullet.  Nothing that a big bow can"t fix!

and Connor kept growing..

and growing!!!

Neuschwanstein Castle

Summer is in full swing in Germany and we are taking advantage of the warm weather by getting out and about!

Last weekend we visited the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria.  It was AMAZING!  The weather was rainy, but we did not let that stop us!  We took a horse drawn carriage to the top of the mountain for the tour.  The views from the castle were stunning.  The story of King Ludwig make the castle even more interesting because he seemed to be kind of quirky...  

Nick and Clara with the Castle behind them!

View from the Castle Entrance!

Side of the Castle.

Unfortunately they do not let you take pictures inside... so you will just have to come visit and see for yourself :)

After the Castle we stayed the night a quaint hotel at the foot of the mountain!  We enjoyed a dinner with views of the castle and town and then got up early in the morning to head to LegoLand!  Sadly the weather was not as great as it could be (rainy).. but we still had a good time.  They had all these exhibits made out of tiny legos and they were really cool!  They also had rides, etc, but for the most part Clara was too small for them!  We will try again in a few years though.

                                   

                                                   

                                                                        Lego Shaq!

We are off to Rome in two weeks, so we will take lots of pictures!

First Ear Infection :(

It never fails... if we travel... Clara will get sick... Well, twice now...

Last night about 12:30 Clara started getting very fussy and would not sleep.  When I felt her she was burning up.  I randomly had a thermometer in the room at my parents house and when I took her tempurature it was 104.7.  So I got  up and ran to my parents room and told them I was taking Clara to the ER!  Of course the both jump out of bed like crazy people!  My mom and I got to the ER about 5 minutes later and her fever was still spiked... 104.8 by then!  We sat sat and sat some until we finally saw a doctor at 4 in the morning!  All that for an ear infection.  It being her first I did not know what symptoms to look for and she had not been pulling at her ear or anything either.  So we left at about 4:45 with a prescription for an antibiotic and instructions to give motrin and tylenol every 3 to 4 hours to keep her tempurature down.  I know ear infections are awful and I hope this is the only one she ever gets! 

She is pretty congested and still a little fussy!  Did I mention she is totally out of whack of ANY type of schedule... as am I!  I guess thats what vacations should be about though... forgetting about schedules and rules!   Her fever has not been over 101.0 since we got home from the hospital... so lets hope it goes away completely so we can have some fun in the sun while we are here!

Props to my mom who was up with us from 12:30a.m. to 5:30a.m. and still managed to work all day... how she did it I do not know... maybe a little Granny magic!

A few projects!

Here is some of the stuff I have been up to while Clara is napping (besides picking up behind her and Nick!!)

This dress is made out of one of Nick's old uniforms!

Party Dress!!

Bonjour!

So, our first adventure outside of Germany was a huge success!

We took the strauss (the city train) to the Hopbahnoff (train station) to catch the DaBahn (Ice Train).  This train was fantastic!  It went over 200 MPH and was clean and quiet!  Clara did well on the train ride!  It was great to catch a train right outside the post gate and end up in Paris.. no hassle with parking, paying for parking, etc!  Very low stress!  Clara loved looking out the windows on the train... until she fell asleep :)

We stayed at a hotel called Hotel Eiffel Kennedy.  Many of the streets in Paris are named after US Presidents and the Eiffel Tower happens to be right off Kennedy Ave.!  We were about an 8 minute walk to the Eiffel tower.  The first day we checked out the Eiffel tower, Champes de Eylles (shopping), the Galleria Lafayette (more shopping) and the Arche de Triomphe!  Window shopping was a lot of fun, however seeing the Arche de Triomphe was interesting because of all the history that took place there.

Nick and Clara at the Arche de Triomphe

Our walk to Eiffel Tower was along the Seine River the whole way!  It was fantastic!

The next day we went to the Louvre Muesem, Saint Chappelle, Notre Dame, and a crypt right outside Notre Dame.  The crypt was of ruins they found while excavating.  They were intact and explained what we were looking at.  It was interesting.  The Louvre was CROWDED and tour groups were EVERYWHERE and Clara did not like it.  We took the baby back pack as opposed to the stroller because we heard that strollers were the pits there.  However none of the museums allow baby backpacks because of their size, so they offered a free stroller... Clara hates strollers... she wants to walk or ride in the backpack... of which neither was posible in the Louvre... so she spent an hour screaming while we took a glimpse of everything we wanted to see.  The place was HUGE and we only did about 1/4 of it.  We had a picnic (PBJ and apples) on the steps then walked towards Notre Dame... we probably got close to 20 miles in this weekend!  Notre Dame is on a sort of island in the middle of the Seine River.  Saint Chapelle is on the same island.  This area was swarmed with Gypsies!

Notre Dame

Windows inside!

This was right outside the entrance to the Saint Chapelle!  Clara loved "strolling the streets of Paris!"

The last day we hit the Orsay muesem (same stroller issue) and the Army Muesem.  The Orsay Museum a bunch of "newer" paintings (Monet, Picasso)  and the Army Muesem was very interesting, taking you on a tour of the French Army from way back in the day, to Napoleon, and ending at the end of WW II.  It was very interesting and Clara actually did very well in this museum (she was sleeping...)

Each night we ended up in the Seine River by the Eiffel tower.  Clara played in a park, rode on the merry-go-round (she loved it) and at nine the Eiffel tower would light up and lights would flicker for a few 

minutes!  If we hadn't been chasing after a toddler it could have been very romantic :)   

. 

Happy Easter!

The weather here was dull today, so we spent Easter cleaning and baking!

My friend Rochelle has been here all week, so Clara and I have been on lots of new adventures and explorations with her.  She took a lot of pictures, so when she gets home and e-mails them me I will share with you guys! What a great week it has been!  She has been so low maintenance and also so much help!  We will miss Ro when she leaves tomorrow!

Little Diva in her Spring Dress from Aunt Pat!

Do I look like my daddy, or what???  

Clara's new favorite game is "peek-a-boo" and two days ago she started saying "boo" when she "pops" out! She also covers her eyes... it is too funny!