Zoo

On Saturday we went to meet up with two of my best friends (my nursing girls) to go to the New Orleans Zoo.  I didn't have the opportunity to see all of my best buddies (there are 7 of us), but unfortunately some had to work or had other engagements.  For the past couple of years it has been difficult for everyone to be together at the same time.  We are all in different seasons of life (married, single, etc.).  I'm so glad that they are not too far away from me, even though it is almost a two hour drive to New Orleans.  It is always so refreshing for me whenever I get to visit them!  I feel much better when I get my girl time (:  Since our graduation from Nursing School in 2007, all of us have made it a priority to keep in touch as much as possible and because of that we are very blessed with a strong friendship.
Wyatt has been to the Baton Rouge Zoo and seemed to enjoy it even though he was around ten months old.  The New Orleans Zoo is by far much bigger and better than the Baton Rouge Zoo so I was hoping that Wyatt would have a really great time.  They also have way more animals and it is cleaner too.  Wyatt's favorite animal was the lion because he actually roared for the crowd!  It was awesome! The giraffe's were pretty cool too.  My friend Jennifer got to feed them some leaves, which brought all four of them really close to us at the fence.


Mommy and Wyatt

When Wyatt would spot the animals in their cages he would point to them and then look at me and whisper "bah."  Lately he has been whispering his words when he talks.  I guess it's better than shouting and making a scene.  I think it's pretty cute!

Aunt Jen and Aunt Sheri with Wyatt

Giraffes



Wyatt wanting to eat Aunt Jen's nose





White Tigers

Pictures

Here are some pictures of Wyatt looking out through our screen door.  He loves watching daddy drive home from work!

I can't wait until he can run outside and play!  He is a typical boy when it comes to loving the outdoors ( :  There is so much land/woods around our house for him to explore. 

                                                      So sweet!

Morning sickness, cravings, tiredness, oh my!

The pregnancy symptoms (sickness, cravings and tiredness) decided to officially show up as of yesterday.  I think I am almost 6 weeks right now.  Last week I had some blood work done at the doctor's office and the results were that I was at 5 weeks pregnant.  I had the same exact symptoms during Wyatt's pregnancy that started exactly at this time.  I have a slight bit of morning sickness, but the worst is at night right before bed time (This was the same for Wyatt).  I'm not a fan of taking medication while being pregnant, but if my queasiness progresses I may consider getting so Zophran from the doc.  Even when I was pregnant with Wyatt and my sickness had me laid up on the couch for 6 weeks I refused to fill the script the doctor handed me.  I know the medication has been tested and it is safe, but their is still some fear that I will be one of the 1% that something happens to my baby.  I have Wyatt to care for and that makes a big difference feeling nauseated.  But so far I am not at the point of begging for some medication to make me feel better, but we shall see.
I am very tired all the time, but I able to push through this no problem (so far!) throughout the day.  Luckily, Wyatt still takes two naps and I try to take advantage of atleast one of them to take a nap for myself.  Lately I want to go to bed at 8:30.  Wyatt usually gets up around 6:30 or 7 and so far I don't mind waking up at that time too.  I have always been more of a morning person, pregnant or not.  I love to get a great nights sleep and wake up early to start the day.  I hate to stay up late at night, especially since having Wyatt!
I also notice that I have this strange craving for healthy food.  When I was pregnant for Wyatt I wanted nothing but burgers, fried food, just junk food in general and also sweets.  Now I want steamed vegetables mixed with pasta, salads, or even sushi.  I don't know why but I want sushi!  I don't want the raw kind, but the crunchy and California kind.  I may have to pick up some tonight since talking about it makes me want some!

Swinging

One of Wyatt's Christmas presents from mommy and daddy was a new outside swing.  We haven't been able to use it too much because of the cold weather.  Wyatt absolutely loves swinging in it!  He giggles each time he swings.  It's so cute!

His face makes me smile (:

We are having another BABY!

We are very excited to announce that we are having another baby!  We found out the big news last Monday.  Baby Clark is due around mid September (I think).  We didn't think that it would happen this fast so we were both very surprised (a good surprise)!  I found out during the day on Monday while Daniel was at work and it was very hard waiting all day to tell him.  I wanted to tell him differently this time so I wrote him a letter from Wyatt that said "I'm going to be a big brother."  After he read it he looked up and asked if I was pregnant.  I really took him by surprise!  I loved it (:

                                               the letter from Wyatt (:




While I was ready to tell everyone that night, Daniel thought it would be a good idea to wait until the next week.  I wasn't sure how I would hold off telling anyone, but I managed to make it.  Daniel had a great point when he told me that there was something refreshing knowing something that nobody else knows.  However, I did brake down and tell just my mom (how could any girl not?) on Saturday, but I needed her help to coordinate the family together for Monday night so we could make the announcement to them. 
Monday night my family got together for a taco soup dinner at my mom's.  My parents, mawmaw, little brother and older brother and his family were there.  Before Daniel prayed  for the meal, I got a little panicky because we never discussed how we would tell everyone.  I thought I would quickly say it before Daniel prayed, but he had already started before I could talk.  Daniel prayed for our new baby on the way!  Everyone looked up from bowing their heads and congratulated us.  It was perfect!  I can't even remembered if we finished the prayer or not, haha! 
We decided since we would tell my folks on Monday night that Tuesday for lunch would be perfect to tell Daniel's mom, mawmaw and pawpaw.  They were so happy! 
I am very excited about being pregnant again, but I also have a fear of transitioning from one to two.  Wyatt and I have been smooth sailing with his schedule for months now.  I pray that I can handle this change well (please start praying for me now!)  But I know I can have confidence that the Lord will pull me through no matter how tough.  It is also a huge relief knowing that my mom lives 15 minutes away and Daniel's mom lives close too.  I know without a doubt I can call my mom to help me for anything and she will be at my doorstep in no time!
It was fun not finding out what we were having when I was pregnant with Wyatt, but I don't think I could do that again!  I want to be prepared for this next one, whether it's taking out and washing baby boy clothes or buying new little baby girl clothes!  Boy or girl, it doesn't matter to us as long as they are healthy (:  I'm definitely not looking forward to being big and pregnant during the Louisiana summer!  However, Daniel was very relieved that this baby will not be born during duck hunting season.  Although he did have to remind me that September is teal season! 
We are looking forward to sharing many future Baby Clark updates!  Stay posted (:

Great Weekend!

On Friday, Wyatt and I went to my mom's house and got to hang out with her and my two nieces (Abby and Emily).  Every time the kids are together it is really neat to see how different they are in some ways (mainly the gender difference) and how similar they are in other ways as well.  Abby is always interested in what is going on with Wyatt and makes sure to ask tons of questions about him.  She is quite the three year old with her many strategic manipulations!  She will come up with some funny things!  She doesn't even have to try to be cute because she just is.   Emily loves to be right there playing with Wyatt.  Any kind of noise he makes she will make it too and she loves patting his head.  Since it was cold that day, mom brought the pedal car in so they could play with it inside.  My mom found the car at a garage sale and it has been a favorite of the kids!  It's sometimes hard for them to take turns, especially for Wyatt.

                              Abby, Emily and Wyatt having fun at Grammy's house



Saturday I picked up Wyatt's new car seat.  There was a good sale at Babies R Us this weekend.  I used a five dollar coupon I received for Wyatt's birthday!  I ended up buying the Graco three in one carseat because this one was the most recommended (I got plenty of reviews before shopping from a lot of my friends who are moms).  Wyatt still has to face backwards in his carseat until he is 22 pounds (he is currently 18 pounds) and my doctor doesn't recommend toddlers switch forward until about 18 months anyways, regardless of how much they weigh. 
Sunday we went to church and it was my turn (with three other moms) for nursery duty during the church service.  Daniel even stayed and helped because we had so many guests come today.  It got a little crazy at times, but we seemed to manage!  After church we went to Nana and Grandpa's (Wyatt's great-great-grandparents) and enjoyed visiting there the whole afternoon.  Wyatt had a so much fun there and even showed them his many tricks.  Here are some pics-


                                                 Nana and Wyatt laughing!

                                          Wyatt and his cool great-great-grandpa

Video of Wyatt attempt number 2

Sorry the setting was on private of the videos of Wyatt in the earlier post a few days ago.  Daniel just informed me that he could not pull them up on his computer at work (my computer is always signed in my account so I had no idea) so will attempt to repost and hopefully they should work this time!  If they don't please let me know (:

What's for dinner tonight?

Tonight I am making (I can't remember the name) a really easy chicken dish that is super easy, healthy and cheap.  I thought I would post the recipe and share since it is so good and it is a quick meal to fix!  Hopefully Wyatt will like it because I load it with lots of vegetables.  Here is the recipe

Need:  4 chicken breasts, s/p, Extra virgin olive oil, rosemary, onion, garlic, hone, Dijon mustard, lemon juice

Directions

-Brown the chicken in pan, s/p both sides and add about 2 tbsp of the olive oil

-Take out the chicken and place on plate

-Add chopped onion and garlic to pan, let cook for a little

-Add 2 tbsp of rosemary, 1/2 cup of honey, 1 tbsp of Dijon mustard, and dash of lemon juice

-Put chicken back in pan and let cook

- the recipe doesn't call for this, but I tried it and it works very well.  I add a bag of frozen broccoli stir fry or any kind of stir fry bag of vegetables and I mix that in with the chicken and let that cook together

-I like to put the chicken and vegetables over brown rice and now it's a complete meal (:  Enjoy!  Oh I also like to serve this with soy sauce.  It pretty much tastes like Chinese take out when you add some of this!

Video of Wyatt

Here is a video I took of Wyatt earlier today playing with books at the bookshelf.  He does this with the books pretty much everyday!

Here is another video where Wyatt talks some, shakes head no and dances at the end. He shakes his head no if he is done eating, whether asking by him or doing it on his own when he knows he is done. I'm sorry but the video is sideways!  My video software wouldn't allow me to turn it :( 

From 4 to 1 bottle

We are in the process of weaning Wyatt from the bottle since last week and so far everything is smooth sailing!  He used to have four bottles throughout the day and now we are down to one just in the mornings.  I gave him a couple of days in between dropping each bottle, but he probably could do it in a day since he could care less about them (I know that I am lucky because I was afraid of Wyatt fussing so much!).  I plan on knocking this last one out by next week. 
He doesn't care too much for whole milk though, so I still mix half milk and half formula and slowly decreasing formula and adding more milk.  He drinks his milk at meals in his straw cup.  He actually drinks more from a straw than a sippy cup and plus it's much better for their teeth than the sippy.  I do worry about dropping the last bottle because he doesn't drink nearly as much milk in the cup than with bottles.  But at this age they only need atleast three servings of dairy, whether it's from cheese, yogurt, milk, broccoli, OJ with calcium,etc.  I just have to make sure he gets his daily dairy more so from foods than drink.

Wyatt vs. the vacuum cleaner and standing on his own!

Sorry it's been some time since my last post!  Wyatt is finally feeling better after coming down with a cold that would never leave.  It took him about a week to get better, which is the longest time he has had a cold.  I had a stomach bug earlier this week, which was very difficult to take care of myself as well as Wyatt to take care of.  Yesterday was an eventful day for Wyatt.  That morning I was vacuuming around the house and Wyatt was playing on the floor close by.  He absolutly loves anything with wheels (typical boy, isn't he?).  I only use the extension part because we have wood floors and the stand up part to the vacuum trails behind.  I took my eyes off of him for a second and didn't realize he already made his way to the vacuum and started pushing it.  He managed to roll right and vacuum over his hand (the stand up part is on when the extension part is on too) and brush burned his little hand!  I know that had to hurt really bad!  I called the doctor to get a scip to get some bactrim, which is an antibiotic ointment, so it doesn't become infected.  I was surprised that Wyatt wasn't afraid of the vacuum after he got hurt.  He actually went up to it again to try to push it!




Here is a picture of the damage

Also later on that day, Wyatt stood on his own for about five seconds without holding on to anything!  He was standing up and holding on to me and just felt comfortable to let go.  I was glad his dismount was on his bottom and not forward on his face (:  Here a some pictures of him tonight in his pj's feeling a little better with his hand, just so you know that he is ok  (:

Wyatt's Birthday Party

I'm happy to report that Wyatt's first birthday party was a success!  We had it on New Year's Day at Grammy and Pawpaw's house (my parents) in the early afternoon.  Almost everyone came and there was plenty of food.  Wyatt cried a couple of times when we were opening presents, only because he had been up since his morning nap.  I tried to keep him up until 12:00 or so to take one nap instead of two, but he insisted on napping at 9 and I couldn't say no.  So he stayed up from 10 until 6:30 when we left to go home!  He was partied out.
I made Wyatt a cupcake, instead of buying him a small cake.  I felt like it would be a waste of cake to give him one of his own.  I was surprised that Wyatt loved his cupcake so much he ate the whole thing!  I turned my back for only a couple of  minutes to help serve cake and ice cream and as soon as I turned around to see Wyatt I noticed that his cupcake was gone!  I thought he must have dropped it on the floor or fell on his legs.  Jennifer (my sister-n-law) then informed me that she witnessed him eating the whole thing.  I was really glad I didn't get a small cake (bigger than a cupcake) because he probably would've gotten a stomach ache!

                                    Here is the cutie anxiously waiting for his guests to arrive!

                                       Cousin Emily and Sadie (she is amazing with the kids!)

                                      Cousin Abby being a big help opening Wyatt's presents

                          This is not a good moment for Wyatt!  But it didn't take him long to perk up.

                                                    Singing "Happy Birthday"

                                                Chowing down on some cupcake

                                                                Uncle Zack

Here is a picture of Wyatt licking his tray of what was left of his cupcake!  I think I may have a sweet eater on my hands