8 Months Old

On July 17th Claire was officially 8 months old. She is changing so quickly. Every day she is becoming a little less baby, and a little bit more of a big girl. And every day I fall more in love with her little personality.

Claire doesn't go back for a check up at the pediatrician's until next month, but I measured her length on my own and she is 32' long! And Jake weighed her and came up with 23 lbs. which sounds about right. Although sometimes she feels heavier than that. She looks so big to me now. She's crawling like a pro, and pulls herself to stand on anything she can. She is always chasing after Hannah. She has a bit more hair this month and we can almost do some top notch ponytails and stuff to it. She is currently fitting into a pair of 24 month size pajamas that Hannah wore last summer. I can't believe that.

She has fallen into a pretty routine sleep schedule these days. She usually goes to bed at 7pm, and is now waking up about 6:30am. Then goes back down for a morning nap around 8:30 or 9am, and she'll sleep anywhere from 45 mins to one and a half hours. In the afternoon she takes another nap around 1pm, which is also when Hannah still takes her one and only nap each day. Thank goodness for that time each day that I have to myself. I need it to recoup and prepare for the "evening shift" as we call it.

The following pictures were taken BNC (before new camera):

A little fuller round the face (and everywhere else) this month. :)

Hannah put this toy on the couch so "Care can't get dat", as she said. But it didn't stop Claire.

Next up to tackle, getting up those stairs. Oh how stairs make me nervous.


These pictures were taken post new camera:

Diane (my mother in law) took this one of Claire when we were on a walk last weekend.

Jake took this one of sweet Claire berry while she was watching Hannah at swimming lessons on Wednesday.


And I took this one, last night at tub time.

I noticed this morning 7/30 that finally Claire's bottom two teeth have poked through. I was wondering when she was ever going to get some teeth. I'll try to get a picture of them soon.

Just Want to Jot This Down...

*This afternoon after swim, the girls and I went to Nordstrom. I got a new pair of running shoes, and Hannah got a new pair of crocs and some saltwater sandals. Then I thought I'd risk my luck and see how the kids behaved in the N. Cafe for lunch. They were so good and I was so pleasantly suprised. Claire actually ate a jar of baby food (she doesn't seem to eat well when we are out, too much to look at), and Hannah ate all of her grilled cheese and tomato soup like such a big girl. She was so cute chatting with me while we ate. Then on our way out to the car I said,

"Hannah, that was so fun. Thank you for being such a good girl while we did our shopping and ate lunch."

H: Yea.

Me: You were sooo good Hannah. I'm so proud of you.

H: Wait! Hollsec (hold on a second)! We not done!! We need go shop for new eawings (earrings).

I started laughing and I said, "No Hannah we have to go home now, but I like the way you think girl."

*Last week we were on a walk with the girls in our neighborhood when we passed a house with the garage door open. A man was inside the garage working and he had a big hat on that resembled a cowboy hat. As we passed by he said hi, and we said hi back.

Then seconds later Hannah yelled "DAYEE, is that a cowboy? DAYYEE?? DAYEEE?? Is it? COWBOYYYY!!!!!!!!"
We just kept walking and laughed as we told her no Hannah, that was not a cowboy. He was just wearing a cowboy hat. She cracks me up.

Sea World

Ever since Jake's Mom bought her plane ticket, we have been planning on returning to Sea World for some more fun. We had such a great time when we took the kids last month, and we were all excited to go again. We loaded the car and left the house by 9am on Sunday. Not bad considering all that is necessary to do that.

We had a great time. Hannah had a blast. Claire loved every minute. We had a great lunch. Enjoyed a nice cold beer before the drive home. It was a good day. My only complaint was that it was pretty hot. Walking around the park there was a breeze, but just sitting was awful. We were hoping to see the dolphin show since we didn't do that last time, but it was just too hot to climb up in those stadium seats. We saw the dog and cat show, and that was all we could handle while sitting in a stadium with sweat dripping down our backs. I wonder, since I wore my running shorts, and probably sweat more than if I had done a workout at the gym, does that count as a workout? As cardio even? I think it should. I'm going to count it. ;)

I sat in the back of the car on the drive down, and I got to read my Nikon D60 for Dummies book and play with my camera. I took a gazillion shots of Claire while practicing. Don't worry, I'll only post 3 of them. I know you want me to hurry up and get to the Sea World pics.

Arriving at the park.


Grandma Hass and the girls.


More Hasses.


Looking at the beluga whales.

Can you see the happiness in those eyes? Diane took this picture.


This was my favorite shot from the whole day. Such a sweet face.


Hello Shamu.


Hmmm hmm, I wear Pampers. What do you wear Shamu?


Elmo is on the front Shamu. See?


Wearing her hat Michael Jackson style.

It was so hard to choose which pictures to post. I seriously did have almost 400 to go through. I can foresee this problem often in my future. What's a girl to do when she's got an awesome new camera, and two adorable little girls to take pictures of?

Just a few more pics of our fun day at Sea World. Having passes is so great. I think we'll try to go again in the fall when it is a bit cooler.

Click on collage to enlarge photos.

A few other things we did while Diane was here:

• Ate lots of good food.
• Jake & I went on a date to the movies on Saturday night. (Thank you Diane!!!)
• Went to Best Buy & Barnes N Noble
• Went for a walk
• Played multiple games of hide and seek
• Laundry (Having an extra pair of hands in the house to help with things was nice. I was able to get lots of chores done and they seemed so easy to do)
• Netflixed the movie Knowing. We were too tired to finish it so we'll have to tell you how it ends Diane.
• Gave Daddy his birthday presents
• Lots of kissing and loving on Hannah and Claire
• We were going to try and get to the beach too, but we were all a little tired and felt the need to rest up before Sea World. Next time.

Thank you for coming out to visit Diane. We had a great time and hope you did too.

Happy Birthday Jake!

Today Mr. Hass turned 31.

Hannah on her Daddy's shoulders at Sea World yesterday.

The poor guy has to work late on his birthday, but we have packed a lot of fun into this last weekend. He will be dropping his Mom at the airport on his way to work and she will be flying back to Boise today. We had a nice weekend visiting with her. Between the pictures that I took this weekend with my new camera, and the ones that Diane took (she has a Nikon D80 with a fabulous lens), we have about 400 pictures to choose from.

Anyway, back to the birthday boy...

Happy Birthday Jake! I could not ask for a better husband for me, or a better father for my baby girls. We love you.

I took this picture with Diane's D80 when we were all hanging out at the house on Saturday.

I Got It! I Got It!

I am now the proud owner of a brand new Nikon D60!! I am so excited! I just wanted to post a quick picture to show you my new baby. I must go now. I'm off to learn how to use this thing. :)

Thanks for Coming Out!

Wow. I am shocked by all of the nice comments that I received from my last post. When I wrote it, I figured maybe one or two people that I didn't know read my blog might leave a comment, but I never thought it would be much more than that. I appreciate everyone who let me know, and how sincere and genuine everyone's comments were. Also thank you for all of the hair love. :) I had no idea that so many people liked to look at pictures of my big teased hair. Now I am going to have to make sure that it looks good if I am going to post a picture of myself!

I must say that I do feel less worried about who is reading my blog now. I'm sure there will always be people reading it that I am unaware of, but I think that most who do are just doing what Charlee commented, which is just trying to see how other moms or women are "getting it all done and looking for some funny stories along the way." I know that is one reason that I love blogging so much. It's so great to be able to get a glimpse into other people's lives and see how they do things. To realize that you are not alone with your trials and tribulations that come your way.

So thanks for all of the nice comments! And to those I don't know, or just recently met through the blogosphere, please feel free to comment on my blog anytime. That way I will feel like I know more or less who is reading what I post about. And my crazy mind won't wonder so much about the potential psychotic stalkers that might be reading it.

Many people mentioned that I should post a hair tutorial. If you ask, you shall receive. I have been taking pics of a few of my new favorite products and I will try to get that posted within the next few days. So stay tuned...

Now for a quick and random update on the happenings in the Hass House:

• This week we've been busy. Nothing too particular, but it just seems like this summer everyday there has been something going on or something that needs to be taken care of.
• Wednesday I had a long and busy day at work. The air conditioning was also broken. Yea, wonderful. It was about 105 outside, and who knows how hot it was in the salon. Plus you get a bunch of blowdryers and curling irons going and the heat was out of control. It was hot. A cold shower at the end of my night never felt so good.
• Remember that dishwasher that broke, and then Jake fixed? It broke again. We ordered our new clean steel appliance and it should be delivered and installed sometime Saturday. So for the last couple days we have been handwashing and drying everything. Not fun. (How spoiled are we? I do realize that dishwashers are a luxury that not everyone has always had.)
• We Netflixed the first season of the show 30 Rock. Watched 2 episodes, and so far we like it. 22 Emmy Nominations, how can it not be good?
• Did some research, and Jake purchased our plane tickets to fly to Boise in September. It will be our first time flying with 2 kids. Oh boy. I already know that's going to be an adventure. We've flown with Hannah 4 times, but not yet with Claire. It ain't cheap to fly with a family. We had to buy Hannah a seat, but not Claire, and now you have to pay $15 for every bag you check per paying passenger and $25 for every second! What?! I might not be able to bring all of the shoes and hair supplies that I would like.
• Made two trays of lasagna this morning. Froze one for us, and brought the other one out to my Grandma this afternoon. She is still in her long process of recovery and trying to hang in there.
• Went to Jake's basketball game tonight with the girls. He tweaked his back and can hardly move tonight. 31 on Tuesday, he's getting old. But he's still got some game left in him.
• Got my new aviator sunglasses that I ordered from the Nordstrom sale today. I love them. I took a pic and accidentally deleted it. I will take another one (next time I have a good hair day so I can model them :) )
• Running errands tomorrow, and Jake's Mom is flying in from Boise on Saturday morning. She'll be staying through Tuesday and we have some fun things planned.

What fun is a post without a picture? Here are a couple of Hannah at her swimming lesson on Monday.
She did a double back flip off the diving board. Just Kidding. But she jumped off and swam to the side all by herself. I was impressed.

She also floated on her back without the instructor holding on to her. Way to go Hannah.

Hope everybody is staying cool. Stay hydrated. Enjoy summer.

Who Is Out There???

Does anyone ever wonder who in the heck is reading their blog? I know I do. I have a traffic feed on my blog so I can sometimes tell who looks at it, but other times it just tells me the name of the city and state that the internet connection came from. I am sure that there are multiple people who read my blog that I do not know, just as I read a few who are not aware of who I am. But sometimes I have to wonder, who are you? Did you find my blog through a friend of yours? Or did you just happen upon it through the blogosphere somehow? And what compells you to leave a comment, or not to comment? If I have been reading someone's blog I will typically leave a comment to let them know, because I figure I would want them to do the same.

I started blogging almost 2 years ago at the encouragement of a couple of friends. At first I was intimidated by a blog, and did not think I could figure out how to do it on my own. Since then I have learned so much, and suprised myself along the way. I also first started this blog for others. Thinking it would be a great way for far away family and friends to remain updated with our busy lives. However, now I have come to love this blog more for myself. I have always loved journaling, and now this is such a great way for me to document the happenings in my daily life.

Sometimes it worries me, but most of all it makes me curious. Because this blog isn't for my eyes only. It's out there on the internet. And it's personal. It is my personal stories, and experiences. My feelings, my frustrations, pictures of my family and my children. So sometimes I do look down at my traffic feed, and get frustrated because I do not know who the heck you are. I see traffic feeds from Tennessee, Georgia, Belleville Michigan, Redondo Beach, Yucca Valley, Illinois, etc... Who are you? Why do you read my blog? I am not saying don't. I am just curious as to who reads this blog. I got nothin' but love for ya if you let me know who you are.


Sometimes I think about making my blog private like others I know. But then I think of the old friends that I have reconnected with through blogging. And I don't want to go private. I just want to know who's out there...

The Weekend

It has been hot people. Jake worked this weekend, and I pretty much spent it trying to think of ways to entertain my two crazy kids without having to spend time outside where it has been just too hot. We didn't do too much, but I seem to have taken a lot of pictures.

Friday- We made a trip to Trader Joe's (my new favorite store) and Hannah was my little helper. How cool is it that they have little shopping carts for your kids to push? Hannah loved it. Friday night we went swimming at Camp Runamok and had pizza with the Grovers.

Saturday-
Hannah helped me make blueberry muffins for breakfast.

Claire has recently fallen in love with Gerber's yogurt snack things. They are freeze dried yogurt bites that basically melt in your mouth. Even though she has no teeth yet, she seems to inhale these things and has no problem eating them. She is also eating the Gerber Puffs really well too.

I have another daughter who recently seems to love the Puffs again. After I laid Claire down for her morning nap, I came downstairs and found Hannah chillaxin on the couch with the whole can of puffs. I said, "Hannah where did you get those?" She said, "In der (there)." Where? In the pantry? "Yeeeaa."

Hannie did a little finger painting in the afternoon. She doesn't look too pleased about it in this picture, but she was having fun. She just didn't want her picture taken.

After Claire's nap we went to my Mom's for a swim. Erika and Jeremy and Noah were over and my Mom and Dad got in the pool too. It was refreshing. We ate leftover pizza in the pool and both kids fell asleep in the car on the way home. Nice.

Two year olds.


Claire bear, chillin on the raft.


Date night!

Saturday night my parents came over to babysit for us (THANK YOU!), and we went out to celebrate our anniversary.


...or whatever comes our way. We enjoyed a nice drive getting out of town and we went to dinner in Laguna Beach.

When we got there, we put our name in at Pomodoro, and had some time to walk around down by the beach before the sun went down.

Me and my handsome hubby of 7 years!


Jake took this great picture of the beautiful sunset.

We had a great table, great dinner, great conversation, and a great time. It is always so nice to get away for a bit without the kids. Thanks Mom & Dad!

Sunday-

Our almost 10 yr old dishwasher broke. Clean steel new appliances here I come!...Then my handy hubby was able to fix the old, loud, broken down dishwasher. Clean steel appliances, you'll have to wait. Hope to see you soon.

Jake worked 10-6:30pm today. I hate that shift. It's worse than when he works evenings because he's only home for a tiny bit in the morning, and then when he gets home at 7, I am worn out and covered in momness from doing the whole evening routine on my own. Bleh.

The girls and I went to Toys R Us today. Hannah got some new water paints. She made some beautiful artwork. :)


Now I am going to go finish watching the ESPYS with Jake.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend.

Summer Lovin'

had me a blast,

Summer lovin', happened so fast...

(C'mon, tell me you know that song)

After Jake got home from work today we headed over my Mom's house (or Camp Runamok, as she calls it) for a swim. It is definitely summer time. We've been running the AC, eating otter pops, and spending our days in water of some sort. It felt good to cool off this afternoon.

Hannah has found much confidence in the pool with these floaties on her arms. She's a little daredevil this summer.

But she still needs to learn how to get the hair off her face after jumping in. :)


Uncle "Goo" (Drew), throwing Noah up in the air.







This was my favorite picture! What cuties they both are! ;)


PS- Not only did we have some fun in the pool at Camp Runamok, we also came home with a big bag full of soon to be ripe avocados and oranges! Love getting free produce from Mom & Dad's!