Mike's first Father's Day

Father's Day found us once again at the Durham Bulls baseball stadium. They played the Pawtucket Red Sox and unfortunately lost. But we had a good time.

Grandma and Grandpa B. spent the day with us and Clara enjoyed herself.

It was kids run the bases night so at least for us the night ended on a good note. Mike took Clara out onto the field and walked all the bases :) .

Mike and Clara are enjoying their summer together. I am glad that he is able to spend this time with her. Thank you Mike for being the bestest dad ever!

Bath time

My office threw me a baby shower in January and one of the presents was a Winnie the Pooh bath towel set. It included a towel, a couple of washclothes, and slippers. Such small slippers :) . We gave Clara a bath so she'd be all clean for Father's Day and I put the slippers on her and wrapped her in the towel. She lounged on the sofa for awhile. Thanks Graduate School for the cute towel and slippers!




Peeking over mommy's shoulder after her bath.

Bumbo Chair and night out

Clara likes her bumbo chair. She is able to sit up by herself :) .

Friends of ours got married on June 13. Mike and I spent pratically a whole day without Clara. A first for us. She was well taken care of by Mr. Ray and Ms. De, and Mr. Dave and Ms. Kim. Thank you guys!

A weekend of firsts

A weekend of firsts for Clara. She went to her first baseball game (and it was her first professional sporting event), and to a mall to shop :) .

On Friday evening, we saw the Durham Bulls play my hometeam the Toledo Mud Hens. Durham won. Clara enjoyed herself, her eyes were wide open, just looking at everything. And at one point, she even took a quick nap. Only a baby can fall asleep in all that commotion.

A nice couple saw us and offered two of their tickets (game was sold out by the time we arrived). We ended up sitting right behind first base. Mike protected his little girl from the foul balls. And we had to be alert, a couple of times they came right over our heads.

It was a fun time and Clara was out late. But she did so well.

On Saturday, we headed to Southpoint Mall to shop. Clara's first trip to a mall. She definitely is a girl, she enjoyed shopping. She spent a lot of time with daddy, while mommy looked for and tried on lots of clothes. Again, another busy day and late night for Clara. She did real well but got fussy on the way home. She was tired. So we fed her and put her straight to bed when we got home.

All the business of the weekend seemed to catch up with Clara on Monday. She fell asleep around 6:50pm yesterday and I had to wake her up to feed her and put her to bed for the night.

We tried out the bumbo chair and Clara seems to really like it. She leans back like it is her easy chair. So cute. I'll post pictures at some point. Thanks Fine Arts Department at Holly Springs High for the bumbo chair.

Rolling Over!

Mark this date and time: today at 2:15pm, Clara rolled over from her tummy to her back. She did it twice. Yea!

I put her down on the floor to do tummy time and had this feeling she might do it. I went to get the video camera to record it, if it happened. Well, I turned my back on her for a second and when I turned around, she was on her back. I laughed and Clara smiled. Okay, so I found the camera, put Clara back on her belly, called Mike, and looked for the tape we are using to record Clara's life. Well...while I was talking to Mike and trying to get the tape in the camera, Clara proceeded to roll over again. I watched it happen! Now, wanting to record the moment, I got all set up, put Clara back on her belly, and started recording her. But...she decided to get shy and not roll over again. Of course, the camera goes on and she doesn't want to perform. I got cute video of her on her tummy, though.

And she has not rolled over from tummy to back since. She did roll over at Grandma's on Monday from back to tummy, though.

We just have this feeling she will be doing stuff early, like sitting up, crawling, and walking.

It looks like it is going on 10:30pm and time to go to bed. Goodnight.

3 Months Old

Happy 3 Months Clara Grace! They do grow up fast. The page next to her says, Happy 3 Month Birthday To Me. Took these photos rather quickly yesterday, right before getting ready for bed so Clara was sleepy.

Yesterday was busy. Went up to the office to get situated so I can start working. Grandma watched Clara while I was out. I go back in to the office full time on June 15. Mike will be out of school then and will watch Clara till band camp starts August 3. I'm going to miss spending my days with my baby girl.

I wish she would stay the exact size and age she is right now. She is so much fun to hold and cuddle with. And as I mentioned before, she just talks and talks. We have our mommy and baby conversations daily. And another new thing she does, she doesn't just blow bubbles, she spits bubbles now. She is so proud of herself when she does that. And she wants to sit up so bad. If you put her down in her swing or carseat, she lifts her head to try and sit up. And she gets so frustrated because she is not quite there yet.

She does a lot better on tummy time, lifting her head and actually looking around at everything. She almost rolled over too from her tummy but stopped. When she lays on her back, she kicks her legs up high and actually hits stuff with them. She discovered her feet and legs the other day while sitting in her swing. It was so cute, how she studied them. When will she put them in her mouth is what I am wondering.


Carolina Godiva Track Club had its annual awards' banquet on May 30. For the third year in a row I received the ironman award. One gets this award if he/she participates in 75% of the races during the summer track series. Also, mine was special. Since I was pregnant last summer, my horse (the award) has a woman holding a baby on it. The others that received ironman awards just have a person on it-no baby.

I'm off to a good start on getting my forth ironman this summer.

One thing I started doing (not that I do it exactly right) is race walking. I cannot remember off the top of my head what my fastest race walk mile was last summer but I believe I broke 12 minutes. Pretty good, I think.


Friends of mine in the club have this license plate. Mike's parents have the exact same one in Virginia. How often do you see the exact same license plate from two different states?