Monday, October 3, 2011

Beach Days... and more

We are loving the weather in southern California... well, as long as we're at the beach with the ocean breeze. Otherwise it's a little too hot for me and my growing belly. Cooper and CJ would play in the sand ALL DAY if we let them. Here is one of the rare occasions that Randy was able to come with us - hooray! I love that Dad can throw the kids in the air and be rough with them.
They LOVE it too.

We have also met a few people who have access to pools...
so that is the next place we've spent our summer days. Here is Caroline with her new buddy Megan.

Cooper played soccer at the Reseda Recreation Center. I volunteered to make the team banner..
and here is my attempt. It's been a while since I've made cheerleading signs :)

Randy and I couldn't believe how good the kids were that Cooper played with. They were more like 8-year-olds that 4 & 5. It made Coop step up his game - always a good thing - and I chilled out a little more than last time he played on a team. In fact, before this league started Cooper made me promise that I wouldn't get mad EVER at any games. I kept my promise. I also didn't get any good pictures that weren't a bit blurred but I guess that's good since he was running so much. Cooper is the fuzz in yellow below.

I just thought this picture was too cute I had to post it. I love that Cooper has freckles on his nose these days. It reminds me of his sweet buddy Hannah Judd, who we are MISSING now that her family is in Nashville.

"Jimmy" the lizard was an adventure one summer night. Coop caught it outside with Randy and kept it in a jar for a day. We took him out to feed him a bug the next night. Randy wasn't home and, in retrospect, I should have known better. I figured it was fine for Coop to handle him since he caught him in the first place. No sooner had I taken this picture than Jimmy bit his finger. Well, he dropped Jimmy, picked him back up and was bit again. This time Cooper started shaking his hand to get him off, the glass jar he was in fell and shattered, and Jimmy's tail came off. Poor Jimmy went soaring and his tail... twitched for AT LEAST 3 minutes. It was enough to make me throw up! I told Cooper that Jimmy needed to find his mommy to make him better so we couldn't catch him again.

Randy covers HS football on Friday nights and College football Saturday nights. We love to watch games and the kids have been troopers sitting in the stands with me. We make a special treat to take with us which usually keeps them excited for at least the first half. Then we find a grassy spot to run on during the second. Here they are at the HS game in Valencia.

One more picture. This one with me and my big belly. I'm up to an additional 55+ lbs. with a few weeks to go. I may hit 60 again - hopefully I can RUN it all off like the last 2 times. This has been by far my nicest pregnancy overall. The bad nausia stopped around 22 weeks or so, much sooner than the others. It has seemed like the longest with all the IVF treatments. We're getting excited and ready!
 Love from the Clarks.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

You don't look like you have an extra 55 lbs . . . happy you are enjoying southern Cal. Does Randy work at a hospital or does he just cover sporting events?
IVF? Did you have to have treatments for all your kids or just his one?
Good luck in the coming weeks.

heidijogoody said...

It looks like you guys are settling well. Your growing belly is just darling

Ashley C. said...

Hi Amy! Congrats on Randy passing boards. I bet that was a relief! I hope you guys are feeling settled and enjoying California. Hopefully it's not as hot there now so you can be a little more comfortable with your growing belly!

Potty training . . . well, I'm no expert. My experience has been though that kids won't do it until they want to and are ready to (even if they can). I tried to potty train Sofia before Liliana was born. She was 2 and a half, and it was so frustrating. She really had no interest, although I'm sure she was capable. I gave up, and after she turned three, she practically potty trained herself. She just said one day that she needed to go to the bathroom, and after that it was a piece of cake.

Liliana will be three in November, and she probably would have been ready earlier, but with the move it just wasn't going to happen. I think waiting though might have been advantageous because it's been so easy.

Every child is different though, so I really don't know what to tell you. Just that in my kids' cases, holding off until they were a little older paid off. Also, I found that for my girls pull ups were more of a hindrance than a help because they would pee in it just like a diaper. At least Sofia did. I didn't even buy them this time around. In theory pull ups seem nice, but without underwear my kids just weren't "getting" the whole potty training thing, or they weren't motivated to do it at least.

I know you'd probably like to get it over with since you have a new baby coming! Good luck! And good luck with the last bit of your pregnancy and labor and delivery!

I hope you don't mind me leaving such a long comment about potty training here. I guess I could have emailed you!

The Judds said...

We SO miss you guys! Love the freckles. Love!!!!

Jessica said...

I am so happy to hear things are going well out in California! Cooper and CJ are so cute and I have to say you have to be the best looking pregnant woman ever! I can't wait to see what that cute little baby number 3 will look like! We miss you guys so much! Take care! Love all the pictures! :-)