Recap of the Week

Things are finally starting to feel more normal here around the Claunch household this week since we were a little bit more busy! On Tuesday, Olivia's sweet friend Katherine from church wanted to spend the day with her before she had to start back to school. So that morning, her saint of a mom came (along with her other three children) all the way across town to pick Olivia up for a fun day. She was with them from about 9am until 5pm. She thought she was so grown up getting to go to a friend's house for the day without Mommy!

This is her sitting by the front window watching for their car to pull in our driveway, she sat there for thirty minutes!
On Wednesday, her "real" gymnastics class started. We have been doing Little Gym since she was a baby, but this week we started a gymnastics class at a gym here. I couldn't believe everything they had her working on in her first class (splits, backbends, handstands)! I was so impressed and she loved it!
And finally today, my sweet baby girl had to have dental surgery. I could literally feel my blood pressure rising over the last 24 hours dreading the moment they took her away from me. But she did SO good. She was so brave, braver than I ever could have been! She even told me she had fun and wants to go back. Michael and I both have a bad dental history and upon her first visit, the dentist said he felt like it would be a lot easier to put her to sleep and do everything at one time. And now that it is over, I completely agree. They gave her some "silly juice" before they took her in, and it REALLY worked. Not many moms can say this of their 3 year olds, but I know exactly what it would be like to see my daughter drunk as a skunk. She would fall over in the bed and just cackle at herself for minutes at a time. Michael and I were both crying we were laughing at her so hard, which to be honest, made the separation easier on us too. That being said, we've also seen her in "hangover" mode and it is not pretty. I dropped Olivia and Michael off at home to get settled down while I went and picked up prescriptions and lunch. Olivia asked Michael for something that he didn't understand what she was saying and she proceeded to beat him up! Literally. He called me scared to death. But she is doing good now and is resting peacefully, so hopefully she will get a good night's sleep!
Cuddling with Daddy before surgery
Loving on Mommy

The finished product!

Yay!

Summer Fun

We have had a boring last couple of weeks...the heat has kept me inside most of the time. Olivia and I are both starting to get cabin fever having had the last few weeks off for summer break, with no extracurricular activities! She starts gymnastics back up this week at a new place, so that should be fun! We visited Michael's parents (Cookie & Pop-Pop) for a few days last week while Michael had meetings. We had a lot of fun, but the sad thing is I had my camera with me and forgot about it! This morning after church we went to the pool with our small group, which cooled me off a little bit! These are the first pictures I have taken in weeks! Pregnancy has made me lazy!

We have been so blessed by the people in our small group having made us feel so welcome since we joined Hardin Valley, but Olivia has made a very special friend~Katherine. They are so cute together and such good buddies. She is so excited that she is going over to their house on Tuesday for a playdate before Katherine starts back to school.

Olivia and Katherine going down the slide together!

Olivia and her buddy Carson enjoying an icee together.

Best Friends

Earlier this month, Olivia's first best friend Emma Grace moved away from Knoxville. We were so sad to see them go. I have cried my eyes out thinking about all the days Olivia would be asking me where Grace was. These two were together literally almost every day. They fought (and loved) like sisters. This is a picture we took the last night we all went out to eat together. We miss you Emma Grace, Tammy and Randy (and Baby Girl Dunavant)!

This is the first picture I ever took of the two of them. You can see my child already trying to boss her around!

Beach 2008

Last week we went to the beach with my family. I have been so looking forward to it, and now that we are home I am ready for fall and am officially on baby countdown. 27 weeks and counting...We had such a nice relaxing week, the weather wasn't perfect, but it didn't seem to bother anyone. Here are some favorite pictures from the week...

Michael got tickets for us all to go to a minor-league baseball game. Olivia loved it and I fell in love with this picture of her holding onto Daddy's arm.
I just thought this one was cute.
This was taken one night when Mommy had to take her for a "walk" before dinner because she was acting like a hooligan. I took this picture when she was pouting at me and couldn't help but laugh at that pitiful face.
This is a monumental picture...for those of you who know Michael, you would find it shocking to know that he has a child who doesn't eat macaroni and cheese. But she won't touch it, its "shoo-way." I guess this night she was hungry enough to try some when they accidentally delivered mac and cheese to our table rather than her usual chicken. We also tricked her this week and gave her country ham, telling her it was chicken.
One night after dinner we got to go to the Pavillion, a place I went when I was her age. She loved it. I rode one ride with her and thought I was going to go into labor! I am such a wimp these days!
One of the highlights of Olivia's trip was a short reunion with Emma Grace. She and Tammy came to spend one afternoon with us. When it started raining, they got creative and played hide and seek, ending up under the bathroom sink.
My child was a fish this week. She did things in the pool that amazed me. I have to give huge thanks to Mr. Ed again. The kids that came around her probably would disagree. Anytime another child got into the pool with her she would try to force them into an impromptu swimming lesson. She would lay them down on her kickboard telling them to "Kick, kick, kick. Its just a baby water, Fun, fun, fun." Most of the kids looked at her like she was crazy, but I think Mr. Ed would have been happy with her!

Beach Pics

Last week when we were at the beach, I decided to have Olivia's pictures taken by a professional photographer instead of my fat pregnant butt crawling around in the sand doing it by myself. I was really happy with the end result, but I think I still sweated just as much in between trying to get her to smile and make sure her clothes weren't flying off of her! If you want to view the pics, you can go to www.angelafellenzphotography.com. The username and password are both rclaunch. After you hit enter, click on my name on the top left and the pics should pop up.

Happy 4th of July!

We hope everyone has had a great holiday!

Mr. Ed's Adventure Swim

This week was our second week at Mr. Ed's Swim Adventure school, and I have to say it went 1 million% better than Week 1. This week went the way I expected the first week to go. Olivia loved it and every morning got out of bed talking about going to "Ed's Home." She even insisted on making a 4th of July card for him when we were sending them out. Michael and I were very proud of her. There were several "criers" this week. I wouldn't have been nearly as devastated as I was last week when Olivia was the only one to cry. The children and parents were so entertaining, I could go sit in the 100 degree, yes literally, 100 degree poolhouse every day to watch these people. By the end of the week, she was able to kick herself across the pool on a kickboard, jump in from the side or off the diving board by herself and swim to the surface. Those were the goals for the week, so yay! Here are a few pictures from the week...

Please notice in this picture, Olivia (on the far right) is laughing at the little girl who is crying as if she wasn't doing the same thing last week.
Olivia and her buddy, Mr. Ed
She was constantly checking to make sure we were watching her every second.
I was so proud of her jumping off the diving board by herself! On the first day they did it, she and a 7 year old were the only ones to do it without having to be pushed.

Check out the awesome swim cap Mr. Ed gave her
And lastly, my mom (Nana) came on the last day to watch her. She had told her if she did good all week she would buy her a new swimsuit and a baby (for those of you who don't know, my child lives and dies by baby dolls). Once we were at the store, she decided she would not get a baby (shock of shocks) and get a make-up case instead. She couldn't wait to rip into it, so she applied her make-up in the car on the way home. I don't know who she has been watching put on make-up, but I kept telling her to switch to another eye, and all she could say is that she wasn't done with the first one yet!