Mom Back to Work, Clara Goes to Baby Business

Alexxis, my cousin Amy's oldest daughter, was our first babysitter for Clara. I loved taking her to Lexxi and never worried a minute about it. I would drop her off and Jake would pick her up in the afternoon. Paisley loved her and always wanted to help take care of her.

Clara and Paisley Nelson 

The first Saturday she was left with Dad

Random Pictures from 2017

 

I could hear Abbi loading the dishwasher in the kitchen and wondered who she was talking to. She was just giving a verbal tutorial on the proper way to do the dishes :)

The kids stayed home for banana splits while Jake and I ran a couple errands for our Friday the 13th date night.

Grandma Hansen

We got so much snow this year. It just kept piling up. The kids were in heaven.

I finally won Jessica at the card game we play during lunch every day.

Noah's first Picasso or Pisacco as he would call it.

Abbi and I went to her Young Women New Beginnings.

Jessica and Caesar's first little wedding before the big Catholic cathedral wedding.

Abbi wrote a letter asking Anne's boss to allow her to have time off for our Bear Lake trip.

This is Alexxis's baby, Paisley.

I love this water color painting Abbi did at school.

 

Anne and Wendy on a sister trip in Sweden.

Noah had lots of fun playing baseball this summer.

Kids were out with dad for the day. The funny thing about Noah's scratch on his forehead is that he "doesn't remember" what happened. All we know is that he was "horsing around" with Jack and James with Grandpa nearby. That's all we ever learned about his Harry Potter scar.

The kids celebrated Wendy's birthday with her at Cherry Hill water park.

When we moved into Grandma's house, the young women brought a cute gift basket and gift over to welcome the kids into the ward.

Pregnant lady model pose with Jake's new smoker.

This is the puzzle my mom and I tried to do at Bear Lake but decided we'd need more time and did it at home instead. This was the hardest puzzle ever!

The kids made great entries for the annual melon roll at the Stone Family Labor Day picnic.

Dad and Abbi looking for Nerf darts.

Noah made me this little guy at school. He set it in my room while I was at work so it was a funny surprise when I came home in the dark after a closing shift.

Marlie's 14th birthday brownie cake.

Jake's masterpiece gingerbread man. He baked and decorated it just for me.

This was a funny screenshot of texts I thought I was sending to Wendy but sent to Jake instead.

All the Pictures I Took on Maternity Leave

Clara in her cradle the day we came home from the hospital.

Noah was excited to find Clara was home after school.

Abbi loves to have a baby to cuddle.

This is when we started discovering Clara is a smiley baby.

Marlie

James

Elizabeth

Clara's first time in her swing.

Popcorn Grandma meeting Clara on our first outing.

Aunt LaRena

We already knew she could make good faces with her eyebrows because we could see them during her ultrasounds!

After a couple weeks, we decided Clara was a good enough (and noisy enough) sleeper to stay in her big girl crib in her own room.

Liza

Num Num Suit

Baby Groot shirt

Cute outfit made by my cousin Amy.

I didn't comb her hair down after a bath so it stayed up like this!

The milk sleep.

Aunt Wendy got Clara a cute elf suit.

Dad and Clara have the same scowl.

It's not easy getting a tiny dot of nail polish on those tiny toe nails.

My first time back to church in a cute dress from Wendy.

Cuddling her elephant and dad.

Jessica Saari Alvarado

We love to cuddle and nap together during the day.

Aunt Anne

The famous eyebrow scowl.

Clara and I went to a movie one morning because I knew no one had bought tickets so we could have the whole theater to ourselves. That way, we didn't bother anyone and we could stand up or take up lots of chairs with our stuff. She slept through the whole show.

Showing off for her daily Marco Polo to Uncle Jimmy.