Clark and Tiger 6, 7 & 8 months

Our reunion with the Sikoras!

Over Labor Day weekend, we met our good friends the Sikoras in DFW. We had not seen each other in two years, but we picked up right where we left off. The big difference is now we had two more kids in the mix!

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Colorado 2011

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July = Milestone Explosion!

I can't believe that July is over and we haven't updated you (our loyal reader (s?)) about Clark's milestone explosion. Clark continues to be a happy and excited baby. Everywhere we go people comment about how happy Clark is. They ask us if he is this happy all of the time and we can confidently say yes. Clark at an early age loves people. At restaurants, grocery stores or shops, Clark usually tries to make eye contact with everyone we pass. If theses strangers have happened to miss Clark's gaze, then Clark will try to grab their attention through talk. He will yell out "Ahhhh" or "Dahhh" in hopes of charming them with his words. In general, these strangers cannot resist him!

In July, he accomplished two major milestones. We have a crawler and a clapper! Mark and I love picking up Clark from daycare, because he now claps with excitement to see us! Clark's crawling progression has been gradual. Initially, he would throw his upper body forward and then pull his legs forward. It resembled the worm and was hard to watch. The thrusting of the body forward resulted in a few ruff landings. After a couple weeks of the worm, Clark finally managed to achieve the traditional crawl. He is busy baby! Clark crawls everywhere and Mark and I must be on our toes. We can't leave this baby alone for more than a minute!

More visitors!

My brother and his girlfriend, Dorcas, came to Oklahoma City for the weekend. We had a great weekend! On their first night we went to one of our new favorite food joints Mutts. Mutts is a gourmet hotdog restaurant. It is AMAZING!! They take your favorite type of food and design it into a hotdog. For example, my favorite hot dog is the Slum Dog. The slum dog is a chicken dog with curried cabbage and apple sriaracha. Yum! On Saturday, we went to a guatemalan restaurant for brunch, shopped and bowled. Dorcas had never been bowling and she almost scored in the triple digits! Clark was spoiled by them the entire weekend!

Okie Noodling Competition

Oklahoma is one of five states that allows noodling. What is noodling? Noodling is fishing for catfish using only your bare hands. That's right! No pole! Noodlers hunt for catfish in murky water and holes. Once they have found the fish, they will stick out their hand until the fish bites and then they will bring the fish to the surface. While this sounds like a nightmare to me, this is a way of life for others. Twelve years ago, an Oklahoman (Brad Beasley) filmed a documentary on the sport. He decided that in order to bring legitimacy to the sport, there needed to be a tournament. The Okie Noodling Tournament is held annually in Pauls Valley and handfisherman/women from across the state fish in their home waters and then bring their fish for a weigh in. Mark and I decided this was a tournament that we couldn't miss! My mom came in and babysat Clark. Mark, our neighbor and I journeyed down to Pauls Valley and we were not disappointed. We saw weigh ins, witnessed noodling demonstrations, ate at Bob's Pig Shop, watched an almost fight and stood next to the Okie Noodling Queen. The biggest fish that was caught was 60 lbs!!! Amazing!

4th of July

Over the 4th of July holiday, Mark's mom, sister and our niece and nephew came to visit us in Oklahoma City. We all had a great time! Clark loves playing with big kids and Aubrey and Gunnar played so well with him.

On the first night we went to watch the fireworks in Bricktown. The OKC Philharmonic plays patriotic music and then there are fireworks at the end. The fireworks did not start until around 10 pm! Clark stayed up for the beginning of the fireworks, but quickly fell asleep in Mark's arms.

On the 4th our neighborhood had a 4th of July party which included a parade that we all participated in. The kids also got the opportunity to run in a huge shower of water provided by the OKC Fire Department. Clark fell asleep before the parade began, but he made sure to hold his flag tight.

Go Mark!!

Today Mark starts his first day as the Director of the Sooner Pediatric Clinic at OU Children's Hospital. He will still see patients, work with residents and medical students, but now he will also play a management role at the clinic. Mark is excited about the opportunity. He actually enjoys the challenge of trying to create an efficient system at the clinic that benefits the patients, staff and physicians. Clark and I could not be more proud! Way to go Dad / Mark!!

Clark meets more family!

Last weekend, Clark and I had the pleasure of traveling down to Paris to see more of my extended family. My mother was competing in the Paris version of "Dancing with the Stars". My mom did not win. (She was robbed!) The best part was that Clark met and reacquainted with his great aunts and uncles and cousins!

This is a classic picture from the weekend! We are so excited about our growing family!

Aunt Mary and Clark
Clark's new sidekick Skylar!
Clark and his Aunt Terry!

The new moms! Clark holding Cavanaugh's hand! It was so sweet!

Questions

For the past year, my life has been full of questions. Throughout pregnancy and motherhood, strangers and acquaintances seem to have a free pass to ask me questions. During pregnancy it usually focused around the timeline of the baby's due date, my well being and how prepared I was for the baby. Sometimes people's questions were odd or too personal. I remember some of guys at work asking me too many questions about labor once they found out I was contemplating having the baby naturally (I didn't). As a new mother, most questions have been focused around the baby and they usually focus on his size and age, his sleeping pattern and his milestones. While I confidently try to answer their questions, there have been very few answers that I am confident about outside of dates and measurements. I have never truly felt prepared for Clark. Each day something changes and each day a challenge is conquered and a new challenge begins. This motherhood roller coaster has been more rewarding than I had anticipated. How could it not be?

Catherine & Josh visit!

Three weeks ago my dear friend, Catherine, and her son came to visit us in Oklahoma City. We had so much fun. Catherine's son, Josh, was a blast. Josh played the great older brother. He gave us updates on "Baby Clark". You can tell Catherine and I are both mothers, because we only took pictures of the boys and not of us!

Clark & Tiger 3, 4 & 5 months

Mark and I are taking a picture of Clark each month with his stuffed tiger. Here are the pictures from three, four and five months! He is getting so big!

Clark's successful surgery

Clark had an aborted circumcision when he was a day old. Long story, but that meant a trip to the urologist and a scheduled circumcision revision at 6mo under general anesthesia. He had this surgery on 6/10/11.

Here is Clark pre-surgery, continually happy and charming the nurses left and right...

Here is Clark post-surgery, still happy and completely focused on the mask used to put him to sleep.

Quotes from strangers during his visit:

"I've never seen a baby his age smile so much with the gas mask being held on his face!" -surgery room nurse

"If he stayed any longer in the recovery room there would have been a fight between the nurses for who was going to take him home." -recovery room nurse

"Kids his age usually fight and cry so much more when I am doing their vitals post-surgery." - step down unit nurse

Overall just like his vaccinations so far he took the day like a champion. He did get his first dose of Tylenol in his life after surgery but that is the only pain relief he needed. He spent the majority of that day taking naps, but otherwise he was smiling like always.

Clark thinks sneezes are funny!

Mark and I always joke that once we get Clark to laugh at something we will continue to do it. It doesn't matter what it is. For the past few weeks, Clark has thought that sneezes were funny. I shot this video while Clark sat on my stomach. Hence the sideways view. It is adorable!!

Clark and hiking

We went to visit our good friends the Sipniewskis in Fayetteville this past weekend. We were able to enjoy our first hike with Clark. This summer we are going to Estes Park for a family reunion, so we need some hiking practice with a baby. I love the series of pictures of Clark on the hike.

Clark thanking Dad for agreeing to carry him on the hike. He is a little nervous about mom's balancing skills due to a fall he experienced as a fetus!

Clark is so excited about the hike!
Clark - "Seriously - more trees! This is getting boring!"
Clark - "I am done! Let me catch a quick nap!"

New addition to the Poges...

The Poges are not master landscapers by any stretch of the imagination, but there were some unsightly dying evergreen trees/bushes at the front of our house that needed dealing with. Initially there were 3 and one had already died and our neighbor's nephew (professional contractor) cut it down for us about a year ago. Ellen and I love planting trees so I had to cut down the other 2 to prepare the way for our new tree. It was my first experience with a chainsaw (rented from Home Depot) and I managed to cut down the other 2 without losing any fingers/toes. Special thanks to our neighbor Katy for helping get the chain back on after it fell off at the start of the cutting.

Then Ellen and I had to clear out all of the overgrown weeds and ivy which was no easy task.

Everyone, meet Bernice (named after my grandmother). She is a Little Gem Magnolia. Should provide us with lots of large white flowers all summer long.

Bernice is welcomed to the family by her older sister Delores.

Happy Easter!!

Clark went on his first easter egg hunt yesterday! He collected four eggs with the help of his kind parents!