Happy 2 Months!!

Clark is now two months old! His little personality has grown so much in the past month. Clark is an extremely charismatic baby that seems to go with the flow. While he does cry, he can be easily redirected! One of our New Year's resolutions is to write down at least one thing about Clark in a journal every day which should help the blog.

Two Month Milestones:

- He smiles when we interact with him.

- He talks to us through cooing and he is a chatter box. Once we get him talking, it is hard to slow him down.

- He explores his surroundings with his eyes.

- He loves to make and maintain eye contact with us.

- He moved into his crib! This has helped us to sleep better!

- Clark weighed 10 lbs 6 oz and he was 22.5 inches at his two month doctor appointment.

- Clark puts his fist in his mouth. He is slowly starting to discover his hands.

What he loves:

- "In My Den" and "In My Nest" - These are books that have tiny finger puppets and Clark loves watching the bear and bird.

- Talking with us

- Meeting new people

- Oklahoma City Thunder - He went to his first game! We only made it through the first half, but Clark was a trooper!

- Seeing snow for the first time.

- Play dates! We most frequently visit our neighbor who loves to hold Clark.

- Bath time - Mark finally figured out how to make bath time enjoyable for him.

- Play gym

- Drooling!

What he does not love:

- Being overstimulated - hence why we only made it through half the Thunder game

- Tummy time

- University of kansas

New Mother Free Passes!

There are so many incredible pluses to having a kid, but I am also starting to realize that I get a few free passes in this new club.

Here are a few:

- Not showering everyday

- Wearing the same outfit two days in a row (What this old thing again? I think I will!)

- Wearing workout clothes daily. (In high school, my group of girlfriends and I loved when we could wear our wind pants or overalls. If either clothing item was in style then I would be wearing them again!)

- No makeup (Ok, I don't ever wear makeup, but now I say "Shoot I forgot to put on makeup this morning." Typical response from friends, "Don't worry you look great!)

- Falling asleep at 8:30 pm is no longer uncool!

- Leaving an event that we are no longer enjoying is easy - "Sorry, we have to go home and feed our son!" No hurt feelings and no pressure.

- Stains on clothing are acceptable. I hate laundry and am even less concerned if I have a permanent stain on my clothes now I have a free pass for that stain!

- Not finishing the book for my book club.

Oh the free pass is awesome!!

Clark coos!

This one is for my Aunt Terry!

The Holidays!

Mark was able to get the holidays off of work. This was, of course, after he had worked 6 days on inpatient! We both had late nights that week. The only advantage is that we were both up for the lunar eclipse!

On December 23rd, we headed out to Paris for our first road trip with Clark. It was interesting to see how many items were "needed" now that we had a baby. I jokingly told my dad that he needed to hire some movers to help us unload our car! We did use most of what we brought!

Highlights in Paris included: Christmas Eve with Swaskos, singing the "Twelve Days of Christmas", second date night and we saw "The Fighter", reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to Clark and my youth group reunion.

Next, we traveled to Austin to see the Clark side of the family. Clark's feet did not touch the ground during our time in Austin. Everyone wanted to hold him! He loved it and was amused by all of the attention. We also found out that two of my cousins are now pregnant with boys!

On our trip back to Oklahoma, we stopped in Dallas so that Clark could meet his Godmother Lindsay!
We also celebrated NYE with our good friends the Kirkpatricks. The Kirkpatricks also have a little boy who is five weeks younger than Clark. The boys have matching car seats and they slept through most of dinner. This picture was taken right before we rang in the New Year at 9 pm!

2010 - A Reflection

Here are some highlights from the year (in no particular order):

- Mark finishes his commitment to the Air Force.

- Mark joins the faculty at the University of Oklahoma Children's Hospital.

- We vacationed with friends to the Plainview Cabin in Cowles, New Mexico. It was Ellen's first time at the cabin in 10+ years!

- Ellen continues to love her job and will be able to work part-time as a project manager at the food bank in 2011.

- The Oklahoma City Thunder! We went to the third game of the playoffs. The crowd was electric and the Thunder won!

- Ellen's parents celebrated their 60th birthdays.

- Mark ran his 2nd half marathon.

- The death of Ellen's grandmother and her Uncle Fred.

- Mark's mother was diagnosed with breast cancer and she has courageously gone through chemo and radiation.

- We made two trips to St. Louis.

- We continued our tradition of attending one MU football game a year by going to the MU vs. IL game.

- Finally visited Tulsa with our dear friends the Sips.

- Celebrated our five-year anniversary in Dallas!

- Broken elbow at 34 wks pregnant.

- Ellen finally overcame her fear of needles due to the pregnancy and elbow surgery!

- We started a garden and a compost.

- Ellen agrees to a family room addition to the house. (This is at least five years away, but Mark wanted it in writing.)

- 2010 was the year of babies!!

- Thankful for family and friend support over the last year!

Everything Clark in 2010:

- Finding out we were going to have a baby!

- Sharing the news with our friends and family

- Feeling Clark in the womb through constant movement and hiccups!

- The anticipation of not knowing if we were going to have a boy or girl

- Baby showers! So many people wanted to celebrate his upcoming arrival with us.

- Meeting Clark for the first time

- All the firsts since! It has truly reshaped our life in the best way possible!

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