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?