Camri's First Day of Preschool!!

Here is my beautiful little Camri doll. How I love her! She was so excited this morning to go to her first day of school. She is doing so unbelievably well! We are working with her on her reading, and I must say, she surprises me everyday with how much she can do. She is reading beginner books with very small amounts of help. She asks me everyday to work on her letters and words. This girl is MOTIVATED!! Not that the chocolate treats we eat afterward hurt at all. Yep, bribery by chocolate. :) Actually, she has loved learning and needed very little bribing. Am I a proud mama? Of course. 

 This girls is all decked out in her Hello Kitty gear. She. is. Obsessed!!! Lunchbox, backpack, shoes, and socks, people. She loves it. 

 Our brown eyed girl... Love that smile too.

Here she is with her teachers: Mr. Langford

  

And Mrs. Pettinger

 Yep, I'm that annoying parent that insists on first day pictures with teachers. Guilty. Don't ya love the yucky, yellow lighting in the school? I know I didn't. 

This is not a school pic, but I had to post them anyway. Here is Camri with her best buddy, Maddison. They have so much fun together! We are so thankful to already have some friends here in Colorado. What a blessing! We are getting to know a lot of really amazing people in our ward too. We feel pretty lucky to have made so many new, wonderful friends. 

 Playing at a "Sprayground". 

Our Summer

Since we had a couple of months in between when Steve graduated from dental school and his orthodontic residency starting, we decided it would be fun to spend a little time with the fam out in Utah. We stayed at Grandma Carolyn's house, and she has a neighbor next door who had goats and horses in their back yard. Needless to say, every day was like going to a petting zoo. Camri fell in love with all the horses, and went out to see them several times a day. Even Capri liked going out to see the animals. 

Here is Cappi feeding a pigmy goat:

Camri and Ethan feeding one of the horses:

Every Sunday we went out to see GG Donna. The girls loved going over there. They would climb her trees, watch movies, eat pancakes and hashbrowns, and get yummy treats from GG. What more could the girls ask for?

Here is Capri, climbing the tree:

My pretty little girlies:

Camri and her GG:

We had a lot of fun over the fourth of July. We went to the Plain City Days parade and festivities in the morning, and had dinner with Grandma and Papa Clawson that evening. 

Here is Camri, waiting for the opportunity to catch a fish (for her GG) with her bare hands.She ended up getting one for herself, and one for Capri, who refused to even step foot inside the slimy pond. 

VICTORY!

She had so much fun catching the fish! However, she was very upset that she couldn't keep it in a bowl for her GG. "Cleaning" the fish, was not her favorite part. I'm pretty sure we'll skip letting her see that part next time. Poor girl, she didn't like it at all. Not that I can blame her. 

We spent a lot of time hanging out at the park, visiting grandparents and great grandparents, going swimming, going to Lagoon with our cousins, and just having a ton of fun. I feel bad for not taking more pictures of what we were doing, but I just didn't get around to it. 

One of the days, we were able to hang out with our Va friends, the Furniss'. Our girls just LOVE their boys, and they had a lot of fun with them. We will certainly miss them! 

Boy, Oh BOY!

So. We had been keeping a little secret. But, it was for a good reason. We decided that since it took some time and, ahem, considerations to get Ms. Capri here, we should tentatively start "trying" for baby number three. I got off my birth control, and the very next month I found myself  "late". I went to the doctor to find out for sure, and inquire about the recent hernia that had popped up. When I got to the doctors office, I was about 6 days late. I was expecting a positive pregnancy test, but got a negative result. Relieved, I went home with some numbers for surgeons  who would be able to help me with my hernia. Days later, my hernia was killing me and I thought I was actually having period-like cramps. Worried that the resident had misdiagnosed my hernia, I went to my OBGYN to make sure it wasn't a cyst or fibroid on my ovary. At the time I was 12 days late. I took a pregnancy test THAT morning, and had a negative result. So, off I went to find out if I had some horrible "female" problem. When I got in they did a pregnancy test, though I didn't think much of it since I had just taken one. When the medical assistant came in and told me I was pregnant, I was shocked. They took me in for an ultrasound and found.... Nothing. Very scary, when they find nothing. I was told I needed to wait two weeks for another ultrasound and have some blood work done. The doctor told me that I could have a "tubal pregnancy" or "ectopic pregnancy" and that we needed to wait and see. I was horrified. That would mean surgery, and the loss of the baby. I didn't know how to cope. This happened the day before Steve took his Part 2 Board Exams. I wasn't going to tell him, since I thought it would only distract him from his test. I made it about ten seconds through the door, and burst into tears and told him. He was very excited, hearing only that I was pregnant. When I told him the rest, he was worried. So much for not distracting him. Two LONG weeks later, I went back in for another ultrasound, and a healthy little peanut was found exactly where it should be. :) Talk about a relief. I don't know that I have ever been so nervous as I was in those moments before the ultrasound. 

Luckily, Steve passed his boards and went on to graduate from dental school. Phew! In the following weeks, we had family in town for graduation, packing, vacations, and driving cross country with two small children and all of our belongings. I did it all with morning sickness. Not the most fun I've ever had, but we got through it with the help of some amazing family and friends. Steve was wonderfully supportive and helped me through the queasiness, and the emotions that began pouring from me. 

Once we got to Utah, I started feeling better. Unfortunately, we were in between insurances and I was unable to go to the doctor. My OB in VA said it was fine, and that I could be seen as soon as I got to CO and it would make no real difference. But, to me it made a difference. I found myself feeling very detached from our baby. I didn't get to hear its heart beat, or feel it moving yet. We were not telling people yet, so it just seemed a bit surreal. So, on July 6th we decided to give ourselves an early anniversary present and go to Fetal Foto's in Salt Lake to find out what the sex of our baby would be. I was so excited to see the little bean again, and just hear the heartbeat and see it moving. Proof that it was, in fact, real. I would have sworn it was a girl. Well it wasn't! And we couldn't be more excited to welcome a sweet, little man into our lives. 

Titan Jeter Clawson due December 19th 2012

Yep, that is exactly what it looks like. I was shocked, Steve was ecstatic. It was a lovely sight to see him moving around like a crazy man, hear a healthy heartbeat, and see his sweet little features. We immediately went out and bought a "Little Brother" onesie.  We still waited a few weeks to tell the girls, but when we did I thought Camri was going to burst from sheer joy. She is so excited to have a little brother. She had insisted she didn't want another sister, so you can imagine our relief. Now that my tummy is getting bigger she loves to hug and kiss him, and asks me about him all the time. She has even felt him kicking, and LOVES it. She is going to be such an amazing helper with him. 

Here is our boy at my most recent ultrasound. He was moving all over and showing all his "stuff" to the tech. :) She said he looked great, and after reading the ultrasound the doctor agreed! We seem to have a happy, healthy little boy growing! We feel so incredibly blessed. 

So, our name. Some people like it (or pretend to), some people openly sneer (that's ok too). But we love it. When I was pregnant with Capri, I was convinced it was a boy. I had been trying to talk Steve into letting me name him "Jeter" after the amazing Yankee shortstop, Derek Jeter. Well, Steve didn't like it, and it ended up not mattering because we had girl. So, to be nice, Steve said we could use it for a middle name. Steve loves the name Titan, and that is how his name came to be. Titan Jeter. We figure we can call him T.J. if we want. I will call him Ty. Camri will tell you she is going to call him "Big T".  We just love it.  And if you don't, no worries. We really don't care what you think. ;) LOL.