Buzzzzzz

Sean got his hair cut today - really, really short! The hairdresser used clippers throughout the cut and Sean worked very hard at staying still while watching "Up" on the television at the kids' salon.

He was rewarded for his effots with a dinosaur stamp on his hand, a lollipop, and a cool haircut for these hot days! 

Cheese!

All you have to say is "cheese!" and Clare will show you a great big grin:

Sunday

The kids had a late night on Saturday, so we had a lazy morning on Sunday. I heard Clare awake on the monitor first - babbling and singing - and then I heard Sean say, "It's okay honey, I'll go get your mom." Then Sean came in our room to let me know that "the sun came up! It's morning time so we have wake-up time now!!!"  Well okay then, so we went downstairs for breakfast - blueberry pancakes!

Clare loves blueberries, too!

Then Clare had a little bottle and Mommy had some coffee...

while Sean puzzled over riddles on the Mickey Mouse show.

Then it was time to get out and about to enjoy a beautiful morning. We went on a walk in the stroller down to the baseball field. Clare fell asleep, so Sean and Mommy pretended to play baseball and ran around the bases over and over and over again. Sean insisted that the batter runs toward the pitcher after he hits the ball and kept hollering at me when I'd run to first base.  After a little while, I heard clapping and laughing coming from the stroller, so we got Clare out of the stroller so she could stretch her legs:

And then there was an impromptu photo/hugging session:

And then Sean was off and running again...

this time to the playground:

Clare followed and the kids played on the slides for a good long time. Both of them kept climbing up the slides and then sliding down on their bellies.

Then we headed back home for lunch and then Daddy took Sean to go see his very first real movie!  They went to see "Brave." Sean was so excited when it was time to go - he was running up and down the driveway. He made sure to say "good-bye" to his sister, though.

And Clare watched the car drive away and waved  until she couldn't see the car anymore:

Then it was just us girls, so we did girly things together - like get tattoos:

Just kidding!  We took advantage of the quiet and took a nap :-)

Kidney update

We took Sean to the pediatric urologist yesterday morning to review the images taken at the ultrasound last week.  The doctor said everything looks great and the rate of drainage in his kidney is much improved from when he was a baby. We're so grateful and so happy that Sean's kidney is on the mend. We don't have to go back now for two years! (Sean will be five. Oh my goodness.)  During those two years we can focus on being silly with Sister rather than wondering about that pesky kidney :-)

"Baby Clare! I have your pacifier!!! It's my paci now!"

"You can have this toy. It's your new paci!"

"You like that paci, Clare? She doesn't like her new paci, Mommy."

"I'm sorry I took your paci. I won't do it again. *Muah*"

Shark Attack!

To celebrate our anniversary and father's day, we went on an outing to Camden to see a baseball game. Baseball in Camden? Yes, we went to see the Camden Riversharks, a professional team which has its stadium at the base of the Ben Franklin Bridge. 

We had a great seats and the seats around us were mostly empty for most of the time, so the Sooys had room to spread out :-)

June 16, 2006 - we dined on a fancy dinner and wedding cake and sipped champagne. Fast forward six years and the menu included hot dogs, cold beer, cotton candy, and milk, among other things. (We quickly learned that the best way to keep a toddler happy during a baseball game is to feed him!)

The train that I ride into and out of the city everyday would periodically rumble by the game:

Sean kept his arms up in case a foul ball happend our way:

The Riversharks lost, but we had a good time and caught the fireworks at the end of the show. We found out the best way to see the fireworks is to leave the stadium and watch from the parking lot - great view and a speedy exit!

We said "night-night" to Philadelphia across the river and headed home for 10pm bedtime!

The late night didn't seem to impact Sean all that much, but Clare put herself down for a morning nap on the couch after about 2 hours of playing on Sunday morning:

Bruce!

"Bruce in the USA" came back to town and we were very excited to go see them again! We packed a picnic dinner and dug in while the band got started...



The picnic quickly turned into a Hop-On-Pop session:

Daddy and Sean cuddled (Sean looks like he loves to cuddle, right?)...

 while Clare showed off her dance moves:

Doctor Visits

We took Sean to his three-year well visit on Monday night.  At first, Sean was a little shy, but once the doctor showed Sean some cool tricks with his instruments, he warmed up quickly. The doctor said Sean is meeting his milestones and even noticed that Sean "likes to be in charge." No kidding!

Here are his stats at three years:

Height: 38 inches (60th percentile)

Weight: 35lbs 4 oz (81st percentile)

Head: 20 inches

The nurse tried to take his blood pressure, but he got very fidgety due to the "squeezy" feeling and we couldn't get a good read, which was fine. Then we got the good news that there would be no s-h-o-t-s on this visit - yay!

The doctor asked how Sean's kidney treatment was going, and funnily enough, we were scheduled to take Sean for an ultrasound of his kidneys Tuesday morning! I took Sean to the brand new hospital (which opened about 2 weeks after  Clare was born) to get a look at his kidneys.

"We're at the hospital!  Just like George!!!!"

We were very patient in the waiting room - the nurses put on some cartoons for Sean, but he got tired of them after awhile and we read books and he told me all about this gigantic painting of a farm - "they have chickens and a rooster and two cows and two pigs in that barn and all the animals are ready for snack time because they like to eat their snack..." I started to think that someone else was ready for his snack when our turn was called.

Sean sat nicely on the bed, munching on his snack of Cheerios and blueberries while the ultrasound tech tried to get good images of his kidneys and bladder.

After a few minutes, Sean started to get a bit fussy but the ultrasound tech let him put on a glove and help her out while we got pictures of his belly.

"Can you see my Cheerios? Can you see Nemo in there? I didn't eat Nemo but sometimes he's in my belly. But sometimes he goes to Sydney Harbor..."

After the tech got the images she needed, she went to another room to burn a CD for us. Meanwhile, I tried to answer all of Sean's questions about the hosptial and the room we were in ("why is there a curtain here?") - he's so curious! Then we got our CD and we'll take it to the pediatric urologist next Tuesday to have the doctor look at it. Fingers crossed for a good visit!

Magnolia Plantation

One morning during our trip to Charleston, we visited the Magnolia Plantation near the Ashley River. We saw lots of trees with Spanish moss - or "tree beards" as Sean called it.

This guy greeted us in the parking lot:

Our first stop was the petting zoo.  This zoo was serious - the animals were just running around the place. We were tripping over bunnies and getting nuzzled by hungry deer every 10 seconds. This gang of turkeys - again, just out and about - kept making a ruckus every few minutes.

One of the many peacocks who runs around the place willy-nilly decided to show Sean who's boss:

After the petting zoo, we walked around the gardens:

A Lady Clare tree!

We admired the outside of the main house:

After watching this heron stalk his lunch, we decided to head over to the picnic area to have our own lunch:

This peacock tried to join us for lunch, but got a little too close to the stroller which was holding a sleeping Baby Clare. Sean and I scolded the peacock and he strutted elsewhere.

Baby Clare woke up soon after that and joined us for lunch - sandwiches, deep fried peanuts, and sweet tea.