sunday, lovely sunday

We love Sunday mornings. We love to cuddle as a family before getting up and getting the day started. Usually Lauren Clay crawls into bed with us before we wake up, but this morning she slept later than we did. Instead of coming straight to our room when she woke up, Lauren Clay yelled, "mommy, I wanna turn the light on." Within a few seconds, we heard the light next to her bed click on. Over the next few minutes, she turned it off and on, off and on, off and on... Every once in a while she'd tell us what she was about to do: "Daddy, I wanna turn the light off." Even more sweet than the playtime, was the fact that she was happy to hang out on her own in her own room first thing in the morning. Looks like we're making progress on the sleeping front!

Lauren Clay finally talked to the baby today. Up to this point she has only told us there is a tiny baby in my belly. This morning she said, "hi, Ty" and "I love you, Ty." She also sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and Criss Cross Apple Sauce. I've probably written before how she sings these songs, but it's worth repeating:
(She has most of Twinkle Little Star just right)
...up above the world so high,
diamond sky, diamond sky...

Cwiss, cwoss applesauce
siders cwalling upa back
cwalling here, cwalling here
siders cwalling ina hair.
cool breeze... tight squeeze...
now you've got the CHIGGERS!

She often forgets the cool breeze and tight squeeze, but she never forgets the part about the chiggers (which should actually be shivers!)

This morning I made John and Lauren Clay's favorite breakfast: eggs, bacon, "graybee", and biscuits (actually, we cheated on the biscuits-- John ran out and picked them up at McDonald's.) Once Lauren Clay knew we were having gravy, she would not stop saying, "I want graybee, I want graybee, I want graybee..." until it was ready. It's not the healthiest breakfast, but I figure it's okay since she's such a healthy eater otherwise. Last night she had sea bass (and was sad when it was all gone) and devoured the steamed asparagus and slaw (papa's recipe with fresh tomatoes from the neighbors) we had with it for dinner.

We spent a couple of hours this afternoon celebrating Poppy Joe and Grandmother Doris' birthdays at the nursing home. The whole crew came-- Keith and Kitty, Abby, Matt and Kelly, Jeb, Patty and Aunt Martha, the Meehan Crew, and the Oldhams. Even a couple of residents joined us.

We've decided that Lauren Clay's coping mechanism in a crowd is to take a nap. Just like yesterday at the party for dad's side of the family, Lauren Clay fell asleep within 10 minutes of joining the crowd. She gets very shy and clingy, then just falls asleep. In this first picture, she is cuddling with mom. Megan is in the background helping Grandmother open gifts.

In this shot Patty and Poppy Joe are opening the gift dad brought over: an SEC sweater vest. My favorite part of this picture is what's going on to the left of Poppy Joe. Miles is in Aunt Martha's lap having her tickle his face as he talks on the phone. For as long as I can remember, Miles has always been on the lookout for good tools for a face/neck/back tickle. Aunt Martha needs no tools-- she has the magic touch. When we were young, we'd all line up for her to tickle our backs.

You can't tell from the picture above, but Miles has his feet propped up on Martha's lap in that shot. Below, he's repositioned to get more tickles from his mom. Guess what he did when he left the party? He had an appointment for a massage...

Below are the Stephens girls. Aunt Kitty brought Lauren Clay a gift today: a full Sleeping Beauty outfit and a flower wand. Lauren Clay wore the princess shoes out shopping this afternoon, and she's kept a tight hold on the wand (she calls it the queen because of the sound it makes.) I'll try to get a picture of her when she's dressed in the full Sleeping Beauty outfit. When I asked Lauren Clay who we were going to see today, she remembered I'd told her Aunt Kitty would be at the party and she said, "Kitty Cat."