The Crafts

Announcing the birth of Claudia Jane Craft!!!! CJ was born Sunday morning at 8:40 a.m. after only 11 1/2 hours of labor. She weighed in at 7 lbs 7 ounces and is 21 inches long. Kate was 21 inches and 8 lbs 3 ounces...so very similar in size. They are also VERY similar looking. Can you guess which kiddo is Kate and which is CJ? Of course, this may be easy for some of you since family has the Kate picture. But play along anyway. :)

I was folding clothes in our bedroom tonight while Matt put Kate to bed. While standing near the door I thought I could hear Kate singing along with Matt. Kate never sings with me so I was very curious to listen a little closer. And sure enough she really was singing. But much to my surprise they were not singing the normal bedtime songs like 'Six Little Ducks' or 'Jesus Loves Me.' Nope, they were singing Matt's all time, absolute favorite tune...'The Iowa State Fight Song.' And it wasn't just one round. They sang The Fight Song multiple times in a row with Kate belting out 'fight, fight, fight' and 'rah, rah, rah' at all the appropriate times. Upon asking Matt about their bedtime song of choice Matt tells me that Kate specifically requested they sing that song...completely unprompted. He also told me it almost brought a tear to his eye, so I know he was telling the truth. While I probably won't be singing the Iowa State Fight

I finally put together the pics from our Clear Lake trip last weekend. Enjoy!

By now I'm sure most of my 'readers' have heard about our little adventure on Wednesday night but just in case you have not, then here you go. We went to bed around 10 Wednesday night and as soon as I laid down I felt a contraction. A true contraction. EXCITED!! I laid there for awhile and eventually got up after they didn't stop. I went downstairs for awhile and then couldn't keep it to myself much longer so I went upstairs and told Matt I was in labor. By 1:30 a.m. I decided it was time to head into the hospital as the contractions were varying between 3 and 5 minutes apart. After arriving at the hospital I was hooked up to a monitor and they found that the 'big' contractions were 4 minutes apart but I was only 3 cm dilated. The doctor told me to walk the halls for an hour and then we would check vitals again. An hour and a half later I hadn't dilated anymore and the contractions were slowing...significantly. So we were sent home at 5 a.m. wit

I had yet another doctor appointment today and nothing new to report as far as progress. However, we did choose a date to induce. If I haven't had the baby by Thursday, September 3rd we will head to the hospital that morning at 7:30 a.m. Who knows how long delivery could take after being induced but it is going to happen. We are really going to have two kiddos in this house. YIKES! :) The doctor seems to think the baby will arrive before September 3rd but we selected an induction day just in case. If we didn't do it now then we would have to wait until after the Labor Day weekend and I wasn't having that. So the maximum amount of time I have to sit around here with a 30 pound belly is 7 days! This news makes me tingle with excitement and shiver in fear all at the same time. Have I told you we have a girls name picked out? I'm not going to share that name but we have had it for a very long time now. A boys name, on the other hand, has been rather difficult. A

Monday was Uncle Mike Craft's birthday and Kate made him two short videos. Check them out below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQDLPx8yivw http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TpQYi0H25HI I had hoped baby Craft #2 would get a chance to share his or her birthday with Uncle Mike but it didn't happen. Maybe today is the day? Who knows. I'm not too uncomfortable and I'm sleeping really well still so I can't complain. I'm just ready to have my body back. I realized last night that baby is completely sitting on my lap so it can't be much longer, right? On a different topic, we returned home Sunday from Clear Lake. Another fun weekend lounging by the pool, eating too much and really doing nothing. It was fabulous, and probably one of our last chances at true relaxation. I'll try to get some pics up later today. In the meantime, here is one teaser photo of Kate's attempt at vacationing.

Before anyone says it, I realize the irony of this post. I am about to ask my readers for advice on how to simplify life...while at the same time I am about to bring home a newborn. Well, hopefully I will be bringing home a newborn very soon. Anyway, I have been on a personal mission to simplify my life and I am open to suggestions. However, any and all ideas must be practical. I can't afford to hire a maid or have my groceries delivered or dry clean all our laundry. What I need help with is how to make life's daily tasks easier. For example, one of my recent attempts at simplification included buying cleaning supplies to be stored both upstairs and downstairs. Or, I'm waiting for our washer and dryer to die and then I will buy stackables and put them in our main floor bathroom. (Matt doesn't know about this last idea but it will happen. It must happen.) I also thought about buying a second vacuum to store upstairs so I no longer have to haul one vacuum all ov

I had my 38 week appointment this morning. 38 weeks! Can you believe it? I'm truly in the home stretch. So anyway, no real changes except the doc says baby has moved a little lower. I guess that is progress, right? The doctor asked us if we would like to schedule a date to induce. We decided we will wait until the next appointment before we entertain that thought. Both Matt and I would like to at least get a few days past the due date before we have medicine intervene. I'll keep you posted on any changes. On a much different note, Kate had her very first dentist appointment today. I scheduled it just to make sure all was looking like it was supposed to with her cute, little teeth. They said we are doing a really good job of brushing and all looks well. Kate has 16 teeth in total and should be getting 4 more teeth very soon. I'm sure those will show up about the time Matt and I are at our wits end with zero sleep and two kiddos. :) From what I understand most kids get their

This weekend we made the short drive to Cedar Rapids to visit my family and celebrate my parents 35th wedding anniversary. Their official wedding date is August 31st but since I am due with baby #2 the day after, we decided to hold the celebration a couple weeks in advance. I was so happy that both sets of my grandparents were able to attend. Check out the family pics below! Grandpa Holthaus, Grandma Holthaus, Grandma Smith, Grandpa Smith, Dad Mom, Kate and me Same people but with my sister, Lindsay, in the pic too

What a day it has been. It started off with me getting pampered. I had my hair highlighted and lowlighted, plus a trim and I got my eyebrows waxed. I LOVE getting my eyebrows waxed. It makes a person look so much cleaner. Then this afternoon I whipped up four meals for the freezer in preparation for baby #2. AND I cleaned up the kitchen afterwards. Cleaning the kitchen has become so much easier in large part due to our now functioning dishwasher and brand new countertops. I LOVE our new dishwasher. Oh, that's right. I haven't shared that update with anyone yet. We have a dishwasher!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I never realized how much I missed it until it returned. In our old house, where we had a dishwasher, I thought cleaning up after meals was such a chore. Then we moved into a house with no dishwasher and I naturally got used to washing everything by hand. And now that our dishwasher has made its return I will never, ever go back. In fact I may buy a back-up dish

Three posts in one day!! I know...impressive! :) I forgot to tell this story. So after my doctor appointment today Matt and I were walking out when an older, Mexican gentleman walked past and says, "That baby is a boy. I know it. And you must name him Moses." Then he hopped into his car and drove away. Now I've heard the Mexican culture has a lot of superstitions, especially when it comes to pregnancy so I almost want to believe the man. BUT...and this is a huge but...I am carrying this baby 100% the same way I carried Kate...and Kate is obviously a girl, not a boy. SO, wise old Mexican man or not, this baby's gender is still up in the air.

I completely forgot I had these pictures. Below is a slideshow of Kate digging potatoes at Grandma and Grandpa Craft's farm. Kate believes when the potatoes pop out of the ground that they are peeking at her. It is really cute. Enjoy!

I had another doctor appointment this afternoon. I am now 2 cm whereas last week I was almost 2 cm dilated. This appointment brought me back to reality. I had convinced myself I was going to have this baby early but considering I barely progressed in the last week makes me realize that early is not likely to happen. I keep telling myself that not going early is a good thing because life is going to be busy in the next three weeks. Primarily because Matt is going to be gone a lot and an early arrival would really throw plans for a loop. However, if I have learned anything from Kate it is not to plan because life with kids doesn't work out as planned. So who knows. This weekend Matt is golfing most of Saturday and Sunday and we will also be making a drive to Cedar Rapids for my parents 35th anniversary. The following weekend Matt will be in Ames Friday through Saturday night while Kate and I will be in Clear Lake. And the last weekend before I'm due Matt is golfing in a

Well...three more weeks until the due date. No guarantees the baby will be here by then but I'm hopeful. I have another doctor appointment on Thursday afternoon. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for good news!! In the meantime while I await baby's arrival I have been trying to get the house and us ready. Not very exciting stuff to share on the blog, I guess. So while you too wait for baby news let me share some fun Kate pics... Kate loves playing with our old computer keyboard and mouse. She pretends to search for her favorite songs, including "Boom Boom Pow." Kate participated in Summer Reading at the library for the first time this year. She was one of the top readers and received a prize for doing so. The prize included some magic markers that look invisible unless used on a specific paper. It came wrapped in an arts and crafts travel case. She couldn't have been more thrilled. One morning when Matt was around Kate decided to have her breakfast while si

This summer Matt celebrated his car finally reaching 200,000 miles. The anticipation of the moment was probably more exciting than the actual achievement but nonetheless he was a happy man. But if you have ever taken a ride in Pedro, as Matt refers to his car, you know there are a few hiccups with it. Without going into full detail of its issues the one that sticks out most for me is the car's lack of heating and air conditioning. This was most noteable during a trip to Ames this winter on a zero degree day. His car doesn't always lack heat and air, just the majority of the time. On cold days it shoots out chilly air and on hot days it blows warm air. So it does have heating and cooling but you don't get what you want when you want it. Due to this incovenience, and the fact that my car holds the lone carseat, we always take my car for long car rides. This weekend we made a trip to Ames and Ankeny and as any Iowan knows it was one of the hotter weekends of the summer. We wer

I'm trying not to get my hopes up since those high hopes were dashed when I was expecting Kate. So let me share this very hesitantly. I had a doctor's appointment this morning and I am 50% effaced and almost 2 cm dilated!! At this point in my pregnancy with Kate I was only 1 cm and the doc thought I'd have her two weeks early...a month and one day later I finally did. The doc this time didn't give me any false hopes but hearing that I'm further along in dilating makes me very excited. My next appointment isn't until Thursday of next week so I'll remain cautiously optimistic until then. On a much, much different note I have some very exciting house news and pictures to share. I probably won't be prepared to share all of this new, fun stuff until tomorrow though. This is just a little teaser!

Only 4 weeks and 1 day until my due date arrives!!!!! I'm so thrilled at the thought of having this little one arrive. Not to mention: wearing normal sized clothes jogging sleeping on my back (when the baby lets me sleep) drinking a margarita chasing Kate at full speed riding a bike hugging people without a giant boulder in between giving Kate a piggy back ride and so much more!! In fact, my family is really excited about this too. Just see for yourself.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Uu1V2Lc1sY

When I was a kid I never thought I'd be a golfer. I grew up with my brother, Ryan, golfing every day, all day. I had zero interest in the sport and I thought it would remain that way the rest of my life. However, sometime around college I got an itch to try it out. My dad took me to a driving range a couple of times and I made some visits to the range on my own. My new found sport didn't go much beyond that. Then I met Matt and he LOVES to golf. And before I knew it I had my own clubs, bag and shoes. Shortly after we married I was in women's golf league and now I can say I love golfing. So to see our daughter learn has been fun. Not just because Matt and I enjoy golfing but because it is something we do really well together as a family. Recently Matt and Kate signed up for a golf tournament. No real strict rules except that Matt and Kate had to alternate shots. In fact, they could go out and golf their round anytime they wanted. So last Thursday the three of u