A Catch-Up Post

We have quite a few things to catch up on since my last post, so I'm going to try to remember everything, complete with lots of photos!

• Claire has another tooth, giving her a total of 6 teeth - 4 on the top, and 2 on the bottom. She's killing the boys in her class, as none of them have even one tooth. Speaking of, she's the only little girl in her class at the moment. What is up with the boy baby boom?
• I have a job! I accepted an offer last week with a small local firm here in SA. There are only about 20 employees, and I think there will be five of us in the audit group. It's completely different from what I'm used to and from what I was expecting to choose, but I think I'll really enjoy it. Everyone I've met is really nice and there seems to be a real team atmosphere in the office. We're planning for me to work full-time, but that truly means 40 hours per week as the founding partner doesn't believe in making people work overtime unless it's absolutely critical, which is great! My first day is next Monday, so I'll be able to get settled before things get busy this spring.
• Lindsay and Tyler's photographer posted some photos from their wedding on his blog - click here for a link (you can also see their engagement pictures here - such a good looking couple!). You might recognize a familiar face in a couple of the shots of the bridesmaids. :) The wedding was perfect, and Lindsay looked beautiful - the perfect image of a bride. I was thrilled to see Lindsay so happy. Tyler is a great guy, and I'm incredibly excited for them and looking forward to hearing about their adventures in Europe for the honeymoon.
• Our baby girl is becoming quite the ham! We noticed that if she does something that elicits a positive reaction, she'll repeat it and look expectantly for another cheer or clap. It's really funny. I first noticed this a couple of days before Thanksgiving. She was in her Exersaucer and managed to press the button on the bus. She hadn't been able to reach it, so when I realized it was going off, I started cheering and clapping for her. She looked back at me and smiled, and then stretched over to hit it again and looked back to make sure I saw her. It was the first time I'd noticed her purposely doing something like that. I got a few photos of her in action. She started doing it again over Thanksgiving. Mom was holding her and playing piano, and Claire wanted to play. She leaned forward and hit the keys, then leaned back against Mom, and we clapped for her. So she leaned forward and gave them a quick pound, then leaned back again and looked at us with a big smile on her face. She kept going for several minutes - so funny!

"Are you watching?"

Hitting the button on the bus

Waiting for a reaction from Mommy

• Claire has been able to stand for awhile now if someone is helping support her, but last night she stood using an object for support for the first time. Robert stood her up in front of a chair and put her hands on the seat, and she figured out that she could balance herself using the seat. She got really interested in the throw pillow, so she stood there for longer than I would've expected. Then we practiced walking. We've decided that we wouldn't be surprised if she skips crawling and goes straight to walking. We're going to have to start baby-proofing soon - sooner than I would like!




• I have a few other posts in the works that will be coming soon - Claire's Christmas list, homemade Baby Legs, and how our homemade baby food is going.