Party!

We had a party in Arlington at Robert's grandparents' house on April 18th to celebrate Claire's birthday with family and friends. We all had a wonderful time. I was a little concerned during the planning phase that she would be tired or overstimulated, but she was in a great mood the whole time and really enjoyed her party. It was so much fun catching up with everyone, and Claire loved unwrapping all of her presents. She was so interested in each one of them and couldn't wait to start playing with everything. We are blessed to have so many people who wanted to celebrate with our sweet girl!

With Daddy & Mommy

Claire, Granddaddy and Nana - so excited!

Great-Grandmommy & Aunt Carol

Waving with Bob and Ma

Great-Grandmommy & Great-Granddad

Blowing out the candle

Unwrapping presents!

At home with all of the gifts - wow!

A big "Thanks" to everyone who helped make her big day so special (Thank You notes are coming soon)!!!

Easter 2009

This Easter was Claire's first - it fell early last year and was before her birthday. We had busy weekends before and after Easter weekend, so we kept it pretty low-key this year. On Saturday our church had a cookout and Easter egg hunt. It was pretty chilly so we didn't stay too long, but we enjoyed watching the mad dash for eggs and visiting with some new friends we've met recently.

On Sunday we went to church (Claire looked so sweet in her smocked bunny dress) and then drove to Gruene to have lunch at the Grist Mill, one of our favorite places. We go about once a month - everyone likes it, so it's a good place to take visitors. We walked around Gruene for a little while and tried to get Claire to touch the flowers (she was scared of them, of course, although she liked looking at them from a distance) and then enjoyed a quiet afternoon at home. I think Easter 2010 will be a little busier as she'll then be old enough to participate in some egg hunts!

Claire at Twelve Months

Claire had her one year check-up the day after her birthday. Her stats at 12 months are:

Height: 27.5 inches (5th percentile)

Weight: 16.5 pounds (3rd percentile)

Head: 17.625 inches (25th percentile)

She got 4 shots - what a birthday present, right? She did really well and only cried for a minute. We were all glad when they were over, though!

Claire seems to have developed so much in the last few weeks. She can say a couple of words - "Mama" and "more" - and she tries to say many more. She's learning "hi", "bye bye", "book" and "woof woof" (she has a book about dogs that has lots of barking words). Claire waves like a champ - her daddy thinks she may have a future as a parade princess!

Claire is learning to follow simple directions such as "come to Mama/Daddy" and "wave hi/bye bye", and we know she understands what "no" means, although she likes to test her boundaries. She's also initiating little games, like sometimes when I go to pick her up, she grins and starts crawling away, then looks back to see if I'm following her. She also likes to "get Mommy" - she'll reach out and grab my arm or shirt, and just cackles when I pull away in mock surprise. So cute!

Right now we're really working on walking since she's the youngest in her class and the only one still crawling everywhere. Over the weekend we saw her let go of the furniture and stand by herself for a few seconds, and today her teacher said she saw Claire let go, too. Claire likes walking if you hold her hands, and she can go really fast! At this point I think she could physically do it if she wanted to, but she's not quite ready to fully make the leap.

We're also working on table foods, and getting ready to transition away from bottles. We have busy weekends coming up, but I'm hoping that we can just go cold turkey on the bottles one Saturday and see how she does with the sippy cups, although I may let her keep her night bottle for a little while. She still loves puffs and cheerios and gets really excited for her yogurt every morning. She's getting good at chewing (with her 10 (!) teeth) and enjoys eating chicken, peas, fish bites, macaroni and cheese bites, applesauce and carrots.

This is such a fun stage of learning and exploration - I'm looking forward to seeing what she's able to do next month!

Happy First Birthday!

Happy birthday to our sweet Claire! It's hard to believe that it's already been a year since I first saw her face, first held her, first kissed her cheek. Robert and I are unbelievably blessed to have such a beautiful, sweet little girl. In her short time with us, she has already brought immeasurable joy. Claire is such a happy baby, and her smiles and laughs are infectious. I love watching her explore and learn and can't wait to see what the next year brings.

To celebrate today, we gave her a ride in her new swing. She loved it - lots of giggles. I have a feeling that "swing" is going to be one of her first words. We also gave her a little bit of cupcake - yummy!

Claire also took her last weekly chair picture - we're now going to once a month. I've loved having this weekly record of her first year.

Here's to the first of many birthdays together! I love you Sweet Girl!

Caught!

Claire keeps us busy with her new-found mobility. A few weeks ago I kept my camera close by and snapped some shots of her getting into things she supposed to stay out of. Testing those boundaries! :) We know now that she understands "No," and she usually will stop what she's doing - although she like to try to just wait until you're not watching her anymore to return to what she was doing. On this day, she...

...examined the diaper bag and my work bag,

and the entertainment center,

and the cubby with the cable and DVD boxes (the lights are so tempting!).

She also tasted the piano bench...

...and checked out the new pedals on the piano.

Busy day!

Last weekend..

...before Claire turns one! She made the most of it. On Saturday we had lunch with my friend Kelly and her family. Kelly was in my sorority pledge class and we recently reconnected. She and her husband have a little boy, Luke, who is 20 months old and a bundle of energy. He kept Claire entertained - she just laughed as he ran around, climbed furniture, threw balls, etc. She was enthralled!

That afternoon she discovered a new walker - our kitchen chairs. I was folding laundry in the living room keeping an eye on her as she crawled around under the table. She pulled up on one of the chairs, and I watched as she pushed it all the way across the kitchen and back. She was very proud of herself!

On Sunday we met with our small group and went to church, and then we got ready for a visit from a photographer. I found someone who is offering good rates as she builds her portfolio, and we had her come take some pictures of Claire for her birthday. Before she arrived we got in one last chair picture before her birthday and read for awhile. She's still a little more interested in touching and trying to eat her books than just looking and listening, but we're working on that. :)

After her pictures, I got this sweet shot of Claire and her daddy. Two more days until the big milestone!

Tuckered out

Claire fell asleep on the way home from school on Monday (and it's only about a 5 minute drive to our house). She was still asleep when I carried her in, and I needed to change clothes, so I just laid her on the floor for a what I thought would be just a minute. She slept for over 20 minutes and would've gone longer if I hadn't woken her up to eat dinner. Who knew our floor was so comfortable?!?

I just loved how she had that little hiney sticking up in the air. This is a frequent sleeping position - I'll never understand how she finds this position comfortable, but it's always good for bringing smiles to the Mommy's face.

Monday also brought our first biting incident. They called Robert that morning and said that another child had bitten Claire on the arm, but it didn't break the skin. They iced it down and gave her lots of extra attention, and they said she only cried for a minute. When I picked her up her teacher felt so bad, but I told her I'd felt like it was inevitable at some point. I'd heard lots of stories about biting at the toddler stage. If you look closely in the pictures below (or click on the picture to enlarge it), you can see the mark on her left wrist. Hopefully it won't happen again, but she handled it like a champ.

Play Date!

Our friend Todd and his family were in town this weekend from Dallas. Todd's wife was helping with a bridal shower, so while she was busy he and their daughter Kendall came to our house for lunch and to play. Kendall is a few months older than Claire, and they played so well together. The biggest hit was the push wagon. We took them upstairs with the wagon where there is plenty of room. I couldn't even begin to count how many trips that wagon made across the playroom. Kendall pushed Claire, Claire pushed Kendall, each one was pushed by the daddies...over and over. It was adorable.

A lot of the time Claire was totally entertained just by sitting and watching Kendall. We wonder if this is what she does a lot at daycare. We all had such a good afternoon and hope that they visit again soon!

School Picnic

On Friday Claire's school had an "environmental picnic." All of the classes ate lunch outside so that they could turn off the lights in the school and save energy. Parents were invited so Robert and I were able to go. Claire ate her lunch and then crashed mid-bottle. They only take one nap in her class (from around 12:30 - 2:30), and she is wiped out by naptime. It was a treat for all of us to be able to be together during a week day, and I enjoyed seeing how her teachers handle feeding lunch to several early toddlers at one time.

Visitors

Last weekend Ma and Bob came to visit for a few days. We all enjoyed our visit, especially Claire. She loved the extra attention!

On Saturday we had brunch at a little place in Boerne that is known for their fabulous pastries (they really are delicious) and then walked around Main Street exploring some of the shops. On Sunday we went to church, and Aunt Carol came up from Corpus for lunch and to visit that afternoon.

Unfortunately we had to cut the visit a little short when we realized Claire was developing a rash (it looked like a heat rash) and a fever, but we were able to quickly get into the after-hours pediatric clinic a few miles from our house and found out that it was just a viral rash that should go away within a week or so. We also found that she had the beginnings of an ear infection, so we were really glad we took her in. The antibiotic has a bubble gum flavor, so Claire gets excited for medicine time! The poor thing is also cutting a few new teeth, so it's been a rough week for her. She handles it so well though - such a sweet girl.

Yesterday after Claire went to bed we realized that we hadn't done a chair picture in a couple of weeks. She was having trouble going to sleep, so after listening to her play in her crib for awhile we decided we might as well go in and get a picture. This is not-sleepy-although-past-her-bedtime Claire at 50 weeks. That's right - only two weeks until her big day!

I Won!

A few months ago I stumbled on a new blog that has quickly become one of my favorites. The blogger, Brooke, is a former senior art director for Martha Stewart Kids and Martha Stewart Living. Each one of her posts is beautiful and so creative - I especially enjoy her regular posts about the kids' library books and the crafts they make. I really want to borrow the theme she did for her daughter's recent birthday - pink polka dots. How fantastic is this?

Last week she wrote a post about a new sewing book that is coming out - Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross. I decided that I wanted to get a copy - I've recently re-taken up sewing and this book seemed to have some interesting projects that I thought I would enjoy. Brooke designed the book and had a giveaway for a free copy. I decided to enter (through commenting on her blog), and I was so surprised to find an e-mail waiting for me this morning saying that my comment was randomly chosen from the over 600 entries. I'm so excited and can't wait to get my book - thanks Brooke!

http://inchmark.squarespace.com/inchmark/2009/3/19/the-lucky-winner.html

Memorable Moments #2

Here are some of my favorite "Memorable Moments" from Claire's teachers last week:

Tuesday
"Claire sat down and listened very well during circle time today!"

Wednesday
"Claire and Addison had a great time playing peek-a-boo together. They sat at opposite ends of the tunnel and just laughed and laughed - very sweet."
-Claire and Addison have become buddies. Addison a few months older - I guess she can show Claire the ropes!

Thursday
"Claire loved playing on the ballet bar today. Every time she pulled up on the bar she saw her reflection and just laughed."

First Birthday Present

Claire's birthday is a few weeks away, and when Nana and Granddaddy came this weekend for a visit they wanted some ideas for a birthday present. While we were out and about on Saturday, we found a great toy store that had a perfect present - a Radio Flyer Walker Wagon. There was one in the store to try out, and Claire pushed it up and down the aisles, laughing and squealing the whole time. They immediately picked up one in a box and headed towards the check-out counter. Dad put it together while she was napping, and she spent most of the afternoon playing with it.

She got comfortable pulling up and walking with it quickly, and on Sunday we took it out the basketball court. She hasn't mastered turning yet, but as long as she has someone to turn her around when she reaches the side she is good to go!

She started getting tired, so we gave her rides in it. The wagon is the perfect size for her, and she loves being able to pick up some speed. Whenever the wagon starts slowing down, she rocks back and forth trying to get it to go again.

So precious! I have some video that I'll try to post later this week to provide the full effect. I have a feeling this toy will get lots of miles put on it over the next few years.

Memorable Moments

At Claire's new school, the teacher write down a "Memorable Moment" each day on her activity report. I love reading little tidbits about her day and thought I'd use the blog to keep a record:

Monday
"Claire loved playing on the ballet bar today. She had a fantastic first day! :)"

Tuesday
"Claire really enjoyed playing with the blocks today. She walked all around the block bin."

Wednesday
"Claire was amazed at finger painting. She touched the paint, looked at her hand and wanted the paint off her hand - too funny!"
- This was her first experience with finger painting. Her paper has very few little blue raindrops on it (this week's theme is "weather") - I'm sure she wondered why her hands were turning colors!

Thursday
None (sick)

Friday
"Claire has learned to stand up for herself. If another child takes something from her, she takes it back - go girl!"
- That's my baby. She's tiny, but watch out!

In Like a Lion...

So I just realized that my first post in March is about a lion. "In like a lion, out like a lamb," right? Does this mean that my last post in March should be about sheep?

ROAR!

Claire's favorite toy right now has to be her lion walker. She can pull herself up and start walking with it. With a little encouragement (cheers and/or Puffs), she can walk all the way across the living room and down the long hall to her bedroom with just a little help getting over the molding as she goes through the kitchen (change from carpet to hardwoods and back to carpet). It's pretty far for those little legs, and she will just laugh and squeal the whole time. The lion plays music and sometimes roars, and we all roar along with it and laugh.




I feel like I've been working on this post for a few days now - we had a hectic week. Claire started her new school on Monday, and I think it's going to work out really well. The biggest transition for all of us has been dropping down to one nap (her class naps from 1 -3). She has a great time, but she's been exhausted every day when we pick her up and usually wants a short nap before her usual play, dinner, bath, bottle and bed schedule. She seems to be really enjoying it, though. I called mid-afternoon on Monday to check on her, and her teacher said that Claire is maybe the happiest baby she's ever seen. She said that Claire hadn't cried once. I'm sure there were too many things to explore, new toys to play with and new people to meet.

Things were busy as usual, and then on Thursday I got a call around lunch that Claire was sick. She'd thrown up a couple of times and wasn't feeling well. Robert and I were actually planning to have lunch together and had just made it to the restaurant when I got the call, so Robert left to pick her up and I took off to the office to gather up some things before heading to the house to spend the afternoon with her. When I got home, Robert and Claire were already there, and she was having a great time playing with her Exersaucer. She was fine all afternoon - I think she just had a little bit of an upset tummy and was fine after the upchuck. I didn't get any work done at home, but I was glad we weren't dealing with anything serious and I enjoyed the extra time with her. This is the first time we've been called to pick her up from school, so we had a great run!

47 Weeks