happy halloween!

claire looooooved her first halloween. 
actually she will probably hate her parents when she grows up for this costume. 
but oh well. thats what parents are for right? right. 

 

floored by the floor

well the hubs got around to re-installing (most) of the baseboards in the dining room and kitchen so i figured it was safe to take pictures of the "final" project. mind you theres still some baseboards to install and some paint touch ups as well. painting falls in my category i guess so we will see when that gets done. (fyi: that part of the project was never discussed in the planning phases) darn. oh well. 

there isnt a lot to talk about. claire & i left the house and loud banging and left the hubs at home to do his thing. thankfully he already had some practice helping to install my moms floor so there wasnt a lot of to learn. 

here are the before pictures: 
side note - when the hubs took out the laminate by the sliding glass doors, we found that the previous owners had simply covered up an air vent (i think thats what its called) 
 

 

and then underneath the laminate in the dining room we found some LOVELY parkay. 

 

and the afters.  (sorry the lighting is off. i still plan to learn how to use this camera properly. someday...)

 

we love it! its not too light. and the seams are darker which really helps bring in the color of the table and the cabinets. so that projects (almost) done. now to just figure out what project will be next on the list...

 

"how was your sleep?" -miles

this past weekend we headed over to wi to visit some family on my last official weekend of maternity leave. claire did well on the long drive there. on saturday we just got to hang out with family. so nice! 

after miles taught uncle dave how to do some sit ups, uncle dave taught him how to do push ups. but he (and emma) quickly realized it was a lot more fun to use daves push up as a bridge. 

while the boys were busy well...being boys...grandma got lots of love from her two grand-girls. (is that a word? it should be) 

and of course claire loved spending time with her cousins and aunt shannon. 

that afternoon we got to go visit claires new (hopefully someday) boyfriend jameson. and then headed on over to see claires great-great grandma for a 5 generation picture! 

after that visit, da hubs and i were able to go on a little date while grandma watched claire (thanks again kelly!) and then sunday we all went to a 50th celebration of the school dave went to when he was younger. it was such a good weekend to see and spend time with family and friends.

quarter of a year old...

well its official. someones 3 months old. 
which means maternity leave is o-v-e-r. over.

  
this month claire has become more alert and interactive (duh) and she weighs in at 12 pounds!

she has tons of smiles to share. 

and loves grasping things and playing with her little blanket. 

and sucking on her fingers. (and sometimes gagging herself)

i cant believe 3 months have already passed. and i know its repetitive but she has changed sooooo much. i read a quote on some blog (cant remember which) stating: "the days are long, but the years are short." it hasnt been a year yet, but i know that this quote is so true. 

and well, this wouldnt be a monthly update post without some comparisons right? right. 

first pumpkin...

as mentioned in the previous post, claire and i spent a nice relaxing weekend in my hometown. i even managed a nap! :) claire got to spend some good quality time with her uncle, grandma and auntie.

she even got a mini dose of "grandma camp"

and got to "carve" her first pumpkin. and even sat for a little photo shoot.



shes been resting up this past week...saving energy for a visit to wisconsin this weekend!

sneak peek...

 after a nice relaxing weekend (for claire & i) we came home sunday afternoon to this...

surprise!

check out whats hanging out in our basement?! our new floor! 

i couldnt be more excited! oh wait i can...the hubs is gonna install it this weekend while claire & i hang out in hutch. now thats my idea of a great project!

light update

remember when my mom got a new laminate floor? and that made me want a new floor? and that made me want to get back on the "update our house" bandwagon again? ie i think of great ideas, try convince the hubs we NEED to make this change and then have him do the update? yah. so do i. 

this update was a quick one. change a light fixture. specifically the one in our upstairs hallway. i think the hubs is getting good and changing light fixtures. which is good because we still have a few to change downstairs.

before:

after:

now if we could only agree on flooring for our kitchen/dining room...

two months

well this post is a little late in being written/published, buuuut not too long ago claire turned two months. 

in a way i feel like the time has flown by so quickly. in a way i dont think so. but i think thats just how i feel about life in general. two months old. 

she weighed 10 pounds 3 oz at her doctors appointment. also at her doctors appointment i got to see a new side of claire. one who is incredibly upset. ive never seen her face get soooo red in my life. all thanks to some immunizations. but she got over it in a few minutes. is it odd that i didnt get upset to see her like that? i dont think so. i know that the immunizations are gonna help her in the long run and well i guess im used to seeing injections. and claire getting poked. (thanks to 3 or so bili levels when she had jaundice and when we had to redo her newborn screening test because they didnt get enough the first time around)

this past month we have (of course) seen lots of changes in claire. shes kicking up a storm these and loves sucking/gnawing on her fists. shes also quite the talker. and shes beginning to smile more and more. which makes mom and dad happy.

shes also getting better at tummy time. she still loves to sit up and just look at anything and everything. especially lights. besides getting baptized this month, she also visited a little place called benihana. thanks to a birthday coupon. (we arent sure where claire learned to let us know we were ah, #1 but we have our suspicions...jk)

and just for a little comparison...