weekend at grandmas

this past weekend the hubs was busy with a ducks unlimited banquet so instead of hanging out all by ourselves, claire & i headed on over to my moms to visit. we didnt do much but it was good to just hang out. she usually takes a while to warm up to uncle kyle, cuz he usually has si and she always seems to know (?maybe remember?) this.

claire got to ride in a shopping cart for the first time. she wasnt quite sure what to think about it.  shes also not sure what to think about cottage cheese, cheese or hamburger. we are workin on it though.

she also got to play with some friends from grandma camp. too bad drew was sleeping when i had the camera out. but her and akisa still were able to get to know each other.

ive also recently noticed that claire is beginning to reach out for people. for instance if i was holding her and grandma came up by me, claire would reach her arms out to be held for grandma. and i think shes been a lil extra cuddly too. (no complaints there)

just another wi trip

two weekends ago we trekked on over to wisconsin to visit friends and family. claire (and we) had so much fun! she was able to see her grandmas again and hang out with her aunts, uncles and cousins. she was having sooo much fun she hardly napped in case she missed out on something. with that and having a little cold she still was a very happy baby.

claire musta wore this guy out! its funny though cuz we will catch claire sleeping in this exact same pose when shes napping too! must run in the family!

clearly claire is taking after her mama in this one with a pop. too bad it wasnt a mt dew or opened for that matter. she just enjoyed the cold on her teeth.

we even ventured out to visit some friends and hang out with their little boy too. unfortunately all the pics of them two together are blurry cuz claire was on the go. she again didnt want to sleep (she musta known we were out playing the wii or something...) we always have a lot of fun over in wisconsin and definitely dont get out there often enough. too bad i dont have a magic wand or something to make the distance shorter. (since all my not so subtle hints for everyone to move here arent working...)

changes

changing things up. thats what we have been doing lately. from diets to me getting lasik things are a changing. the BIGGEST and MOST TIME CONSUMING change we have made is in our dining & living rooms, hallway and entry way.

yes, we havent lived in our house very long. just a few years. and yes we originally painted these rooms tan to match the carpets. but then we painted the rest of the house. and pretty much the rest of the upstairs turned out to be different shades of gray. cuz i love me some gray. so i figured, why should our walls match our carpet when our furniture doesnt match anything? (turquoise/aqua tv stand and green plaid couches thank you very much) sooooooo i convinced my mom and sister to come up and paint. ok so kenz didnt really paint which was perfect cuz she watched claire.

when i originally brought up the idea to the hubs, his first response was no. because it will look like a prison. (he said he liked the gray in all the other rooms but those didnt look like a prison to him)

please take note of the beams. those pesky beams waaaaaaay high up. yup. that amazing-ness is all thanks to my mom. shes not afraid of heights and thankfully was up on the ladder painting those things. ugh. i was sore just watching her! heres to hoping i dont change my mind in another 2-3 years. haha! 

i love it. now we just gotta find some new curtains...carpet....and couches...some day...and maybe spray paint the frames in the frame wall to make em really pop, who knows.

growing up.

yup. thats what claires been up to. its odd. i feel like even though shes barely 8 1/2 months so much has happened in these past 2 weeks. its crazy. shes really not a baby anymore.  

{side note: i dont mean for this post to sound braggy or "look what my baby can do" i just feel like once she hit 8 months she went crazy & all these things are happening at the same time. and everyone always asks "whats new with you" since we see it every day it doesnt seem "new" to us but it is for those of you who dont see us every day}

she loves to scoot up to our tv stand and turn up the volume on our speaker. and it takes me by surprise EVERY TIME. 

she has no fear. she crawls up over everything. even our table legs. which means shes pretty much bent in half and it freaks me out. but 99% of the time she slowly goes over so she doesnt fall or get hurt. its odd.

she just started to get fussy when i feed her. she wants to do it herself. which i know is a good thing and part of development but its soooooo messy! oh well. shes pretty cute despite her peas and carrots mess right? right.

and her teeth. her top two middle ones broke through when she was 8 months. and just a week later her two "fangs" or incisors are breaking through. 6 teeth? CRAZY!

and now shes strong enough to pull herself up. she had been trying to pull herself up for a while. and when she got it. SHE GOT IT. and its THE ONLY thing she wants to do. she pulls herself up by the couch. by the tv stand. by her highchair. under the table. by the baby gate. by our bar stools. anywhere and everywhere all at the same time.

easter

we didnt do anything too crazy or exciting this past easter. just some quiet family time with my mom and siblings and a great lunch with some good family friends. 

claire wasnt quite sure what to think about these bunny ears, she knew they were on her and kept trying to look up to see them. 

claire also spent some quality time with a new friend too. im sure these two will be spending lots of time together growing up at "grandma camp".

grandma kellys visit

before easter (yes i know this is late in going up, but ive been distracted by reading free nook books, what can i say), grandma kelly came to visit us for a few days to soak up some quality time with claire. the weather was still pretty chilly so we couldnt do much outside but grandma kelly and claire were still able to have lots of fun together.

the day before she came to visit i saw claire at daycare playing with a xylophone and all the teachers were saying she really likes that and loves music time each week. well apparently grandma kelly is psychic because claires easter gift was a box of musical instruments. there was a triangle, tambourine, maracas, a clapper thing and another one i dont know the name too. she showed claire how to use each one and she has been loving playing with them ever since. she even got so excited about her tambourine that she went over elmo and head/eye first into it. giving her her first official "black" eye. even though it was hardly noticeable. but still.

the next day they dyed easter eggs together. claire was a big help. (when she wasnt playing in the water on her highchair or trying to eat the eggs)