oh hey...remember us?

sorry for the lack of posts these days. turns out life can get busy quickly. and you lose track of time. and you forget to take pictures. and then when you do take pictures you say to yourself, "ill do a blog post tomorrow" and tomorrow becomes the next day...and then the next day turns into a week, a month...well you get the picture...



SOOOOO big

this is a very common facial expression these days

"bubble" is now in her vocabulary

hanging out on our new couch

another common facial expression....

loving those eyes...and the drool dripping from her chin...

loves to sneak into the pantry

todays letter is c

c is for cardigans and climbing. and of course claire.

just had to share these pictures. im lovin claire in cardigans. (thanks to some inspiration from emma on her birthday) claire has really taken a liking to this chair lately. when it gets quiet in the house, half the time she can be found just sitting in her chair. lounging. the ex-dance liner in me hopes her flexibility stays like this...

and then climbing. man on man has she gotten some muscle & climbing ability. it amazes me that she knows to bring this little push toy to the side of the couch or the gate & can climb up on it.

claires hobbies

she loves to play with my hair. and of course by play i mean pull. 

she loves to bite. anything and everything. even us. and boy oh boy does it hurt. 

and just like mommy, she likes to read. well techinically its looking at every book, pulilng all the books off the shelf or having mom or dad read to her. same thing right? 

and since ive been doing a craft project with balloons, she has been enjoying playing with those too. she even popped one and didnt get scared or cry or anything just sat there.



push it

push it real good.

claire loves to push things.
especially if she can walk behind, around or under it.

she has yet to learn how to turn around when she runs into something though. oh well. soon enough im sure.

hodge-podge

another hodge podge of pictures.

we got claire a pair of skinny jeans. and i love em. thankfully she doesnt seem to mind them either :) 

shoes. we have started to put some shoes on claire when we are out and about. shes always curious as to trying to figure what they are when they are on her feet; especially since she never wore socks...and she usually keeps them on for a little bit. and then she quickly manages to get them off and use them as toys.

some friends from college came to visit last weekend with their little one levi. in these pics hes about 3 months old and claire is a little over 9 months. 

(couldnt resist this second pic, its like they are doing the exact same pose)

this is also how we are greeted when someone wakes up from a nap. so crazy how much she has changed! i was watching some videos of her when she was just learning to roll over and couldnt believe how small she was and how much she has changed!!! shes definitely not a little baby anymore :(

we are having more and more fun feeding her different foods too. here she is with eggs, chocolate chip banana bread and kiwi. any guesses on the one food that was all gone after she was done eating? yup, the one with lots of carbs and chocolate! just like her mama. (thankfully it was sorta healthy, i mean it DID have bananas in it!) 

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.

a new toy

look who got a new toy. shes still a bit short for this but we make it work with some blankets underneath.

(please disregard the floral onesie with the brown polka dotted pants. daddy dressed her)

looks like this living room is turning into a playroom. 

and i guess this isnt really a toy but something new for her to help sit up better. 

 

rock n play no more

well almost no more. if you didnt know, we love our rock n play thing for claire. it folds up really easy for travel to the grandparents house, easily moved within our house, keeps her upright to help with her spit up issues and is just really nice all around. 

well...someone (who shall remain nameless) (coughcough-the-only-male-in-the-house-cough) thought he had stepped around it however he ended up falling right on it. thankfully claire was surfin the internet with mom at the time so she wasnt injured (either was he-who-shall-not-be-named) but turns out he flattened it. 

i know its kinda hard to tell in this picture but this is from above and its all pretty level with the ground. we were thankfully able to salvage it. sorta. again this picture doesnt do it justice but it now leans a bit to the left. 

 

thankfully it still rocks. and claire doesnt seem too upset about always laying to the left now. at least not yet. 

happy mama

yes i am a happy mama. and it has nothing to do with claire. ha.

this past weekend i remembered we bought a little roaster pan thingy for claires baptism way back in september. and then i remembered thats the perfect thing to make this delicious-ness:

have no fear. its pretty much already gone.

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...

resolution, part 2

click picture to enlarge

alright, finishing up the resolution for august. so technically some of these pictures were taken on the same day, but i figured you wouldnt want to see 15 pictures of claire sleeping in her bassinet thingy. right? right

we have a lot of different activities going on here. surfin the internet with daddy. her first pair of (borrowed) sunglasses. push-ups with daddy in the baby bjorn. hanging out in a hammock, not paying attention to a jack in the box, meeting her second cousin landon, her great aunt loie and great grandma rose, her first nap in her room to be watched anxiously by her mom via the baby monitor. and then, of course, some sleeping ones. (which lately hasnt been happening very often)

resolution, part 1

(click on the picture to enlarge)

15 days worth of pictures. relaxing in her rock n play. not enjoying her swing. her first pair of shoes. sporting knee high socks. her first relay for life walk. modeling cute new outfits.  hanging out with mom and day. tummy time. you know, just a day in the life. 

did you know...

1. 3 weeks flies by quickly. so quickly in fact that in 3 days it will be 4 weeks.

2. we still dont really know who she looks like. 

3. babies are loud sleepers. this is not a particularly good thing at night, when mom thinks shes awake, gets out of bed & goes to pick her up only to find her still sleeping. ugh. and she moves around a lot when sleeping.

4. we started bottles, pacifiers & pumping before the recommended 4 weeks. the bottles were due to our dear friend jaundice.

5. breastfeeding sometimes takes forever. which means im very thankful for the nook. 

6. right now, she enjoys bath time. 

7. we love love love her rock & play. a lot. its where she has spent at least 75% of her time. 

8. i think shes too small & young for her crib. 

9. she took her first nap in her crib yesterday. while i sat in there & read & watched how she did. dont tell anyone. 

10. we think shes pretty cute. but we know we are biased. but we are fine with that. 

11. i never knew all the muscles need to laugh or cough until after she was born. lemme tell you ive never tried not to laugh or cough so hard in my life until i found out it was very painful after getting stitches. enough said. (sorry to the 2 guys who probably read this)

12. shes got pretty great & loving grandparents & aunts & uncles & cousins. 

13. shes also got a lot of great baby friends and is going to have even more BFFs or potential boyfriends coming this fall & winter :)  

14. shes already spoiled. not just by her grandparents either. last friday i finally bought her an outfit. otherwise all her clothes & such have been gifted or borrowed. we are so grateful for all of our friends & family who already love her so much. 

15. babies spit up. a lot. and not just on themselves. 

16. i am so incredibly grateful for the hubs. he always has a ton of patience with me and my "no hormones" hormones and for claire & her fussiness. especially in the middle of the night. 

17. i am also incredibly thankful the hubs is willing to change diapers. even when we have had quite a few "close calls" and some instances where shes made a big mess over her changing table, us and a wall or two. :)

its still so odd that WE HAVE A BABY. and that SHES HERE. all during pregnancy we just thought about getting thru the 40 weeks and then a bit about labor & delivery. nothing really after that. its funny to see babies who are 3 months old and to try to picture her that big. she still seems sooo small!! and shes still too small for 0-3 mo clothes. and its even more crazy to think what she will be like when shes in school. or a teenager or just at any time in the future. 

we are so excited shes here with us. and couldnt be happier. heres to learning a ton more in the next month...and 18 years...

birthday onesie

heres the birthday onesie i made. ie printed and ironed it on. of course im not creative enough to think of this myself, but found the inspiration off of pinterest of course. 

we are hanging in there. we had a little bump in the road called jaundice but that is resolving and im trying my best to stay sane in the unpredictable/unplanned world of claire. the hubs is headed back to work tomorrow so that will be interesting. most likely he will leave us watching the olympics and will come home to the same thing. best timing of maternity leave ever. ive never been so into the olympics before. and in other news, claire is training us in well...today she reminded me to always quickly change diapers so as to not get pooped on. even with that, shes still pretty cute. but i guess im a bit biased.