Claire turned 1

my baby girl is 1.  I'm not sure HOW it happened, but it happened.  A full year has gone by and I have so many mixed emotions about it.  I find this phase of baby-hood/toddler-hood to be extremely exciting and amazing - a time when there are so many wonderful firsts and milestones.  She's gaining independence and her personality is shining through.  It's a joy to watch!!  To some extent I can understand why the Duggars keep having kids - they don't even want this stage of life to end!

But, the night before Claire's birthday, I was looking at pictures of her during the first couple months of her life, and I was choking back the tears.  I hardly remember her being that small.....her looking that way.

I wish the year had gone by slower and I wish the memories of that year were more vivid in my mind.  But I guess that's the way it is for most people.  A blur.  A blur of random memories that only really come back to you when you look back at photos or videos. 

I don't know how mother adults do it.  How do you handle watching your babies become adults?  I can't even imagine it!  I can't imagine me becoming a mother of an adult.  I still feel like a youngin' myself.  I swear I still feel like an early-twenty-something.....

I love my life and I feel so blessed (a word that I use hesitantly, but the only word that feels appropriate) to be where I am at this juncture of my life.  I'm trying my hardest to take it all in.  To soak up all of Claire and Trent that I can.  To take as many photos as I can.  To take more videos of them.  To be a better dog-mommy.  To create new and wonderful experiences for Trent and Claire.  To be away from the kids enough, but not too much. 

Happy Birthday to my pensive, daring, beautiful, brave, healthy little girl!

already 11 months old!!! 

the quickest 10 months of my life!

My dear sweet baby Claire is already 10 months old.  Where did the time go?  I hate how quick it's all going!!

Claire has two wonderful bottom teeth, she's crawling like a champion, eating table food, has strong legs that she loves to stand on, the most beautiful greenish eyes, short thin hair, and she makes you work for a smile (not me....I get smiles rather easily).  Did I mention she's a mama's girl?  If someone attempts to take her from me she will cling to me like a spider monkey.  Mommom and Grandmom are the exception - Claire generally goes to both of them no problem. 

She's brave.  She will approach Trent at snack time and take whatever he's eating.  Sometimes Trent won't let her get to it, but on more than one occasion Claire  has won the battle.  One second Trent yelling "nooo", then the next second I see Claire munching on his trail mix cookie.  She gets what she wants....big shocker.

As much as she's a mama's girl, she does the classic "da da da da da" babble that most babies do.  She also waves back to you.....when the mood strikes. 

She's still not sleeping through the night.  She slept thru the night for one month straight when she was 3-4 months old, but she's only regressed since then.  We are currently working on "sleep training" to help her develop better sleep patterns.  So far it seems to be working.

I can't say what her favorite toy is -  I don't know that she has one.  Her favorite food is probably yogurt.  Her favorite time of day is first thing in the morning. 

So far we've had no ear infections, no major illness, no allergies, nothing to lose sleep over (except for the not sleeping thing).  KNOCK ON WOOD.  that sentence will probably come back to bite me right in the tookus.

Here's her 9-month-chair photo.  At her 9 month doctor visit she was picture perfect.  17 pounds, 12 ounces, 27.5 inches tall, healthy and right on track.  She received on upsetting shot in the thigh but recovered quickly. 

tickle tickle

and her 10 Month chair photo (1/20/10)

In a nutshell, she's amazing! 

....and she's crying.  gotta go

claire turned 8 months!

claire is 7 months

I feel kinda bad that she's wearing the same dress in her 6 month photo, eeek

one sock, poor kid

She sure is getting big!  She's becoming very mobile as well.  She has found her knees, but hasn't quite figured out how to use them.  Instead, she rolls and rotates to get where she wants to go, which is often times toward one of Trent's toys.  She's also developing a feisty personality.  When she has something she wants, she holds tight and doesn't let go.  On the off chance she does let go (or you are able to pry her fingers off), she will scream for it.  This can be your hair, her spoon, a toy, etc.  Speaking of spoon, she's really starting to get this whole eating thing down.  She now actually enjoys it rather than gags.  She was lucky enough to have her first fruit last weekend - an apple right off the tree at Milburn (thanks Uncle Mikey).  We have since given her banana, which she seems to really enjoy....who wouldn't?!  So, so far she has had squash, eggplant, yams, carrots, broccoli, green beans, banana, and the lick of an apple (not in that order - and I may be forgetting one or two). 

She takes the bottle like she's been doing it her whole life.  In fact, she will now bring the bottle to her mouth and hold onto it without any assistance.  I have a feeling it's going to be difficult to keep Trent's sippy cups out of her mouth.  She has already expressed a good bit of interest in them. 

As for sleep - she's regressing.  For about a month, from age 3 months to 4 months, she slept through the night consistently.  Since then she went back to waking once a night.  That turned into 2 times a night, then sometimes three.  We are now at the point where it's very difficult to get her to sleep on her own for more than a few hours because she just wants to be in our arms.  You know that newborn phase where the child can be dead asleep in your arms but the second you put them down, their eyes shoot open?.....yeah, that's where we are right now.  I can't blame her....all I can do is ask her politely to please sleep like a good baby and thank my husband for being super dad and coming to my rescue regularly.  An easy fix is to bring her into our bed with us (which we do quite often, and it works) but co-sleeping really isn't for me.  I just don't like it.  I do it when I'm desperate but I definitely don't want to make a habit out of it.  One of these days she's going to end up falling to the floor, and that's a far fall from the top of our mattress. 

If you follow me on facebook then you know I've been on a crafting-streak.  So far I made Claire a few headbands, some babylegs, a stuffed animal, and a pair of shoes.  I'm about to start on a jumper and a pair of pants that I'm very excited about (i already have the supplies, now I just need the time).  Here are a few photos of my crafts, in case you missed them on facebook

 

Of course I made Trent a few things as well, but this post is about Claire!  I'm very sad to say I lost my SD card containing pictures from some recent activities but hopefully it will turn up soon!  Thankfully there was a second person taking pictures during a few of these events, so at least I'll have those pictures. 

Another milestone Claire has almost mastered is sitting up by herself!!  As Kevin puts it:  When she does fall, she falls gracefully (meaning, she uses her arms to catch herself/cusion her fall).  You can see it in the elephant photo above, but also here:

I love the picture, just wish it was a little clearer

And here's a video of Claire sitting up all by herself.  In this scene Daddy/Kevin just came home from work.  Although her expression doesn't change much, she was excited to see him.  You can even hear her grunt with excitement a little.

 

Isn't she just precious!  7 months old already.....where does the time go?

claire is half a year

5 month old Claire

yeah....her outfit is way to big for her

Am I the only one who can not believe Claire is already 5 months old??  It's all going WAY too fast for me!  Here are some factoids:

• 
  
  Claire is able to roll from back-to-belly and visa versa, but she doesn't roll from her belly to her back very often at all
• 
  
  Just within the last week, she started rolling from her back to her belly when she's sleeping.  She now prefers to sleep on her belly
• 
  
  Her hair is finally growing back.  She had a nice head of hair when she was born, but she lost most of it within a month or so.  She was never totally bald, but the top of her head got pretty close to it.  She did get a bald spot on the back of her head from sleeping on it.  From day one she had a little bit of long hair in the back (below the bald spot) that continues to be there.  When she was first born her hair was very mullet-esque, but now there's just no description for it.  The new hair that is now growing in is still too short and thin for me to make out what color it's going to be.  Sometimes it looks dark, other times it looks a little light.  We'll see
• 
  
  I'm almost positive Claire is teething.  She's drooling all the time and I feel something on her bottom gums
• 
  
  She's reaching out for things!!!!!
• 
  
  She loves looking at herself in the mirror - it makes her laugh
• 
  
  Her legs are super strong....she loves standing up.  She's been that way since birth.  I think she will walk early
• 
  
  It's hard to get things done with her because her naps don't last long (unless someone's holding her)
• 
  
  She sleeps in her crib (has been for a couple months now) and she sleeps really well.  She went thru a phase for a month where she slept all thru the night, but she has regressed and now wakes once a night to eat.
• 
  
  She has the most amazing eyes.  They are a green-ish blue-ish color with a darker blue circle around the iris (contrary to the demon eyes she has in the picture above).  I think she gets her eyes from her daddy
• 
  
  We will soon be celebrating her first Halloween and we have no idea what she's going to be
• 
  
  I'm going to start scrapbooking her soon. 
• 
  
  As of yesterday, she found her feet!!!  It's so cute - she'll grab her toes and just hold on
• 
  
  she has out-grown her Moby wrap.  Technically, she's supposed to be safe in it until she's 25 lbs (don't quote me on that, I don't remember the exact weight) but she no longer feels safe in it in my opinion.  I had her in it the other day and I felt like she was going to fall right out.  I have since retired it.  Now I use the woven wrap I am borrowing from a friend.  A "woven wrap" is the same style as the Moby but it's a different material - a material that allows mom to wrap a child until said child is well into toddler-hood.  My plan is to return the woven wrap to my friend (because I don't want to take advantage of her generosity - otherwise I'd keep it for a long time) and possibly get an Ergo carrier.  Ergo's are a totally different style carrier.  Woven wraps and Ergos are both fairly expensive, which is why I don't own either (or both) of them.
• 
  
  so many people see her and think she's a boy, regardless of what she's wearing.  I think it's because she doesn't have much hair.  If I got her ears pierced (not going to happen) or put ribbons and bows on her head, I think people would get it right.
• 
  
  she's a mama's girl

Claire - 4 months

Claire's 4 month check up went very well on Monday.  It was the third time I've taken both kids to the doctors by myself - none of those times were overly easy or overly challenging.  Claire is growing wonderfully and meeting all of her milestones as she should be.  The doc and I talked a bit about starting Claire on baby food soon.  They generally recommend starting between 4-6 months of age.  I would try to put it off until close to 6 months, however, since Claire won't take a bottle we Kevin is hoping to fill her belly with baby food when she gets hungry when I am not around (i.e. when I am at work, at a wedding, date night, girls night, etc).  She is weighing in at a whopping 14 lb 2 oz (55%), she is 24" long (40%), and her head is 16" around (35%). 

If you're wondering how she is comparing to Trent, Trent was16.5 lbs (75%) and 25.5" (75%) long when he was 4 months old

This picture was taken on her 4 month birthday

I'm sorry I haven't been blogging much lately.  It's easy for me to get on the internet and check my email or see what people are doing on facebook, but it's harder to sit down and actually write a good blog.  My "blog time" is usually when Trent's napping, but sometimes I decide to clean or nap or do absolutely nothing at all during that time.  Claire's been pretty good about napping at the same time as Trent, so that's super helpful.  I really hope to blog about Claire's life the way I was able to blog about Trent's life....but I have a feeling that is going to be much easier said than done, I think.  Here is Claire's two-month photo and her three-month photo:

(3 month)

(2 month)

a little late

This is Claire's one month photo