Claire's Birthday

We have been contemplating for awhile what to do for Claire's Birthday, and this morning we finally decided to go to the Renaissance Festival. It was a great decision, even though the traffic was horrible. We really had a fantastic time.

 Here we are eating about the worst food in the world. Well, at least here is Claire sitting at the table where we ate the worst food in the world. You are (of course) not allowed to bring in your own food- which is totally fine, we realize they are in the market to make money. But, the food was quite horrible. In fact, Audra refused to eat hers, even when offered pop as a reward for eating it (just kidding, she would eat it, but ONLY if she got a sip of pop after every bite).

 The king and queens' parade

 Audra LOVED the king and queen (anybody surprised?)

 These next few pictures were in the kids play area which was great. This was a butterfly ride which was manually pushed by two ladies. Audra loved it.

 This was the best picture I could take of Ben and the girls. Audra kept turning around saying "NO!", Claire refused to look at all, and Ben just wanted me to stop trying.

 Here's the best family picture. Sometimes, you just have to laugh and move on:

 This is my second favorite picture of the day:

 We caved and bought Audra a headpiece. Sometimes, I really think we spoil our children, but then how could we resist something that we knew would make her so happy?

 After we came home (completely exhausted) we had Grandma and Grandpa over for dinner, cake, and presents. They were generous and brought the DQ ice-cream, our favorite!

 Here we are singing to Claire

 She couldn't blow out the candles by herself, but luckily Audra was very willing to help out:

 Sisterly love right before opening presents:

 And, my absolute favorite picture of the day:

Do you notice what Claire has on her face? A SMILE!!! I finally got it!!!!! I don't care that Audra's face is completely squashed, I was finally able to capture a smile! Priceless!!!

What else was priceless, that I wasn't able to get a good picture of, was Claire and Audra playing with one of Claire's Birthday gifts. Ben and I got Claire a Dora Castle (OK, it was a hand me down from a friend, but then we bought her some dolls to go with it- that was the gift from Audra). These girls played with it for over an hour, until it was time for bed, then went to bed crying because they wanted to keep playing. In fact, Audra kept opening her bedroom door because she had to keep peeking at the castle, so we had to take it downstairs.

It was so cute watching them play. Claire was practically hyperventilating as she moved the dolls from one room to another. There was a horse and carriage that they each took turns taking around the house. It was so cute- they have never been more excited for anything in their short lives!!! It was a great day, capped off with a great Birthday party!!!

Happy Birthday, Claire!!!

Too Cute Not To Share

I said, "Claire, we're going for a walk. Go get your socks."

She said, "OK!" and ran upstairs as fast as she could. 20 seconds later she ran back out, then climbed down two stairs, stopped and put her hands on her hips and stuck her right foot out with pointed toes and said, "I'm ready!"

I tried to get her to recreate her look with her beautiful accessories she chose all herself:

 

Not a great picture, I know, but trying to get a picture of Claire is like trying to ride a hippopotamus- pretty impossible. Hopefully, however, you get the gist! 

Hugs, Not Hits!

I have been wanting to do a post on Claire for awhile, but it has been difficult for me to get the energy to do so. I wanted this to be a positive, happy post, and I wasn't sure how to do that when things have been difficult with her. We love her dearly, but she is not that happy, wonderful 2-year-old that everybody dreams of having. It's been rough, I'm not going to lie.

However, the last couple of weeks have been MUCH better- and hopefully it will continue to be so.

Claire is a hitter. She has been for a long time. Awhile back we instituted a "hugs, not hits!" campaign and it has actually seemed to help. Luckily, she winds up before she hits you- you can see her going to hit you a mile away. That makes it easy to tell her to give hugs, and almost without fail she will. So now it's actually really cute because you get a hug out of it, and now she almost never hits- even Audra knows to tell her to give hugs. We have hopefully solved that issue.

Then, she cries a lot. A lot a lot. And she's whiny. BUT...

In the last couple of weeks her language skills have exploded (don't be jealous, D, because remember all the crying and whiny we have to deal with!). Now she can really talk and tell us what she wants. And, her little personality is coming out and it is a lot of fun. She is not happy and smily, but she is quite the jokester. She likes playing chase. She likes hiding under the table while we cry out, "where's Claire?" She likes to come up and "tickle" us while saying "tickle" over and over again. She and Audra love to wrestle. She likes to take Audra's things just to see Audra get annoyed and than give it right back. She likes to take things and hide them behind her back while we say, "Where'd Barbie go?" She LOVES to tease us when we ask her to go somewhere. For example, we'll say "Please go to the changing pad" and she'll say, "right there?" and point to it. We'll say yes, and she'll take 2 steps forward and say, "right there?". Two steps more, "right there?"

Today Ben put a bib on her and she said clear as day, "I don't want to wear a bib." Woah!

This morning I noticed she was imitating Audra while she prayed, so tonight we had Claire say the dinner prayer which was super cute. She would repeat after me, which means she basically said, "mama" "daddy" "Audra" "food" "Amen." So cute!!!

She loves the circus. We checked a book out of the library about the circus and she wants to read it 100 times a day (did I mention she loves books? She does!). There's a part with drums and she opened up and was reading the book to herself and said, "boom, boom, boom, boom" which is what the book says.

She hasn't been nearly as whiny for the last couple of weeks, and her tantrums have really calmed down. It's been really pleasant, actually. Of course, she has been sick the last couple of days (yesterday she had a 102.9 temp) so that might be helping that.

She LOVES coloring- that is one activity she will do for an hour. That and playing in the sand. Or water. She loves dumping sand and water.

She is definitely a dare-devil. She loves climbing and getting into trouble. This wouldn't be so incredibly horrible, except she is also incredibly clumsy. She is a huge klutz. This means, about 12 times a day we hear her fall and start crying. She cries for 9 seconds, then promptly gets up to do the same thing again.

Giving her choices has also proved immensely helpful. We have always given her choices, but you guys reminded us we needed to give her lots of little silly choices. But, it has led to her always needing two spoons. We offer her two different colors, and she always chooses both of them. Oh, well.

Hopefully, we have turned a corner with her. I am hopeful- the last couple of weeks have truly been awesome with her. I love seeing her fun, joking personality come out. I'm crossing my fingers that she just gets better and better!

To end on a super high note, I will re-tell the story of when we saw her for the first time. It was an act of faith to have a second child after Audra. We were really scared, because Audra was such a difficult baby. But the second Ben and I saw Claire after she was born, we literally both fell absolutely in love and KNEW she was supposed to be in our family. And that hasn't changed- we absolutely LOVE her, even though we have had some rough days. We are so grateful to have her in our family- she's a spitfire, but she's our spitfire!

Before and After

 I know Claire has been needing a haircut. I'm not stupid. But, I haven't wanted to cut her hair. But after this picture:

And armed with my mother's condescending looks, I finally decided to do it. Here's how it turned out:

Not only is it a good picture of her haircut, it also might be the best picture of her smile that we have ever gotten.

What Do We Do Now?!?

I know I have a great life, but sometimes I want to SCREAM!

The last couple of weeks with Claire have been incredibly difficult. INCREDIBLY difficult. She has the personality of a bull- she wants what she wants NOW, she wants it done HER WAY, and if there is anybody who tries to get in her way, she will FIGHT and SCREAM to get what she wants. She has started hair pulling- which really hurts. She whines and tantrums and screams ALL DAY LONG. I have gone to bed in tears at a complete loss of what to do. She even was able to get Grandpa frustrated yesterday, and that takes A LOT.

I am at a loss. I realize Ben and I are not the world's greatest parents (that goes to Kathy- the one who made the finger puppets for her Sunbeams), but I also know that we do a pretty good job. Our kids get bathed at least twice a week, and we do a lot of amazingly fun things with them.

So why the grumpy pants?!?

Seriously, if you have or have had a stubborn and defiant child (yes, mom, I realize you had one or two of those), I will take any suggestions of PRACTICAL solutions that actually worked. A reward system? Time-outs? Manual labor? Honestly, what works with a 22 month old?????

Yet again today (and yesterday) I realized that I am truly at my wits end. I decided to take the girls to get their pictures taken in their cute Easter dresses. Audra was a perfect angel- I can't wait for her pictures. They turned out so incredibly beautiful.

And, Claire? Well, hers did not turn out so well. But that wasn't the real issue.

I will be forever grateful that we left Claire's dress at grandma and grandpa's house last night. Because of that, I had to stop at their house to pick up the dress. Grandma decided to come with us. THANK GOODNESS SHE DID!!! Why? Because Claire just wanted to run around, throw tantrums, and disobey mom and grandma at every opportunity. Grandma spent the bulk of her time chasing after Claire while I tried to purchase the pictures. If it were not for her, I would have had to strap Claire in her carseat and leave her there by herself while I tried to buy some photos (which of course I would never actually do, so I probably would have just ended up in a fetal position on the floor crying. Being taken to an insane asylum would be better than dealing with Claire in public by myself).

Praying has helped slightly. While in tears last night, I asked for guidance. Today, while dealing with my little 22 month old terror, I was reminded of this picture:

Right after Claire was born, we took 26 month old Audra and infant Claire to get their pictures taken. Audra was beyond horrible- at one point she actually spanked the photographer. Yes, you read that correctly. I was so mortified and beside myself. I had to buy this picture, because Audra's face perfectly shows her attitude for the entire photo shoot. She was a brat- plain and simple.

But, 2 years later, Audra truly is a perfect angel- she is such a great child. She listens well, sits quietly in primary, and behaves as every mother would dream her child would behave.

So, we must have done something right. It all seems like a blur, however, so I am not sure what we did that was right. I am clinging desparately to other moms and some articles I read that said when children are ornery as toddlers, they end up being excellent teenagers.

Help, please.

Shoes Beware!

No shoes are safe with this bug-a-boo around! She absolutely LOVES shoes, and is always putting somebody's shoes on and tromping around. It is quite adorabe- even though now when we leave she insists on putting on her own socks and shoes, which she really can't quite do yet, so that is a little annoying.

Other than keeping our shoes on high alret, Claire is getting into and attempting to destroy everything in sight. She is very curious, and she thinks if her big sister can do it, than she can do it too.

She still loves wrestling her big sister, but Audra loves it, so they have a lot of fun together. Audra is also very good at coming up with games that she thinks Claire is playing, when in reality all Claire is doing is wandering around aimlessly. It works out well for them.

Claire has really started talking/babbling quite a bit. Here are some of my favorites:

"Scharr": Translation: "share" This is said everytime Audra has something that Claire wants

"mo peas": Translation: "More Please." This is especially cute when she has finished a bowl of ice-cream and is handing us her bowl and expecting more. One bowl is all she gets, though.

"Yes." Translation: Yes. I especially love this because she says the "S" sound and it is oh so cute. It is also cute when Audra will ask her something like, "do you want to eat mud, Claire?" and Claire says, "yes!"

"duck" and "gooooos": Translation: Duck and Goose. She was saying that today at the park. She absolutely loves animals- though they are rightfully terrified of her.

"Audwa": Translation: Audra. She really loves her big sister!

"Beam!" Translation: "Sunbeam"- a favorite song of hers, with her fist going in the air on "beam" and everything

"Fur-word": Translation: Fast-forward. Even at age 21 months she knows that we do not watch commercials at our house- especailly during Horton Hears a Who- her favorite movie.

She is also very good at repeating individual words and she is starting to form short sentences.

She still loves to read books and she has started singing some songs.

Her favorite foods are still bread, yogurt, and cheese. She still will only drink water- nothing else.

She takes one 2-hour nap every afternoon at 1 and sleeps from about 7:30-7:15. The second she wakes up Audra goes into her room and entertains her until Ben or I decide to go get her. When she is tired, we know it- she does not keep it a secret.

Claire is a pretty feisty girl- she definitely knows what she wants and when she wants it, and she knows how to tell us what she wants. And if she doesn't get it- watch out!

She is a hitter- and a little bit of a biter. I took her into nursery a few weeks ago and said, "We noticed she is starting to hit. Please feel free to put her in time-out or discipline her however you see fit" and they said, "We know she hits." Apparently she and this other boy, Jack, both have the same feisty personality and they get on each other's nerves- ie., fight over the same toys. But, during sacrament while Jack was in the hall with his mommy, he went door to door knocking and saying, "Claire? Claire?" A future romance? Time will tell!

Her hair is nice and long- as you can see in the picture- but she hates for me to put it up. HATES it. So, I only have about 15 seconds to hold her down and put her hair up. The Pebbles hairstyle is the only one I have time for, and I love it so that's what she gets. Or, she sports the Bieber look- which she also looks cute in.

It has been really fun to watch she and Audra be best friends. All of Audra's friends love her, and they have a blast together. It's certainly never a dull moment, and she definitley keeps us on our toes, but she is pretty awesome in our opinion!

Choosing Faith Over Fear Part 2

Admittedly, I woke up this morning much more stressed. I did great yesterday- but not so much today. Thank goodness her appointment was this morning and not a week from now!

We went in and the doctor listened to her heart- a lot. For a long time. Like 5-7 minutes. He kept changing her position and listened some more. He listened to her neck. It took what seemed like forever, and I couldn't tell by his expression if he was hearing good things or bad things- he has a great poker face.

The result: Perioral Cyanosis.

What is it: NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT!!!! Apparently it is fairly common, especially in fair skinned children. It may happen with children of darker skin, but you just can't see it. Basically, from what little I understand, it means Claire's veins constrict a little more than normal kids.

Long term effects: She might blush a little more when she is older.

That is it!!!! YIPEE!!!!!!

I asked if we needed to do more testing, and he said no. He said he has seen this a lot, and while I did the right thing by bringing her in to get her checked out, I have absolutely nothing to worry about.

He did notice the heart murmur, but he said it is not related to the blue lips and it will go away in about 8-10 years.

HUGE sigh of relief! Why do these kids like to torture us so much with all of their weird things?!? It makes parenting very difficult!

Thank you so much for all the prayers and comments- they really did help!

Now I've got to go enjoy my heart-healthy Claire!

Choosing Faith Over Fear

Today was Claire's 18 month check-up.

It started snowing pretty heavily last night, and even Ben said the roads were bad, so I called a friend and asked her to take me to the check-up. She said she would as long as she got to make fun of me the entire time for my unwillingness to drive in the snow.

I considred- briefly- changing the appointment, but I really didn't want to because of a few concerns I had:

1. Claire's continued lack of weight gain

2. Claire's lips and mouth turn blue/purple on a consistent basis

3. Audra keeps squinting and saying her "eye-bops" (eyeballs) hurt, so I wanted to ask the doctor about how to get her checked out (which I learned I just need to take her in- we don't have vision insurance so I can go anywhere- anyone have a good pediactric eye doctor in the HR area they would recommend?)

So this morning I was chauffered to the doctor. Even though the roads were fine, I am forever grateful she gave me the ride. She took Audra home with her so I didn't have to deal with her during the appointment, and I am so glad she did because it ended up being over 2 hours. Yup, a two hour check-up.

Remember that thing I mentioned earlier about Claire's lips turning blue? Well, that's not a good thing.

It has been happening for a couple of months now- every couple of days (probably 2-4 times a week) they will turn blue and stay that way for a few hours. I had done some internet research on it on Thursday and I was actually on hold with the doctor's office to see if I should bring her in then, when the internet actually CALMED my worries and made me feel like an overreacting parent, so I hung up the phone and decided to wait until today.

What did the internet say? It seems a lot of parents were saying they had this exact same issue with their toddlers. They virtually all said that it turned out to be absolutely nothing. So, I decided it could be one of two things:

1. Nothing

2. A hole in her heart

Because these parents really were describing exactly what I was experiencing with Claire, I decided it could wait until today. I figured she would do some tests and nothing would show up and we would move on with our lives.

The doctor was concerned and we ran some tests- an EKG (monitors her heart) and a pulse ox (monitors her oxygen levels in her blood). The first thought from the doctor is that something is wrong with her heart- it is not normal apparently for children to turn blue.

Here is Claire getting her EKG. Believe it or not, she actually did great. For the pulse ox, I had to hold her and keep her relatively still for 35 minutes. That was hard, but having all these wires on her for the EKG mostly just confused and mesmerized her and she was fine

Both tests came back perfect- nothing was abnormal at all. The doctor did find a slight heart murmur, but nothing that would ordinarily concern her. With the blue, however, it could mean something- or nothing at all.

What's next? She will be seeing a cardiologist sometime this week- I am still in the process of jumping through hoops to get that scheduled. The cardiologist will do an ultrasound of the heart and perhaps a couple of other things to see if he finds anything.***

If he finds nothing, we will then do a sleep study (if that happens, I will need some tips from you Jenny in navigating Children's) to see if it is some kind of sleep disorder like sleep apnea or something.

If nothing is found there, she doesn't think there is much more to do. It could have something to do with her lungs, but because there are NO other symptoms, she doesn't think it is that. She is leaning a little more to something with the heart, but said she is optimistic by the results of the EKG and pulse ox, but that we need to rule out all of the scary stuff to be sure.

I am voting for nothing is wrong. That is what I am going with until I hear otherwise.I am choosing to have faith over fear. Some people might say I am choosing denial over fear. I know very well this could be a tragic road that we could be going down. But when I think about heart surgery or seeing my baby lying in the hospital bed tied up to tubes and wires fighting for her life...well, I can't think that way. Not until I absolutely have to- until I am forced to. So I will choose to believe that her body simply needs to adjust to the high altitude and that she will be just fine.

But prayers would be appreciated.

***UPDATE: Somebody cancelled their appointment and we were able to sneak in tomorrow (Tuesday) morning at 10:30. By noon we should know if and how serious this is.***

Other than that potentially life altering problem, Claire looks great. Here are the stats:

Weight: 21 lbs 3.5 oz- 10% (yea, we can switch to a front facing carsesat!)

Height: 32'' -62%

Head: 47 cm 64%

There is not a whole lot more to add since the Christmas update I gave on her, but she is speaking a whole lot more. Literally in just the past couple of weeks her language skills have really taken hold. I need to try and get some video of her!

Also, she now really loves dollies or this stuffed Pooh bear she got from a friend. She likes to hold them and love them. She hasn't figured out how to give kisses yet, but she still gives awesome hugs and great pats on the back.

Oh, and she loves walking on her tippy tippy toes- it is super cute.

We sure do love our "Little Pooch" (as Audra now calls her), and we plan on having her around for a long, long time!

There Is a Monster Among Us AKA Claire Update

Things have been rough with Claire AKA Little Monster lately.
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She is definitely our adventurous one! She climbs into, onto, over, and through everything. Perhaps she is just learning her prepositions? I think not.
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At this point, I am a little at my wits ends. I can not keep up! Thankfully we have Audra who will yell, "Claire is on top of the table!" so we can go and resuce Claire.
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Also, she has a favorite activity: when you give her food, she will give you a disdainful look and forcefully throw her food on the floor. Thank goodness for the hardwood is all I can say about that.

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The expression on her face pretty much sums this nightmare time up: "Look mom, I am up here and I LOVE it!"

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-And here she is after she ATE a marker. Yes, the actual marker point was nowhere to be found- except, presumably- her tummy. Can you guess the color?

Hopefully this stage will be over soon, so we can enter the tantrum stage. Oh, kids are sure fun!

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Then, on Wednesday I was thinking to myself how grateful I am that she will at least stay in her exersaucer while I shower-WHEW! What a blessing, because how else am I going to shower if I can't keep her tied down?

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Guess what she learned to do Thursday? Yup, you guessed it. She climbed right on out of that exersaucer.

NOW WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?????

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Claire Update from previous update:

Well, I guess there are some good points about this Little Monster.

Tonight while putting her to bed she dropped her toothbrush. I said, "where's your toothbrush?" As clear as day she said, "Uh-oh, where'd it go?" and kept repeating it. I guess I can't stay too mad at her for long.

We Let Her Do WHAT?!?

About two weeks ago, we were sitting at the table eating dinner. Ben was feeding Claire, as usual. All of a sudden, Claire literally grabbed the spoon out of Ben's hand and started feeding herself. We had been avoiding letting her feed herself for this reason:


















But, I guess we had to suck it up and let her do this at some point, right? A parental right of passage- dealing with the mess of allowing your kids to be independent!

Who Is Cuter?

Answer: The one with the red shirt.

Claire Update

Here's a quick Claire update. Of course, she is as cute as can be- that's obvious, right?

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She is now running everywhere- no longer walking. Actually, walking only lasted about 2 days before she decided that was too slow. Both my girls are early runners, late talkers- Claire still only just babbles, hardly ever any words. But, every time she babbles Audra likes to run over to me and say, "Claire just said Audra!"

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Audra has come up with a nickname for Claire: Little Guppy. I have no idea where she got this from, though I am guessing the Little Mermaid tv show. Where else would there be a little guppy? At any rate, we have encouraged this terminology because we love that Audra came up with it herself, and it is pretty cute. Even if Claire isn't really a fish.

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Most days, Claire is only taking 1 nap. That is a bummer because it makes showering more difficult, BUT it is making her sleep in until about 7:30 instead of 6:15, so that is a wonderful trade off! Even if I smell bad sometimes.

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She LOVES being outside and downstairs in the basement- where all of the toys are. She also loves wrestling with Audra. This is really cute. Basically it is just Claire sitting on top of Audra's head. They both think it is hilarious and laugh and laugh.

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Claire also loves to climb. This has led to her having many headaches, I am sure, because she falls. A lot. Outside of forcing her to wear a helmet all the time, I am not sure what to do. One place she loves and she can climb and fall all she wants is Jumpstreet- an indoor playground with trampolines and bouncy houses. We went there on Saturday because I have what I am calling "Park Fatigue." (Seattleites, don't hate me when I tell you this). Ben wanted to go to the park on Saturday. I wanted to vomit when he said that. I am so sick of putting on sunscreen and sitting out in the hot sun! I needed a break!!! This was not great news for Ben, who sits in his office all day everyday, but he understood and was happy to go to Jumpstreet. It was a fantastic decision- Claire was absolutely GLOWING the entire time because we let her do everything she wanted! It was a perfect Claire paradise. And Audra had a great time as well.

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Oh, I know you will all be surprised at this next part. Guess what her new favorite food is? FISHY crackers! I think that is a mandatory favorite for little ones!

Claire Turns One!

Last Friday- while in Logan- Claire turned ONE! She didn't seem to notice, though, which was good because we didn't really celebrate her actual Birthday.

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Before we left for Logan, we got together with Ben's family (my parents and siblings were invited, but none of them came- I'm not sure why...) to celebrate.

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We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner- one we had never been to before. It was pretty good, and we had a great time.

After dinner, we went back to our place for cake and presents.

I made the same cake I made for Audra- a homemade carrot cake with lots of healthy ingredients like wheat germ and sunflower seeds. Audra LOVED her cake, but Claire- not so much. Basically she just tore it apart and threw it on the floor. Oh, well.

At the restaurant, Claire just wanted to walk around. She is REALLY getting around now! She started walking a little later than Audra, but she got proficient at walking MUCH faster. It's so funny, because everytime I see her walking I think, "but you're too LITTLE to be walking!" All goes back to her being so dang cute.

Now for her stats:

Height: 30.5 inches, 62%

Head Circumference (who REALLY cares about this stat???): 17.5, 31%

Weight: 17 lbs 10.5 oz, 5%

Umm...did you notice that weight percentage??? You read that right- FIFTH percentile! She has been around 40% or something, so I was like- WHAT?!? But, the doctor was not overly concerned-she said it is very common for babies' weight to drop when they start walking and simply said we just need to give her more calories each day. She said everything we are doing is perfect, so we are going to add one or two more snacks throughout the day and try to give her more dairy (because she is only nursing once a day but does not yet want a bottle of regular milk- the doctor wasn't even concerned about that, though, since I give her lots of yogurt and cheese to make up for it). At any rate, she is healthy and happy, so I won't stress too much over it since the doctor isn't at all worried. I do need to take her back in three months just to make sure she is gaining. I can't very well get her to stop walking, though, so I guess we just need to pump her with healthy but calorie filled food!

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She can now say "Audra"- much to the delight of her older sister! Audra LOVES Claire so incredibly much. Claire will sit on Audra's head, pull her hair, lay down on top of her, and Audra just laughs and laughs and laughs. It is really cute.

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I am trying to think of new things to add about Claire, but she is doing great in everything and there isn't anything new to report since I pretty much put everything on this blog anyway. We sure are grateful to have Claire in our lives, though!!! We love her soooooooo much!!!!!

Girls Weekend. With kids. And some husbands. So not really a girls weekend, but still a lot of fun.

Last Thursday I took on a suicide mission.
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I decided to drive to Logan, UT with Claire by myself. What was I thinking, you ask? Good question.
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I was thinking I need to take advantage of the opportunitites I have to see old friends- especially ones who have had such an important and life-changing impact on my life. The opportunities are so rare, I know I need to take them when I can. So when my college roommates decided it was time for us to get together again, I decided to go- regardless of the cost.
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And it was well worth it! There were 6 of us who lived together in college for 3 or 4 years, but established a bond that I am certain will last forever. It is harder with kids, but that's just the way life goes. And none of us would have it any other way.
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Claire was actually incredibly good for the drive. It is about 9 hours with the stops we took to Logan. She cried for about 2 hours off and on, but nothing uncontrollable. I purposely left incredibly early (5 AM) in the hopes she would sleep for a little longer. It worked on the way to Logan.
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Anyway, as usual- it was wonderful being with my old roommates. They are awesome! Plus, I got to meet their kids. They all have 1, all about age 2. I have 2 kids, with Claire being 1 (her Birthday was on Friday- what could be better than spending it on a roadtrip with strangers?). Claire was the youngest of the kiddo group.
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Claire was pretty much petrified the entire time. She has Ben's personality- she is overly shy and overwhelmed and completely out of sorts around strangers. She has a hard time warming up to them. Whereas Audra would have been perfectly fine after 15 minutes, Claire was whiny and ill-at-ease the entire 3 days.
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But, the trip was about me being able to see my old friends, and in that respect it was absolutely wonderful. Most of the activities revolved around activities for the kids and lots of catching up. It is so cool to see where all of us have come! Before we were just young kids trying to get through college- now we're mommies trying to get through life. I love these women- and I miss the ones who were unable to come!
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We are trying to get together every 2 years. I am incredibly grateful for that, just wishing it could be even more often.
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On Friday night we left the sleeping kiddos with the husbands and went and got "fu'zookies". They were delicious, and kept us gabbing until the very late hours. I was tired the next day, but it was worth it.

These are picture of Claire on Friday, her actual Birthday. We went to a little park with a zoo and then let the kids splash in the pool. Again she was shy, but she looked so dang cute!

Thanks for the fantastic weekend ladies- I can't wait for the next one!

11 Months

Claire just wanted to play with her sign, so Audra decided to help her out. What a good big sister!

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So here is a snapshot of Claire at 11 months:

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Weight: 17.2 lbs with a diaper and onesie- YES- she is finally gaining weight!

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Eating: She hasn't started on a ton of new foods this month- mostly because we have been focusing on helping her not be constipated. She has been introduced to green beans, wheat germ, and flaxseed. We have been giving her Happy Bellies Oatmeal. She was given a fishie cracker by a friend and she of course loved that. And, yesterday she popped an Easter Whopper in her mouth (can we say choking hazard?!?) and I ran over to get it out, and she was not too happy about it needing to be taken out. I can't blame her- they are yummy. Flaxseed seems to be the best thing for her constipation. She has not been nearly as constipated as she was a month ago, and we are very grateful for that.

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Nursing: This past month she has really cut down on her nursings. Now she only nurses 3-4 times a day. I have not supplemented with formula (yet) because she has also completely refused to take a bottle (another reason for her constipation). But within the last 2 weeks she has finally started drinking a couple of ounces of water a day from a bottle. It's not great, but it is a start.

Mostly I am bummed about her not nursing as much because my milk supply has greatly dropped. This bothers me because I can no longer pump any milk for the milk bank. I had committed to donating 150 oz. and I will be about 40 oz. short. I know there is nothing I can do about that, and they are incredibly understanding and they say repeatedly that it is most important I feed my baby first, and then pump what is left, but I HATE not fulfilling my committment. If you commit to something, you should follow through! But, I console myself by saying that IF we have another baby (a BIG IF!!!) then I will pump from the beginning and be able to donate like 300 oz. I think that's a good compromise:)

Anyway, back to Claire.

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Walking: I guess Monday was her first official "step"- but that's all it was- she took one step and then fell down. Yesterday she took 2 steps and fell. She definitely wants to walk, which is a step in and of itself as she hasn't shown much interest in that until now. While I am not encouraging this, Ben is going against me and encouraging her. Oh, well.

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Communication: She really isn't going anywhere on the talking front. Honestly, since she said, "mama" last month, I haven't heard her say anything outside of baby talk since. However- she most definitely communicates! She is very good at pointing to what she wants. And, if she doesn't like what you give her, she throws it on the floor. I realize this is not a difficult sign to understand, but Audra would throw things on the floor because she thought it was funny. Claire does it to communicate to us she doesn't want it.

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Playing: She is really great now at independent play. She loves taking things OUT (but not putting them back in. Oh, well). Her favorite thing in the whole world is the dishwasher. Pretty much I have to do the dishes while she is sleeping or Claire is trying to pull knives out of the silverware holder. Honestly, she might be playing in the living room, and we quietly open the dishwasher, and within 3 seconds she has raced over to the dishwasher as fast as she can crawl (which is fast) and is pulling things out. She also likes to eat shoes.

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Sleep: Thanks to the blackout blinds, she is sleeping AND napping great. She typically wakes up around 6:20, comes in and nurses, and then I put her down and she plays by herself until Ben wakes up (he is such a good husband- he always takes both girls so I can sleep in- I love that man!!!!). She takes 2-2 hour naps, one at 9 and one at 1. Then she goes to bed at 7:30. She is still the easiest thing in the world to put to sleep- I just put her in her crib and walk out the door.

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Stairs: She loves stairs. We put the ironing board at the bottom of our stairs to keep her from climbing up, but she loves to climb whenever we let her.

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Personality: She is getting a little more expressive. She is also finally letting other people hold her while I go do something without crying. She seems to be kind-of shy, and in general is a very happy little girl. She LOVES Audra, and she is definitely very well loved in return!