Birthday Party

This weekend we are headed to Rochester for Claire's birthday party at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Today was Claire 1 year checkup at the doctor and we are happy to report she is in the 95% for height (31") and 75% for weight (22lb 10oz).

Happy Valentines Day

"You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because reality is finally better than your dreams." -Dr. Seuss


Claire enjoyed her second Valentines Day by having Papa play hookey from work and come down and play with her while her school was closed for an in service day. They had a fun filled day of tag, making newspaper hats and cuddling. This past weekend Aunt Becky came to visit and give Claire an early birthday present, an adorable handmade hat.

Claire and Aunt Becky modeling her hat

We have been working on Claire's throwing ability, we are working on her keeping her eyes open through the follow though.

The block subsequently hit me in the head, nice throw Claire.

Smash Cake

For Claire's first birthday we decided to give her a smash cake (or cup cake), the idea being that you strip the baby down to a diaper, let them go to town and make a mess. We should preface this by saying we have not really given Claire any sweets up to this point, maybe only a crumb here or there, so we were interested to see what she would do. Much to our surprise she didn't really react any differently that she does when we put normal food in front of her. She smeared it around and only really got 1/4 of it in her mouth. Here are some photos of the cake and one from this morning with her birthday shirt on.

One Year Old!

One year ago (at 10:34 am), Claire was born so today is her first birthday! Julie and I are a mix of emotions as we reflect on surviving the past 12 months.  At times it feels like Claire has always been part of our family and other times we can't believe how a year could go by so fast.  If we could sum up this life changing year it has been crazy, happy, sleepless, anxious, joyful, and surprising - all rolled in to one amazing baby toddler girl named Claire.  We are truly blessed to have such an amazing little person in our lives.  We can't wait to see what the next year brings!

Claire at 12 months:

• She eats three real meals a day and one additional snack at night in addition to her bottles. 
• We have introduced whole milk, with mixed success. We are starting to mix whole milk and breast milk to ease her transition.
• She loves turkey, cheese and bread. If she had more than a few teeth we would just give her a sandwich. 
• She started running, while the walking was fun, the running is just like the walking only more terrifying for mom and dad. 
• She regularly gives kisses to anyone who asks for them, they are typically open mouth and very slobbery. 
• She still takes two naps a day when at home, but is transitioning to one afternoon nap at daycare.
• She sleeps from 7:30pm at night to 7am in the morning.  On weekends, sometimes she gives us a special treat and sleeps until 7:30am. 
• She has 5 teeth, three on top and two on the bottom; but the 6 will break through any day. 
• She is mimicking us speaking with increasing success; she can now say baby, ga-ga (for Grandma), bub-ba (for Aunt Becky and a bottle), ball, duck, uh-oh, in addition to her standards ma-ma, mom, da-da, dad, and my favorite daddy (pronounced dad-DEEEEEE).

Looking back: Months 9-12

These last few months have been so much fun; not that the first 9 months weren't fun but each milestone brings new experiences for us. Claire started walking at 10.5 months.  She celebrated her first Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Said her first words, da-da, followed by ma-ma. 

On Monday our baby girl turns one! 

A year ago, ready to pop: 

Looking back: Months 6-9

6-9 months brought so many changes in such a short period of time.  It seemed like Claire went from sitting up, to crawling, to pulling up, to cruising in a blink of an eye. Her increased mobility was fun to watch and equally nerve racking as she tested her balance.  We introduced Claire to new fruits and vegetables as well.  She celebrated her first Halloween as our little ladybug.