January - In preparation for the baby I decided that the entire house needed a makeover. All walls, ceilings, baseboards and doors were painted and all floors were replaced. While it sounded like a great idea, and I'm glad we did it, I'll never do that again. A project that size needs to be done BEFORE moving into a house. I guess you could call this my nesting phase. We also took our last visit to Ohio before Clare was born.
Kai was less than impressed by the situation, she had no place to go that wasn't covered in plastic, paper or paint.
That would be our living room under the plastic.
It was completely worth it, look how pretty those floors and walls are!
February - More prep for Clare. We went to the recommended birthing class, where the instructor pointed out that occasionally there are women like me that don’t like to be touched, not too awkward in a class full of pregnant ladies. We finally got the crib put together and some clothes hung in the closet. Lauren and Affton hosted a Baby Shower for us and we started to acquire some of the necessary baby items, it finally started to look like a new family member would be joining us.
March – Gail and Greg came out for Spring Break to help put Clare’s room together, it was a good thing because I would have never done it. I finished up summer planning at work and anticipated my 12 weeks of leave; I couldn’t wait! We put the car seat in the car and began to wait.
April - Being the Rockies fans that we are we went to opening day, I was 38 weeks 6 days pregnant; luckily we didn't have a baby during the 7th inning stretch. Clare was born April 17th at 11:48pm weighing in at 7lbs 5oz. She arrived in a timely fashion, 40 weeks exactly with 12 minutes to spare. Our lives changed forever and we were in love instantly. We had lots of visits from my parents, Jeff's parents, and my sister.
May – Lots of afternoons on the couch holding my little lady, I wish I could spend all my days like that. Clare experienced her first snow fall and tornado. We walked our first 5K walk, and took Clare to her first Rockies game. Jeff had another birthday and we had a visit from Tia. While Jeff was at work I caught her first smiles caught on camera.
Clare and I walked the Highline Canal 5K at 3 weeks old.
Rockies game on May 16th. There was another little baby in the row in front of us, she was 1 week younger and also named Clare (although spelled it Claire).
Tia came to visit, Camp Tia On-Location. Most exciting part of the visit was the guy trying to get into the house at 5am and Jeff greeting him with his Demarini softball bat while I called the cops.
The first smile caught on camera.
June – Lots of walking with our BOB stroller. Clare’s first visit to Missouri, to meet family, experience humidity at it’s finest, eat Fortune East egg rolls and give Jeff and myself a little ‘vacation’. Clare worked on her head control and rolling over, mastering both. We met Melissa and McClellan, it’s been so nice to have a friend going thru the same stages, McClellan is 2 weeks younger than Clare. Another trip to Coors Field to see the Rockies beat Boston. Grammy and Grampy came to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. Kai learned to jump over the fence.
Clare and her first Fortune East egg roll.
Clare sharing secrets with Great Great Grandma Ruth.
5 generations of Junkins on one couch.
4 generations of Sweets, 4 by birth 1 by marriage.
Clare and McClellan at Hudson Gardens, their second play date.
Loveland Pass on Grammy and Grampy's wedding anniversary.
July – Clare realizes how funny we all are and begins to laugh, her voice is music to my ears. July 12th I returned to work and Greg and Gail come to watch Clare. We add a Jump-A-Roo to the repertoire of baby equipment and Clare shows the floor who’s boss. We finally settle into a routine and feel as though we have a handle on things. Jeff and I realized again that our lives were forever changed; we were ok with no longer going out to dinner or sleeping in, we wouldn’t change it for the world.
Working hard to keep the carpet down.
Jeff checking to see if maybe Clare has any loose change in her pockets, babies are expensive!
August – Jeff and I celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary with a trip to Breckenridge for the Young Dubliners concert, our first family vacation. Clare is officially considered a supported sitter. We visited one of the outdoor pools for Clare’s first swimming lesson, plenty of sun protection was used, she is my child after all. Lots of fun times around home, it was hot!!
Being a Mama that runs pools this picture is priceless.
She seemed to like the water, as long as it was warm and the older kids weren't splashing her.
We walked around Breckenridge and stopped at the Blue River, she wasn't thrilled by how chilly the water was when I dipped her toes in.
Not quite ready for popcorn, but she did start eating oatmeal.
Not a great picture of any of us, but it is the only one we got with the Young Dubliners. Clare napped thru most of their performance, luckily we had a hotel room where we could hear them, we made it down in time for their last song.
We stopped at Beau Joe's on the way home, she loved the marinara sauce from Jeff's spaghetti.
September – Football season!!! Greg and Gail came out for Labor Day weekend and Clare has her first ‘camp fire’ complete with S’mores. 4th Annual Puppy Paddle at the pool, Kai refused to get out of the water. Clare has become an independent sitter and prefers sitting up to lying down. We headed to Missouri for a football game, they beat Miami by a million points, and time with Greg and Gail.
Go Bucks!!
Jeff and Greg taught Sabrina how to build a fire, she did pretty well! We all enjoyed s'mores and adult beverages or soda while watching the campfire. Jeff says he enjoys a cul-de-sac campfire because it makes him feel as though he rules the cul-de-sac.
Clare waited patiently while Kai swam, she was anxious to get home and watch some Buckeye football.
Clare was very excited to try rice cereal, while she didn't exactly enjoy the rice cereal she did enjoy solids in general.
Sitting is fun, even in the fruit bowl! If fruit were this cute I'd sure eat a lot more of it.
Don't worry, she didn't ride in the front seat. Kansas is still long, hot, and flat, it's a rough drive for a little girl.
October – The weather finally began to cool a bit and the days got shorter. Clare started eating ‘real’ food enjoying peas, pears, prunes, green beans, squash and sweet potatoes. I’ve been making some and buying some, my idea of making all her food was tossed out the window early. We started to offer a sippy cup, although she liked it, I’m not sure how much she actually got out of it. Halloween came and went, no trick-or-treating this year, maybe next year. Possibly the most exciting thing to happen this month was hearing Clare say ‘Dada’. The least exciting thing to happen was Clare got her first cold, luckily it wasn’t too bad, but we did have to use the blue snot sucker. Clare and I did our second 5K together, it was a Halloween themed race where costumes were optional, Clare wore her bunny hat as her costume.
Do I really need a costume this year Mom??
We love having days off with Melissa and McClellan!!
No matter how many times I try, she's not crazy about my homemade peas.
Clare had our first cold, her poor nose was runny and she was coughing in her sleep. Luckily, it only stuck around for a day or so.
She enjoyed her first pumpkin, it provided lots of entertainment for a few weeks until Kai got ahold of it.
Happy Halloween!!
November – Clare got her first convertible car seat, a Britax Boulevard 70, nothing but the best for my little lady. It took some getting used to but she seems to like it. We added Puffs and Cheerios to Clare’s solid foods; she has a great pincher grasp and has no problem picking them up to feed herself. We survived daylight savings without any sleeping trouble; Clare is a wonderful sleeper sleeping 12-13 hours each night. Clare hasn’t expressed much interest in crawling; she’s never been a big fan of being on her belly. Always wanting to encourage the next thing Clare loves to practice standing, especially in her crib. We celebrated Thanksgiving at home this year, the entire Evans family came out, it was a great time and we all enjoyed being together.
Looking good in her Cowmooflage seat.
This is the face of a good sleeper, Daylight savings has nothing on us!
Look Mama, I can stand all by myself!
Clare loved her pancake at Snooze (an AM eatery).
We had family pictures taken by Ann Goldenberg, she did an amazing job capturing 11 people in 25 minutes, she is truly talented.
December – We celebrated Clare’s First Christmas by sleeping in and opening gifts at home before traveling to Missouri later in the afternoon. Clare was spoiled with gifts and enjoyed her First Christmas. Our trip to Missouri was very nice, we had enough time to relax, visit with family, eat at Fortune East three times and do all the Joplin things we wanted to. Our year ended with a quiet evening at home, just the way we like it.
Checking out her first tree, she loved the lights.
Loving her new kitchen.
Waiting for our plane to Tulsa, OK.
Grandma and Grandpa Sweet got her a car for Christmas, wonder if they'll do that again in 16 years??
So, there you have it, 2010 in the Sweet house. As I said in my earlier post, yes I made it past midnight, 2010 was a wonderful year filled with blessings, good health, happiness, laughter, love and joy. Clare has brought us more happiness than we could have ever hoped.
Happy New Year!!
PS - I haven't been up this late in a LONG time, and I have a feeling I'm going to be dragging tomorrow, but I wanted to finish this entry before going to bed. Please forgive me if I don't blog for a few days :)
The look on her face in the "first car" picture is priceless. Keep that and compare to the look on her face for her first real car.
ReplyDeleteNice work on this post! You make me look like a blogger delinquent.