So Close!

Clare is so close to walking; if she would just take a few steps she would realize she could take off running.  You can see the concentration on her face, she thinks about it and then just sits down to crawl.  I guess I should be glad she’s being cautious, I hope she stays that way.  

Found It!!!

Here's the picture that I wanted to include in my Happy Birthday Grammy post but didn't have on my computer.  Thank you Dad for sending it to me.

The first picture of Clare and Grammy :)

Happy Birthday Grammy!

I had every intention of posting this yesterday; maybe I should change the title to be Happy Belated Birthday Grammy!!!

Clare and I set out Monday morning with a list of ‘to do’s’ that seemed a mile long; we did the best we could before heading home for lunch and naptime.   The first thing on our list was to find Grammy a birthday present and get it to the post office; we accomplished half of that.  Someday I’ll get packages in the mail on time, I know Grammy doesn’t mind but I felt bad knowing she wouldn’t have her package to open on her Birthday.

To celebrate Grammy’s Birthday a little bit how about a few of Clare’s favorite pics of her and Grammy.

Loveland Pass for Grammy and Grampy's 40th wedding anniversary.

Grammy has always been the best kid-napper.

I wish I knew what they were talking about in this picture, Clare looks so intense.

Clare loves that Grammy will always share a treat with her.

Grammy and Sarah at the pool in Cleveland (January 2011)

Clare and Kenny playing, she had fun pointing out his nose and 12 freckles.

Grammy came to help celebrate Clare's first Birthday, she was happy to lend a hand blowing out her candle and helping her make a Birthday wish.

Happy Birthday Mom, I hope you had a wonderful day.  I'm sorry we couldn't be there to celebrate or organize a party.  Towson was smiling yesterday, recalling the party a few years ago, I'm sure he wished he could have been there this year.  I hope that your package arrives soon, nothing too exciting but I know you'll enjoy it and think of us.  Some year we'll have a party with potato salad, cherry pie, chocolate promises, York pretzels, and all the other treats we enjoy.

Happy Birthday Grammy!!

Cabinet Locks

Last week Grampy installed some cabinet locks since Clare is now pulling open every drawer and door she can get her hands on.  Jeff and I are both still getting used to having them on there, it’s not too annoying to go to open a cabinet and forget they are on there.  Despite our forgetting they are there, they are working, Clare can’t open the cabinets and get things out, or so we thought.

Her tiny little arm is the perfect size to reach in and grab whatever she can reach, in this case a dish rag. 

Someone is watching you...

Maybe I'll just sit down right here and help Mama clean the floor.

See Mama, I just wanted to help you.

Clare really doesn’t like holding hands, but when she does she walks pretty well.  We think she could take a few steps if she wasn’t so cautious; she just sits down and crawls.  I don’t think it will be long before she’s walking! 

Happy Easter

Today was Clare’s first Easter, and like many first Easters it was filled with egg hunts and sweets.  I will admit that I didn’t do a bit huge Easter basket and fancy to-do, that’s just not our style, and since she won’t have any memory of it so I convinced myself it was OK to not do it up. 

Saturday morning there was an Easter egg hunt at the Sports Dome.  Jeff had to help with the event so Clare and I went and enjoyed the festivities.  I forgot to bring her Easter basket, she has a Peter Rabbit Easter basket in her room, luckily we were able to hold all of our eggs in our hands, next year I’m sure we’ll need the basket.  There were lots of eggs of all colors all over the field, luckily they had it blocked off and divided up by age group, 3 and under going first.  Clare and I found a few eggs off to the side, out of the way of all the kids running, and spent our time picking them up. 

We found a few eggs off to the side where Clare could watch the other kids.

Hmmmm...

Look Mama!

Another one!

Check out both of my eggs!

Another little boy walking by stopped and shared his eggs with Clare, he wasn't so sure but Mom was excited to share.

Clare has recently gotten the idea of sharing, she enjoys passing anything back and forth.  I hope she continues to share as she gets older.

After picking up a few eggs and watching the older kids we headed out front where Jeff was greeting everyone.  I think Clare enjoyed seeing all the kids and watching everything.  For her first Easter egg hunt I think it was perfect, low key and not too many people. 

Sunday morning Clare woke up and played in her crib before calling my name.  It was clear from the moment I walked in her room that she wasn’t herself.  Our morning was full of general unhappiness and eye rubbing.  She eventually surrendered to a short nap after which she was in a much better mood.  Her day ended early, it was clear she was tired and ready for bed.  I don’t like seeing her so unhappy, I hope tomorrow is a better day for her. 

We hope that everyone had a Happy Easter and that the Easter bunny found you and left some treats.

The 17th

My sister asked me last month if I was going to post all of Clare’s monthly pictures in one post.  Here you go Sarah J

April 19, 2010 - 2 Days Old

May 17, 2010 - 1 Month

She's wearing my favorite sleeper in this picture, I thought she looked so cute in it.

June 23, 2010 - 2 Months

We left for Missouri and I forgot to take her picture, so I was a few days late.

July l7, 2010 - 3 Months

August 17, 2010 - 4 Months

September 17, 2010 - 5 Months

October 17, 2010 - 6 Months

November 17, 2010 - 7 Months

December 17, 2010 - 8 Months

January 17, 2011 - 9 Months

February 17, 2011 - 10 Months

March 17, 2011 - 11 Months

April 17, 2011 - Happy First Birthday!!

1-Year Checkup

Clare had her 1-year well check up today, originally it was scheduled with NP Clare but she was out so we saw PA Terry.  We arrived a few minutes early and checked in, the office manager greeted us like she usually does, ‘Hello Sweet Baby!’  She says she loves how I registered Clare before she was born, Baby Girl, Sweet, which then showed up in their computers as Sweet, Baby Girl. 

We were called back and told to meet the nurse at the scale for the official weigh in.  Clare measured 29 inches long and 21lbs 3.6oz with a 47cm head, so she’s petite with a large head; lots of brains I guess.  She passed all of the other tests and showed off her balancing skills, she didn’t have much to say but did  say ‘uh oh’ when the nurse dropped something.  You may remember from her 9 Month Visit  that she scored a little too low on the Hemoglobin test, so they retested today.  Her score at 9-months was an 11.3, today she was at a 10, passing is an 11.4.  So, back to Dr. Dan’s we’ll go on Wednesday morning for a CBC test, hopefully that will show that she’s completely perfect and healthy which we've known all along.   Until then we’ll be offering plenty of Cheerios and possibly some red meat, which she doesn’t generally eat. 

The 1 year report card that we received indicates that we can start giving Clare all sorts of previously restricted things, peanut butter, shellfish, and honey to name a few.  I don’t think we’ll be having PB&J or lobster anytime soon but it’s nice to know that she can give them a try should the come across her plate.  We talked about milk and discussed some tactics for getting her to like the whole milk.  I think our newest plan of attack will be mixing whole milk with breast milk in a sippy cup, gradually increasing the amount of whole milk.  Cross your fingers that this works.

Clare did receive two shots today, MMR and Varicella.  She did well, only crying for a few seconds after the pokes.  After our appointment we went home and had lunch and took an extra long nap.  She was a tired little girl; I’m sure the shots only added to the mood.  True to her style she was in a great mood when she woke up.  We had an afternoon of playing and stair climbing before Jeff came home to join in the fun.

Last night after the baseball game and before her bath we did our monthly photo shoot.  You can tell that this was the only month where I had Jeff’s help; she was smiling in most of her pictures because he was behind me making her smile and laugh.  She's also learned how to rock the chair, she was really rockin'! 

Birthday Party

Clare’s First Birthday party was on Saturday, we decided Saturday would be easier even if it wasn’t her actual Birthday; my parents were scheduled to leave on Saturday evening and we had tickets for the Rockies on Sunday so Saturday just made more sense.  We didn’t do anything over the top, no clowns or pony rides, just good food, a few friends, some balloons and cake.  It was very low key; just our style.

I woke up early to get the house clean and finish a few things before my parents arrived for the day.  Once my parents showed up my Mom and I went out for balloons and flowers.  I thought that picking up a few balloons would be easy, little did I know you need to pre-order your balloons or you’ll have to wait, oh well, 20 minutes wondering around Party City waiting for her balloons was worth the look on her face and the sound of her laugh.  Clare loved her balloons, they were by far worth the $15 and 20 minutes, they have provided many laughs.

I decided to make Clare’s cake, I figured it would be a little more memorable than a cake from the grocery store.  Friday night I put them in the oven to bake and planned to frost them before going to bed.  I finally got around to frosting them only to discover that one layer wouldn’t come out of the pan despite my greasing and flouring before baking.  I decided one layer would be fine; she didn’t need a huge cake anyway.  I used our Hadley Very Happy Birthday plate for her cake; it wouldn’t be a Birthday without using that plate. I can remember my Mom making our Birthday cakes on this plate and feeling special, we only used that plate five times a year; I hope to be able to create a similar memory for our family.  Next year I’ll use the same plate for her cake, but she’ll use her Birthday plate for her piece of cake. 

Please forgive my singing, Uncle Peter wasn't here to lead us in song. 

I labored over what to get Clare for her First Birthday, I didn’t want to give her a toy that would be played with and eventually forgotten, I wanted to give her something memorable; a Hadley Birthday plate is what I finally decided on.  I ordered it in March and hoped it would arrive in time; thankfully it came in three weeks rather than the estimated six. My brother, sister and I all have a Birthday plates and I can remember eating cake off of mine every year, I always thought it was extra special to have my very own plate for Birthday cake.  Until next year her plate will sit on display over the cabinets with our Anniversary plate, I may even add my Birthday plate to the display if I can find it.

Clare wasn’t so sure about the cake at first, she needed a little encouragement when it came to diving in, thankfully Grammy was there to help her blow out her candle and show her how to taste the frosting.  After a few hesitant tastes she got the hang of it, grabbing handfuls and sufficiently getting it all over her face; she even shared her cake with Dada.  I’d say that Clare did a good job with her first cake; she had it all over her face, in her hair, and on her shirt.  It was clearly nap time after she had her cake, she was rubbing her eyes with frosting all over her hands; we decided a quick bath before a nap was the best plan of action.

Grammy was happy to help blow out the candle.

Is this really what I'm supposed to do Dada?

Anyone else want some?

Dada, want some cake?

We didn’t invite a long list of people; we kept it small, which I think worked out well.  Melissa, Matt and McClellan all came, Clare and McClellan had a good time playing with all the toys.  Melissa and I both noted that it was the first time that Clare and McClellan had actually played together, typically they are in their strollers when we see each other, it was fun to watch them interact.  

Sarah Z. also came, Jason was on a bike ride, but she brought Talon with her (Talon is due to be born in July).  I haven’t seen Sarah in a few weeks, it was fun to see her, and it won’t be long before she is hosting a First Birthday party.  Affton and Whitney also stopped by; they both had a busy Saturday so they missed the big cake eating and song singing, regardless it was fun to have them there to help Clare celebrate.  All in all it wasn’t too many people but that’s alright; it’s not about the size of the party. 

After the party guests left, the mess was cleaned up, and we all took a nap of sorts Clare opened her cards and gifts.  Typically I don’t like to open anything before my Birthday, I don’t like having nothing to open on my actual Birthday, but Jeff thought it would be better to do it on Saturday than during our busy Sunday.  Clare received many wonderful gifts and lots of cards from all over; she was a very spoiled little girl.  The eggs from Maggie and Jack were a hit, she especially enjoyed playing with them with Uncle A, he can really make her laugh.  The lamb that Grammy and Grampy bought her at the toy store on Friday was also a huge hit; it’s so soft and sweet.  The finger puppets were a hit as well, she laughed each time the bumblebee buzzed up and touched her on the cheek. Greg and Gail sent a box full of clothes and books, the slinky was a huge hit; she loves to sit on the bottom bookshelf and play with it.  Meredith sent her a new book, Cecily and the 9 silly monkeys, a Curious George book we didn’t have!  She also sent an Air Force bib; Clare is always looking to expand her college apparel collection J 

Even an envelope can be fun when Uncle A is around! 

It was by far the best First Birthday party I’ve ever been a part of, I wouldn’t have changed a thing.  Clare was perfect and seemed to enjoy herself.  The balloons were a hit, the cake was tasty, the gifts were enjoyed, the cards were fun to play with, and the company was excellent.  

I’m glad we had a little party, I’d thought about not doing anything, I think had we not done anything I would have been disappointed later.  I’m sure there will be a year when she wants to have her friends come to her party, we’ll go shopping for party favors and we’ll pay some outrageous amount for a party which she’ll think is the greatest thing ever.  I can’t wait to do that for her, but until then we’ll be having Birthday’s at home.