The Bear and the Bean

4 Months

2011-07-19T10:44:00.000-06:00

Charlie at 2.5 months - May 6, 2011

Up until he was about three months old, Charlie woke up every 2.5 to 3 hours, wouldn't nap for more than 45 minutes during the day, would occasionally decide to stay up all night long, and would cry from about 5 pm until 8 pm, usually starting right when I was in the middle of making dinner. Apparently, this is normal baby behavior. Apparently, Claire was not normal. We learned to appreciate the baby swing and its ability to keep Charlie calm long enough to cook dinner and grandmas willing to come over during the witching hour. I loved the days when I managed to get Claire and Charlie to nap at the same time, so that I could take a nap too. I often felt frustrated by my inability to figure out what Charlie needed. Then, Charlie figured out how to suck his thumb and became a much happier baby. One night he went to bed at 7:30 and slept until 5:00 am. He did this a couple of nights in a row, and then one morning I woke up, it was 7 am, and Charlie was still asleep. Life started to look much rosier. The days of colic and night feedings seem like a lifetime ago. I'm not in the least bit nostalgic for that stage of babyhood, even as Charlie seems to get bigger and more person like each day.

Charlie at 4 months - June 22, 2011

At four months, Mister Charlie is a pretty easy going, happy baby. He likes to lay on the floor where he can kick and watch all of the people and animals in his life. He seems to prefer watching Claire to just about anyone. He's started reaching for and grabbing toys. He likes to have something to do with his hands. For several weeks he would wring his little hands, and then it finally occurred to us that he might actually like a toy or a blanket. He kicks his legs anytime he is excited. He's rolled over a couple of times and I half expect him to start chasing after Claire. Charlie's teeth are working on pushing their way through his gums, and he chews on anything he can get to his mouth. Kisses on his cheeks and tummy guarantee a smile, if not a giggle.

He has an ever expanding vocabulary of sounds - my favorite is a cross between a squeal and a yell and communicates pure excitement and seems to say "look at me." Charlie has figured out that he has to be loud if he wants to be heard above his sister. Based on his earlier seriousness, we thought he might be our quiet child, but as he starts to reveal himself to us, his introverted parents are preparing themselves for a house filled with noise and non-stop activity.

At his four month check up he weighed 14 pounds and was 25 inches long. He's developmentally right where he should be, and it doesn't look like we need to continue to age adjust based on his early arrival. I think it is normal, as a parent, to worry that your kid might not be developing normally, and professional reassurance to the contrary is comforting and welcome.

May 31, 2011

As I write these posts about what Charlie and Claire are doing, I find myself wrapped up in nostalgia and a longing for the future. I know that I will miss Charlie's immobility, yet I'm looking forward to watching him crawl and walk and the independence they bring. I'll miss the quiet of his baby sounds as he plays happily in one place while Claire plays happily someplace else. Soon, he will be in Claire's things and he won't be oblivious when she grabs a toy out of his hands, but I look forward to their interacting and their hopefully being friends and playmates (with some hope from the picture of Claire showing her sweet side). I simultaneously enjoy the closeness of nursing while counting down the months until Charlie is weaned. I like to daydream about the trips we can take when they get older, not planning around naps, lazy summer days characterized by hours at the pool and kids curled up reading on the sofa during the heat of the day. In the throes of raising a baby and a preschooler it is easy to romanticize the future and forget to enjoy what they are doing right now - to enjoy each kiss that brings a smile to his face and the fact that right now Charlie and Claire want nothing more in the world than to be with us.

And have we mentioned Dug is the best dog ever?

May 14, 2011

Charlie Turns 2

2011-04-23T13:40:00.001-06:00

Two months that is, which means that he has officially moved from newborn status to that of infant. He still seems pretty sleepy, but Charlie has woken up. He cries and grumps. You can see him trying to figure out this strange place that isn't the womb. I enjoy watching his eyes open wide, trying to take in everything that enters his field of vision, the way he'll crane his neck to see something that caught his eye. We've gotten a few smiles, most of them in his sleep. In his waking moments, he seems a little frustrated with his inability do anything but lay on his back and flail his arms.

We spent Charlie's two month birthday with an early visit from the Easter Bunny. (Claire had a date to go skiing and egg hunting at Brighton with her Grandpa Matt and Uncle Neal on Easter Sunday). He woke up just in time to help Claire look for eggs and seemed to enjoy being part of the activity and being held and loved by his adoring grandmas.

At his two month check-up he weighed 10 pounds and 12 ounces and was 22 inches long. He's outgrowing his newborn clothes, and after a string of leaky diapers, moved up to size 2. He has a double chin and chubby knees. While still completely Charlie, as his face fills in, he looks more and more like his sister. Someday, you will look at the two of them and know that they are siblings.

When I look back at Claire's days as a newborn, I realize that I spent a lot of the time waiting for her to sleep longer at night and to start doing something. I mentally needed her to interact with me. I wish I had spent more time enjoying her instead of wishing time to go by quicker. I know that the sleepless nights and the colic end. And while I am looking forward to Charlie's smiles, giggles, and longer stretches of sleep, he is our last baby. We will never have a two month old baby again, and I know that this time goes by way too fast. Before we know it he will be asking for the keys to the car and taking girls out on dates.

Claire at 32 Months

2011-04-22T20:10:00.001-06:00

Back before Charlie was born, I planned on writing a post about Claire at two and half years old, to take a snapshot in words of all the things that she is. Things didn't quite go as planned. So now that she is 2 years and eight months old, I'm finally getting around to it.

I have a blank book for both Claire and Charlie where I periodically write them letters, documenting how I see them, how I am feeling. Here is what I most recently wrote to Claire.

"Dear Claire,

You are two years and eight months old or thirty two months old. In the last two months, your little world has been turned upside down, and you are so resilient. You have welcomed your little brother into our little family of three with such generosity. I could not be more proud of you. You love him, and he is going to adore you.

I find myself often jotting down in my memory the funny things you say. I should be writing them down here, but I don't really have it together. Before I had kids, I would hear parents repeating the cute things their kids said, and I would roll my eyes. As parents we have the tendency to think that our kids are the smartest, cutest things around, but wanting to remember the words that come out of your mouth has so much more to do with us thinking that you are smart or cute. When asking you to get out of the bath, and you respond "my butt says no" or when something is funny you say "that cracks me like a funny egg," I definitely find it funny and cute, but I feel like I get a glimpse into the way your mind works, the way your personality is developing.

As we get to know Charlie, as he starts to spend more time awake, I keep thinking of how we originally thought you were such a serious little baby, but then we took this picture of you when you were about four months old. You are sitting up, you have a chubby little face, and you are looking at the camera with a smile on your face, winking. I think of that picture as being one of the first times we really got a glimpse of your personality. That picture of your personality is constantly changing. Here is how I see that picture at 32 months.

Green. You want to wear nothing but green, green shirts, green shoes, green socks. Your favorite foods are green, green eggs (yes, I put green food coloring in your scrambled eggs), broccoli, peas.

You are simultaneously sweet and spicy, artist and attorney, independent and clingy.

Your imagination and ability to play by yourself blow me away.

You like to direct your playmates how to play with you, prompting us with our lines. "You say, ..."

You have a flair for the dramatic.

You can turn any conversation into a song.

You have strong opinions and can be inflexible when things don't proceed how you envision them proceeding.

I am often impressed and exasperated by your strong reactions to things that make you unhappy.

You remain fiercely possessive of your belongings.

You are grateful, randomly thanking us for something we gave you months ago, for your little brother, or the eggs you refused to eat fifteen minutes before you said thank you.

You are loving and kind, and I am so proud to be your mother. "

One Crazy Month

2011-04-11T21:00:00.001-06:00

We started this post two weeks ago. The fact that we are just now finishing and publishing it seems to be pretty symptomatic of the way things go around here these days, slowly. I feel like I am incapable of accomplishing anything, but Charlie weighed in at 9 pounds 3 ounces on last Monday and Claire seems like a pretty happy kid, so I guess we are doing all right...

Seven weeks ago Wednesday, Charlie joined our family earlier than we had all expected. The day before he was born, I strongly suspected that my water had ruptured and was leaking. After an appointment with my midwife, I was sent to Labor and Delivery, where they confirmed that I was in fact leaking amniotic fluid.   Around 4 pm the pitocin started flowing, and the contractions began.    Throughout the course of the night, the pitocin was gradually increased, and after about 20 hours of contractions, I gave in and got an epidural (actually, my temp was beginning to rise, and the epidural was a last ditch effort to avert a C-section).

Once my body was able to relax, Charlie decided he was ready to make his appearance. An hour and half after the epidural, he crowned, we were moved to the operating room where he could be passed directly to the Special Care Nursery (SCN) for assessment. Fifteen minutes later he joined us. Charles followed him to the SCN, and after they were sure he was stable, they brought him back to me for a few minutes. Letting him go was easier than it had been letting Claire go. She had received such fabulous, loving care at the SCN, and we didn't doubt that Charlie would as well. Charles and I both felt comforted by the familiar faces we saw in the nursery.

I was discharged on Friday, while Charlie remained in the hospital. Babies born at thirty-five weeks are apparently notorious for being sleepy, and it took Charlie a good week to wake up and really eat on his own. I was able to keep my hospital room, so that I could be close to Charlie.   When Claire was born, it was easy to spend my whole day at the hospital and to be there for almost every feeding. With Charlie, Charles and I both felt torn. Claire was at home, getting tons of attention from her grandparents, but we missed her. We simultaneously wanted to be at the hospital to take care of Charlie.

Five days after Charlie was born, I took a trip to the ER because I was having chest pains. I was diagnosed with several small blood clots in my left lung. I spent two days in the hospital and will be taking anti-coagulants for the next nine months to allow the clots to dissolve and reabsorb into my blood stream. After being discharged from the hospital, Charles and I started back into the dance of trying to take care of Claire at home and being at the hospital to bond with Charlie. With the support of our family and friends we managed. Charlie progressed and gained more and more eating endurance, which was the key to being able to bring him home.

Then he put on weight one day...and then did it again. After twelve days in the SCN, he was ready to go home. We picked up Claire from school and headed to the hospital to bring our baby boy home. Claire was so excited to finally meet her baby brother face to face (she was not allowed in the SCN, so had only been able to view him through a window a few times). We got home, got Charlie settled in his bassinet and Claire set to work playing. It was a wonderful feeling to all be able to sit together in the same room. And we set off to try and figure out what our new routine would be.

Two days in, I woke up bleeding. My mother-in-law would later say that it looked like a murder had occurred in our bedroom/bathroom. Charles called 911. He then called his mom, who came over straight away (at 4:30 in the morning). We knew the kids would be in good hands, and Charles was able to follow the paramedics to the hospital. I was assessed, then moved to be closer to the doctors and nurses station. Charles overheard someone say I was the most critical patient they had had in a while. Once again, I had retained a piece of placenta. The blood thinners I was on because of the clot made the situation much more complicated than when I experienced the same thing with Claire. Plasma, lots of IV fluids, and lots of fear and stress later, I headed to the operating room. Conveniently enough, I was in the OR before Claire went to school, so we decided to have Charles take her in order to make sure her routine was not disrupted too much. Charles and my mom met me at my room once I was out of surgery, and we waited to hear whether I would get to go home that evening. They decided to keep an eye on me, but I got to go home the next morning.

Needless to say, we became way too familiar with LDS hospital and got to know a lot of health care providers at the hospital (and Charles swears their cafeteria has the best pancakes in SLC). Charlie and I were both well taken care of, and everyone we encountered did a great deal to make very stressful situations tolerable. Many of them felt comfortable asking whether we planned on having any more kids. We were pretty sure we would stick at 2, but our experience erased any doubt about that.

And now we are starting to settle into something resembling normal.   I have managed to get out of the house in the morning with both Claire and Charlie and actually get Claire to school on time. We've taken trips to Red Butte Gardens, the Zoo, and have taken a couple of walks on rare warm days.

Charlie's cheeks are starting to fill in, and he is quickly starting to resemble a chubby little baby. He's still spends most of his time sleeping, but he has a couple of alert periods every day where we get to see his blue eyes. We're still trying to figure him out, and I have to remind myself that while he has been part of our lives for six weeks, he's really only a little over a week old. He's a pretty gassy little guy, but it doesn't seem to bother him too much. He just grunts and sleeps, and rarely cries.

I do not think that Claire could have handled everything that has taken place in the last six weeks any better, largely due to all of the attention she received from her grandparents. Now that we are all home she has definitely had some challenging moments, which has been compounded by the fact that Charles and I are both exhausted, but she is so sweet and proud of her baby. She seems so big and grown-up next to Charlie. I count myself lucky that she is happy to play by herself while Charlie nurses endlessly. I find that listening to her play is incredibly entertaining. As I type this she is playing with several bottles of soap pretending that they are her friends and teachers from school.

While we are exhausted, we are happy. Charlie has so easily made himself a place in our lives. Among all the chaos, lack of sleep, and dirty dishes, there are moments in our day that seem so perfect: Charlie, Claire and I reading stories before nap time; Claire's insistence that Charlie come up to say goodnight or pick her up at school; Charles and Claire sitting on the sofa holding Charlie together.

Through all of the stress of that first month of Charlie's life, I think we both realized how lucky we are to have so many good things going on in our life. I'm personally grateful to be alive, to be here to take care of my kids, to love my husband. We are so grateful for our families and all of the support we received. Our moms, my dad, and my brother all took turns taking care of Claire, sleeping at our house so that Charles could be with me at the hospital, and just making Claire's life fun and stable at a time that could have been very traumatic. We have an amazing group of friends who provided us with food for a month despite my weird dietary needs. We felt so loved and cared for and are so glad that we are raising our children in such a supportive environment.

I'd like to say I'll be posting frequently, but I'm learning not to have any expectations right now. In the meantime, here is a slide show of pictures from the last six weeks.

8 Weeks to Go

2011-01-31T14:25:00.000-07:00

Very early in this pregnancy, my midwife did an ultrasound, at which point in time, the baby resembled a little lima bean, and the baby has been referred to as the Baby Bean ever since. The Baby Bean is due to arrive in about eight weeks. Very soon, life will no longer be All About Claire, hence the renaming of the blog to "The Bear and the Bean." I've created a separate page for The Bear (Claire) and The Bean (name to be determined), so that they each have their own special place. In addition, there will be a home page for posts that concern us all. In the next couple of weeks I hope to post some photos from Christmas, Claire's skiing adventures, our trip to Mexico, our basement re-do, and an update on two and half year old Claire.

What Kind?

2010-11-09T16:58:00.010-07:00

Claire's favorite question is "What kind?" She'll ask what something is, you'll answer, "That is a spoon." Claire responds, "What kind of spoon?"
You: "A sliver spoon."
Claire: "What kind of silver spoon."
You: "A big, silver spoon."
Claire: "What kind of big, silver spoon?"
Etc., etc., etc., until she is satisfied with your answer. I'm starting to feel like a walking Thesaurus.

As most of you know, I'm 20 weeks pregnant. We've all been wondering "what kind of baby?" On Monday we found out. Claire is almost two years and three months. In about 20 weeks, she will be a big sister to a little brother. Life is changing faster than I ever thought possible just two short years ago when I was incapable of enjoying the fact that all my baby did was sleep, eat and poop. I think that Charles and I are both filled with a combination of fear and excitement. Life for the most part has seemed to reach this point of balance between the three of us, and we are about to throw our lives back into chaos. Every time I look at Claire, there is a bit of sadness that the days of just us are fading away. At the same time, if this little boy is half as wonderful as Claire is, our lives will be infinitely better. Family and friends have reassured us that, just as with Claire, once he arrives, it will be impossible to imagine life without him. Given how true that has been with Claire, we think we might be able to survive the sleep deprivation ahead of us.

We have enjoyed an absolutely beautiful fall, filled with a ton of fun activities that I hope will turn into family traditions: trips to a pumpkin patches complete with a hay rides and corn mazes.

Making and decorating sugar cookies.

Red Butte After Dark. Red Butte is our local botanical garden, which has to be one of my favorite places in Salt Lake City. It sits in the foothills overlooking the University and the city. It is a wonderful place to explore, especially in the cool of fall.

Every year at Halloween the garden stays open late Thursday through Saturday nights. There are activities and decorations, and it is just the most wonderful thing to wander through the garden as the sun sets and to watch Claire enjoy the innocence and fun of Halloween.

Charles' birthday.

Raking leaves. Claire loves to help us with the leaves, but finds it a little distressing when they have to go into the green waste container.

And the ever important move into a big girl bed.

As I right this, the third snow of the season is falling, and many of the ski resorts will be opening over the weekend. Claire is excited for the snow and to going skiing with Grandpa Matt. At the same time, every once in awhile she'll pout and sadly say, "Halloween is over."

This kid loves to be outside, and I am mentally preparing myself for the cold, the snow, and the layers of clothing that accompany them with images of watching Claire play in the snow and promises of lots of hot chocolate.

Time Flies...

2010-09-09T20:05:00.003-06:00

...especially when you have a two year old. I've put off blogging about Claire for so long, that I felt like I would have to write this really amazing summary of what had happened since my last post, which made me feel pressured, which made me procrastinate, which made me feel pressured, which made me procrastinate...

Now, almost six months later, I am not even going to try to detail everything that has happened since Claire was 19 months old. I look at her every morning and wonder where she came from, when she turned into such a little person. It seems the only thing constant is her movement and her chatter. Unless she is sleeping, she is always going and almost always talking. She is exhausting, at times frustrating, thoroughly entertaining, and the most wonderful thing I could have ever imagined. While there are aspects of this age that are truly terrible (the insistence that everything is "mine" and the pushing, shoving and hitting that often go along with that declaration), two is turning out to be a wonderful age. Claire constantly amazes us with the things she remembers and the things that come out of her mouth, her incredible imagination, and her capacity to love. I'm going to try to be better over the coming months to document the things she does, so that some day I don't look back and realize I had forgotten all of the funny little things she said. Until then, here are some highlights from the last six months.

May 9 - Claire and our neighbor, Tyler

May 28 - Sharing milk with Bo Bo

May 30 - Day Out With Thomas

June 21 - New piano compliments of Nana Lana

June 28 - First chocolate popsicle experience in which Mommy learns that all popsicles should be eaten outside in nothing but a diaper

July 5 - New sandbox

July 25 - Seattle Aquarium with Cousin Emma

August 14 - Big Girl Bed

August 15 - Claire, Luke and Lila at her birthday party

August 15 - Claire and Uncle Neal

August 15 - Birthday Girl

August 29 -The right way to eat a popsicle (outside mandatory; shoes and Pooh shades optional)

September 4 - Moab hike, playing in the creek

September 5 - Skyline Arch, Arches National Park

September 8 - First Day of Preschool

Nineteen Months, Almost Twenty

2010-04-05T14:09:00.000-06:00

I started this blog post three weeks ago, when Claire turned 19 months old. I didn't publish it because I needed to upload photos, three months worth, or 159 photos to be exact. I finally did that yesterday. So here is Claire, 19 going on 20...

Thinking of Claire being 19 months old, made me think of the fact that just two short years ago, I was pregnant. I was just starting to get over morning sickness and starting to feel like a normal human being again. A year ago, Claire was just sitting up and far from mobile. Today she seems to run everywhere. She gets a second wind every night when Charles gets home, and we sit and watch her run with joy from one toy to the next, bringing us book after book. She loves to help around the house and build houses with her blocks. She likes making soup and eggs in her kitchen and then sharing it with us, asking us to "taste." She also loves to play with a number of stuffed animals, putting them to bed, feeding them, and changing their diapers.

Helping to rake the leaves.

Sharing her breakfast with Whale.

There are all these little things that point to all the ways Claire is growing up. She recently started spending Wednesday at Parent's Day Out. We registered her for preschool this fall. She is starting to string her words into sentences. You can see her mind working as she wraps her mouth around multiple syllables to say "Daddy's coming" or "Mommy sit." Today she started referring to herself as Claire Bear. One night at the beginning of March, Claire was having a particularly hard time falling asleep and needed a little extra love. I went upstairs and rocked her for awhile. Eventually, she looked up at me with the sweetest, little satisfied smile and said "Night, Night. Tay." It was a perfect example of all that Claire is right now. Still needing us, starting to know what she needs, and being able to take care of some things herself.

Occasionally, Claire will wake up in the middle of the night with a bad dream or a night terror. She has a certain cry, and we know she's going to keep crying until someone comes and comforts her. It usually happens around 11 pm, before we have actually fallen asleep, and more often than not, as sad as her cry is, we love the moments we get to just sit and rock with Claire curled up against our chest like she did when she was a baby. We don't get many moments these days when she is willing to just be held.

We've been enjoying days of spring like weather followed by days of rain and snow. When the sun is shining, we take every opportunity to get out of the house - going to the park or the zoo. Claire loves to be outside. Many mornings her first words to me are "swing?" Luckily, she calls the backyard the park, so we don't always have to go far to make her happy. With our extra hour of sunlight, on nice evenings we are all able to head to the backyard and get in some quality swing time before it gets dark. I personally dread waking up to a cloudy day and having to find ways to keep us entertained indoors that do not involve watching Pooh or Sesame Street while simultaneously explaining why we can't go outside.

I'm finding myself constantly reminded of childhood feelings as Claire grows up. The way it feels to have spent most of the day playing in the sun. The feel of sand falling through my fingers.

The mad dash to get to my favorite animal on the carousel.

The freedom of swinging higher and higher.

I see her starting to have these same experiences, and I get to experience them all over again with her. While parenthood can be incredibly hard, it is most often incredibly sweet.

A January Retrospective

2010-02-07T14:24:00.008-07:00

January was uneventful in that we did not go anywhere or do anything exciting. It was a pretty normal, laid back month consisting of horrible air quality and not enough snow. We did go sledding while there was still some snow on the ground. We learned that Claire loved flying down the hill and that I was incapable of staying on the sled.

And Claire decided that she was ready for a booster seat. It is fun to actually have her at the table with us.

Even though we had no big events this month, I feel like we have watched Claire make the transition from baby to toddler, which seems momentous. She learns a new word every day. She pretends, feeding Baby Meow his dinner and putting him to bed, cooking in her kitchen, making eggs with "spice." She has memories, even though she doesn't necessarily know how to express them. She remembers that Mimi gave her Baby Meow, the drawer where she found a plastic Winnie the Pooh figurine. She is obsessed with cats, Pooh, spices, walks, and her blankies, which she has recently started calling "babies." She likes to draw, and most often "draws" meows and Pooh. She likes to talk, but we usually do not understand what she is saying. Claire is quickly becoming Little Miss Independent. Our nap time and bed time routine has changed from Charles or I reading Claire stories to Claire sitting on the floor reading a book by herself. She does make sure that we have something to read too, and says "bed" when she is ready to curl up and say goodnight. We leave her room to a hollered "bye!" She sometimes seems to have more personality than her little body can contain. She can throw one heck of a temper tantrum, which while exasperating can be entertaining. We've been lucky in that the one public temper tantrum so far took place at the empty park as opposed to the crowded grocery store.

I feel that I have gotten to the point in motherhood that I've been waiting for. I love that Claire is so interactive, that she talks to me, has ideas and opinions. I loved baby Claire, but I always felt like I was waiting for something. In retrospect, I wish I had lived a little bit more in the moment when she was a baby, but I'm definitely at the point where I am present and the moment is most often perfect, even if exasperating.

Christmas

2010-01-10T20:01:00.004-07:00

We spent a wonderful Christmas here in Utah with lots of family. We got a lot of great snow right before the holiday, so on Christmas Eve, Claire tried out her snow bib for the first time, and had lots of fun stomping around in the snow and swinging.

Charles' mom and sister traveled from Virginia, and we all got together on Christmas Eve with my parents and brother for a traditional New Mexican Christmas Eve feast of tamales, posole, and chile rellenos. Claire really enjoyed the guacamole.

Claire had a great such a great time on Christmas day opening and playing with all of her presents that she slept until 10:00 am the day after Christmas. She seemed to love ripping the wrapping paper off of her presents and discovering all of the new toys. Her favorite Christmas present by far was the baby stroller she received from her cousin Emma. Once it was open all other toys were forgotten.

We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-30T20:12:00.004-07:00

We headed to Texas for Thanksgiving, spending part of our week in Victoria and the second half in the Hill Country. We enjoyed seeing family and the warm weather. We found it humorous when people in Victoria started bundling up when the temperature dipped into the 60's. Claire did great on the plane and during the car ride due in large part to modern technology, i.e. a laptop and a rental car with a DVD player. Charles, Nana, and I all probably heard the Yo Gabba Gabba DVD one too many times, we keep on catching ourselves sing "I like fish," but it was preferable to a screaming Claire. We didn't take many pictures, but we did manage to catch one of the highlights of the trip, Aunt Joyce's donkeys. I'm warning you, there is way too much cuteness in the following photos.

Enjoying Fall

2009-11-09T20:47:00.005-07:00

The Tuesday before Halloween it snowed!!!! Now, I know that this is totally normal weather for Salt Lake City, but for a girl from New Mexico, snow in October is completely unacceptable, and it nearly sent me into a massive, depressive state of mind. Luckily, autumn rallied, and we have had beautiful, golden, sunny, 60 degree weather for the last week and a half. In order to take advantage of this last taste of fall before winter really sets in, we have taken lots of trips to the park, the zoo, and just around the block, all of which have provided numerous photo opportunities.

Helping us rake leaves.

Playing in the leaves.

Playing at Sugarhouse Park.

Feeding the ducks at Sugarhouse Park. FYI: ducks don't like Pirates Booty.

Claire also acquired a new toy, a little Radio Flyer ride on horse that I found at a consignment shop. She likes to push it around, but needs help getting on and off.

We also hit a major milestone, flipping the car seat to forward facing. Claire is much happier now that her knees are no longer pressed into her chest and that she can look forward.

She's picked up a few new words, including "voff" (off), "bup" (up), and "uh-oh." She seems to be a pretty happy kid lately with less tantrums (unless we have to leave the park or come inside). She is still very busy and exhausting, but she just seems to be more at ease with herself, and we are enjoying the relative peace.

Halloween!

2009-11-03T11:14:00.004-07:00

For Halloween, Claire was Princess Leia. We thought the costume, complete with buns, was too funny. Unfortunately we could not get Claire to keep the buns on her head. This is what happened when we tried to get a picture of her with the buns.

So, Instead of wearing them, we just carried them. We took Claire trick or treating at the homes of a couple of neighborhood friends. She definitely did not get trick or treating, but she had a great time walking around the neighborhood, carrying her candy.

Claire at Almost Fifteen Months

2009-11-01T20:38:00.008-07:00

I sat down tonight, downloaded photos from the last couple of weeks, and realized that I really needed to update the blog. The sad thing is, I cannot really remember what happened in September. Claire started walking shortly after my last blog post, and life has been a blur ever since, so much so that Charles and I cannot remember the day she first took off. She goes non-stop and loves her new mobility.

Along with walking came talking, most of which is completely unintelligible, and lots of vocally expressed opinions. She is saying Dug, dog, cat, tickle (ticka), kaboom (boom), giraffe, mama, dada, and okay. She likes to shake her head yes and no at appropriate times. She signs more, all done, thank you, please, and touchdown. And she certainly understands a great deal...Charles was particularly proud when she retrieved the remote control upon his request. She constantly cracks us up.

Claire went through a phase where she loved ribbons and sunglasses.

She is currently into vehicles. She likes to push them around and go "vroom." She also really enjoys several books we have filled with pictures of things that go.

We've tried to take advantage of fall by taking lots of trips to the park or other outdoor locales where Claire can burn off some energy. She loves to swing, slide and explore. I'm really not looking forward to this winter and am planning on bundling us both up and heading out into the cold.

While this new stage is exhuasting and full of new challenges (temper tantrums), we are loving it.

The Moon Lake Disaster

2009-09-10T13:14:00.008-06:00

People are always trying to get us to go camping, but Charles has the requirement of running water. So, when our greyhound friends decided to do a group cabin camping trip to Moon Lake the last weekend in August, we were in. After about a week of making lists, packing, and cooking everything we could possibly need for two adults, one baby, and two greyhounds (we were dog sitting for our friend Emily) I felt prepared for four nights in the high Uintahs. This is what the back of the mini-van looked like.

The drive to Moon Lake was scenic and smooth. Claire slept for most of the three hour drive. Dug spent the first half of the trip perched atop the luggage in an attempt to get to me, but relaxed in the back of the van for the second half of the trip.

The cabins were pretty rustic, but they had running water, stoves, beds, and heat. We thought we were all set. We unpacked the van, fed the dog and ourselves, bathed an exhausted Claire in one of the big plastic bins we had used to pack food. She had the hardest time falling asleep and we couldn't figure out why until we discovered what looked like a huge bloody gash behind her ear, which ended up being a buffalo gnat bite that had really bled. We gently cleaned it, gave her some Baby Motrin, and she calmed down and went to sleep. Once Claire was asleep, we hung out at the campfire with the dogs until we felt our very squeaky bed calling us to sleep. As I was picking up before going to bed, I noticed some little black things in one of the dog's bowls. I tried to convince myself that it wasn't what I thought it was.

Around midnight, Claire woke up crying, which didn't surprise us, since we were in a new place. What did surprise me, was the fact that she wouldn't fall back asleep until three in the morning. Awesome. She woke up the next morning fairly happy and had a great time crawling around the cabin while playing with the dogs' leashes. I wasn't so happy when I discovered more black things in our skillet, and I could no longer deny we had little visitors. Despite being exhausted and a little grossed out, we had a nice day walking along the beach, taking a short hike up above the lake, and playing in the dirt. I don't think Claire had ever been dirtier or had ever had quite so much fun.

At bedtime, she fell asleep easily, and we spent a great evening hanging around the campfire with friends and the dogs, keeping our fingers crossed for a good night's sleep. No such luck. Claire was up at midnight, 1:30 , 3:00, and it took me 30 to 45 minutes each time to get her to fall back asleep. When she got up at 5:00 there was no getting her back to sleep, so we sat around the cabin and played until we saw a mouse scurry across the kitchen floor. We had been contemplating the idea of going home early because we were all exhausted and cranky, but actually seeing the mouse sealed the deal. Around 7 am, Claire decided she was ready for a nap and we all slept for about three hours. We spent some time playing on the beach before loading up the car to go home.

The ride home was uneventful, and while disappointed to be leaving early, we were glad to be home and away from the mice. Claire slept through the night, and there were no mouse droppings in my skillet in the morning. Charles now has a new requirement for accommodations - running water and no rodents. I discovered that I have gotten soft in my old age. I no longer have any desire to go camping. I'm fine with rustic, and I think I would have been okay with the rodents if Claire hadn't been sleeping so close to floor and crawling all over it. Moon Lake was beautiful, and it reminded me a bit of the mountains in Northern New Mexico where my family camped when I was growing up.

Despite the mice and lack of sleep, we had some really great moments and a lot of fun with our friends, and the dogs had the time of their lives. We haven't ruled out cabin camping in the future, and maybe we'll try again next year.

August Miscellany

2009-09-09T21:34:00.010-06:00

Here are some random pics from August (and two from July).

Claire and Dug enjoying the water table on a hot July day.

A visit with Claire's second cousins in Victoria, Texas.

Miss Bed Head and her daddy.

Dug cleaning out the high chair for me.

We don't ever buy Claire toys.

Claire, Emily, and Dug. Dug is wearing an old slipper. Have we mentioned that Claire loves Dug?

Claire's First Birthday

2009-09-08T10:41:00.005-06:00

We celebrated Claire's first birthday with family and friends on August 15th. Claire's Nana Lana, Aunt Leana, and Uncle Jake all flew in to help us celebrate. Grandma Karen hosted the party in her nice, shady backyard. It was a perfect day, even if the cupcakes were a bit of a disaster.

We learned that boxes and wrapping paper were initially much more fun than the presents that came in them.

Claire taking a ride on her "sled" compliments of Uncle Jake.

Fun with wrapping paper.

Playing with friends and Grandma Karen.

Birthday cupcakes.

Yum. Icing.

Claire & Grandpa Matt.

Claire & Uncle Neal.

It is hard to believe that Claire is a year old. Time is a funny thing. It seems to go by faster the older I get. In some ways it seems like Claire has always been a part of our lives. In other ways it seems like just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital. Claire is so full of life and constantly growing that I find it hard to remember what she was like at nine months, or six months, or three months. I feel torn between watching her and enjoying every moment and taking the time to document all of the things she is doing. Lately, watching has taken precedence over documentation, but I feel like I need to find a better balance, because there are so many things she is doing that I do not want to forget. All the more reason to be better at updating the blog.

July Recap

2009-08-31T20:18:00.007-06:00

I constantly wonder where the time goes, and when my baby became such a little person. I've been totally delinquent in keeping track of all of the fun and exciting things we have done this summer. We started July with a visit from my Aunt Sally and Cousin Emma. We all had lots of fun eating out, playing with Claire, and catching up.

Claire and Emma.

Shortly after Sally and Emma left, Charles, Claire and I were off to northern New Mexico for eight days. We spent the first couple of days in Santa Fe with my cousins, Carolyn and Amy, and Amy's husband Joey. Despite some trouble sleeping the first couple of nights, we had a blast. We ate tons of Mexican food, wandered the plaza, and had a great evening hanging out at Amy and Joey's. Before we headed to Taos, we stopped by Joey's studio to watch him blow glass. Claire had more fun chasing an empty Diet Coke bottle around the floor of the studio while we watched Joey do his thing.

Claire, Me, Charles, and Amy at the Zia Cafe.

Patterson girls.

Claire and Joey.

Claire and Carolyn.

We took the High Road from Santa Fe to Taos, where we spent the rest of our time in New Mexico. We did some site seeing around Taos in the mornings, and in the afternoons, I attended a workshop at the Taos Summer Writer's Conference while Charles and Claire napped and swam. In the evenings we sought out Mexican food and ate our fill of New Mexico red and green chile. Claire had guacamole at just about every meal and tasted her first posole.

Charles & Claire at the Rio Grande Gorge Bridge.

Claire & Me at the Gorge Bridge.

I moved away from New Mexico twelve years ago, but I still feel like I belong there. There is something about the sky, the mountains, and the people that feels so familiar and comfortable, and I was glad to share it with Charles and Claire. I hope that as the years pass (I plan on dragging them back as often as possible) that they will come to love New Mexico as much as I do.

Fun at Home

2009-07-24T10:16:00.005-06:00

June seemed like a very busy month between visits from family, our normal activities and lots of trips to the pool. We still managed to have lots of fun at home and adopt a new retired greyhound, who we named Dug. He is a very different dog than Vinnie, much more clingy, much more puppy, and he is definitely working his way into our hearts. He is great with Claire and a definite mama's boy. He follows me everywhere I go. He also likes to collect our shoes, Claire's stuffed animals, and cat beds. He piles his collections in various places throughout the house.

Claire is on the move and seems to be a much happier baby now that she can get herself where she wants to go. She loves to explore her world and is very happy entertaining herself. She keeps us laughing.

Claire trying out her new walker.

Checking out the fridge.

Sitting on the dog's bed and playing with a cat toy. We often wonder why we ever bought her toys. All she needs to be happy is a cardboard box, or in this case a cat toy :)

Playing with Bo.

Exploring the house.

Claire will soon be up from her nap, which means my computer time is over. Hope that you all are doing well.

Up next: July, including a visit from Aunt Sally and Cousin Emma and a trip to New Mexico.

Thanksgiving Point with the Grandmas.

2009-07-24T09:35:00.005-06:00

While Nana Lana was visiting, Claire and I went on a short road trip to Thanksgiving Point with the Grandmas. Thanksgiving Point is located about 30 minutes south of Salt Lake in Lehi. It is a privately owned park that includes gardens, a farm, a dinosaur museum, and restaurants. Our original plan had been to take a trip to the Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, but the weather threatened rain and we figured that Thanksgiving Point would provide us with some indoor options if it did rain. Luckily the weather cooperated, and we had a couple of perfectly sunny hours to enjoy the gardens.

Claire, Grandma Karen, and Nana Lana.

Claire, Grandma Karen, Me

Claire, Me, and Grandma Karen feeding the fish.

Claire, Me, and Nana Lana

Claire and Me in the Secret Garden.

Little Gym in June

2009-07-24T09:20:00.003-06:00

Claire's Nana Lana (Charles' mom) came to visit in June and took a lot of pictures. She got some great pictures of Claire enjoying her Little Gym class. This was the first Little Gym class where Claire really had the hang of crawling and she was all over the place. She spent most of the class crawling up to the other parents and our instructor Katie.

Claire on the way to Little Gym.

Practicing walking.

Fun on the Parachute.

Doing a back "whoopty doo" with Katie.

Playing the tambourine.

On the Move

2009-06-01T19:48:00.007-06:00

It seems like Claire has become a totally different baby in the last week. Once she figured out how to feed herself, she started doing all kinds of new things. She is crawling, sitting up on her own, pulling herself up to standing, and doing lots of assisted walking. She wants to go constantly and has moved from frustration to crawling with ease. Each day she seems to have better control over her body and to be more self-aware. There have been less tumbles and bonks on the head. She throws herself into everything she does and has no fear. She is increasingly social and talkative, and we think she is calling us by our respective titles ("mamama" and "da").

Claire loves to feed herself and hasn't refused anything we've given her. She loves crunchy things, like cheerios. Tofu, zucchini, and avocado are current favorites. She can't get enough tofu and stuffs as much as she possibly can into her mouth. We now know what her chubby little cheeks are for...food storage.

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Claire has also found a playmate in Bo. They enjoy batting each others paws and we are pretty sure that Claire has figured out that if she shakes a toy in front of his face that he will respond, which we all find incredibly funny.

It is hard to even remember the days when Claire could not get around on her own. While we are a little terrified of her walking and getting into everything, it is a ton of fun to see her explore and grow.

Food!

2009-05-26T11:09:00.003-06:00

A little over a week ago we started giving Claire finger foods. For about the first week she had a lot of fun playing with her food. Knocking cheerios around, mashing bananas and dropping everything she could on the floor and into her highchair. She did not quite manage to actually get any food in her mouth or attempt to get any food in her mouth. She happily chewed on the cheerios and peaches we put in her mouth for her, but the one time she got close to feeding herself Charles and I both gasped in amazement causing her drop the cheerio in her lap. But on Sunday we had a breakthrough. I had run to the store and Charles was in charge of feeding the hungry monkey. He put her in her chair with some cheerios and peaches and turned around to fix the rest of her dinner when he heard a "crunch, crunch." He turned around to find Claire stuffing her face. It is not a very refined art and more food ends up on the floor than in her mouth, but we are both very proud of our little girl and her new found skill.

Funny Girl

2009-05-21T09:56:00.005-06:00

I laugh a lot more with Claire in my life. We usually end up laughing together. She seems to have a very developed sense of humor for a nine month old. Here are a few of the things she has done lately to make me laugh. Somehow, they don't seem quite as funny in the telling, but I'll blog about them all the same because I do not want to forget any of the funny little things she does.

Lately Claire likes to hand us things. Usually she likes to try and put them in our mouths and thinks it is hilarious when we let her. This morning she was playing with her toy phone and Timmy came over. She tried to hand Timmy her phone. He just stood there as she patiently tried to put the phone in his mouth. She giggled the whole time.

Claire's Baby Einstein bouncy chair is right by the cabinet where I store tupperware. She's figured out how to pull the basket out to get the tupperware. She can keep herself entertained for 30 minutes or more taking out pieces of tupperware, chewing on them, putting them back, and dropping them on the floor. The other day she flipped the basket over and put it on her head. She would peak out from under the basket at me and start laughing.

Have I mentioned how much I love this kid?

Claire at Nine Months

2009-05-18T11:52:00.006-06:00

Claire turned 9 months old on Friday, which is hard to believe. Parenthood gives new meaning to the phrase "time flies." Claire had her nine month well baby check-up on Friday and weighed in at 19.5 pounds and was 28.5 inches, which puts her above the 50th percentile for weight and above the 75th percentile for height. She showed off for the doctor - chatting, waving, shaking her head, and clicking her tongue - causing the doctor to declare that we probably weren't going to need to age adjust her development, which you often have to do with babies born early. Basically, Claire is doing everything a nine month old should do and the doctor declared her perfect. We already knew that, but it is nice to have professional confirmation.

Claire now has 7 teeth, four on the top and three on the bottom. She started waving last week, which is super cute. She waves at us, people on the street, Vinnie, and the cats. And any day we think that she will start crawling. She is capable of scooting around on her tummy on the hard wood floor, most often backwards. Her mobility has demonstrated all kinds of dirt I didn't realize existed. She really likes to stand up and keeps trying to let go and do it on her own. She seems to be a pretty independent little girl who doesn't seem to have much fear. She also seems to have a great sense of humor and loves to laugh. She continues to be easy going, but has a bit of temper and does not hesitate to let us know when she is not happy.

Below are a couple of pictures from Claire's swimming lesson this weekend. She loves the water and is a good sport about going under, floating, jumping in and doing all kinds of fun stuff. She is the guinea pig every time the instructor shows us something new because she is the best sport by far. In the first photo, she is demonstrating her kicking skills, and in the second, she is basically floating on her own (with just a little head support from dad). We're looking forward to lots of days at the pool this summer.