I stole this idea from another blog that I read, Noob Mommy.

Three things that made me happy this week:

1. Fantastic weather this past weekend and early this week = lots of outside time! Unfortunately that fantastic weather is gone now, but it made me ready for spring to be here!

2. Claire learned/mastered all kinds of new stuff this week... sitting, rolling over in her sleep, saying "hey" and waving (okay, not quite mastery of the waving, but she did it once)

3. The huge smiles that I get from Claire when I pick her up from daycare. They kind of make my day, every day.

It's been a while...

Okay, so I'm a terrible blogger. I also work waaaay too much, and just haven't had time to update lately! Claire is almost 7 months now, and had her 6 month checkup 3 weeks ago. Her stats are below. She's reached the point where she's started to slow down her growth, but she's quite a chunk now! Okay, still little, but a chunk compared to what she was!

Weight:

Birth: 5lb 14oz

2 months: 9lb 4oz

4 months: 11lb 9oz

5 months: 13lb 14oz

6 months: 14lb 3oz

Length:

Birth: 19"

2 months: 22"
4 months: 24.5"

6 months: 26.5"

She's been a little sick this month, she had croup at her 6 month visit, and it was almost cleared up when she got another cold. Ugh. The cold is finally almost better, just a bit of a cough left. Hopefully when she goes back to the doctor for her 7 month visit she'll be well enough to get her shots, since that's the only reason that she has to go in at 7 months!

Claire is getting more and more fun every day. Some new things....

~She is eating real food now, not just baby cereal, and loves sweet potatoes, squash, and pears. She HATES peas, and doesn't really like green beans. The rest is kind of, "eh, these are okay mommy, just don't give me peas!" She has picked up bad habits from her Nana, who thought it would be funny to teach her to blow raspberries when she eats. Not that funny. Joke's on you Nana, she eats prunes for breakfast most days, and purple food is not easy to get out! At least I only have to feed her dinner! I've been making all of her food, which is surprisingly fun!

~She is also getting way more into her toys, especially putting them into her mouth, as she's started teething, but hasn't sprouted any teeth yet. She still LOVES her Baby Einstein playmat, especially now that she has figured out how to knock it over with her feet.

~Her newest trick (just learned today) is how to hold her own bottle and feed herself. She can't hold the full heavy bottles yet, but once it's halfway done, she's good on her own!

~She's sort of learning how to sit, she sat on her own for about 30 seconds today, and then fell over as soon as I tried to take her picture. Not quite there yet, but getting there!

~She finally fits well into her 0-3 month clothes.... a lot of the summery dresses that we got for her to wear right after she was born are fitting and getting worn now. Glad that they still fit so we can get some more wear out of them before they get put away for #2 (#2 is not coming for a few years though!).

The weather here has been totally crazy... last Sunday we got about an inch of snow, and it stuck around for a day or two. The roads were clear though, so we still had to go to work, boo!! And then today it was 75 degrees and absolutely beautiful! We played outside all afternoon in the backyard and then took Claire to the park to play in the swings, which she loves. It definitely wore her out, she was in bed by 7:15, and her normal bedtime is about 8. Maybe she's working on getting herself ready for the time change overnight, who knows. Hopefully the time change doesn't mess with her schedule too much, but she's got a few days to get used to it before she has to go to Baby School and actually HAS to get up at a certain time.

Here are some new pics! And I'll try to update sooner next time!

At a picnic with the Templetons

Happy Valentines Day!

This is what happens when I eat peas....

Playing on the swings!

Baby's first Ash Wednesday (she fell asleep at church, hence the sleepy face)

Teething on a pickle, just like her mommy used to!

Check me out, holding my own bottle!

Playing outside with my toys today!

Sitting up by myself!

5 month update

Well, since I only seem to do an update about once a month, here's the 5 month update! Claire has started packing on the pounds finally, and at 5 months is up to about 13 1/2 lbs, and probably around 25.5". Still smaller than your average 5 month old, but she's starting to catch up! She has started consistently rolling over, mostly from her back to her belly. The problem is, Claire has always hated being on her belly, and clearly still hates it, as she gets on her belly and starts screaming about 20 seconds later. You'd think she'd learn how to roll back onto her back, but she hasn't completely mastered that one yet. She's also starting to get more giggly and chatty, and gets more and more fun every day!

Not a lot really going on this month..... Claire did get to see her first snowfall, unfortunately it wasn't enough to keep mommy and daddy home from work the next day. Then the next week it was back into the upper 50's.... crazy weather here. We went out to dinner yesterday with Aunt Kate, which was fun, and Claire and I did a bit of shopping. Mostly window shopping, but we got some fabric to make Claire a Valentine's dress. Yep, mommy is still crazy about making Claire's clothes. We're going up to Chattanooga this weekend to visit Nana and G-Daddy, so we may do a little bit of "real" shopping then!

Like I said, not a lot going on.... so here are some pictures! That's what everyone wants anyway.

Chillin in the Boppy seat

Playing in my jumperoo

Baby's first snowfall!!


After church with mommy

Lucy is starting to like Claire

Tolerating my tummy time

Claire's first Christmas

Claire's first Christmas was great! Aunt Colleen, Nana, and G-Daddy came down Tuesday night and hung out and then on Wednesday we had Aaron's whole family over for Christmas Eve dinner and presents. It was about 30 people. Very busy, but lots of fun. And it was great to get to see all the kids open their presents. Claire had a good time getting held by everyone, and getting her hair done by Ella!

On Christmas morning we went to church, then came home, had some breakfast and opened presents. Claire was very spoiled by everyone!! She got a new jumperoo, pj's, books, all kinds of toys, and her Nana made her a cross stitched blanket. Mommy and Daddy both got new cameras to take plenty of pictures of her!! And Daddy's takes video too! It was great to get to spend time with the family and have everyone around to celebrate our first Christmas with our little girl.

In other Claire news, she's started eating cereal, and has finally started to get the hang of swallowing it, instead of spitting it back out! She still acts like the first bite is the most disgusting thing she's ever tasted, but after she swallows that first bite, she's back for more! Her new trick is blowing raspberries while she has food in her mouth. Half the time I get to wear as much of her cereal as she does. In a few more weeks we're going to move on to baby food, which I plan on making myself. Sounds like fun, and is much cheaper than buying it at the store! Claire and I are going to the book store tomorrow to see if we can find a book about making baby food.

We're also very excited to spend our first New Year's Eve with the munchkin, even though her bedtime is a good 2-3 hours before midnight, so she won't be awake for the festivities. And by "festivities", I mean sitting on the couch watching the ball drop. I'm a huge homebody, so that's a pretty ideal New Year's Eve to me, just a nice, quiet evening with my family. At least this year I'll be able to break out the bubbly, last year I was about 8 weeks pregnant for New Years and didn't want to do anything!

Here are some Christmas pics!

Claire pretending she's Jesus in her swaddling clothes

After church

New jumperoo is yummy!

On the blanket Nana made her

New jammies from Aunt Megan

messy cereal face

4 months!

I finally have a working computer again, so I can update the blog! After the personal computer got a virus, the work one did too, so I've been without a working computer for the past few weeks. So I had to reinstall my whole computer, and lost everything on it. Thankfully the baby pics had all been saved on a disk. But now it works again, so I'm happy!

Claire is 4 months old today! She went to the doctor yesterday and had her 4 month checkup and shots. The shots weren't great, but they weren't too bad, she just cried for a minute or two. She did give me and the nurse that gave the shots a "I hate you people" look. But I guess I would too if I had just gotten 4 shots. She has a little bit of a cold, and a crusty nose, but it doesn't seem to be bothering her too much. The doctor said that we can start her on rice cereal any time we want, so we'll see what she thinks about that! Might have to get her a highchair soon.... Her new stats are below:

Birth:
Weight-- 5lb 14oz
Length-- 19"
Head Circumference-- not really sure, but I think it was about 14.5" or so?
2 months:
Weight-- 9lb 4oz (10th percentile)
Length-- 22" (50th percentile)
Head Circumference-- 15.25"

4 months:

Weight-- 11lb 9oz (10-15th percentile)

Length-- 24.5" (50th percentile)

Head Circumference-- 16"

We (I) finally bit the bullet and moved Claire into her own room. She has been sleeping in a bassinette in our room since she was born, and it was super convenient when she would wake up during the night to just be able to take care of her without getting out of bed. Especially once she quit sleeping through the night a few weeks ago. But it was time to get her used to sleeping in her crib, and she's been a champ at it! She's slept completely though the night without waking up for the last 4 nights. Or if she's woken up, she hasn't made any noises and I haven't heard her on the monitor. And I'm a light sleeper now that she's in her own room :) Mommy worries....

We're getting really excited about Christmas, somehow it's a lot more fun with a baby around. She sat and watched us decorate the tree, and we helped her put on her "baby's 1st Christmas" ornament. She loves looking at the lights on the tree. I've been singing her Christmas songs too, and she seems to like that. Or maybe she's just humoring me, since I can't sing at all. We're also excited to have both of our families coming here for Christmas, it's a lot of work, but we like having everyone together at our house. Gotta go grocery shopping for Christmas Eve dinner this week!

Here are some random pics from the last few months, since I can finally post pictures again!

Looking cute in my little hoodie!

Baby's First Halloween

Claire with "her" Christmas trees

Looking at the tree

Almost 3 months!!

So, I've done a terrible job at posting lately, because my computer is, um, infected. So I'm having to use my work computer until the personal one gets fixed. And the work one is SLOW, and not really intended for "personal use". But oh well!

Claire will be 3 months old this week. It's unbelievable how fast the time has gone. She has been an absolue joy every day since her arrival, and I couldn't really ask for a better baby. She's still sleeping through the night, about 8-9 hours in one stretch. I went back to work two weeks ago, so she is now spending her week in a mixture of Nana-care, Mommy-care, and "baby school" (since I don't like the word daycare). She's adapted really well, and seems to like baby school, although after she blew out her diaper the other day, I'm not sure how much they love her :). Just kidding, they tell me every time I pick her up how cute she is, and how snuggly, and how much they just love to hold her because she's so much smaller than the rest of the babies in there. And because she's a girl, and there's only one other part-time girl in her class!

Work has been REALLY busy, and very crazy. I'm told several times every day how glad they are to have me back, which is kind of nice because when I was at home on maternity leave I wondered if they really needed me back. And they do. I actually wonder how they survived without me! Conceited, yes, but they had me working until 6:30 the first day I got back, so I know they need me.

Aunt Colleen came to visit this weekend, and Claire loved seeing her. We took Claire to Barnes and Noble, which is one of my favorite stores, and seems like it will be one of hers too, she LOVES to have us read her all her little books. And whenever I go to the bookstore, I get so excited in the kids section remembering all the books I liked when I was little and I can't wait to read them to her. She'll be the only 2 year old I know listening to Little House on the Prairie... Nana and G-Daddy also came to visit yesterday, and it was nice to have the whole family around.

Just 1 picture from my dad to add right now, since I can't use my regular computer, and can't put pictures onto my work computer, but I can tell that she's getting bigger, she's probably close to 11lbs now. I finally decided to break out her 0-3 month clothes this weekend.... even though the newborn stuff still fits her, at 3 months old. I just needed a little variety from seeing her in the same onesies every day! Hopefully our next baby will be a girl too, since we have so much of her stuff that she really hasn't even been able to wear, and now it's getting too cold. Note to self, next time don't buy so many clothes until you know how big your baby is! This pic is from yesterday, and it's part of a totally cute outfit, but I think this was right after a nap, so the "totally cute" part was on her changing table.

2 months old!

Claire turned 2 months old on Monday. I can't believe she's already 2 months, it has absolutely flown by!! Da munchkin continues to grow, and the doctor said that she looks great, and that she's "amazingly visually alert" because she was looking all around and was very attentive during her checkup. I think he was also impressed by her lungs, since she also exercised them through a good part of the exam. Good to know that she doesn't just save the screaming for mommy. She had to get her 2month vaccinations today, which she really didn't love, but she seems to be doing pretty well so far, she came home and ate a bottle, and is now playing on her Baby Einstien, which is pretty standard behavior, so I'm glad that she doesn't seem to be feeling too bad from all the shots. Here's a little comparison of how she's grown:

Birth:

Weight-- 5lb 14oz

Length-- 19"

Head Circumference-- not really sure, but I think it was about 14.5" or so?

2 months:

Weight-- 9lb 4oz (10th percentile)

Length-- 22" (50th percentile)

Head Circumference-- 15.25"

So she's gained 3lb 6oz and has grown 3". She's still a petite little pixie of a baby, but she's growing right on schedule, and has pretty much maintained the 10th percentile for her weight for the last 2 months.

We've been busy this week with figuring out what's going to happen with baby once I go back to work. I go back to work on October 27th, I think that work is looking forward to my return more than I am, because I hate to have to leave her, but with the economy the way it is right now, I'm thankful that I have a good job to go back to, and that after 2 months of being gone, they all finally realize how valuable I am :). Once I go back, Claire will be in Nana-care on Mondays and Tuesdays, Ivy Hall Day School on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and Mommy-care on Fridays. That's right, my mom has decided that she'll come down from Chattanooga two days a week to take care of Claire, which is awesome for Aaron and I, and Claire will absolutely love it! We're also very excited that I'm going to be able to stay home with her on Fridays, mainly because I still have some vacation days to use up at work! She'll also get the chance to socialize with other babies and learn to get used to people other than Aaron and I at the daycare, which is a pretty awesome daycare, they do baby sign language in the infant class, and then once they're two, they start music and science and art classes, it's very cute.

That's about all that's going on around here, some of her new pictures are below...

New fall dress Nana made

There's that visual alertness the doctor was talking about!

Channeling the Murrin spirit with the popped collar

little baby spit-face puke-mouth (her new nickname)