Videos!

Here are a few videos of Claire from the last month or so....two of her walking with her walker and then one of her play and just being a goof ball. :)

8 Months Old!

Our baby girl isn't such a baby anymore! She is now crawling like a mad woman, pulling up on anything and everything, standing on her own for a couple seconds at a time, and has quite the opinion on most things, and is very willing to share it with you! :)

She makes the craziest faces, and constantly claps for herself. :) She loves to give kisses and sometimes hugs, and is really a genuinely sweet baby. We adore her and can't get enough of her.

This month, my main goal is to get Claire on a real schedule. Her days are pretty much the same, but between trips home to MN and other stuff going on here, it has been almost impossible to do it until now. We will be home from now until the very end of July, so I have about 6 weeks to work on this. Wish me luck. :)

Dad's Day

Claire and I are pretty lucky girls--we have some amazing men in our lives.

This is the first picture of Bud with Claire the night she was born. I love how tiny she looked in his arms. :) From that moment on, Bud has been an amazing dad. I knew he would be, but every time I watch him play with Claire or read to her, I just smile. My favorite moments are when I can hear them playing in Claire's room with out me...listening to the two of them play makes anything bad fly out the window. I can't wait to watch him teach her while she grows, she is going to admire him so much!

Our dad's are pretty amazing guys too. My dad is about the best dad two little girls could have ever hoped for. Watching him with Claire is an amazing experience for me--it makes me realize why it is that I love him so much. If he was half as wonderful to me while I was little, no wonder he is one of my favorite people!

Grandpa Dave came to FL for Claire's first Thanksgiving! Claire has loved him so much since that first meeting...she gave him some of her very first big smiles!!

Bud's dad is nothing like my dad...he raised 3 boys, so of course! However, when Claire and I enter the room, he turns into a different guy. Claire has all the men in that house completely wrapped around her little finger. :) I'm really excited to see the things Tim will show and teach Claire...I'm sure she will come home knowing some crazy stuff after spending days with Grandpa Tim!

Since work was so crazy, Grandpa Tim wasn't able to meet Claire until we went home to MN for Christmas! He could hardly wait to get his hands on her...everyone else was warned to not even attempt to hold her before he could!

Both Bud and I grew up with out grandfathers in our lives, and we feel that Claire is so incredibly blessed to have two amazing men that will love her and teach her so much!

Will we ever sleep again?!?

We have had a rough weekend around this house...Friday night I think I was up 4 times, and slept in the rocking chair for about 4 hours...

I think it is just due to teething...all signs point that way...slight fever, messy diapers, super fussy, so on and so forth. Although, tonight she has a rash...if she still has a fever and rash tomorrow I will call the doctor, but we wanted to try and play today out and see how she was feeling. She isn't incredibly cranky, just not her normal happy self.

She did sleep REALLY well (after she finally went to sleep at about 9:30) last night, but tonight is starting to look like it will be another long night....

Last night while I was trying my hardest to get her to sleep with no success, and Bud snapped a few pictures...pardon my not so lovely look, we had day of house cleaning so I wasn't looking my best. :)

Goals for the Night and Random Thoughts...

Bud has duty tonight, which means he is gone from a normal morning (so about 5:30am) until the next evening (so about 5pm), so I am trying to make the most of my time and get some things done around the house. I usually try and do these things during the day, but since I knew Bud wouldn't be home tonight, Claire and I had a play day...no chores, no errands, just play! Pictures will be at the end of this post...

So my goals for tonight were/are:

-Clean Bathrooms-check!

-Do two loads of laundry from start to finish (meaning I HAVE to put it away)-in progress

-Update Claire's baby book and calendar

-Dishes/Kitchen-in progress

-Water the lawn-check!

-Pick up living room/possibly get rid of coffee table??

I don't sleep well when Bud isn't here, so I have no doubt I will stay awake long enough to get this all done!

Moving on to my random thoughts for the day....

-I really want to get some more landscaping done before Bud leaves. I made a sketch today of what I would like to do...will have to run it all by Bud and see what he thinks. I LOVE what we did so far, and think with as big of a yard as we have, we need to add more....

-I puffy heart Babyganics cleaning products. When I was pregnant, and cleaning all the time, I looked for something that didn't have as many fumes...not good for me or Claire. These products do an awesome job of actually cleaning while smelling very pleasant.

-I am looking for a new bedding set, but am having the hardest time finding one that I like. I want to paint our room blue, so my only concern is that it has some kind of blue, why is this so hard?!?

-Claire is crawling, starting to kind of stand, and walking with help. Where did my baby go?!? I love this stage tho, she is so much fun. She is babbling and playing and loves to sit in my lap...I can't complain at all.

Now to the pictures...

Just playin with Mom!

I love my new music table!

Yes, that is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse in the background. Call me a bad mom if you want, but I AM trying to get my kid to watch TV. I have a 24 hr roadtrip ahead of me at the end of July, and ANYTHING to buy me 30-45 minutes will be a lifesaver!!!

My happy girl

In my pool today!

Claire's First Visit to School!

While I was home, my parents, Claire and I took a quick trip to Iowa to visit Sarah and Jed, and the rest of my family in Iowa. Claire got to enjoy quiet family time in Iowa, and then we took a trip to Auntie Sarah's classroom. My sister is pregnant and this will be her last year teaching for a while. Sarah is an amazing teacher, and students and teachers a like will miss having her around...all the student's who were lucky enough to have her as a teacher have no idea the gift they have been given. My sister is an amazing person, and her gift to teach the world is unlike any other. I thought I would be a good teacher, and being in Sarah's room has taught me that I know nothing....Sarah is the kind of teacher all others should look to for advice. Teaching is her calling, and I know she is going to miss it terribly.

Here are a few photos of Claire's visit to 5th grade...

I was a little more emotional about this than Claire...the last time we will see Beanie inside Sarah's belly! The next time I see my sister she will be a mommy!

Sitting in the director's chair...quite appropriate!

Mommy, Claire, and Auntie Sarah...

Our trip to MN and IA was so great. We got to see so many family members, while we celebrated Sarah's last week fo school and Lee's graduation from high school.

We are all so happy to be home, but so glad we got to spend the time we did with all our loved ones. Will post more pictures from everything else soon!!!