YOU Are My Love

I CANNOT lie... life has been... CrAzY!!! This, that and the other... all at one time! But what I love the most, is that no matter what... no matter how long the day seems or how much weight my shoulders seem to carry away from said long day... Claire smiles as soon as she sees me and nothing else matters.

There are times when I feel C knows just what I need. I love our relationship. AND I LOVE THIS LITTLE GAL'S SPIRIT!

The other night during dinner, Claire reaches over to me and hugs me... then takes my face in her hands in order to make direct eye contact... then she says, "Mommy, you are my love".

Claire, sweet sweet Claire, my hope is that years down the road you will read this and know that YOU are my love.

Another things I love about C'berry these days is her perspective on adding to our family. Just about every other day she asks for a 'pink baby sister' or 'a baby Noah like her friend Ella at school has'... She is definitely stuck on having a baby sister... and her current name of choice is Tiona (Disney princess Tiona... the one who is on her play cell phone that she talks on all the time). We are not pregnant and/or family planning at this time, but talking to Claire about her wanting a baby sibling is so adorable. When the time comes I know she is going to make such a wonderful big sister... she is SUCH a wonderful mommy to her baby dolls.

Let the good times roll...

Wonderful Minds

It has been almost an entire year (to the day) since I picked up this blog to write... I'm appalled at myself! Wow... so much has happen this year. I'm almost at a loss for where to start.

In just under 2 months our little Claire will be 3! I shake my head in disbelief anytime I consider that nearly 3 years have passed since Claire was born. She's grown into such a sweet little girl. The pride is endless! Everyday she is mastering new tricks or making our bellies roll with laughter after hearing her latest one liner (b/c we cannot fathom where she came up with such commentary).

While I was blow drying Claire's hair today, she was practicing holding up her middle three fingers... I could tell her mind was at work. She used her left hand to place her right thumb over her right pinky to hold it down while she pulled the middle three fingers up in place. Once all set she held those fingers up proudly and with the biggest smile on her face and light in her eyes she said, "Mommy, I did it! And I'm going to be this many on my birthday, I'm going to be 3!". She never seizes to amaze me and I love every moment of being Claire's mommy!

One last story before I put this away for the evening in hopes of being a better blogger.

Claire is queen of stall tactics at bedtime these days. She has to go potty, she's thirsty, she needs to read a book, she needs to go doo doo, she needs to get her baby... she pulls out all the stops! We've managed this well overall. But one night a few weeks ago, she just really needed to go... number 2. So I allowed her a second potty break. I walked out of the bathroom for a moment and came back. She had gone, so I asked if she was finished. And Claire replies, "Wait one minute, I need to make the family ones". I obviously said, "What now?". And Claire so so sweet and innocently responds, "I need to make the daddy one, the mommy one, the baby one and the Luna one". She was 100% serious. Of course, I cracked up and had to send daddy in to finish putting her back to bed (didn't want her to feel as though I was laughing at her b/c I wasn't... it was just so freakin' cute). It's amazing what these little ones come up with.

Recent Claireberry --

When do I have to stop calling her my sweet baby?!

I canNOT believe how longs it's been since I've blogged. I'm going to try to fill you in on the details of the past two months... in one blog post. Claire is now 22 months old (as of 3 days ago). It's hard to believe she's almost 2 years old.

The move is final. Claire and I finally moved down to be with T in Chapel Hill around mid-January. We've frequented C'ville since the move for various reasons: work, getting the house ready for rent, visiting with friends. The visits have been nice because it makes the move feel less permanent. We really miss our Charlottesville family and friends. In time I know we'll grow roots here in North Carolina, but for the meantime we're really just busy planning the wedding and doing some house searching.

Claire was with me at home for the first while and just started school. We really miss her old school in C'ville, but I definitely feel she'll settle in soon.

First day at new school.

Isn't she so BIG?! If I ask her if she's my baby, she'll often reply "big girl". Does that mean I should change this blog title from Sweet Baby Claire to Sweet Big Girl Claire?! That just doesn't have as good of a ring to it. I like to think she's a mommy's girl and really these days, she is. She loves snuggling with mommy. The mommy/daughter relationship we have right now is unbelievable. I keep my fingers it's always like this (knowing very well it may not be)! :) One of Claire's favorite things to do is to play mommy and daddy and tell each of us she's our girl or sometimes if she's feeling really spiteful she'll tell me she's "daddy's girl". It's a little game to her and she knows it gets us laughing. Love her!

She has grown up so much! She's singing a lot. Her favorite songs these days are: Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Rock-a-bye Baby, ABCs and Old MacDonald. Her little voice singing is so sweet.

Claire loves the outdoors... if she could spend all day every day outside, she would... no matter the temperature or weather.

One day last week Claire just really did not want to go to her new school. So she took a day at home with me. Here's a cute picture from our lunch date with daddy that day:

And on that note, I'll head to bed. Let's hope that I keep up the blogging now that life is somewhat balancing out a bit... and by balancing out I mean we still have to find a house, move AGAIN, plan a wedding, etc, etc, etc... :)

busy mama bee

Well... well... well... the move is slowly, but surely, coming into full swing! We've been packing the house here in C'ville and Tim is still doing the weekly traveling back and forth to and from Chapel Hill. I CANNOT wait until we find a house and can settle into the next chapter of lives.

While packing up a few boxes on Saturday, Claire took a liking to playing inside them...

Isn't she so big these days?!?!

We had so much fun!!

And while I'm talking about her being so big... I owe this blog an update from her 18 month appointment that was last Tuesday. Claire is weighing in at 20 lbs .5 ounces. She's growing on her own little 3rd percentile curve. She's currently about 30 inches tall (10-15th percentile). Still my little petite one.

But... her head measures at the 50-75th percentile level. I like to think she has a BIG brain in that not so proportionate head of hers. She's sooo stinkin' smart!

Things Claire loves to do these days: read books, sing her ABCs (up to D), sing head shoulders knees and toes (and do the motions along with it... SO CUTE!), love on mommy, be the life of the party :0), GOSH SHE'S JUST SO CUTE!

Oh... I do have one last thing to share. Not such a fun update... but something that should be documented (I guess?!). Claire threw up for the very first time (aside for spitting up as an infant)... while asleep... in the middle of the night... in her crib... oh it was sooo sad! It took quite some time to get her settled down and back to bed, but we made it! After sleeping in until nearly 11 o'clock Sunday morning, she seemed to be feeling a good bit better. My poor baby! :(

Let Fall begin... pumpkin patch and apple orchard

Pardon my two month disappearance. A lot has been going on since I last blogged. Mentionables... I traveled to India for 3 weeks, we're moving to Chapel Hill, NC in a few months and last, but most certainly not least my sweet baby Claire is quite the little princess these days. She's grown up so much!

I'll update on a few pictures from India soon, but in the meantime check out these oh so adorable pictures from our trip to Carter's Mountain this past weekend. Claire wasn't much of a fan of the pumpkin patch, but LOVED LOVED LOVED picking apples from the trees... and eating them!

Hope to catch up some more soon!!!

just an ordinary everyday update

It has been a hectic week. I'm not sure I have many nice words for what I've been experiencing at work lately. But whatever it is has made me all the more appreciative of my Sweet Baby Claire! No day ends badly when I get to spend time and laugh with her. She's so carefree.

Claire did give us an interesting scare this week. She broke out in hives Tuesday out of the blue. Our third doctor's visit in a week ruled them to be due to a viral infection. The hives were some sort of overreaction of Claire's immune system trying to fight off the virus in her system. Well... come Wednesday evening the red blotches were looking more like bruises. Thursday morning = doctor's visit # 4. Luckily everything was okay. The bruise-looking spots were still Claire's body's way of handling the hives and the infection.

All of this doctor talk reminds me that I never updated after Claire's 15th month doctor's appointment (our first of the series of doctor's visits over a week period). Claire is still a tiny little thing! She weighed in at 18 lbs 5 ounces. She is growing on the 3rd percentile curve weight wise. Her head circumference; however, still measures in the 50th percentile. My little smarty pants!

Claire is talking up a storm these days. Her vocabulary is quite extensive for a 15 month old. She can say upwards of a few dozen words now. She also is beginning to understand a lot of Spanish these days. It's cute! Claire is learning body parts... she can show you her (or your) eyes, nose and belly. She likes to dance and try to snap her fingers. Claire is so imaginative. I just love watching her little mind at work. She has some very funny expressions... especially when she sees something new or is trying to figure something out. I sometimes imagine her growing up to be an engineer with how analytical she can get. I do wonder who she'll grow up to be. May she never limit herself. May she always reach for the moon.

Bubblicious

Claire LOVES bubbles!!! For her 1 year birthday party we impulsively purchased a little $6.00 plastic bubble blower from Walmart. It didn't last long because the remaining bubble solution dripped into the battery terminals and rusted everything out. Well, we decided to repeat the purchase because, like I said... Claire LOVES bubbles! This little thing by far is one of the best investments if you have kids. I couldn't find it online, but they're available in the party supplies section. Here are a few pictures from our bubble adventures yesterday evening.

This last one is her copying our dog, Luna... trying to eat the bubbles! :)