Life As We Know It

I have been horrible about posting lately. I am so sorry. Suddenly having a baby to take care of cuts back on the free time. Mother's with more than 1 child can start laughing and mocking me now. You're probably saying "Do you realize what you can get done with ONE kid?!" I know, I know. It's just an adjustment. I promise I'll get better again. :)

So, about Miss Claire. She's doing great. In fact, she slept 6.5 hours last night! Yahoo! She's started sleeping one 4-6 hour stretch almost every night for the past 2 weeks. We've had an occasional all-nighter here and there, but for the most part we're gettin on a schedule! Needless to say, I'm happy. And much more well rested. :)

Claire is also becoming much more alert. Her favorite thing to look at is anything bright i.e. lights, the sun (when it shows itself), etc. and lately, I find her staring at our big picture of the Columbia River Temple that we have hanging in our living room. I kid you not, she looks at it ALL THE TIME. I think she knows it's a special place. Seriously. This girl is smart. She knows mine and Dallin's voices and she knows my mom's and Valerie's voices really well too. Her eyes get big and she starts to look around when any of us speak. It's amazing. She grabs our fingers and holds on a lot too. And let me tell you, this girl has a death grip. Holy schmoley, she will not let go of you once she's got a hold of ya. Claire also loves music. (We would certainly hope so, with Dallin and I as her parents.) When I turn on The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, she quiets down if she's fussy, which she rarely is. It usually puts her to sleep too. And whenever I sing to her, it calms her down and puts her to sleep. Seriously, this girl is the easiest baby to console. It's awesome. We are INCREDIBLY lucky.

Another favorite of Claire's is bath time. It's pretty entertaining because she hates getting undressed and her diaper taken off, but as soon as she gets put in the bath, she relaxes and starts kickin her little legs around. I think she might be a splasher as she gets older. :) So, she loves bath time, but she hates getting out and me putting lotion on her. Oh my goodness, you would think we were abusing the poor child with the howls she lets out. I hope my neighbors don't report us to the CPS, sheesh. Sometimes I just put her in a onesie and then calm her down because trying to get any more clothing on her than that is a wee bit difficult. She fights me when I try to get her dressed. And she tries to eat her hand when I'm trying to put it through the sleeve. Needless to say, it's hard to get Claire dressed. :)

A new found favorite is her swing. Hallelujah. She was not liking it a few weeks ago and then this week, presto change-o, she loves it! It's been nice to stick her in so I can get some things done around the apartment.

Today, I was holding her on my chest and suddenly, she started laughing. For like 5 seconds. She just laughed. Giggled really. Smiling and everything. It was the CUTEST thing I have ever heard. I look forward to many more laughing sessions. She was kind of half asleep when she did it, but that seems to be the time when she smiles the most. I think she is starting to respond more to our smiles when she's awake though. A few times in the past week we have started smiling at her and you can tell she's really focusing on us and then she gives us a little smile. Or an attempt at a smile anyway. Have any of you seen How To Train Your Dragon? Cutest movie ever. You know the part where Hiccup smiles at Toothless and Toothless tries to smile back? Yeah, that's pretty much what it's like for Claire right now. Gummy smile and all. :)

One last thing and then I'll get to the pictures. She LOVES her car seat. But only when it's in motion. Like in the car or if we are swinging it back and forth. If she's just sitting in it, she gets mad. She's very opinionated already. :) But really, it makes it a dream for traveling. We usually just do a feed and diaper change at Biggs and then she's good the rest of the way home, whether it be Ellensburg or Pasco. Our little girl is the easiest baby. We are so incredibly blessed.

So, here are some pictures as of late. These first ones were taken at about her one month mark. She'll be 2 months on December 9! Can you believe it? She goes in for her 2 month check up on the 14th. I'll let you know her stats then.

This is a headband that Grandma Calaway sent to us a few weeks ago. I love it. Claire? Not so much. I am crossing my fingers that she starts to not mind having headbands and bows on her head. :)



I thought this picture was too cute not to post. Just look at that little butt. She'll kill me when she's older. But for now, let's just enjoy this cute shot. :)

Grandma also sent us a cute little beanie! Once again, I love it, Claire's not so sure about it.



I didn't think this little snow suit would fit her very well, because I got it in a 3 month size, but we put it on her while we were in Washington for Thanksgiving and it almost fits her perfectly! I was hoping it would last her until January or February, but I think that's gonna be stretching it. (Literally)

Bath time!

Doesn't she look like she's posing in this shot? so cute.

With Cousins Luke and Mathew over Thanksgiving

Claire and Cousin Luke

Claire and cousins William and Emiline

Claire and Emi. Emiline LOVES "Baby Care". She doted on her like you wouldn't believe. And the only thing to stop Emi from crying one night was telling her that baby Claire was asleep and if she kept crying, it would wake up baby Claire and would make her sad. Too funny.