6 months!?? 1/2 birthday?!!!

I seriously can't believe that my baby girl is 6 months old. Where has the time gone? It has been so amazing to watch her grow and develop. She is always learning new things.

All about Claire:

She sleeps 10-11 hours a night (soundly)

and takes about 2 naps a day that are around 2-3 hours each

She is a happy and very content little girl

She eats solids twice a day- Rice cereal is by far her fav

She can roll over and all around

She just found her feet and is always reaching for them

She can see where her toys are and grab them

Her rattle is her favorite toy

She loves music and when I sing songs to her

She can fall asleep in her crib all by herself

She loves her binkie

She still loves her swing and her car seat

She likes to put her blanket over her face- not my favorite

She is a talker

She loves other kids and they make her laugh the hardest

She is getting so big and chubby- although she is only 14 pounds

I love her big blue eyes

We cant wait to have our first christmas as a family

She cant wait to open her presents! Hopefully she will play with the toys we got her and not the wrapping paper

We love our Claire Bear!

On a side note- Jimmy and I are sad we are not in AZ with our families this year but we will be home for a bit in February!

3 Years of Bliss

On December 20th we celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary. Jimmy had a beautiful bouquet of flowers delivered to me! We went out to a very nice french restaurant downtown- baby free! It was a nice evening just the two of us. We are so blessed to have such a happy life together. I am so lucky to have married such an amazing husband and father.

Family Pictures

This past month we went to a portrait studio to take some long overdue family pictures. It was a groupon and we got everything for 40$- so well worth it and I was pleased with how they turned out!

This one is my favorite!

Big smiles!

5 months and Food

I love the fact that I get to stay home everyday and just be her mom. She is just a sweet little girl and even though I am with her everyday- I still cant get enough of her! (except maybe at 3am) She is growing and learning new things everyday.

She laughs and smiles all the time now. My favorite is when I go in to get her up from her naps and her little face just lights up when she sees me- it melts my heart every time.

Things she likes: when you sing songs to her, talking to her, eating and eating some more, her car seat, being held (of course) and rolling around on the floor with her toys. She now knows how to roll over-both ways! She can grip toys with her hands and immediately it goes to her mouth. She loves her binkie and is constantly playing with it.

We started some solid foods- just rice cereal so far- and she loves it. She gobbles it all down. This was her first day trying it- a little confused at what was going on!

I apparently took too long to take pictures and she had enough!

As for Jimmy and I- we are both doing great and we are really looking forward to the holidays- we will not be heading home to phoenix until February so our Thanksgiving and Christmas will be pretty low key- just the 3 of us!

4 Months and Halloween

My sweet Claire Bear at 4 months!

Stats:

12.7 pounds- 23rd percentile

24 1/4 inches- 49th percentile

She is just a little thing!

She has become quite the talker- she loves to make new sounds and is starting to giggle and laugh. She loves to play on the floor with her toys. She is very aware of where I am at all times and usually cries when she cant see me. She still does pretty good sleeping through the night but lately I have to get up a few times to pop her binkie back in and then she will go right back to sleep. We have not started solid foods but I will give it a shot in the next few weeks.

This year we dressed up for Halloween and the ward trunk-or-treat. Claire was a cute little pumpkin. She did great through the whole activity- I think she loved watching what was going on.

Jimmy was uncle Sam and I was the Statue of Liberty. We have been this before but I decided I didn't want to buy new costumes so I just amped Jimmy's up. I found the blazer and red pants at the Salvation army for a whopping 5 $. I made his bow tie, stars, and belt. Hey- we even won a prize for the best costumes- something we were not expecting!

We had a great time!

3 months and fall fun

I cant believe how fast the time has gone! I am a little late on posting her 3 month picture- she will actually be four months on Saturday! She is such a sweet, darling baby- I simply cant get enough of her.

I finally caught a smile on camera! She smiles and laughs all the time- but the second she sees the camera she stops and is too busy staring at it!

We took a trip to the local apple orchard to pick our pumpkins-its kind of a tradition of ours and we were excited to take Claire.

It was a little cold and windy that day- she we made it a quick visit.

The pumpkin patch was huge! there were so many interesting things growing- we had fun just walking around. PS- Jimmy loves wearing the baby bjorn!

She was asleep by the time we were done- all snug on dad's chest!

My Mini Me?

My mother sent this baby picture of me- until now I wasn't quite sure how much she looked like me- but now I can say there is a resemblance!

Claire's Blessing

We were so fortunate to have Jimmy bless our sweet baby girl this past sunday. He gave a beautiful blessing and we had a wonderful day spending time with our parents. Both my parents and Jimmy's made the trek from AZ to Iowa to spend time with us and Claire. We had so much fun having them in town.

Claire looked so beautiful in her dress. She did so well during the blessing- did not make a peep! She was also a good sport for the billion pictures we took!

Our happy little family

Outside our building with the family

She was so content in her daddy's arms

We just love her to pieces!

A lady in my ward made this blanket for her- I was lucky to get a shot with her name on the blanket and Claire looking at the same time!

"Really mom, are you done taking pictures yet?!"

I love her face! I can't give her enough kisses!

2 Months

2 month stats:

10 pounds 2 ounces

22 1/4 inches long

Things about Claire:

-just started sleeping through the night- about 7-8 hour stretches, yes!

-very content and calm

-loves getting bathed

-LOVES her swing and staring at herself in the mirror on the mobile

-loves music

-is a good eater

-has some reflux and usually smells like baby puke

-has to sleep swaddled

-likes being wrapped in her soft blankie

-hates tummy time

-loves to look around and is very alert

-is a binkie baby- loves her binkie

-nicknames- love bug, Claire bear, and princess

The best day ever...

There are a lot of pictures that I never posted and know that my baby is 2 months old- I cant believe how much she has changed!

A very proud Dad

Grandma's girl

Our first family photo

Our little 7.4 pound baby girl!

My little Claire

Oh how we love her! I just cant get enough of her sweet face.

It took a little while but she LOVES her bath time now!

and sitting in her boppy...

and daddy time...

and sleeping!

Birth Announcement

I am very pleased with how it turned out! I knew I would regret not doing a birth announcement one day!

1 month old

I can not believe how fast time has flown! My sweet baby girl is already 1 month!

I hope to take this same shot every month to put a collage together of how she grows each month! lets hope I stick to it!

Claire facts:

She is still a tiny thing- not quite 8 lbs yet!

She LOVES her swing- only place she likes to fall asleep

She has a very strong neck/head and loves to look around

She can already roll onto her side

She sleeps pretty well at night (if we can get her to fall asleep in her crib)

Sleep training is hard and she sometimes doesn't stop crying until we put her in her swing

She is a very good baby and is easily consoled when upset

We love her to death!