Walking II

Well we officially have a walker on our hands. Claire has been walking some on her own for the past month, but two days ago she just took off. She doesn't really care if any one is going with her or is in the room she is going in, she just wants to walk.

Walking

Claire is on the move again...this time as a walker. She never really had much interest in crawling. Once she discovered that she could walk holding onto our fingers she was hooked. She has been progressing really fast and now can stand up without having to use anything with support and walk across a room. It is so fun to watch, but also keeps me much busier. In one month Claire will be one. I find that very hard to believe! Things change so quickly in this first year.

Video Disclaimer: I realize that my living room has toys strewn all about. That is just what happens that last hour before bed. I think she literally has to run around until she just crashes at 8:00.

Video Disclaimer: This adorable video ends very abruptly when Claire bumps her head on the side of the crib. She was fine; didn't even whine. However, Adam was afraid that she was hurt so he shut of the camera.

Claire's First Christmas

Well, my two options right now are to clean for our New Year's Eve company tomorrow or blog about our Christmas. Since I am really comfortable on the couch I thought I would share our wonderful Christmas celebration with you all. Our busy, yet fun, week started on Monday, December 21. Adam was off work so my mom came to stay with Claire and let us run around all day. We went shopping for Claire's Christmas present, ate Moes for lunch and spent several hours at Borders reading and enjoying some coffee. Then on Tuesday mom and I baked all day! Wednesday was spent getting packed and getting the house clean.

We did Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve morning before Adam went to work. Claire opened up her presents from us and Grandpa and Grandma Smith.

Adam and I got her a Cabbage patch doll. Here she is waiting for daddy to get it out of the box.



Here is she posing with her presents from the morning. As you can tell she really loves her bike!

I went in with Adam's dad and brother to get Adam a gun.

Adam got me a gift card to Ann Taylor! I am so excited to go shopping.

After Adam got off work we headed to Richmond, KY to my parent's house. We ate a big dinner, each opened a present and played a new game - Wits and Wagers. I still love the excitment of going to bed Christmas Eve and waking up on Christmas morning! I can't wait for Claire to feel that excitment too.

Playing with the presents under the tree with Uncle Adam.

Everyone on Christmas morning!

Christmas morning we ate a bite, read the Christmas story from Luke and then began opening presents. We always start with stockings. Claire enjoyed pulling on the wrapping paper. She did become bored quickly though. I have to say that all of her presents were a big success! She loves riding her bike around the house, playing with her house and hugging on her doll. It is easy to see that Christmas is never going to be the same again!

Checking out her stocking

On the Move

Claire has learned how to move around on her own. Her crawling/scooting isn't what you would call graceful, but it gets her where she is wants to go. Everyday she seems to improve and move just a little faster. She of course is drawn to all the "off limits" areas of the room, instead of to the dozens of toys in the room. Here she is getting the remote control.

Claire has also begun to babble all day long. I absolutely love to listen to her "talk" and wish I could know what was going on in that little (or not so little) head of hers. She said "dada" very clearly once, but hasn't really said it again. She has learned how to say "mama" very clearly and most of the time it seems like she is wanting my attention when she says it. Here I was taping her and she is a little mad at me, but she says a clear "mama" so I had to put it for the world to hear.

Another new thing we have done lately is introduce her to some puffs. At first she didn't quite know what to think about them, as you can see below, but she is beginning to like them now. I love to watch her concentrate on picking up the little pieces. She doesn't get them to her mouth very well, but that is why we are practicing. Tonight when I put a piece on my hand for her to pick up, she decided to just lift my entire hand to her mouth and get the piece off my hand like that. It was cracking us up!

And last but not least here is a video of Claire just scooting, rolling, playing and laughing. It is a little longer (2 minutes or so) but I just thought it showed her sweet personality. We are head over heels for this little lady and I am sure after watching these videos you can understand why!

6 months

Wow...1/2 of a year!! I can't believe it has already been 6 months since Claire joined our family. She has changed so much in these past six months. She now shows her likes and dislikes very clearly. Recently she has been throwing little fits when she wants a change of scenery or a new toy. However, she also gets really excited when she sees something she wants to play with. She will throw her arms out to the side, open her mouth wide and almost pant with excitement. My description of it isn't that cute, but she is adorable when she does it. Claire sits up wonderfully in her own and is still rolling everywhere. She knows where her basket of toys is in the living room so as soon as I lay her down she rolls over there and starts pulling toys out.

She had her 6 month check up on Tuesday and everything went well. She weighed 14 lbs and 3.5 oz, and was 25.5 inches long. She got three shots, but did great with them. We also had her 6 month pictures made at The Picture People and I am very pleased with them.

Adam is in the second half of the semester and of course doing great in all his classes. I am enjoying staying at home with Claire. (I have to admit that I don't miss school one bit. Just the people I worked with) I am taking a class through the Seminary Wives Institute and really enjoy that time each week.
In September Claire and I went to visit the McKee family in Loveland, Ohio. We stayed two nights and I had a great time catching Ashley and Daniel, and playing with their sweet kiddos. Claire enjoyed watching the Caedmon and Chloe. She didn't however like Rocky (the dog) I have no idea where she could get that from. :) Ashley got much cuter pictures of the girls, but here is one of Claire and Chloe in their matching dresses.

Fall is such a great time in Kentucky and we are thoroughly enjoying it. We have already celebrated my brother's birthday, gone to the "World's Largest Halloween Party" at the zoo, had pictures made and are planning a trip to the local Huber's Farm in a couple of weeks. Such a fun month!!

Peas. . .No Thank You

Claire has been eating cereal for over a month now so we decided to add some veggies to her diet. She first tried carrots; which she enjoyed. Yesterday I decided to let her try some peas. As you can tell from the video she didn't really like them. I did try them again at dinner and she ate them a lot better.

Everyday Claire does something new. . .Lately she has been "talking" more instead of squealing and grunting. And then even more recent we have been hearing some consonant sounds in the midst of her talking. It is so fun to listen to her babble. I caught on video another cute "first". She has a Jumperoo that my parents got for her. I have put her in it before, but she didn't really know what to do and would just sit there. Well, yesterday she figured out how to bounce and jump and was having a good ol' time in it. (Oh yeah and I turn the camera sideways for a while, I have no idea what I was thinking. . .sorry)

Here is third video of Claire giggling. I absolutely love to hear her giggle. We never know what will make her laugh. At this particular time I had yawned and she started laughing. So I kept making a yawning noise and she kept laughing. Sorry you have to hear my annoying noises on the video too.

Look What I Can Do!!!