11 months

The countdown is on. In less than a month Claire will be one and I can officially ditch my breast pump. I think that of all things is the thing that I am looking forward to the most. But I digress, I sat down to write this post to talk not about freedom from my breast pump, but about my growing daughter. I cannot believe that she's already 11 months. It seems just like yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. Now she's babbling, crawling, laughing, and just making our life that much better.

Lilybelle is growing too. She's such a big girl now. So smart and sweet, with a tad sassy in there for good measure. Last week my dad came up and we went for a walk along the river and downtown. I never got a double stroller and so when Claire was done with the Ergobaby, Lilybelle sweetly said that Claire could ride in her stroller and she would let me carry her, but not in the Ergobaby because she is not a baby (her words not mine). After some convincing she agreed to let me carry her in the Ergobaby on my hip which helped immensely. It was such a pretty walk. It reminded me why Tim and I bought our small house. I just love our neighborhood so much and the closeness to all the amenities of downtown. We got ice cream at a local chocolate shop and ate it by the river. Afterwards we walked to downtown and got some lunch.

Tim worked on the yard yesterday to get it ready for Claire's birthday party. He did such a good job freshening up the front of the house and starting on one side of the yard.

And finally a few outtakes from the last "photo shoot."

Double the Fun

I did it. I know that I did. I didn't get around to posting her nine month photo before she turned ten months. So for your viewing pleasure you can view both the nine month and ten month photo together. As I was editing (which is essentially me just cropping the photo) the two photos I realized how big she has gotten. She is really growing up. I'm glad that I take these monthly photos because it reminds me just how much she is growing.

 

 In other news, tax season is over and for those of you who don't know about tax season, it's a big deal. I now get to be reacquainted with my family after not seeing them for a little while. It wasn't too bad this year, but man it's hard with two kids. I couldn't have done it without my husband though. He did a really great job with the two girls.

My parents came up and spent the day with us for Easter. I had all these outdoor activities planned, but it was only about forty degrees outside so we stuck to inside play. We didn't do much, just watched General Conference and had a nice dinner of chicken, salad, bread, and roasted potatoes. It was nice to just relax and have family. Lilybelle is really starting to get into things and she loved the Easter Eggs that we dyed the night before. She was also excited to eat those eggs. She enjoyed her Easter Basket and the candy. Boy does that kid know what candy is now. I love having two girls to put them in matching outfits. My mom got them the cutest Easter Dresses.

Today was my first day back to my part time schedule at work and I really enjoyed the day with the girls. We ran errands, hung out, and made dinner. I don't know the last time I made dinner on a weeknight. I made taco salad with homemade flour tortilla bowls and they turned out pretty okay. Tim said that dinner was good so that's all that matters, but I will definitely have to perfect the bowl technique.

One of these days I will learn how to put my photos in a prettier order, but for now they are all in a row. Until next post.

8 Months

This is going to be a short post. I'm just posting her 8 month photo so I don't feel completely horrible about it. I promise a long catch up post after tax season with plenty of photos. For now, here is Claire at 8 months. Still as serious as ever, but now she will hold her own sign up thank you very much.

7 months

Claire is now 7 months. Time to start planning her first birthday. I wish that I was kidding, but I have already started a pinterest board for her. It's been an event filled month with Claire's developments. She started clapping which I think is so so adorable. She sits on the floor and just claps. Also she interacts more with Lilybelle and Sophie. Sophie is really good with her too. Claire is also getting more independent. We can put her on the floor and she plays with her toys and then rolls around to get to different things and places. The other night I put her on the living room floor while I did the dishes and when I went to go check on her she had rolled into the dining room at one point and then the next time I checked on her she was starting to roll into our bedroom. Granted all three of those rooms are REALLY close in our house, but I was impressed nonetheless. 7 months also meant that Claire had enough hair for a bow. I was excited. It's not like Lilybelle has hair enough for a bow. sigh.

Now onto the picture. The real reason I think that my parents read my blog. This is the first picture that she doesn't look like a deer in the headlights. It's so funny to take her picture compared to Lilybelle. Lilybelle was so smiley for the camera. Claire smiles all the time except for the camera. So I finally got a half smile from her this month. It's not a great picture, it has shadow, but I love her expression in it so I chose it.

 I'm also going to post some photos of our photo shoot because everyone got involved in it this time. Lilybelle helped Claire smile, helped me with choosing the spot, and Sophie was my warm up pose. Poor Sophie. At one point she was the star in my blog photos, and now not so much.

Things are getting busy in our house. I went back to work full time for the start of tax season. I'm glad that it will only last until April, because I miss my part time schedule. I've been studying for the second part of the Enrolled Agent exam and hope to pass it at the end of February. If all goes according to plan I should pass all three parts of the exam by July. Until next post, which if I don't procrastinate will be Tim's 30th birthday post.

6 months a little late

I know, I know, Claire has been six months for a little while now. But I'm just getting around to posting her photo. I took it on time and even edited it that day, but I'm just feeling lazy when it comes to my blog. We've introduced Claire to the world of solids and she loves it! So far we have tried sweet potatoes, butternut squash, peas, and carrots and she's liked them all.

For Christmas this year, we stayed home and my little sister and parents came up and celebrated Christmas morning with us. Later that night we went to Tim's mom's house and had Christmas dinner with his family.

5 months

I almost forgot that Claire turned 5 months today, but luckily I remembered and took her 5 month photo before the day ended. Looking through the lens of the camera, I realized how much she has grown. She looks so big to me! Just a month away until we can introduce food. Guess I need to get the food processor going again.

Gobble , Gobble

I am constantly trying to figure out what we can do as a family that won't break the bank, but will still be fun. So when Tim got an email about turkeys at Rancho San Rafael, I said why not. With little expectations, last weekend we went to Rancho San Rafael to see the turkeys. It was a fun little event. They had four turkeys, chickens, painting activities for kids, coloring activities, story time, and toy trains (Lilybelle's personal favorite). They even let you get in the pen with two of the turkeys and take photos.

Lilybelle when we first arrived. I had originally planned for her to wear jeans, but she was of another mind.

Claire fell asleep on the way there.

The famous toy trains

The fam with the turkeys.

Making turkey feathers with stamp pads. I shouldn't have dressed her in white, but she didn't get any on her shirt!