I know. I KNOW. It's been 2 months since my last post. All 3 people who read this blog must be completely devastated.
Dear 3 people who read my blog,
Please turn off you Alanis Morrisette CD, open your windows, and shake off the crushing depression because I have about a thousand pictures to show you!
Love, Megan and Claire
This summer has been wonderful/stressful/exciting/frustrating/awesome! Claire learned lots of new tricks, we moved to an apartment in Draper, and we got to see tons and tons of family!
Trick numero uno: Claire can hold her own bottle! Now, don't get CAN confused with WILL. She definitely CAN hold a bottle. The problem becomes that if you give it to her, she becomes distracted by something about 0.2 seconds after you let go, she turns her head (SQUIRREL!) and loses the bottle. Then Claire is annoyed that she can't eat anymore and cries until you give up and just hold the bottle for her.
Honestly though, I really don't mind the snuggles while she eats. It won't last forever!
Some of these pictures are massively out of order... Oops.
Aside from playing with Claire myself, one of the nicest things to watch is other members of my family playing with her. My dad is SO cute around Claire. He pretends to be all tough but he turns to melted butter with her.
Also, please note the awesome high-water jeans. Stylin' dad! :D (Oh, he's gonna kill me for that one!)
"Look Mom! I caught a foot!"
I can't get enough of her chunky legs! :)
Funny story- did you know that some babies hate spoons? Right before we moved to Draper, Claire decided that she didn't like spoons in her mouth anymore. I did some research (thank you, Google) and found out that some babies don't like to eat from a spoon while they're teething. So for the past 2 ish months, we have been mixing Claire's baby food in with her formula. She eats everything, as long as it's in a bottle. Just in the last week or so, since her first tooth sprouted, I was able to get her to eat a few bites from a spoon. Let's hope she grows out of this soon!
Oh she'll play with the spoon when there's no food on it... sure!
We went to the park a few times and had fun playing on the swings!
Considering how much Claire loved her baby swing at home, I expected a much stronger reaction to playground swings, but Claire was thinking, "Meh."
This is the fake smile she gives you when you're smiling at her but she doesn't want to smile back!
We also tried taking off her socks and feeling the grass. She wasn't too sure at first!
Mom! This stuff is poking me!
Baby's first dirty feet!
Oh great... I just realized I'm THAT mom..... :)
Claire learned how to lunge for things she wants, like anytime mommy is holding her and daddy is nearby... "Oh here I am sitting quietly in mommy's arms and then all of a sudden.. LUNGE FOR DADDY!!!!!"
It kills me how cute she is!
This shirt was so baggy on her just a month ago and today I put it into storage along with her other 6 month clothes. She's just growing so fast!
I don't know where she learned this head-tilt thing, but it's freaking adorable!
The weekend before we moved, the Denneys came to stay with us for a couple days. Claire remembered Grandpa Denney's crazy duck voice!
There is a reason why this picture is blurry. The reason is that Claire loves to jump more than anything else in the entire universe. Or multiverse. Or whatever. She will jump either on your lap or in her jumper for HOURS. She'll jump when she's tired, hungry, or frustrated. When that happens, she'll just take a break and cry for a minute or two and then resume jumping and giggling to herself. When I was unpacking everything I would prop a mirror across from where Claire was jumping and she would entertain herself forever!
So, this happened.
That's right- my 7 month old has better splits than I do. So sad.
Claire learned how to roll from side to side and got pretty good and navigating the open spaces in our home. Then she figured out how to back up. This led to Claire finding her way into teeny, tiny spaces and getting herself very stuck.
90 seconds before this picture was taken, I left Claire in the middle of the living room rug to run to the restroom. I came back and didn't see her at first. Oh, I panicked! Then I heard her whining and found her trapped under the endtable.
I think I've mentioned before that we have a fabulous baby swing. I think that swing saved my life. I know it sounds dramatic, but there was a point at around 2 months (right before we got the swing) that I was going to work full time and driving in the pitch black cold of winter for 45 mins every morning on 3 hours of sleep. I would hallucinate that the red lights from the cars in front of me we actually coming towards me. *shudder* So maybe it's understandable that I was hesitant to switch Claire to sleeping in her crib.
We waited until after the move was over so that Claire would have a little bit of normalcy during the craziness of moving, but she actually switched over pretty easily. We had about a week of sleep regression where she was waking up multiple times each night and we had to let her cry it out a little bit during naptime- but everyone survived!
I had this idea of buying a minky blanket to put in her crib so that she would get used to the texture. That way when we have to go to Idaho or California to visit people, or when she goes to the babysitter for naps, the texture of the blanket can help her know that she's supposed to sleep here, even if she's in a new place.
My mom came up a little early to babysit Claire while I went to a meeting for work. It was fun to have her here and she helped keep me sane when we had to let Claire cry at nap time.
I can't tell which cutie looks happier!
Then Dad came up and I think I mentioned before how he turns into a puddle of mush around my sweet girl... right?
See that blue pen in Dad's shirt pocket? That pen was Claire's number one most favoritest toy while Dad was here.
They were here for my cousin Chuck's wedding to his beautiful bride Bethany. There wedding was lovely, but I was so stressed out about keeping Claire happy (she was teething and cranky) and keeping our stuff dry in the very Utah-esque 10 minute downpour, that I forgot to take any pictures!
Katie finished up her semester at BYUI and came down for a day or two before she and Mom drove to CA. In that short time, Katie managed to teach my daughter how to make this face:
Oh yes, that face is completely intentional. She'll hold it for a second or two and then bust up laughing at herself. If you play along and make the Katie face back at her, you can have fun for days!
Claire got to experience her first road trip to see her cousins, aunt, and grandparents in Idaho. The trip up went pretty well. Claire entertained herself in the backseat for almost an hour. Then she got bored and I had to sit in the backseat with her for the rest of the trip. She got tired and didn't understand why she wasn't sleeping in her bed so she whined for about an hour before falling asleep.
The trip home was worse. Infinitely worse. I don't want to talk about it.
Nick's mom loved having a baby in the house again! Claire loved poking at the green carpet! So interesting!
I was surprised by how much Claire's cousins wanted to play with her. I figured that since she can't really do much, they would get tired of her after a few minutes, but they kept bringing toys for her to play with or asking to hold her. It was cute! Claire loves being the center of attention!
Lovin her Aunt Milainia!
Denney family picture!
(Charles, Trent, Hunter, Milainia, Jackson, Margot, Claire, Megan, Nick)
Getting ready to hang out with Nick's former roommate, Jason! He just got back from a huge, scary hike in Wind River Valley, WY. He brought a map and pictures and video to show us. It was pretty awesome!
Last, but not least, Miss Claire has learned TO CRAWL! She can only go a few inches before she loses her balance and flumps down on her tummy. It's funny to watch her trying to crawl to something, because she'll whine and pretend to cry when she gets stuck, but if you give her 15 seconds, she'll shake it off and keep trying! I've never seen a baby who was so determined to learn new things!
We sure have one smart, stubborn, beautiful girl!
Til next time!
