Claire: 11 months

I am so behind every month on little Claire Bear's updates, but better late than never!  This cutie turned 11 months on September 3rd, which means she is almost one year old!  How did this happen?!  All I did was blink!  Crazy.  Here is a little about her at this age:

• Standing like crazy.  We let go of her and she will just stand for a while until she slowly sinks to her knees.  She has even started clapping for herself while doing it, since we all are too, which is about the cutest thing ever.  And I'm impressed with that coordination since it doesn't make her fall down.
• Still a great night sleeper, although naps have been all over the place simply because we are in a transition from one to two.  She still needs 2, but with the amount of time she can stay awake these days, the second one is getting to be too late.  So now she needs to nap from like 11-1, and then Lucy goes down at 1.  So, the dual naps hasn't been happening, which isn't cool, but I have enjoyed my 1-on-1 time with the girlies.  
• Her personality is shining through a little more and she is turning into more of a toddler everyday.  She laughs like crazy when Lucy does, but also gets really mad when she wants a toy that Lucy has and won't let her see. 
• Claire is really leading the food transitions way more than Lucy did.  She doesn't want her bottles as much anymore and can eat table food forever.  She usually has a banana and some cereal for breakfast, some fruit, cheese, pasta, veggies, and/or pbj for lunch, and whatever we have for dinner (in a modified version, if needs be)  She also loves avacados and can down an entire one herself in just a couple of minutes.  Loves her food, just like the rest of us around here!
• Growing big and is mostly wearing 18 month clothes, with some 24 months mixed in.  Most 12 month stuff is getting too small or tight.
• Claire is SUCH a little snuggle bug!  Whenever she is sad, tired, and even sometimes just content and happy, she will suck her thumb and snuggle up with me.  Especially if I have a little blankie for her to grab onto too.  If I don't, she will just grab part of my shirt.  She always has to be holding something though.
• Claire LOVES her baths!  When she hears the water turn on in the tub, she books it into the bathroom and will stand on her tippy toes and high as she can and try and reach the water and just let it run over her hands as it fills up.  She likes the water really warm, like I do.  She will play with all of the toys in there happily for a long time.  She often gets really upset when we have to take her out.  
• She has kind of been going through a fussy stage for a while because she was sick and now she is teething.  So she wants to be held constantly.  She's still so sweet though and it pulls on your heartstrings to see her get so sad when you cant pick her up sometimes (like in the middle of making dinner).  
• Claire Bear and Big Bear are like bff these days.  The other day, things got really quiet and I looked around and found Claire just snuggling with Big Bear in the corner.  When I found her and laughed about it, she started cracking up too, like she was so proud of herself.  Then, the same thing happened the next day too.  Good little friendship these girls of ours develop with this bear at this age for some reason. :)
• Whenever she is riding in her carseat in the stroller and is not buckled in, she ends up standing up in it and facing out.  She loves doing this and it amuses her so much that usually is shouting and yelling and laughing the whole time like she is on some wild ride.  Of course I hold on to her super tight so that she doesn't fall out, but she loves it and it is so cute because she just pops right up and surprises everyone we pass.
• We have temporarily nicknamed her "motorboat" because she goes around all day everyday making a motorboat noise.  She especially likes to do it all through sacrament meeting. :)  The way she does it though only makes on side of her face shake, which is pretty funny to see one of her chubby cheeks jiggling like crazy while she makes the noise.  It's cute.

Claire: 10 months

Where is time going?!  This girl's life is flashing before my eyes.  I feel like we just had her and here it is, almost one whole year later.  Crazy.  Here is a little bit about our ten month old (as of August 3rd):

• SO mobile!  She is standing up, walking along everything, crawling over everything, into everything.  She's busy!  She often stands for a second or two all on her own before she falls back down on her bum.
• Starting to get some serious separation anxiety.  Hates when mom is not holding her and other people are around.  Often dislikes if mom is not holding her just in general.  It's a phase.
• Still sleeping through the night like a champ!  She adjusted fairly well to the time change on our recent trip out west, and when we got home, she finally started sleeping in until like 7:30 or 8 for a few mornings.  But then it went back to waking up in the early 6am hour.  Darn.
• If we stopped giving Claire bottles and only fed her table food, I think she would be a happy camper (as would I), which is great since this phase is right around the corner!  She doesn't do that great at drinking bottles anymore, but is definitely a champion eater! She will eat anything I put on the tray in front of her and all of it.  She is not starving these days, that's for sure!  And it's nice because she is now busy eating when Lucy is too, so I get a chance to eat as well.  Win!
• She's in that little phase where she loves other babies!  It's so cute to see her get so excited about them.
• Click her tongue all the time.  She makes that noise a majority of the day.  It's so cute.
• This girl likes to crawl and climb over everything.  She especially likes to find something on the other side of where I am (if I am laying on the ground) and climb right over me, which means she gets up as high as possible and then kind of falls head first with her feet in the air, continuing on to whatever she is wanting to get to.   

That about sums up Claire right now!  We love this happy, cute little baby girl in our lives!

July 2014

These cute girls love playing in their cribs with each other.  It's so fun to hear them giggle with each other.

 Toddler going on teenager!  Check out that attitude! ;)

 It was either too cool or stormy of a day to go to the pool, so Lucy asked me to put out their little pool... not with water, just to sit and play in which was awesome because it kept Claire in as well.

Claire discovered the pans underneath the stove and had a hay day!

 Lucy was playing with Claire and then gave her a big hug and said "Mommy! Take picture!" haha.

 Lucy loved painting.  We needed something new to switch things up one day and this did the trick!

 We've been cracking down on the morning chores and cleaning lately and I must say, it's been great!  We've had the longest streak ever of keeping everything clean and not feeling like I have a huge mess to pick up.  One way we make it fun is by turning Lucy into the "vacuum fairy" which somewhat resembles Cinderella finishing her chores so she can go to the ball. :)  Hey- whatever works to keep this girl excited about chores! I'm sure it won't always be this way!

 One morning while I had to pack us all up for a trip, I made homemade popcorn in our big popper with her and then let her watch Cinderella on the couch while eating it.  Big hit!

And that wraps up our July!

Cedar Point

Ryan's work has a day at Cedar Point every summer so we got to go for free!  I love when we go to these places with Ryan's work because we get treated really well.  We got wristbands that got us unlimited free drinks all day, a little drawstring backpack with sunscreen, hand sanitizer, gum, a bunch of Mars candy, and some other useful stuff in it, and then they had a big dinner for everyone under the pavilion right on the lake.  Even though we couldn't go on any of the big rides since we had Lucy with us, she had SO much fun that it was still totally worth it!  Lucy wanted to go on every ride again and again but her favorite was the "up/down/up/down ride," which is the one that takes you to the top and then drops you a couple of times (the kid version though).

 Lucy is usually scared of these kinds of characters but she must be over that now because she ran right up to Snoopy and the other characters and gave them big hugs and high fives.  It was cute to see how excited she was!

Here she is riding a real roller coaster and obviously SO excited for it.

 This is her favorite "up/down" ride. 

Ryan's 34th Birthday

Ryan celebrated his 34th birthday this year on July 9th.  We sent him off to work after a big breakfast of waffles with syrup, strawberries, and whipped cream.  He got home from work in the Cincinnati area that day and we had steak, and twice baked potatoes.  Then we opened presents and had cake and cupcakes.  Ryan's birthday tradition is a marzipan cake, but we haven't had one since moving here since I haven't found a place in Columbus that sells it (and I've called probably every bakery).  But I gave it one more shot this year and a place that I had previously called started making them!  So he finally got his marzipan cake!

Fourth of July 2014

On the Fourth of July, we went to the Hilliard parade again, which we are fans of.  Not too small, not too big.  We met up there with a bunch of our neighbors and a new family from our ward that needed something to do.  Later on that evening, we had a super delicious BBQ with neighbors in our backyard with good food and of course a little cornhole and sparklers, after which Lucy and I joined some of them for fireworks while Ryan stayed home with Claire since she would not have made it through them happily.  It was a good day!

 Lucy was so funny... we saw/heard the police cars that led the parade from far away and it took what felt like 95 years for them to finally get to us, so she kept running part way into the street and doing a little side lunge to see out.  She as excited!

 Lucy had SO much fun in the back of the Hain's truck with Mason.  They brought cushions and lot's of blankets and made it super cozy and fun!

 Me, Lucy, Bobbi, and Mason.

Sunrise

Claire has been having a nice, long streak of waking up somewhere in the 5am hour.  6 or 6:15, if we are really lucky.  One morning I peeked out my bedroom window when she got up and saw this pretty sunrise!  I'm glad I took a picture because this is the beautiful view I have been able to wake up to almost all summer.  The only good thing about waking up that early.  And I would definitely prefer to just look at this picture instead of experience the real deal. :)