13 Months

(Mostly) Cute things Clairebear is doing these days:

1. Taking up to four steps at a time.  Why walk when Mom and Dad hold you all the time?  :)

2. Attempting to bark like Norman, or any dog, even cartoon dogs on tv.  But instead of saying "woof woof" like her cousin Luke does, she says, "Uh-Uh!" and nods her head.  And she usually points her finger like I do when I'm getting on to Norman.

3. Hides things in convenient places like trash cans and bottom drawers.  Found some keys in her diaper bin the other day.

4. Sticks her finger in our belly buttons.  When she does it to me, I yell.  So sometimes, she'll just lift up my shirt and start yelling.  She has a hard time finding hers though because she has an outie.  Our current favorite bedtime book is The Belly Button Book by Sandra Boynton.  We love it!

5. Points and yells at something when she wants it, regardless of where we are.  How do you explain the "inside voice" to a one-year-old?  Really, any advice is appreciated!  Or we could just cook at home and avoid restaurants, but that's no fun.

6. Starting to show interest in crayons and pens.  Her artwork consists of holes and dots in papers and furniture, but we are proud nonetheless.

7. Loving her "babies."  She has nine stuffed animals, a pillow pet, and a blanket in her bed, and she plays with all of them when she wakes up in the morning.  This buys us about 15 extra minutes of sleep on weekends.  :)  Her favorites are her Jellycat monkey, puppy, and purple bunny.  She clutches them tightly when we get her out of her crib in the mornings, but we have to remember to put them back in her bed at night!

8. Eating more!  Claire has never been a very big eater, but her new favorites are chicken, yogurt, honeydew melon, puffs, and yogurt melts.  She really never gets full from these things, so maybe she will move beyond the 3rd percentile pretty soon!  Applesauce is a hit, too.

9. Climbing in our drawers, boxes and shelves.  But she makes sure to throw everything out onto the floor first.

10. Gives me "mommy kisses," which means she puts her whole mouth over my lips and gives me lots of slobber.  We're working on not biting when she does this, but it's so sweet that I don't mind the pain!

Oh we love that LBB (little bitty baby) so much!

Happy 1/2 Birthday Claire!

I can't believe our little biddle is six months old!  Time really does fly.  Everyone tells us that, and we have seen that it's so true.  It feels like only yesterday that we were taking her home from the hospital, trying to figure out how to change a diaper!

Here are some pics taken by an awesome photographer in McAllen.  Look at other posts on her blog - she's fabulous!

Also, she had her six month check-up today.  She's in the 5th percentile for height and weight.  She was in the 10th, but the doctor said she looks great and healthy, and that it's not uncommon for breastfed babies to drop down a little in percentile at this age.  Time for solid foods!  She's tried a few and loves rice cereal, carrots, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash.  Those are all orange foods though so we have to watch out because if we feed her too much, she'll turn orange.  :)  She hates pears, bananas, and prunes.  So weird because I love sweets and ate them all the time when I was pregnant.

Speaking of foods, since I've been home and need to feel productive while she's napping, I've been making her food.  A friend gave me a great cookbook that gives simple recipes that involve steaming or baking veggies and fruits and pureeing them.  Oxo makes great baby food freezer trays.  Just freeze the puree and pop them out of the ice trays and store in containers or freezer baggies.

And finally, Ranger and I are getting to sleep at night!  She is now on a schedule.  It was impossible before because she was somewhere different every other day during the school year.  Now, she takes two to three naps a day and sleeps 12 hours at night.  And in her own room!  So Ranger and I are sleeping in the guest room upstairs so we can be next to her.  More for us than her!  :)

I'll leave you with a few pics from our visit to McAllen last week.  She went swimming for the first time and LOVED it!  Can't wait for more fun in the sun with her.