Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I have a lot to be thankful for... it measures 52" diagonally. Seriously though, I know just how fortunate we are, not only for Claire, but for everything. We are blessed.


On Tuesday, we drove to Calhoun, GA to meet Grammy and Grampy at the outlet mall, so they could commence spoiling their granddaughter. The grandparents were driving down from Syracuse, NY for their annual soujourn to Florida.



Claire celebrated her first turkey day, by sitting at the adults' table, albeit in her high chair. It was your typical meal, but we had two turkeys. My neighbor Edward was deep frying a turkey (in the south, if it isn't boiled, it's deep fried) and said he would let me try a piece. I wasn't expecting a whole turkey Edward, but thanks, it was juicy. Claire even tried some sweet potato, squash and turnips.

Sadly, on Saturday, grammy and grampy discontinued their babysitting service and continued on their journey to Florida. I am certain Claire misses them, as she keeps asking where is the silly one, and I tell her that Grammy had to go. Today, Claire started making this new face, in which she scrunches up her nose and then tries to smile. You can see some recent pictures here and watch the video below.

Posting #100

Welcome to post #100. Time for a little reflection. On the first posting, I wrote that we were too busy for children and we traveled too much. We could barely get up before 9am. My have things changed. I simply could not imagine life without the bear. Sure, having a baby means big changes - not going out as much (when was the last time we went out for dinner - after 5pm?), not traveling as much (only had 3 international trips this year), needing to coordinate our schedules (thank you Google calendar), a lot less sleep (up by 6am everyday). But it also means more family time, being at home more, learning to enjoy simple things (like my TV). How different she used to look - 3 days old on the right.

Admittedly, at first my only concern/fear was making sure we raised Claire right (however that's defined). But as she gets older and reaches more milestones, I see that she has taught me a few things - enjoying down time, watching her world expand, the power of a smile, it's ok to wear pajamas all day, everything goes into the mouth.

At 8.5 months, 18+ lbs. and 26 inches, I figured we've gone through over 1,500 diapers, countless bottles of milk and many baths. Yes, Lynn has been the real hero, still faithfully pumping several times a day. I am sure at times, the special bond of breast feeding a baby seems to be not so special. But truth be told, we have definitely bonded as a family. Our favorite time is when we are just spending time together - doesn't matter what we are doing. I just love the picture on the left.

The next few months will bring more talking, teeth and perhaps walking. She is growing up fast. She is growing up happy. Thank you to everyone for sending your comments, and here's to the next 100 postings!

Life Without Daddy Is No Fun

well, mark is away this week. we were actually supposed to go with him to denver to see our friends steve, mary and zak and also to have a meeting for mango tree. for a variety of reasons, we decided it would be best if claire and i stayed at home. ultimately, it was a good thing as kayla ended up having emergency surgery today on her eye (2nd surgery in 6 weeks).
all i know is that we miss mark. claire has been delightful (she always is, though). she has been going to bed well before 6:30 everynight. and staying asleep until morning. that is except tonight and that is my fault. we had to go out and pick up kayla. anyway, back to the story.
mark is such an important part of our lives. he has the best smile - especially when it is trained on us! he makes us laugh. he makes us think. and, he makes us happy. so, when he isn't here the house is quieter, less fun, less comforting. we can't wait to see him tomorrow night.
safe travels daddy. we'll see you after only one more sleep!
love,
little bear and momma bear

New photos

I posted a couple of photos here from the last week. Nothing major to report, except that she weighs a ton and most of that weight is in her cheeks. Here she is crawling around. She is so fast these days.

Manna from heaven

Just a quick update. The dogs have discovered that if they hang out by the high chair, food will eventually fall their way. This is due largely to Claire's lack of hand-eye-mouth coordination. We give Claire Zwieback toast on occasion and it invariably winds up on the floor. The bear is eating the equivalent of her body weight each day. But seriously, even I am impressed about how much she eats, and how quickly. We are keeping Gerber and Diet Coke in business.

Finally congratulations to my friends Shane and Sara, who had a baby girl, Elizabeth, last night.

Until the next posting, keep your eyes toward heaven.

Misc. Vids

Other than Claire napping for only a total of 2 hours yesterday, we did pretty good. We skyped with Grandad in the morning and then Grammy and Grampy in the evening. Tonight, we are going to our neighbor's to watch some Hockey and drink beer - or at least I am. Here are a couple of videos of Claire crawling and Claire doing the raspberry - particularly fun when she has a mouth full of food.

Crawling

Raspberry

Giggle Virus

Fun with a baby

Three more recent developments. 1. Claire has caught a virus, known as the giggle virus. When she is not tired, she laughs and laughs and laughs. It's quite amusing. 2. She also mimics the sound made when you give someone a raspberry (make sure your sound is on). If you don't have sound, here is an explanation. The results are particularly interesting when she does it with a mouth full of food. 3. Claire has suddenly grown a lot of hair - a mullet no less.

A day of firsts...

Happy Halloween! Claire celebrated her first Halloween yesterday with the neighbors. We had a chili cook out in the cul-de-sac last night and Claire was there in her Mermaid outfit. Her is a picture of Claire with our neighbor Ann, who made the costume for Claire and sometimes babysits for us. Unfortunately for Claire, she could not stay awake until the older kids went trick or treating - so no candy for her. Speaking of candy, we had about 50 kids come to the house and Lynn bought enough candy for 500. So we are set for Halloween until 2015.

Another first for Claire, was she is starting to crawl - not doing the worm thing. Grammy and Grampy witnessed the event on Skype. Her world has suddenly increased in size and the dogs are not longer safe. She loves to "chase" Kayla around the media room. Claire is such a delight. We've upped her feedings of solid food to 3x a day. She loves chicken, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, bananas, watermelon, mango, rice, oats, barley, hops (oh wait, that's me). The only things she doesn't care for thus far is fresh avocado.

Another first, is we finally lost and then found the remote control. I was getting tired of watching the same channel every time (Discovery channel if you were wondering). It somehow worked its way into the laundry basket and since Lynn only does laundry on the weekends, it was a long week.

Finally, it looks like the grueling 3-day has caught up with Lynn. Her back is in a lot of pain and simple things like doing the laundry, washing the dishes, and vacuuming are difficult. I guess I will be pulling double duty this weekend. She is taking Tramadol for the pain - yes, the same medication we gave to Kayla when she had surgery. If you look at the pill bottle, it says on it, Patterson, Kayla - the dog.

Anyway, I have posted some new photos here. Enjoy.