Clare is 8 months!

8 months!

Clare is 8 months old! I took this photo the day before she turned 9 months. Sooo... not exactly timely, but she is technically 8 months in the photo. Don't worry. I took her 9 months photo the next day on the correct day when she turned 9 months. Back on track!

Loves the beach!

Tiny crab digging and splashing away

Clare is great! There isn't too much explanation needed. She's easy, she's happy, she's a strong peanut and loves being around big brother and sister. The beach has been really fun with her because she isn't eating the sand and she likes to splash in the water -- also at home in her water table. We put her in the floatie every so often and she likes to kick around with William and Grace too. I'm sure she will be an early swimmer like Grace too! Next summer. 

Hanging in the exersaucer

Little personality coming out

Her personality is shining through and she's very quiet, but determined. She's standing on her own and balancing so well. Loves climbing. She's "talking" and mimics so many noises. She hears William and Grace squabbling and starts to chime in all the time. 

Loves playing with her toys

Big fan of the swing. William pitching in!

Now that the weather is nicer in the evenings we are back at the park with the neighborhood. She loves the swing and Grace and William love to swing her too! She crawls all over and makes a mess of herself. But she loves climbing on the slide and rest of the gym. 

Life is good.

She eats 5 bottles around 6 oz. a day. She is very into food now. We've picked up the usual Mum Mums, puffs and yogurt puffs... though they don't last long because of Matt, William and Grace! They think her snacks are their snacks. She's doing a wonderful job feeding herself. I cut up avocado or scrambled eggs, and she gobbles it up. You can start to see tiny little rolls on her teenie legs... getting there, but still a long and lean baby!

Water fun by the pool

Stands up by herself

California swag

I'll be walking soon!

Clare, you're a squeezable, lovable, adorable little lady! We just love her. She's so sweet. William and Grace even say that - often too. Looking forward to 9 months!

Clare is 7 Months!

Clare is 7 months old!

Clare is 7 months old now and I have done a terrible job posting her monthly updates. I have most of them saved in draft, but I'm going to throw this one together quickly and try to not feel bad about not being punctual on her milestones. Here are the latest Clare notes!

• Crawling, pulling up, taking a step or two side to side when holding herself up on something
• Stood up unassisted from a sitting position twice! She did that a couple days after turning 7 months! But hasn't tried again since then. She goes into a kneeling, one foot up like a football player and balances herself all the time though.
• Four teeth and we could tell when they were coming in... She got a very runny nose, congested and woke up at night time. 
• Eating is sporadic... She liked avocados. Made a face at bananas, pears and sweet potatoes. A few days ago I did make her oatmeal and she scarfed it down. She gnaws on whatever I have... pizza crust, bread, cheese, and even nibbled on a lemon without making a face. I'm not understanding her aversion to the bananas or pears or sweet potatoes, but lemon doesn't phase her?? I need to get into a better routine. 
• Naps twice a day. Not much of a third nap once her routine has been down. Usually 9ish and then 1:00pm. Her afternoon nap is the best probably because EVERYONE is required to rest at that hour and I'm religious about it :) 
• Loves watching William and Grace. Laughs and gets very excited when they walk into a room. 
• Loves the water. Splashs in our water table and at the beach was furiously crawling around splashing the water and digging in the sand. She didn't eat sand once!! Talk about a proud moment! Hope she sticks with that strategy... Grace would shovel it into her mouth and probably only stopped in the past few months... Haha! 
• Still a little peanut, but she's in 6-12 month clothing. 
• Goes to bed at 7p and is up around 6:45. 7:15am is her sleeping in. She's the early riser, which is kind of nice because I make her a bottle, make my coffee and we hang out until the other two sleepy heads wake up. 
• Still quiet and very flexible with being out and about. People often comment that she's so quiet. She still likes the baby carrier and that is a big help when I'm out with William and Grace somewhere. 

That is all I have for now. I'll get better, Clare! And I promise I'll update the other months with photos from the month! The kids are in school now and I have that extra time :) You're getting so big and developing the most adorable personality. I can see her running with William and Grace in no time. She's a huge fan of them and her parents - she really does light up when she sees any of us. So sweet Clare. We love you!

Two bottom teeth

And I'll leave you with a little Clare photo shoot we did a couple weeks ago :) Still a mini-William with the fair skin and blue eyes!

First Day of School

Let us in!!

William and Grace started the 2016-2017 school year on Monday! William begins Pre-K and that feels like a big milestone. He's at school FOUR times a week and it seems like way too much time away from home! Grace is in 3 day 3's and that seems like too much too! Usually I'm excited for them (and I still am), but this was a tough year! Both of them are gone a majority of the weekday mornings now... (I begin to blubber and Matt comforts me by saying "and soon they'll be in college and gone FOREVER!"). But of course, they were pumped and couldn't wait to get into their classrooms.

First Day picture of William

First Day picture of Grace

Daddy came along too

Hot and sweaty waiting for the doors to open

Big man on campus!

Grace with Mrs. Carter

William with Mrs. Holland

William gets to walk upstairs to his classroom all by himself as a big Pre-K man, which he heard at Meet the Teacher. He didn't forget. As soon as we walked into the building he said he wanted to lead the way to his classroom by himself. We were a few steps behind and hugged him goodbye at the classroom. He was the first one in and so he got a nice picture with Mrs. Holland. Since then I've been walking him into the building each day this week and yesterday I needed to go in to the front office, which is upstairs. William told me, "Stay down here and don't come up until I'm in my classroom." So I had to wait at the bottom of the stairs, he checked that I wasn't following and off he went. I waited one minute then went up to the front office -- and of course popped my head into his classroom to make sure he got there :) 

Grace didn't even say goodbye to us. She had to pick out her name and begin the "check-in" process with Mrs. Carter. We yelled "Bye Grace!" - got nothing - and went off. 

Two happy kiddos - happy bee and a happy monkey actually. I think this will be a really great year. They have great kids in their classes and their teachers are great. Relishing the last year with William and Grace being together at this school... I hope it goes by slowly. 

Good luck this year you two! We can't wait to see how you grow!