The Owl Hat Saga

Hat on your left is mine, hat on right is Claire's.  The eyes and beak are the same size for both (smaller for the other ages).  I'm jealous of her hat--but I guess if I had a head that small, I wouldn't have enough room for all my "smarts," right? 

Everyone knows I have a serious love for crocheting hats.  Claire is unfortunately at an age where a hat might be wearable or not--meaning she'll rip it off her head if it's not a hat day.  How I long for the days where she was too young to know better!  This hat pattern is from Etsy, where I get most of my patterns.  I love buying patterns because I get them in PDF form usually the same night or day after I order in my email, so I can start work on it right away.  With this hat, however, I waited a bit (I've had this pattern probably since last winter).  I wanted to make a hat for this winter, since owls appear to be all the rage right now. 

I started the hat back in September when I had my surgery.  I figured since I'd be useless and stuck on the couch I could at least make the most of my time by working on something productive that required little thought (I can fall asleep crocheting and not screw up stitches... it's a gift).  Unfortunately, my reasoning skills were a little muddled by the wonderful pain killers, so when I selected a size (1-5+ years... seemed reasonable considering she'd be one this winter and the smaller size was only 6-12 months) I didn't think anything about it and never stopped to say to myself, "Self... does this look Claire-sized to you?"

I made the hat itself minus ear flaps and owl accessories the weekend of my surgery, but everyone knows you can't keep this girl down, so I was back to work on Monday and back to life and I ignored the hat since I didn't need it right away (and I still never thought about the size).  Well, that's a lie.  I put it on her, but with no flaps, it was a little big, but didn't seem huge. 

With our one year photo shoot coming up, I wanted to have the hat for cute shots since I have a thing about making sure those pictures always showcase not only my adorable kid, but also all those adorable things I make for her.  So this past week I sat down and finished the hat.  Then I realized, hey, this is pretty big.  I put it on my head and to my horror, it went right on.  I hoped (at that point Claire was asleep for the night) that somehow she had the same size head as me and I just had a small head, but in the morning I realized that no, she was NOT going to fit in this darn thing--and pictures were only two days away!!

I did check my gauge again just to make sure the error wasn't on my part (it wasn't), so I quickly grabbed the yarn and started to work on the 6-12 size hat.  I was careful because I didn't want TWO huge hats, and again my stitches were spot on, so I didn't have to worry any more that my skills were off.  I finished the hat in a record two days (I stayed up pretty late, I won't lie) and on Sunday for pictures the hat was finished, fit, and was adorable.  And now we have matching owl hats! (trust me, it wasn't intended.  I'm sure I'll wear it, because I too love hats, but I think I'm a little old for a purple owl hat ;)  )

 I have another hat, this time with bubble crochet stitches, that I absolutely am in love with.  It'll be Claire's Christmas present.  This hat was technically a birthday present (oh, we'll wrap it, don't worry).  After that I'm pretty much hatted out for her.  A lot of people keep asking about me making hats--I'd love to, but I'm so worried I won't ever get them finished or they won't be as nice as what they want.  I'm a perfectionist like that, I suppose.  I never really thought my crochet skills were good enough for other people to want!  I have some family who I feel "deserve" hats... I also don't know the resell status of these hats--I buy patterns from some folks who let you sell the work and some folks who won't let you sell them.  I don't see the point, because I find it unfair--I made the darn thing!

I have thought about actually researching this and opening an etsy shop of my own to sell the hats.  I have a gift for a friend's newborn and I just love the hat and would make them all day if I could.  Just don't know what I'd do with all those newborn hats, because I'm not having a ton of babies just to fill them (oh, but if I could... ;)  shhh don't tell Matt!)

 So the short answer is, if you want a hat I'm pretty nervous to make people buy them, but I'll see how the gifts are received first (like if my cousin throws it away?)  and then I'll branch out.  It's gonna be a long winter.  You know I won't be doing anything but hiding under the blanket on the couch anyway. 

Hope you like the owl hats.  A lot of love and percocet went into the first one, just a lot of love in the second one.  It's Claire's birthday today.  I find it fitting to talk hats because the first thing we did was try on all the hats I made last year and I remember thinking how adorable she was and that she was alllll mine... I don't think that thought had anything to do with hats in particular, but she's been our baby doll all year.  In a lot of ways today I felt my heart was breaking because she's not a little baby anymore.  But watching her do real people things and eating real people food and having a personality (and last night she "read" me a book--how sweet!!), has warmed my heart.  I'm a proud momma.  Every milestone is bittersweet, but today I'm trying to remind myself of how many wonderful things we have to look forward to and how many wonderful memories we've made. 

Happy birthday, Baby Claire.  You'll always be my baby, no matter how many birthdays go by!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Claire Bear!

Mommy's Lil Pumpkin

 Today was Claire's first Halloween!  I kept forgetting all day and asking her if she remembered last year... just to have to remind myself of course not, she wasn't born yet!  I'm unfortunately in all sorts of first birthday mode, so I can't remember little details like, uh, it hasn't happened yet!

M-I-Z-Z-O-U!

 Claire was a very important girl for Halloween.  In fact, she had day care to dress for (the "Mommy's Lil' Pumpkin" shirt), a Halloween party this weekend, and of course, the big day itself.  She couldn't be caught wearing the same costume twice, so she dressed up differently every time.  Unfortunately for us, Claire is on the move these days!  She's crawling everywhere (silly me, I thought the grass would stop her), and now she's standing all the time and starting to take steps all on her own!  It sure made taking pictures a real challenge!

...and I'm done posing

 So Claire decided she wanted to wear her MU cheerleader uniform to the party this weekend.  She has cute Mizzou tights from Grandpa Larry and she's had this uniform since... before she was born!  The tiger ears, too!  The taggy blanket is the one I made last spring and her tiger was given to me at my Master's ceremony.  Costume complete! 

Is THIS the Great Pumpkin?

 Claire wears this get up to go to the MU games, which means it's technically an outfit she's already been seen in (gasp!) but we didn't have any good pictures of her all decked out, so we thought this would be a good photo op as well.  Besides, we didn't want to do a reveal on her actual costume early!

She's so curious about everything; it's almost impossible to get her to smile at the camera!

This reminds me of a senior picture pose for some reason

 For real Halloween we didn't actually do any trick-or-treating since Claire can't eat the candy, and I thought it seemed greedy to take her out just to eat all her candy when we got home (oh, we still got candy, don't worry about us!)

Who is outside now??  Are they coming to take my candy away?

 Our first stop was Grandma and Grandpa Duckett's house.  She crawled around their newly remodeled house, enjoying the splendor of their new padded carpet!  I really thought she wouldn't be able to crawl in this costume so I was hoping for good pictures--turns out yes indeed she can crawl as a pumpkin.  Capturing her in it sitting still was impossible!

Peeking out the door for trick-or-treaters!

...and she WORE THE HAT!  For all the trouble I've gone through to make her lovely hats, this cheap thing stayed on her head for a long time.  Rats!  Double rats!  At least it was cute for pictures!

So determined!

The hat disappears--it got too hot for a hat, anyway.

 And Claire even went so far as to show off her newest trick, standing and taking a few steps all on her own.  She's been standing and cruising on furniture for what seems like forever.  But now she's finally been brave enough to try a few steps.  We can't wait for her to really start to walk!

Little steps!

 We also went to visit our Auntie Anne where we got to see trick-or-treaters (which she smiled at).  We couldn't stay too long because it was getting close to bed time, and Claire does NOT let you forget she's getting sleepy!  She really didn't seem to mind the costume, which was impressive since we thought it would be a terror.  She smiled and patted it a lot; I think she liked how shiny it was.  Overall Claire had a pretty fun first Halloween.  I can't wait until she's a little older and can actually trick-or-treat, or at least appreciate all the fun of Halloween! 

Happy Halloween!

Pumpkin Carving

This pumpkin is all mine!

 A few weeks ago, we went as a family to pick out our very first pumpkin!  Claire was very excited checking out the pumpkin patch, and even though she probably would have loved to walk away with a huge pumpkin, we went for something a little more Claire-sized.  She also got a mini-pumpkin (not pictured) that she will use in her year one pictures next week.  However, when I tried to explain the jack-o-lantern concept, she was clueless. 

You are NOT going to hurt this pumpkin!

I am just addicted to trying to capture Claire's small, curious, detailed hands. 

I love how she points and examines the smallest details.

It seems so funny that something as simple as a pumpkin can bring her so much joy... and yet... her face just lights up playing with it!

Hold up, hold up.  You're gonna do WHAT to my pumpkin?

 I haven't carved a pumpkin in a long time.  Some of my fondest memories of pumpkins past have been carving them with my family, sprawled out on some newspaper on the kitchen floor.  I was going to go hardcore for our very first Halloween and get a carving kit and use a pattern, but we decided that we should go retro and make our own jack-o-lantern face.  It kind of made sense, since I think Claire would register more with a face than with a whole scary design (although I was quite attracted to the Sesame Street carving kits... maybe next year). 

The mayhem begins... not sure what to think yet.

 So I tried my best to draw a happy face on the pumpkin.  I did all the slicing far away from tiny fingers up on the counter, but Matt helped Claire always keep the action in her sights.  I was so nervous I'd chop my finger off or something right in front of her (that carving kit sounded better all the time, right?).  No humans were injured in the making of this jack-o-lantern, I'm proud to say.

The first handfuls... I realized she could eat the pumpkin, since it's just a squash.  I had a total "oh no" moment before it registered she wasn't going to actually eat it anyway... haha.

Little hand sneaking in for more while Mommy does the "real" dirty work.

I love this photo... both girls looking into their "bowls"

Claire was very concerned about the process. 

 Claire was definitely interested in the process.  She was all about pumpkin scooping.  I was really worried I'd be picking pumpkin off of the both of us for days, but I managed to make it out clean and even with all her playing, she remained pretty clean too.  I just love how much attention she can show now.  She really understood there was something awesome going on.  She watched me and played with pumpkin goo the whole time.  I'm impressed she didn't just grab a chunk and crawl off or something!

She was so interested in what was going on inside Mr. Pumpkin.  I bet next year she'll really get a kick out of pulling out the goo herself!

Wonder what pumpkin tastes like...

Oh man... pumpkin is gross!  (see, I KNEW I wouldn't have to worry about her eating some and choking)

A few times Claire really worried me.  I thought she was going to face plant in goo--or throw the goo and bowl!

Love this shot!

Love these action shots--she certainly had a lot of fun today!

She even knew what to do with the spoon!

I was waiting for her to get a big spoonful and stick it in her mouth, since she knows what spoons are for.  Too bad she already found out that pumpkin isn't tasty!

Mommy and Claire enjoying the goo!

 I don't know why, but for some reason I've been looking forward to this pumpkin carving since she was born.  I have such happy memories of being little myself, watching my own parents clean out our pumpkins and carve them.  It was almost surreal being on the other side of things and being the "pumpkin expert" for Claire.  I've had a lot of "mommy" moments this past year, but this meant a lot to me.  I was even more excited that Claire had so much fun and was so interested in the process.  It's funny how the simple things like carving a pumpkin for our first Halloween could mean so much in the long run, but I'm glad we're making these memories.  After her bath, we lit the pumpkin in the dark bathroom so she could see the result of all our hard work.  She smiled so big and pointed right at it.  I think our happy face was a big hit!  I'm excited to stick him out on the front porch for trick-or-treaters!  Can't wait to do it again next year!

Happy Halloween!

Claire at Eleven Months!

Oh Hai there!

 No pictures last month means an excess of them now!  Claire has gone from baby to little person overnight.  She talks all the time.  She mimics us (or whoever is doing the talking) as much as she can.  She dances.  She appears to say "thank you" although since Matt and I have terrible manners, we don't believe she's heard those words. 

Here I come, Daddy!  Wait for me!

Although crawling was quickly followed by pulling up to standing, Claire has finally gotten good at the standing part.  She boogies to music, bending her knees and beating on whatever is in front of her.  She can also stand without holding on to anything.  She hasn't made an attempt to walk, but she will walk along the couch or fireplace holding on now, which is a relatively new move for her. 

Taking the walker on a walk

Nothing is safe in Claire's reach.  We've finally settled that some things will just be toys--coasters, soda bottles, shoes... We try to keep everything else away.  Since she's learned "no", it makes it easier to warn her off of things like the dog toys, the XBox, and television remote. 

Good mommies don't put the camera down, even when danger is eminent.

This stool was on the fireplace, for instance.  We have the fireplace padded, so she's safe around it, but she'd never shown this much in the stool until now.  She flung it to the ground and said, I kid you not, "uh-oh" and then looked at me for reaction.  When I said, "yeah, uh-oh" and grabbed the stool she just kept saying "uh-oh" in a really high pitched voice.  I think she was mocking me.

Look Mom, no hands!

Claire continues to enjoy the simple pleasures of Sesame Street. 

This is how she looks every time I put on Sesame Street.  Crazy.  Abby Cadabby is a good hero, I guess!

 She recognizes many of the main characters as well as the intro music.  I might be a bad mommy for letting her watch television, but the TV is going to be on either way, I'd rather her be exposed to "the Street" than... you know... anything else we watch.  This is her Sesame Street face:

Claire is now sort of feeding herself with a fork or spoon.  I have to load it up first, but she can manage it from there, put it in her mouth, and give it back.  She's really good with mac'n'cheese.  She's also figuring out what she does and doesn't like.  For instance, if I give her carrots and peas, she'll eat the carrots but fish out the peas from her mouth.  If I give her carrots alone, she'll spit them all out.  If I stick anything inside the food she's eating (like a stray pea in the mac'n'cheese) she can figure it out and get it out separately from the other food.  That seems very smart (and very picky) for an eleven month old. 

And she can still hold the juice cup... with her teeth. 

The one thing Claire simply can't figure out is a sippy cup.  We've got lots of different kinds thinking maybe she just couldn't figure one particular cup out.  However, the basic concept of tilting the cup to get the juice has escaped her.  This is her newest cup, which is nice for her because she can carry it in her teeth (all 8+ of them) and crawl around. 

It's pretty entertaining hanging out with Claire.  She's teething again and I can't imagine what other teeth she could be getting in.  She is a terror to diaper change, so we have her "help us" by holding on to something.  She actually works on brushing her own teeth some mornings.  She of course still sleeps solidly through the night, although she's always sleeping on her knees.  She looks so uncomfortable.  I've learned not to move the baby though. 

She still fits pretty true to size to all of her clothes (she's still wearing her 6-9 month clothes too though... so maybe she's finally running a little small?)  She loves bath time as it's just an excuse for serious play.  She's also started playing a bit more with Wally since she can hold her own ground.  She does scare sometimes and crawls really quickly to me and throws herself at me in a huggy way to "get safe".  Very cute. 

I'm busy working on all of the wonderful surprises for her first birthday.  I can't believe how fast the time has gone.  Just tonight giving her a bath made me so sad to think how much she's changed... it still seems like yesterday they handed me a new baby.  Now I have this wonderful daughter that has grown up before my eyes!

Darn! That's the end!  See you on my birthday!

Claire Turns Ten Months!

Forgive this blog post for being slow.  Unfortunately Claire and I had a little too much fun this summer and one upswing in the car seat brought my back crashing down.  Since I have surgery tomorrow (weee), I figured I'd better go ahead and get this post out.  Claire turned ten months this past Saturday, and she's just been amazing us at how much she's changing.  I decided to upload some of our recent videos instead of pictures--hopefully these aren't too hard to watch (because of jealousy, I'm sure, not the fact I'm terrible at video-taping!)

Currently, she's talking up a storm.  She's got the crawling thing down (and she's so fast), she pulls up on everything and tries to walk around holding on to the couches, the toys, the fire place... oh anywhere she can get.  She loves to go "adventuring" with Mamma, crawling together through the house.  She also cracked me up by crawling into her room and climbing into her old baby tub she doesn't use.  She got in and seemed surprised there was no water to play in!

Claire's talking is really what is entertaining me.  She's said "mamma" (I have video evidence of her crawling to me and saying this) but that's old news.  The new hot word right now is "daddy".  Everything is "daddy".  Daddy of course is "daddy", but dirty diapers are also "daddy" as well as food, mommy, and many toys.  She also says the word "book" which is sweet because she sort of whispers it out.  We couldn't tell for a while if she was saying "look" or "book" but daycare has confirmed "book" is definitely a word she can say.  She also learned "uh-oh" during the original back accident back in August.  SOO glad I didn't say something else! 

Claire has eight teeth now (did I mention that?).  She's grown rather hard to diaper change, dress, give medicine to, wipe her nose... oh... she doesn't like any of that.  She DOES like finger foods and will refuse to eat anything else until she gets her snackys.  We've also learned on the homemade snacky home front that frozen carrots can catch fire in a microwave because of the minerals in them.  True story.  But she really likes those, greeny beenies, and all her fancy Gerber snacks that we can't help but buy her, too.  She's eating "stage 3" baby food plus the Gerber finger foods.  I've made her chunkier baby food, too, but without succeeding in making meats she'll eat, I've been breaking down to buy more and make less.  Couponing helps!

Of course Claire is a doll--I've been having so much fun with her new outfits and new toys.  She's so much more aware and active now. I really feel like I'm interacting with her so much more now.  It's nice to get that loving feed-back.  Her grin is too cute!  It totally makes up for the fact that right now her "loving feed-back" is telling me "daddy"!