Happy Half-Birthday and Mother's Day!

My goodness, it's been six whole months since our worlds changed forever!  First of all, I can't express enough how wonderful Claire's presence has been to us.  Every day we marvel at all her wonders and nothing feels like a chore when it's for Claire (although... to break the seriousness... spraying out poopy diapers has sort of gotten to be a chore-peas make poo stink!).  Right now Claire is up to a lot of new and interesting things.  First of all, she's been sitting.  Not always that well, but I definitely confirm she has the ability, just not always the desire.  Right now she's just interested in crawling.  No, she can't crawl yet, but on her tummy trying is where she wants to be.  Unfortunately, sometimes tummy time wears us out (since that's ALL she wants to do).  So then we have surly Claire:

Mom, I'm not so much mad, just disappointed in  you.

But other times she's very focused and happy.  She raises herself up very high now.  It's cute.  Hard to catch on film, but cute.

This is the telltale teething face... the weird mouth shapes are because her mouth hurts.  It looks like she's smiling trying to show us the ouchy. 

And look at those two cute little teeth on the bottom!  You should see her let me brush them.  Too cute! 

We also made our routine trip to the doctor.  She was so excited by Claire's new babblings.  Apparently her "b" sound is very impressive (who knew?), and the not wanting to sit isn't a big deal.  She's just focused on something else, so it's not something she WANTS to do.  Claire also was normal, normal, normal (50th percentile) for head size, weight, and height.  Well, her height was showing a little taller, but we think we didn't get the best measurement.  We've been doing so well with solids that we've been given the go ahead to try other foods.  She didn't caution us against anything and said basically by the time she comes in for 9 months she should have a pretty delicious diet!  We started with carrots, and since I'm late on the blog post, we've also gotten to peas.

She really seemed to like the carrots.  She ate them "like a boss" is what we decided.  She didn't even blink at something strange.  We did have one rough night since she fell asleep before dinner and did not want to eat when we woke her up.  Peas have been more of a challenge, so I mix them with cereal or cereal and carrots.  But let's just enjoy  more happy carrot eating.

Nom Nom NOM!

Claire has been napping a little more than usual.  She does a lot more playing now during the day at daycare, so she often passes out by 5 o'clock, which is why we've had the unfortunate task of waking her up for baths and dinner.  I'm hoping that she's just going through a growth spurt.  She's definitely teething, so we know that really drains her.  But she still has her happy moments.

A lovely 6-9 outfit.  She still fits in most of her 3-6 month outfits, but I just can't help break out the new cute stuff!

Here she is modeling her new headband.  I made headbands for her and the flower clips for her professional 6 month photo shoot later this month.  However, I couldn't resist getting them out early--I did NOT plan to actually have a matching outfit!  That was sheer luck!

Her faces and gestures are so funny sometimes.  If she could talk, oh what would she say with this face.

Although this is the only headband I took pictures of, I also have a leopard print one and a white one.  She also has the pink flower clip (they're removable), white, and yellow flowers, too.  I'm also making a tutu for her for pictures.  I've been doing research and collecting items.  We shall see how I do.  Hopefully she won't be teething by then, and we'll actually get her to sit without trying to throw herself on her tummy to crawl! (We used the bumbo though because the ground is so wet).

I'm just a cutey!

We also tried for some cute mother/daughter shots.  But unfortunately I'm not nearly as photogenic as Claire, and I squint terribly in the sun.

Claire really likes when I hold her up high and rock her.  It always gets a smile.

 

Claire has started to have eyes for only me and Matt.  She's noticing strangers.  She isn't terribly clingy, but if you're around her, you'll notice the difference in how she treats you.  She even leans around to watch me when Matt is holding her.  Yup, you can't beat me!

She also really likes pulling at my necklace--the lovely Tiffany's "Mom" necklace I got when she was born.  I'm afraid she'll break it.  I need to wear something far less sentimental until she gets over this. 

Knows early what expensive jewelry looks like... That's my girl!

And of course, no Mother's Day weekend is complete without a visit from Grandma!  This time she brought us a new sippy cup!  The doctor encouraged us to try using a sippy cup with water (no juice, don't put formula in it).

Grandma... you realize this isn't my bottle right?

 She said Claire was old enough now where she could have a little water, and it would be something to stimulate her trying to use a cup on her own.  She's actually pretty good with it!  She got quite a bit out today!

Hey, it's got handles!  Much better than my stinky bottle!

I just cannot get over how blessed we are with our little girl.  She is so sweet and wonderful and loving.  Of course the teething part is a challenge, but it mostly just breaks my heart that she's uncomfortable and hurting and nothing I do seems to help.  And trust me, we've done our research.  We've tried everything.  That's the worst part.  But this too shall pass and Claire will be back to our happy, carefree, little girl in no time!  I'm looking forward to spending the summer with her and hopefully getting to see her first crawls!  See you next month!