Thanksgiving 2009

Claire finally met her mommy's family over Thanksgiving. This included both of mom's siblings and their families! Mom has lots of videos to organize and share, but most of the pictures will have to be emailed to her from other people's cameras before there will be a slideshow from the week.
Highlights from the week included:
A pop-up RV in the front yard to sleep Uncle Kevin, Aunt Shelby, Nani, Mercy and Stone
Cousin Mercy dropping an entire roll of toilet paper in the toilet
Aunt Minnah building a fort for Stone and Mercy in Claire's room
Cousin Wyatt showing the kitty cat how to chase a spotlight
Tons of cooking, football, and photos
We were so blessed to have all of us together for the first time in three years, and we can't wait to do it again. More pictures and videos to come soon!

Ravens' Championship

My nephew's team made it all the way to the championship in football this year. They lost the final game 6-0, which I know was so disappointing to him, but they played so well! At the final game, Claire got a little time with Mimi and Mr. Mike in the stands.
She held up well considering the night game was past her bedtime and it was pretty cold out. Of course, we've paid a penalty in the nights following that excursion, because it completely threw her off her bedtime schedule. Last night I finally let her cry it out and it only took 8 minutes for her to fall asleep on her own - I thought of this as a victory!

Sweet Birthday Memories

I have a bunch of good videos from the hospital that I look forward to sharing along with the new videos we're trying to take now.
Ian and Claire at the hospital. At first I told Kelley (Ian's mom) that after hearing all of the many stories that Geoff has about Ian's dad from growing up together, that there was no way Claire would be allowed to marry into their family. But Ian is such a sweet boy I may have to reconsider! (Still, Kelley informs me that Ian really prefers older women, so perhaps there is nothing to worry about).

Play Time

Videos!

I can finally post videos to the blog (as evidenced by the football post from the other day). I have a bunch from the hospital, but I'll start with Lara changing Claire's diaper so we could hear her tiny cry.

Three Months!

Okay, so technically Claire is 3 months old tomorrow, on the 13th, but I couldn't wait to take her picture in this little outfit from her Nani. I don't have my brother-in-law's flair with picture taking, but hopefully these do the trick.Claire at 3 Days Old

Claire at 3 Months Old

My How I've Grown!

Got rid of my long hair (donated to Locks for Love). It feels good, but weird, to have short hair again after years of it being so very very long.

Sweet sleeper.

For perspective, I laid the onesie Claire wore for her Week 1 picture on her today. Wow! She has grown!

Touchdown!

So proud of my nephew, Jonathan, performing a quarterback sneak here. His team only has to win one more playoff game to make it to the championship! (By the way, we took Claire to this game a few weeks ago because it was a day game on a Saturday and we figured it would be warmer than the night games. It turned out to be one chilly day!)

Twelve Weeks

Claire awoke this morning ready for adventure... So we decided to try something new! She loved the jumperoo.

She is making gaa and laa sounds now and blowing bubbles. We've only gotten an occasional laugh from her - though she laughs frequently in her sleep. She continues to earn the title of a very good/very easy baby (for which we couldn't be more grateful).

Monkey Business

Too cute not to share!