Road Trip!

We left daddy behind this 4th of July weekend and went on a road trip with Nani to meet Claire's great-grandmother, Mamaw in Jackson, Mississippi! Claire likes to take a break in the car with Nani. Nani lets her pretend to drive! Claire is such a good eater. She ate so well on our trip. She ate nearly a whole grilled cheese sandwich for lunch on the way back home. Claire was so exited to play with dogs her own size for a change. Here she is crawling around with Mamaw's dachsund Bozo.Here are the four generations. None of us really felt like having our picture taken early in the morning as we were getting packed up and heading home, but as is often the case with these sorts of trips, we took the cameras and meant to take pictures, but didn't manage to really take many pictures at all.

And last but not least, a sweet parting kiss from her Mamaw! There's nothing like the love of family!

And Then There Were Four...

So many of my friends and family followed my blog (and kept up with me in other ways) through all of the heartache it took for me to conceive and carry a baby - the crushing blow of hearing the word "infertile," months of medicines followed by the heartbreak of a miscarriage, and finally the difficult pregnancy and delivery that brought us our little Martha Claire.
After all of the years of posts related to the difficulties with trying to conceive, it is a great joy to share with you the first look at Claire's baby sister or brother. The picture doesn't show well after being scanned and uploaded on the blog, but with no real effort of doctors or drugs, we are unexpectedly expecting! This pregnancy was discovered very early by us - thanks to some powerful intuition of Geoff's overcoming my skepticism enough for me to take a pregnancy test - so we were able to get to the doctor soon enough to sustain and continue to grow this little baby. This pregnancy shows all the signs of being frought with the same complications I had with carrying Claire, so of course we appreciate your prayers - especially as we enter the more dangerous third trimester. Baby "E" is due January 14th, but anticipated much sooner, and in fact will be viewed weekly through ultrasound from week 34 on, to be taken when the placenta begins to break down as it did with Claire (and hopefully before the baby is in as much danger as Claire ended up in). We are expecting a delivery between Christmas and New Year's.
This, by the way, is what sometimes happens when you pray as I did. Geoff had always wanted at least two children, but after the complications conceiving and carrying Claire I was convinced that A) we wouldn't be able to have any more children, and B) I didn't want any more children. But I knew how much Geoff wanted another child and so in March I began to pray that if God wanted to bless Geoff with another child, that He would change my heart about it. I shared that prayer and story with a close friend in early May not even knowing at the time that Geoff and I had already conceived! Baby "E" will be able to be a constant reminder to me to always keep my heart and mind open to whatever God may want to bless me with.

DON'T FORGET TO VOTE ON WHETHER YOU THINK CLAIRE WILL HAVE A BROTHER OR SISTER! :)

Walking in the Footsteps of Giants

This is my new favorite picture - she follows Daddy around in the morning while he gets ready for work. Too cute! :)

A Post For Daddy

Geoff has been telling me that there are videos and pictures he knows I have that need to go on the blog. Well, I'm not getting the picture up right now that he wanted, but I have a picture and video, neither of which he has seen, that I thought I'd post for his (and your) enjoyment.

She loves her swing!

I guess she can't wait to ride the bus!

The Big Ten Months

She's ten months old and what a charmer! Claire is into everything these days which means it is the beginning of a whole lot of saying no-no! Her favorite thing lately is reading books. She mostly just likes pulling out all of her books and flipping the pages herself, but she likes being read to if you will read one of her favorites. We have started reading a bedtime story each night as part of our bedtime routine (in hopes of weaning soon).
She also really likes wooden puzzles. She pulls out all the pieces and for awhile didn't seem to understand why you would want to put them all back in the puzzles after she had so carefully taken them out. However, just in the past few days, she has started to try to put some of the pieces back in - a big skill for a little baby! She is also very interested in opening and trying to close easter eggs. They are very hard for her to close back, but when she does get it, she is so excited for herself.
Claire has four teeth, two on top and two on bottom. It appears she may be soon to cut four more (two uppers and two lowers), but her teeth have been fairly slow to cut, so who knows? She's a good teether - no fevers or major crankiness or anything.
She isn't walking yet, but she's definitely a cruiser, and she can stand without support for brief moments. She seems to be pretty focused on moving right now, though, and doesn't talk much anymore. Mostly, she whines, especially at the dinner table. This has actually been an ongoing problem that we are trying to work on with her. She doesn't seem interested in communicating what she wants, she just gets frustrated when you don't know what she wants.
She loves to be sung to and to swing in her toddler swing. Particular favorite songs of hers are "Bushel and a Peck" and "Old MacDonald." If you sing "Happy and You Know It" she will clap her hands. She also likes to go to the city pool or play in her tugboat pool in the backyard, which is good because it is very hot outside!
We've had a hard time this past month with separation anxiety at bedtime, but this seems to be mostly taken care of. Our house is fairly small, so even without a monitor on it's hard for Mom and Dad to sleep while she's hollering out. She isn't crying exactly, just standing in her crib and hollering to see if we will come hold her.
She's a sweet, lovey baby, but oh so active! Geoff sometimes laments that she doesn't much like the be held anymore because she just wants to squirm free and go. I imagine she will be walking in no time flat, but I'm not anxious for that milestone to get here.
We just continue to delight in her every day - and look at that picture, who wouldn't??

Red, White, & Blue

Claire was dressed in patriotic fashion today for the local elections. We realized this year just how long we have been in this small town - three of the individuals running for office were personal friends of ours! (Luckily, they were all running for different positions). Claire has a stack of wooden puzzles from her Auburn cousins, and she really enjoys pulling out all the little pieces. She is particularly enjoying playing in her room now that we swapped out the double bed in there for a twin - she has so much room to play!