Almost crawling

Tuesday we received snow in Houston, TX for the third year in a row. We tried to get a picture of Claire in it, but the snowfall wouldn't show up on the picture. So, we had to wait until the flakes started to come down heavy before we could get a picture and by that time, Claire was taking a nap. Anyway, had to share a picture of winter in TX...if you look very closely, you can see the snowflakes in the air!

Claire is working hard on learning to crawl. She gets onto all fours now very easily and occasionally moves either her knees or her hands forward, but does not quite get how to coordinate them together yet. We are excited for her to start crawling, but enjoy her not being too mobile too. It is so fun watching her reach new milestones every day. She is so busy exploring everything around her. Lately she has been babbling a lot too. Of course we look forward to when she starts talking and understanding us, but that has its negatives as well! Better get this posted before nap time is over!

Our baby is 8 months old today

Wow! Where does the time go. I cannot believe we have had Claire in our lives for 8 months already. It feels like just yesterday that we found out we were pregnant. Everyone tells you that once you have kids, time goes by even faster and they are correct. I look forward to each and every day to watch Claire discover and explore new things.

These past few weeks have been busy for Claire. She got to spend some time with her Nanny and Papa which she loved and she is missing all of their attention greatly already. I think she got a little spoiled with them here, but I guess that is what grandparents are suppose to do. We have gotten to watch Claire start to "crawl". I am not sure if you can call it crawling, but she has started to scoot backward some to get places. I have a feeling crawling the correct way will be in the near future. Nanny and Papa also got to watch Claire pull herself up using the laundry basket. She will not do it for mom or dad yet though. She has been big into waving hello and goodbye and loves to play peak-a-boo in the mirror.

Today we tried papaya and she loved it. Glad she likes a wide variety of foods so far. Her favorites seem to be sweet potato, squash, apricots, and peaches. We have been giving her bite size pieces of cooked apple, pear, and banana and she does well with them too.

For the past 9 days Claire has been sleeping through the night...finally! She does not even wake up for a bottle anymore. Mommy is LOVING this! Although, I do still wake up about twice a night and go check on her. Just something I have to do! We hope that you have had fun watching our baby grow up and we look forward to sharing more exciting times with y'all.

Having so much fun!

As you can tell from the pictures, Claire has been having a blast with Nanny and Papa. After a few days of working with Papa, she has taught him how to suck his thumb! Nanny keeps Claire laughing lots. We took Claire to a Mardi Gras dance one afternoon so Papa had to try on the mask. We are all going to miss Nanny and Papa when they leave for home in only a few more days. Then the countdown begins again for when they will return.

Claire did start crawling a bit on Feb 14th. She got onto her hands and knees, rocked a bit, and then managed to move backward a little. We haven't gotten her to do it again so maybe it was just a fluke. We will have to keep working on that one.

A hard days work

Claire has been having a ball with Nanny and Papa!

She has been so busy showing them all of the things

that she can do since they last saw her.

She starts the day playing with Nanny. Nanny

can always make her laugh!

Then she has to teach Nanny and Papa some new

things. Looks like Papa has caught on quickly!

When she gets tired, Papa finds that the "sleeper

hold" still does the trick.
Finally, at the end of the day, Claire snuggles into

Papa as they both start to fall asleep after a hard

days work!

Many of our blog entries are quite serious and of an informative nature. I decided on our walk this afternoon that we needed to mix it up a little. Since Claire is way too little to embarrass at the mall, much too young to tease in front of her friends and not capable of remembering the things we do at this age; I felt it appropriate to put a sociological time-stamp on her blog. Everyone will remember where they were on the morning of 9/11. They also might remember where their first kiss took place. The one thing that they are sure to NOT remember is the hit song by The General Larry Platt. I want Claire to know that she loved listening to this song.