Ten & Eleven Months

I haven't done very well with the Ten & Eleven month sticker pictures.  I keep trying to do it at the end of the day when all Clara wants to do is read books, eat and be held.  The last thing she wants to do is still and smile!  Then I take the sticker and set it aside somewhere, thinking I'll do better the next morning.  And there it sits until it's time to do the next set of pictures.  Here's ten months.  Some of them are actually decent, if we'd framed them better.

From 9-10 months Clara had a new trick every day it seemed.  She is really busy and has a lot of love to give.  I really am doing her a disservice by not doing these things on time, because even one month later it turns into The Blur.  We started out the month with Easter.  During the month Clara got her first taste of Lexington BBQ and played in the sand for the first time.  She can say "Bye Bye" and wave!  Her first word!

Some of the eleven month pictures are hilarious.  Well, to me.  You see, I've learned that things that I think (or any mom thinks) are hilarious when it comes to their own child are not even mildly funny when it comes to the children of others.

The sunglasses hide the fact that she is completely hysterical.

Well, kind of.  You can see it here.

It really looks like something is terribly wrong.  It's not.

Everything gets better when she has Snap.

Sassy.

OK, now we're talking!  This is after I had given up and gotten her dressed for school.

From months ten to eleven Clara started to initiate peek-a-boo, discovered her absolute love for blueberries, grew even more attached to Snap the Alligator, learned to do "Soo Big!" and "Touchdown!", she speed crawls and is into absolutely everything.  There are a few signs of walking, but I think it will be more like 13 months before she walks anywhere with a purpose.  Her favorite toys are Snap, the pantry and any cabinet she can get into when you are not looking.  It is exhausting keeping up after her, but it is also sweet and hilarious.  She talks nonstop.  She is really eating everything we eat, minus any dairy.  We are going to re-introduce dairy at 12 months and see how it goes. 

Socially, we said goodbye to our sweet nanny and Clara went back to Bright Horizons.  It was the right time.  I am facing going back to work full time and with the severity of her infant illnesses, we wanted her back in group care well prior to the onset of cold and flu season.  Plus, she thrived on the activities and interaction of daycare and we were eager to return to that.  What we didn't anticipate was a serious case of separation anxiety.  The first couple of weeks back were rough, though they have steadily gotten better with the help of her amazing teachers and cute friends at school.

I cannot believe she is already eleven months old.  While some of the days have been long, the year has flown by. 

Raspberry Noises

When Clara sees my dad they make rapsberry noises at one another and laugh.

He took this picture:

You can see it in action in this picture.  So cute!

Memorial Weekend/Week at the Beach

My mom's (Grandma or Nan?) birthday is May 29, which means it often falls during Memorial Day weekend.  This year my parents rented a beach house from Memorial Day weekend to the last weekend in June as a test run for a possible purchase.  Quincy, Clara and I headed down Friday morning and due to a fortunate set of circumstances, I was able to stay until the following Friday with only taking two days of vacation.  Quincy headed back on Memorial Day. 

I'm not really sure where the week went, but it was very relaxing.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  Here's Clara, enjoying the beach much more than she did a month prior:

 Playing with toys:

 Relaxing with her daddy:

Hands down the best part of the beach house is the covered, screened-in porch.  We set up Clara's play pool and she spent a lot of time in that thing:

Really, a lot of time:

We tried different methods of beach-walking with a baby who can't yet walk.  The stroller was easiest for us:

 But Clara preferred the backpack carrier:

The beach at Topsail has recently been replenished, resulting in tide pools all down the island at low tide.  All of the kids on the beach had a big time catching minnows and playing in the tide pools, Clara was no exception. 

Can't look at you Mom, too much work to do keeping Ernie and Elmo in line!

I swear it's in here somewhere!

We spent most of the week in bathing suits (and don't worry, lots of sunscreen), but I did get Clara dressed a few times:

Reeeally Ready for Bed!

Watching the world go by!

My cousin John and Uncle Frank are flying in this weekend and we're going back down to the beach.  We are really looking forward to it!

Purse Camera

We have a fancy camera, but I also have a camera I keep in my purse.  Here are some of the shots I found on it recently:

Baby's First Trip to the Player's Retreat (Why wasn't there a place in her baby book for that?)

Clara and Annalise (Annalise did her hair herself!)

Clara playing with big girl toys.

Annalise with me in the background.

Bob trying to take the camera from Annalise after I gave it to her to take some pics.  It's a shock-proof, drop-proof, water-proof camera.  I thought it was fine!  Bob said something about consistency, and that I would understand when Clara was older.



Annalise took this one of Q and Clara



Mean Quincy always gives Clara lemons!  Notice her bracelet.  Clara already loves to accessorize!

Melinda's Baby Shower

Elizabeth Morrill is due 6/16, which is my birthday and is this coming Thursday!  We can't wait for Clara's newest play mate to arrive!

On April 16 Abby Hammond and I held a baby shower for Melinda.  We decorated onesies:

Abby and I gave Melinda a diaper cake (Abby is to be credited for the great majority of the diaper cake).

 I made strawberry cupcakes with fresh NC strawberries:

 We had strawberry themed food and drinks:

The hostesses:

Melinda and her sister:

 Melinda opening presents:

And then my camera died, so sad.  At 3:30 the weather got pretty eerie and we turned on the news.  By 3:45 we had headed to Abby's mudroom to wait out the storm.  Abby lost power and we had no idea what was going on.  At around 4pm A tornado came through downtown Raleigh, concentrating its destruction 1/2 mile from Abby's house!  Melinda will never be able to forget her baby shower!

Beach Shots

We have made a couple trips to the beach lately.  The first was to Atlantic Beach for the Reelin' for Research fishing tournament.  Here are a few pics of Clara's first trip to the sand since the infamous stink eye shots from last September:

I wish I could have gotten her to look at me, but she was just too busy!  I took some back at the house on a different camera, I will post those at a later date. 

This trip was the first weekend in May, and all she wanted to do was eat the sand.  Fortunately, by the time we went for Memorial Day, she was over that, although she still does seem to think that sand is pretty tasty!

New Tricks!

Clara and I have been at the beach.  While we have been here she has gotten so many new tricks!  If you say, "how big is the baby?"  She throws her hands up and squeals when you say, "Soooo big!"  She can now put the shapes through the correct slots in her shape sorter and she hides to play peek-a-boo.  She has been playing peek-a-boo for a while, but now she initiates it and does the hiding.  Seems simple, but it is a big cognitive leap!