15 months

Every time I have to take this child t the doctor, it just reminds me that I can't keep her a baby forever and that she is growing up too fast before my eyes. 15 months ... that just seems so old. Maybe it's because Wesley was such a big boy at 15 months old and Claire still seems so little and cuddly.

And it's because she is! Cuddly absolutely, but little too. At her recent 15 month appointment she was only 30-1/2" tall putting her in the 45% and at 22lb13oz (65%). So she's a little small thing (well average, but for me that's small). If you want to see how big Wesley was click here.

And Claire was an angel with the doctor. She stayed in my lap and kept her eyes on the doctor (just in case he tried something funny). He told me that this was very unusual o have such a calm 15-month visit and he was enjoying it. Once he was finished examining her, Wesley & Claire started to wrestle on the floor. At least the Doctor got to see the real deal and he wasn't alarmed a bit. He must have a few kids at home himself.

The wrestling matches ...

Golly gee, look who's three!!!

He obviously did not get the memo that he's to stay mama's baby forever and ever because my "baby" turned 3 years old today.

Today he kept saying, "I'm three today, not two anymore."

"That's right," I answered.

"And when I'm four," he started, "I can play tennis."

 Funny man! Already thinking about being four?!

 

We had his big family party on Saturday -- 68 degrees!

Claire is walking!

We have a walker!  Claire took her first steps exactly one week before her 1st birthday on the outside patio. We were all jumping around, excited for her! Wow, walking before she turns 1, we couldn't believe it. We were so excited that she'd be walking for her birthday party and could show off her new moves ... and then she stopped walking.

 I guess falling down was too much, or she realized she liked crawling, or she didn't want to be anyone's trained monkey because she wouldn't take anymore steps for us after that. Se would especially not walk for anyone on her birthday. Then the festivities died down, grandparents went back to Nashville, everything returned to normal and ... she was back at it.

One week after her birthday, she was back walking, attempting small steps which quickly turned into steadier steps. And now (3 weeks after her 1st birthday) we have a full blown walking toddler who picks herself up from sitting to standing to walking, prefers walking over crawling, and gets around the house on her little doughy baby feet with her one arm up in the air for balance (she looks ready for us to give her a platter of food to serve). She is so little and cute teetering around the house. She almost looks too little to be walking.

Milestone: walking! 12 months

June 8: Photo shoot outside

June 8th ... A month ago ... Matt was blowing the leaves from the gutters and the day was beautiful, so I took advantage of the sunshine to get some cute photos of the kids. Well, mostly Claire cause Wesley was too busy watching Matt - "He's on the roof!"

Claire's Garden Party

For Claire's 1st birthday, I wanted to do a garden party theme.

I had some great inspiration from party planners on Pinterest and this is what I came up with because I'm not as a) organized b) crafty c) time managed and d) over the top as some people. I still think it came out pretty cute!

We had vases full of flowers everywhere, which my mom expertly arranged.

This idea I stole from Pinterest which is using garden pots for silverware. These came from Home Depot. And of course, the plates and napkins had flowers on them (Target).

I also stole the idea of a Champagne bar from Pinterest -- here's the bar set with raspberries, orange juice, peach nectar, and lemonade. All 3 bottles were finished!

I made vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and pink sprinkles for the kids (and adults).

For Claire's cake, I opted for 5 small 5" cakes with different fillings (lemon, chocolate raspberry, chocolate caramel, vanilla & chocolate, and strawberry) all decorated with flowers -- from Whole Foods. They did a fantastic decorating job!

I love the sunflowers with Oreo centers and the basket weave for the lemon cake. And Claire's cute little smash cupcake.

The birthday girl!

And a party isn't a party without a piñata! I found one at Target in the shape of a butterfly. The kids had a blast hitting it (with a nerf baseball that we had to upgrade to something more potent!)

One Years Old!

My little Claire turned 1 years old today!

I can still remember her birth and how happy I felt when they laid her on my chest. She was beautiful and I kept on saying, "My baby! My baby!" How this year has flown and how happy we have all been with her in our lives.

Taking her home from the hospital ... so tiny

And on her 1st birthday ... my big girl!

 

11 months old ... very late!

Claire turned 11 months old under the sunny skies of Florida. The only thing missing here is a baby piña colada in her hand!

A lot has happened since she turned 10 months:

• She started crawling a few days after turning 10 months and is also very steady on her feet. She can stay standing for about 2 seconds before sitting down. She is also cruising around furniture and tries to "stand up" from a seated position.

• She started getting her teeth! Her 2 front teeth are almost completely in, as well as 1 bottom tooth. And she's eating table food more than puréed food I make for her.

• She's still nursing about 2-3x a day and 1x a night -- she still wakes at night a least once.  And now, she's teething so she's up a few times ... Sleep deprivation looks terrible on me (and 11 months of sleep deprivation is not pretty.)

• She started bathing with Wesley in the big tub. They are really cute playing together with all their bath toys.

• She wants to play with her big brother all the time, preferring his toys over her own (typical) which makes my day full of "play together!" and "stop hitting!" Claire is learning to hold her own (the joys of being #2). She is definitely feistier than Wesley which I expect will make my life only that much more exciting as she gets older.

I can't believe that I am getting ready for her 1st birthday party! This has been quite a fun year!

Perch

After finally completing and passing the first three swim levels SKI -- shrimp, kipper, & Inia-- Wesley has advanced to the next swimming level, Perch!

We've had a choppy go at swim class where he took lessons from 6 - 11 months and from 18 - 22 months. We started them up again at 26 months in September, taking lessons with daddy every Saturday morning, and haven't stopped.

Maybe if we didn't have so many breaks he would have been ready for Perch sooner? (I feel like a stage mom when I say this, but its hard being in classes with 10 month olds). So in January Matt talked to the teacher about what we needed to do to get him to the next level and she made sure to work with him on the right skills.

 Here I am holding on to his noodle -- after 4 classes, I don't need to do this anymore, I can just wade next to him!

 So now he's taking Perch with dear old (tiger) mom. At our first class -- whoa! this is not SKI -- there's some actual swimming going on and Wesley didn't know what hit him. He has to use the blue floaters around his belly to practice front & back strokes. He went ballistic! (This is the kid who won't even let the hairdresser put the smock on him. "No," he raises his hand to her.) It takes a few laps around the pool for him to warm up. And he's also supposed to go under water on command ... Right.

We have a lot to work on.

The good thing is that a lot of the kids have taken this class a few times so Wesley will get better as he repeats the class. As soon as he turns 3, he's eligible for the next level but ... Steady there mama -- we'll get there in good time!

2-kid photo shoot

So this was my attempt at getting some cute photos of the 2 bambinos together on our bed. In theory, it was a good idea, but try and get them to look at the camera and make endearing faces at the same time.  They did turn out pretty cute nonetheless! Here's the outtakes (there were no intakes!)

Super cute 1st picture! Oh wait, Wesley is out of focus.

 Wesley is perfect but why is Claire so far back and falling over?

There we go!

Oh the tackling begins!

Is Claire always falling over?

Claire is perfect, Wesley has his head down.

Fall down girl, not looking at camera

I can't argue with the love factor.

Oops, my bad.

 We're done Mom.