Claire Elyse: 11 Months

Now that Claire is 1 in less than a week (what?????), I think it is time to get her 11 month update on the blog!

Weeks 44-47

Weeks 11 (and 12 which you will read about soon), we have seen a shift from "baby" to "beginning toddler." it is exciting, amazing, terrifying, exhausting, saddening, and wonderful all at the same time.  She is so unbelievable fun and curious! She loves to explore the world and I love seeing things through her eyes!

-Claire is very vocal! While it is mostly still "baby talk" she is starting to say actual words! This month she began saying: car, dada, done, and hi.

-She loves pointing and "OOing" at the things in her books; especially her favorite book, First 100 Words.

-She still loves reading! She is very gentle with her books.  She has the lift the flap books and takes really good care of them!

-She nods her head yes (very dramatically) and shakes her head no

-She moos when she sees a cow in a book

-She plays "night night, wake up!:

-She is really starting to respond to commands, "come here, give me that,"etc

-We have a window in our family room that is right at her height and she will stand and look out at it for so long

-She turns the light switches on and off

-She has woken up clapping multiple times

-She is generally a very content baby; she plays independently very well! 

-She plays patty cake

-She points and everything and says "oooo"

-She has started giving the sweetest hugs

-She loves to stand at her dresser and empty/refill her drawer

-Claire went to her first superbowl party this month

-She wears 9 month clothing, 12 month pajamas

-Her eye color is still unknown

-She weighs ~18lbs according to our home scale

-Her hair is an auburn color; I think it is going to lighten a lot again in the Summer

First time swinging!

Giving kisses to her baby

First fort with daddy

Cup of Claire

Claire's first Valentine's Day

Vday with her cousins

Claire was not as big of a fan of the snow the second time around...

I look forward to many coffee dates in our future

Claire Elyse: 10 Months

Weeks 39-43

Claire is just so fun! I thought I would miss the newborn/little baby stage and I do.  But, this stage is so darn fun! She is so active and inquisitive! She communicates with us and learns something new everyday! She is just the best!

-If you know Claire, you know she can be stubborn.  This girl CAN stand on her own, she just doesn’t.  We have caught her a few times but typically she will slowly squat down to a sitting position. 

-She is constantly moving and exploring!  She

-This month we celebrated 2 uncles, mommy, and daddy’s birthdays- she enjoyed lots of ice cream!

-She will gobble down puffs and cheerios!

-She has started to share everything!

-This month we started giving her table food- so far she really liked bread, meatballs, and crackers.

-She is still cruising along furniture.

-She has a riding toy that she enjoys being pushed on.

-She started walking with her push cart around the house

-This girl LOVES reading! She will sit for so long flipping through her books and pointing to all the pictures. 

-She has entered the “dump everything and put it back” stage. 

-She dances and gets excited when Daniel Tiger comes on, Sophia the First is a close second. 

-Every night before bed she watches 1-2 songs from the Praise Baby dvd.  She just cuddles and watches.

-She was teething and waking up every 2 hours again!

-We moved her up to size 3 diapers

-She is strong- baby girl picked up a full pop can with 1 hand!

-Her hair is starting to get a lot thicker!

-She is in 9 month clothes, 12 month sleepers and based on our scale at home about 17.5 lbs.

In true Italian form, her first table food was meatballs

Watching the snow in her snowflake jammies

Happy Birthday Uncle Alec

Happy Birthday Dada!

Whip cream on Uncle Sam's Birthday

This picture cracks me up!

Happy Birthday Great Grandma!

Happy Birthday Mama!

Shopping with mama is exhausting!

Claire Elyse: 9 Months

Weeks 35-38

Now that Claire is almost 1 year old, I think it is time to catch up on her monthly updates… Thankfully I keep notes so I know what month to put events. 

-Claire is in 6-9 month onesies, 9-12 month sleepers, and 9 month pants. 

-She weighs 17 lbs and is 28 inches long. 

-Claire had a bought of thrush that lasted quite a while! It did not seem to bother her at all though!

-On 12/6 Claire began army crawling and 2 days later was full on speed crawling.  She is one to not slowly build up to milestones- she just decided to do it, and does it!

-Claire said “mama” while reaching for me 3 different times (since I am writing this update 2 ½ months later I can say that she refused to say it again! She lip syncs it but no sound comes out! Stubborn girl.

-She plays with phones and cords

-She pulls up to stand on everything!

-She gives high fives

-She is starting to have some stranger danger.  When someone who she isn’t familiar with approaches she becomes very shy and cuddles into whoever is holding her.

-She will crawl away when you say “I am going to get you.”

-She is a FAST crawler!

-She cruises along furniture

-She is becoming a major daddy’s girl! He says the favorite part of his day is coming home from work because she LIGHTS UP when daddy comes home!

-She can be easily occupied with water bottles

-She met Santa and did not cry.  She did not smile either, just stared (surprise surprise).

-She went on a long adventure downtown! We couldn’t find parking for zoo lights, got stuck in traffic, and ended up at a pizza place in Oak Park way past her bedtime.  She was a trooper though!

-We celebrated Christmas with my mom’s side of the family

-She dances when music plays (bounces up and down)

-She “sucks in” and makes a funny noise

-She LOVES her cousins!!

-She celebrated Papa’s birthday!

-She talks in her sleep just like daddy

-Her newest cousin Colton was born and she can’t wait to meet him!

-We had to lower her crib to the lowest setting

-She does baby yoga unintentionally (downward dog)

-She celebrated her first Christmas!

-She enjoyed time with her honorary aunties and uncles on New Year Eve! She did not want to miss out on the fun and woke up at 11:30 and refused to go back down! She rang in the New Year with us happy as a clam!

-She is busy busy busy!

-We converted the reading room into her playroom.

-She thinks its so funny when people brush their teeth.

-She blows raspberries on my stomach

-waves hello and goodbye

-babbles a ton!

-wakes up so happy!

-snuggles

-Claire is officially a “part-time bed-sharer”  I am very happy with this aspect of our relationship.  She takes her naps in her crib and starts the night in the crib.  When she wakes up for her first nighttime feeding, I bring her into bed with me.  Not only do I believe this has helped my milk supply, but also helped our bond! I struggled (and still do) greatly with working full-time and being away and the nighttimes cuddles are just necessary sometimes.  I am a strong believer in nighttime parenting! 

Christmas Morning selfie

snow!

38 +6 weeks in (labor day) 38 +6 weeks out

NYE