Welcome Spring!

Hello Spring!!!

I just wanted to pop in quickly and let everyone know that we are still alive. We and I just have a ton of stuff going on currently. Ill be making a big announcement early next week (no Im not expecting). Most of you probably know what it is at this point. So a lot of my time has been dedicated to that over the last several weeks. We also had a undetected dishwasher pipe leak under the sink at the end of last week. Undetected that is until our flooring started to bow. We have made an insurance claim and at this point believe they are covering the replacement of the flooring and cupboards. The insurance has an emergency clean up company come and tear up the damage portioned of your floors so right now its a disaster. We have partial flooring and cant move forward til the adjuster comes on Friday. So this week we have had lots of people in and out of the house as well as us making decisions on new flooring etc.

We had a weekend visitor that Ella and I both fell in love with

Ella has had several episodes of hives this week. I believe the culprit is Tropicana Farmstand Blueberry Pomegranate juice I just bought on Sunday. She breaks out in a little bump and then itches it til it turns into what is shown below. We have seen them on her back, legs, arms, face, everywhere. Benadryl takes them right down.

Claire is a champion eater and thinks she is hot stuff while doing it. She loves making goofy faces and laughing out loud. She also started kissing the air. Anytime we kiss her she starts kissing the air or if she sees winston, Tom, Ella, or I she starts kissing. Its really damn cute.

Tom and I have been working out five days a week for the last month and half. We are both feeling great and getting ready for the beach in a few months! Ella is on spring break next week. I figure the blog will be pretty quiet over the next couple weeks but all in all things are going well from our end! And we are all hoping that with spring we finally start to see some nice, warm weather!

7 months.

I'm over a week late posting this but WOW I cannot believe my little lady is already seven months old. This past month has by far been the most amazing yet. The awesome thing about kids??? Just when you think it doesn't get an better, anymore amazing, somehow it does. While each month has gotten easier, more fun, and we have settled more and more into our routine with me as a stay at home mom, I think this last month it really solidified. It feels right. In fact, it feels more than right. It feels like right now this is exactly where I am supposed to be, exactly what I am supposed to be doing. 

So let's talk about Claire. She is seven months. She is funny. She is cuddly. She is busy. She is amazing. She is so loved. 

There is never a dull moment with this gal. She is constantly chattering, squealing, grunting, yelling, spitting, laughing. She is the happiest, most vocal baby. She started this grunting thing at Tom each time she saw him which turned into her grunting anytime she saw anyone and wanted their attention as well as anytime she sees a new or interesting toy or object. She is still completely obsessed with Ella. The entire time we ride in the car she stares at Ella and spits at her, yells, squeals, does whatever she can to try to get her attention. When I drop Ella off at school she stares at the empty car seat and at times whines a bit.

She is very busy. She is rolling all everywhere. Even in a middle of a diaper change. She's constantly looking for toys, something to do. This girl has to stay busy.

She's reaching for toys on her belly like crazy and trying to scoot

She is eating all kinds of foods I make. There doesn't seem to be any that she hates at this point. Her favorite by far is pears. We just started giving her puffs this week. She is awesome with her pincher grasp and picking them up but often struggles to get them in her mouth. At times she doesn't even seem to know that she should put them in her mouth but rather hoards big piles of them in her hands. She is doing great with hand to hand transfer of food or toys.

She makes this scrunch face A LOT. I love it. Tom calls it her old man face

She is the most ticklish baby. She loves for you to nibble on her neck, blow raspberries on her belly, tickle her sides under her rib cage. She lets out the biggest, loudest laugh.

She's quite the chatterbox. It pretty much is never ending when she is awake. She says hiiiii when you say hi to her, dada, mama, geee, baba, yeah, her version of Ella which is pretty darn close, gaga, and I'm sure I am forgetting a few.

The tips of both bottom teeth are about halfway out

I am completely obsessed with her soft velvety, pale, squishy skin. Especially her arms. I just want to squeeze them. I cannot get enough of it.

She loves playing with her feet and the last few weeks has realized she can eat her feet.

She loves pulling hair and squeezing Tom's nose. She loves playing with and pulling on the necklace I wear with her and Ella's name on it. When I nurse her she puts her arm back to rub or squeeze my arm or play with and scratch at the bracelets I wear. She loves baths. She actually loves riding in the car these days. She loves toys. It's clear she loves her family and by the looks of things I'm pretty sure she loves life. I love her. We love her. When before I couldn't imagine my life with a second child, I can no longer imagine my life without her. The thought of not having her is actually unbearable. I'm pretty sure these days I need her to breath (and as always her sister too but this is post is about claire). There are some mornings I bring her in bed with me around 5 or 6 and she falls back asleep. When she does wake back up, the first thing she does is look up at me, find my face and smile. And in that moment there is nowhere else I would rather be, nothing more precious in the world. In that moment it's just her and I and all we feel is love.

Finger Foods.

We did baby led weaning with Ella with large chunks of food around seven or eight months. Tonight we thought that we would let Claire try some finger foods. We gave her a huge log of cucumber and some peas. She got a few peas picked up and in her mouth but mostly just smeared them on the table. The cucumber, however, she could not get enough of it. She literally screamed each time it dropped or got taken away. It ended up on the floor, on her shirt, in her hair, on her face, on her legs, in her neck, pretty much everywhere.