She's moving!!

Watch out world! Claire has started to move! It can't be called a real crawl yet, but it's definitely an "army crawl." Maybe eventually we'll post a little video of her first scoots on Thursday evening and her later improvements, right now we're too busy finishing the baby-proofing of our house (which is similar in some ways to bunny-proofing, so we have a head start.) (Speaking of bunnies, Claire first scooted toward a piece of paper laying on the floor... I think she's been hanging around with Teaser too much. They both love playing with paper.)
-K

Healthy Baby

Claire had her 6 month doctor's appointment yesterday. (at 6 months, 3 weeks old) She was proclaimed healthy and "SO strong" by the doctor. She was 15 lbs 8.8oz (30-35 percentile) and 26.75 inches tall (70th percentile).

Since it has been many days since we've posted an update, here are MANY pictures to make up for that:



Claire enjoys "reading" the newspaper and the advertisements on Sundays when we are reading them on the floor.


She likes to make a mess, too.


The "Claire Tornado" has been through here.


She's so happy, most all of the time.


Her first soccer picture with dad:


Claire likes eating banana, rice cereal, oatmeal, avocado, and sweet potatoes. She tried peas for the first time last night. Here is the response to the offered second bite:

I guess that's a no. But we gradually mixed some into her cereal and she was liking it by the end of dinner.

Claire likes to look at the world from a different perspective occasionally. A good reminder for all of us.
-K

More weekend photos

More photos from this weekend:



Grandma Fran reads a story to Claire. But Claire turns the pages for herself!


Claire with Uncle Greg:



Claire met Grandma Julie's big dog Hal for the first time this weekend. She loved him and he liked to give her kisses.

We had lunch with Grandma Julie yesterday:


And went for a walk in the woods near where Will grew up:


After a nice dinner that my dad and brother grilled last night at my parents' house, we finally headed for home. Traveling is nice, but it's good to be home.

-K

Graduation Weekend

This weekend we were in Des Moines for my sister's graduation. Here are a few photos:


Ellen, Congratulations on all your honors and accomplishments! (and for being a fabulous aunt!)


Claire got to meet her Great-Grandpa C. for the first time:


Her Great-Aunt Nancy got to see her and hold her for the first time as well:


Somehow they avoided the camera, but Claire also met her Great-Uncle Kevin and Great-Aunt Lora. And first cousins once removed (I think that's right!) Erin and Stephan helped entertain her during the ceremony and at lunch afterwards. Thank you!

-K

Thank you, Claire!

What Kate failed to mention in her earlier post today is that Claire gave mom (and dad) an early Mother's Day gift by sleeping through the entire night for the first time in her life. She was asleep by 7:30 pm last night and woke up this morning around 6:15. Keep it up, Claire!

WH

ZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

I was actually planning to write a whole new post on Claire sleeping through the night, but Will has already told you about that. We liked the book: Good Night, Sleep Tight by Kim West. It's a good compromise between the scream-it-out and family-bed-until-a-teenager extremes.

Anyway, here are a couple pictures of Claire and Teaser.

-K

Terrace!

We spent Monday early evening at the Terrace! Though there were a few clouds, it was nice to be outside and spend some time with Kate's lab. Also, it didn't rain and did get sunny enough for Claire to try out her new sunglasses.
-K

6 months old!

Claire turned 1/2 a year old on Thursday. We celebrated with carrot cake for us and rice cereal for Claire. Mmmm!

Today we were over at the doctor's office for an eye appointment for Will and took the opportunity to weigh Claire. (her "six month" appointment isn't for a few weeks.) She was 14 pounds and 14 ounces.

We are happy to report that she is sleeping much better now. She also rolls over in every direction and has started using it to get where she wants to go. (Teaser, beware!) And in the last few days she has started turning the pages herself when we are reading her books to her.

Here are a couple pictures from this week.
-K