The other morning was a little busy. Jeff was getting ready for work while Avery and I were packing for our day. We were here, there and everywhere throughout the house. I left Claire by the front door, so we could all keep an eye on her while running around. When I was packing our bags, I heard Claire entertaining herself and caught a little on camera.
8 months, folks. That's not a joke. Where the heck has the time gone? STOP!!!
Claire Bear did some pretty amazing stuff this past month, so let's discuss all that and not the fact that she'll be one year old in just under 4 months. (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh x 1,000,000!!)
Claire is now a rock star sleeper. We decided when she was just about 7.5 months that getting up 2-4 times a night was a little much, so we made some adjustments. Claire she took to these adjustments better than we ever thought and now sleeps through the night. She goes to bed between 5:00 and 5:30pm and usually gets up in the 4:00pm hour to chat to herself, play with her lovies and move all over the crib. At this early hour, I ignore her and turn the volume off on the monitor. She entertains herself entirely. She usually falls asleep again and then gets up to eat between 5:00 and 6:00am. If she doesn't fall asleep again, I feed her at 5:00am and put her back to bed until 6:30am. While this schedule is shifted a little on the early sides all around, we are taking it for what it is and enjoying sleeping through the night! We will work on pushing the time frame back a little, but for now, it's working great. Plus, this gives us a few hours a night with just Avery.
Oh, and we no longer use a sleep sack/suit for her at night. She enjoys her freedom now and loves sleeping on her side or tummy while snuggling her favorite toy (a cute little worm).
Claire continues to be an excellent eater. She will eat anything and everything! Just the other day, she ate lentils and beets (the real things - not baby food) and loved every bite. I gave her eggs this morning and she couldn't get enough. There hasn't been one thing yet that she won't eat. That being said, she made a disgusted face with every bite of cottage cheese the other week, but still ate it no problem. I will do everything in my power to encourage her vast palate into her toddler years.
She still loves her voice. Always has, always will. The video below cut off in the middle of her loud "talk scream," but you can hear her other wonderful noises in their full duration.
Claire is still so into Avery and I love that they are starting to do things together. Just the other day, I left Claire in the playroom with Avery while I was folding laundry. When I was done I walked back to the playroom to take Claire and Avery said, "no, you can leave her here. She's having fun." I walked away to do more stuff and snuck this picture...
More sisterly love!
Already obsessed with the phone... oy vey.
Additional tidbits...
Claire loves exploring things with her hands first and then mouth (Avery was definitely the opposite of that!). She can entertain herself like no one's business and can be enthralled with a simple napkin for minutes on end. She is still a complete crack up and smiles with ease. She is also over any stranger anxiety and can be held by anyone. She gives the best baby hugs! She's also getting really close to crawling. She loves the bath (or any body of water, for that matter). She giggles EVERY time she sees Jeff after being away from him for any amount of time... She loves her Daddy like crazy.
Speaking of loving her daddy, happy Father's Day to Jeff!! He is a doting, caring, sensitive, funny, playful, strong and generous father to our girls and would move the Earth for them in a heartbeat. I'm incredibly impressed on how he handles our girls on a daily basis and am blown away at the love and understanding he shows them. We are all so very lucky.
FPT
Speaking of Dads, I love mine and seeing him as a hands on, sweet Papa just melts my heart!
Avery's last day of preschool was today! We said our goodbyes to all her wonderful teachers and will definitely make trips back to visit often. This school and all the amazing teachers were a big part of our lives for the past two years. Now she's off for the summer until Transitional Kindergarten starts at the end of August.
Really, she's getting older everyday and there isn't a thing I can do to stop it...
Claire has officially started waiving hi and bye! Now, I pretty much waive hi and bye to her all day long, because it's ridiculously cute.
Avery's new trick was something she was determined to do. In fact, I haven't seen this amount of patience, practice or follow through with her before. I'm pretty darn proud. And no joke - she practiced ALL day everyday for about a week to get to this:
FPT
We recently went to visit some friends and I was taken aback by how much Avery looked like Maria from the Sound of Music. You know, the scene where she's walking up to the Van Trapp house for the first time.
Jeff and I met on a blind date in December 2004 and were married in October 2007. He is the apple of my eye, the hop in my step and the love of my life. In September 2010 we proudly welcomed our first child, daughter Avery Elizabeth and this site was created to share with our friends and family, near and far, Avery's journey through this magical thing called life.
