Birthday Fun

Claire had a fun birthday, starting with a yummy pancake breakfast!

She had fun trying on mama's jewelry! (She got that on herself.)

We met friends for lunch.

And we finished the day by turning her carseat around so now she can see us when we drive... so much better!!

Happy Birthday!

Can you believe Claire went from this...

...to this in one year!

Happy 1st Birthday, Claire Grace!

And, for the sake of reminiscing, check out this post and this post... from one year ago today! :)

One year ago today

One year ago today I wrote this blog entry. Little did I know that my water would break and I would go into labor just 19 hours later.

So fun looking back on all that God has done in the last year!

Drama

Life is tough for this soon-to-be-one-year-old when she takes 20 minute naps instead of her usual hour and a half.

Photo Update

Claire is showing off her brand new tooth... (the second one on the bottom has poked through now, too!)

Just playing in the kitchen...

Helping with the dishes...

Hard at work!

Getting her breathing treatment. She's not so much a fan of it...

One sick lil girl

Poor little Claire Bear has been sick for over a month. It all started over a month ago, when Claire got a cold at the end of September. That developed into croup and was followed by another cold that she had for a couple weeks. I eventually took her to the doctor when I realized she'd been sick with this cold for 3 or 4 weeks. It had developed into an ear infection so they prescribed an antibiotic. Yesterday was the last day of that medicine. For a week after she started taking the medicine it seemed like she was getting better. For the last few days, though, she seemed to be getting worse again but she is also getting her second tooth, so I just blamed fussiness, runny nose, and congestion on that, since she was taking an antibiotic. Last night while putting her to bed, Justin noticed that it sounded like she was wheezing. So, being the rockstar dad that he is, he took her to the doctor (since I had a jewelry show). Good thing he did - they had to give her a nebulizer treatment for the wheezing and found out she still has an ear infection!!! They sent him home with a nebulizer for the wheezing, a stronger antibiotic for the ear infection, and a steroid for her cough and congestion.

Mom guilt has set in again... I feel terrible that I didn't realize she was still so sick!! :( She is such a good-natured girl that she really wasn't that fussy or crabby. How is a mom to know?! Just so glad she has what she needs to FINALLY kick this thing ~ 6 weeks straight of being sick is way too long!

Trick or Treat!

Claire had her first experience trick-or-treating with her cousins yesterday. Although she had no idea what was going on, she loved watching her big cousins run around. :)

Joel was a scarecrow, Joshua was a lion, Silas was the tinman, and Annikah was Tinkerbell.

Joel made a very good scarecrow!

All of the cousins... together at last!

Gramps and Grammy and all their grandkids

Happy Halloween!

Why is putting a baby in a Halloween costume among the cutest things in life?! Check out our lil butterfly...

We put all the kiddos in their costumes today at playgroup. Behold, the cutest group of babies ever:

We had a lobster, bear, pumpkin, butterfly, flower, lion, and a dragon.

I think best costume goes to Mya the lion...

Look at me!

I put Claire down for her nap and 20 minutes later, I'm hearing giggling. I peek in and find this:

What's a mom to do?!

Cousins & Pumpkins

Jason, Roxanne, and Annikah (aka JaRoxikah) are home for a few months from Africa!! We were SOO super excited to see them when they got in on Tuesday night! Claire is loving getting to know her big cousin Annikah. And Annikah is practicing being big sister... only a couple months and her little sister will be here!

HILARIOUS to hear 3-year-old Anni speaking Swahili randomly among her English words.

Anni and Claire at the pumpkin farm

How tall are you this fall?

Yay for family!! :)