Thank you, Lord!

We have so many things to be thankful for recently, that I just wanted to share some of them with y'all!

1. Why I love kids...

Last Monday night, we had our monthly 'friends dinner.' Our friends Sarah and Marty have two girls - Tori, 4 years old, and Samantha, 3 years old. I gave Claire to Tori to hold and of course, with sisterly love, she kept telling Sammy that she is "not old enough yet to hold Claire." (Do the math, they're only a year apart!) Sarah reminded Tori that she has a friend at preschool named Claire, and Tori replies..."Yes, her name is Claire, but her last name isn't Baby Claire." Too cute!

2. No H1N1 in our house...

Same dinner, same people. Tori and Samantha love babies, and of course, were all over Claire and Kevin and Theresa's baby girl, Norah, 1 yr. old. Wouldn't you know that I get a call from Sarah the next morning. Guess who woke up complaining of sickness and with a fever....yep, Tori and Samantha! She'd already taken them to the doctor, where an Influenza A test confirmed that they had H1N1. You may recall that we were just with these people the night before, and the girls were in very close proximity to 'my girl.' Theresa always has a positive outlook and is very realistic - she reminded me that Norah and Claire would have been exposed at some point anyway, and now at least we know they're exposed. :) With an incubation period of 1-7 days, we can thank God that we are officially in the clear! (Norah, too!)

3. Sage Elizabeth...





Claire has a new bestie! Our friends Amber and Ross welcomed Sage Elizabeth into the world on October 17th. She is 6 lbs. 14 ounces, and 19 1/4 inches long. We were in Swaledale when they called with the news, but as soon as we returned to Des Moines on Monday we visited them in the hospital. Was Claire really that small at first?!? It's so hard to believe! I do remember that Annabelle looked huge compared to Claire at only 3 1/2 months. Sage is technically a premie, because she was born several hours before the '37 weeks' full term cutoff, but she was suppose to come out because she was very healthy! Maybe God didn't want her to get any bigger for Amber's sake. :) Sage is a beautiful baby girl and we're happy to have her join us!

4. Warm fall days...



We did get ONE of these this week! Matt, Claire and I took advantage of the temperatures and took a walk outside. It was so fun watching her observe her surroundings! We hadn't been on a walk in a couple of weeks, and she was loving the fall colors. She cranked her neck to look straight above her at the trees and was so alert the whole time. We can tell she's getting smarter by the day!

5. New discoveries...



Speaking of getting smarter, Claire has now figured out - "Hey, I can move this birdie with my hand!" It was great to watch her discover this for the first time. It may have been accidental at first, but after a couple more tries I could definitely tell she knew what she was doing. Now, whenever we put her down on the activity mat, she goes straight for the red bird. She's even gripped it! This keeps her busy for while, and the whole time she's moving it, she's also studying it intently. She's so fun!

"Haha"

Claire laughed! Daddy was playing with her on the floor and making her talk and smile. Out of the blue, there was a definite "haha" in conjunction with a smile...I don't know about you, but I call that a laugh! Uncle Alex was here to see it too. We were so proud of our big girl!



The three of us drove home to the farm on Friday evening. Matt wasn't going to help Mark because they thought it would be too wet in the fields, but Brenda mentioned that we could "come home anyway." I think she had been praying for dry conditions all week so she could see Claire! On our way home, we called and found out that Mark was actually combining, so right after we pulled in the driveway, Matt changed and went out to help him. Matt learned (or started to learn, at least...he says he has a long way to go) how to combine beans. It was a lot harder than he anticipated! My parents came over to see us Friday evening too. I was a little worried with both Omi and Grandma there...wink wink! Grandma R did a great job sharing Claire time, and then made up for it Saturday morning when I got to sleep in! Thanks Grandma R! As the picture proves, Grandpa R also had a great time playing with "Miss Claire!" Anyone who knows him won't be surprised by this, because we know that he's really just a big kid himself. (Reminds me of the way my Grandpa D was!)

Saturday morning we drove to Okoboji to go to Jerrod and Jenny's wedding. Jerrod and Matt grew up together at R-S and also worked many hours together back in the Wendy's days. We stayed at Carli's parents place...John and Deb's house. It is a beautiful new home on the lake and they are always so hospitable. We thank God that they're using their blessings to bless others - that's how it's suppose to be!

Anyway, at the wedding, Claire was amazing! She was so happy and content the whole time...sleeping at the ceremony, but awake for almost all of the reception. Random strangers came up and told me how good she was! Joel, Matt's roommate of three years, asked a couple different times: "Is she always this good?" I tried to explain that she balances herself out, but I'm pretty sure Joel wants a baby now. (Mindy, is that a good thing at this point or not?) Jk.

I took a really cute clip of Claire this morning in a great mood...we'll see if I can figure out how to upload it to the blog later. That's all for now, though! :)

Busy Bees

I love how Claire is smiling in this one! Lots of people take pictures with a stuffed animal (Kuscheltier) to see the growth of their little one...this is the first time we've done it, but she's already bigger than Mr. Bear.



What happens when you're alone? You have to take your own pictures in the mirror and you can't use a flash bc it flashes right back at you and blinds the picture. I'm documenting a new Moby position that Claire loves - facing out to observe the world, with freedom to kick and move!



A big smile for mommy! Claire is almost always in a very happy mood right after she fills her belly!



Hanging out with Amber (and Ross)! Claire is using Baby Mortenson as a ledge to sit on. She hung out with these three while mommy used the elliptical! She did a very good job being a good baby, though didn't like being read to. Hmmm...



Sound asleep. Good night! :)

Such a strong girl

Claire doesn't care for tummy time a whole lot, so we don't often do it. However, we do hold her upright a lot because she just loves to look around. In fact, when we try to cradle her like a baby now, she protests! Last week we tried tummy time again and I yelled at Matt to come see right away, because I was so excited to see how strong she's gotten! I went picture crazy, trying to capture how high she was lifting her head. I can't believe how excited I got for this, but I guess that's mommy-hood. For the record, Matt was smiling big about this feat too! ;)



A family picture at Lara Galloway's wedding (Matt's high school friend) on September 19th. It was a beautiful setting near Iowa City. The reception was in a round barn (built just for celebrations). Notice the stone arch in the background...it's not mortared together or anything. Once the creator added the middle stone, he was able to take down all the supports and it just stays that way (just like they built all the arches in old European times). At the Science Center of Iowa, they have this activity for kids to do with shaped foam blocks. I'll have to show this picture to my kids (can I still say that for my students even though we have Claire now?) after our SCI field trip this spring! That's all for now. :)