Claire's First Halloween

Technically, this picture was taken October 22nd, but it was when Claire and I got our pumpkins, so I say it counts for the Halloween post.  Every year, the PTA puts on a pumpkin sale, so Claire and I stopped by to support the cause.  Plus, they take cute pictures like this for $4 and offer carriage rides around the town square.  After pumpkin purchasing, we met Julie and Kai for lunch at Cafe Genevive.  Even though Kai is only 4 months old, I think he's bigger than Claire already!

Here are the fruits of our labor.  Pumpkin carving is intense!  Robert says I'm the mean-looking one and of course Claire's is the one with the "C", which I guess means Robert is the fat pumpkin :)  

The 3 small pumpkins are for Harley, Izzy, and Ike.

Many thanks to Gamma for all her carving help.

It's Halloween!!!!

Better start eating food that is good for me before I start getting all the candy!

What, I don't get candy?  What are you talking about?

Ok, seriously, who's idea is this?

Have these people lost their minds?

Get me outta here?  Who are you and what have you done with my Daddy?!?!

I'm beyond confused.

I'm making a run for it!

(My duck feet are pretty cute.)

I'm considering flying away.

This holiday is exhausting - and NUTS!

Nine Months Old

Three-quarters of a year - really?  Sometimes I can't believe The Peanut has been around this long, and sometimes I can't remember there was a time when she wasn't a part of our lives.  Claire continues to change and grow every day.  She loves to crawl everywhere and is a much happier baby than before,  when she was at her parents mercy to go from Point A to Point B.  She can maneuver steps (OK,  there's only one step in the house, but she goes up and down like a pro),  pulls herself up, and LOVES looking at herself in the mirror.  When we show her video of herself or another baby on the computer, she laughs out loud.  She also is still a die-hard "Gleek", but didn't love the West Side Story episode so much - enough with the ballads already, this baby loves her some pop, the more Katy Perry, the better is her motto.  We continue to add new solid food to her repertoire with yogurt - her favorites: turkey, cheerios, and yogurt melts.  This week, we're going to try mac n cheese.

Anyways, here are her nine month pics that Gamma took (because Daddy and Mommy are slackers).

check me out standing up!

crawling up "the step"

Of course, inevitably she finds the sign

 and the grabbing starts.

...so the sign was moved.   But I see a glint in her eye..

it's just soooooooo tempting!

Must...grab...paper.

so the sign moved again...

obviously to no avail.

I'm such an imp!

Gamma was really wonderful about taking lots of pictures, so I'm including some fun ones below.  

Ready for the cold.

Saying goodbye to Daddy in the morning.

and Mommy too,

Here I am enjoying tasty treats.  I love me some rice puffs.

(my hair is pretty cute too)

Grooving out to the latest Glee episode.

Taking a tub.

Eight Months Old

We now have to tape the sign out of Claire's reach in order to avoid the grabbing, and the ripping, and the untimely demise of the "Eight Months Old" sign.  

Chillin'

Look at all my hair.  

Trapped in Baby Prison

Yes, she is in a stage where she licks everything!

Standing Girl

Claire was so lucky that she had lots of wonderful ladies hanging out with her this fall while Daddy was in hunting camp and Mommy went back to work.  There was Caroline (who took all the following awesome pictures and who will continue to be Claire's nanny on Mondays), there was Ann (who we hope hope hope will be coming back next summer), and there was Lyndsay (who would drop by to say "hi" and teach Claire yoga).

Downward Dog

Of course, there are Izzy and Harley, the other girls at the house...

(that hair is just insane)

See you later!

Seven Months Old

Ok, lots of pictures coming at you all at once.  Honestly, I've been so swamped since I headed back to work that I have been horrible at updating things, so we're going to do some backpedaling.

Here are some cute ones of her in the pre-crawling stage at seven months old.

She was pretty good in the beginning...

 ...and then the mayhem starts (paper is her most favorite thing next to "Sophie the Giraffe")...

first grabbing...

then ripping...

until there is no more seven month sign.

Also on the adorable front, Claire took her first trip to the pool with Nanny Caroline in August.  Look at her sporting her first bikini (it breaks Daddy's heart a little).

Night Night

Well, we are in the throws of sleep training and Claire seems to have taken to it pretty well - so far.  It was rough, but not as bad as I was expecting, and Claire is (knock on wood) now sleeping from 8:00 at night until about 6:30 in the morning with only one brief wake-up-and-cry routine around midnight.  YEAH!!! Now, if someone will just train me how to sleep through the night again we'll all be set.

Good morning Mom! I thought you forgot about me.

Do you KNOW how long I've gone without food?

But I still love you...

...maybe.