Claire

Ok, things have been hectic. We missed thirty-two weeks. We were down in Utah for another visit.  But here we go with 33 weeks!

Claire has changed so much in the last couple weeks. She is becoming a unique little human in leaps and bounds. First she figured out how to drink from a straw! She can get a drink of water from her cup all by herself now. It’s so cute.  Her little hands are getting very adept at grasping and dropping things. She is a professional puffs-eater now!

In just the last couple days Claire has started to show frustration and anger never seen before. Just tonight she got genuinely angry with me when I took her mostly-chewed, soggy pretzel stick away.  She was so mad at me; she screamed and arched her back, glaring. I couldn’t help but laugh– it was the first time I had ever seen her angry! Claire also gets frustrated when she can’t reach for things she wants. “Out of sight, out of mind” doesn’t seem to be working so well anymore. (Hopefully that frustration will lend itself to action soon and we will see her make a little effort towards crawling. ) It makes her seem so much more human now. Life is so full of frustration for everyone- welcome to life as a human being Claire!

Claire has met some other milestones without me really even noticing. When I think back to how things were a couple months ago I realize there have been big changes. She sits up perfectly well now, and rides along with me in the shopping cart. She sleeps through the night almost every night. The spitting up has all but completely stopped. It seems strange now that Claire once wore bibs 24/7.  Just this week Claire’s infamously goopy right eye (she had a blocked tear duct) suddenly cleared up. No more crusty eye in the morning! Our nursing sessions are only 5-10 minutes now, and only four or five times a day. Once upon a time we were nursing every two-and a half or three hours round the clock and it would take 30 minutes!

Despite all the growth and progress, I still call her “Tiny”, and “Pretty Little Mini.” She is still my beautiful, precious little babe.

Here is Claire at 30 weeks on a hot summer day:

And here she is at 31 weeks:

Summer is always the busiest time of year for me and Eric, and now with Claire things are even busier. I am trying to enjoy the quiet moments with Claire as much as I can. I’m trying not to get too distracted by all my photo shoots, errands, and afternoon trips to the lake. I want to remember my baby like this forever!

I want to give the run-down of Claire’s typical day, even though it seems every day is different. So here is what we’ve kind of been doing lately:

5:30 AM Claire wakes up hungry, and I bring her into my bed to nurse. We both go back to sleep.

8:00 Claire wakes up next to me, babbling away. I always try to sleep more, but she makes sure I get up. We nurse again.

9:00 Stroller strides class! We walk over to the park near our house for exercise with other moms. Claire likes being in her stroller for the most part, and all the other moms comment on how easy-going she is and how cute. Claire laughs at me when I do jumping moves.

10:30 We have a snack back at home, maybe cereal with banana and I eat breakfast. Claire is loving the baby food pouches. She can eat one by herself now! She just figured out how to suck the food out of the pouch without a spoon.

11:00 Nap time. Claire is really good about going down for a nap without too much fuss. She usually sleeps for an hour or so.

12:30 Claire wakes up. We have a quick nursing session and then usually head out to do some kind of errand. She is OK in the car seat for a little while as long as she has her toy camera and squishy book to play with. She is always seems to enjoy Target or the grocery store. So many things for her to look at. We’ve never had a public melt-down.

3:00 Afternoon nap time. This is flexible timing, but Claire usually sleeps for two hours or so in the afternoon. It gives me precious time to try and get things done!

5:00 Wake up and play. I try to do something fun with Claire, spread her toys out on the floor, take her for a walk, put her in her activity chair. She’s usually in the mood to play for a while!

6:00 Dinner. Just tonight Claire ate bits of cantaloupe, cherries, strawberries and bananas.  She loves little puffs too. It’s so much fun to see her excitement as she learns how to eat. She really seems to love it.

8:30 Bed time. I always nurse Claire in her rocking chair just before bed. She tends to be a little fussy and restless at the end of the day, and she squirms and fidgets a lot. I love it when I finally put her in her crib for “night night” and she smiles and relaxes. I think she actually likes going to bed. It’s been pretty hot lately, so we have a couple fans going in Claire’s room. She sleeps in a little wind tunnel and her tiny hair blows around. We say goodnight to the bunny, the kitty and the lamb, and I kiss her goodnight.

 

This week Claire is enjoying more baby foods (she loves pumpkin banana) and sitting up by herself even better. I took her to the grocery store yesterday and she sat on the seat in the cart for the first time. That was pretty exciting for me! Claire also took her first dip in Lake Tapps, which she did not particularly enjoy. We had a couple photo shoots to do, including one pretty long wedding day, and Grandma Sandy was out of town. Erica’s sister Kylie was nice enough to come stay with Claire both times. We totally trust her, and everything went great.