Claire Olivia Week by Week: 45 Weeks

Claire turned 45 weeks old today.  I took her weekly picture in one of my old Christmas outfits my mom saved.  This has been a fun week for Claire.  She got to celebrate her first Thanksgiving twice!  We went to Bryce's parents on Thanksgiving and then a few days later we had a second Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  Claire had tons of fun with her grandparents and cousins all weekend long.  She has started standing more, especially when she is around all her cousins and she wants to try walking, but she still hasn't taken any steps on her own.  She also finally cut her top left tooth!  Hopefully she'll have a little break from teething for a bit.  She only has two more first holidays to celebrate until her birthday, Christmas & New Years.  I can hardly wait to open presents with her on Christmas!

Thanksgiving #2

Saturday we had a second Thanksgiving dinner with my family.  We felt pretty lucky to get two Turkey dinners and be able to spend time with both of our families over the holiday weekend.     

Growing up my Grandma Mecham always gave us a little gift after Thanksgiving dinner to start off the Christmas season.  My mom decided to carry on the tradition so she gave Claire and Lydia their first Christmas gift.  

They got matching Christmas jammies and a Christmas book.  Lydia & Claire both LOVE these Karen Katz lift-the-flap books so they were super excited when they opened them.  

Nana (my mom) reading to her grand babies :).

Lydia and Claire love playing with each other.  It is so cute to watch them.  They pass toys back and forth and jabber to each other loudly in baby language.  I am so glad they are such good little friends already.

And what kind of mom would I be if I didn't include an obligatory photo of them in their matching jammies in front of my mom's Christmas tree.  We had such a fun holiday weekend.  Now I'm just so excited for Christmas to get here!

Thanksgiving 2014

This year was our turn to go to Bryce's parents for Thanksgiving dinner.  We had so much fun spending time with the all of our Leishman family.  I remembered my camera so I was able to take a few pictures to document Claire's first Thanksgiving. 
Here is Claire patiently waiting for dinner with her cheerio appetizer.  She ate the actual meal pretty well.  She ate a little bit of mashed potatoes and gravy and stuffing, but after a while she would just gag every time I gave her a bite.  She loved the fruit salad (grapes, strawberries, & blueberries) and ate basically the whole portion I had dished out for myself.  She wouldn't eat any of the turkey.  She just kept spitting it out even if I gave her a teeny tiny piece.  Maybe next year she'll appreciate the food a little more ;).

Claire playing with Grandpa Leishman after dinner.

Claire with her Grandma & Grandpa Leishman.  She loved getting to play with them all day!

Bryce & Rory scouring the Black Friday ads.

After dinner the men went shooting and the girls stayed and tried to get all of our babies to take naps.  Claire finally crashed around four o clock and took a nice long nap.  Then after the men all returned we finished off the night with yummy homemade pie.  It was such a fun day!  Claire was so happy all day.  She loved getting to play with all her cousins and grandparents.  I forgot to get a picture of our little family on Thanksgiving but we are having Thanksgiving dinner number two at my parent's tomorrow so I'll have to make sure we take one then.  I am so grateful for my little family; Bryce, Claire & Rory.  They are my greatest blessing!  And I guess I should throw in that I am also pretty grateful for whoever invented pumpkin pie ;). 

Oh, Christmas Tree! Oh, Christmas Tree!

Now that Thanksgiving has come and gone Bryce granted permission for our house to be fully decked out for Christmas, which meant we could finally buy a tree!  We loaded Claire up in the car today and headed to Lowe's to scope out their Christmas tree lot.  We wanted a fairly small tree that would easily fit in our little apartment.  We walked up and down the rows until we spotted the perfect little four foot tree. Claire stated her approval with an affirmative "da, da, da!" After we got our tree home we set right to work.  I unpacked all of our ornaments and laid them out on the floor to show Claire.  I explained to her the significance in each ornament and the stories of how we got them.  Claire showed her attentive interest by trying to eat them. 
(Rory was having a bad hair day so I think she's a little embarrassed in this picture).
Claire and Rory are both very fascinated with our pretty little tree and all of its shiny, tempting ornaments.  It's going to be an interesting month trying to keep both of them from toppling it over.
Here's a picture of the fully completed tree.  Since I was already in the holiday spirit I decided to go ahead and wrap presents.  I did a lot of shopping throughout the year so I am pretty much done with our Christmas shopping already. Now that our tree is up I can declare the Christmas season as officially commenced in the Leishman house!

Rule Breaking

This past weekend we had our first winter storm warning.  I was giddy and excited for the world to be covered in sparkly white snow.  I actually really love winter.  I don't mind the cold, and I love snow.  I watched and waited all weekend long, but not a single snowflake fell.  I made my mom's homemade chicken noodle soup hoping that just maybe my meal choice could influence the weather ;) (no such luck).  Claire loved the soup at least, and we've been happily eating leftovers all week in mama & baby sized bowls.   

Bryce has a rule that I am not allowed to put up any Christmas decorations until after Thanksgiving.  I rationalized that my disappointment from not getting any snow was a valid reason to break his rule just this once.  So Claire and I pulled out the Christmas decorations two days early to at least make the inside of our house feel "wintery".  
Cutest little helper!
At least I'll have Thanksgiving celebrations to keep me distracted for a few days, then I'll go back to wishing for snow.

Claire Olivia Week by Week: 44 Weeks

Claire turned 44 weeks old today.  The weather has started getting cold so we are back to taking weekly pictures inside.  It's difficult to getting good natural light in our basement apartment so I don't particularly love taking pictures inside, but I guess it is good practice for me.  I tell Bryce all the time the main requirement I have for our next house/apartment is for it to have lots and lots of windows and natural light.  Anyway, back to Claire.  She loves playing in the nursery with all of her toys.  She is very curious and inquisitive.  She will hold one toy and study it for a good five minutes, sometimes longer.  She will turn it all around and look at its shape and color, then for good measure she'll put it in her mouth and see how it tastes.  Once she's satisfied sometimes she will move on to another toy or she will keep holding the same one while she crawls around the house.  It is so much fun watching her learn, play, and discover new things.  She has turned into a little chatter box and speaks gibberish to me all day long.  It is so cute.  I'll talk back to her (in real sentences) and she will respond in her own little language and you can tell she totally thinks we're having a conversation.  I usually start laughing because she will really get into it and start talking extra loud, for emphasis I'm sure, at certain parts in her stories.  I am getting so excited for Christmas with her I can hardly stand it.  We are planning on putting up a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving.  Hopefully I'll be able to keep her from pulling it over on top of herself!

Claire Olivia Week by Week: 10 Months

Dear Claire,

Today you turned 10 months old.  I can't believe how big you are getting!  You are learning new things everyday and it is so fun to watch.  You are starting to really love books.  One of your favorite things to do in your nursery is to pull all of your books off the shelf.  Then you just sit and look at all the books and take your time turning the pages and patting all of the pictures.  I love seeing you do this and I hope it means you are going to love reading as much as I do when you get older.  
You hair is getting long and it is coming in pretty thick.  I realized a few days ago that you finally have enough hair to put it up in pigtails.  It looks so darling, but it makes you look like a big girl and not my little baby anymore.  It is so much fun watching you grow, but it is definitely bittersweet since you are only a baby for such a short time.You are back to sleeping like a champ after you went through a rough patch last month.  You go to bed between 6:30 and 7 at night and sleep until 6 or 6:30 in the morning.  You also take two naps; one from about 8-10, and another usually from 1-3.  Before your naps & bedtime we always read a couple books, sing a lullaby, and then I lay you in your crib and give you your quilt to cuddle.  Then you snuggle your quilt and put yourself to sleep.  I love that you are such a good sleeper.  Having you learn to put yourself to sleep from the get-go is one the best things I have done as a mom.  It has definitely paid off!
You now have four teeth; three on the bottom and one (almost two on the top).  Since you have gotten more teeth you are doing really well eating table food.  You always want to eat whatever me or your dad are eating.  Your favorite food is definitely still spaghetti!  You also love cheerios, toast, oatmeal, bananas, yogurt, and graham crackers.   

You still love to walk around the house with your little walking toy, by holding our fingers, and along all of the furniture.  You can stand by yourself for a few seconds, but as soon as you realize I am not holding on to you, you get scared and lunge for my arms.  I keep trying to show you that you can stand by yourself but then you just get mad and plop down on your bum.  You haven't tried to take any steps by yourself yet either.  You seem to have a little bit of an independent streak like your mom and want to do things on your own terms.  I think it may take a little longer for you to muster up the courage and realize you can do it by yourself.  I'm guessing you won't be brave enough to try walking by yourself until it's closer to your 1st birthday, but we'll see!

I really can't believe you are already 10 months old and that there are only 2 months left until you turn one year old!  Although it has gone by so fast, it has been the best 10 months.  I really just love being your mom.  I hope you now how special you are and how much happiness you have brought me. 

I love you too much,

Mom