Long Ride Home

Well, it was a looong ride home from MI with some flooding due to the heavy rain on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday....all day each of those days. Luckily Claire was really worn out from the late bedtimes and "crash naps." Crash naps are not real naps. Crash naps are when you don't "put her down." You just keep going and she will...CRASH. Eventually...and it's not always pretty.

I was glad to be home too. Believe it or not...I would really truly rather nurse in the comfort of our own home vs. somewhere in public.

Apparently, being strapped in her carseat for 5 hours wasn't enough containment. Claire loves to squeeze into this little red container I use for storing toys. She will stand up in it and reach to get more toys if she doesn't have enough.

It's just the right size! I can't believe she actually wants to get in this thing. Comfy?

She loves to play with cups and containers in the tub and everywhere else. She likes to put stuff inside of cups and containers. Apparently she likes to put herself inside things, too.

Aside from cups and containers, (and her pink bear), her other favorite thing presently, is this little boat. We got it for our little pool, but have taken down the pool for the year. (Sob.) She is having a ball playing in it inside. She crawls into it on her own. She will take a book with to chew on.

And she'll look at the pictures too, of course! I think she loves people pictures most of all! Then animal ones come next...especially dogs and birds. Right now all animals (cats, horses, etc) are "DOG DOG!" Then she pants. And all birds are ducks even if they aren't. She likes to quack. She gets very frantic in the bathroom. There is an overload of ducks in there. "QUACK, QUACK! DUCK! QUACK!"

80s Flasback!

My mom scanned this in and uploaded it to File Hurricane! YAY!

1988 Flashback: Suz Klug, David Gross, Lillie Klug, Maria Gross, Holly Gross, John Klug, Richie Gross, and Alex Klug

Grand Haven, MI, Visiting a GREAT-Grandma

So after leaving the South Haven area on Sunday, instead of heading home, we ventured further north. This sucked only because of the torrential rain. LOTS OF RAIN. I've never ever been so sick of rain. And driving in rain sucks. Even if your husband drives. RIDING in the rain, sucks! Here is me and Claire with Josh's Grandma Maggie. This is Claire's GREAT-Grandma. Claire is lucky to have so many family members!

This is Claire, trying to climb up my arm for some reason. Could it be because her Godfather, Aaron (Josh's brother) is trying to eat her head? Really Aaron, must you make us take pictures of your molars every visit? You have a much more flattering smile vs. the biting pose.

Aaron and Susan (Claire's Great Aunt) visiting before dinner on Sunday. We had a lovely visit and also got to see Jamie and Nancy, but forgot to get pictures with them. (Sorry guys!) Grandma Maggie made an awesome dinner for everyone to enjoy with pork loin, applesauce, potatoes, salad, and apple pie. Claire liked the applesauce!

IP RELAY

If you're reading this, you know Josh...anyway...if you have tried to call Josh or he's called you, you're familiar with IP relay. IP relay is basically a Instant Messenger-type service where Josh is on his computer on AIM and talks with a live person. This was great when I had an old phone w/0 texting and needed to contact Josh. More about relay here: http://www.ip-relay.com/myiprelay.html Well anyways, now they are trying to get regular phone numbers for the Relay users. I don't see what the big deal is. Just implement and do it already.
http://purpleticket.hovrs.com/info/200809a/index.html It's not that hard. It actually seems like it would simplify things, at least from our end.

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall

Claire was a real trooper after a long day in the car and getting pictures all day! Does she look EXHAUSTED in this picture or what? This is towards 9pm. That is really late for little Claire! She gets really tired, clingy, and fussy, of course, when tired. Boo. Then she wants nobody else to hold her.

Well, Claire had a love affair with kissing herself in the hotel closet doors. This was Claire's first hotel stay. I guess the last time we stayed in a hotel was after Uncle Aaron's 21st b-party, a year ago May! I guess we always stay with family! So baby-proofing the hotel room wasn't fun. Hello loose lamp cords, open outlets, trash cans, pens, papers, curtains, yikes...!

It was fun to stay in the hotel with all my family. My mom captured the above photo. We were all able to enjoy breakfast then on Sunday morning after some much needed sleep!

Alex and Suz's Wedding

So early Saturday morning, we snapped some photos. Maybe my mom will use one for her Xmas card. Back row: Holly, Josh, Kristin. Seated: Richard, Maria holding Claire, David. Daisy dog on floor.




Here is Claire on my lap in church waiting for the service to start. She enjoyed slobbering on Holly's bracelets. Everything was really beautiful. I love weddings. http://alexandsuz.engagepage.com/events.aspx That's their page. Who doesn't have a page anyways?

Suz, and her 2 sisters, Alex and Lillie.

Yummy Cake! Lots and Lots of CAKE!

So here is a tradition that someone thought of at some point. I'm not sure who thought of it. The Klugs have a playhouse with steps going up the top play area. We would stand in age order, oldest at the top. So here we have recreated this with the addition of our significant others.
Top step: Suz (Nov 77) and new hubbie, Alex.
David (Aug 78) and wife Kristin.
Lillie (Jan 80) and hubbie Vinod married 7-7-07. (Coolest wedding date ever. I totalled should've gotten induced with Claire on this date just for the cool B-day alone. She's was prob. already a good 6 lbs! But we all know how I feel about medicated births, right?...)
Me, Maria, (Feb 80) holding baby Claire with hubbie Josh.
Holly Gross(Dec 81).
John Klug (July 82) with girlfriend, Tristan.
Richard Gross and Alex Klug (both Oct 86)

Ok, so I should've put this one first with the B-days, but here are the Original Eight. What's cool is you can see some of the others in the above photo in the background and to the sides. Who knows when the next time we'll all be together will be? What's really cool is that my mom and JoAnn met through LLL when Suz and David were the babies. Then they decided to get pregnant together 3 more times. Well, I guess I they technically didn't get prego together, but you know what I mean.

Gross Kids on the Left. Klug Kids on the Right.

Claire with Auntie KK. She even managed to feed Claire a little bit of dinner! Yay!

To Valpo, again

So this past Friday, we headed up to Valpo, again. We were on our way to MI for another wedding! Here is Claire just hanging out in the Baby Bjorn. Look how long she is! :) The weight limit is 25 pounds, we we still have about a pound and half or so to go! (As long as it still shuts, though, right?)

Pictures from Sonja's Wedding

Claire found her first love. The ring bearer, Casey. Here, they share their first kiss.




Here we are with Sonja. Claire was going for the jewelry. The baby has taste! What can I say?

4 Babies Dead Now Due to Formula

Another reason not to feed your baby formula. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/09/18/china.tainted.formula/index.html There is a reason this stuff gets called poison.

Formula Ingredients Kill 2 Infants

Ok, well apparently China is trying to kill their babies by their formula ingredients. Read more here http://blog.thenatureschild.com/2008/09/evil-infant-formula-tainted-with.html And this isn't the first time strange stuff has been found in formula.

This is why I don't like to swim in the ocean!

This: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/09/10/rescue.at.sea/index.html#cnnSTCOther1
And I watched OPEN WATER...