Crashed-out Claire

Claire is normally a great car-sleeper. Sunday fussiness was a total fluke. See:
And we had to turn her carseat around a few months ago because she was just too cramped! Look how far her legs hang over the carseat end! She is actually wearing long pants. She just likes to pull them up and pat her knees. Then she'll say "Knee! Two Knee!" She is really into body parts! She also says "neck" and "elbow" in addition to some of the ones she already has been saying like head, hand, eye, no(s)e, etc. She can't say the "s" very well. Like "snack" is just "nack" which she calls anything she can eat!

Playing with our Neighbors!

We recently had our neighbors over. Claire had a blast. The girls all got to play together while the Daddies played X-Box. And I got to chat with their Mommy! Fun for all. Claire had fun giving Amelia hugs and kisses. Claire is exactly 3 months older than her.

Sophia and Olivia! We'll have to do this again sometime!

Thanksgiving 2.0

We enjoyed Thanksmas with Tante Holly, who collects turtles. She got Claire this talking turtle who teaches colors.
We finally got her to stop playing with the box to check out the turtle!

Claire standing up in her car that she got from Oma and Opa for "Thanksmas!" If you don't know what Thanksmas is it's Thanksgiving and Christmas combined!

Cousing Evan trying on his new awesome hat!

Evan and Davis are checking out Claire's new ride!

Davis playing with toys. Some of these toys are from when I was little! Yay Fisher-Price.

Do you remember this Fisher-Price Barn that moos when you open the barn doors!!!???!!!

We enjoyed Thanksgiving Dinner in the evening at my parent's house in Valpo.

Lots of Driving!

I got bored in the car while Josh was driving. So I put on some make-up and took some pictures of myself. I sit in the back with Claire on long trips. This way I can read to her or entertain her by singing, etc. Here is a scary close-up of my eyes.
This one almost looks a little creepy. I was trying to be sexy, but this is definitely creepy. BOO!

Coming up on the Chicago Skyline. I know, we've all seen it 10,000 times, but it's always pretty in it's own industry way!

Here is Claire sleeping. She had no chances for real restful naps other than in the car all weekend, so she will take some good naps and go to bed early the next few days. I've got to get her caught-up in time for Thanksgiving so she can get all sleep-deprived again!

I found these little neck-wings at Babies-R-Us and they work great. The little head support the seat comes with is too small for her now, and these are perfect for her to lean on now.

Well we weathered the weekend all in all fairly well. Friday we attended the Memorial Service at Timbercrest, which was well attended by locals and other members from the nursing home as well as staff. My Grandma worked there as the director of nurses for 20 years, so several people she hired still work there. That says a lot about what a great facility it is! They also liked their supervisor, which is also a wonderful testament to my Grandma's personality. The pastor asked if anyone would like to speak about her, and quite a few people did, which was nice.

I surprised myself and actually got up and talked! I said a few things that came to mind quickly, as I only jotted a couple notes as the first couple people talked.

• My Grandma's middle name was Joy, my mom's middle name is Joy, my middle name is Joy, and Claire's middle name is Joy. It means even more to us now that she has passed. And my Grandma always was a Joy! She was always giggling and laughing about something! I am so glad that Claire was able to meet her and actually visit several times! It was so hard for me at my other Grandma's funeral because EVERYONE was asking me if Claire was able to met her. HELLZ NO! She was only 3 weeks old when she died...when was there time?? When she was in isolation for her infected foot? Are you allowed to bring a pregnant lady or newborn into that? NO? Why not? Oh, common sense! So make a little note to yourself. If you ever go to a funeral and somebody with a little baby is there... PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't ask them if they got to meet their deceased loved one. Really. Ask someone else if you really must freaking know... ARGH!
• One time when I was staying the night at my Grandma's, she was saying a good night prayer with me. You know the one, "Now I lay me down to sleep..." At the end we said "Bless Mommy, Daddy, etc"...and went through the family members. The last thing was and bless "everyone we love." So after it was over, to be funny (I was like 9 or 10), I said, "And bless everyone we hate!" Now I don't know who I hated at that age or if anyone ever, but I was trying to be funny, and she turned it into a lesson that "Yes, we should pray for our enemies and those we don't get along with!"
• I will always remember her for her faithfulness. My baptismal birthday is on her birthday, March 23. And of course, my mom picked that day on purpose. This year I decided to start going to church REGULARLY and JOIN one in January as my New Year's Resolution. I would have to say that she did have some influence on that. I wanted Claire to be baptized. Amazingly enough, it has been the only resolution that I've ever actually kept. And I would honestly have to say not have church in my life was like not having a child in my life. You don't know what you're missing until you have it. And I think the issue was always the right church. You have to shop around to find one that fits your family! So that's another thing that Josh and I have done this fall as a family. We joined our church! I seriously do so much stuff that I can't possibly blog about it all. And I forget my camera (believe it or not 50% of the time!). I would say I blog about, oh...2% of my day???? Hard to estimate. But I am getting off-track (imagine that!). So I found the church we joined by the end of January and met with the pastor. She asked if Easter was ok for Claire's baptism, and I said sure. Later on, I realized that this year, Easter was early, March 23, which was my baptismal birthday and my Grandma's birthday. Sweet! Plus Easter is all about Baptism anyway! I know some other churches "dedicate" and then "baptize" while older, but it's really the same thing and it's not the same thing. That's a whole other debate and post...I just know that I feel a lot more complete personally/spiritually/emotionally and that I'm incredibly glad that she was baptized.
• There was something else that I can't remember right now...I'm tired so I'm off to la-la land.

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!"