Claire in action

Don't you wish you were here?  5 1/2 months.

Rich's 37th Birthday!!!!

Rich turned 37 on Oct. 22.  I took him to REI to shop for some outdoor clothes.  He did some great modern dance moves in the dressing room, but refused to perform for the camera.  He really hides his talent.  :)  I made a chocolate cake from scratch that included a haitus of a few hours for me to go to the store for more ingredients (that I missed on my morning shopping trip) and eventually get back to cake making.  I finished the cake, but I didn't finish making his gift until the next day.  His 37 candles really lit up the room.  Rich is going to hate that I posted this first picture.

This is the gift I made for his desk at work.  "Kisses for Daddy" makes him smile.  And, apparantly Rich's boss says she wants to eat her cheeks.

Help can wait

Do you love that instead of helping my struggling baby, I'd rather take pictures of her?

How much can she fit in those cheeks?

Rocking

Claire was excited to figure out how to rock back and forth on her hands and knees.  We were happy to be her praising audience.  almost 5 months.

She prefers the pacifier over the thumb

Our prop is the pacifier.  She gums her hands a lot and occasionally sucks her thumb or toes.  She has to have her paci to fall asleep.  I wish they were made to glow in the dark so we could find them when she wakes up in the middle of the night.  Here you can see she prefers her pacifier over her thumb - literally.  We have to pry it off of her every so often.

Tourist Trap: Blake Island

Rich's parents gave us gift certificates to Tillicum Village on Blake Island and we were long overdue in using them.  It was a very windy day and the waves were big which made for a fun boat ride.  We arrived on the island, had salmon and delicious bread, watched the show, and had a little time to walk around on the island.  The beach was too windy and sand was blowing into us, so we opted for walking a trail among the trees where we saw several deer.  Our recommendations for Tillicum Village: go over on the morning boat & back on the evening boat so you can enjoy the island for the whole day and be sure to get lots of yummy bread.

Stuck.Together.

Claire was practicing rolling over, but both her arms got stuck beneath her.  Defying gravity she balanced on her chest.  I had to capture this baby olympic feat.  

Late at night Rich was ready to head to bed.  He held out his hand for me, I put my hand on his, then directly after me, Claire added her hand to the pile.  It was very touching.  We're family.

Sitting

We enjoyed a sunny picnic at the park and discovered that Claire can sit unassisted now.  4 1/2 months.

Fish and salsa

I found a yummy recipe for orange avocado salsa here to put on top of fish.  Right before serving I realized it was supposed to be fish tacos and I had missed making part of the recipe.  Well, I found some tortillas in the fridge, filled them with the fish & salsa, and it worked perfectly.  

Photoshoot

How could she wear this cute outfit and not get pictures in it?  The light was nice inside and that meant it was time for a photoshoot.  Do you love this blanket?  I do.  It was a gift from my friend Anissa.  4 1/2 months.

A sweet nap and the first FHE

Looks like it's Christmas.

Though I planned on napping while Claire slept, instead I spent that time shooting pictures of her.  I have a dozen shots of the exact same pose because she never moved.

We had our first Family Home Evening (FHE) together.  Confession: Rich & I didn't really do FHE for just the two of us.  We prayed, sang, read a scripture about our bodies, then I gave Claire a body massage with oil and Rich had almost naked tummy time with her.  Rich is paranoid of being pee'd on and insisted on a diaper, which means I can post the pictures here.  We'll keep the cute naked ones to ourselves.  Look at her thighs. 

Cute hats and she learned to blow bubbles

A friend of mine named Amanda lent me a ton of stylin' baby clothes, along with some adorable hats.  

No more pictures, mom!

Unfortunately, I lost Amanda's probably favorite hat.  The beige one with pink flowers and the pink star.  It's totally irreplaceable as it was made in the Netherlands and the company never responded to my inquiry.  I feel horrible about it, searched the house & cars at all hours, checked every lost & found I can think of, nothing.  If anyone reading this has seen it, you know where I am! 

A few weeks later Rich declared, "We are never borrowing clothes from someone ever again.  Claire has plenty of cute hats."  I asked, "like which ones?"  Rich said, "like the one she's wearing right now (it was a blue winter hat with yarn sticking out at the top).  I had to point out, "That hat isn't ours either, we're borrowing it from Amy."