Sweet friend!

Sara is such a sweet friend! She has come to visit us and is riding back to Texas with me on Thursday so I can leave Claire with my parents and go to Austin with the girls! I am so grateful she is here!!!! And, she is great with Claire! Sara has been such a help this week!!!! Thank you Sara!

A little playtime on the couch.

And a quick snuggle........

A little playtime on the floor now ;)

Thank you for coming to play with me Sara!!!!!

****Excuse my blog break, but we will be out of town for a little over 3 weeks! I hope to do some while I am gone, but we will see! If not, see you in July!!!!!

9 Month Check-up!

Well, I cannot believe it has been 9 months......we went to our 9 month check-up early because we are leaving for Texas this week and out pediatrician is having a little one of her own and will be out when we get back. I was eager to see her since this would be our 1st visit with her.

Claire is 19lbs 10oz and 28 inches long. That puts her in the 7oth percentile across the board. We have fallen from our regular 95th, but that is to be expected with all the moving she is doing. And, this girl is on the move! She is still not crawling, but scooting and starting to pull up. As you will see in the picture below! She is soooooooo much fun! She just talks and laughs and plays all day! She is really a very good baby. We are so lucky to be her parents. If I could be anything in the world, I would want to be Claire's mother!

Newest trick! Pulling up!

Father's Day Weekend!

We had a great weekend! Strick's mom and sister came in to see us! We had such a nice time. Strick had a really great Father's Day!

Claire and her Grandmother

Claire likes her Grandmother so much that she was willing to wear a Longhorn outfit for a few minutes.................here is a pic from the backside too :)

After removing the outfit we talked and she is an Aggie again ;)

Claire and her Aunt Anna (Nana)........two sweet smiling girls!

Claire and her daddy at Father's Day dinner! We also celebrated our birthdays......lots to get dressed up for!

Thanks for coming to see us! We had fun!

Happy Father's Day

Happy 1st Father's Day Dad!!!! Claire is so lucky to have such a special dad! I have personally loved seeing Strick become a father! He is so great with her and we are so grateful for our precious family!

YUM!!!!

This girl loves to eat! We haven't had any pictures of Miss Claire in her chair lately and last night was particularly messy so I decided to snap one:) I love that you can see her teeth when she smiles! We had these new things called Baby Mum Mum......our new friends at play class told us about them. I had not heard about them and they were a HUGE hit! They are little rice cakes and she can eat them by herself.....she loves to do anything and everything she can by herself! So funny! She just sat and shaved the little treat with her 2 teeth! Hilarious!

Can I get a pillow in this place?

Ok, every mother has those things that she is scared of....well, mine was putting anything in bed with Claire while she was sleeping. I always worried about that. So, my poor child has had to become very resourceful in finding the things she needs in her bed. She has been turning her music on and off for a while now, and I think that is what made her see that she could do this. Guess she is ready for a pillow now!!!! This is how I found her yesterday during nap time.

Just pulled that bumper down and set her sweet head on it! No need for any other kind of pillow! And, Strick and I love the newest sleeping position. She wakes up with red knees because she has her little tush up in the air! So precious!

Sweet baby girl!

Is that Pebbles???? No, it's Claire! We finally have enough hair to hold a bow......I could not resist putting a little up on top! She thought it was pretty funny too!

It is hard to see, but I promise there is a little hair coming out of that bow ;)

Goes nicely with the carrots still on her face...don't ya think?

Check these teeth out!!!

What do you think of my pearly whites??????

We only have two right now, but seeing as how our mood has been a little fussy the last few days.....I predict a few more in the near future :)

They're back!!!

My friend that I mentioned in the last post...the one I forgot to take a picture of...well she came back! Linda and Natalie came back to stay another night. Linda and I used to work together so I got caught up on all the school gossip, and Natalie got to visit Ottawa College here in Kansas!!! We snapped a quick one before they left this morning. Come back soon!

More Visitors!

We have been so lucky to have so many visitors here lately! We love having guests! Bentley and Lori came to see us this weekend! Strick and Bentley worked together for the last 7 years in Dallas.....so they was much to catch up on! Lori and I cracked up all weekend at them....such boys! Claire is a big fan of the Fords, and Bitzy is an even bigger fan! The weather was fantastic! I picked them up at the airport on Friday morning and we headed to the Plaza for lunch. Then we went to a delicious dinner Friday night. Saturday the boys spent all day at the grill making a delicious brisket!!!! YUM! We had some more guests here on Sunday night and I totally forgot to take pictures! So, Linda and Natalie have to come back soon! Here are a few from our lazy day in the yard on Saturday.

Lori and Claire lounging on our blanket! Just scooting and playing.

Such a camera ham!!!!

The boys are tending to the "masterpiece"!!!!!

Our new bubble machine! Where were these things when we were kids? Claire loves it!

Our baby is 8 months old!!!

Claire has been a joy from day one, but lately she has come alive and we just enjoy her so much! She is VERY opinionated! And knows exactly what she wants! She is a really happy little girl and (surprise!!!) very social! She is scooting all over the place, and talking it up! She is so much fun! I am so grateful to be her mother!!! Here are a few pics from her 8 month b-day ;)

What a great week!

It was wonderful to have my parents here for so long! I loved every minute of it! They worked so hard helping us with the house........we are so appreciative! Plus, they loved the time with Claire! (She did too!!!)

Claire loves her Daddy A!!!!

And she loves the buttons on his overalls!

Nothing like a little crawling around naked before bath!!!!

Two of Claire's biggest fans! We had such nice weather...and Strick got a new grill! So we had fun eating and hanging outside!

Claire and her Mimmy! Claire loves my mom and is always so willing to let mom do many of the things she normally will only let Strick and I do.....nice to have a little break!

Mimmy and Daddy A as they are leaving us! Man, we will miss you! See you in just a few weeks!

Claire loves her Unkie!

We were so happy to have my parents here for a week!!!! I LOVED it! And, to top it off my brother came in on Thursday and stayed until Sunday! We had so much fun! Claire loves her Unkie!

Claire loves to ride on his shoulders!!

Sporting her new bike helmet! Strick got a trailer for the bike for Christmas and Claire loves it!!

Here she is in the trailer....so fun!

Jumping all over Unkie!

No sleeping while she is awake! Poor Unkie wanted to nap a little longer, but Claire was ready to play.

Two Aggies! Gig'Em!

One of her new tricks...she loves to pull all over your face. Unkie was much more patient than we are at times ;)

I think his face hurts ;)

Bye Unkie! See you in a few weeks!

Our first friend to come visit....from Texas!!!!

One of my childhood besties came in last weekend. She was only here for a little bit, but Claire loved every minute of it. So did we! She is a flight attendant for Southwest so we are hoping for many more drop-ins very soon!!!!!

Can you tell that Claire has seen a camera before?

Hey girl!

Trying so hard to clap...and screaming! She mastered the clapping the next day! Pretty funny ;)

Claire loved to sit in Sarah's lap. She screamed and entertained us so much! Pretty good for a child that only had a 20 minute afternoon nap.

Sarah....thank you for coming to see us! Come again very soon! We miss you already!