Christmas Day

Christmas day was spent in Rockford at my parent's house. It was Claire's first road trip and another opportunity to wear some of the adorable clothes Auntie M keeps buying for her.

Here is Claire with Auntie M right after we arrived. A quick wardrobe change was in order, her car outfit was just a Christmas sleeper:)

Claire also got to meet some of my extended family for the first time. Here is great grandma Mary getting a smile from Claire.

She loved my Aunt Kath and vice versa I'd say.

Chillin with cousin Matt. I babysat this guy when he was first born. Kind of crazy to see him holding my baby.

Claire was definitely the center of attention. She got some cool new toys, numerous cute outfits and a mobile for her room (I'll post a pic soon). Claire did great in the car, even on the way back when a snow storm made the 1.5 hour drive 2.5 hours! (I was very thankful for my new snow tires.) I had to pull over once at a rest stop to change a diaper, but that was it. She is a trooper and I am now very skilled at reaching back to find her pacifier to put it back into her mouth.

She loved Nana Barb's sparkly mantle. So pretty.

Christmas Eve

Christmas festivities began with opening gifts at our house Christmas Eve morning. Spencer was very surprised to open an iPod touch. We think he liked it, based on this reaction. He also hasn't put it down in a week.

Spencer and Lucian got me a jingle bell wreath I had my eye on a few years ago. I saw it in a catalog and thought it would be great for our front door, but never felt like spending the money. Needless to say I was very surprised to receive it as a gift since a.) the company still carried it and b.) these guys remembered! How sweet. It also makes a nice crown as you can see.

Claire and Tatum hung out while we opened gifts. We had the afternoon to ourselves and headed to Lucian's parents in the evening.

Claire took a nap before the big family gathering. Wise girl.

Claire finally got to meet her Uncle Jesse. He was home from Atlanta over Labor Day weekend, but since Claire decided not to come out until a few days past her due date, Jesse missed the big event. Here she is with Kip and Uncle J learning about wine.

Dave shared his box of cigars with all the boys. Here they are enjoying Cohibas on the front porch. Good looking group.

Claire and Mommy.

The big gift of the night was a new Buell motorcycle that Lucian's mom surprised Dave with. Lucian had helped pick it out and hide it at the neighbors until it was time to exchange gifts. He had no idea, a very fun gift. Lucian is now wondering when his Ducati is arriving.

Christmas Laugh

Claire had a bath this morning, an activity she loves. As I was getting her dressed on the changing table I tickled her and made funny faces, as usual. She is almost always so happy in that spot. This time, as I ticked her neck a new sound came out. It sounded a little like a cough, but as I repeated the activity she really laughed. An identifiable giggle! She must have done it five or six times. It was the best sound in the world, and a great Christmas gift at that.

I went to get the camera and tried again, but to no avail. Here are Lucian and I acting silly trying to capture her giggle on camera. Enjoy it anyway, we will try again. Merry Christmas everyone!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Joe

Saturday night we celebrated Grandpa Joe's Birthday. Auntie M hosted and served delicious ham, split pea soup and party potatoes. My sister-in-law, Blanca made the best chocolate cake which we paired with Kopps custard. Mmmm.

Claire was a little fussy most of the night. But she did sing along while we sang happy birthday. Here she is with Nana Barb who is wondering how those sounds (and smell) just came out of such a little baby. Thanks for the cute hair bow Auntie M.

The boys.

The birthday boy. He was loving the paparazzi.

Claire and big brother Spen.

Girls' Night

My friend Jen hosted a cookie exchange on Friday night. It was the perfect excuse to get together, have a glass of wine and exchange cookies! It also forced me to get a jump start on my baking. Three batches of cookies later, I claim to be done. Hopefully they will last until Christmas.

Most of the girls had not met Claire yet. She was a hit. They all took turns holding her and Claire was a trooper too. Only one bout of crying. I think she likes girls' night.

My sister Mary Ann joined us for the night.

Claire and Carie.

Not Much Time

Things sure are busy around here. With shopping for Christmas presents, baking cookies, ordering and addressing cards, it's hard to have a full time job and write a blog. Maybe I should stay home so I could post more updates:)

I keep trying to capture Claire making sounds. She is getting to be so much more vocal, it is amazing to watch. We have little conversations where Lucian and I repeat her noises back. I don't have a great video of it yet, but here's some footage to tide you over.

St. Nick

St. Nick visited last weekend, a tradition my mom started when my sister and I were young. My best friend's mom was a french teacher and she would celebrate with her students and children. My sister and I wanted St. Nick to visit us too, and so it began.

This year Claire received some cute hair bows in her stocking. Big brother Spencer checked them out for her.

Here she is modeling one of her new flower barrettes.

Spencer's main gift this year was too big to fit in his stocking. Lucian created a video scavenger hunt, loaded it onto his iPhone and placed it into Spencer's stocking. The video directed him to walk around the house in a crazy fashion, take a flashlight from a closet and eventually end up crawling in his room to find his gift. We had hidden it under his bed. Pretty fun.

Here is Spencer getting his first instructions.

Claire wanted to see what her big brother was listening to.

One of Spencer's gifts was a video game. On Sunday, Lucian's friend Shawn came over so the three of them could play the game together. This was the scene in our dining room. You can see the TV through the doorway where Lucian was playing.

Claire and I went shopping for the afternoon and she napped while I cleaned out the gutters before the first snow. Can you blame us? I'm happy to have a another girl in house to balance things out:)

Hands and Holiday Spirit

Claire is all about her hands lately. She is always holding them together, puting them in her mouth, grabbing at our shirts and hers too. She holds onto some of her toys in her play gym and puts those in her mouth as well.


Her favorite toy is a yellow duck with a pull cord to make it vibrate. It never fails to make her smile.

St. Nick will be here tonight so I had to get the stockings hung. My mom (Nana Barb) made them all, they are one of a kind. I think they look great. We are still debating a tree, however. It seems like so much work and there are plenty of other projects to invest our time in right now; finishing the basement, Claire's room, cleaning the gutters, etc. I think we may skip it this year and go with the mini tree I have set out already. We'll have to take photos in front of someone else's. Feel free to invite us over.

We took Claire to the mall to see Santa today. I'm not sure what she told him she wants. Her latest word/sound is "ah-goo". Maybe they sell it on Amazon.

2 Thanksgivings And A Pizza Party

This weekend Claire got to meet many new family members and debut a few fancy outfits we've been waiting to dress her in. Lucian was home from work all week and got spend some daddy daughter time with Claire. I was off Thursday and Friday and thoroughly enjoyed my extra days with our little peanut. Thanksgiving was spent in Milwaukee this year, but we were able to spend time with both of our families.

First we went to the Karstedt (Lucian's mom's family) gathering. Claire looked adorable in her cupcake sweater and skirt. I always make sure to take a photo of Claire before we leave the house. That way I have proof she wore it in case she spits up all over it later. Unfortunately, sometimes that's the only photo I take, forgetting to capture more at the event.

Lucian carved the turkeys his sister Blanca made. They were absolutely delicious.

This was the biggest pot of mashed potatoes I have ever seen. I think Lucian included his hand in the photo for scale.

Claire and Aunt Sarah.

Our next stop was crabby thanksgiving. We had blue crab compete with a paper covered table and hammers with my family. It was super fun and delicious. Here is Claire with her Aunt Mary Ann. (The one responsible for her adorable outfit.)

Saturday was the annual Karstedt pizza party. I love this outfit from my friend Nicole. When I opened it and saw the fur collar, I thought it would be perfect for the country club party. This is one of those instances where I didn't take any pictures at the event. I will have to get some from Nana Kathleen.

Lastly, St. Nick visited Claire early this year. Nana barb made Claire a beautiful stocking that's just as big as her! She also got 2 very cute elephant shirts, one she is wearing in the photo.

Claire is doing a great job using her hands lately. You'll notice she's holding them together in a few of the photos. She also puts them in her mouth and bats at toys. Such a big girl!

Look a like?

So, I put together a side by side comparison of Claire, Lucian and myself around 2 months of age. We think she has some features from both of us. It was pretty fun to pull these out and compare. I am the baby on the left and Lucian is on the right. What do you think?

I finally purchased a giant flower headband for Claire. I have been tempted numerous times, I think they are hilarious. It came in the mail this week, along with a more appropriately sized one she may wear at Thanksgiving. I had to take a photo right away. I think every baby girl should have one.

This was Claire today on the sofa laughing at dad. I love the ears on her hood.

2 Month Checkup

Claire had her 2 month checkup today. She weighs 13lb. 14oz. and is 24-3/4" long. She is in the 95th percentile for both weight and height. The bad part about her checkup was that she had to get 3 shots:( Lucian held her hands while I talked to her, but she let us know she wasn't happy. It's terrible watching your infant in pain. I know it's for her own good and she won't remember, but it's still hard. Here's a shot of her crayon band-aids.


We did a little photo shoot the other night. I've been meaning to do this for awhile for Claire's birth announcement, which I still haven't sent out! She had some baby acne for quite a while and then I went back to work and we just got to it now. Here are a few shots of the little peanut. She really seemed to enjoy herself. I have some props in mind for another shoot. We'll have to do it again. We need holiday cards soon anyway!

This is just a cute shot I got the other morning. She was so smiley!

Play Date

Claire had her friend Sydney over on Sat. for a playdate. It was a great excuse for us to clean the whole house. Cleaning easily gets put off these days with both us working and Claire filling our nights. We managed to get quite a bit done and it feels great.

Here is Lucian vacuuming with Claire in the baby bjorn.

While my friend Amanda and I were pregnant, we would meet for lunch and discuss everything that was going on. It was great to have a sounding board and ask "Is this happening to you too?" and compare research for daycare, doctors, etc. Now we both have baby girls 3 weeks apart. They even live in the same neighborhood, so I suspect Claire and Sydney will have many more play dates and maybe even be classmates in the future. Here are the proud mamas with their girls.

Claire shared her play gym with Sydney. They both had a good time.

It's nice to swap babies sometimes. We can remember what it was like 3 weeks ago and Ross and Amanda can see where Sydney might be in a few weeks.

Here's a shot of the happy dads.