Goodbye January

It's the last day of January, and as I look at it, one month closer to spring. This weekend Nana Barb and Grandpa Joe visited. We shared a few meals together and mostly hung out around the house. It's really too cold to drag Claire out unless we have to. I just ran out to buy a new car seat for Claire. She is already outgrowing her infant carrier!

Claire and Nana Barb

The doting grandparents

Photo shoot with Auntie M (she provided Claire's outfit)

Sophisticated ladies

Grandpa kept having to put Claire's socks back on. Is there a brand of baby socks that actually stay on?

Claire is 20 weeks old now and becoming so much more interactive. She watches everything, grabs at anything in reach, makes a ton of noises and laughs and smiles all the time. It is great watching her develop and learning her personality. She is even settling into a pretty great sleeping pattern. Although I probably just ruined that.

Sitting up in her Bumbo chair

Barrettes are becoming more of a necessity. Her hair literally covers her eyes!

Hitting the gym

Happy Birthday Lucian and Ikea Trip

For Lucian's birthday we decided to take a trip to Ikea (in Schaumburg, IL). Not really for his birthday, but that is how it worked out. We have been wanting to go for some time now and this Sat. was the day. We headed out around noon after Claire ate. She was super fussy as we stopped for coffee at Alterra before heading out, but fell asleep for most of the 1.5 hour drive and was content the rest of the way. We had a few furniture items on our list and a lot of storage containers. We are really trying to organize the house and throw away things we don't need. No small task if you ask me.

Claire danced on top of dressers to see which one she wanted. I'll post a pick after we put it together.


Here we are waiting as Lucian pulled up the car. As always, we left with way more than we planned.

You may notice that Claire is in a different outfit at this point. She had a major blowout not long after the photo of her dancing on dressers. Luckily Ikea is very baby friendly. They had changing stations in every bathroom and a nursing room we took advantage of. It was quite the mess, but Claire was a trooper and we were well prepared. It was bound to happen at some point, right?

And another photo while waiting. What else were we going to do?:)

Lucian and Spencer had off this past Monday. Here are some fun shots Lucian took during their day off.

Ha Ha Ha

I finally captured a laugh from Claire! Well, actually Lucian shot the video. We decided to get a Flip video camera and I happened to pick it up tonight. I had just shampooed Claire's hair in the kitchen sink and while wiping her face with a washcloth she started to giggle. I said "Lucian, get the Flip." And here are the results:) Please ignore my silly chomping noises.

4 Month Check Up

Claire had her 4 month Dr. appointment this week. She is healthy and growing like a weed:) Here are the stats to report:
Weight: 15lb. 15.5oz (90%)
Length: 26-3/4" (95%)

She got two more shots and a liquid vaccine. She did not appreciate the shots, but took a long nap once we got home and seemed to forget.

Everyone in the doctor's office marvels at Claire's size and hair. They say she looks more like a 6-month old. I gave her her first ponytail tonight. What do you think?

We got the go ahead to try a spoonful of rice cereal daily. We started that this weekend. She is not very interested yet and most of it ends up on her bib. Makes for cute photos though.

Lastly, we were told to give Claire more tummy time. She has hated it in the past and with our work schedules sometimes we forget during the week. I made quite the effort this weekend and she seems to be alright with it. I do lots of cheering and it was nice to take her photo from a new angle. Here are a few I really liked.

And a few random photos I wanted to post. She was very photogenic this weekend:)

Miscellaneous January

The new year started with a visit to Claire's friend Sydney. It was nice for them to catch up and talk about what they got for Christmas. Here are the happy dads with their girls.

Since we didn't put up a tree this year, I had Ross take our photo in front of theirs. I kept meaning to do this at one of our holiday gatherings, but it never seemed to work out. Thanks Ross and Amanda.

Claire is using her hands more and more. Most of the time they are in her mouth. Sometimes both at the same time, as you can see. She is really taking things in. Lately, she will look at something, reach for it and then put it in her mouth. Such a big girl.

She is still laughing, although I don't have a video yet. Here's a great smile after a bath.

Claire is also talking up a storm. She has new noises all the time and seems to like feeling her tongue while she talks.

We had dinner last night with our friends Chris and Cait. Chris's son Sam jumped in this photo at the last second. I think his expression is hilarious. He clearly knew what he was doing.

Room Progress

Both Spencer and Claire's new rooms are coming together. Claire received a beautiful modern mobile for her room from Nana Barb and Grandpa Joe for Christmas. We hung that and put up some wall decals we ordered from Blik (in both the kids rooms). Lucian built the interior of Spencer's closet, which was no small task. We have a few finishing touches to put on both rooms and a trip to Ikea in store. Maybe we'll finish by summer:)

Claire's mobile and baby bird decals. I think this is my favorite one.

The worker bees.

Spen's cool new teen pad. (Thank you Blanca for helping paint.)

City wall decal, Spencer's pick.

A Funny Video

I'm trying to capture more videos of Claire, since she seems to be changing on a daily basis. This isn't what I was going for, but I'm sure her boyfriends will love to see it some day in the future.

Winter Break

Lucian and I were fortunate to be able to take some time off this holiday. He was home for 2 weeks straight and I had a week and a half. We cleaned the house, made some great meals, worked on the basement and Claire's nursery a little and just hung out at home. It was a really great time, I'm sad to see it come to an end. Here are some highlights:

Claire and Lucian at Phan's Garden, his favorite Vietnamese restaurant.

Bath time hair. Seriously, where did this kid come from?

Hanging out with Daddy.

We made a trip to the art museum to see the Andy Warhol exhibit before it closed. Claire tagged along in the baby bjorn. She did great.

Claire can spend a few minutes in her Bumbo chair now. Here she is waiting for us to get ready to go to the museum in another cute outfit from Auntie M.

Chilling with dad at the coffee shop while we wait for Spencer to get his hair cut.

Lastly, this is Claire in her swing wearing a new hat from Nana Kathleen. If you look closely it says "Future Packers Cheerleader." Now some of you may know that I grew up in Illinois and am still a Bears fan despite living in Wisconsin (a tough roll, especially in my house). I'm not so sure this should be the only football attire she owns. Can my Illinois family help us out?

Happy New Year!

We spent a quiet night in making delicious food and hanging out at home this New Year's Eve. We baked oysters as an appetizer then grilled lobster tails and steak. When I say "we" I really mean Lucian. I was mostly on Claire duty as well as dishes, and he is a fabulous cook anyway. Lucian loves to use New Year's Eve as an excuse to splurge on a great meal. This year was no exception.

A self portrait in the kitchen (where we spent a good portion of the night).

Claire didn't quite make it until midnight, so I had to take this photo the following day. I kept waiting for her to wake up so I could take a photo of she and I wearing matching headbands. But she only stirred long enough to eat and go back to sleep. She and I did have a little party around 3am however. Happy new year everyone!