Walking, Walking, Walking

I'm finally getting around to publishing this post. I started it last week, but didn't have time to edit the video I wanted to include. Then, I came down with a stomach bug on Tuesday. We've all been fighting colds as well. I hope they are finally on their way out!

Last Tuesday, the 19th, we had a birthday dinner with Lucian's family to celebrate all the September and October birthdays; myself, Auntie Blanca, Nana Kathleen and cousin Geremiah. We had our own room at the restaurant, which was probably a good thing with all the kids. Claire did great and even remained seated most of the time. However, towards the end she discovered the door out and wouldn't give up on making her exit.

Lydia, Nana and Geremiah

Blanca and Lucy

We had a pretty relaxing weekend going out to lunch and running errands. Claire tried her first milkshake from Kopps's, a famous Milwaukee custard place. She tried all 3 of our drinks; a chocolate shake, a cappuccino shake and a vanilla malt. Hard to say if she like one better than the other. She just kept drinking from all 3. I don't have any photos of her actually drinking, but she looks pretty cute looking out the window.

Gotta love pig tails

Claire climbed from her changing table onto her dresser. Sneaky girl.

Little Miss Claire is on the go. It seems that over the weekend she has decided walking is now better than crawling. She walks from room to room and down the hall. It's amazing to watch this transformation. Here are some video highlights.

Zoo

Saturday morning we headed to the Zoo with Claire's friend Sydney and her parents. I had brought Claire once early in the summer and she didn't seem very interested in the animals unless there was significant movement. This time she really seemed to watch things, point and climb all over of course. The fall weather was perfect and she enjoyed playing with Sydney as well.

She wore her lamb jacket. What else would you wear to the zoo?

Here's a quick video of Claire looking at the gorillas outside. She loves to look at books lately and make animal noises. She roars, baaas and says woof woof. She also loves raspberry scones.

Hanging with dad and some flamingos

Asleep in the stroller

Sunday's weather was great as well. We played in some leaves in the front yard and took a walk to the park to swing and play. As you can see Claire loves the swings.

I gave Claire her first hair cut on Sunday. She was so squirmy I had to approach it in two shifts. Lucian held her in the bathroom while I attempted the first time. I finished up later that night while she sat in the bath tub. I just wanted to even out the back since the middle was so much longer. What do you think?

Before

After

Big News!

Claire took her first steps on Friday night! She walked in between Lucian and I, taking 3 or 4 steps all on her own. I almost cried I was so happy for her. Our nephew, Geremiah, was with us too, so I set him up with my iPhone to record our attempts to repeat the event. (I shot it vertically, so it looks a little strange here.) Claire thought it was hilarious as you can see. She took a few more steps Sat. and Sunday, walking in between us again. It's so exciting!



Later that evening, Claire started blowing kisses too. Auntie Sarah came to pick up Geremiah and Claire blew her kisses while pushing her walker around. I tell ya, this girls is melting my heart.

Saturday we drove to the western Chicago suburbs to meet up with a number of my college girlfriends and their families. It was lovely to catch up and meet all the new babies. The weather was unseasonably warm, around 90°! Crazy for mid October in the midwest.

The girls, hubbies and babies

Spencer is passing me up!

This farm had a crazy amount of activities; playgrounds, a petting zoo, pony, camel and giraffe rides. And a giant rocking chair, of course.

I had to ditch Claire's leggings and socks it was so hot!

I french braided Claire's hair on Sunday. She was standing at the sofa playing with books and she let me get one side done. Then Lucian held her while she drank a bottle and I managed to complete the other side. They are a little crooked and messy, but cute none the less. We'll practice again.

Typical Morning

Here's a little video I took after getting Claire ready in the morning. She is a busy bee.

I'm experimenting with a way to post better videos on the blog. I put this on YouTube and embedded it, but it's cut off in my layout. Here is a link to watch it full screen on YouTube: Click Here

Mom's birthday

I enjoyed a nice long weekend, taking Friday off to celebrate my birthday with my sister (her birthday also) and Claire. We met for lunch and then headed to a cute little pumpkin patch, with a stop at Target in between:) The weather was perfect for such an activity. I'm really glad we took advantage of the day.

Eating lunch

Claire spent a good amount of time checking out these bins of gourds. It was perfect for her to balance in front of and lean into, since she isn't quite walking on her own. I probably should have bought one for her!




We posed at the school bus cut out, again a perfect height for her. She stuck her head through all on her own.

Auntie M let Claire drive

We fed some chickens. I was afraid they would peck her hand and it would hurt, so we kept a little distance. When telling Lucian about it, he said he would have let her feed them herself. Guess I'm a bit of a chicken.

Then we helped Auntie M pick out some pumpkins. We plan to get ours next week with some friends. I did buy some honey crisp apples and 2 caramel apples though.

Claire really enjoyed climbing over all the pumpkins and making her way through the piles. It was so cute.

She wouldn't look at the camera, so I asked her: "How big is Claire?"

Friday night we met Lucian after work at a favorite restaurant of ours, Three Brothers, for some Serbian food. We had an amazing dish called burek, a filo dough pie, and moussaka. It was delicious and Claire was an absolute angel. I had a wonderful birthday.

Saturday we attended Sydney's first birthday party. Claire wore a fun party skirt and her pink cow girl boots. Here's Claire all ready to go. She loves pushing her walker all around the house now.

Such a serious face. We were watching Sydney eat her cupcake at this point.

Sunday evening we caught up with Sydney (and her parents) again for dinner.It was a great relaxing weekend overall. Here's Claire and dad looking different directions at dinner.