Merry Christmas!

I took 2 days off work in preparation for Christmas. I don't think I could have handled it otherwise! We did minimal decorating around the house. I only put up a small tree and hung our stockings in time for St. Nick. Claire frequently took all the ornaments off the small tree and grabbed at the lights plugged in for the mantle. I only set the gifts out on Monday, but between then and Thursday when we opened gifts at our house, she managed to tear into a few and climb all over them. She stayed safe and it will be easy clean up, but I hope to get more into things next year.



We opened gifts at our house on the 23rd. Spencer was heading to his mom's that night to spend Christmas Eve with her. We wouldn't have had time until the 26th to all be together again at home, so earlier is better in my opinion. Claire was interested in tearing the paper on some of her gifts. I had wrapped two balls that she carried around all week. She seemed quite interested in those and the boxes and paper were big hits, of course.

Reading her new penguin book

We had a lovely time exchanging gifts and watching Claire open presents for the first time. Here she is trying a sweet tart candy cane. I'd say she enjoyed it. Would you agree?

Christmas Eve, the three of us headed to Rockford to celebrate with my family. Claire received so many gifts; a shopping cart and food, dishes and utensils, a whole new wardrobe, hooded towels made by Nana Barb. She is a very lucky little girl.

Wearing Santa hats with Grandpa Joe

We stayed overnight and headed back Christmas day. Claire is saying goodnight to everyone.

Claire did great on the trip. It's only an hour and a half drive and she is getting 6 teeth right now, so extra napping was in order.

Lucian picked up Spencer in West Bend in the afternoon on Christmas and we headed to Lucian's parents for our last gathering. We grazed on great food and exchanged gifts and did a white elephant gift exchange too. Claire was lucky to receive Legos, books, numerous art supplies and her own chair, which will be arriving in Jan.
Lucian and I received a speed light for our camera which we are very excited about. We thought we were testing it out with this photo, but we still needed batteries. It will be great for capturing natural looking light with our photos.


It was great to visit with everyone and enjoy some holiday cheer. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well.

15 Months

Claire had her 15-month check-up last week. She is right on track and very healthy (even thought I can't get her to eat vegetables).

Stats:
Weight: 24bs. 5oz. (75%)
Length: 33" (95%)
Head circumference: 48.5cm (95%)

Her doctor asked how many words she could say. We said 5, maybe 7. I hadn't been keeping a count. Lucian and I started to list them out later that night and she is up to 24 (that we can remember).

Words:
Hi
Bye
Ma, Mom
Da, Dad & Daddy
More
Baby
Na na (banana)
Nana
Papa
Up
No
Yah (yes)
No No (nose)
Eye
Boy (she pets the dog and says "good boy")
Doe (dog)
Sa (sock)
Ba (book)
Ma (she hand signs for milk and says this)
Nigh Nigh (night night)
Wow
Whoa
Uh (uh oh)
Oh

Sock monkey and sock monkey sweater

Claire and her new chair from Auntie M. She is getting a comfy plush one for Christmas, but this is filling the gap. She loves having her own chair.

Bundled up

Claire took an undershirt out of Lucian's drawer. She wore it around the house for a while but it looked more like a dress.

We tried to wrap up our Christmas shopping over the weekend. We made it to the mall a little too early, however. We managed to kill some time at the coffee shop and then the play area.

Santa

Friday evening we headed to Cedarbug, WI to visit with some friends and Santa, of course. A co-worker of Lucian's invited us to the annual event. There was live music, crafts, cookie decorating and a visit with Santa. And the best part was it was all free!

Last year Claire was only 3-months old when she visited Santa. We were thrilled we simply got a shot of her looking at the camera (see the photo here). This year was a little different. As I first approached Santa he suggested I sit with Claire too, but I thought "let's give it a try solo first." Well, Santa was right. 15 months is not an age where kids are comfortable sitting with a strange man in a red suit and white beard.
I sat with her after that and she just kept looking at Santa very cautiously. Perhaps next year she will be excited?
The cookies were by far her favorite part of the evening. We passed on decorating an iced one after seeing the younger children covered in frosting. Sugar cookies are good on their own, right?

The crafts and Santa were down in the wine cellar. Here is Claire checking out the walls.
They had huge wine casks as well that some kids were crawling in. Luckily Claire couldn't quite get in on her own. I'm not sure we'd be able to get her out!


We enjoyed a drink and appetizer with some friends and their baby afterwards. Claire loved sitting on this bench and was kicking her legs smiling for quite some time while we waited for a table. A passer by offered to take our photo.
Saturday, Lucian participated in the Santa Cycle Rampage. It's an 11 mile bike ride that stops at 4 bars/restaurants and everyone dresses like Santa. He said I have to do it next year, it's so much fun. I don't have a shot of Lucian in his suit, but we own a costume now so maybe I will have a photo opp again. Claire seemed to like him in the suit, she still knew it was her dad:) I even got her to start saying Ho Ho Ho!

Here are some bikes and Santas at one of the stops. People were hanging their bikes from trees. Luckily the weather held out long enough for the ride.

St. Nick & Grandpa's Birthday

Last Sunday Nana Barb and Grandpa Joe came up to visit. They brought along St. Nick gifts and we celebrated Grandpa's birthday with lasagna and pie.

Claire sharing some pie (unfortunately this is likely what made Grandpa catch Claire's stomach bug as well)

Having a laugh with Nana

Nana made Claire her very own sock monkey and she brought us a monkey ornament for St. Nick. So cute!

Welcome December

Claire is a little busy body. She is into anything and everything. As long as it's not terribly destructive, I try to let it go. She has to have some things she can get in to, right? Here she is taking all the Ziplock bags out of the box.

She also takes bowls and strainers and things out of the drawers in the kitchen. Here she is playing with bowls and tongs.

Claire received her first advent calendar. I told Lucian that we would just have to eat her chocolates for her, since she can't have them, but he had other plans. He lets her open them and take a chocolate. She loves it! It's hard to explain she can only have 1 a day. I'll leave that up to Lucian.


Saturday was our first real snow fall. I was happily surprised to find Lucian and Spencer out shoveling when I emerged from the shower Saturday morning. I snapped a quick photo from the window.

We visited an "Urban Garage Sale" on Saturday; a gathering of local vendors. We picked up a few things including some headbands for Claire. I think she looks so much older with her hair like this.

Nana Barb knit Claire this Santa hat. I thought she looked pretty cute taking the ornaments off our little tree in her PJs. We have yet to get a real tree up. Hopefully soon!

Sunday morning Claire came down with a stomach bug. She woke up around 2:30am sick to her stomach. After a bath, 2 pairs of jammies and 3 bedding changes she was back to sleep for a little while. She was in good spirits during the day Sunday, but still has some signs she's on the mend. I think I had the same thing last night and now Lucian is home sick today. Luckily it's a quick recovery.

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was spent with Lucian's family. We were in charge of cranberry sauce, so we had it pretty easy. I used an orange apple cranberry recipe which makes the house smell delicious with cinnamon and clove. The berries are so pretty in the pan, I had to take a photo.

I really didn't take any photos at our gathering. We celebrated with 28 total relatives and friends. With so many kids around and Claire needing to be watched the majority of time it's really hard to manage a camera too. I will have to get better. Here are a couple shots I took with my phone of Claire and her partner in crime, cousin Lydia, spinning in a chair. Kate, a family friend had a good time spinning the girls.

Claire loves remote controls. Unfortunately she drops them and presses combinations of buttons that we cannot undo. Typical toddler, right? She has grasped what they are for however and points them at the appropriate device; the tv or alarm clock or stereo.

Saturday we lunched at The Original Pancake House, a restaurant I have always wanted to try. Claire enjoyed both pancakes and french toast. You'll notice her sippy cup in the photos. I packed up all her bottles this weekend. She is officially drinking whole milk in a cup straight from the fridge! She switched to whole milk from nursing a month or so ago, but didn't take to the cup until recently. It sure makes life a lot easier.

It's harder than you think to get a toddler to color and not eat the crayons.

Saturday we gathered again with Lucian's family for their annual holiday party. Lucian's grandparents host a pizza party for the entire family each year. It's great for all of the cousins to get to know each other and play. It's a bit of mad house sometimes with 50 plus people each year, but everyone looks out for each other and keeps the little ones from running down the hall or knocking down a tree. It's pretty fun.

Meeting new cousin Finley (1 week old!) with Lucian's Grandma Ginny.

Here is Claire in her jammies just before we left to head home surrounded by adoring cousins.