Meatball Nose

My baby! She has changed so much in the last month. Why does it all have to go so fast? I don't want her to grow up, but I love watching her do it.

Okay, enough with the cliche sappiness. Let's get into the fun Clara details!

• She loves being upside down. And I love her little smile!

• When she sees that either Daniel or I has a diaper in our hands, she crawls away quickly to try to escape the diaper change. She's smart!
• She pulled herself up to a standing position for the first time on July 30th.

• We were pretty sure she was saying "ah da" to mean "all done," but we weren't sure. But then one night everyone but her was upstairs, so she went to the bottom of the stairs and tried to crawl up. She stood there leaning on the second stair for awhile, watching all of us moving around up there, and then she said, "Ah da," and sat down and crawled away.
• She started doing this thing where she pretends to blow her nose, and it absolutely kills me. She even makes a blowing sound!

• Daniel tried to teach her to put her cup back on her tray instead of throwing it on the ground when she's done taking a drink. As she finished a drink, he would tap his finger on the tray a few times to indicate she should put the cup there. She started copying him when he did it, so we thought she understood. But then she started doing it when she wanted more of whatever food we were feeding her. Oh well; it's still cute!
• She likes to use paper towels to wipe down her tray and the table. She's such a little mimic!

• Speaking of being a mimic, one night I read her a book with animals in it, and Aubrey made the different animal sounds for her. She particularly liked the horse, and she started copying Aubrey as she did it. Hehe.

• She always pulls the kitchen hand towel down and rubs it along the floor. She also loves putting it on her head and crawling around with it balancing there. Needless to say, we have had to change the towel often, and now we're hanging it out of reach.

• She has not been a fan of whole milk. We tried to switch her to it a couple of weeks before her first birthday, and she was not having it. She wouldn't drink more than a little bit, and she stopped having wet diapers. So we quit the cold-turkey approach and started cutting the milk with formula again. We're finally back to all milk again, and she still doesn't love it. But she does drink most of it now, so I'll take it.
• Some of her favorite foods include Ritz crackers, graham crackers, peanut butter sandwiches, and scrambled eggs. When I hold them up and show them to her, she gets very excited. Sometimes she claps. She also loves baby puffs/yogurt melts, strawberries, bananas. Swedish pancakes, and yogurt.

• One time she picked up a baby doll and hugged it to herself while saying, "Mmmm." It was the sweetest thing ever! I nearly died from cute overload.
• She has gotten very into giving hugs. I LIVE for these hugs. All I have to do is say, "Hug?", and she will lean her head onto me. And sometimes she will just crawl up to me and lean her head on my leg, both when I'm sitting on the couch and when I'm standing in the kitchen making dinner. I gope she continues to be affectionate with me.

• She has started standing up on her own and smiling so widely as she does it. I love how proud she gets of herself! She will stand there for as long as she can, fall down to her bum, and get back up again. It really feels like she's practicing.
• She started using the walker, and she loves it! She's even better with it now than she was in this video, but this is one of the first times she used it, so it's special.

• When she's on the couch, she likes to crawl over to the armrest, stand up, and fall back down to her bum on the cushion. It always makes me nervous, but I of course never leave her on the couch alone; I'm always there. And it's cute how fun she thinks it is.
• She loves turning the pages when we read to her, but lots of times she just wants to turn the pages before we've even read the words. And she definitely has book preferences. Some books she loves, and others she tries to take out of my hands and throw on the ground. She's so discerning! Haha.

• She has four teeth so far. She likes having them brushed (the bottom ones anyway), but she hates it when anyone tries to look in her mouth. She was really not a fan of her first dentist visit. 
• When we tell her no, like if she's trying to do something dangerous or gross, she just looks back at us and waves with her little fingers flapping up and down. It's like she is hoping her cuteness will distract us. There was one time when Daniel told her no (as she tried to grab dirty dishes from the dishwasher, which she loves) and she burst into tears. That was equally funny and cute.
• She actually has really good motor skills. She can put the coins in the piggy bank. She figured it out fast! And her proud little face.... oof, I love it!

• She very often insists on feeding herself. She does not want us to do it for her anymore. It's both cute and annoying. She makes a big mess and never gets as much food in herself as we do, but we also can't force feed her, regrettably.

And yeah, many times she gives up on the spoon and eats with her hand (holding the spoon in the other hand though, of course).

• This is just a funny, cute face she made one time. That's all.

• And this is from when she fell asleep on my lap after she threw up from having a stomach bug. Sick is bad, but snuggles are good! So very good.

Okay, I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. I love, love, love this girl! I'm so glad she's mine.

Clara Turns 1!

My last baby turned one, but I didn't cry! I definitely had bittersweet feelings all day, but I mostly just enjoyed the day with her. Unfortunately, it was a busy day, so I didn't get to spend as much one-on-one time with her as I wanted.

Aubrey had her first e-learning day, which meant she had a 9:00 Google Meets video. She wasn't cooperating, so I was trying to listen for her and even speak for her when necessary. And then Carter kept asking me for thing after thing. So that made breakfast hard, but I finally got the traditional birthday Swedish pancakes made.

 

Clara had already had Swedish pancakes before, so she knew she liked them. And she decided she didn't want to wait for me to take photos, so she went for it.

And when she got it, she really went for it!

I did finally take it away and break it into little pieces for her. Also, can we talk about the little birthday crown I made for her? I can't stand the adorableness...

I also made her a C pancake because, you know, birthday. And she did eat all of both pancakes! So there you go.

After breakfast, Clara napped while I got myself and the kids ready to take Carter to preschool. Then I had to come home and bake Clara's birthday cake. Then it was back out to pick Carter up from preschool and back home again to decorate the cake.

Once that was done, I got to sit and watch the kids for a bit. Clara enjoyed her balloons, but not in the way I expected, haha. She was all about pinching them.

When Daniel came home and Nana and Papa came over, we were able to start the real celebration of this sweet, adorable, wonderful baby love. We started with a little dance party courtesy of the Beatles's "Birthday."

We also called Grandma and Grandpa on the iPad so they could watch presents and cake and feel at least a little bit like they were here.

We and the kids picked out old toys that were stored in the attic to give Clara as gifts (because we're cheap, but we're also resourceful). Carter picked the singing and lighting up farm toy that attaches to the walker we already had out for her.

She was a big fan!

Aubrey gave her two old Olaf and Sven stuffed animals. I didn't get a photo of those, because as sweet as it was that Aubrey chose them, Clara isn't too into stuffed animals yet.

Nana and Papa gave her a singing, counting, spinning mushroom toy. She was SO into it. She wouldn't pay attention to anything else we had for her to unwrap.

In fact, I have this video in which I'm being super annoying trying to get Aubrey to give Clara her last gift instead of enjoying that Clara was dancing so cute to the music from the mushroom toy. *Sigh*

After presents we ate dinner. I then made Daniel take a photo of me with my lovey. I wasn't sure she was too happy about it, but we got this awesome shot!

I also made everyone wait while I took a smashcake-esque photo. But since Clara kept crawling toward the cake and trying to grab it--and because everyone was waiting for me, totally confused about what I was doing--I gave up after three photos. This was the best one I got.

Finally, it was time to see what Clara thought of cake! It was a marble cake I hadn't made before, and it was only okay. But hey, she didn't have anything to compare it to, so she doesn't know it wasn't great!

Obviously we sang first. I think Clara's reaction is so cute!

And then she did some tentative exploration of the cake.

At first she mostly just broke it up and licked her fingers a few times...

... until she finally figured it all out.

Then she started kind of playing with it as she ate it.

And finally, Daddy got her a spoon so she could eat it her preferred way, haha.

Weirdly, Clara didn't totally slime herself, so I didn't have to give her a bath. And since it was Daniel's turn to put her and Aubrey to bed, I decided to take a few minutes to read some books to her on the couch, just me and her. It was heaven.

My goodness, I so completely adore this girl. She is sunshine and puppies and rainbows and chocolate and everything good and wonderful. I sometimes often think we're crazy to have had another kid, but I can't imagine my life without this little girl.

*sniff*

Month 11

Clara Panera, why do you have to grow up? Only one more month until you're a whole year old! You're breaking my heart, sweet baby girl. Please stay little.

I know you won't; you can't. And I wouldn't really want you to. I'm actually so excited to watch you grow up. I only wish I had a way to go back in time, some day when the baby days seem so far gone, and see and experience you again as you are now. But since I can't, I'm writing it all down. Here it is:

• We discovered she loves spaghetti and meatballs, just like her siblings.
• She crawls around with things in her mouth, like a dog. Nerf gun bullets are a particular favorite, but I won't let her have them because the tips come off easily and could choke her.
• When her siblings go outside, she sits by the sliding glass door and watches them play. They are her favorite form of entertainment!

• When we give her a bottle, she snatches it out of our hands and shoves it hard into her mouth in a way that just makes me laugh. She takes her food very seriously!
• On the 4th of July, she discovered she likes graham crackers! She found one that Aubrey had dropped while we were making s'mores, and she picked it up and started gnawing on it. I expected her to not like it because of her issues with texture in foods, but she ate the whole thing!

• When she really likes the food she's eating and I try to give her her water cup, she instantly throws it and looks to me for more food.
• When Aubrey tries to comfort her with stuffed animals if she's sad, Clara always throws them on the ground too.
• This month she learned how to stand up while holding on to things. She can't pull herself up on her own, but she can hold herself up after we have helped her.

• We put shoes on her for the first time a couple weeks ago, and she was not a fan. At first she just picked up her foot in one hand and stared at it. Then she spent a long time angrily trying to rip the shoe off.
• She's very particular about how we feed her finger foods. If we have a puff or chunk of carrot or something for her to eat with her hands, she refuses to either let you put it in her mouth or hand it to her. She'll whine until you put the food on her tray so she can grab it herself.
• Changing her diaper is a royal pain in the butt. She absolutely does not want to sit still, and she often makes a game out of it. If you lay her down to change her, she crawls away and laughs...

• But sometimes it's not a game, and she tries her hardest to squirm away, getting increasingly mad when she's unsuccessful.

• If the whole family goes upstairs and leaves her downstairs, she'll crawl over to the stairs and try to crawl up them. But then she gets stuck with her hands resting on the second-to-last step and her feet still on the ground. She gets very upset by this and just scream cries until I help her sit down or pick her up.
• If we leave the pantry door open, she immediately crawls over, grabs a cooking wine bottle from the bottom shelf, and tips it back. She can never understand why nothing comes out. There have been many jokes made about her growing drinking problem...

• She always points at things with her middle finger. She also sticks just that finger out and touches/taps things with it.
• The girl is unruffleable. There is a lot of screaming and yelling and loud noises in our house due to her older siblings. But she never flinches or even reacts. When we vacuum, she'll sit right on the floor, just a foot or two away from the vacuum, and be just fine.
• She has two favorite things in the house to destroy. The first is the Ziploc bag drawer...

• The second is Aubrey's paint bucket in her art desk.

• She doesn't like to be held too close, so oftentimes hugs aren't her favorite. She actually pushes her siblings away when they try to squeeze her. However, she still finds a way to show me affection. She leans her forehead against mine and just keeps it there. Sometimes she says, "Mmmm" when she does it. It melts my heart and makes me SO happy. There was the one time she ate my nose while doing it, but you know...
•  On the 4th of July, she did this weird series of hilarious facial expressions. She really is very expressive and funny... and ridiculously adorable.

• She often says, "Ah dah!" We're not yet sure if it means "all done" or "Dad" or nothing. We are sure that it's super cute though.
• One time Carter tried to move her while she was in her highchair and ended up knocking the whole thing over. Clara got a little pinch bruise on her ear and line bruises across her thighs from where the tray of her seat dug into them. For a few days after that happened, she would scream and cry if we moved her highchair while she was in it. It was sad.

Month 10

I'm sad to say I actually missed Clara's 10-month "birthday." My chiropractor asked me at an appointment how old she was, and I said, "She'll be 10 months old on the 21st... whenever that is." He responded, "So last Sunday?" That made me feel pretty dumb! In my defense, it was also Father's Day. So... yeah.

Anyway, here are some highlights about our sweet little bookend baby!

• She absolutely loves playing with my sunglasses. If I'm holding her and wearing my sunglasses, she will always take them off. When I put them back on, she immediately grabs them again. 
• She also always pulls off her bibs (if she can). She doesn't approve of them I guess!

• When we feed her, she often flaps her hands. This leads her to hit the spoon and spill food everywhere. She also likes to grab the spoon on its way to her mouth. So yeah, meal times are a messy affair. I'm learning she likes it when I make funny sounds as the spoon approaches her mouth...
• She doesn't like her food to have any chunks or texture. If it does, she spits it out. Did I mention meals are messy?

• She started crawling! She really gets around, and she's a curious one. Everything is a toy to her now, especially the contents of Aubrey's art desk. She also loves outlets, so we had to pull out our old outlet plug covers.

• She also loves opening our Ziploc bag drawer, haha.





• She hates diaper changes and getting dressed or undressed. She gets rigid and won't bend her arms to get shirts off. Then she spends her entire diaper change trying to roll over and get away. And she definitely does not take kindly to being held down to get it done.
• She had her first pool experience a couple of weeks ago. She liked it! She sat in the shallow part of the zero-depth entry pool and splashed around by kicking her feet. At some point she crawled out and just sat on the tile at the entrance, just out of the water. 

• She likes it when I put my forehead against hers. She leans into it and starts laughing. She also loves it when I lift her into the air and when I pretend to eat her neck. Her little laugh is the best sound in the whole world!
• Once at bedtime, as Aubrey and I were reading to her, she leaned in towards Aubrey and put her head on Aubrey's shoulder.  She kept it there for awhile, and it was clear it was a sign of affection. Awwwwwww.
• She does a little nose scrunching, eye squinting smile that just makes me laugh.

• If you try to take something from her, she death grips it and won't let go. If you succeed in getting it away from her, she gets maaaad. And when she gets mad, she starts scratching.
• Speaking of scratching, she loves grabbing people's faces. It's too bad her claws make it so painful, because it's actually really sweet and cute.
• She always falls asleep in the hiking backpack. I can't decide if it's more cute or more funny.

• She loves her water cup. If I give it to her during her meals, she will just drink it and refuse to eat. So I have to take it away (with no small difficulty). But whenever I do give it to her, she gets very excited. 
• She waves now! We often have to demonstrate and coax her into it, but she does it sometimes! The first time she did it was in California while we were at Maren's house, when she was saying goodnight to Maren.

Month 9

It's been nine months since this angel baby arrived. She's been out as long as she was in! That's always a fun milestone. But it also makes me realize she's getting closer to being a year old. I can't handle it!

With the pandemic happening the last couple of months and everyone being home all the time, I feel like I haven't gotten the one-on-one time with her that I wanted. She's such a good, sweet, happy baby that she often gets put down to play by herself while chaos happens around her. But the second she gets attention from me or Daniel, she just beams and kicks her legs with excitement. That makes me feel both so happy, because her happiness is so infectious and life-affirming, and so sad, because she deserves all the attention all the time. I kiss her whenever I get my hands on her, and I've been trying to sit on the ground and play with her for at least a few minutes every day, but it's hard right now. *sigh*

Anyway, she's becoming more and more of a personality-filled little human, so here are some fun facts about her:

• One of her favorite things to play with is baby wipes. When she gets one, she waves it around with a big, goofy smile on her face, and it makes me so happy.

• When I read to her, she sometimes reaches out and strokes the pages. She also likes to grab the pages and gets very upset if I pull the book out of her reach. She starts squirming on my lap, kicking her feet, grunting, and stratching/pinching my arms. But if her siblings come in the room, she immediately loses interest in the book and wants to watch them.
• She does this cute little nose scrunch and sniff, especially when she's eating. I think it's an indication of happiness, but I'm not positive. I just know it makes me laugh.

• She hates having her hand or arm held to have her nails clipped or hand wiped off. She starts really struggling and trying hard to pull her hand/arm away while grunting angrily.
• She makes this super cute tongue clicking noise. I failed at getting a video of it, but Daniel got one!

• When she's on the ground or in her high chair or bouncer, she lifts her arms up and twists her hands as I walk by, in anticipation of me picking her up. If I don't, she starts crying and breaks my heart. So then I go pick her up. I just have to.
• Sometimes she claps when she's happy or when we say "yay." Why is baby clapping so cute?!

• She also likes rough-housing. It's so weird! She's a tough one. The things that make her laugh the most with her siblings are things that tend to make me nervous. I just try to remind myself that she's not as fragile as I think (though I still keep telling the kids to be more gentle).

• She absolutely loves being held up above my head and "flying."
• She has started getting into crawling position (pushed up on hands and knees), but she has yet to crawl. Any day now, I'm sure!

• She's become a side/stomach sleeper. She tends to contort her body in weird ways when she sleeps. But hey, she sleeps! So I'm good with whatever position gets her to do that.

• There was a period of time in which she had a horrible time falling asleep. We finally had to do some modified cry-it-out. She just wanted one of us to be in there while she fell asleep. It's cute, but yeah, no.
• She loves playing any form of peek-a-boo. If there is something within her reach that she can cover her head with, she'll do it. And she gets so excited when we say, "Where's Clara?" My personal favorite was the night at dinner when she discovered she could cover her face with her bib.

• For awhile there, she wasn't as interested in her bottles. She would drink all but the last couple of ounces and then drop the bottle on the floor. If I picked up the bottle and tried to feed her the rest, she would start shaking her head really fast. She stopped doing that, but she does still drop the bottle on the floor when she's done.
• She has an absolutely amazing hair wave. It reminds me of Terk from the movie Tarzan:

Best of all, Daniel Photoshopped a surfer in it. Hehehe. I'll make the photo extra big so it shows up better...

Month 8

My Clara baby lovey! This girl is the sweetest. All of our kids have been sweet babies, but Clara takes the cake. Sometimes I forget she's in the room because she's so quiet and content most of the time! Then I feel bad, haha. Anyway, here are some details about this most wonderful baby:

• When she's excited about something, she bounces. Whether she's sitting or standing in her bouncer thing or being held, she bounces up and down and makes cute happy grunts.

• If you put your face close to hers, she reaches up and grabs your face with her little hands. I always say she's trying to rip my face off.
• She enjoys being outside watching her siblings run around and ride scooters. She also enjoys watching squirrels and tracks them as they scurry around the yard.

• She had her first tooth come in this month!
• She has the funniest laugh. It's full of growls and squeaks and is unlike any baby's laugh I've heard before. I love it so much. And Carter always knows how to make her laugh!

• When I put her in her zippy for bedtime/naps, she kicks her feet excitedly and gets a big smile on her face. I think it's because she is excited to get a pacifier, which she really only has when she sleeps. And if I put her in the crib without a pacifier, she immediately starts crying.
• She has become a side sleeper. I don't think either of her siblings ever slept on their sides as babies. She also sleeps on her tummy and back sometimes. She likes to move around!

• She's one of those babies who puts everything in her mouth the second she gets it in her hands.
• Over the last month she has learned to clap. Why is baby clapping so stinkin' cute?!

• When we read to her, she strokes the book and tries to turn the pages.
• She's chubby, and I love it. She has delicious thigh rolls! She also has a rockin' belly overhang.

• If I'm holding her and do something that makes her mad (such as take something away from her or pull it out of her reach), she shrieks unhappily, kicks her feet, and starts scratching/pinching my arms 
• She has finally started being ticklish. She is particularly ticklish right on her clavicle. Weird, but cute!

• One of her favorite things to do is sit on my lap as I bounce her up and down on my knees while humming the "William Tell Overture." She usually laughs more when I do it, but the phone distracted her. Oh well; it's still super cute.

• If she's sitting by herself and you walk by, she lifts her arms up in the air and twists her hands around in expectation of being picked up. If you don't pick her up, she cries.
• She likes to sit on my lap facing me and lean all the way back so her head hangs upside down. If I don't lay her down quickly enough, she starts flinging her head back to let me know what she wants. 

• When she gets attention from someone, she just automatically beams. Her whole face lights up with the sweetest smile. I wish my attention weren't so divided so I could give her more! She deserves it.
• She's usually very patient with her older siblings, who often treat her like a toy. Their shenanigans usually lead to good photo ops like this one:

• When she is done with her bottle and you try to give her more, or if you try to touch her face (to wipe it off or something), she shakes her head back and forth really quickly. She also does it sometimes as she's falling asleep, as she's waking up, and when she's just excited and being silly. It's a trademark Clara move!

• The only time she's a difficult baby is at bedtime. She's gotten in a bad habit of just screaming when we leave the room. She doesn't do it for naps; it's only at bedtime. And if we come in the room, she usually stops. She wants us to sit with her as she falls asleep. And as cute as she is, that's a hard pass.
• Her little sad face is so heartbreaking! Isn't it?

• She's become quite the little babbler when she's in the mood. She makes funny screeching noises out of the blue and does lots of "bah bah bah" and "mah mah mah" and "dah dah dah" sounds. I can't wait until she starts saying real words. They'll be the cutest.

Month 7

D'aww. This little girl is so stinkin' sweet. Look at that face! And she's, like, the easiest baby. We couldn't have asked for a better bookend to our family. I just adore her!

Anyway, little lovey is now closer to one year than she is to having been born. That's a weird way of saying it, but whatever. All I know is that she's getting bigger, and it makes me super sad. But also happy. Ack! Too many emotions.

Anyway, here is Clara's update:

• She always laughs when Carter drags his chin down her chest and tummy. I tried getting her to laugh by doing the same thing with my fingers, but it didn't work. I think he pushes pretty hard when he does it, which I wasn't willing to do (and which, frankly, makes me nervous).

• She has experienced a lot of firsts this past month. She started sitting in the grocery cart at the store, and she sat in a highchair at a restaurant for the first time. I even commemorated the event with a photo!

• She has transitioned to a non-infant car seat and rides around in the umbrella stroller, which she loves. Her little feet hang down, and she quickly kicks them back and forth as we move. She is definitely a fan!
• She also went on a swing for the first time. She loved it! Doesn't she looks so cute here?!

• At her six-month check-up, our doctor pointed out that she should be able to stand while we hold her hands or at least hold her up by the armpits. But she can't. She kind of refuses to. So we got her a little bouncy exersaucer-type thing for $10, and she likes it! She's slowly getting better at the standing thing, but she still needs more practice.

• Big brother and big sister sometimes treat her as a toy, which usually bothers me. But I have to say I love how they decorated her in this photo.

• She started holding her own bottle because it's important to Daniel, haha. He has spent a couple of weeks training her, and she's finally got it. I love this picture of them looking at each other while she eats.

• One night, when Clara was having her pre-bedtime bottle, Daniel decided to hold her as she fed herself. And the poor little girl was so tired she was beginning to fall asleep. So sweet.

• Speaking of sleeping, she is so good at it! When we put her down for a nap or for bedtime, she almost always falls asleep within just a couple of minutes. And if she wakes up earlier than normal, we can often go back in and give her pacifier to get her to back to sleep. The other night she even fell asleep in her crib with the lights on while I read to Aubrey. 
• She loves playing with Daniel's beard. I managed to get a photo of her doing it.

• She started playing peekaboo on her own, and it's the best thing ever. It's one of her new favorite games.

• It just snowed a few days ago, so we took the older kids sledding. I decided to bring Clara out with us in her cute snowsuit. I love the face she's making here.

• She still makes really loud grunting noises when she falls asleep, and I finally got a video!

• The best thing about babies this age is that basically anything can be a toy. Through the process of giving Clara random things to play with, we have discovered that she loves hangers. Hey, whatever works!

• She apparently even loves watching other people play with hangers. In this video, she does the super funny and cute laugh that, according to Daniel, sounds like she's being hurt. But it's clear when you actually see the video that she's incredibly happy. Looooove.

• She really loves sweet potatoes and has actually liked every food we've given her, which includes banana, pear, strawberry, sweet potato, mango, carrot, peas, green beans, raspberry, plum, spinach, avocado, blueberry, butternut squash, and pineapple. She has figured out that when I get out a colorful bowl and spoon that it means she gets to eat. It's fun to see her eyes following me as I get it ready for her. When I put the bowl down on the table, she immediately reaches for it. And if I don't feed her fast enough, she starts to cry.