New Smile

I've noticed that in more and more of Clara's pictures you can see her teeth when she smiles. Check out some of her pictures from the last few days.

Walking tall

This afternoon Clara took her first series of solo steps. She walked about 5 steps then fell on her bottom. I don't have any video of her yet, but for the mental picture just imagine a Clara doing a Frankenstein impersonation.

Two new video clips

Clara is definitely Daddy's Girl... I would be jealous if I didn't find it so darn cute.

The next clip is of our Monkey Girl trying to overcome the safety gate at the top of the stairs. It seems like the more we try to keep her safe the more determined she is to find trouble.... wonder where she gets that from???

Happy Holidays

We just got our Christmas pictures back... hope you like them as much as we do.

Space Coast Marathon

Today Patrick completed his second marathon; that's another 26.2 miles. It was the Space Coast Marathon and he finished in under 4 hrs and 40 minutes... shaving about 20 minutes off of his time this past January.

After the race Clara enjoyed chewing on Patrick's marathon metal.

Christmas decorations

After I hit the black Friday sales on Friday, we started to decorate the house for Clara's first Christmas. We've set up the tree barricaded by two ottomans. And we've hung the stocking on our banister... since our house doesn't have a proper fireplace mantle.
So far, Clara hasn't been too bad with the new temptations; however, she couldn't stop from tasting just a few...

Clara's First Thanksgiving

Clara seemed to enjoy her first Thanksgiving. She even ate her very own turkey dinner.

Looking for a trampoline

Clara is getting very active. Tonight she realized that the shocks on her stroller would work as a makeshift trampoline. Take a look.

Shake it, Baby

Coming Through

You better watch out because Clara is coming through. She has started to push her walker all around the house. But like many of the old lady drivers of South Florida, she has some trouble steering. So for now, if you see her coming, better get out of the way :)

She has also started to "dance" which you will hear me ask her to do in the above video. She didn't this time so I don't have a good video clip of that yet, but I'll post one as soon as I can. Basically she will either bounce up and down when she hears music play, or she will shake her behind. It is adorable.

Clara's First Halloween

So, if you ever wondered if Clara was really my daughter, just watch the clip below for confirmation. Choc-o-holism runs strong in our family.

And here are some other pictures from Clara's first Halloween. We dressed her up and sat out on our front porch to greet the trick-or-treaters.

Pumpkin Carvin'

Tonight Clara and I carved her first Jack-o'-lantern. I gave it her smile... center bottom teeth, and two on either side up top. Clara helped me by handling the pumpkin guts as seen in the video and photos below.

My Little Pumpkin is 7 Months Old

Clara has been busy getting ready for her first Halloween. Today we picked up the pumpkin and plan on carving it with a smile to match hers... two bottom teeth in the center, and to upper teeth on either side of the center.



It is amazing to me that she is 7 months old. She has slept through the night the last two nights. She crawls all over the place...Fast! She pulls up to standing and cruises around the furniture. She can climb the stairs going up, but hasn't figured out how to come down. And yesterday she pulled her self up to standing and then balanced on her own for a few seconds without hanging onto anything. She is a great eater and usually quite happy as long as she is the center of attention. She makes lots of noises...girgles, grunts, and giggles. The closest thing to a word that she says so far is "dadadadad" which Patrick seems to think is "dad." That pretty much sums up Clara at 7 months.

Climbing

Today Clara climbed our stairs from the living room all the way up to her bedroom 3 times. Until now she usually tired herself out by the time she reached the landing half way up. Now there is no stopping her!

Highlights from our trip to Georgia

Clara and I just got back from a week in Georgia. We started the week with Clara's first flight. She did a great job... a lot of wiggling, but no fussing.
Once is Georgia, we went to visit my friends Kelly and Erik and their children 4 year old Aidan and 18 month old Marian. As you can see from the photo below, the visit wore out all of the kids.

But after their naps, there was still time for fun.

Mid week, Clara and I journeyed on to Grandma Dayna and Grandpa Chris's house where she modeled this year's Halloween costume from Gran Mary.

And Clara got to meet her Great Aunt Sue.

Grandpa Chris enjoyed telling Clara some stories.

And at the end of our trip we went to Barnesville, Georgia to have a little reunion with some of the Georgia Pharmacy Class of 2003. Below you will see from left to right my pharmacy school roommate Jen with her son A.J., me with Clara, my friend Felicia with her sons Preston and Jackson, and my friend Virginia with her Yorkie, Sophie.

We flew home Tuesday the 7th and while we were waiting for our flight Clara decided it was time to pass another milestone. She pulled herself up to standing for the first time. Now as you can see in the post below she is doing it all the time.

Pulling up

Clara has started to pull herself up to standing. Keeping things out of her reach is becoming more and more challenging.

Clara's 6 Month Photos

Here is Clara's 6th month photo. She is sitting on the baby quilt that I made for her.

Any Mom's out there reconginze what Clara is holding in this one? It is part of a set of stacking rings. The toy is a red-orange color that clashed with her outfit, but she wouldn't set it down without getting grumpy. Thank goodness for black and white photos.

And here is Chef Clara. She loved baning away on the mixing bowls.

After all of that cooking it was time to clean up in the tub!

And a few shots with Mom...

Kissin' Mom and pullin' her hair

Clara has learned to give big, open-mouthed, wet kisses. She also feels that since she doesn't have much hair of her own it is OK to grab at anyone else's... especially mine. What fun.


She also enjoys standing up when she can brace herself against something. She can't pull up on her own, but once she gets on her feet she can stay up for a minute or two.

Here is a picture of two of my favorite people hanging out on a lazy Saturday morning.


George couldn't be left out of the fun...

Crawling... sort of

Ok, maybe it isn't true crawling, but my little slither-bug is on the move. I'm not going to say that she is graceful or fast, but Clara has mastered the ability to get from point A to B on her own.

Go, Baby, Go!

This week in pictures

Look how happy my little girl is to be out of that Georgia Tech outfit and back into her true colors.

Taking a break from bouncing to strike a pose...

I love how cubbie she looks in this one...

"Come on, Let's play!"

And this one is just for Kelly since I know she loves this outfit.

And one more thing...Clara finally slept through the night last night. 8pm to 7:40am. WOW! I hope it wasn't a fluke.