Happy Birthday Clara!

We had Clara's 12 month photos done today. She was hungry and wasn't in the best of moods, but there are a few cute ones in the preview!

http://brookekellyphotography.blogspot.com/2010/05/happy-birthday-clara-nashville-baby.html

Happy Birthday Clara! It is an honor to be your mommy!

Clara's Play Date Party

I had a little play date with some of Clara's baby buddies to celebrate her birthday with them. I did a strawberry theme with strawberry cake ball kabobs, chocolate covered strawberries, bagels with strawberry cream cheese, and a little tray of baby goodies. Mostly the fun was for the mamas of course but the babies seemed to enjoy playing with different toys. The babies (with their mama's help) made strawberry thumb prints.

Give Me Back That Ear!

So I got all the photos back of our live bunny session. (Grandparents - they are available in the March Picasa album.) I thought I would share some photos of Clara's anger at us for taking away her bunny.

Going for the ear...

Pulling the ear. It almost looks like she is asking Caleb if it is okay and he is warning her, but I don't really think either of those things were happening.

Why did you take my bunny????

A little dramatic, don't you think?

Clara - 9 Months

Sweet Clara will be 9 months on Wednesday. I can't believe it but it is true. She's quite the speed crawler and pulls up on everything she can. She has starting waving and says bye-bye. She is also very good at saying mama, but I still can't tell if she is referring to me or just says it randomly.

Clara gets into anything she can and already just looks at me and grins when I say no. She smiles a lot but not that full face smile that Caleb always had, so a little more reserved but still has plenty of charm.

She loves chasing her big brother and I love hearing them laugh together. Time 0ut for Caleb has become less effective because Clara heads straight for him while he is sitting on the stairs and starts climbing on him and the stairs.

She's a good little eater - a little more picky than Caleb was at the same age, but she definitely likes to eat.

Now if her hair would just grow a little faster!

We are so blessed and happy to be her parents - if only we could slow down time. We'll be celebrating her first birthday before I know it and that makes me a little sad.

Here are a few of Clara's 9 month photos taken this morning. http://brookekellyphotography.blogspot.com/2010/02/clara-9-months.html

Snow!

We received several inches of snow on Friday night. We mostly enjoyed a lazy day staying warm inside, but we did get the kids out for a little while. Clara wasn't very impressed.

Poor thing had to wear blue because it was the warmest thing we had for her. I did adorn it with a pink pacifier. Clara enjoyed watching her brother act silly. Caleb loved sliding down the slick slide.

Here's Caleb playing baseball with a tennis ball and golf club...

Daddy and Caleb having some fun in the snow.

Mea Mea joined us for some outside fun too! Thanks to Mea Mea for making us yummy chili for dinner!

Clara's 6 Month Photos

Clara had her 6 month photo session. She did so good - so good that I used some of the photographer's dramatic headbands for props. Enjoy! Follow this link: http://brookekellyphotography.blogspot.com/2009/11/clara-6-months.html

Catching Up on Clara

Clara is such a delight and I am loving every minute of her babyhood. I don't know if it is that she is my second, she is a girl or that I think she is my last, but I really don't remember enjoying Caleb this much. I think I was too focused on what happens next - now I just want time to stop. It stresses me a bit that she still isn't on a real schedule but then I remember that I can barely keep a schedule for myself so I can't really ask her to eat, poop and sleep at the same times every day. She likes to be held a lot more than Caleb did - she's just needier in general. She loves her big brother and routinely goes after his hair, which makes Caleb think that she is trying to "get him." I think she is one of the most ticklish babies ever and I get a kick out of making her laugh on a daily basis.

I don't see any teeth popping through quite yet, but middle finger and index finger are pretty much attached to her mouth. She also enjoys trying to chew on my chin.

Her hair is starting to come in a bit - lighter brown, but brown just the same. Her eyes are brown as well. She may have her brother's eyelashes but she's our brown-eyed girl for sure.

Clara's still a Mama's girl, but I love how she lights up when she sees her daddy or her brother. Caleb loves it when she laughs at him. Seth thinks she is tough because she takes a lot of semi rough-housing by her brother.

We started rice cereal earlier this month. She LOVES it! Here she is before her first tasting.

Here she is during the first tasting.


And here's a video of her trying green beans for the first time. She obviously loves them :). I love how the video catches Caleb laughing at her facial expressions.

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Clara in the Excersaucer

Clara has enjoyed hanging out in the excersaucer lately. It's hard to believe she is old enough to sit in it. She's growing up too fast!

I love this silly big smile.

My Little Gerber Baby

We had Clara's 3-month pictures done this morning. Here's a link to a sneak peak of a few: http://brookekellyphotography.blogspot.com/2009/09/clara-g.html

I'm sure there will be more to share next week when I get the full CD, but I love these, especially the one above!

So Long Summer

September starts this week, and I can't believe the summer is over. We've had a great time with Caleb and Clara. Here are some photos of some of our adventures.

We went to a place called Monkey Joe's several times over the summer, especially on really hot or rainy days. Caleb loved it because it has all kinds of jump houses; Mommy loved it because it was clean and kept little man busy until he was exhausted and ready for nap time.

I love this photo from last week at the pool. Caleb would ask several times a week to go to the "big pool."

We spent a lot of time with friends this summer. Here are Caleb, Addison, Claire and Drew at a pizza picnic this evening.

Clara isn't quite old enough to truly enjoy summer, but we had such a wonderful time with her. She's growing so fast - turned 3 months last week!

Sweet Siblings

Caleb likes to hug and kiss on Clara. He also likes to say "it's okay baby" when she cries.

We always sing to Caleb when we put him down for the night. His favorite from Mommy is Ba-Ba Black Sheep because I tickle him and make a big deal out of the "little boy who lives down the lane" part. I always say/sing "little boy, my little boy, my little Caleb" while making him laugh. I know it's probably not very appropriate for bed time, but I don't care; it's our special moment. Anyway, tonight we were singing and he stopped me and said, "how about for little Clara." Too sweet - makes me melt.

Clara - Two Month Appointment

Believe it or not (I can't), Clara turned two months old four days ago. She had her doctor's appointment on Monday morning, and doc said she is thriving beautifully. Unlike her short brother, she is in the 75th percentile for height and weight. She's right at 11 1/2 pounds now!

She's found her fingers and she loves playing with them.

We have a couple others from this session where she is actually smiling, but this picture made Mommy smile. She is definitely more serious than her goofy brother.

"Thank you God for..."

Clara at 6 Weeks

Clara turned 6 weeks this past Sunday. Somehow it is both hard to believe she has been here that long and hard to remember life before her. She seems to be more serious than Caleb but may have a little goofy side too. She is definitely a bigger baby - in both height and weight than Caleb was and I'm curious to see how she measures in at her 8 week appointment. Thankfully she hasn't had the reflux issues that Caleb had, but she has been fussier in the evenings that he ever was. She nurses really well though - something Caleb couldn't do, which caused me to pump exclusively for 5 months. I'm so thankful she is a good eater and sleeper.

She's losing her hair just like Caleb did, although it seems to be falling out a little more gracefully. I think she looks like a sweet old man in some pictures.

She started smiling back at us and cooing a little sometime last week. It lights up my world every time I see it. Here's some video I managed to catch:

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Clara's First Baby Tub Bath

Clara umbilical cord fell off so she got her first tub bath last night.

PS - there are several new posts following this one so be sure to scroll down to see them all.

Clara - 2 Weeks Old

Clara went to the doctor on Monday for her two week check-up. She had gained a pound in a week and is an inch longer than her birth height. The doctor was quite impressed with her growth.

She's a long girl!

Sleeping Beauty

Caleb & Clara

Watching Imagination Movers or "Movers" as Caleb calls it.

Caleb shares his wisdom.

Going for a walk in our cool new stroller. Caleb loved being able to look back at his baby.

Momma and her babies

Clara Photos

Here are some pictures of Clara from the last week and a half. Catching her with her eyes open is hard as she is still just eating and sleeping a lot.

Sponge Bath

Mary Ann gave Clara her first sponge bath since leaving the hospital while they were here last week. She had also given Caleb his.

Clara seemed to enjoy having her head rubbed ... just like her mommy I guess.

Caleb meets his little sister

Caleb came to the hospital with Grandma, Grandaddy and Mea Mea on Sunday afternoon - the day Clara was born. He was tired already and it was pretty late in the day, so we probably started the introductions at a bad time. He didn't like the hospital elevators at all. Then he walked in my birthing room, but didn't like seeing me hooked up to all the machines at all. I'm really not sure he even noticed Clara because he just didn't like being in the hospital room.

He came back the next day in a much better mood. It helped that I was in my room without all the machines and tubes hooked up to me. He brought a balloon and a baby doll for Clara and got a kick out of giving the baby to Clara. He was very happy to see Mommy and Daddy too.

Here's a little video of Caleb meeting Clara:

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Caleb giving Clara a kiss

Caleb hasn't done bad at all with Clara so far. At first he really didn't pay her any attention. He just wasn't too sure about me nursing her. I think he thought that it hurt me, but we've been trying to tell him that the baby is eating. For the past day or so Caleb has taken a little more interest. This morning he gave Clara her pacifier when she was fussy and wanted to hug and kiss her multiple times throughout the day. He also asks to "hold it."

Caleb loves to point out Clara's facial features. He also thinks it is funny when she sneezes.


Seth and I walked in from the hospital thinking that Caleb had surely gained 10 pounds while we were gone, and we realized more than ever how he is now a little boy rather than a baby. It's been fun to watch him go through this change with us, and we feel so blessed to be a family of four.