Claire - Tooth

We've been waiting on the first tooth for a while.  Lots of chewing, drooling and some unusual fussiness.  Saturday morning, I was making her bottle and Ryan tells me, very sternly, "put your finger in her mouth".  I must have given him "a look" then he said it again and I realized what he was telling me.  I ran over and sure enough, you can feel the sharp tooth.  She covers her gums with her tongue if you try to open her mouth so I still haven't seen it. Overall, she's been a champ with this tooth process, just like her brother. 

And just because it's so cute, my thumb(and index finger) sucking, giraffe loving baby #2.  My kids are so much alike. 

Claire Crawls

We just returned from a few days in North Carolina with a group of our college friends.  It was so great to be together again!   All weekend, we thought Claire would finally crawl and that we'd be able to share that milestone with our friends.  Of course, the little stinker waited until the Atlanta Airport.

Just like Cason, there were lots of yoga moves in the days leading up to it!

A video of the pre-crawling and her famous swimsuit model pose

And if we are keeping tabs, this is a month and a half sooner than Cason, who crawled right at 9 months. :)

Cason Playing in the Rain

Cason loves to put on his rain boots and splash in the puddles.  We had a good hard rain right after the yard was mowed and I needed to check the gates to make sure the yard crew had shut them.  Cason wanted to go with me so we got suited up and went outside.  Making it even more fun is that the downspout drain in the back has a crack in it so the water sprays out like a splash pad fountain.

This is a little boy having good old fashion fun!

Cason Dressing Himself

Cason has started dressing himself more and more.  He's been pretty good at getting his shirt on, sometimes its backwards but he normally can tell by where the graphic is on his t-shirts but gets confused on solid stuff sometimes.  Pants, he's still working on those.

Often, he ends up like this... Both legs in the same hole.

Claire Babbling - "Da da da da da da"

Her new "word" (and I guess her only word) is "da".  She likes to say it, a lot.

(this is 1:35min of Grandma material... don't say I didn't warn you)

Claire - Bottle on Her Own

This morning Claire fed herself her whole bottle!  It's a big milestone to me... while I might miss being forced to cuddle for that bottle feeding time, it sure does help the morning routine to let her feed herself while I get Cason and myself ready to go!

They Love Each Other

Was going through some pictures and found these that never got posted (like so many others).  These are just a couple of weeks old.

Some days, Cason tries to act like Claire doesn't exist, but really he's in love with her just as much as she is with him.

Hair grabbing is Claire's latest "thing" and Cason is her favorite target.

Cason's First Day of Preschool

Cason (and Claire) go to an in home day care with several other kids of different ages.  Ryan and I had been discussing starting Cason in a more structured preschool or daycare at some point but I didn't get my act together before Claire came to get him registered at the beginning of this year for Fall start dates.

Later in the year, Grammy Rita (Luke and Hudson's Grammy) and I were talking and she said she could still put Cason on the wait list at her preschool.  I said sure, not really thinking we'd get in and having no clue how I'd make it work with my job.  A few days later, she let me know that they had a spot in one of the classes.  It wasn't my first choice class (young two's) but we decided to try to make it work.  He eventually was able to get into the mixed two's class.  We talked it up for weeks, got a lunch box, made a nap mat.  Then the big day arrived:



He was very excited when we got there and walked right in the building (of course giraffe had to come along)


When we got  to the door of his room, he froze but after a few seconds slowly went in and started looking around.  As soon as I took this picture he looked up and saw me and knew what was about to happen and he started crying.   I was sad for him but I just ducked out as the teacher scooped him up and took him off to play with trains.


When I picked him up, they said he did great and calmed down quickly.  We got a picture with his teachers


And a rare picture of mommy

Big night... Belly to Sitting & Potty News

Both kids had a big night tonight.

First, Cason pooped on the potty. No pictures to go along with that milestone.  :)  We could see he was pushing and off we went to the potty.  He was so proud and excited to get some candy for the big accomplishment!

Then Claire... The picture itself doesn't seem like much. She's been sitting up for a couple of weeks. But this is impressive because of where she started. While trying to crawl, she went from belly to all fours to sitting up. I remember it taking Cason much longer to figure that out, but maybe not?