Claire is 6 Months!

I can't believe Claire is already half a year old. What a joy she is. It took a little time to figure out that she likes things just her way, right at the right time. If you know that and do that, she is the sweetest baby ever.

She is still quite skinny. Even with constant supplementing, she went down two percentile points and is now in the 2nd percentile for weight. The doctor said to keep supplementing and hold off on the solid foods since they don't have as much nutrients in them as milk. He's not too worried because she meets all the other milestones. She is a wiggle worm and though she's not good at directing her movement to get a specific toy, she is all over, rolling and pushing with her feet. She loves sucking on pickles and munching on Mum Mums.

Picture Wall

I have been dreaming of putting up a picture wall for a long time and thanks to a DI trip with my mom and Curtis's help, I finally did it. I had a lot of frames and photos already, but I did buy and paint several frames from DI black and I love ordering pics from Costco. Here's the result.

Before

After

I still have plenty of room to keep adding some each year. I will just need a taller ladder.

Audrey's Suprise

We surprised Audrey with a new bunk bed last weekend. She was so excited.

My Gift to Curtis

For Valentine's Day I had all of our wedding pictures transferred from negative to digital. Here are some of the pics we now get to see all the time on our screen saver.










I love seeing these.

An Early Valentine Present

I got out of the habit of wearing my wedding ring when my fingers swelled a little toward the end of Claire's pregnancy. When I couldn't find it off hand, I didn't get too worried because I knew it was in the house, I just hadn't looked hard enough yet. But then when I did look hard and then harder and then even when my mom and dad came over to help me find it and it was still missing, I came to the conclusion that I may never see it again. That made me really sad. It was an heirloom and very unique. I soon wrote this as a Facebook post:

Ode to My Wedding Ring: Oh how I miss you, your unique beauty, your sparkle, your symbolism. How I long to have you back again. A replacement will always be just that, a way to fill the empty place where you used to be. Come back to me please. I promise to never take you for granted again.

Thanks to the generosity of my mother and aunts, I was given my grandma's ring. It is simple but still meaningful and very low maintenance, I don't have to take it off all the time in fear of hurting it. For Valentine's Day we had it resized and shined up.


I love it and I love feeling married again.

Cleaning a Room is Fun To Do!

This is my favorite way to clean our family room.

Yes, that is a leaf rake. I rake everything to the center and then have the kids pick up an item and ask themselves, "Where does this go?" It goes so much faster than picking up one thing here or there and having them get distracted. My mom adds the threat, "Whatever is left in the pile, goes in the garbage!"

Notice the little purple baby ball. No I did not rake her up, but Audrey kept moving her around reminding me not to.

The Tooth Fairy

Audrey's tooth finally fell out and the Tooth Fairy brought her the promised Zhu-Zhu Pet (actually it is a Furry Fenzy, same thing right?). So today we made it a tutu, a sleeping bag and a sling carrier (like a purse for Audrey to carry it around in). Now Nathan really wants one, so I said when he makes it all day without getting his underwear wet we will go buy him one. Day 3 and I have cleaned up more poop and pee than I care to. I think he's just not ready yet, but we'll keep trying.