Summer Family Fun

At the end of August, Claire and Natalie's Oma and Opa came to visit.  Emile's aunt and uncle from the Netherlands, Anneke and Norbert, came with them.  The first time they got to meet the girls and see where we live.  The girls spent a lot of time playing with everyone.  We also went to the Capital building in downtown Raleigh and took Natalie to Build a Bear for the first time.  She picked out a bunny, which Anneke helped to name "Trudy".



Claire had a few other big moments recently too.  Right before Oma and Opa got here, Claire started pulling up on furniture.  She's all over the place now.  She's even starting to cruise some on furniture although not a lot yet.  Now that she is so mobile, she is determined to get to what she wants even if she has to climb over us and toys to get to what she wants.  And anything Natalie is playing with is what Claire wants to be playing with to.  I hear a lot of "No Baby Care, that's my toy" from Natalie right now.  But Natalie is doing a great job of sharing with Claire.

Claire also started eating table food while Oma and Opa were in town.  She's now eating a lot of dishes that Emile makes.  Her table foods were peas and bananas, and her first meal was curry chicken.  She loves the spices in Emile's cooking.  She likes to store food though in her chunky cheeks :). 

We finally took the girls to Falls Lake to play at the beach and go swimming.  It was the first time Claire was in the Lake.  Both girls had a blast.  Natalie loved jumping and splashing in the water. It's too bad we didn't get there until the end of the summer but it has been so hot, that even sitting at the beach would have been too hot!

Claire is 9 months old!

I took Claire in today for her 9 mo. appointment.  Dr. Loibissio said she's doing great; right where she should be for her age.  Still hard to believe she's 9 months old today.  She now weighs 20 lb. 3.5 oz. and is down to the 75th percentile.  I figured she was probably trimming down given how she doesn't sit still for more than 5 seconds now!  She is constantly on the move between crawling and standing.  She's now 27.5" long (50th percentile) and her head is in the 70th percentile.  She got her last Hep. B shot today; she was a trooper and only cried for a few seconds.  Overall she's doing great. 

Family Videos

I finally got a chance to upload a number of videos from when the girls and I visited WI.  Plus, I get to show you Claire crawling!  In the last few weeks she's become so fast compared to these first few crawls!  The cats now have to run from her.





The girls spent time with Nana and Grandpa at Kids Cove, the Racine Fountain/Sprayground and the beach.











And of course it's always cute to see others make funny noises to get Claire to eat.





Grandpa and Nana also took the girls and their cousin Hayden to the Racine Zoo.  Sounds like they had a lot of fun.  Natalie still talks about going to the zoo with Nana and Grandpa.

Our Crawler and Our Talker in WI

The girls and I flew back to Wisconsin for a week a few weeks ago.  I had a seminar to go to Chicago for work and since Kinsey had vacation that week, I decided it made more sense to take the girls with me and stay with my parents.  This way they'd get to spend extra time with their Nana and Grandpa for a week, plus they could watch the girls while I worked on the days I wasn't at the seminar.  Even though I was pretty nervous traveling alone with both girls, they did great on the flight there and back.  Claire slept for part of it and Natalie played with her Disney Princess sticker books I bought her before we left.  And the whole trip, Natalie stayed dry in her big girl underpants -- no accidents during the day or night!  She's such a big girl! 

Claire has wonderful news also.  She started crawling while in WI (August 13).  Her way of doing it is so adorable too -- She keeps one leg straight while crawling on one knee.  She also had her first tooth come through and is working on a second.  And about a week before she started crawling, she figured out how to go from a laying position to sitting up.  She's on a roll!  Claire doesn't sit still at all now.  Her favorite place to be is right next to her big sister and all Natalie's toys!  She tries pulling up on everything she's can get her hands on.  I'm expecting her to pull up to standing very soon.

Natalie has had a language explosion.  She's now talking in compound sentences -- even 2 or 3 sentences at a time.  We're always amazed at what she can say and even more so, what she remembers.  She knows exactly where she put something a few days before, who was with us when we went somewhere, etc.  It's a lot of fun listening to her.  Her favorite things to say now are "What time is it Mommy?" and "Not right now".

Natalie and Claire had a blast playing with their cousin Hayden, Auntie Kendra, Nana, and Grandpa.  Both were so exhausted by nap time and bedtime that they fell asleep very quickly.  They did a lot of activities -- Racine Zoo, beach, Kids Cove, Playground/fountain, and lots of time playing at home and in the pool.  We also went to Uncle Paul's and Sharron's house for dinner to celebrate my, Uncle Paul's and Auntie Kendra's birthdays.  Here are some photos from our adventures.

Happy Birthday to Mommy!

Claire's 3 mo. and Natalie's 2 yr. Professional Photos

Emilee Beth Photography took Claire's 6 month photos in our backyard back in June.  Because it coincided with Natalie's 2nd birthday, she snapped a few photos of Natalie too.  Natalie wasn't in the best mood for photos but Emilee managed to get a few cute ones of her.  Claire was her smiley self like normal!

Claire is 8 months old!

It's hard to believe that Claire is already 8 months old!  She's been tackling so much lately.  She's had a very busy month.  In addition to rolling back to tummy, she started pushing back on her belly.  Then more recently, she's started crawling backwards on all fours.  She's tries really hard to reach for things in front of her but hasn't yet figured out how to move crawl forward.  But I think she's going to master that very soon.  She also now sleeps on her belly.  It's so cute seeing her butt sticking up in the crib.  She started saying "da da da" -- her first sounds!  Once she discovered she could say it, she kept repeating it over and over!  We also moved her from the duck tub to the big girl tub -- she pretty much was trying to climb out of the duck tub!  And just this week, she learned to sit herself up from a laying position.  Claire has been one busy little girl!

I took her to see an ENT for her constant congestion.  Thankfully, there is nothing seriously wrong but he said it's pretty much just something she'll need to outgrow with time.  She also went in for another appointment with the pediatrician for an ear infection this week.  She's up to 19 lbs. 14 oz.!

I recently took the girls to a playdate in which all the kids played in some kid pools and with a water table.  It was so hot; the water felt great.

Natalie loves to play in her Princess dress up clothes she got from Oma and Nana.  Her latest adventure is to invite the Disney Princesses over for tea -- and she invites "Baby Care".

And the girls of course spend lots of time playing together doing different things.