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We had our ultrasound this morning and found out we will be having another baby GIRL! We are excited for Claire to have a little sister and hope they will be great playmates. Everything measured normal on the ultrasound and she looked like she was well on her way to becoming a healthy little girl. We can't wait to meet her in 4 short months!

Peanut

We finally made it in for Claire's 15 month appointment this morning. Claire still hates the doctor's office, and made sure we knew just how much through many, many tears. Despite our not so pleasant visit, Claire got a great report from the doctor and is as healthy as can be. We also learned that even through she grew almost two inches since her 12 month appointment, she is still a little peanut. She now measures 30 inches (29th percentile) and weighs in at 21 lbs 1 oz (19th percentile).

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

A Much Needed Break

We spent last week in the warm state of Florida. The skies were sunny and temps were around 80 degrees. It was beautiful. We rented a house on Fort Myers Beach that was a block and a half from the beach and had its own private pool. It was fabulous. We were lucky enough to have my parents join us for most of the week and enjoyed both their help and company.
We spent much of the week relaxing by the pool and taking walks on the beach. Claire LOVED playing around the pool and just running around outside. Our strong-willed girl REFUSED to put on her life jacket, so we had to be extra careful watching her around the pool.

Miss Independent also showed a strong dislike toward the sand on the beach. She was terrified of the sand and was only content when in her stroller or someone's arms. We thought she would get used to it as the week progressed, but as usual we were wrong. We tried every single day to get her to enjoy both the sand and ocean, but had only a few minutes of success one evening. Hopefully she outgrows her fear by summer!
We managed to catch a Twins game one afternoon. We enjoyed the outdoor stadium and watching the players. They didn't have the best game, but it was still fun to watch. Can't wait until the stadium is complete in 2010. Claire was a trooper at the game. She even got a brand new hat from Daddy for being such a good girl!

We also hit up the Naples Zoo one morning. It was Claire's first zoo experience, and to be honest she was less than amused by all of the animals. She was more interested in running around or being pushed in the stroller. Oh well. It was still fun to see the kangaroos, monkeys and lions.

Art's family happened to be staying about 20 minutes south of us the later part of the week, so we met up with them for a day of fun in the sun. It was so fun to watch the little ones interact. They seem to have more and more fun together the older they get.

We had a great week in the sun and are now looking forward to summer in MN! The weather today was a start in the right direction - lets hope it continues!

15 Months Old

15 months old today. Our little baby is now an active toddler. She changes with each passing week and continues to amaze both of us.

At 15 months, Claire:

• is becoming more and more independent. Don't try to help her brush her teeth...she can do it all by herself. Don't try to get her to sit still in music class...there is so much to explore. Don't try to carry her into school...she can walk just fine. She definitely has a mind of her own, that is for sure.
• LOVES music. Her teachers have commented on how much she enjoys music class at school and we have had the pleasure of witnessing the same on Saturday mornings. She loves exploring all of the musical instruments and bouncing up and down to the beat.
• is really trying to say words. She now repeats a ton of words that we say, including ball, bath, bubble, up, bye bye, baby, mama, dada, more, apple, and duck. It is so much fun to watch her try to sound out words. And even though she isn't quite stringing words together, she can definitely let us know what she wants through sign language, by pointing and using other gestures.
• is a great eater when she likes what is being served. Her tastes haven't changed all that much over the past few months. She still isn't much of a meat or veggie fan. We can sometimes get her to eat deli meat if she is really hungry or ground beef if we hide it in something like lasagna. Other than that, forget it. She detests chicken. If she mistakenly puts a piece in her mouth, it comes right back out...EVERY SINGLE TIME. The only veggie she consistently eats is sweet potatoes. Every once in awhile she will have a few bites of something else, but not very often. She still hasn't met a fruit she doesn't like and her favorite meal might very well be pizza (definitely a Boylan). She does have a few tastes that are just plain weird for a 15 month old...just the other night we had tacos and she was completely content eating tomatoes and refried beans for dinner. Weird.
• still sleeps great at night. Her bedtime has pretty much moved to 7:30, which is fine by us. It gives us a little more time with her during the week, which is nice. She is down to one nap, which is hit or miss. Lately, her weekend naps have been ranging between 2-3 hours, which is fabulous. Her naps at school are shorter, mostly because other kids end up waking her up.
• will move to the toddler room at school in a week. She started the transition process in the last week by spending part of each day there. It is so hard for me to imagine her sitting in her own chair to eat meals, feeding herself with a spoon and taking her nap on a cot. I wish I could spend a day there, just watching her act like such a big girl. I am sure I would be proud.
• still has only 6 teeth - 4 on top and 2 on bottom. She has been more sensitive lately and her bottom gums look a little swollen, so we think she might be getting a few more on the bottom.
• is still pretty short. We won't know her official stats for a few more weeks, but if the other kids at school are any indication our daughter has little hope of being tall.
• loves to tumble. She has one of those overstuffed children's chairs from Pottery Barn and she loves to tip it over, climb up it, and tumble over the other side. It is hard to explain, but incredibly funny to watch. I really need to get it on video one of these days...
• gives out lots of hugs and kisses. She is such a sweet, gentle girl and we love her very much!