Nine Months Old

Nine months old today! We celebrated with a trips to the library and park and lots of playtime inside. Charlotte was full of giggles and laughs all day long. It was a great day to celebrate. At nine months old, Charlotte:

• continues to be pretty easy going. She wakes up full of smiles, excited to start each day. She is a very happy girl.
• goes to bed around 7:30pm and wakes between 6:00-6:30am. She also takes 2-3 naps/day.
• loves to eat. She pretty much loves all pureed fruits and vegetables, with the exception of banana. She also loves cheerios and graham crackers. We started introducing her to more table foods, but she hasn't shown a ton of interest yet. She will put the food in her mouth, but then spits it out. I don't think she likes the texture.
• is super active. She crawls everywhere, pulls herself up on everything, and walks around furniture on occasion. Within the last few days her crawl looks more like an ape walk...not sure what that is all about. I have a feeling she will be walking in a matter of months. Wow...hard to imagine.
• enjoys swinging at the park and being outside in general. It is a bit challenging at this point as she likes to put everything in her mouth.
• waves hello and goodbye.
• continues to have issues with her ears. She is on ear infection number five and is about one away from a visit to the ENT. While I'm not super excited about tubes, I also don't like the fact that she has been on so many antibiotics.
• has her two bottom teeth.
• is learning the fine art of whining. If you take away something she's not supposed to have or you put her down when she wants to be held, she definitely lets you know.
• LOVES her big sister. She literally follows her around the house, from one room to the next. Luckily, Claire feels the same way about her.
• weighs 17 lbs 6 oz (25th %tile) and is 27.25 inches tall (43rd %tile).

Spring Concert

Claire had her spring concert at school this last week. It was very entertaining. There was a fair amount of blank stares, but much more singing than the holiday concert. I had good intentions of taking pictures and videos, but was too busy watching. This is the best I got. My friend Megan got a few really cute videos...check them out.

Brown Bear, Brown Bear

Like most small children, Claire has always loved the story "Brown Bear, Brown Bear". While she no longer needs us to read it to her, every once in a while she picks it off the shelf and reads it to us. I have been trying to catch it on video for months, and I finally got it! At the end she is talking about her teachers at school and two of her little friends.

Victory

Claire gets the whole concept of sharing. The problem is that Charlotte does not. This is further complicated by the fact that Charlotte insists on following Claire around and getting into her stuff. As you can imagine, this usually does not sit well with Claire and the end result is not always pretty. I imagine that sharing between siblings will always be challenging, but I do think it will be a little easier once Charlotte understands what taking turns means. While Claire was napping the other day, Charlotte had this little car all to herself and loved every minute of it…victory at last.

Sugar & Spice & Everything Nice (well, almost)

As Claire grows older, the differences between little girls and boys continues to amaze me. While Claire loves playing in the sand and getting plenty dirty, she is definitely a little girl. She continues to love artwork, babies, ponytails and pretty toes (just like mommy). One of her notes from school this week said that she loves to carry around buckets of sand outside and pretend that they are her purses. I have to admit that it brought a big smile to my face. My little girl.

Weekend Recap

After a very busy Thursday (an afternoon Twins game and hosting Bunco), I was ready for a relatively low-key day with the girls. We spent the morning hanging out around the house. The girls are really starting to interact with one another...chasing each other around and laughing like crazy. It is pretty amazing to watch. The girls each have one of these chairs. Not only do they love to sit on them, but also love to tip them over, climb on them, etc. They have provided numerous hours of entertainment. My one complaint is the fact that Pottery Barn only allows you to personalize the chairs up to 8 letters, so Charlotte's chair remains bare. One of these days we will get around to having it personalized...probably when she's about 16. The rest of our day was a little more hectic with trips to the library, Sprint store and Old Navy. I even got a run in on the treadmill while the girls were napping. Another great day with my girls.
My parents were nice enough to take the girls overnight last night, so Art & I could spend a night on the town with some friends. Our night included dinner at Crave, the movie Date Night and a drink at Cooper to complete the evening. The movie was surprisingly funny and it was great to spend time with friends!

Bed Head

The longer Charlotte's hair gets, the harder it is to control. More often than not she has a barrette or ponytail in her hair...and I think she looks pretty cute. :) I have a feeling she will be getting her hair cut long before Claire did.

Go Twins!

Healthy Summer Treats

I have a sweet tooth. I love a piece of chocolate after dinner, ice cream in the summer, cookies fresh out of the oven...pretty much any sweet will do. While I really do love treats, I try my best to enjoy them in moderation. Especially since Claire seems to have inherited my love of all things sweet.

Here are a few recent healthy treats we have tried and really enjoyed:
1. Banana Ice Cream - it doesn't get much simpler than this. You literally cut up bananas, freeze them, throw them in the food processor and voila...ice cream. Add a little chocolate sauce and you are set. Detailed instructions can be found here. I will admit that we got a little impatient and added a dash of milk, which really sped up the process.
2. Berry Banana Smoothie - just a few simple, frozen ingredients and you are set. Recipe here. I skipped the milk and it turned out great. Let me also add that if you haven't tried Greek yogurt, you should. It tastes amazing and has a ton of protein in it. I prefer vanilla if I am having it by itself, but plain worked great in the smoothie.

I have a feeling our summer will be filled with lots more of these guiltless treats!

Double the Fun

My good friend Leanne came over for a visit on Friday with her two beautiful twins Claudia and Cameron. I hadn't seen them since they were about 1 month old, so that had changed a lot. They were little angels all day. Claire was in heaven...she LOVES little babies and really enjoys helping out with diaper changes, getting toys for babies, etc. It was so great to relax and catch up. We even managed to get about 30 minutes of peace when all 4 kids were sleeping! :)

Active

We have had a very active day so far. A bike ride to the bagel shop. A walk to the library. Playing in the backyard. By 1:00, we were all in need of a nap. Spring in MN has been beautiful and we are enjoying every minute. I think a trip to the park might be in the plans once everyone wakes up. No pictures today, but here are a few from our time outside last weekend.

If you're happy and you know it

Even though Charlotte hasn't figured out how to clap her hands yet, she sure is happy!

An Eggcellent Day

HAPPY EASTER!

We had a great celebration today. We started the morning off with baskets from the Easter Bunny and then headed to church. We headed home so Charlotte could have a quick nap and then headed to my grandparent's house.
Once we arrived Claire and her cousins headed outside for an egg hunt. Claire loved searching for her eggs. Claire only opened the eggs that actually made noise. She had zero interest in any of the other eggs...mental note for next year. We had a nice lunch and then headed home for naps.

Unfortunately Claire must have had too much sugar (and too much excitement) as she pretty much refused to nap. After 1.5 hours of her messing around in her room, we gave up. Once Charlotte woke up we enjoyed the beautiful weather with a long family bike ride. A great way to end an eggcellent day!

Friday Fun with Friends

Whitney's daycare was closed on Friday, so she joined us for a fun-filled day. We read books, colored, went on an egg hunt and spent a long time at the park. The girls had so much fun playing and making each other laugh. They LOVED searching for eggs and then opening each one. They also enjoyed shaking the eggs to see if they made noise before they opened each one. At the park, I pushed them on the swings, they went down slides, and made me a delicious 'rock soup'. :) I must have worn them out as they were both exhausted by nap time. Claire literally asked to go to sleep around 12:45, which is definitely not her usual. It was such a great day and it was so fun to have another little one around to keep Claire busy. Here's to a summer filled with more play dates!