my birthday.

June 29 in my Mom's and my birthday!  I love that we share our special day!  The day was fantastic.  The weather was perfect - in the 70's and a little rainy in the am.  I was treated to lunch with Janet and Clara at Fork in downtown Boise.  It was delish!  Then we did a little shopping!  Then I came home and watched Clara roll over for the first time!  For dinner, we went to On the Border (kinda a tradition) with my family so Mom and I could celebrate together!  Clara was quite the grump at dinner (evenings have been tough lately - we think she's teething), but it was still fantastic! 

Kurtis bought me a kindle - one of the coolest inventions ever.  I got some flowers, and I got a flip video camera.  Of course the gifts were awesome, but the best part of the day was spending time with family on my golden birthday!  Now I can say I'm 29, and my mom is 53!  I know it is going to be a great year for both of us!

We snapped a few pics during dinner and Emily took a video with my new flip video camera!  I wanted to get some pics during lunch, but Clara slept the ENTIRE time.  That good baby!

Our server at dinner ( an old neighbor kid) brought Mom and I each a brownie with ice cream.  Lucky us!

After Emily shot this video, my Dad gave her a crash course on how to shoot videos.  All I heard from across the table was - "Don't move too fast" and "Slow and steady".  We didn't shoot another video so Emily could practice those skills, so I hope you don't get motion sickness while watching!

Oops!  The wrong video loaded, and I can't get the right one to load!  I'll try later, but for now, enjoy Clara playing on the floor - a little while after she rolled over!

new trick - rolling over.

I know all you parents out there know this already, but I'm just now discovering that my own accomplishments mean nothing!  I LIVE for when Clara accomplishes/learns something new!  Yesterday, on my birthday, she rolled over for the first time.  She's rolled on the bed and in the pack and play, but yesterday, she did it on the floor!  I was elated!  It is so exciting watching her learn to do new things!  I was on cloud 9 all day after she rolled!  Today, I snapped a few pics right after she rolled over.  You can tell she's almost as proud as Kurtis and I!

four month stats.

At the Dr. today, Clara's measurements were:

head - 16.5 inches - 80th percentile
length - 26 inches - 90th percentile
weight - 14 lbs. 9 oz. - 75th percentile

Doctor says she's growing great.  She has a small bout of eczema, but it isn't a huge deal.

Can I just say that I know Clara is my daughter because of her extremely low tolerance for pain!  OMG!  She needed to get two shots today, and you'd-a-thunk we stuck her with 100 needles!  I decided to get a couple before shot pics, and a few after shot pics!  She performed beautifully!

Here she is before the shots!  Happy little babe!

 So unsuspecting! 

 I hope you're ready little girl!

 And there ya have it!  Two shots later, we have a SCREAMING baby! 

 Here she is in my arms.  Still not happy...at all!

She was crying with her binkie in.  By the time I grabbed the camera, she had settled down.  She is still making a small, silly sound with the bink in.

 And here she is this evening.  Note the costume change - you guessed it, she had a blow out!  She came out back to help me water the plants and was happy as could be watching me and the dogs!

I'm glad she's feeling better.  Hopefully she sleeps ok!

first swimming lesson.

Oh boy!  Auntie Em had Oma and Opa's pool heated to a gorgeous 85ish degrees, so we had to take advantage of it and go for a dip today!  Clara got to wear her cute bikini (thanks so much Aunt Mari) and her new swimmi diaper.  We didn't know what to expect, but in the end, Clara loved swimming.  The only time she got grumpy was when we got her out of that warm pool and she got a little chilly!

Here are some shots of the first swimming lesson.

All suited up!

 Glasses...check!

 Sun hat...check!

 Here we go!

 She was so relaxed in the water!

 And full of smiles!

We tried out one of these bad boys - we bought it at a consignment sale, and we're so happy we did!  We actually have two - and both are pink!  Sorry cousin Ben.

 Ahhh-choo!

 The three of us!  Em is a fish!

 Clara just loves Auntie Em!

 Love this itty-bitty bikini!

 We tried having Clara float on her back - I was doing the motor boat sound with my mouth which is why my lips look strange!

 Here she is the moment after I dunked her!  Sorry baby, but we want you to be used to water!

 Out of the pool, relaxing in her robe!  She was a little upset at this point, hence the binkie!

 And here are the two little birds a few minutes later!  Swimming is tiring!

 And I had to throw this in!  My mom made delicious green salads for dinner with chicken and all sorts of veggies.  And for dessert, I just had to try Pioneer Woman's rhubarb cobbler (since my mom has a huge rhubarb plant!).  The cobbler was divine!

 All in all, it was a fantastic evening!  We look forward to lots more pool days this summer!

four months old.

Clara is four months old today!  Time has just flown!  She is getting so big!

Her measurements at four months are:
head - 16.5 inches - 80th percentile
length - 26 inches - 90th percentile
weight - 14 lbs. 9 oz. - 75th percentile

Clara is sleeping through the night like a good little baby!  She now sleeps in her crib and loves it!  I miss her little noises at night now that she's not in the bassinet anymore, but I think I'm the only sad one in the family!  Clara sleeps famously in her crib, and Kurtis sleeps a whole lot better now too!

Clara is bringing everything to her mouth now.  She's getting a little drooly, which makes me think she may have a new tooth in her near future!  She is even able to take her pacifier out of her mouth, and put it back in her mouth.  She sometimes struggles to let go of the pacifier and leave it in her mouth, but she's working on it!

Clara got her first cold this month.  It lasted 6 days, from June 4-9.  We had her sleep with her crib at a slant with a horseshoe shaped blanket around her bum.  This helped with the congestion.  We also gave her saline drops to help us suction as much out of her poor stuffed up nose as possible.  I took her to Dr. Hale after a particularly rough night (Clara was inconsolable for hours during the night- so unlike her).  We thought she may have an ear infection.  But the ears were fine, just feeling crummy.  They weighed her(this was on June 8th) and  she weighed 13 lbs. 12 oz. 

She is so close to rolling over on a hard surface, but it hasn't happened quite yet!  She still hates tummy time, but is really enjoying sitting upright in the bumbo.  We've tried the Johnny Jump Up (she's still a little small for it) and we just got a baby einstein upright toy for her to sit in from Cousin Ben.  She'll try it out soon, and I know she'll love it!

Here are some of the developmental benchmarks (from What to Expect the First Year) Clara has met:

• on stomach, lift head 90 degrees
• laugh out loud
• hold head steady when upright
• grasp objects (toys, rattles) - she can even reach for object and grab them
• squeal in delight
• keep head level with body when pulled to sitting
• turn in the direction of a voice
• say a few vowel-consonant combinations
• stand with support
• sit with support
• object if I take a toy away (she objects when we take the washcloth away from her in the bath)

She is right on track - we're just waiting for her to roll over!

Here are some pictures from yesterday!  She is just precious!

 A flower from the garden became a wannabe snack!

 baby toes

 My two sisters and I wore this same bonnet!  Isn't it sweet?

I really hope you enjoyed these pictures - because it took me three tries today to finally get them to load!  Argh!