Claire's 18 Month Check Up

Claire had her 18 month check up last week...drum roll please....

Her stats are:

Weight - 21lbs (6%)
Height - 31 inches (26%)

She's a petite little thang like her mommy and daddy!

(Birth: weight - 6lbs 7oz, height - 20in)

She's doing very well. The doctor was impressed with everything is doing and saying. (You can check out everything she's doing at 18 months here) We have a very healthy, active little one and a half year old on our hands. She got 2 shots - Hep A and MMR (although we wanted to wait until at least 2 or 3 (I know the stories/article connecting vaccines to autism have been debunked, I was still nervous) our doctor said there has been a recent outbreak of those disease - so we didn't even think otherwise. There was no way we would risk Claire getting any of those! She HATED, hated the shots. It's like she new they were coming. I think now it's way worse watching her scared getting a shot then it was when she was a newborn.  I can't believe her next visit to the doctor will be when she's two. Holy Cow - 2!

Here on some pictures of our adventure to the doctor:

Sitting at the kids table in the waiting room

Playing under all the chairs

She really wanted to wash her hands

Dancing and jumping while waiting for the doctor

Fun at the Bouncy House Play Place

Fun day at FunFlatable, bouncy house!

We had a great day at the local bouncy house. I wasn't too sure if Claire would like it or not. She didn't like it, she loved it! She could have stayed there all day playing if we would had let her. The big slide was her favorite! I swear we went up and down that thing over 20 times! I got a great work out while Claire was having a blast! If you have a bouncy house play place in your area and you've never been, I would give it a try because it something fun to do during this dull winter months! (and they take great naps once you leave)

Up she goes with her Papa

Sliding down the little kid slide

Playing with her Nana

Here we go again

"Jumping, jumping"

Down the big slide

We had so much fun!

Claire You're 18 Months Old

As of January 10th 2011, Claire Constance is 18 months old....a year and a half! Holy Moly Batman! I can't believe it but I've enjoyed every moment of it!

Stats:

Claire's appointment isn't until the end of January, so I can't update with the correct height and weight. If I had to guess she would be in the 21 pound range. She still fits comfortably in 12-18 and 18-24 months clothing. She still sports a size 3 shoe. Her hair is getting long; when it's wet (dry it's curly) it's down to the top of her back and can officially be pulled back into a ponytail. But she's really not a fan, so we still opt for the one pony on top of her head (usually a side pony).

Food:

She has her good food days and not so good. Lately, she's been going through a growth spurt. It seems as if she's always hungry.

breakfast - lately all she wants is a granola bar and fruit (sometimes she wants cheesy eggs or peanut butter toast)
lunch - anything, she's really not too picky. She loves and will eat hot dogs, veggies (peas, carrots, green beans), veggie straws, cheese, wheat crackers, any type of fruit, turkey breast, ravioli, homemade chicken salad, pickles, avocado, hummus.
 p.m. snack - gold fish crackers, puffs, veggie straws, Annie's bunnie snack crackers
dinner - she eats what we are eating and does great

She is loving her milk lately! She gets as much milk as she wants but usually we try to give her at least 1 or 2 sippy cups of water a day. Sometimes she will get juice but we still do the 25% juice and 75% water.

She loves ketchup or as she calls it "k-cup". Most of the time she will just suck the ketchup off of whatever it's on but lately she's actually been eating them! Her favorite is french fries with ketchup.


Words:

I would love to sit here and list them all but I've been trying to write them all down lately. Right now I'm at 95 words (most single but many are 2 to 4 word phrases) and she still surprises me with a few new words every day.

She LOVES to sing (but it's definitely in her genes):

"Twinkle, twinkle little star"
"Happy Birthday"
"Patty Cake"
The theme song from "Choo choo soul"
The end song, "Hot dog dance" from "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"

Actions:

She's a very very active little girl! She's always moving from the time she wakes up to the moment she either naps or goes to bed she's moving. I'm lucky to maybe get her to sit on the couch (mostly in the morning) for maybe 10 minutes.

She's running now! We say, "run run run" and as she's running she yells, "running running"

She loves to give kisses. She'll lean in and pucker up! It's super cute.

Every time she gives hugs (which she loves to do and would give a hug to anyone or anything) she says, "awwww!"

She loves to play "duck duck goose" (I've seen her play "duck duck goose" with our two dogs!), and "ring around the rosie"!

She's climbing on anything and everything. If it's climbable - Claire will climb it. She has no fear.

She loves to jump, do arm crosses, stand on one foot, spin in a circle, stand on her head (and try to do a somersault)

She loves playing with her toys but she also loves non-toys too. She has a very active imagination and you can see it. Her new play kitchen, shopping cart and babies are her favorite! She loves going "night night" with her babies. She could push her babies in her shopping cart around all day! She's becoming a very good mommy!

Claire loves any type of water - bath, pool or hot tub! She's a fish just like her momma! You actually have to spell out "b-a-t-h" now or she will continuously say, "bath" and won't leave us alone until we give her one! If she knows she going swimming - the word "swim" will come out the whole time you are getting her ready to go!

Reading is still something we do all the time in our house - she still loves her books! Wherever she sees letters she'll say, "ABC".

She can count to 3 and she knows the shapes of a star and moon and circle.

In the last couple months she's really taken to the "Disney Jr. Channel". She's in love with "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (which will be her 2nd birthday theme), "Handy Manny", "Choo-Choo Soul", "Chuggington", "Dora".

She also as a new recent obsession with trains! She loves trains real and fake! We recently took her to a local kids restaurant that as trains all over! She loved it, it will be a new dinner place for us until trains are not cool anymore! 

Sleep:

Great, "knock on wood".  She's been going to bed wonderfully! We have a great bed time routine going: milk/snuggle time with mommy, brush teeth and then bed time. To fall asleep she needs her baby Carlee, bear and her favorite circle blanket! She goes down around 10pm and gets up any where from 8-10am.

She has 1 nap and it really depends on when she wakes up. Usually it's between 1-2pm. They can range anywhere from an hour to two.

Pictures:

Claire an hour old to 8 months old

Claire 9 months to 17 months old

 This morning, the moment she turned 18 months!


Happy 18 month birthday baby girl! We love you!

Complete 180

As long as I can remember Claire always needed me to fall asleep at night. It started with her nursing, she would fall asleep and Eric would put her to bed in her crib. After she no longer was on the boob, she would have her sippy cup of milk while snuggling with me before bed, she would finish her milk and she would just fall asleep. For the last couple weeks she's done a complete 180. She has her milk on my lap and we get our night time snuggles in, she brushes her teeth and then Eric (I'm unable to do this part because if she sees me, it doesn't work) puts her to bed awake, there is no crying or whining. She lays down on her pillow, asks for her "baby Carlee" and her "bear" and then just relaxes. Eric asks if she wants him to sing "row row row your boat"? Usually she says, "yes". One time of the song and she's out. It's truly amazing how kids can do one thing for months and then in an instant can change their ways. I'm so happy because she was unable to be allowed to cry it out because she's like her mom, me where if she crys too long or too hard, she'll puke! So the whole sleep training, cry it out method was able to be kept up on! It shows you that it takes time and that they can learn stuff on their own. It makes me realize even more that she's growing up!

Claire You Are 15 Months Old

Claire Constance, you are 15 months old (as of last Sunday)!

I really can't believe how quickly 15 months have came and went. 

You are a firecracker! You are so full of life! Basically, you are a little stinker!

You already "test your limits" with daddy and I.  You know what you want and when you want it, you want it.

You have already given us a glimpse into what the age 16 will look like!

Your hair is getting super long. We have to pull it into a pony tail or pig tails so you don't look like a sheep dog.

You have 8 teeth but I think you are teething, maybe your molars?

You are running now, it's so cute.

You can do "commands" like:

stick out your tongue

stand on one foot

clap your hands

High-five

Arm crosses
Jump

You can find your:
belly button
ears
hair
nose
tongue

You LOVE to feed your baby and make the cutest nose while you do so.

You wave and say, "hi" and "b-bye" to everyone in sight!

Your vocab is amazing!

Words you use all the time:

Momma

Dada

Pu-pu (puppy)

Nana

Papa

G-ma (grandma)

G-pa (grandpa)

Lulu (lucy)

Pen-pen (penny)

Bup (up)

More

Please

Ba-ba (bottle)

Box (sandbox)

Moon

Star

Brady (Brayden her friend)

Elijah (her cousin)

duck

purple

Hi

Bye

num-num (food)

Baby

Stacy (her aunt)

Kitty

Willow (my mom's cat)

Melmo (Elmo)

Night-night 

wa-wa (water)

Boo (book)

Ball
Ne-ne (Nesse, her stuffed animal)

Bird (big bird)
Uh-oh
Pretty
Bumble (bumble bee)
Shoe

You can point to almost everything you say when asked. You can also point to frog but you don't say it yet.

You love to have mommy and daddy to sing, "row row row your boat" and you help sing the "row row row" part.

You can say what animals sound like:

cow- moo

puppy- woo woo

monkey - eh, eh

kitty - meow

sheep - baaa

horse - neigh

You are in love with the stars and moon!

You love airplanes - you can find them in the sky better then mommy and daddy!

You are starting to wear 18 months fall clothes and they fit pretty well.

18 month PJ's are a little to big but I know you will grow into them! Eventually.

You love reading and you love to pull all your books of your book shelve!

You are eating well. You eat breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.

Some of your favorite foods are:

spaghetti

tomatoes

pickles

avocado

veggie straw chips

yogurt

Sleeping, right now you aren't the best sleeper but you have your good and bad days. You still get up once in the night, for a unknown reason. I think you are super attached to your momma! This is still a work in progress!

You still love to take walks!

You love the library!

You love to stack things and then knock them over! Again, there's your destructive nature coming out.

Claire, you are such a special little girl. You are the light of our lives! You keep us on our toes and make life so much fun. You are growing and changing so fast, I wish I could keep you this age but I know I can't. I just cherish every stage because they are all so special!

Claire at 14 1/2 months old

Claire, hours old.

Vote -4- Claire

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Claire's 9 Month Pictures

Here are some of Claire's 9 month pictures. Kirstin from LaRoche Photography did her pictures again this time. We love her and her work!! Enjoy!

Claire's A Big Girl

Yesterday we picked out Claire's convertible car seat for my car! She has been so uncomfortable in her infant seat (although she has at least 5 more pounds until she hits the seat limit) the last couple of weeks. We put her in it and almost instantly she has spun around and is on her stomach. It's a workout trying to get her buckled up!

We decided yesterday was a perfect day for the switch because our old drop down side crib was officially recalled! So we packed that baby up and took it back to BRU. With a little trouble and about a 1/2 hour at the return desk, we got the full crib price on a BRU gift card!! Definitely made the purchase of her convertible car seat so much better. She also got a 4th of July outfit!

We decided on the Safety 1st Air Protect Car Seat. We were going to go with either the Graco My Ride 65 or the Evenflo Symphony. We didn't end up with either of those because while we were in the car seat aisle, Eric and I were talking about when Claire is older. See, these two seats go up to 65 and 100lbs, which is great but if you are in 4th grade and still in need of a car seat do you really want to tell your friends good bye, run to your car and plop yourself into your car seat, one that you used when you were 10 months, one that looks like a car seat?! We thought, how embarrassing! So we decided to spend the money on the Safety 1st Air Protect seat (which goes up to 50lbs) since it has one of the best safety rating and when the time comes and she reaches 50lbs, we will buy her a booster seat. They have great seats for only $80 and they even break down to just a little seat as the child gets older. They are way less baby-ish!

We are very happy with our purchase and I'm sure Claire will be too!

Here's a little more info on the Safety 1st Air Protect Car Seat from the Safety 1st website:

ABOUT AIR PROTECT™ TECHNOLOGY

What is Air Protect™ Technology?
Air Protect™ Technology is the most innovative safety feature ever offered in a car seat.  It is a technology that protects our children at their most vulnerable – the head.
How does Air Protect™ work?
Through the precise release of air, Air Protect™ shields children from side impact intrusion and immediately reduces crash forces at the most critical spot: around a child’s head.  Air Protect™ does this by extending ride-down, the amount of time it takes to slow a child’s movement in a crash.

How is Air Protect™ different?
1. Primary Focus on Head Protection
Air Protect™ Technology has been designed to defend against the biggest threat to children on the road today; side impact collisions.  Side impact are by far the deadliest type of collision for children, accounting for one in three child fatalities; nearly all of which are caused by head trauma.  The placement of Air Protect™ Technology on the car seat diverts crash forces away from a child’s head, the most vulnerable place in a side impact crash.
2. Superior Testing Methodology
The Complete Air™ Convertible Car Seat is tested with an intruding door technique, which best replicates an actual side impact crash.  Dorel Juvenile Group (DJG) collaborated with Kettering University’s renowned Crash Safety Center to develop a new standard for side impact testing.  This new testing method is so significant that DJG and Kettering University have shared their findings with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), supporting NHTSA’s efforts to provide more comprehensive regulations for side impact crash testing.

Wordless Wednesday

Claire's stinky face!

She's a Biter

My daughter is now a biter.

It hurts, really bad.

Let's hope her 2 teeth become 3 or 4 teeth very soon.

She bites me every where. 

When I pick her up, she bites my shoulder.

When she pulls up on me, she bites my knee.

When I am cuddling with her, she bites my arm.

When I am feeding her, she bites my nipple.

It's hurts, really bad.

She thinks it's funny. 

She laughs, a belly laugh when I say the word "no!"

I pray that it is teething and not just a stage!

Finger crossed some teeth pop up in the very near future so the biting can STOP!

Say Cheese

I hope you enjoyed these pictures of our Bug, Claire. She's an active 9 month old. She is seriously one of the best things that ever happened to me. She makes me life so much better! I love you, Buggy Girl!