Claire - 7 Months

Claire is 7 1/2 months now!  She's been sitting up really well for about a month now (no pillow behind her).  She sleeps from about 8:30pm to 7am and takes 2 naps during the day.  Her morning nap is usually a little longer (about an hour and a half to two hours).  She usually naps about 3 hours total.  She's still nursing 5 times a day.  She gets rice cereal along with half a jar of prunes every morning and a veggie at night.  She's had peas, pears, green beans, sweet potatoes, squash, carrots, apples, bananas, and prunes and I haven't found anything that she doesn't like yet.  In fact, she usually lets me know that she doesn't appreciate being finished with her jar of baby food.  She still loves her exersaucer.  I usually put her in there when I'm getting a meal ready and she is as content as can be.  I haven't seen any teeth yet, but she drools all the time and chews on anything she can get her hands on...I wouldn't be surprised if a tooth popped through any day now.  She's is such a sweet, happy baby.  She LOVES to watch her sisters and they can make her smile by just looking at her.  My favorite is when they do something to make her laugh.  It's the sweetest sound.  

I gave her a sippy cup with water in it for the first time a couple weeks ago.  She did SO great!  It would be really helpful if she would just start really liking the sippy cup since she doesn't care for a bottle...that way I could leave her with someone for more than a couple hours. We'll see.  

Hannah saw the picture below after I took it and said (with a concerned look on her face) "She's mean!!" Ha...she didn't like how Claire was cutting her eyes!:)  

Love you, Claire Bear!!  And don't worry...you're not mean.:)  

Conversations that Make Me Smile

Hannah:  Is today my bir-day?
Me: No, it's not today.  (This conversation took place in July)
Hannah: Is my bir-day on Fi-day?
Emily:  Hannah, your birthday is on Valentine's Day and that's a long, long ways away.
*Good thing I have a four-year-old to keep the facts straight!

Hannah:  (looking and sounding very offended) Ugh, you pushed me!!!
Me:  I did not.  You just bumped into me and you fell on your bottom.
Hannah:  Yes you are!!
Me.  No I didn't.
Hannah: Yes you are!!
*She had me chuckling through this whole conversation.  If you happen to touch her while she is in the process of falling or if you accidentally bump her, she accuses you of pushing her. Ha!

After eating about 1/4 of her dinner and in the saddest voice:
Emily:  Mommy, do you know what?
Me: What?
E: My teeth is tired of chewing and my tongue is tired of swallowing.

One Sunday morning I was talking to Hannah about going to church.  She went through a short stage where she was crying for the first few minutes after we dropped her off in the nursery.  Thankfully, she's already out of that stage, but this conversation took place in the middle of the phase.
Me:  Hannah, did you know you are going to go play with your friends in the nursery this morning?
Hannah: (Looks at me very seriously) I cwry cwry cwry.
Me: Why do you cry cry cry?
Hannah:  Ba-cause I miss you.
*Umm....melt my heart.

Just after Bert left for the morning, Hannah was pointing at Bert's computer bag and said "Oh NO!!  Daddy for-got his diapa (diaper) bag!!  We gotta go bring it to him.  Oh no!!"

The girls and I were talking about birthdays and we had this conversation:
Hannah:  I'm old.
Emily:  You're not old.  You're two.  That's not old.  I'm four.  I'm old, aren't I mama?
Me:  No, you're not old either.
Emily:  Are you old (looking at me)?
Me:  No, I'm young.
Emily: You're young? Are you already past old?!

Emily:  (Smelling the Johnson & Johnson Tear Free Baby Soap).  Ummm....This smells just like the soap my husband uses.
Me:  Oh does it?  How old is your husband?
Emily:  61
Me:  When did y'all get married?
Emily: The day that Claire got born.
*Well no wonder I missed it.

Emily: Daddy, do you know what?
Bert: What?
Emily: If they put a circus in my room, I'd stay up all the nights!

Hannah:  It's stuck!
Me: What's stuck?
Hannah: The raisin....in my nose.
Me:  Bert!!
*It was so far up there that we couldn't even see it.  One side looked a little darker than the other, but she had pushed it way up.  She was sitting at the lunch table the entire time and I was washing a few dishes.  I have no idea how she got it that far up in a few seconds flat.  Thankfully Bert was able to get it out with tweezers.  It was a huge raisin!!  Very thankful we didn't have to take a trip to the ER on our peaceful Sunday afternoon.

This conversation took place this morning at the breakfast table.  
Hannah:  Emmy, do you know what?
Emily:  What?
Hannah:  I love you.
Emily:  I love you too, Hannah
Hannah:  (looks at me) That was so nice.

Fence

We've been talking about expanding our fence since the day we moved in.  The previous owner had fenced in a small portion of the yard, which has been great, but there was a flat area on the side yard that is just perfect for a swing set.  So, a couple weeks ago, my dad came and brought two guys over from Toccoa to help Bert tear down one side of our fence and put up a new fence on that side.  It took many days of hard work, but we (by "we" I mean "they") are finished and we (and by "we" I mean "we") are soooo excited!!  

Here are a couple pictures of the old fence as they were starting to take it down.  It basically went straight down from the corner of the house to the back wall of the fence.  

The girls had sooo much fun "helping." My dad was working hard on the posts in the picture below.  

Bert was so patient with the girls.  He let Emily help drill.  She told everyone within ear shot (as she was jumping up and down) that she put up a board "all by myself."  Ha!:)  

Working on the gates...

The girls insisted on wearing their work boots every time they stepped outside into the construction zone.  

Even with their bathing suits...the boots were on.  

The finished product...the back corner.  

A picture of the finished product from the back corner.  You can see in the picture below where the old fence was.  This new fence gives us lots more shade in our fenced in area...woohoo!  

So excited and thankful to have this project finished!!  Thank you so much to Bert, Papa Stan and Billy for all their hard work!! 

Almost 7 months

Please just take a look at these almost-7-month-cuties.  

My friend Kristin and I had a good visit and Claire and Charlotte had fun playing together.  Sweet things.  

Toccoa Week

Bert led a mission trip to McCreary County, Kentucky a few weeks ago.  They had a great trip serving and ministering to the people there!  

The girls and I packed up and headed to Toccoa to spend some time with family and friends.  It was a great week for us too!  

I was able to go to Gainesville to spend some time with my friend Misty and her family!  My sweet Claire of course got to tag along since she still says "no thanks" to bottles.  Misty's been one of my very best friends since we were 5.  I'm so thankful for her and her friendship.  

I'm holding Misty's sweet little Ansley Grace and Mist is holding Claire.  

Mimi painting the girls' toe nails.  They were sooo excited!  

Sunday afternoon we headed over to Brett, Katherine and Jacob's house to play for awhile.  They have some FUN toys over there, so the girls are always excited to go to "Jacob's house." 

Another night we pulled out a little pool so that the girls could get wet.  I was trying to get them to look at me at the same time, so all the sudden I said "Look at me, look at me!"  I laughed after I saw this picture because I also caught my dad by surprise.  He had been working in the yard and was taking a break to hang out with us while the girls were swimming.  Ha! 

Bathtime...first bath with all three together! As they were getting ready to get in I asked them if it was okay if Claire got in with them.  Emily looked very concerned and said "But will she be okay!?  Is there going to be an adult in here?!"  It made me laugh because I've never even walked out of the room with the big girls in the tub, so I'm not sure why she asked if there was going to be an adult in there...but I appreciated her concern.  She's a good big sister!

Movie time with Jaca-boo!  Love him!  

A pre-dinner photo shoot one night! Sweet things!

I just thought she looked like a big girl with her arm all propped up and all.  Almost 7 months...wowzers! 

Goodness gracious she is cute!  

Aunt Ann and Uncle Bud (my mom's sister and her husband) were staying at their lake house in Hartwell for a couple weeks, so they came over and had dinner with us one night!  It was great to see them!  They're always SO excited to see our girls and play with them. 

Uncle Bud and Hannah

Aunt Ann and Emily playing tag...

On Wednesday my dad took the day off work and we headed over to the Atlanta Zoo.  It is an amazing zoo...I hadn't been since I was little.  I was impressed.  We didn't get to see everything, so we'll have to come back sometime when Bert's with us!  I didn't get a picture of me and Claire, but we were there!:) 

I loved this picture of my Dad, Emily and Hannah with Willie B!  Sweet! 

It took them about 0.5 seconds to fall asleep in the car after we left.  Please notice Emily's ring and necklace.  Mimi had given her some jewelry to wear that morning and she was sooo proud of it!  

Look at Hannah's scratched up knee's.  They pretty much stay like this these days.  She plays hard.  

Another night I met some of my high school friends at Los Amigos in Toccoa...it's still my favorite Mexican restaurant....I'm not sure if it's because of the memories or the food, but either way I'm always excited to go.  It was so much fun to catch up with everyone!  

Holly, Kim, me, Ashley and Misty...there is just something comfortable, familiar and sweet about being with lifelong friends.  They are a blessing.  

Ashley and I lived right across the street from each other growing up.  I'm pretty sure we played together for hours every.single.day.  Misty came over often and the three of us had more spend the night parties than I could count. I'm actually a night owl, but I would usually toss the towel in by about midnight or a little after.  Mist and Ash would usually still be chatting for hours after I fell asleep.  Such good memories with these two!  I don't see either of them as often as I would like, but this is for sure the type friendship where the time apart doesn't even matter...you just pick right back up where you left off. I pray that my girls are blessed with childhood friends like I was.  

My mom pulled out all of mine and Katherine's old Barbie stuff.  The girls had fun playing with it for hours.  

We took them to see the movie "Planes" at the Shaffer Center.  They were soooo excited to be at the movies!  Claire lasted about two minutes into the movie and then got fussy, so I walked out with her.  The big girls enjoyed it though.  In fact, we had to leave a little early, and Emily could probably have been heard crying for miles around.  It was quite special.  

Enjoying their snacks!  

I didn't get a picture of my sister, but we got to spend lots of time with her and Jacob and we so enjoyed it!  It was such a fun week in good 'ole T-town!!

PCB 2014: Family

This post is a hodge podge of different events throughout the week to wrap up the vacation posts...

This is how we traveled all week...all piled in (Bert was in the passenger seat and my dad was driving).  Emily and Hannah loved having everyone together!  Claire is not usually that fussy of a car rider, but for some reason she was this week.  Maybe the long drive down to PCB did her in, or maybe she could just see all of us and wanted to be held...who knows?  Anyway, we spent more than half of the time driving around PCB all singing songs to Claire.  It was actually fun and it certainly kept her happy.  The minute we all started singing she would stop fussing.  I told her not to get spoiled though, I'm not going to sing to her every time we get in the car.  :)  

One night we went to Boondocks.  This is probably our favorite restaurant in Panama City.  You always have a wait, but I actually enjoy the wait because you get to wait on these docks and enjoy the beautiful scenery.  Plus, all the waiting makes the food (which is already very good) even better! 

Claire Bear and Papa Stan

Claire Bear and Uncle Stan.  I thought their blue looked good together!:) 

Whole family minus the Sanders...they were missed! 

At dinner I looked over and Emily was playing with Claire without being asked to.  She said that she was making Claire happy.  She's such a great big sister.  She's always looking out for Hannah and Claire.  

I came downstairs one afternoon to find Uncle Stanley doing perler beads with the girls.  So sweet!

Claire had her first sink bath while we were at the beach.  

She had to have help sitting up, so that she didn't slip and slide, but I'd say she enjoyed it.

One afternoon Uncle Stan was trying to catch a quick nap (he had been up half the night fishing on the pier with my hubby and dad) and the girls kept running over to wake him up/play with him.  I was trying to get them to be quiet and leave him alone, but he just kept saying it was no big deal.  He was happy to play with them even when he was exhausted.  He loves our girls so much and they couldn't have a better Uncle. 

Another night before dinner we stopped by the Pier to take a few pictures.  It honestly didn't go that great.  I was a little stressed out about needing to feed Claire and getting the perfect picture, so I'm sure I didn't help the situation.  Claire face planted into the sand one time, which she didn't really appreciate (I don't blame her), I threw my camera down into the sand when I was trying to catch her from face planting, which I didn't do.  Now the camera lens won't close.  It will still take pictures (sometimes), but after this accident it seems to be on it's last leg.  Thankfully it's just a point and click, but it's been a good camera for us for 5 1/2 years.  We did end up getting a few sweet ones.  Maybe next year we'll get the "perfect" beach picture.  Ha!:) 

Our last night at the beach just so happened to be the 4th of July!  We had a yummy Low Country Boil and then headed out for fireworks.  

We watched the fireworks from the pool deck by the ocean and all of the adults agreed that this was the best fireworks show that we have ever seen!  It was amazing!!  

We had such a great vacation and we're so thankful for the great memories that we made as a family!  See you next year, PCB!