Best Friends

Our poor sweet Bella was definetely our first "baby." And though she has adjusted well to being knocked down a rung I still feel bad for her often, especially when we forget to feed her or she runs to the door when I say we are going 'bye bye'. Even despite the neglect of mom and dad, Bella still gets more than enough attention from Clare. Clare loves to find Bella's ball and tell her "UT!" which means "up." Thankfully they have gotten along extremely well and Bella has been a trooper as Clare has learned not to pull her ears and such.

But yesterday Clare just could not get enough of her best buddy!!! Here are some pictures of their play date at home!

Trip to the Apple Orchard

Today we went on a day trip to the apple orchard for a couple of reasons. Reason number 1 is that I am quite obsessive about celebrating seasons. I love putting up new decorations, having appropriate seasonal food and drinks and doing seasonal activities. LD does not understand much of this, but it has gotten even more obsessive since Clare has been born. I love celebrations and can find a reason to celebrate just about anything. So LD had planned to take us to an apple orchard mostly because I had been complaining that in Michigan there are tons of Cider Mills and none in NC. The other reason is because next month we will be making a very long hike to Michigan, which is a 12 hour drive and right now we don't venture too far from home. I'm a little worried about Clare in the car for that long, so it was a good practice drive, since the apple orchard is two hours away.

We planned to leave after Clare's morning nap so she would be well rested, brought the dvd player to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and lots of books and snacks. We also brought "Lammie" which is her naptime lovey that we usually only leave in her bed, so that was a treat. She did great on the drive there and we watched two little videos. I event got to read and LD listened to music, so everyone was happy! We went to Skytop Orchards in Flat Rock, NC and when we got there it was much busier than we expected, and much much colder. It was about 40 degrees with 20 mile winds. We were dressed somewhat well, but not to be outside in that kind of weather. Since leaving Michigan neither of us can handle cold for very long. So we walked down to see the orchards and then whimped out and came back and bought a bag of apples instead of picking our own!

We decided to stop for lunch and just found a little hole in the wall sandwhich shop in the middle of downtown Hendersonville. We were one of 2 tables being served in the restaurant and our waitress was incredibly sweet, but probably close to 70. The first thing she did was give us a bowl of popcorn as our appetizer!! I have never been in a restaurant of any king where they give you popcorn until you order!! We had a quick lunch and it was decent, but more a good memory than anything else.

Clare took a little snooze on the way home and we deemed the trip a success. Now just praying that 12 hours in the car in one day is as easy as 4.......we will be praying all day!

Fighting allergies

I have not been the greatest at blogging all of Clare's little moments lately, so I'm going to try and get better for our family far away. We have had a very busy two weeks as one set of grandparents left and another set came! I don't know how or why but we have no pictures of Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's visit. I know Grandma took a lot, but I think after the whole birthday celebration I must have been ready to put the camera up! We had a great visit with them and Grandma even got some time alone with Clare as I was running around town. LD and Larry headed to Atlanta for the U2 concert and had general admission seats. They ended up on the rail with the stage in front of them and were thrilled. It was Larry's 60th birthday present and the main highlight of the trip.

Last week was really time to get the house cleaned and back into the swing of things. Last Friday night we had friends over and Clare just decided it was time to walk. No more steps and no more teetering, she just was off!! And she's been going ever since. All of a sudden she can play for much longer times by herself and its so cute to see her following me, coming around a corner like a big girl! She's also learned all of a sudden to communicate much more than she was. She said "mmm" when she would like her milk, whenever she hears a noise she whispers "what's that?" which sounds more like "whassat?". She can hold up her finger when you ask how old she is and can do the animal sounds for a cow, dog, and monkey and make faces for a fish and a bunny. It's so cute. I love when she learns a new trick. Our favorite is still her wink. She winks at everyone and anyone who will look at her long enough!

I thought we had been fighting the on-set of a cold for a few weeks now, but after visiting the doctor a few times I'm pretty sure its seasonal allergies. The last time we were in Michigan Clare had some allergies and I think it is just going to be a seasonal thing. She is now on Zyrteck nightly and has a humidifier in her room. It's helping a little but every morning she just coughs and coughs in her bed. She's such a trooper but you can't help but feel so sad for her!

We are heading to the apple orchard this week if there is no rain..prayerfully!!!! So hopefully I'll have pics of that soon! Until then, here are a few of her one year old pics. We can't wait to see the rest of them!!

Walking