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

Clare is ONE!!!!

Ahhh, there are so many things to blog about when your first child turns one. How we've celebrated, who came to visit, the milestones she's accomplished, and the joy she brings to our lives, and still none of them seem adequte!! I think the biggest thing I have realized now that Clare is 1 is that she is her own little person. On her first birthday she started making this silly face to make us laugh, she is making "words" to get our attention and understanding human emotion. It is incredible to think that only a year ago LD and I were heading home from the hospital wondering what kind of personality this sweet little baby would have. And she most definetley has a show stopping little personality.

We have had such a big weekend I don't even know where to start except to say it was like Christmas around here!! My parents drove down on Wednesday night and we were able to spend Thursday with them doing a little relaxing and playing. Then Thursday night my best friend Jessie from childhood flew in from Maryland to spend the weekend with us. It was such a special treat to have her here!!! Friday, Clare's actual birthday was spent opening presents that came from family in Michigan and playing in Clare's new wagon that Grammie and Papa brought for her. She loves her wagon, but is slowly becoming more comfortable with it and so we have to watch that she doesn't try to jump out!

For months now I have been trying to teach Clare to hold up her index finger when someone asks how old she is. She does it...every now and then, if she feels like it, but its really cute when she does. Well Friday night we went out to dinner and I told the waiter that it was her first birthday and she looked right at him and held up her finger. I was so excited she did it when it counted most!

Saturday was the big celebration and we had 13 dear friends over that have really been a huge part of Clare's first year of life. Everyone who was over has baby-sat her at some point, brought us meals when she was born, been so supportive and loved and doted over our sweet girl. It made it such a great celebration!! Clare was a perfect hostess, opening all her presents. She was very into it, which made me so proud. Then she was offered her cake and ate enough to get a little messy, but not too much, then decided she was done and did not want one more bite. She stayed up quite late on her sugar induced high playing with her new toys.

All of our company has gone home, our home is rearranged to allow room for new toys and clothes and we are ready for another year...hopefully this one won't go quite as quickly. Next weekend is round two...or six....of birthday clebrations as the Jackson grandparents head to town!

One week til birthday time!

I'm sure all babies are like this, but it has been fun that we have been "celebrating" Clare's birthday the entire month of September! It started with Auntie V's visit two weeks ago and today it was so fun visiting with Aunt Linda, Uncle John and our cousin Nicki! They were all down visiting for a wedding not too far, so we were able to meet halfway for lunch. Nicki and Uncle John hadn't met Clare yet, and Aunt Linda was so excited to see her again! Of course Clare was decked out in her Michigan gear, yet again for the big game. LD has made a 'schedule' of when she needs to wear her outfit since Michigan won last week when she wore it. I already told him he'll have to make due because she is not wearing it next week for her birthday party!

Clare had a very busy week this week with our first music class, a visit from great friends who came to drop off birthday presents and a cold that really turned our week upside down! The music class was so fun for both Clare and I. It's called Music Together and I had participated with the triplets when I used to nanny. It's 45 min, and there are 13 kids in her class from little babies to about 4 years. Everyone just sits on the floor, the teacher plays some songs, lets kids play on drums and use shakers. I was very excited to expose Clare to more children since she is with me during the day and only spends an hour in the nursery at church. When we got there most of the other kids were sitting in their mommy's lap, but Clare crawled around, waved to everyone and didn't come back to sit by me throughout the whole class. When the teacher started singing and playing her instruments Clare sat directly in front of her and swayed side to side for a good 20 min. It's exciting to have an independent little girl, but I have no doubt one day those words may haunt me! It was incredibly cute and she came home and took a GREAT nap!

I think, and pray, we are almost done with this cold. She is finally sleeping again, thankfully!! We had some rough nights because its hard to suck your thumb when you can't breathe out your nose!! Next week my parents are coming down and so is my best friend from home! They are all coming to celebrate Clare's big first birthday and I'm sure it will be a great week! How is she already one?!?!

A visit from Auntie V!!

We were blessed with such a GREAT visitor this weekend! My sister flew in from Las Vegas to play! She hasn't seen Clare since April when we were there visiting so she was sure surprised at how much Clare has grown and changed! Clare had her first (of many I'm sure) birthday celebration when Auntie V gave her a birthday present. She got new pj's, a new fall outfit and the cutest bath toy! The weekend was way to fast and we were extremely busy. I think all weekend Vanessa and I kept saying "too bad this isn't just normal life for us." To be able to just meet for dinner or grab a coffee would be such a treat, but since that isn't possible we jam everything we would do "normally" into our 3 days...so we ate out, watched movies, played cards, had a party, went to church, sat in Starbucks, went to a festival, played at home and got ice cream...all in 2 1/2 days! I'm sure Auntie V is sleeping soundly on her flight back to Vegas right now as I type this. We will really miss Auntie V until we see her at Thanksgiving, but her and Clare keep in touch pretty well with their phone calls :)

I wish SO badly that I could report Clare is walking...that I cannot do, but I can tell you that she is close and hopefully in the next few weeks we will be on our way to moving on two limbs rather than four! In the last week Clare has been trying so hard to walk. She barely holds onto the couch or table, moves her feet really fast and propells herself forward. It mostly lands in a big thud, but the effort is definetely improving. Every now and then we get a little half step and I ask LD if it can count as her first step (I'm so anxious to record it in her baby book that has a gapping hole!) and he says "not yet!" So hopefully our judge will give us the clear on her first step in the next few weeks!

Clare's little personality just keeps getting bigger and bigger..I LOVE it! She is quite clumsy and tries things she definetely shouldn't like trying to get into the toy basket thats just too small, and thats when LD says she's just like me (thanks!). Tonight she had us laughing so hard that LD had tears in his eyes. She would look at us and babble for a few minutes, using her hands and then stop abruptly and burst into serious laughter. This went on for a good 10 minutes...it was like a little comedy show!! I'm working on getting more of her new "tricks" on video but she's all of a sudden to the age where she just freezes when she sees the camera.

Only a few weeks from the Big First Birthday..so hard to believe!!