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!!

Moo's and Pat-a-cake

I think every single month I say "this is my favorite age"...it just keeps getting better!! Clare is 10 1/2 months old and she is babbling away about anything and everything to anyone who will listen! She waves at everyone we pass on our walk and at every person we pass at the grocery store. Her latest trick is "moo-ing" when asked what a cow says. The cow is the ONLY animal we know the sound for, but that kind of makes it even funnier. One day Clare and I were playing and I was telling her all the animal sounds and that seemed to be the only one that stuck. If you ask her what a horse or a duck says she just looks at you like your crazy, but we know all about our cows!!

Clare's other new favorite trick is bringing, or should I say throwing books to/at you that she would like to be read. I am trying to teach her that we can read different books but right now as soon as you finish a book she just picks it up and throws it back at you to read again. Cute, but "Five Little Monkey's" is getting old!

One of the cutest things happened today when I went to get Clare up from her afternoon nap. Usually I can hear her chattering away about 20 minutes before she normally gets up. We let her play in her bed until its time for her nap to be over. Today she was pretty quiet after her afternoon nap and I just peeked my head in to see if she was still sleeping. She was laying on her side, with her thumb in her mouth and she didn't jump up or move her body at all. Just she lifted her hand not in her mouth and waved very slowly. It was so precious, but it was obvious she was enjoying her relaxing afternoon!

It's hard to believe next month Clare will be 1!!! How does that happen?!? Here are some end of the summer pics as we've still been enjoying our little pool!

Celebrating 5 years

Our new pool

Celebrating 5 years of marriage :)

It's not very often that I post about LD or I, as most of them are focused on Clare and her growth and changes but last night was a big occassion for us as we celebrated our 5 year anniversary! It is amazing to see the many things God has blessed us with in 5 short years and all the ways we have matured and changed. I asked LD yesterday how I've changed in the past 5 years and among many other things he said I've become a mother, a cook, and thrifty. It made me laugh, but it is so true, I struggled making anything but macaroni and cheese 5 years ago and I loved to shop (which I still do love, but I've learned all about coupons!!).

LD surprised me by taking the day off of work yesterday and we really just had a day of fun and play at home. My parents came for a short visit last week and purchased a patio table and umbrella for our anniversary gift. They also brought a hand me down pool from my aunt, which is about a foot deep, but big enough for all of us to sit in if we wanted. So we spent some of the day playing in the pool. Then we had a babysitter come around 7 and as LD was taking me out to dinner! We both got dressed up and went to dinner at Barrington's in South Park. Neither of us had ever heard of it, but it came highly recommended by a co-worker of LD's. It is a very cute, very small (only about 10 tables) reservation necessary restaurant. LD and I do not eat out at high end places very often, so it was an incredible dinner for us. We had a 2 hour leisurely dinner over a bottle of wine and it was incredible. It was a great, memorable day for the two of us!

I am so blessed God has given me such an amazing partner in life! LD is my best friend, my support system, my encourager and an amazing teammate and father. It is exciting to be able to spend each day with him and I am so thankful for the love he pours into our family! Happy Anniversary love!

Playdates and visitors

Clare has had a happening last few weeks full of lots of fun surprises! Last Monday we met some very dear mommy friends and babies at the Y for swimming. I wish I would have gotten more pictures, but here are a few. The greatest thing about the Y pool is that is has a beach-like slope so Clare can crawl in and out of the water herself. She is quite the daredevil and more than once she would be sitting in water up to her shoulders just looking around at the big kids. It was a very fun day for us and she took great naps after that!

On Wednesday we had a few friends over to help with a Give Love Project we have going on at our church where we are filling 600 backpacks with school supplies and giving them to a school in need. We did most of the preparations while Clare slept, but when she woke up her and her friend Levi had a great time crawling through the backpacks, pulling them out of their neat little stacks and finding tiny scraps of paper on the floor! It is so fun to watch two little 10 month old babies interact. They just explore each others face, hair and clothes without any care about personal space or appropriateness...very cute

Then this past weekend I had plans to go with 4 other girlfriends overnight to Greensboro to a Beth Moore women's conference. I was really looking forward for some time as Melissa and not mommy and as my first night away from Clare. LD invited his mom and sister to come visit while I was gone and no one ever passes up an opportunity with their grandchild or niece while mommy is away :) So, it was a great treat to have Grandma Jackson and Aunt Lei down for the weekend to play!!

It's been a fun filled week and tomorrow Grammie and Papa are coming for a visit as well...so we have more playtime in the works!!

Clare Talking Part II

Clare definitely has Mommy's gift of gab!!