Park day

Today we went on another walk.

Then we went to the park for Claire's first time.

She loved the swings with daddy...

The slide with mommy...

The little girl swing all by herself...

And these cool jungle gym bars...

It was a great day.

6 months

Weight: 15 lbs 9 oz
Height: 26.5 inches

{Click to enlarge}

New this month:

She is super coordinated and strong for her age. As a lot of you know from the video below, she started crawling about 4 weeks ago. It's becoming less and less of a scoot, and more of an actual crawl. She rocks back and forth on her knees and then lunges forward on her stomach to move. She takes actual steps now with her legs when we walk her around, holding her by her hands. She also can go from crawling position to sitting up all by herself! SO cute!

She loves her hands. She puts them up in the air and watches them. She loves to use them and man is she strong. She loves to grab at people's faces now and can pinch harder than anyone I know.

Her favorite "toy" is my measuring tape:

She got her first really bad cold this month. It lasted 3 weeks. Baby cold = awful.

She's a pro at eating baby food now. We give her fruit and oatmeal in the mornings, vegetables (she loves anything orange: squash, sweet potatoes, and carrots) and then vegetables/meat and oatmeal at night. She loves food and gets the BIGGEST smile when she watches you eat.

She and her 2nd cousin Reese are buds. They are so stinking cute together (Claire is 11 days younger).
Claire's nickname is "Tines" cause she's so much smaller than Reese.

She is a little better at nights. She's slept through the night a few times (around 11pm-8am), but we still have bad 2-3 hour nights every other night it seems.

She finally graduated to a few 6 month outfits, but still fits in a lot of her 3 month stuff.

Her first stroller ride without the car seat! We went for a walk around our complex today. It was almost 70 degrees outside! We are going to miss California weather!!

She loved it.


She loves to crawl, get stuck in funny places, she plays with our toes, sucks her bottom lip, puts her hands behind her ears when she's tired, crinkles her nose when she smiles, and has us wrapped around her little finger.

Claire is so much fun. The more time I spend with this girl, the more I fall in love. She is just sooo sweet, loving, curious, happy, loud, talkative, funny, adorable... I could go on and on.  I know that if these next 6 months go by as fast as these last 6 months, I'm gonna have a 1 year old before I know it. Gotta cherish these days like craaaazy.

They're up!

My sister Anna's engagement pictures! 

Click here.

 

I think I'll crochet her a helmet.

See the obvious big corner on the left? Yes, we all know what's coming and I should have. This completes 3 goose-eggs on her poor head from hitting this wall, the coffee table, and the tile floor.

You can also hear her poor sick little voice. This cold is no bueno.

But in fantastic news -- Claire has officially slept through the night the last two nights in a row!  11-8am the first night and 9pm-5am last night!  Hope it's not just because she's sick! 

Look-a-like

When she was born, I thought for sure she was a Kendell {see here}. Now at 5 months, I'm thinking she looks identical to Ben. 

All I know is she's drop dead gorgeous.

{click the picture to enlarge}

Can I get an amen?

All you baby boys out there, watch out. She's gonna be a heart-breaker.

Prospero Ano Nuevo!

Top 10 Happenings this year:

{in order of occurrence}

1. Said goodbye to Africa and moved home to California. {see here}

2. Announced we were with child to our families and then to the world here.  Here are some videos we never posted of when we broke the news to the family:

First one is when we told Ben's family. We were in the hospital with his Grandma who had just broken her hip and we set the camera up for a family picture, only I had put it on video instead and Ben said, "On the count of three everyone say, "Camille's pregnant!" I love the reaction, Jaclyn and Grandma were the only ones who got it, notice Lisa and Jon just sit and continue smiling at the camera. Haha, I love it!

Then when we told my family, Ben said the family prayer and mentioned it in the end, you can't hear him very well so turn it up. It was awesome.

3. Found out it was a female growing in my utero here.  Also, I documented each week of my pregnancy here.

4. Claire was born on July 23, 2010! Remember all that went down here.

5. We took her to Utah to meet all the family here.

6. Blessed Claire at home with our families here.

7. Started Tippy Toppers {hand-crocheted hats} which is doing really well!

8. My little sister got engaged! See her blog and story here.

9. Found a new job opportunity and decided we are moving to Utah in February!

10. First plane ride for Claire to Arizona to meet the Garrisons! {See below}

Here is our trip to Arizona.
It was a really fun trip. We loved seeing that side of the family and having them meet Claire.

Claire's first plane ride:


2nd leg on the way back, not doing so great. Poor thing.

{taken with iPhone}

Claire with Grandpa T:


Aunt Jaclyn!


Great-uncle John:

She loved John more than anything. She would smile and laugh anytime he was around and holding her. It was so cute.

Aunt Jaclyn and Uncle Jon:




The whole gang {we missed you Sitty, Janet, Jim, Gina, Wesley, Alyssa, and Sheridan!}:


Great-Grandad Garrison:




We had a great time. Claire was such a happy baby. She got her first major cold a couple of days ago which hasn't been fun at all. But she's a tough girl and is being a trooper.  Thanks everyone for making it so fun and being so great with Claire! We love you guys.