A Month of Firsts

What a month of firsts:

1. First snow for Claire - first time both girls "played" in the snow together and by "play" I mean taking them both for a ride in the wagon before Claire's nose started running and her eyes watering from the cold and the wind.

2. First time Belle ate snow - she didn't immediately want to play in 16 inches of snow but asked Mommy FOUR times to fill a sippy cup with snow so she could touch and eat it.

3. First time Claire stood by herself - she's so ready to walk and boy are we in trouble...But what can we expect from the girl who's in a hurry to grow up - I mean, she's already cut TWO one-year molars and she's only 9 months old...

4. First time Belle pooped in the potty - she had to call Bubbe and Gaga, and was so excited that she couldn't settle enough to nap that day. I couldn't bring myself to take pictures but here are a few from earlier in the day when Belle and Daddy were cuddling/getting ready to go to Gymboree :-)

5. First Christmas for Claire - she wasn't too into it but we loved having her with us this year. She loved her Little Sister doll and Belle had a blast with her tricycle - and Georgie had to ride too!

It was a busy month and will get even busier as Gaga, Grandma Janice and Ben visit for Belle's 2nd birthday, followed by Bubbe visiting so Mommy and Daddy can take their first overnight away from both kids (just in Providence, RI) and then for Belle's birthday party. Stay tuned for more!

9 Months Gone By

It's hard to believe but our little Claire is 9 months old already! "Little" may not be the right word, though, as she's now bigger than Belle was at 15 months - 19 pounds 2 ounces and 29.5 inches! She's growing so much that we switched her to a convertible car seat this week because she outgrew her infant carrier.

This week, we really started to get into the holiday season. Belle made a gingerbread tree with "E" (Audrey), we lit the candles for Hanukkah and we got the tree up - at least until Claire takes down the gate and the tree :-)

Thanksgiving 2009

We had a great week with Daddy home for Wednesday through Sunday for Thanksgiving! Thanks to the Kondrat family, we had a fantastic holiday and are still raving about the amazing feast from Boston Market - Belle was especially enamored with the cranberry walnut dressing.

Yesterday we attended the christening of Andrew Gallagher. Belle wasn't too sure what to make of church but both girls looked adorable in their dresses and had a ball playing with some new toys at the house afterward.

Both girls continue to grow and change by leaps and bounds, much to our astonishment. Annabelle loves watching Curious George Christmas and has begun to say "tree," "happy" and "ball" as a result. She also learned "me" and uses it to her advantage. For instance, on Saturday Mommy tried to get milk by herself but as she was ready to leave, Annabelle came up to her and said, "Me Car?" How could she resist?

Claire now stands on her own for a few seconds, pulls herself up on everything in sight - including her sister-, loves to do high-fives and blow kisses and has just started to wave. If only we could get her to sleep at night!

Adventures in Potty Training

I'm not sure why we have so many toys for the girls when their favorite rooms to play in these days are the guest room and the bathroom. Claire loves to crawl onto the middle of the floor and look around - "Do I hit my head on the potty, play with the toilet paper, try to splash in Reilly's bowl? So many choices!" And while Belle's only peed once and had one near-success with #2 (don't ask!), she loves to sit - fully clothed or naked, with Georgie or without - and hang out on the potty. She has to have toilet paper and now likes to pose. She'd sit there all day if she could but since her routine also requires Claire and me to sit on the lid of the big potty and watch her, it gets a little old after awhile...

Claire's having her own adventures. She pulls herself up to standing on everything and can stand next to you with just one hand. We think she'll be walking in no time and we have to buy gates, something we didn't need with Belle, because she's very curious about the steps. This kid has no fear and every day it's a miracle that she doesn't dive off the bed or the couch.

This Thanksgiving, we're grateful for the two beautiful cuties we have in our lives and are trying to appreciate that while it may not always be easy, it's always a gift, a blessing!

What a Week!

The girls had a great week and while Annabelle is not happy with Claire crawling, insisting on hitting her on the head to deter her from playing with her toys or touching her snacks, they are also starting to play well together. Of course, Belle's also teaching Claire to do things she shouldn't, like open Daddy's cabinets, but they are also finally big enough that they can ride together in the wagon Gaga gave them last year...

And now that Claire is crawling, she's decided to master pulling herself up to standing and can even stand for a few seconds by herself. She's also cut at least one more tooth and thinks she wants to tackle the stairs next too...Watch out world!

Annabelle and Georgie are still the best of friends; in fact, Georgie's potty-training has gone so well that Belle decided to try her potty herself. After a few days of sitting on the potty fully clothed and then sitting naked but not doing anything, on Sunday she peed in the potty for the very first time! Now, Mommy's task for the week is to start a potty chart so we can collect stickers, particularly Disney Princess stickers if we can find them.

8 Months Already!

Today was a gorgeous day so while Daddy was at work (boo!), the Griffith girls went grocery shopping, took a long walk with Reilly and spent an afternoon playing in the grass and blowing bubbles - what a fantastic Fall memory for us!

Hard to believe that Claire is eight months old already! At 18.5 pounds, she's 4 pounds shy of her sister and gaining ground rapidly. Now that she's mastered crawling, we're in trouble! Nothing's safe from toys to books, body parts to Belle's snacks. And she's onto her next skill-building mission - pulling herself up to standing and trying to stand by herself for a few seconds.

Annabelle is getting more and more adventure and comfortable around others as well. She had a great playdate with her friend, Nate, and Mommy enjoyed catching up with Jannatha - mommy time is always appreciated and needed.

Claire refuses to eat baby food these days so she and Annabelle now tend to eat the same things, though she hasn't discovered blueberries the way her sister has.

Claire's First Halloween!

On Friday, Mommy and Belle went to the "got chocolate milk?" Halloween Tour at the Children's Museum in Easton. Belle enjoyed looking at the cut-out elephant but was a little overwhelmed by everything else. We'll keep trying...

Claire enjoyed her very first Halloween and both girls, true to form, were the cutest bumble bees ever! We went early but really enjoyed ourselves. Daddy wore Belle's antenna because she didn't want them and Mommy borrowed our neighbor Sarah's wings and antenna from an old costume so that she could be the Queen Bee. Belle walked a bit on her own but was a little confused by it all and didn't want to take any candy. Claire, on the other hand, stuck her hand into every candy bowl she could find and then proceeded to put wrappers in her mouth - that's my girl!

And Annabelle is still enjoying goofing around with Daddy and his beer bottles - boy am I in trouble!

We're also realizing that Claire's quite the opposite of her sister, our cautious one. As she experiments with crawling and trying to pull herself up to sitting and standing, we've experienced one cut tongue and two cut lips, plus a few goose eggs on the head - in just one short week!

The other big news of the week is that we took the front off of Belle's crib and converted it into a daybed. It seems to be helping a little, though we've also figured out that she seems to be waking up when the furnace kicks in at night because the heat is so loud! Claire's having a growth spurt so she's still waking up some at night but both girls are making progress and Mommy and Daddy are confident that we'll sleep again one of these days!