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!

Roger Park Williams Zoo - Providence, RI

What a perfect Fall day we had here yesterday so we took the opportunity to take a family trip to Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI, our first time! The sun was out, the air was crisp and though we didn't dress our girls in their costumes, the atmosphere was magical with kids in costumes roaming among the animals and trick-or-treating along the paths. Annabelle got to see her giraffes and elephants and even a Dexter cow. Claire couldn't see much from the stroller but really enjoyed herself too - she laughed, giggled and kicked her feet the whole time.

Busy Couple of Weeks

It's been crazy around the Griffith house but we're having a blast - except for the sleep deprivation. For some reason, Annabelle has been waking up several times a night for the last two weeks, requiring one of us to sleep on the floor next to her crib. Claire started sleeping through the night the very evening Belle had trouble but has, herself, been up the past three nights so we're not sure what's going on. We're just trying to tell ourselves it's only temporary and probably has a lot to do with teething. But we're having fun too!

Mommy's friend, Christine, came to visit us before starting her new job. We had so much fun and are super excited that's she back from San Francisco so we can see much more of her and Dave - and Belle wants to meet her kitties as well! The girls really enjoyed their books on San Francisco - almost as much as exploring "Tine's" purse and trying on her boots! :-)

We also tried in vain to find cows for Miss Belle but who knew they were seasonal and have been put inside for the winter - oh well! Instead, we took a trip to Daddy's office and both girls had fun exploring the "toys" on his desk.

A Visit from Bubbe and Aunt Carole

We had a great time visiting with Bubbe and Aunt Carole. From Providence Place Mall - complete with lunch at Joe's American Bar and Grill, at which the girls were perfect! - to buying toys for Reilly at Petco and brunch at Skipjack's jazz brunch, it was a perfect weekend.


The girls even got to try on their Halloween costumes and looked so very cute!

It's been a fun week milestone-wise too, as Belle continues to try to potty-train Georgie and Claire spins and moves around on her stomach - who needs legs? If only Belle would stop waking up at 2am and ending up in bed with Mommy and Daddy - baby steps though. At least Claire's sleeping from 8:30-6:30 more often than not :-)

Seven Months = Six Teeth!

Miss Claire turned 7 months old last Sunday, the same day her 6th tooth made its appearance. With her teeth and Belle's long hair, both girls are growing up so quickly and are looking less like babies and more like the big girls that they are.

Belle is enjoying Kindermusik and Gymboree; Claire will be starting Gymboree as well once she can crawl. It's a frustrating time in the Griffith household as Claire wants to crawl and walk but hasn't figured out how and has her mother's patience (which is none!), so there are many tears to be had.

Claire also had her first playdate this week - with Abby and Allison - and had a wonderful time. Next time, I'll take pictures, I promise ;-)