12 Months = 1 Fast Year

What a difference a year makes - 1 month, 13 months

Well better way, way late then never right!

On July 26th, Clara turned a year old. It amazes Rob and myself how quickly this year went. Clara is still mainly crawling - at top speeds! She does stand up all on her own no problem and will stand for long periods of time, but as soon as walking is suggested she sits back down. She loves to play and laugh. She now has 8 teeth with another one coming in!

Sleeping: We are now only napping once a day in the afternoon.  Clara goes down around noon time for a nap and sleeps for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. Night time we are transition through some changes. We had always held Clara until she was asleep and then put her down, but we are now working on putting her down awake and letting her fall asleep. This usually involves a lot of tears and not just on Clara's part! We are getting more and more nights where Clara sleeps through the night!

Working on feeding herself!

Eating: Clara is still eating pretty well, although we definitely have times where she just doesn't eat. We can usually get her to eat some of her favorite standbys. Always looking for new ideas (so if you have any please send them our way)!

Firsts: First lake vacation, trip to StoryLand, first train ride (Hobo Railroad), first trip to library, first time blueberry picking and I am sure so many more I can't remember!

Weight: Clara was 18lbs 11oz at the doctors office.  She is actually now on the charts for several of her measurements which is very exciting.

Likes: loves Polar and all other dogs, tubbies, eating, playing outside, climbing - everything these days are climbable for her - keeps mom and dad busy!

Party pictures

Happy 4th of July and 11 month update!

Strawberry picking with Joan, Auntie Jen, Gracie,
Parker, Nana and Uncle Jothan

 Happy 4th of July all!  We are ready to party!

We are well into summer now and planning our first birthday party!  Can't believe it has been almost a year already.  So many exciting things to share this month.  Clara started crawling and now moves at top speeds. She is also pulling herself up on everything and exploring the world through her mouth. She also now has 6 teeth.

Sleeping: basically still the same.

Eating: Clara is trying more and more new foods. She has really gotten into pancakes and oatmeal, loves yogurt. She also enjoys hotdogs, rice-a-roni, blueberries, cottage cheese, mandarin oranges, and is constantly looking to try new things.

Clara enjoying some of Parker's first birthday cake!

Firsts: eating dog food, going strawberry picking, visiting Lost River and Clark's Trading Post, wagon ride, mystery trips, eating cake.

Clara and Parker at Clarks Trading Post

Weight: Our home scale is now saying that Clara weighs 18 pounds.  Good sign that she is continuing to do well growing!

Likes: so many things, interacting with other kids, playing, taking tubbies, swimming, eating.  It might be easier to go with what she doesn't like and that is pretty much narrowed down to having her face and hands cleaned after eating and being held still during diaper changes and getting dressed.

10 Months, already!

Holy heat, Batman! It is hot in New Hampshire this week!  It's crazy that Clara is 10 months already. It seems like time has flown by! We are now up to 4 teeth with more on the way.  Clara is moving like crazy these days, she is in the very beginning stages of starting to crawl. This morning I had to almost full body wrestle her to get her in a diaper!

Sleeping: Clara is sleeping through the night more and more, but still have plenty of nights where we are up at least once. I think the teething isn't helping with sleeping through the night! Napping is going great, we get a great morning nap and afternoon nap!

Eating: Is continuing to go well. Clara is almost always interested in eating. We are constantly trying new foods, including a pancake at Polly's Pancake Parlor!

Firsts: Clara climb to the top of her first 4,000 foot mountain this month, we climb Mt. Moosilauke. "da-da". Rob is says this is the most important first, I guess I will let him have that! She tried ice cream for the first time and loved it (no shocker there)

Weight: According to our scale at home, Clara weighs about 17 lbs. Not sure how accurate that is, but we know that she is gaining weight and growing big and strong!

Likes: Not many things that Clara doesn't like these days. She loves interacting with other kids, she loves to hear her voice and has started trying to blow raspberries. Putting everything in her mouth, She loves all electronics and taking selfies.

March of Dimes - Walk for Babies

Yesterday, our team - Arey's Avengers - walked for babies in Merrimack, NH. We were the biggest family team with 21 walkers or riders!  It was such a nice event!

We raised over $1,000 dollars as a team! So proud of everyones hard work and so glad to be able to give back!  Here are just a few photos from the event!  I hope to be able to share more soon!

A big Thank You to everyone who donated to our team!

Nine Months

Happy Monday! So yesterday was nine months!  It has been a busy month, lots of new developments.  First we now have 3 teeth, which makes sticking your fingers in her mouth very dangerous.  It is pretty cool to watch them come in.  We had a bit of a tough time with the first one, but the rest of been relatively easy so far.  She has two on the bottom and 1 on the top! She is not crawling yet, but you can tell she wants to start moving!

Sleeping: We are still mostly getting up once a night.  We usually get one or two nights were she sleeps through the night sprinkled in each week.  Always a nice treat for mom!  Napping is continuing to go well most days, although as our days start to get more active we have been moving nap time around or napping on the go.  Clara likes to nap in the carrier while hiking!

Eating: Is going well.  We are working on getting into an eating routine with baby food and eating three times a day.  We have tried some of the baby foods with meat in them and they are well received. Clara is also getting good at picking up and feeding herself the little baby puff things.

Firsts: We started swim lessons.  The first lesson didn't go so well, and this past weekends lesson was cancelled.  We did spend some time in the pool this weekend at Steele Hill with her cousins Grace and Parker and it went better.  Hopefully next weekend swim lesson will go great! Clara hiked her first biggish mountain this month going up Rattlesnake in Rumney.  I guess I should say rode her first mountain, as my friend Kim carried her up and I had her on the way back down. We are looking to purchase a hiking backpack to carry Clara in if anyone has any suggestions.

Weight: Clara had a doctors appointment this morning and is now 15 lbs and 3 ounces.  She is doing really well.  Her head measurements and length are now on the chart for a baby her age and weight is just a little bit under.  The doctor said developmentally she is about 7.5 to 8 months, so we are definitely catching up!

Likes: Toys that have movable parts and play music, her dog Polar, anything she can put in her mouth, her daddy - he makes the craziest faces and really gets her giggling, bath time, seeing her cousins, chatting and screeching.

Maple Sugar Weekend

On Sunday, we really got into our maple syrup enjoyment in honor of Maple Sugar Weekend. We started the morning with waffles and some NH maple syrup.

Didn't get a picture of the waffles, but they were good!

Then in the early afternoon, we head over to the Grass Family sugar shack to enjoy some sugar on snow, donuts with maple syrup and maple popcorn.  Got to see some great friends and enjoy some good sugar.

Then for dinner, I made Maple Roasted Fall Vegetables with Chicken-Apple Sausage. My friend Carrie found the recipe and shared it with me. It originated from Aggie's Kitchen blog that she found on Pinterest. Here is link if you want to check out the recipe (super yummy and super easy) http://aggieskitchen.com/2012/11/29/maple-roasted-fall-vegetables-with-chicken-apple-sausage/

We made sure to brush our teeth well before heading to bed Sunday night.

Eight Months!

It's Spring (supposedly)! Thursday, Clara turned 8 months.  Lots of amazing things continuing to happen. Clara is working on sitting by herself, also she is getting a lot more mobile and active,  This was the first month I had to fight with her about not holding the month sticker and as you can see I lost.

Sleeping: We still have most nights where Clara is getting up once. We have started to get a few more nights where she is sleeping through the night, Also we are starting to get into a routine for nap time. We usually get a good hour to hour and a half nap in the morning. I use the time when Clara is napping to work. I am working for the Girl Scouts from home doing data entry.

Eating: We are continuing to try new foods while still mainly doing formula and breast feeding. We also have used the little mesh feeder thing and have tried banana and avocado.

Some new items that we have tried this month include:

Green Beans - not a huge fan of green vegetables
Garden Vegetable - still green, so not a huge fan
Sweet potato and Corn - are two favorites combined - definitely a hit
Yogurt - well received
Also tried a sippy cup, while she likes holding it and chewing on the straw, not much success yet!

Weight: Clara weighed in at 14 pounds. Not an official measurement. We go back to the doctor at the end of April, so it will be good to see how see is doing.

Clothes: We are officially in six months clothing now.  Also finding that we are needing 6-9 months or 9 months for pajamas, as she is quite long.  While she looks cute in her outfits, she is most happy when she is naked!  I love giving her raspberries on her tummy!

Firsts: First time dying eggs, first trip to the Mt, Washington Hotel, first tooth coming in, first swim

Likes: Eating and trying new foods - she is always grabbing at plates and cups, any toys with buttons that make sounds or plays music, reading books, chatting to herself.