Claire's 5 Months Old!

Claire at 5 Months and 2 Days Old - September 13th, 2015

Claire Bear is 5 months old! Can you believe it - I cannot believe it. At 5 months Claire weighs 14 pounds 3 ounces; no height or head size measurements this month since she doesn't have a 5 month checkup.

Claire's big new "trick" this month was rolling over. Claire now rolls from front to back and is ALMOST rolling from back to front as well.

Claire continues to be absolutely adorable in every way (not that I'm biased or anything). She giggles and smiles just about whenever you talk to her and loves to laugh at the silly things James does. Adorably when she is crying she'll usually stop when James sings/shouts Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to her.

James's First Day of Preschool

On his first day of preschool!

James started preschool last Wednesday! I can hardly believe that he's grown up enough to be going to school, even if it is just for a couple hours two days a week. So far James loves preschool, but we'll see if it stays as appealing once the novelty wears off - hopefully it does.

Here's a little more about our cute 2 (and 3/4s) year old.

He loves cars, trucks, trains, and just about anything else with wheels. He loves reading books and singing songs as well. James likes little kid songs, but also has very firm opinions about songs on the radio. His favorite songs this last summer have been Uptown Funk and Uma Thurman, though he also really likes Honey I'm Good and Pompeii (his taste is rather eclectic). James even likes to sing his favorite songs from the radio by picking a line from the song (or at least what he thinks they are saying) and repeating it over and over.

Playing pirate on his "ship"

James loves to give kisses though they are big and slobbery so they aren't always as appreciated as they should be, especially by Claire who seems to feel like she is being attacked when she's kissed. And speaking of Claire James loves talking to her and trying to make her laugh. He seems to honestly adore her. It is especially cute when he imitates what Jed and I say to her. I often her him cooing at her "hello little princess" in an extra high pitched voice.

James likes to jump on the couch and play pretend. James has started more and more imaginative play and it's so fun. He'll play "pirate" on the couch in the morning and pretend to play with little animals in his hands when he's supposed to be napping.

In big news James is potty trained! We potty trained him in June and it was actually amazingly easy! I'm sure it helped that James was super ready and had been going on his "James sized potty" sporadically for a few months before we got serious about learning. My goodness ... I can't believe that he's gotten to be such a fun and independent toddler!

August Photo Roundup

So this post is really just all about cute photos of my kids from August; lets stop wasting time and just get to the good stuff:

Sleeping Beauty

Heading out to dinner - we needed to send a picture of our whole family for my grandma's birthday and we realized we didn't have one so we took a picture while waiting for a table at Dewey's Pizza.

Playing together.

Two cutie pies hanging out together.

Claire looks less sure about these kisses.

We made "rainbow rice" one day - hours of fun ensued.

Our little cougar.

James likes to hop out of the stroller to help push on our walks sometimes - the stroller might be just a little big for him :)

Jed had a birthday and James was very anxious to assist him with his cake and presents.

Claire at 4 Months

Claire on August 17th, 2015 - 4 Months and 6 Days Old

It's hard to believe that Claire the bear is already 4 months old. At 4 months old Claire weighs 13 pounds 14 ounces (55% CDC; 41% WHO) is 25 inches long (75% CDC; 71% WHO) and her head is 16 inches (39% CDC; 49% WHO). She is a healthy little bean and growing like a weed.

Claire loves playing with her feet and pulling her socks off. She also still enjoys a good toy chomping and pulling hair. During tummy time or when lying on her back Claire will often roll up onto her side but she still hasn't quite figured out how to actually flip herself all the way over. Claire can sit with minimal support and loves being sung to and watching James play.

One funny thing that Claire has started doing is this little scream. If she wants something but isn't really upset she will start shrieking in a very distinct way instead of crying. I'll take the scream - it is definitely preferable to hearing this sweet little baby cry.

Claire is still an easy going and sweet baby. She sleeps great (knock on wood) and usually only wakes up around 5 am to eat. Our only problem now is that she wants to sleep from 10 or 11 at night until 9 in the morning - if we could only get this schedule moved up a couple of hours it would be golden.

To Utah We Go

We had so much fun on a quick trip to Utah last month. We visited animals at the farm, played with cousins, ate way to many treats and even went to the town's demolition derby (a major highlight for James). Here is a whole boat load of pictures for you to prove that we had a good time.

Ready for tricycle race.

Enjoying his race victory spoils: a blue tootsie pop.

Checking out the animals at the fair with Grandpa and Jada.

It's hard to beat a motorized kid sized car.

Watching the demolition derby. I thought James would get bored after a half an hour or so but he wanted to stay until the bitter end.

Playing on the inflatable slide in the backyard.

We didn't leave Claire at home - she was there too. She just did a lot more sleeping than James.

Meeting Great Grandma.

July in Review

Other than our quick trip to Georgia, we hung out in Cincinnati this July and enjoyed some of those wonderful summer staples: swimming, the zoo, parks, splash parks, and story time.

One of our highlights was swim lessons. James took swim lessons with Jed a couple nights a week for the month and got a lot more comfortable in the water. Before James wanted to hang really close to an adult when he couldn't touch the bottom, but now he's happy to float around on his own and can even propel himself around a little.

Pretending to camp at story time

I watched a friend's little girl for a couple of days while she was at girl's camp and James had lots of fun playing with her.

Riding the carousel at the zoo. We always have to get either a carousel or train ride in.

Feeding Kimba the giraffe.

Claire snoozing at he splash park.

Playing at a little splash pad.

Excavation at the park.

Our trusty swimming pool - a.k.a. Jed's nemesis since it kills our grass.

Riding the train at the zoo.

They opened some new restaurants near our house and James is a fan since they have this little fountain he can play in after we eat.

Claire at 3 Months

Claire on July 12th 2015 - 3 Months 1 Day Old

Check out how big this little cutie is. At 3 months Claire weighs 12 pounds 9 ounces (57% CDC; 41% WHO) - no height or head size this month since she doesn't have a 3 month well check.

At 3 months Claire grabs her toys so that she can chomp her little heart out on them. She particularly loves to grab onto hair and hold onto it for dear life. She also babbles and coos in the cutest way.

Amazingly enough she has also started sleeping through the night sometimes! Sometimes she still wakes up once or even twice but about half the time she makes it the whole night without waking. James didn't do that until he was a year old so I'm seriously happy dancing over here.

Happy 4th of July!

For the long weekend over the 4th of July we drove down to Georgia for a quick vacation and patriotic celebration. It was rainy the morning of the 4th so we went to Monkey Joe's (an indoor bounce house place), which James loved, and luckily it had cleared up that afternoon for some pool time.

That evening we had a little firework show in my parent's driveway. We had tried to do a couple of fireworks the night before and it had not gone well. On the actual 4th of July we wised up and have James a pair of headphones and then he enjoyed the fireworks now that there were no longer any "scary" noises.

Claire's first firework show.

Note the huge headphones on James.

Hanging with Double G