Why?

Can someone tell me why a naked baby with a big 'ol after-lunch belly raiding the refrigerator while wearing leather boots is so darn cute? I can't for the life of me figure this out.

Happy Birthday Dear Grandma

Here's a picture of Clara's sign if you can't see it in the video. Go easy on the little tyke; she doesn't have much artistic ability in her genes, nor does she yet understand the concept of planning out her project to ensure it fits on the paper nicely. I for one think she did an outstanding job.







She really is excited it's your birthday, Linda. I promise.

I've Got a Pooper Over Here

Clara has pooped on the potty twice now! Woohoo! We had celebratory donuts on Saturday morning when she went and then she just went again after lunch today. She's not doing as well with peeing, but that's alright. She says "potty" and goes to sit on it right after she wets her pants, so I think she just doesn't quite recognize the "gotta go" feeling. She definitely has the "woops, that was supposed to go in the potty" feeling down pat.

The girl must have a bladder of steel. At the donut shop, she had a 10 oz. bottle of apple juice, followed by a couple ounces of water. Somehow, she was able to hold all of that until 12:00! She went four hours with that much liquid in her. How's that possible?

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And in non-potty related news.......

Other than the poop excitement, this weekend was fairly uneventful. We layed around all day Saturday, only venturing out to the donut shop. We went to church yesterday and I've mentioned how wound up Clara is at church and she can't sit still for more than 10 seconds or so. Chris had taken her out about 10 minutes before the end of chuch because she was being soooo bad. When I came out, she was standing in a corner, right outside the auditorium. Daddy put her in time out as everyone was exiting church! Too funny. We went to the Hobbit Cafe for Lisa's birthday yesterday and then Glenn and Becky came over last night after just getting back from their cruise. We kept CJ for them while they were gone, so we got to hear all about their vacation when they came to pick him up. Leah was very happy to see her CJ and I'm sure CJ was very happy to be going back to his corgi-less home.

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It's amazing what a difference a few days makes. I posted about Clara's color recognition progress just last week and now she's pretty consistently getting red and blue right. So, I'm officially declaring that Clara knows her colors.

Now we're working on shapes. She doesn't know the names of any of them. (Well, except for polka dots; she calls them "pooh pots"). She has a shape peg puzzle and can work it very easily. In fact, she works all peg puzzles without pause. She gets them oriented correctly and in the right spot the first time usually. She really is too advanced for peg puzzles, but she's not quite ready for jigsaw ones. She loves her alphabet puzzle. She can get the letters in the right spot most times and even says some of the letters' names, but we're still a long way from actually knowing the alphabet.

She's got another cold. Only a week after getting over the last one, she's sniffly again. She doesn't have a cough this time, so hopefully we'll just skip that whole part. I've had a sore throat for a few days now (especially in the morning). I hope it's just the weather and I'm not coming down with something as well.

Sorry for the randomness. If I could get on the ball and start posting more frequently, I could avoid the mish mash of topics at least somewhat.

Hmmmm, I Guess I Should Write Something

It's been awhile, so I suppose a new post is in order. This will be a severely mundane post though, I'm afraid.

We're trekking right along with potty training, still not doing great actually. I am so tired of this. When she has a success, it's awesome and we celebrate and we get cool treats. I feel a renewed sense of accomplishment, knowing for sure that this time it's clicked in that little head of hers. Thus far, the celebratory treats have not incented her to stay dry. The only time she goes on the potty is when I know she needs to go (like after she wakes up dry from a nap) and she's sat on the thing for an hour straight, which she only does if she's watching cartoons. She has watched soooo many cartoons; I'm a terrible parent. She doesn't think to go if she's up and about. And she's never come and told me she needs to go. I had to scrap the naked training because she just whined and cried for panties or a diaper. I'll give it another week or so before I throw in the towel.

She's started singing "Jesus loves me", which just makes my heart melt.

She's got most of her colors down now. She knows black (back), white, yellow (yeyo), green (gee), and pink pretty consistently. Purple and orange she gets sometimes. She, without fail, thinks that blue is black. Red is somehow hard for her to grasp and she never really guesses it right.

She understands the concept of counting pretty well, but really only counts up to about 4 or 5 if you ask her to count something. If she's just saying her numbers, she can get to 10 with just a little assistance.

She's saying more and more words and will string two or three words together, but when she starts "talking" in sentences, she's completely unintelligible. She's trying hard though. She's starting to get frustrated that we don't understand everything she's saying.

The phrase "Mommy, a _____?" is starting to get really old. Just fill in the blank with any word (bird, tree, potty, floor, dog, apple, toy, panties, shirt, socks, shoe, backpack, purse, car, drink, tv, bugs, book, etc, etc, etc, etc..................................... you get the idea). She says it like she's asking a question while pulling on my shirt or pants and repeats it over and over until I acknowledge her and say "Yes, it's a ______. And then she's fine, until she finds something else to ask me about.

I shouldn't write this next bit, but it's my blog, so I'm gonna because I think it's funny. A long time ago, while teaching Clara her body parts, we inevitably came upon some parts that needed names and I felt there should be no shame in teaching her all of her parts. On that day, I taught her nipples. (I would've taught her to call them breasts, but I thought Daddy wouldn't be too keen on her commenting on his breasts, so I made an executive decision to call them nipples.)

At first, she said "muh-muhs". A friend was holding her and Clara started touching her chest saying "muh-muhs", to which the friend replied, "I'm not Mama, Mama's over there." Laughing, I informed her that she wasn't saying Mama, she was saying nipples. She quickly made sure nothing was hanging out, but I assured her that nothing was showing, Clara just knew they were under there. Later, they became "mooshies". That one's funny, I think. And they've recently become known as "muh-sels".

I believe she's either teething or going through a growth spurt, because she's been a bear lately. Maybe it's just potty retaliation, but she's been no fun. I hope she snaps out of it soon, or I may have to start looking for a job. (Don't worry, I'm just kidding about the job thing. For the most part.)

I guess that'll do it for me. Sorry for the lack of posts and pictures lately. Between potty training, colds, wisdom teeth, and cold and rainy weather we haven't gotten out much. I've had a pretty bad case of the blahs.

Recovering

Chris is recovering nicely from his wisdom teeth extraction this morning. He's in some pain and is hungry since he hasn't eaten anything but pudding and a little ice cream in the last 24 hours. I've been trying hard to wait on him hand and foot, but he's being pretty independent. That's not a very man-like way to act when he's sick, but I'm not complaining.

The following is just a rant, plain and simple, so just ignore me. We were about a block away from the dentist office this morning when Chris asked me if I had fiilled out the application for the 0% interest credit for his procedure. He had brought home a pamphlet, along with lots of other paperwork, after his appt. on Monday and says he asked me to call and get approved. I don't actually remember him asking me, but it isn't beyond the realm of possibility.

I told him that my dentist office called in my application for a similar one for me last year and got it approved right away, so his probably is the same way. Well, it wasn't. Turns out my dentist must just be very accomadating and go the extra mile for their patients. The office staff today just looked at me like I was smoking something every time I walked up to the counter.

Chris had to be there 30 minutes before surgery. We were the only ones there and asked about still getting approved. They were no help at all, but I see on the brochure that you can be approved immediately. I start dialing, Chris goes in to fill out paperwork. It's an automated system and they need the amount of the bill. Great. Chris walks back out into the waiting room, I ask him, he asks someone and then gives me the amount. I proceed and after about 10 minutes I have an account number and credit limit. Sweet. That was easy!

I go over to the counter and give her the acct. number I just wrote down on a piece of paper and she just kind of stares at it. I'm like "I just called and got approved. It said it could be used immediately." She tells me she'll have to check on that. She finally calls me back over and asked who's name it was in. I tell her I put it in Chris'. And that was my error. Chris couldn't sign the credit slip since he was in surgery already at this point and of course, I, being his wife who just got it approved, couldn't sign the slip.

Grrrr. I say "Ok, do you have to have payment right now or can it wait until he's out?" I'm told they will not accept a signature after he gets out of surgery because of the sedation. Ok...... "Can we come back later today to sign?" Nope, can't sign the same day as surgery. "Seriously?", I ask.

Then they say if tomorrow wasn't Saturday, they'd just let him come back in tomorrow and sign. But since it is.....sorry. Grrrr. So I ask if he can come in on Monday to sign. Nope. Then they say they can hold a check and he can come back in on Monday to sign. Great! No, wait, I don't have any checks on me. Grrrr. "Will you hold a credit card number until Monday?" NO. They seemed very frustrated with me, so I informed them that my dentist's office took care of this stuff for me, so I assumed they did too and hadn't foreseen a problem. For the record, I know this is my problem, but they were just soooooo not helpful!

This is the point at which I start to get frustrated. They don't allow a patient's ride home to leave the office while the patient is in surgery, so I couldn't go get a check. But I so do not want to put it on a credit card with 10% interest when I've just been approved for 0% for a year! It's the principle of the matter. So I ask if I can get approved for one in my name so I can sign. They said yes, so on the phone I go again.

First I called to speak to a customer service rep. Since the acct. was brand new, she couldn't tell me much or make changes (like adding my name to the acct.), just answer questions. I explained the situation and she said that if this next application went through my provider that they could add two names. (At least we'd both be on one for the future and I could cancel the other.) I knew full well this wasn't going to register with the nice young lady at the counter, but I tell her anyway. She gives me that blank stare thing again like their office has never, ever dealt with this company that they have brochures for all over their waiting room advertising 0% credit. I explain three times the customer rep's exact words. She tells me they can't do that. (Hello, they had one other patient in that office the entire 2 hours we were there. I have no idea what all of them were sooo very busy with.) I tell her "Wonderful."

So, I go through the automated process again and get one in my name. I'm sure that looks great on our credit. But, ta-da! They got their signature.

For what it's worth, the surgeon spoke with me for a couple of minutes when Chris was in recovery and he seemed very personable and professional. He just needs a new office staff.

What We've Been Up To

Thanks for all of your kind comments concerning Aunt Ruthie. I went back and forth all day Tuesday on whether or not to make the drive to Pecos for her funeral. In the end I decided to stay here. I'm sure I'll regret it, but with Clara being sick and Chris' dental work on Friday, I just felt it best not to go. I didn't realize Chris would have to have someone at the endodontist's office while he's there to drive him home and stay with him for the day. And I'm sure he'll be wanting a little extra attention while he's in pain the following days. He kept telling me to go and not worry about him. I disobeyed.

Here is Clara on Tuesday. She laid on the couch watching cartoons all morning. She nibbled on this bagel for 3 hours and only finished half of it, so anyone that knows Clara knows she wasn't feeling well at all. Eventually, I decided I wanted to take a shower and get dressed, so I brought the portable dvd player into the bathroom while I got ready. Worked like a charm. The dogs knew she wasn't feeling well. At one point, I saw her arm dangling off the couch with the bagel still intact, Max sitting inches away from it. Later, she laid the bagel on the floor in the bathroom and Dingle refrained from gobbling it up. What good dogs we have sometimes.




Clara is feeling better today and we even picked back up on potty training. She woke up dry from her nap and then peed on the potty with me in the room. Finally I was able to lavish on the praise right when she went instead of when I stumbled upon it much later. When we were in the car driving to the library this morning, I asked her "What's the first thing we're going to do when we get to the library?" To which she replied "Go Potty!" Yay, I think it's sinking in.

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I actually sat down while Clara was napping today and updated her baby book. The task was rather daunting despite the fact I had a lot of it done already. I had to find and crop the pictures I had already printed off and upload the ones I didn't to Walgreens so I can print them off. But that required going through to see what I needed to print and then finding them on the computer first. For some pics, I went back on the computer to find the date they were taken so I could write that down. It was definitely time consuming, but I love that it's almost completely done now. I'm glad I had the blog to go back through and get some dates for a few things that happened this year. Too bad I wasn't blogging her first year. I have no idea when she rolled over for the first time.

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I cleaned off my desk for the first time in a very long time. That, and I've started organizing all of our photos. It's actually my New Year's Resolution. I want to organize all of my digital pics on the computer and burn them onto cds. I also plan to choose some to print off and put them, along with all of my older film pictures in albums.

I could use some of you guy's help with my resolution. Yes, you! You can help make my photo organizational dreams a reality. And here's how. If you have pictures from events that we've been priveleged to attend alongside you just hanging around your home (or computer), I would love, love, love to have copies. Even if we're not in the pic, that's fine.

For instance, Linda, I think I remember you took pics at Easter 2004 out at the farm if I'm not mistaken. We took some too, but sadly, they seem to have been lost. Also, Christmas of 02 maybe, I think we took a group photo outside Nanny's house. And then there's Christmas of 03 at your house. (I do have all of the October 06 ones that you took.) You get the picture.

Tanya, got some good ones at any family affair? Linsey, how 'bout you? I'd love the one of us at your graduation. I was having a really good hair day If I remember correctly. And then there's the homecoming nominee ones, maybe some from golden girl and college graduation.

And, while I don't think I have any readers from high school, I'll go ahead and ask just in case. Got any? The film in our camera didn't develop right, so I have no pictures from graduation or prom. I remember someone other than family taking some, but no idea who. Hmmm, I guess Myrt Myrt might have taken pictures at graduation and the party at her house afterwards. And the pics I do have from high school days are pretty lame. High schoolers have no idea how to take pictures.

Woodlands church friends, I don't have any from my baby shower at Erin's house, but I know I posed for some. Also, I remember posing for a big group shot at the Strand at the Galveston retreat. I don't have any from that weekend actually. And then there's Halloween of 03 out at our house, camping trips, other retreats, etc, etc, etc. Oh yeah, Halloween of 02, (you know the one, Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, the one you've tried so hard to erase from your memory), well we've misplaced that group of photos which makes me sad. And then there's parties out at our house in Huntsville and possibly other events that I don't even remember.

It would be so awesome if you'd humor me. If there are any takers, you can email me telling me what you've got. If digital I can tell you where you can upload them, or if you realllly love me, and by that I mean you have lots and lots of pictures, I can pay you to burn a cd and mail them my way. If 35 mm and you have negatives, dude, I'd pay you for them and your time. Great way to make a little extra cash. Oh, or I could come get them if you're in the area and do the dirty work myself. Or, if nothing else, a scanned-in picture would suffice. And if I can repay the favor in kind with pictures I may have that interest you, please let me know. (Even if you don't have pics for me and would like some of mine; I'll let you what I've got.)

Soooo, enough of my soliciting. Sorry for lumping everyone together, but we all know how lazy I am. I eagerly await your responses.

~Goodbye Aunt Ruthie~

My Great-Aunt Ruthie died earlier today in Pecos. Aunt Ruthie was my grandma's older sister and she lived in a trailer out at Big John and Memaw's farm until Memaw died two years ago. Big John was unable to take care of her by himself, (mainly 'cause she could be an ornery, stubborn little lady) so she was moved to the nursing home soon after Memaw's death. Before being moved to the home, she had been told numerous times that she couldn't go certain places alone and had fallen lots of times. She didn't take kindly to being told what to do. One time, she fell and broke something (ankle maybe) while outside and they didn't find her for about 8 hours if I'm not mistaken! So, needless to say, Big John couldn't be held responsible for the little booger.

She's had lots of troubles since being in the nursing home, but everytime, she surprises everyone by coming out on top. She's taken spills from her bed, breaking bones and been hospitalized for dehydration and probably other things I've forgotten, but her heart never showed any signs of slowing down. She had slowly dwindled in weight and her mind had begun to slip though. It was really hard to see her like that the few times I visited these last couple of years.

Aunt Ruthie never married or had kids, so nieces and nephews are all the family she had. She was like a second grandmother to all of us grandkids. We would mosey on over to her trailer when we were out at the farm to see if she'd feed us something. One of Laura, Linsey and my favorite things to do over there was go through her boxes of old family photos. She'd tell us all about who was in them and when they were taken.

Both she and Memaw were very soft spoken. They didn't really talk just for the sake of talking. They were also both very sweet and never really raised there voices or spoke a mean word about anyone that I can remember. But boy could the two of them get into some arguements. They were too cute. Inevitably they'd get into a little disagreement on the way to church when some of the grandkids had spent the night before and so we'd be in the backseat cracking up at the two of them "fighting". I don't even remember what they'd argue about, but it was hilarious to hear them, neither one of them raising their voices in the slightest. They would be soooo frustrated with each other, though. Nice little old lady sisters fighting. Good times.

Two of her nieces, my mom and Myrt Myrt, have been so selfless these past two years. Both of them have made an effort to visit her every single day. They would take her for walks before she got real bad and they brought her food and treats. In the end they helped feed her meals and have been her advocate while in the home. They've been a very real example of what it means to give of oneself, not only in Aunt Ruthie's instance, but in other things and I'm so glad that now all of their grandkids have these two amazing models of servanthood.

Aunt Ruthie was hospitalized this weekend with pneumonia and they released her back to the nursing home so she could be in a more familiar place thinking she probably wouldn't pull through. She's finally home. I'm so thankful that God finally took her from this awful place. I'm thankful that she's no longer in pain and no longer lonely and restless. She's at peace now and is exactly where she wants to be. Home.

And I couldn't be happier for her.

The Three P's

Do you know how many times I've uttered the words potty, panties and pee pee in the past several days? I don't know either, but it's a lot. Potty training is going so-so. The weekend kind of messed us up a little what with church and having to leave the house and stuff. Saturday, Chris took Clara to breakfast as usual. When I told him he needed to take her to the bathroom when he got there, he was slightly hesitant. I mean, this is whole new territory here. I can't say I blame him, I just want her to get used to the idea that even when we're out we try to go potty. He was a good daddy and took her three times while they were gone.

It turns out, there's a lot of pottying that must happen when you go out with a trainee. We went before we left for church, when we got to bible class, when we got out of class, when we got up during church once and then after chuch. Not a drop in the toilet, of course, but lots of trying nonetheless. She was only wet one of those times. It's added a whole new dimension to leaving the house, that's for sure.

To get her to sit on her potty for more than a few minutes at a time, I've let her watch waaaay too much tv these last few days. (Singing and reading only entertain her for so long.) She's got ring around the hiney from sitting so long. Twice now, I've heard her start crying when she pees in her panties and then she'll go sit on the potty. Too little too late, but at least she's started showing some discomfort when she doesn't make it to the potty in time. Also, she's going around holding herself almost like she's in pain. I don't know if she's trying to hold it in or what. I'm not at my breaking point yet, (or even close), so we'll just keep it up until I can't take it anymore.

In other news, Chris is getting 3 wisdom teeth pulled Friday, so we'll be having a pleasant weekend. And Clara is trying to get sick on me. She woke this morning with a little bit of a cough and runny nose. By this evening, she was a pretty sad sight. She kept saying "owie" and pointing to her mouth, so I'm pretty sure she has a sore throat now. She did let me hold her for a long time and almost fell asleep in my lap, so that was one good thing about her not feeling well. I got some cuddle time in. Hey, I take what I can get. We might be putting the potty on the backburner again by tomorrow.

I know I've been slacking in the picture taking department, so I took this next picture for all of my loyal readers who've been waiting for some new pictures. This here's a mutant grape I came across today. It was ginormous!

Progress??

We tried out that potty training thing again today. Clara ran around bare-bottomed all day. Two and a half times she peed on the potty, always when I wasn't around. I think I may be distracting to her or something.

I let her watch cartoons while sitting on the potty and we took it from room to room all day. I had run upstairs to switch laundry at one point and upon my return to the living room, I saw a few drops in the potty. I began looking around for the rest of it and she took me into the playroom and pointed to a little puddle on the floor. I'm assuming she started to go and then remembered she needed to go on the potty and then finished up on the potty, but I'm not sure since I was out of the room. For all I know, Dingle decided she should try out the potty.

We put on a pull up at naptime and she woke dry, which really surprised me. I went downstairs after her nap to get her potty and it was full from before naptime. Oops. Again, peeing behind my back. And then a third time she peed on the potty when I was out of the room. I guess the girl needs her privacy. I understand.

I think I'll stick with the nudist approach for a few days and see what comes of it. One would think the sensation of pee trickling down ones legs would serve as a good motivator for using the potty, but we shall see.

The Stats Are In

Clara had her two year checkup yesterday. She's as healthy as can be. She weighed in at 28 pounds, which is the 6oth percentile, and she's 37.5 inches tall (97th percentile). Head is 97th percentile still, too.

She was such a big girl. So big in fact that she insisted on sitting in the zebra kiddie chair for her exam instead of in my lap. I came to the appointment with my pictures of Clara's food reactions and my list of questions in hand and the doc pretty much agreed with my assessments.

The redness and bumps on her face after she eats sometimes is probably just due to her sensitive skin and the acidity of the food. She said I could put hydrocortisone on it if it's bothering her, but it usually doesn't, so no need for any medication. The pukefests that ensue at the ocassional mealtime is probably just her eating too much/too fast and having a good gag reflex. A lot of times it happens when she's got a cold and the coughing and drainage are the culprits. Again, nothing to worry about.

Let's see, what else? Oh, she's got expensive feet. I asked about her high instep that a shoe salesman informed me that she has because her foot wouldn't fit into this particular style of shoe and her foot just bulges out the top of maryjanes especially, which makes me sad because, well, I really like maryjanes and frankly don't know what kind of dress shoe to put her in if she can't wear maryjanes. Anywho, she said that I do need to make sure the shoes she wears most often have good arch support because it can be painful otherwise. Chris informs me that she'll need to just wear one pair of shoes with everything! I got a good chuckle out of that one.

Oh, and she also said that there's no hurry to introduce nuts and peanuts into her diet. She agreed that waiting until Clara can verbalize if she's having trouble breathing is a good idea. She just said be smart about the first few times she has them. Feed them to her early in the day so we can monitor her for several hours after and don't do it when we're not near a hospital. Easy enough.

"Happy To!"

We went to our friend Alanna's birthday party at Pump it Up on Saturday and had a blast. I do not understand how a preschooler can run around in there for almost 2 hours straight and not get tired! Chris and I kept having to tag team it cause we were just worn out helping the kid get through all the obstacles and climb up the slide.


Since her birthday party, Clara's favorite song is "Happy To" or maybe it's "Happy Two", I'm not sure. She wants us to sing it to her every night before bed. We've tried teaching her the other words, but she's content with the two she knows. If she sees a party hat or a cake or anything birthday related she exclaims "Happy To!", so she enjoyed her first birthday party since coming to the realization that birthday parties are totally awesome.


They brought the cake out and set it on the table to sing Happy Birthday. Clara happened to be seated directly across from the birthday girl, so that cake was dangerously close to Clara's nimble fingers. She was being soooo patient though and didn't even reach out for a handful. Then the unthinkable happened. They took the cake away to cut it. She started crying and pointing to the place that cake should've gone in front of her. She's done that before and it's hilarious to watch. Everyone got a good laugh out of it. I had to console her a bit and reassure her that she would get a piece eventually. Alanna's grandma felt so bad that she made sure Clara got her piece first. You gotta love grandma's. And there was much rejoicing.

Raising Her Up Right

Chris was trying to nap on the couch yesterday. All the while Clara was getting her baby doll all settled in for a nap next to him. As she was tucking her baby in, Chris overheard her tell the baby,
"French fries?" "No!!"
"Juice?" "No!"
"Bugs Bunny?" "No!"

There was one other denial, but Chris doesn't remember it. He said she just rattled them off one after another without missing a beat. I guess she's heard them enough. That's my girl. Sometimes you gotta be the bad guy for their own good. Glad to know all this discipline is sinking in.

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Sunday morning we were all standing at the bathroom sink getting ready. Chris was showing some, hmmm, how should I put this? Some butt crack. Clara walked up behind him, grabbed the top of his shorts with both hands and pulled them up. She knew that just wasn't right. It was too funny, but both of us were sure she was going to pull them down.

Angry Baby

After reading my cousin Michelle's blog for the past few months, I've come to the conclusion that my Clara was just not a happy baby. She really wasn't angry, per se, just really not smiley. At all. Michelle's Clara is a smiley girl. And completely adorable, I might add. (In case you're wondering, my Clara was named after my grandmother, but Michelle is on the other side of the family, so her Clara is not named after her grandmother. She is instead, named after a family friend.)

I went back through her baby pics, and sure enough, not too many smiley ones in the bunch. Clara has always been very thoughtful. She was an observer from very early on, watching people and things intently. I think she was so intrigued by her surroundings that she just didn't think too much about smiling or putting on a show now matter how hard we tried to ilicit a smile. She seemed to be in her own little world doing trigonometry in her head or something. It wasn't until she was around 6 months that she started smiling more and I do remember that it was a long time before she smiled for people when we were out in public.

Of course now she's Miss Personality with her cheesy grin and plenty of hugs and handshakes to go around. Speaking of, we went to Payless a few nights ago and she went straight up to a worker and gave her a hug. Then we went around a corner and found another employee, but this one needed a handshake. I love this kid. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to chronicle her angry baby pictures in a post since my blog wasn't around in those first months.

Here's our attempt to take a picture for our Valentine's card. Out of about 20 pictures, this was the best one. Seriously. I put it on a card. She was 2 months old here.


This one is our first smile caught on camera. Finally! She was 2 1/2 months old here.

Our first plane ride at 3 months. She realllly wanted to smile.

No smiles for Nanny.......

Or Big John.....

Or even sweet little Bryce.

Oh, wait. Grandma was able to capture a smile. Biggest one ever at 3 months of age. Look how red her hair looks here.

Oh, you're so close sweetie. Almost there......... Push.......
Maybe not. It's ok, there's always next time.

What? It's a bow. You're almost four months old. Deal with it. You should see the size of some girl's bows and they don't seem to mind :)

Ok, a princess hat is sure to do the trick!

Score!!!!!! Note to self: Something on head = Smile.

Hmmmmm. I guess my hypothesis was incorrect.

Ok Clara, now you're just being mean.

Stop tormenting me child.

Hellloooo, how can you not smile while sitting in bluebonnets? Don't get mad at me Missy; the bluebonnet is our lovely state flower and it's required by law that babies sit amongst them by golly. And smile. I didn't make up the rules.

Looks like you're finally growing up a bit and are learning how things work around here. Mommy acts like a lunatic and you smile obligingly. (That's a word, right?)
Ummm. We had a deal.

So there you have it. There may have been 3 or 4 other pictures featuring a smiling Clara, but no more. And I really am not exaggerating. In the second half of her first year, she really blossomed and I got some great sweet smiles from the little booger (and plenty of angry baby faces, too). Even today (and for the rest of her life, I'm sure) she is still quite an independent creature and has a mind of her own, smiling only when she darn well wants to smile.

Happy New Year!

Well, I haven't started out this new year very well, now have I? I've been lacking in motivation somewhat as 2008 begins. I don't know if it's just getting back to normal after all the business of the holidays or what, but I've just been in a mood.

I do think that this mood is due, in part, to our cold downstairs. With this cold weather we're having, we can't seem to get it warm and I just don't operate well when I'm cold. At all. Why can't the kitchen be in our warm and cozy upstairs? If it was, then perhaps I'd have done something in that particular room these last few days.

While I'm over here shivering, Clara can run around without pants or socks and be just peachy. She throws a fit when we try to put a coat on her to leave the house. She's always been hot natured though. Actually, I think she's just good natured. She doesn't get upset when she's too hot or too cold. Me, I have about a 5 degree comfort zone of 71-76 degrees. Any more or less and I'm miserable. I'm beginning to wonder if she's really mine.

But I digress.

I guess I just really don't have a whole lot to say. Nothing profound is coming to mind as I look back at the last year. 2007 was good. We're blessed. Can't wait to see what unfolds in 2008.