Friends & Family

As Claire grows and becomes more aware of her surroundings, its so fun to see her interacting with others. We are so thankful to have dear friends with little ones close in age that Claire can hang with. Gracie and Madelyn "rocking" baby Ashton.

Gracie hanging out on the couch with her mom.

Claire borrowing Madelyn's horse. She loved it and was especially good at rolling backwards on it.

Last weekend Auntie B and Uncle Brandon watched Claire while I worked and Josh was climbing Mt. Shasta (blog post about that to follow another day).

Last week I visited with Sherry and her son, Mat. Claire loved him and Mat was very good with her.

What are you looking at?

Claire is in swim lessons right now. She loves the water. I guess swim lessons is a loose term. She kicks around the pool and splashes while we sing songs.

Jenn and her son Brodie are also in the class.

Claire having a serious moment in the water.

Carmen and I usually end up swapping our girls at some point during the lesson.
Claire and Carmen hanging out.

Allow me a moment

Josh and I have had a number of conversations throughout our dating and marriage about my goals and dreams. To him I seem to be in short supply (probably the practical side of me) and he is continually wanting to make sure that I'm fulfilled. He is well aware that from the time I was little I wanted to be a mom. My family can testify to this with the way my sister and I used to play with our dolls around the house, turning the stairs into the car, laundry baskets into beds and changing tables. I used to pretend iron my dolls clothes. This is something that is a little difficult to get across to my husband though he tries to understand. Recently, when we are plopped on the couch after a long day and too tired to move or right after we've calmed Claire out of a fussy bout he looks at me and asks, are you glad you're a mom. You're not disappointed are you? My answer is not on your life.

Although my life has taken many turns different than ones I ever foresaw, I am so excited to be where I am at. This stage in life is different than how I envisioned it would be and identical to how I thought it would be all at the same time. I am so grateful and thankful to have our daughter in my life. Parenting is quite a challenge but its one I feel like I was made for. I'm thankful that the Lord has guided my experiences to show me that I have more than just one purpose. I pray that my experiences thus far will help me be a better parent. My life (hopefully) will be used in many ways but I am so thankful I have had the priviledge to be a mom. I have difficulty putting to words what its like to watch Claire discover her world. To watch her imitate us doing silly things. To see her frustration that she can't be on the go right now. To watch her ever changing expressions. I sit next to her in awe as her little personality shines through more and more day by day and I pray that I will guide her well.

9 months old

As my sister pointed out today marks a day that Claire has spent just as much growing in the outside world as she did on the inside world. She is very curious of the world around her and alert to what is going on. Her current pastimes are "walking" around the house, pulling up on Josh or I, swimming, eating pickles and hooting like an owl.

We are FINALLY getting into the solid food thing. Yesterday she snacked on roasted red bell peppers and goat cheese mixed together. Josh couldn't believe she ate it. I had to remind him that just because he doesn't like bell peppers, doesn't mean Claire has to or will follow suit. We spent part of the morning outside playing. This is my attempt at good photos of Claire. I was channeling my sister, I even solicited tips from her before beginning our session.

Always full of expression.

Claire and Lola, buddies...that was not staged by the way.

I think she may be teething again. This feels like its been an on and off process for months. Perhaps once her teeth come through I'll be able to say what was teething and what wasn't. For now...who knows.

Lola loafing on the cool grass.

Claire "eating" my leg.

Claire is fascinated by Lola's leash. She is always trying to chew on it or "walk" Lola.

Our little owl.

Aside from how cute I think they look together, this picture cracks me up because I caught Lola mid lick..see her tongue sticking out there?

Staring off at something. I couldn't get her to look at me to save my life and then the moment she did she lunged at the camera.

The Fourth of July

We celebrated the Fourth of July at my grandma's cabin in Lake Tahoe. The weather was lovely, the company great and funny, as always. We didn't see the fireworks this year, they started at 9:45 p.m., way too late for Claire but it didn't really matter.



Claire and Josh kicked off the weekend with little father/daughter nap. Don't they look cute?



Our daughter is proving to be quite the fish. She LOVED the waters of Lake Tahoe in spite of the cold. She was holding Josh's fingers, toddling along the shore, when the waves lapped at her feet she made a b line for the water.



Claire posing on "turtle rock." We have a similar picture of me on turtle rock around the same age, I'll have to find it somewhere.



Claire and GG (great grandma) hanging out at the beach. Contrary to the strange expression on her face, she was having a great time.



Ahhh...nothing like a bath in the kitchen sink. I can only imagine how many Moreira family babies have been bathed in that sink.



Aunt Karen and Claire enjoying a moment before we head off to the annual Meek's Bay Fireman's Pancake Breakfast.



If you look REALLY closely at my shirt you can see what remains of Claire's snack. She took a few nice bites of pear and then promptly turned around and smeared them on the front of my shirt. Thanks Claire.



Happy Fourth of July!





Claire's new favorite activity, "walking" around the room.



Breakfast is served courtesy of Meme.



Enjoying the frigid and clear waters of Lake Tahoe. Her legs were red and gums chattering but she loved it.





Sunday morning boatride, what a great way to start the day.



On this trip, Claire discovered a new love. Pickles. I had to ask the server for more pickles because Claire was going through them like they were going out of style.



The Fourth of July family crew.

Family

Claire also had the priviledge of meeting more cousins. While visiting Uncle Richard and Aunt Christine, she got to meet cousin Andrea and her husband Tony. They were visiting while on leave from Germany (Tony is in the army).

Mini Heat Wave

Last weekend and the early part of this week we saw a mini heat wave. (100+) Josh and I become creative in staying cool in our poorly insulated place. It comes down to us sucking on icecubes by the end of the day. Claire LOVES this pastime and soaks herself thoroughly in the process. I highly recommend those little pacifier looking this with the mesh bag on it. I can give one of those filled with ice to Claire and she is happy for minutes on end.

On Monday, before the temperature climbed too high, we ventured to the park. I took Lola too, I hate leaving her at home and she LOVES the park. I just have to brag for a moment. Lola is a wonderful dog. Stubborn at times but more than anything loving and obedient and good. Knock on wood, she differentiates between her toys and Claires (even if they are all in a pile on the floor together). She is patient with Claire while we teach Claire dog manners (don't pull ears, use Lola to help stand up, pull her collar/tail/fur). Anyway, once again Lola proved to be a great dog. She is very excitable and enjoys the company of other dogs so I was curious how the park would go and how much wrangling I would have to do. Lola was content to be anchored at a park bench and sniff around on the grass while Claire played in the swing a few feet away. When Claire was bored of the swing we relaxed on a blanket in the shade of a big tree that Josh probably knows the name of but I don't. Lola's leash hung on the stroller, not even really anchored but she was content to sniff and lounge in the grass even as other dogs passed by.

For her part, Claire was transfixed by the grass. Now, I had a number of allergies as a child, some of which have carried into my adult life. I am hesistant to let Claire dive into things that I knew were allergies of mine as a kid, grass being one of them but this child would not let up. She kept scooting to the edge of the blanket and attempting to dig up handfuls of grass, leaves and dirt. We finally had to head home because I grew weary of pull dirt clods and grass out of her hands to prevent her from sampling them.