Sorry for the posting delay (Grandma T). We’ve been dealing with our first family illness in the Land of McPherson. Really it’s amazing that it’s taken this long – Clare has been a remarkably healthy baby. Not being in daycare helps with that tremendously. My friends who have kids in daycare tell horror stories of multiple rounds of ear infections, pneumonia, bronchitis, etc. It was actually J who brought home a cold last week, then Clare got it, and finally me. It was a pretty mild cold, but it wasn’t fun for any of us. It was particularly traumatic for Clare, since she considers having her nose wiped a form of torture that should be covered by the Geneva Convention.

This week we had our favorite photographer David Lim come and take pictures of Clare. David’s work is known by blog followers (aka our mothers) since he took our maternity pictures and the pictures of Clare when she was a week old. David’s a weekend photographer, but his pictures are amazing. He’s also been a great friend to us – he and his wife Jennilyn are parents to two sweet little girls (Kadie and Violet – Clare’s birthday buddy) and they were the ones who introduced us to the Bradley Method for birth. Funny story, both Jenn and I were over a week past our due dates in July and were just sick and tired of being pregnant. We would call/text each other to offer moral support/commiserate. I texted her when I was going to be induced and she texted back that she was having regular contractions. A few (or maybe more then a few) hours later I texted her and said “I had a baby girl” and she said “me too!”

This picture is one of my favorites. This is a common expression of Clare’s – it’s her “figuring it out” look. In this picture she’s figuring out David’s camera and what exactly he’s doing.

Anyway, the pictures were so fun. David came to our house and we pretty much just played with Clare while he took pictures. It was very relaxed and we LOVE the results.

We’re all very excited around here because Jeremy’s dad (“Papa”) is coming to visit tomorrow. He’s staying for a whole week to get his fill of playing and Clare goodness.

This is such a fun age. Clare is so interactive, interesting and joyful these days. I was telling J the other day that the words “pride and joy” take on new meaning. Every little accomplishment brings such feelings of pride – it’s normal baby development going from a little lump who can’t do anything except swallow and cry (well, they do more then that but you know what I mean) to a full little being with personality, preferences and attitude. Still, the normal development is a series of little miracles that keep us in awe every day. This week she started clapping, or at least trying to. She doesn’t get any sound when she claps her hands (those darn fingers get in the way), but today she clapped some stacking cups together and loved that.

Clare’s favorite person is still Daddy. No one can get her to laugh like Daddy can! As you can see from the picture – the adoration is mutual. She loves my parents too and now recognizes them when they visit. My dad came over on Friday night and she just lit up when she saw Grandpa.
Little Miss’ latest accomplishment is holding her own bottle. She’s been doing this for Mary for a couple of weeks now, but J got her doing it this week. She even corrects herself when she drops the bottle to low for milk to come. Such a little smartie. I don’t have any pictures, but she’s sitting up really well right now too. Today she sat up for about ten minutes completely unsupported. She’ll start to topple over, catch herself and pull herself back upright. She also was sitting on my lap today on the floor with her feet in front of her and she launched herself forward. Of course she landed on her head, scaring me to death but not startling her at all. Hmmm – I see a new phase Clare’s life. It will be a phase full of bonked heads.

The highlight of the day (and maybe the week) was the 6-month reunion of our Bradley Birth class. It’s so much fun to see that group! It was great that all 7 families could make it, complete with their cutie-pie babies. Seriously, not a funny-looking baby in the bunch! The babies are all at different stages of rolling, crawling, wiggling, etc. (except stationary Clare). She, however, was the loudest of the group with her shrieks and sings. We re-created the picture we took at the first reunion with the boys in one row and the girls in another. It goes from l to r Grayson, Jake, Teo, Peter along the top and Libby, Clare and Attilie along the bottom. I love the picture above because Teo is reaching for Attilie’s head and Attilie is reaching for Peter. There was an awful lot of head and face grabbing this afternoon.Amazingly, no one cried during the picture and they even held fairly still for a minute or two.

Note to Aunt Kathy, Aunt Debbie and Uncle JP, and Grandma T: I put her in her cutest outfit from Grandma T, with her pink Nike’s from Aunt Kathy and Uncle Jon and green Patagonia coat from Aunt Debbie and Uncle JP. She was easily the most stylin’ baby there and everyone commented and how cute she looked. Thanks for keeping our girl looking good!
Last but not least, here is a picture with the toes in the mouth. This is a common occurrence for all diaper and clothes changes.