Claire is 7 months old!

This is the face she makes when she eats her fruit baby foods.


Claire loves to take the bumbo seat tray and throw it off the counter. She must get that destructive side from her dad!


Claire is determined to start crawling soon!


She likes playing with the bag more than the blocks!


Here is Joe "cleaning" off Claire's bib after a feeding of baby food and rice cereal.

Claire turned 7 months old last week. She started sitting unassisted about 2 weeks ago and is also rolling from her back onto her stomach. The next step for her is to crawl and I think she will pick that up in the next month. She doesn't care much for her green vegetables like peas and green beans. We just started her on fruits this week and I am shocked she is not a big fan of pears, applesauce, or bananas. Her Early Childhood Development still comes out 1 to 2 times a month to evaluate Claire and they say she is doing everything that she should and is not behind on anything. She is so talkative and can babble words like yayaya, bababa, and dadada. We are working on her m's so that her first word can be mama. She has started filling out more and is just growing into her 6-9 month old clothes. Her favorite things to do are play peek-a-boo, play with her feet, go for walks, and play with her dog brother Joe.

Colorado Claire

Claire, Chad and I spent 4 days in Colorado. We went to visit some friends in Estes Park and Chad's Cousin Daniel graduated from High School in Boulder. It was a quick trip up and back because we got a call that Chad's sister Cara was going to have her baby. Baby Nora arrived Sunday at 11:26 AM.




Claire in a Jeep


Grandma Dalrymple walking with Claire


Watch out Aunt Cassie... Claire is going to smash your sun glasses!


Claire after a long day of vacationing passed out on the hotel bed.


Claire looking at her new cousin Nora

Mothers Day

Chad made me breakfast in bed and then Claire showed us a "dog pile".


Chad took a stab at floral arranging. He made enough flowers for all the Mom's on his side of the family.


Claire got a new suction cup ferris wheel toy! She loves it and it helps entertain her when we are feeding her in her big girl high chair.

Claire went to Pella, IA

We took a trip to Pella Iowa on Sat with my parents and my sister's family to meet up with some family friends for the Annual Tulip Festival. Here are some pictures.....




Chad and Claire watching the parade


Claire and I in the enormous Dutch shoes


Claire and I with 3 of her cousins: Evie, Lillie, and Nick.


Claire on the car ride home

Claire checked out ok!

Baby food should come with warning labels about how far it can fly and how well it sticks to their faces and laundry!



You guessed it Claire is playing with Joe again! Poor Joe.... when Claire starts walking the old man will be in trouble!


Claire in her Hippo bath towel. She loves bath time!


Claire's new laptop from Linda at Centris.


Claire got some new sunglasses from the Easter Bunny.







My apologies for slacking for the last week. Claire went to the Developmental Clinic on Mon April 27th. They said she is progressing like an average 6 month old. She did great on her cognitive problem solving skills! That was what I was most worried about is her brain telling her body what to do and then her body being able to finish the task. It made me nervous to watch them testing her because they played with her in ways I never thought to. Just totally simple things like they had her ring a bell and drag a wash cloth toward her to get a toy out of her reach and she did great! The Developmental Clinic is very strict and said that she had some weaker trunk/core muscles and we need to practice mire tummy time to get her to roll from back to tummy, sit unassisted, and start crawling. Her pediatrician and Neurologist didn't have any concerns and were proud of her. She moved up from the 6th percentile to the 10th percentile and is still behind in her weight. However everything with her height, weight, and head circumference is growing at the same rate and that is good news.

Claire is 6 months old today!

We got her pictures taken for Easter/6 months a few weeks ago and just got them back. I might be a little biased but she is such a little baby doll! Claire is still doing great! We started baby food last week and so far sweet potatoes and squash are a big hit. If she is like Chad and I she will not be a picky eater. Although at times she is a little finicky with drinking her milk because she tires out easily, is distracted, and just does not take huge volumes. The most she will eat in a feeding is still 5 ounces for the last month. She is still working on sitting unassisted and being more comfortable on her tummy. I really want her to start crawling soon! She loves her Daddy. It is so fun to see them playing and laughing together. Chad is a great Dad and believe it or not he still loves to help change her diaper. I am really hoping the Developmental Clinic at Children's Hospital today goes well! (for those who are not familiar it is a team of doctors: neonatologist, eye doctor, hearing specialist, neurologist, physical therapist etc that examine her at many different tasks for a good 2 hours) Good Luck Baby Claire!

Claire is so active!

Claire is 5 1/2 months old and now weighs 13 lbs! She loves to play with her feet, kick her legs, and jump in her jumper. The other day I started to tear up after watching "The Baby Story" on TLC because it made me realize how old she is getting when I saw how little some of the newborn babies were. I can not believe it has been over 3 months since we were discharged from Children's Hospital. I look back at some of the older pictures and videos and it seems like so long ago. Claire is a pro at eating rice cereal and loves my secret recipe. (It's not really too extravagant. I just put a small amount of Gerber pear juice in it to help make it sweeter.) I am excited for her to start trying the orange veggies in a few weeks. She is still on her medication for acid reflux and can be a finicky eater at times. At most she can eat just under 5 ounces at a feeding. She is sleeping through the night and only getting up once between 2am-4am. She continues to giggle and flash smiles at everyone, although at times I think she is going through a slight attachment phase. We look forward to her 6 month Pediatrician and Neurology appointment on the 28th of this month.