My big girl

Claire in her first pair of 'big girl' pajamas

It hit me this week that Claire is really starting to look less like a baby and more like a toddler.  I see it more in pictures than I do "live", but it's so hard to take!  I wish she'd stay a baby.  Of course, she will always be my baby.

Crazy, crazy Sunday...

My little surfer girl

Sunday was a crazy day. Miss Claire decided that she wanted to play around 5:30 am and needed me as a playmate. Joy! After I fell back to sleep at nearly 8 am, Lee woke me up soon thereafter feeling sick--flu symptoms. My day was not off to a great start! I ran out to get Lee some medicine to help him begin to mend and hopefully salvage some of the afternoon. I fixed lunch for Claire and proceeded to drop it as I took it out of the microwave. There was squash everywhere!!!!!!!!!!!! Poor Lee got down on the floor and started cleaning while I changed out of my messy clothes and wiped the goo out of my hair. Things were not going my way :(

Luckily, things began to improve. Lee rested a while and later felt like going out. We went to a few furniture stores to look for living room ideas. He managed to last a couple of hours before we headed home and he hit the sack. Claire and I still had errands to run, so we met Auntie G at Chilis for dinner and then went Krogering. We came home and cheered daddy up before bedtime. I stayed up for a while and heard the sirens begin--we were under a tornado warning. I woke Lee up and carefully lifted Claire out of her crib to head downstairs. We waited out the warning in the basement--the little angel didn't even wake up! After all of the day's activity I decided it was time for me to turn in. What a day!!! I hope the rest of the week is less exciting!

Pardon the TERRIBLE picture of me, but you can see how worried Claire was about the weather!

Claire's Big Day!!!

The Birthday Girl


What a wonderful time we had celebrating Claire's first birthday on Saturday!! It's so hard to believe she has been with us for an entire year. It seems like we just brought her home and learned how to live on no sleep :) Now we're "old pros" and loving every minute of it. Since I was pretty sentimental in my last post, I'll keep this one to fun and pics!



Since Claire's birthday fell the day before Easter, I decided her party should have a bunny theme. Mama and I made her cake(s) and I filled the house and yard with bunny figures and bunny balloons. The guests began arriving around 2:00. We had a house full of family and friends (we missed you, Pizzas!) to help us celebrate. Claire enjoyed opening her gifts and crawling around, weaving in and out of guests' feet. She received lots of new clothes, a pony, toys, a swing, and a new cozy car! She loved them all. After we opened gifts, I shared a slide show that took a look back at the past year (I will try to post it, but blogger is giving me trouble with videos). Claire didn't seem to find it very interesting, because she proceeded to fall asleep!! Luckily once we had cut the 'big' cakes she awoke and was ready for her treat. She donned her new bib and birthday hat (which she did not want to leave on her head) and everyone sang to her. When she saw the candle on her mini cake, it seemed to scare her. After that, she was not interested! She wanted nothing to do with the once-flaming cupcake sat before her. So, we gave her a birthday sugar cookie instead and she was very pleased. No messy face pictures for this girl--she did not like having even her hands dirty! After the cake we began saying goodbye to everyone. Claire was interested in exploring all of her new toys and wanted room to play. All-in-all, it was a wonderful day. Thank you to everyone that came to share with us. What a blessing Claire has been to us all!!

"Claire, how old are you?"

Time to celebrate!!


Claire's portrait and scrapbook pages


The food!!


The Birthday Girl's Chair


One of Claire's bunny cakes, made with love by Mama and Grandmommy


Claire's special birthday accessories--thank you Mary Ellen!


Getting ready to open gifts--how exciting!


I love my pony, Auntie G!!!!


This is soooooooo much fun :)


My first Bulldogs T-Shirt! Thanks, Grammy!


Getting ready for cake...


What is that flaming thing coming towards me??

I do NOT want that bunny near me!!

Ooooohh, ice cream. Much better.

Crawling through the tunnel from Mama and Daddy

Going for a ride in my new buggy--how fun!

A Beautiful Day....A Beautiful Year...

I was already in bed when I decided I had to go get my computer to write. It's almost midnight and I was lying here thinking about what a wonderful day today has been. Today is Claire's birthday and I can't help but reflect on what a profound change she has made in me.

My life began one year ago today. I never knew true unconditional love until I met her. She is pure joy. Even as I sit here I can't think of a way to describe how I feel about her. I adore her. Who wouldn't? She is flawless in my eyes and I thank God every day for allowing me to be her mother. I am overcome by the mercy He has shown me. I am so undeserving. But that's the goodness of God's grace. He takes the most unlikely and unworthy and chooses to pour out His blessing on them. He has given me so much more than my heart desired--He knew what I needed even better than I. He knew who I needed and He sent her to me. My precious angel was sent from Heaven. Thank you, Lord, for loving me so much. I give Claire to You. I will spend everyday loving her with my whole heart and teaching her about You and your grace.

Thank you for indulging a sentimental mama. I will have lots of pictures and videos from her celebration very soon. Stay tuned :)

1st Birthday Portraits

They're finally here! The proofs from Claire's photo shoot are back and I love them! They are very artistic and different from anything we've had done before. I've posted a couple of my favorites but the rest can be seen on the photographer's website: http://www.pamgodfrey.com/. Claire will greet you when you get there :) Once you enter the site, click on 'proofing' at the bottom and type 'claire' as the password. Enjoy!