Room Addition

I finally have before and after pictures of our room addition. With all of Claire's toys, we were having a hard time moving around in our living room. So, we decided to enclose our screened porch. It has made such a difference! Claire has tons of room to roll around and play, not to mention we had a spot for a big fat Christmas tree!

Living room looking toward the kitchen and porch

Looking from the kitchen onto the porch

Looking from the addition toward the front door

Big-Girl Bath

Claire had her first big-girl bath last week! She is now able to sit up very well, so we turned the tub around. She loves being able to splash with her hands and pick up her bath toys. It's much, much easier than having her lie down! She loves bathtime and doesn't want to get out. I guess I won't ever have to worry about having a dirty-bird!

Pat-a-Cake

Claire has a new trick. Grandmommy has taught her how to 'pat-a-cake'. She loves it! Now all I have to do is say the word and she starts clapping. It's adorable. She is growing so fast and learning new things everyday. I actually have a great video of it, but for some reason I am unable to upload it. I"ll keep trying, but in the meantime, enjoy a snapshot of her in mid-clap :)

Claire's First Tooth

Well, it's finally here! Claire is sporting a tiny white speck on her lower gum. She was unusually clingy yesterday and wouldn't let me put her down. She wasn't particularly fussy, but just wanted to be held and cuddled. She didn't nap at all--every time I tried to put her down she woke right up. Once Lee got home she was the same for him--and he is the 'baby whisperer' that can always get her to sleep. So, the thought crossed my mind that she might be teething. I checked her gum and what do you know?? There was a tiny white speck peeking through her lower gum. It doesn't seem to be bothering her very much. She is her usual happy self, just a little more demanding of my attention.

I tried to get pictures of her 'speck' today. That was an adventure! Claire was enamoured with the camera and wouldn't let me get close enough to get a shot. She kept grabbing the lense and lense cap and moving it just as I was getting ready to snap it. The resulting photos were pretty entertaining, so I thought I'd share those. You can barely see the speck in one or two of them, but I mostly got blurry shots of her ear :)

You can barely see it in this one if you look closely

Christmas Portraits

We had our family portraits taken last week and I thought I'd share a few. Claire is such an angel. The faces you see in these photos--that's how she is all the time. Thank you Lord for my happy girl!!

Claire's first Christmas tree

We got our tree! It took us two nights of looking, but we finally found the perfect tree for Claire's first Christmas. We looked at Lowe's, Big John's, Lassiter's Band lot, and 2 different Pike nurseries. We eventually found the perfect, big, fat tree that we were looking for. Now that we have more room with our new addition, we wanted to fill it up! Claire was not up for all of this looking, so she took a good long snooze. You can see from the pictures just how excited she was :) I can't wait to see what she does once it's lit up and decorated. That's going to be tonight's adventure!

First stop: Pike

In the car....again

Claire enjoying the tree search from dreamland in the backseat

Finally--we're home!!

Hooray!!

Happy 87th Birthday!

Sunday was a busy day for us. We started by going to church in the pouring rain. After church, we headed for lunch and then to Duluth. We met Debbie and Bill at KB Toys so that Claire could help pick out her Christmas train. The Christmas train will become a tradition at Grammy's house each year. I'm not sure Claire really helped make any decisions, but she sure loved looking at the toys! Next we headed over to see Grandaddy Dyer. Sunday was his 87th birthday! We enjoyed cake and visited for a while. Lee and I gave him a giant singing birthday card that we all enjoyed. Claire gave him one of her new pictures for his room. It was fun to spend time together. Claire sure did like sitting in Great-Grandaddy's lap and getting to meet Great-Great Aunt Betty for the first time. What a fun day! All dressed up for church

Getting ready to brave the elements!

Opening the giant singing card

Getting ready to blow out the candles

Having fun with Great-Grandaddy

Hello, Great-Great Aunt Betty!