Santa Traditions - Old & New

Every year since my I was born, my sisters and I have gotten our picture taken with Santa. It is one of my most cherished Christmas traditions. As we grew up and got married, we made a deal that as soon as Erik and I had a child, the adults would not be in the picture and it would be just the "cousins". Erik and his fellow in-laws were so excited last year knowing they never had to do it again. I, on the other hand, was sad that I would no longer experience a much loved part of Christmas. An old tradition ended but a new one has begun, as I now get to start the tradition with my own daughter.

After 26 years of sitting on Santa's lap, I got a little teary eyed as I put my baby girl on his knee and walked to the side to cheer her on. She did a great job! We got so many smiles, the "elves" even said "you're hired!" :) It was a wonderful beginning to Claire's Santa tradition that she (and I) will cherish for the rest of her life.

(Photos taken over Thanksgiving weekend with Claire and her cousins.)

Thanksgiving - Part 2

Thanksgiving concluded with moving out of my fun-filled (I'll be it cramped) sister's house and into a hotel room. I know Claire was so excited. :) We could finally sleep in peace and quiet.

On Friday, Erik went golfing with a friend of his and I went to the Shark Reef with part of my family. It was incredible! Claire couldn't take her eyes off of this giant "saw shark".

Later, the entire family met up and watched the "dancing fountains" (as all the little kids call them) at the Bellagio. My parents had never seen them either. It was a fun night out as a family.

Saturday morning we went to the Las Vegas sign. I've been to Vegas a million times but had never seen the sign before. We actually got a good picture out of it too; it turned out the guy was a photographer. You all know how I LOVE good pictures. They just make my day!

Afterwards, we watched the stressful Utah/BYU game. Thank goodness Utah won. I about had a heart attack. Later that night, my awesome parents babysat Claire while Erik and I went to our first ever Vegas "show" .... Blue Man Group. We even got to be part of the show! We were "late arrivals". A little while after the show started, an escort came and got us and we walked to our new seats up front. A spotlight was on us as we walked to the seats and that was about it. :) Kind of stupid but hey, we got great seats out of it.

Erik flew home the following morning and Claire and I followed the next day. I was so nervous about how she was going to do on an airplane. Going through the disabled line is definitely the way to travel. :) The only hiccup was that my breastmilk had to go through 3 extra security measures because it wasn't passing. Weird. Anyway, when I got on the flight I thought this is going to be awesome. The plane wasn't full so Claire got her own seat and she was sound asleep. Well, I spoke too soon. Right as we were taking off, she woke up. She did okay for the first little while but the last 30 minutes, she really fussed. Thank goodness it was a very short flight.

It's always nice to finally get home after a vacation, but of course, it's hard to leave. Especially when you leave family. I only get to see my sisters about two times a year and I miss them a lot! Next time they see us, Claire will probably be walking. :( I am so thankful for telephones, email and Skype!

Thanksgiving - Part 1

For Thanksgiving this year, my family all met at my sister's in Las Vegas. Me, Claire and Khloe drove down with my parents a few days before the weekend. Claire did a pretty good job sitting in her carseat for 7 hours, but by the time we made it into the city, she definetely had enough (as did I).

The next 4 days, we hung out at the house, did a little shopping and walked around Ceasar's Palace. Once my other sister got there, the fun really began. :) That night there were 19 people and 2 dogs all jammed in their 3-bedroom house. It was a little chaotic to say the least. The best part was finally getting to meet my new niece, Brooklyn. She is 6 weeks younger than Claire and totally adorable! I can't wait for the 2 of them to have fun together.

Erik finally flew in Thanksgiving morning and I was so excited! It had been 6 days since we had seen him and I know he missed Khloe and his little Claire Bear (and hopefully me as well).

Thanksigiving morning, my sister and I woke up at 6:30am to start cooking the turkey. This was the first year I helped with the turkey. I even pulled out all the guts; it was pretty disgusting. After preparing the stuffing and knowing what ingredients actually went in it (cut up turkey "insides"), I couldn't eat more than a bite. Yuck! No more stuffing for me.

Overall, it was fun to be with family but completely exhausting. Being the 6th day on our "vacation", Claire was completely off schedule and had become quite a handful. Traveling with a little one is a lot harder than I had expected. It was nice having so many people around to help with her. I definitely needed it.

Later that night we were off to our hotel room for the remainder of our vacation. I was so happy to finally get some much needed sleep. Stay tuned for part 2.

Flashback Friday

November 5, 2010 - Khloe's 3rd birthday!

Their faces say it all. :)

Claire Bear - 4 Months

Our little "Claire Bear" turned 4 months old about a week ago. She's been such a blessing to our family and I love being with her everyday. Lately she's been rolling over, pushing herself up with her arms, laughing every now and then, making cute gurgling noises and standing up (with help of course) every chance she can. She's an absolute joy! I wish time would slow down. Look how much she's grown!

Month 4

Month 3

Month 2

Newborn

Being There For Our Children

My Mom emailed me this short video clip about parenting last night that I'd like to share with all of you.



Now that I have a child of my own, I realize how easy it is to get caught up in the stresses of everyday life. Claire is growing up so fast and I know she's going to be running around before I know it. It is so important for us to slow down and be "present" for our children. So after you watch this video, take an extra few moments to interact with your child and make a goal for yourself to really be there for them, even though you probably have a million things to do. They'll thank you for it later.

Oink! Oink!

As I have said before, I do not like Halloween. However, now that I have a child I can experience it with, it has made a big comeback. For Claire's first Halloween, she was a pig. I called her "my little piglet". Wasn't she just adorable?


Khloe spent her third Halloween as a ladybug. I love dressing her up. She looks at me like "seriously, we really have to put this thing on?" It's hilarious!

As the evening got under way, my girls and I all sat down for a picture with our pumpkins. Erik said to me, "what's with your farmer shirt?" I laughed and told him "it's Halloween!" I don't know why, but I just find plaid shirts go perfect with Halloween. :)

Later, we headed over to Erik's parent's house for chili and cupcakes. Our nephew, Soren, was the cutest giraffe.

Afterwards, Erik took Claire trick-or-treating. She only went to one door (ours) but wound up with all of this candy. I couldn't help myself, she had the best costume in the neighborhood. HA!

Claire had a great first Halloween even though her candy bar tasted like plastic.

Wordless Wednesday

Barnyard Boo

Last weekend we had a rainy family outing at Thanksgiving Pointe's "Barnyard Boo".

First on my list was face painting. Claire got a black cat painted on her cheek.

Within seconds, paint got all over her sweater and we decided to wash it off and try again. For round 2, she got "Boo" written on her forehead. The only way we could keep her remotely still was to have my finger in her mouth. Whatever works. :)

Next was a walk by the cows, cookie decorating and then off to the ponies. She was so cute riding the pony around in a circle.

I know she's only 4 months old, but I still think she had fun. :) Ohhhh, how I love the holidays. Actually, I hate Halloween (I don't like scary movies, haunted houses, the dark...so the two of us don't really mesh well). Face painting, pony rides, my little munchin in a costume and lots of candy I can handle.

My Birthday Treat

Because I get to look at this adorable face on my birthday, I don't need anything else. She's the best present I could ask for. Although...a new pair of shoes couldn't hurt. :)

Results

Thanks everyone for voting on your favorite picture. With yours and Erik's input, numbers 3 and 4 won. After hours and hours of editing (I did my best to remove the shadows under Claire's chin) here are the final images -

I also took a couple of cute photos of Claire's blessing dress.

I've been inspired by various images that I've seen recently and have been feeling more creative than usual. It seems like I've been on Photoshop day and night. I love having a "subject" with me 24-7. I wish I wasn't such a perfectionist though; I have to take a billion pictures before I get that perfect one. Enjoy!

Which One?

Claire turned 3 months a couple of weeks ago and I finally got around to taking some new pictures of her. I can't decide which one is my favorite. So tell me, which one is your fave?

BFF

My best friend from high school, Chelsea, came to visit me and see little Claire this past weekend. It was so much fun having her here and it was just like old times. We've lost touch a little bit since I moved to Utah, but whenever we talk or see each other, it's like I never left. While Chelsea and her husband, Travis, were here, we went horseback riding near Park City. It was a beautiful ride, although really cold (around 50 degrees). I was hoping to see a moose, elk, or even just a deer, but we saw nothing.

The next day we had brunch at the Blue Plate Diner (a really cute restaurant in SLC). We ate outside and had great conversation. However, we all got sick of saying "she's a shorkie...half shitzu and half yorkie". SO many people ask us about Khloe. It's amazing how much attention that dog gets when we are in public.

Later we did a short hike up to Secret Lake, although we never made it to the lake. :) We took the wrong trail and ended up walking in a big circle. I felt bad that they didn't get to see the lake, but they insisted it was a beautiful hike/drive and that they enjoyed it anyway.

It was a blast having Chelsea and Travis here and I was sad to have them leave so soon. Two days was not enough. We've already made plans to go back to Seattle next summer to go sailing. I can't wait!

Claire Bear Update

Our little Claire Bear turned 3 months old last Thursday. I can't believe how fast she is growing. It's so much fun to look back at her "bear" pictures each month and see how much she's changed.

3 Months

2 Months

1 MonthNewborn

This is what Claire has been up to lately:

1. grabs/holds onto toys and books

2. smiles on cue pretty frequently

3. laughs (although not much this past week)

4. caught a virus and has been extremely congested

(the dr. suctioned out her nose - the tubes went up her nose and down her throat - ouch)

5. coos more often

6. loves to blow bubbles and is starting to drool

7. a couple of nights last week she slept 11 hours

Claire is such a happy baby and we are so blessed to have her in our family. I love her so much and cannot believe how fast our little girl is growing up. I wish I could stop time and live like this forever!