Headed to the beach for baby Claire's 1st Thanksgiving!!
Welcome to the Stafford family blog! For three years we were two, but are now blessed to be a family of three. We'll use this site to keep friends and family updated on every smile, burp & coo from our precious little one. Who knows - we might even throw in some info about what's going on with Mom & Dad, too! :)
Claire spent her first Thanksgiving holiday at the beach with Mommy & Daddy, Grandma & Grandpa, and Uncle Jay, Aunt Nancy and Cousin Cash. Shirl (Eric’s mom) made a fabulous meal that included a 24lb turkey! Claire munched down on green beans and then joined me in one of my favorite Thanksgiving Day traditions - an after-feasting nap.
Cousin Cash is 14 months old and walking all over the place (ie: into everything!). He wasn’t too interested in Claire, but he did want to grab the bow off her head and bounce her right out of the bouncy seat! They both absolutely loved this silly stuffed turkey that played the chicken dance song. I think I’d be perfectly alright without ever hearing that song again…
We skipped our usual tradition of shopping on Black Friday for two reasons - the most important being I had to work from home this year. Also, we weren’t impressed with the circulars and the advertised sales. I had thought with the current state of the economy, the deals would have been better. We were going to hit the outlet malls in Myrtle Beach on Saturday, but the rainy weather ruined that plan. Nan and I took Claire and Cash to a few shops in Wilmington, but getting two babies in and out of the car in the rain was just more than we wanted to mess with. We stayed at the mall for a bit, and managed to get a couple of Christmas presents marked off our lists.
Saturday evening we were back at the beach, enjoying some fabulous turkey tettrazini. Cash was all over the place, trying his hardest not to fall asleep, and Claire was smiling up a storm. Getting the two of them together in a good picture is hard to say the least - below was the best one from our attempt and a shot of Cash and Grandma playing.
All in all, it was a great Holiday and we’ll head back to Raleigh today tired and stuffed. There are a lot more pictures - check out the Thanksgiving (Week 23) photo gallery.
Eric, Claire and I wish all our friends and family a happy Thanksgiving. We’re thankful for all the Lord has blessed us with, especially our little turkey.
Thanks to Claire’s Auntie Bonnie for the adorable onesie and hair bow!
Has it really been a little over 5 months since this sweet girl stole our hearts with her arrival?? I just can’t believe it. Just like the previous months, this one has been filled with new things for Claire.
She got her first taste of solids with some rice cereal, followed by carrots, peas and green beans. So far she’s a very good eater and we don’t have any problems getting her to eat vegetables. In fact, there’s only a problem when you don’t feed her fast enough.
Claire is quite the cuddle-bug. I absolutely love to roll around with her on my bed, letting her hands and fingers explore my face. She likes it when we sing songs with actions. Her favorites are “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” (where the “rain” tickles her) and “The Lord’s Army” (especially when she “flies over the enemies”). She also loves playing with her new favorite toy, Tad the Frog, and the two of them salsa dancing is really a sight!
She fits nicely on my hip now, and prefers to be there more than anywhere else. Her smiles in the morning are so fulfilling that there are times when Eric and I practically race to her bedroom to be the first to see them.
Daddy loves to kiss on Claire’s ears…and toes too!
She’s definitely taken a growth spurt this month. She was in size 2 diapers for about 2 weeks before moving to the size 3 ones. She also takes an 8oz bottle most of the time instead of the previous 6oz - and that’s in addition to the solids! I took her to Dr. Coleman last week to take a look at her goopy eye (just a bit of an infection that cleared up quickly with some ointment) and she weighed a little over 15 pounds with her clothes and diaper on. I can tell - she’s heavy!
Claire is still super active, hating to be still for long and loving to be out and about in the baby carrier. She prefers to stand instead of sitting or laying on her back. It won’t surprise me at all if she walks early with her strong legs and curious nature. When she gets excited, she kicks like crazy and waves her right arm around. Daddy calls these “Wiggle Fits”. You see these mostly when she’s eating, of course.
She is rolling over, but prefers to do it in the middle of the night (while swaddled!) and scare her mommy and daddy instead of during tummy time when they’re encouraging her. I hear she’s quite the roller at daycare, apparently she doesn’t want to be outdone by the other babies!
Absolutely love this picture - look at those big sparkling blue eyes!
Speaking of nighttime - Claire is a good little sleeper these days. She starts her bedtime routine around 7 pm (cereal/veggie, bath, massage, story, bottle or nurse) and is asleep around 8 pm. Most nights she doesn’t wake up until around 5 am, and lately we’ve noticed that she’ll even go back to sleep without eating if left to cry for just a few minutes, or re-swaddled if she’s wiggled free. She’ll then sleep until we wake her or around 7:30 am. Of course, there are always the exceptions to this, but most of the time she does well. Upon waking, she is ready to gobble up some cereal and attacks the spoon like her life depends on it!
I wish I could say the same about her napping. Although she’s doing well in her new daycare class and sleeping on schedule for the most part, she refuses to do so at home. Getting her to fall asleep is not a problem - STAYING asleep is. Every now and then we’ll get hour-long naps, but the past few days I’ve been home with her she’s up after 15-30 minutes. Amazingly enough, sometimes she’s not even fussy - she just wants to play. I think she’s afraid she’ll miss something if she sleeps for too long. Don’t know where she gets that…
Still no teeth, but I know it won’t be long. She has been drooling and gnawing on stuff for quite a while now. I had to get her a new teether ring - her last one didn’t survive my brilliant idea of using the bottle sterilizer to clean it…
Her laughter is my favorite part of this month. It’s contagious and adorable! Check out the video below of her giggling up a storm while I tickle her. I’ve added new photos from the past week, including several where Claire was actually holding the camera (trying to eat it) and I had it on the macro (close-up) setting, clicking away. They turned out pretty cute, in my opinion anyways. Check out the week 22 photo gallery.
With Thanksgiving tomorrow, Daddy at home hanging out with the Wiggles today, and momma putting in one more day at the office before we head to the beach, I thought I’d take this opportunity to make a post about what the Wiggles and I are thankful for.
And what are we thankful for? That would be Claire’s wonderful mother, and my beautiful wife, Colleen!
For the past 5 months, it’s been amazing to watch how fast Claire’s (yes, I used her REAL name this time) growing and changing from one week to the next. Colleen has sacrificed two days out of the week to work from home just so she can be with Claire as much as possible. Those days are not easy on anyone, but Colleen does it because she loves our daughter and wants the best for her as she continues to grow. While at home Colleen spends a lot of time playing with her, feeding her, changing her diaper - all while trying to work from home as well. Oh, and she tries to do house chores on these days as well (laundry, cleaning, etc.). She drops off and picks up Claire from daycare and sticks around as much as possible to learn as much as she can from the ladies who work there.
As if making sure Claire has everything she needs isn’t enough of a full-time job, Colleen does everything she can to provide for me as well. She makes my lunches for school, she keeps our website updated, and plans out our dinners. In addition to that, she is also the master planner when it comes to what to get who for Christmas (thank God, because you don’t want me in charge of that). I think she enjoys that aspect, but it is another thing on her plate.
I know there are a million other things that either I can’t think of at the moment or don’t witness all that often that she does to help our family running smoothly, but the Wiggles and I just want to say how appreciative we are of EVERYTHING that you do for us!
In honor of Claire’s 5 month birthday (longer post coming soon), I put together another baby/parent picture comparison. But I quickly realized there was absolutely no point in showing a photo of myself as a baby. Claire is 100% her daddy made-over. I just wish he’d stop calling her “Mini Me…”
We lost the house to another buyer. Yes, this is the THIRD time this has happened. We find peace in knowing that the Lord has something special planned for us, we just have to stay patient. Easier said than done!
Claire is laughing a lot more, thus tickling her belly has become one of our favorite things to do. Her favorite toys of the week are Baby Tad (a learning frog from the Bloms) and the exersaucer (thanks, Jack!).
She moves into the 4-8 month daycare class on Monday. This will be a big change for her, mainly because they have scheduled naps. I’m hoping she does well with it so I can count on a 10-11 and 1-3 nap each day as well. AND…apparently she’s rolled over - both ways - at daycare. We still haven’t got to witness it, but know she’ll be impressing us with her new skill soon.
Claire got her first taste of carrots this week - and LOVES them! We quickly discovered just how messy feeding an infant pureed food can be. Below is a video clip of Claire loving her some carrots (and mommy cracking up at her expressions).
This past Saturday, we met Eric’s co-worker, Julie, her husband, Dan, and daughter, Callie, at the Streets of Southpoint. We ate a late lunch in the food court, then took a stroll around the mall, stopping only at Baby Gap (love that place!). Julie and I swapped baby stories while Callie slept in the stroller. Dan and Eric chatted about video games. And Claire? She stayed happy watching the sights while strapped to Daddy’s chest. It was nice to have some adult interaction and the kiddos seemed to enjoy themselves as well. Below are a couple of photos we snapped. Claire is 20 weeks and Callie is around 6 months. They look very different from the last time they met!
If there is anything I’ve learned over the past 20 weeks of Claire’s life, it’s that she is about as predictable as the weather. Case in point - rice cereal. As much as she loves to eat, I figured she’d jump at the chance to eat anything that even resembled food. I was all excited to offer her the first taste of “solids” and had the video camera ready to capture what I just knew would be an expression of utter joy on her face. I was wrong. She was definitely not a fan. See video below…
What I didn’t know is that this is apparently a very common reaction to cereal among the little ones. So, I kept trying over the next few days. After being rejected for the third or fourth time, I had conceded and was about to give her a bath when I decided to give it one last effort. Amazingly enough, she had changed her mind and decided she liked it. I yelled for Eric to grab the video camera and he captured this short video…
And now? Well, she’s a very happy girl when cereal time rolls around. I can’t feed her fast enough, and to prove her point, she’ll stuff her hands all in it and lick her fingers. Check out the video below of our little goober munching away.
We’ve been feeding her in the Bumbo seat, but are going to get a high chair this weekend in hopes it will help keep her a bit more upright. What’s next? Humm….I’m thinking peas or carrots….Yum Yum!
The twentieth week of Claire’s life has been a busy one. She watched daddy play basketball twice (church and YMCA leagues) - one of her absolute favorite things to do. She was a witness to mommy and daddy signing offer papers on yet another house…our third try in a 1 1/2 years. No word yet, but we’re staying optimistic and know that the Lord has something special planned for us.
My ultimate favorite moment of the week was hearing my precious girl laugh out loud for the first time. She had been holding out on us, keeping that adorable little giggle all to herself for over 19 weeks! The monumental event was brought on by me tickling her belly with my mouth when changing her diaper. Eric was in the other room, but heard the sweet sound on the baby monitor. I only wish she’d let us hear it a bit more - just one laugh is all we’ve been blessed with so far. I guess we’ll just keep having to tickle the mess out of this happy little goober…
