www.ericandcolleen.com

Not much time for posting these days. We are extremely busy doing all things related to moving and buying a home. We close in just 5 days! We have hired a painter to paint (obviously) all the dark wood trim and doors on the first floor a bright white. He’ll be working in the home starting Wed. and finishing up on Fri. The BIG move-in day (we’ll be bringing boxes over a bit here and there) will be on Saturday. Please pray for a smooth, relatively stress-free closing and moving. We’re excited, but ready to be done!

Today was Claire’s last day in the Older Babies class at daycare. Next week she’ll move to the Young One’s. She’ll take a longer nap (12:30 - 3:00) and get to play outside on the toddler equipment. We know she’ll love that! I’m sad that she’s moving up for a lot of reasons, but mainly because she’s leaving Miss Chermere’s classroom. Claire loves Miss Chermere and I’m a big fan of the cute hairdos she gives Claire each day. I only wish I were that talented! Here’s one of my fave pics of my pigtailed cutie-pie.

This weekend we’re trying out a gymnastics class, going to a large outdoor puppet show, and doing a LOT of packing! I’m hoping to get a bit of rest in there as well. I have a feeling we’re all going to need it next week.

More photos in the updated August 2009 photo gallery,  including some from Claire’s first visit to Chuck E. Cheese (and subsequently first temper tantrum when it was time to go). We love how she didn’t care if you actually “played” the games - definitely cheaper that way! Her favorite game? A telephone, of course!

Note: If you are reading this in email or on Facebook, you’ll need to visit our website, www.ericandcolleen.com to view the video. If you’re already here, welcome!

This past week was Colleen’s company-mandated furlough, so we decided to make the best of it and take our family of three to Aunt Beth and Uncle Joe’s lake house on Lake Hartwell (South Carolina) for a few days.  As always, they were very gracious hosts and even turned the house over to us for a few days after they went back to Atlanta for work (sucks for you guys!).  Also as always, Uncle Joe kept me up waaaaay past my bedtime drinking beer.  If only I had a dollar for everytime I’ve heard “I think I’ll have just ONE more.”  Good times though, as usual!

While we were there, a buddy of mine, Jason Scofield, his wife, Tricia, and their 2 year old, Caleb, made a very short pitstop at the lake house while on their way from Maryland to Alabama.  We last saw them in 2006 before either of us had kids, so it was good to meet each family’s new addition in person (instead of looking at pictures on the computer). Here’s a couple of pictures of Claire and Caleb playing ping-pong (or at least their version of it) in their swim diapers right after a trip down to the lake!

While at the lake house, a few things happened that were just absolutely wonderful.  First and most importantly, Claire slept in like a champ the whole time we were there, as well as took very good-sized naps during the day, which made mommy and daddy very happy!  And secondly, Colleen and I did absolutely NOTHING other than read books and watch movies from Beth and Joe’s movie collection.  Speaking of the movie collection, it needs some UPDATING!!  If you have Beth or Joe this year for Christmas, get them some movies that were made this decade and at least made it to the big screen.  Some of those movies weren’t even good enough for Lifetime to pick them up, if that tells you anything!  haha  It was nice not having cell phone reception or an internet connection while we were there, which definitely helped Colleen and I “unplug” for a little while.

Other than the aforementioned naps, books, and movies, we also spent quite a bit of time in the lake.  The water temperature was perfect and the drinks were nice and cold.  Let me put into perspective what Joe and I did pretty much all day Saturday:  We sat on life vests in the lake.  That’s it.  And it was AWESOME.  Of course, we sat on the life vests so that we were at the correct height to keep our drinks out of the water.  Can you say “Real Men of Genius?”  Here’s a few pics:

Thanks again to Aunt Beth and Uncle Joe for allowing us to visit such an amazing place!  We’ve got the beach 2 1/2 hours away, the lake house 4 hours away, and the mountains of western North Carolina around 3 hours away.  Can’t beat it!

Note: If you are reading this in email or on Facebook, you’ll need to visit our website, www.ericandcolleen.com to view the videos. If you’re already here, welcome!

Claire is growing, changing and learning SO fast! Since my last post about a week ago, she’s already added several things to her “I can do that” list. Here’s a quick run-down of what the little booger is up to at 13 1/2 months:

She knows where her ears are and will pull on them when asked. She’s working on finding her nose. She gets it confused with her mouth, but knows it’s somewhere on her face!

If you pucker and smack your lips or ask for a kiss, she’ll obligingly lean her forehead toward you. SO cute! We ask for a lot of kisses around here!

She LOVES to bring mommy or daddy a book, gesture for us to pick her up, then cuddle on our lap for a story. Current favorites are “102 Dalmatians” and “Dance with Brobee” (a character from her fave TV show). I think I read each of these at least 10 times a day. She likes to point to all the objects and is quickly picking up on familiar items. I couldn’t be more thrilled that my little girl would rather sit in my lap and read than do anything else. Except maybe eat. She does love to eat!

She enjoys shopping, but doesn’t like to ride in the stroller for long periods of time. She’d prefer to walk around, blowing kisses at strangers. She’s got a big personality, and likes to be noticed - by anyone and everyone! She still likes to pull things off the shelves, but thinks “helping” mommy put them back is fun too.

She is now the proud owner of yet another molar. Total teeth count = 12.

If she finds a hair brush, she immediately gives her pretty strands a quick fix.

Climbing, sliding and swinging - all super fun! We make a lot of playground trips these days. Definitely looking forward to the new home and the two parks within walking distance. In the meanwhile, she entertains herself on her slide and swing castle (a birthday gift from mommy and daddy). She also could spend hours climbing on and off our poor couch.

She will dance on demand, as well as soak you with water during her bath (”splish, splash!”) and push the horn in her little car (”beep, beep!”). Still not speaking any words, but understands many (”close”, “drink”, “bite”, “more”, “all done”, “book” and plenty of others).

Bare feet, beware! She loves to tickle toes!

She loves to video chat with grandparents and with mommy (when I’m at work and Eric’s home with her). She’s not shy to show off her new talents and likes to point to the other person (while putting her face as close as possible to the screen).

She is a fan of Italian food. Ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti, ziti, pizza….anything that involves noodles and cheese is a winner!

She hates to have her teeth brushed, but tolerates daddy doing it more so than mommy.

If she’s standing in front of a mirror and you ask “Where’s Claire?”, she will point to her reflection (and grin like a goober). She also points to mama and dada when asked.

We’re pretty sure she’s said her first word (other than “uh-oh”). On two separate occasions, she’s pointed to a dog and said “dah!” This strikes me as odd because we don’t have a dog, she doesn’t see them often, and I call them puppies in her book.

She’s mommy’s little helper these days. She loves to assist with unloading the dishwasher, stirring, throwing away the trash, etc.

That’s all I can think of for now. I’m sure she’ll do something extremely amazing tomorrow and it will take me two weeks to finally post about it. Ha! More pictures in the new August 2009 photo gallery - enjoy!