The next weekend Ryan had to be in Wisconsin Rapids for hockey. Before we headed over to central WI for the weekend, though, our good friend Chris decided to ask a very important question to a very important girl, Anju (aka 'Juice'). Hence, we headed town to Madison on that Friday afternoon for what we hoped would be an engagement celebration.
And of course, Juice said yes, so we were at a party after all! We had a great time celebrating with Chris, Juice, their families and our friends that evening. Later that night, we drove up to Ashley and JJ's house in Steven's Point to spend the weekend there.
The subsequent weekend Ryan, I and 10 of our friends participated in the Great River Ragnar Relay from Winona, MN to Minneapolis (193 miles in between) on one of the muggiest, nastiest weekends I can remember. Claire stayed at home and Grandma Penny and Grandpa John came to sit with her. We had a great time running (I know--who would have ever thought that I would say I had fun running) that relay. While we were away (our longest hiatus from our little baby, btw), we had torrential downpours in our area. Below is a picture of our street.
There is water four feet up our yard from the overflowing street. Thank goodness we didn't get any water in our basement!!!I decided to get out of town for a couple of days before the semester started, so I packed up Claire and headed to my parents' house while Ryan stayed in town for some hockey business. My aunt, uncle, and cousins were visiting and staying with my grandparents, so they all headed over to my parent's home for dinner the first night I was home. It was great to see my extended family. We only get a chance to see one another once a year (if that) because they all live so scattered across the country. The next couple of days were enjoyable--we had great weather. I, however, got some sort of stomach bug and ended up having to have my mom drive Claire and I back to Green Bay to stay with us until I recovered. Ever since having Claire, I swear, that Ryan and I have fallen victim to more sickness than ever before in our lives!
School started in its usual frenzy and we're still trying to get our feet under us. It's been a challenge getting back into the normal day-to-day schedule--particularly since we have to get Claire off to day care in the mornings. I am still at home with her two days out of the week, so that helps a lot.
The first week in October was the first weekend that I can recall where we didn't have anything really planned. That Saturday Ryan had his college hockey meeting in Milwaukee so Claire and I hit the farmers market and hung out--just us girls. On Sunday, Ryan and I took Claire to an orchard and ended up staging photos of getting a pumpkin for her.
'I'm going to get you daddy!'
We were really planning on purchasing a pumpkin, but the place we went only took cash, so we snapped some photos and then left! Whoops! we got some really cute pictures, though. This past weekend we also had some much needed down time. We went and actually got Claire her pumpkin (at a different pumpkin patch), on Saturday morning and had such a great time doing that. The weather was absolutely gorgeous this weekend which was great because my cousin Sam got married in Kaukauna. We, along with my mom, dad, and brother, headed down to celebrate with our extended family. We had a very nice time.
So now, onto how Claire is growing. Claire had her 9 month appointment not long after my last post. Claire was 27 inches long and 17 pounds...25th percentile for weight and 65 percentile for height...quite the long lean girl. Right around the time we went to NY, she started cutting teeth on the top. She didn't get her front teeth in, however, she got what we thought were her canines (which turned out to be her lateral incisors). Cutting teeth isn't just uncomfortable for the baby, let me tell you...it can be a miserable experience for parents too. Before she got those teeth in, she was sleeping through the night for almost 11 hour stretches. As soon as those teeth started coming in, however, she started getting up 2, 3, 4 times a night. She also started getting a serious diaper rash, nasty (and I mean NASTY) poops, and a generally unpleasant disposition (usually near bedtime). For quite some time, she looked like a little vamipire with these little pointed fangs that she constantly tried to sink into anyone in proximity to her. Her favorite tactic was to fake snuggling and then grasp both sides of one's face with her little claws and then attack with a wide open mouth (usually going for the nose or cheekbones).
We were getting slightly concerned (as I am sure all first time parents are) about whether Claire was going to be on track or behind developmentally because she wasn't crawling, didn't seem too interested in rolling and had absolutlely not started pulling up on furniture yet. About half way through August she decided to start army-crawling and was pretty comfortable dragging herself around the house. As soon as that began, it's like a lightbulb went off in her head and she had no problem pulling herself up from a prone position to sitting. She didn't, however, make the connection between army crawling and getting her legs underneath her for a couple of weeks.
When she started crawling, I swear, I was just watching her sit forward on her hands, rock a couple of times, and then crawl two 'steps'?. She continued in that manner all day long, almost like she was testing the water to see how she liked it. The next day, you couldn't stop her. Now days, she can sprint down the hallway to go after something--either something she isn't supposed to be near (like nightlights in outlets) or when Ryan comes in the door when he gets home from work. She is a little machine.
She loves to be in her walker and she runs around the kitchen, living room, and hallway when she's in it. Occasionally the wheels get caught on a rug, but otherwise, she's moving.
tuckered out!
She's also pulling up on everything she can. She stands up in her crib, she pulls up on the couch, coffee table, chairs, and so on. She can even get herself standing if she's next to a wall...it's like she has little suction cups on her hands. We put this foam edging around our coffee table and corners in the hopes of preventing major injuries (she whacked her head twice in one week and had immediate goose-eggs/bruises!!) from occurring. Now that she's a little steadier on her feet it's not such an issue, especially since she just keeps trying to pull the foam off of the furniture--successfully too. She loves to climb over people too. If we lay on the floor, she'll go out of her way to find the most challenging manner to scale over us...usually to face-plant on her way back to earth. She loves it. She also likes to turn herself around 360 degrees while seated. She'll extend one leg 30 degrees or so, then bring her other leg around together with her first and keeps repeating that pattern until she's completed a full rotation. It's so funny to watch.
She's such a noisy girl. She got around to saying 'dah-dah' first. We were sitting in the car: me, Ryan, Ashley and Claire. We were driving somewhere and Ashley was playing with her in the back--mimicking. Ashley said 'say 'dah-dah''! and all of a sudden, clear as day...she did it! She didn't say 'mmmmh' sounds for several weeks after that, but eventually she added that sound to her expanding vocal repertoir. Now she makes all kinds of sound and is pretty good at 'dah-dah', 'muh-muh', and 'bah-bah' (which she uses when she sees a big bottle). She loves blowing air out of puckered lips and inflated cheeks--sometimes, well ususally, when she's eating. Needless to say, that's messy business. She also does the reverberating brrrrb thing with her lips all the time and loves to run her fingers back and forth over her lips when making that sound...she loves to hear all of the different sounds she can make. I know she's gonna be a big talker.
Personality-wise, she's still a really good girl. She does really well at daycare, seems to like and be ok with almost everybody, and for the most part, is content and happy. She's just starting to go through a stranger phase and lately, has been a total momma's girl. She's still happy to have Ryan pick her up and satisfy her every whim, but whenever she's not feeling good or is very tired (which seems lately to be all the time), it seems like she only wants me--very heartwarming, but at times, very exhausting. Her only thing is that she HATES to be alone. She'll scream if we leave her in a room by herself. Ususally she'll follow us throughout the house, but if she can't come with (e.g., to the basement, garage), she will just lose it. Her two front teeth are coming in right now, so again, all of the nasty side effects are plaguing this household...especially the disrupted sleep. Ryan and I dream of having babysitters relieve us for a weekend so that we can take a nice little getaway together...to sleep. No, seriously, we want to get away so that we can sleep.
Until that time comes, we're absolutely enthralled with Claire. She is such a blast and blessing. It amazes me that almost a whole year has gone by. It both a happy and a little bit sad...that time has flown so quickly makes me realize that this is just the way that life is going to be from here on out. More to come soon on our adventure-filled life.
Lots of love,
Katie & Ryan
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