With how fast time is flying by, I have a feeling that in the blink of an eye, Claire will be turning 1. I wish there was some way to slow down time and to keep her little for just a bit longer. Every morning when she wakes up, I feel like she visibly looks older and I’m reminded how important it is to be present in every moment with her because before I know it, we’ll be looking at colleges. Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic. 🙂

This past month was really a whirlwind of events, traveling, holidays, and really seeing Claire’s personality come out in full force. She is definitely a girl who knows what she wants and is so incredibly active. She’s so happy, sassy, and full of energy . I really have no idea where she could have gotten her opinionated personality from! 😉

Here’s the rundown of Claire at 8 months old:

• Weight: No idea… but I definitely know she’s growing!
• Loves:
  • To chew on pillow corners.
  • To babble and talk. It’s the cutest noise in the whole world.
  • To eat any remote control in sight.
  • To scream at the top of her lungs. It’s a happy scream but it’s quite loud. She definitely has mastered the range of noises that her vocal chords can make.
  • To flap her arms when she gets excited. It almost looks like she’s going to take off.
  • To walk around with mommy and daddy’s help. She gets the biggest smile on her face.
  • To crawl all over. She’s quite the active little one and definitely keeps us busy!
  • Her Papa (my dad). She is absolutely mesmerized by him and has a huge smile whenever he’s around.
  • To stand up on anything and everything. When she gets excited (for example, when we “teach her how to drive”), she stiffens her entire body and grunts. It’s too funny to watch.
  • To stick out her tongue.
  • When we give her hugs.

• Hates:
  • Diaper changes. She tries to roll over the entire time we’re doing it.
  • When we take things away with her that she wanted to play with – Zoe’s toys… cords… remotes… you know, all the fun stuff in her mind.
  • She’s not the biggest fan of the car anymore. She’ll still fall asleep pretty quickly but she’s more likely to fight being in the car lately.

• Talents:
  • For a week or two, I could say “1…2…3…say cheese!!” and she would turn and give me a big chessy grin. She would only do it for me but I think once people got wind of this talent and they tried it for themselves with Claire, it lost it’s novelty for her and so she’s stopped doing it. We’re back to square one with trying everything possible to get her to smile for a photo.

• Sleeping:
  • She’s down to 1 or 2 naps a day. It happened all of a sudden on New Years Eve and she’s been doing it ever since. It’s amazing how quickly the routine can change!

• Other Random Facts:
  • She’s getting more hair!! Now, she can legitimately have bed head when she wakes up in the morning.
  • She’s been on a total of 8 planes in her lifetime now – so basically she’s a pro at traveling. The last plane we were on had the worst turbulence I’ve ever been experienced in my life (I flew up an inch or two in my seat at one point and, yes, I was buckled in just loosely) but, Claire, no big deal for her. She didn’t seem phased at all.
  • She’s very independent but wants mommy or daddy nearby at all times.
  • She is more willing to eat food and we got a baby food maker for Christmas! Our first batch wasn’t the biggest hit with her but we are going to keep trying. We are SO excited to make food for her. As far as what foods she loves at this point – pears, apples, strawberries, bananas, spinach, and she loves this pear, cinnamon, and oatmeal mixture as well as a strawberry, bananas and peaches mixture. We’ve fed her more than just those foods but those ones she seems to get excited about.
  • She has the best giggle in the entire world, just saying.

And to close out this post, here are a few of my favorite photos of her from the past few days.

Her ultimate cheesy grin