Palmer Life

Just some extra cute pictures

2010-11-23T15:18:00.003-07:00

Bath time

2010-11-23T15:08:00.002-07:00

I can honestly say I've waited for the day these two could tub together. It is so cute. Warren LOVES it and will try to dive out of your arms to get in there. It's so cute to see them splashing and playing with all of the toys. They will stay in there for hours if you'd let them.

Halloween

2010-11-23T14:47:00.003-07:00

Halloween was more fun this year even though it was on a Sunday! I think I like that best to be honest. I know I won't feel that way when my kids are over, but it was awesome. We had a huge trunk or treat at the church, and then a wonderful soup night on Sunday with the Palmer clan. We didn't have to rush the soup and we just stayed there are the kids handed out candy to trick or treaters. It was really fun! Claire was a fairy, Warren was a robot, and in this picture we were going to my YW activity so I dressed up as Warren's inventor. It was really last minute and the best I could do!!
She loves this costume and wears it all the time. I had to leave it at my mom's house until Halloween or she would have worn it and ruined it before Halloween even got here!
Sean dressed up for the trunk or treat complete with his own dental creation. His fangs looked awesome and although it looks like he is terrifying her, she was laying down before this happened and didn't even know he was behind her. Don't worry!
Us at the trunk or treat. I didn't get dressed up, but I did hand out the candy, and I decorated the car for that!

I need to take a better picture of Warren in his costume. He looked so cute. He helped me hand out the candy. I couldn't believe how many kids were there. It was insane.

Some festivities

2010-11-23T14:29:00.002-07:00

Way back in October, we were supposed to go to Kalispell with my whole family, but people got sick and my parents and us didn't want to risk getting sick too, so we stayed here for our own Thanksgiving. It was wonderful might I add!!
Claire got new glasses. We couldn't find hers anywhere so we got these (LOVE THEM). Of course, a little while later, we found the old ones, and then she broke them.
He can stand!! Not really, but isn't it cute anyway?
I just love this face. For some reason, it reminds me of a face I would make. She's a ball of energy and a total drama queen!!
He looks totally unimpressed hey? I decided I need to take more pictures, so this is just a random day for fun!!!

I'm back! We'll see for how long??

2010-11-23T11:30:00.002-07:00

I thought I would try to add some stuff that has happened around here. I've been ridiculous at this. Warren is going to be 7 months next week and I have no posts of him. That's just sad. Poor boy. We do love him and we do take pictures of him, there just doesn't seem to be enough time to post any of it.

We finally got to put Warren in the jolly-jumper, and he LOVES it! It's a lot more hazardous for him than it ever was for Claire though. If we don't keep a close watch, Claire will swing him. Danger!
As you can see, he can't do it on his own very often.
I love this one because of how he looks. He LOVES Claire and will frantically search for her and the erupt in laughter once he sees her. It's the cutest thing!
This is just life. Trying to balance them both has been harder for me that I would have guessed. Claire isn't the easiest going girl and we are trying to figure out how to make everything work. She is asleep here and I just love how Warren's got his hand on her. Sibling love!

The boy is here! Early!

2010-05-08T11:13:00.004-06:00

Warren Michael Palmer joined us last Wednesday (2.5 weeks early) weighing 7lb14oz, and 20.75 inches long. I woke up at 4am to my water breaking in bed. Lovely. I saw a group of midwives for this pregnancy, so right away I paged them. I wasn't having any contractions so she told me to go back to bed and when the contractions started, I should page again. Well since he was early, I had NOTHING prepared, AGAIN!! So instead, I got up to pack a bag, Michael and I both showered, and in doing all of this, I started to get some minor contractions. So we called my mother in law to come over and be with Claire and we got in the car and headed to the hospital. We got there about 7am, and he was born at 11:03am. I did pretty well until the hour before he was born. That was pretty rough. Then I only pushed for 8 minutes (it felt like an hour) and he was here! We are happy to have him with us, and I can't believe how easy he is compared to Claire! My parents are in Europe and Michael's parents went to Hawaii a few days after he was born. It's been Michael and me dealing with the 2 for the most part (except for help from wonderful sisters where they can!). Michael has to head back to work next week and my parents aren't back until the 13th, so we might move in with Lara for a few days so I don't have a nervous break down on my own. Here are some of the pictures that Heather has taken for us. It's so nice to have a photographer in the family!!

For ALL of the pictures, go to here

Best Friends

2010-02-28T22:42:00.003-07:00

I watched Jaclyn a while ago, and the girls had a blast playing together. They went into her room and were really quiet for a while. I was nervous as to what I would find since silence is usually not a good sign. But, when I went into them, they were sitting in the closet together. Not doing anything really, just sitting and loving it! It was so cute that I had to snap some pictures! They sure love each other.

Baby Boy Palmer

2010-02-28T22:37:00.002-07:00

It's sad to me that it's taken me this long to post baby boy's first pictures. We are excited to be having a boy. It eliminates the worry that we won't get one of each. I'm now 29 weeks along, and it seems like there's no way my skin could stretch anymore. I'm getting nervous to do a tiny baby again, but I'm excited to have a baby around. I can't believe how much faster this pregnancy has gone for me. The time is flying by.

Birthday Party

2010-02-28T21:54:00.005-07:00

We had a big party for Claire this past weekend. We had both families, Ryan and Jessica Salmon and kiddies, Ryan and Camilla Pratt and baby Everee, and her great grandparents. We gathered at the church and had yummy food, and the kids ran around like crazy. I put together a small scavenger hunt for all of the kids, and it was cute to see them get so excited. The funny thing is that Claire couldn't have cared less about it and wasn't even with the group when they finally found their treasure. She did like her bag of candy however! Erin made her a darling and delicious cake. She also made cupcakes and that's what Claire chose to eat. I guess she really didn't eat it, she just stabbed the frosting with her fork, but she sat forever doing it! She got spoiled with presents, but was so into her tootsie pop that she didn't seem to care (nice). Thank you everyone, since we've been home, she's been thrilled with her gifts! All in all, it was an awesome party. There was no stress of watching kids. We had the whole building, and they could run where they wanted. Most of all, it was just nice to have family around for her special day. We love you booba!
A sick picture of us, but I had to post it just to remember!
She loved everyone singing to her, but she wasn't quite sure what she was supposed to do with the candles.
The awesome cake! Thanks again Erin!
The gift opening. She's not smiling in any of the...little stinker!

The big update!

2010-02-28T10:19:00.003-07:00

The girl got glasses!! We're working on her actually wearing them now. For quite some time, we have noticed that Claire's left eye would turn in. It happened mostly when she would look down at her tray of food and look back up. She would look up and be cross eyed. She also looked at books strangely. We decided to take her and and get her checked out, and sure enough, after some testing, we found out that she is farsighted. So, the solution is glasses. She is supposed to wear them all day long. It's been 2 days since we got them and she's far from going all day long in them. We're going to be persistent though. The glasses should help her eye from permanently turning in (which is probably what would happen if we didn't get her treated). We're happy we caught it this early and now we just hope that no one will ever make her think that she is anything but beautiful in them!

And...she's 2!!

2010-02-27T08:46:00.005-07:00

I can't believe this day has come already, but 2 years ago (3.5 weeks early), this little peanut entered our world. What a blessing she has been to everyone around her. We never thought that parenthood would be so much fun. I just can't believe these past 2 years have gone so fast. Michael has been putting all of our home movies onto our computer, and just watching the time that has gone by is so emotional for me. I feel like I didn't soak it all up enough. So here's a little on Claire just so we can remember.

2 years old
She says everything and talks and sings like crazy
She LOVES princesses.
She loves Disney movies and can sing most of the songs.
She loves to wear dresses and often when she's watching a disney movie, she makes you change her into a dress.
She can throw the hugest tantrum and literally make it impossible for you to dress her in anything she doesn't want to wear. Awesome!
She loves her friends and family and talks about them often
She loves to run and play and be outside. Sadly, it's still freezing here so we don't get out as often as we would like
She loves nursery now (not so much at first) and will talk about her nursery leader (Sis. Makahashi-really Sis. Takahashi).
She is a bundle of energy constantly, and I'm trying really hard to keep up with her as my belly grows!

We love you Claire, and are so happy you have come into our lives. We couldn't be more blessed! Happy Birthday!

Another pictureless post

2010-02-13T09:59:00.003-07:00

I'm sitting in my living room watching Peter Pan for the 100th time and I can't find anything else to look at online. Does anyone else have trouble keeping themselves occupied after checking your email, facebook, blogs, and people.com? Well I do. Michael can stay on the computer for hours with new things to research. Me...not so much. So, instead of watching the dreaded movie, I thought I'd document how AWFUL our night was last night. Claire is sick, the sickest she's ever been. She's fevered, runny nose, brutal cough. Sleeping last night was non existent for us. She was up coughing, which made her puke, which called for a tub, which really woke her up, which caused endless movie watching. Luckily Michael was home and he let me sleep a little in between all that. I don't know what I would have done without that. She was up from about 2-8 this morning, and then fell asleep again for about and hour and 15 minutes. I don't know how she's not crashed right now. The previous night we were dealing with the fever and Michael was studying so he's gotten no sleep the past 2 nights. Needless to say, he's in bed right now. I hope he stays there for a while. Sick kids are so hard! I'm glad we got this major sickness out of the way before baby comes though. Knock on wood!! I'm hopeful that we're past the worst part now. The brutal part is that Michael's going out of town on Monday, and if I get what she has, there will be no one to help me. I'm pumping up on the vitamins!! Anyway, the house is a wreck, and I don't want to tidy it. I've got to try and get Claire to eat something and I think that's it for my complaining. It really is very sad to watch her, and I hope for her sake she can sleep a little better tonight.

On a cuter note. Last night at dinner, we started eating at all different times, and before Claire took a bite, she put her spoon back into her bowl and said "Say prayers." Needless to say, I felt awful being corrected by my almost 2 year old, but super happy at the same time that she knows what we should be doing. Smart girl!

Not even going to offer an excuse

2010-02-10T10:29:00.003-07:00

I'm going to ignore the fact that my last blog post was last year and pretend that I'm really good at this and that you all know what's been going on in my life over the past 4 months. I find it easier that way. The only regret I have is not documenting my little family's life better. There has been a lot that has happened around here. I would post a picture of myself, but I already feel like a truck. I still should document my belly. I feel like it's shaped differently this time actually. But my face, I don't want to document. We'll see what I come up with. Our family is doing well. Claire is surely entering her 2's, because we've had a TON of tantrums over what clothes to wear(she LOVES dresses, but when you live in the arctic tundra, they are not the best choice). She loves to play in water. The sink with her toothbrush, or the shower, or the tub, it doesn't matter just as long as we don't stop her before she wants us to. She loves to be outside. Yesterday we went for a walk and then shoveled the drive way (as best as we could). She carries around her own shovel and tells me what a good helper I am! It's quite cute really. She is sure a chatter box. She's always talking or singing. This morning at 5:30 (brutal) she was singing Pink's "So What" to me in bed. Cute at a normal hour, not so cute at that time! There's also 1 more update about Claire that will be so much better told through a picture, so you'll have to wait! It's exciting, but for some reason makes me a little sad.

We are both getting excited and nervous for our little guy to join us. I don't really know how you deal with more than 1 child at a time, and I'm hesitant to find out. But, since there's no turning back now, we'll do our best!

More Pictures

2009-11-02T09:18:00.004-07:00

Happy Halloween!

2009-11-02T09:00:00.003-07:00

Halloween went WAY better than I had hoped. We started out with soup at Palmer's house, and then we forced Claire into her pumpkin costume. She wasn't too happy with us at first. But, she quickly got over it when she saw all of her cousins were doing the same thing. And then, she quickly understood what they were giving her at the houses. She would take the candy in her hand and hold it until someone gave her something better. Then she would drop it in the bag and hold the new treat! After a few houses, we took her to Mimi and Papa's and then to Lara and Sean's. It was awesome! I'm glad she got so into it. I didn't get the best pictures, but I'm sure Heather will make up for that!!

Thanksgiving

2009-11-02T08:55:00.002-07:00

It's been a while since my parents have done a Thanksgiving dinner. Being pregnant, I was beyond excited to eat it. I didn't get many pictures at all, but I thought I would post what I had to help us remember!

The black eye

2009-11-02T08:53:00.001-07:00

Claire is usually getting hurt as most of you know. This particular time was a heart break though. We were a split second too late from catching her falling down the stairs. This is what she had to show for it. This isn't even when it was at its worst.

Another pea in my pod!!

2009-10-17T21:54:00.001-06:00

This post has no pictures, and not a whole lot of writing, but I just thought I'd mention for anyone who still doesn't know...I'm pregnant again. I'm not feeling at the top of my game, so things like blogging have been put to the side. I figure I should take care of my family with the energy I do have! And that's not going all that well either. Anyway, we're due in May, and I'm excited but nervous because this one was a surprise for us. Oh well, we're grateful for it, and I'll be thrilled as soon as the yucky beginning is over.

One last tidbit

2009-07-01T09:52:00.002-06:00

This morning, Claire was laying in bed with us when she fully tooted. Afterward she says, "poopoo", then pauses for a minute and says "toooot". Nice things we're teaching her hey?

She also just came running into the room saying "uphighs" which is her word for high five. She wanted a few high fives, then she yelled "Yay", and ran out again! Such a weird girl. Oh, and to add onto her word list...things she's said for a while but I forgot to add.
"Ohhh Dude"
"Ohhh geez"
Those 2 started because one day I was changing her, and she had a big poopy diaper so I had to use the diaper I brought just to contain it. I let her up for a second while I rushed to get another diaper, and while she was naked, she peed on the floor. As I see this, I yell "Oh crap", and after that her new favorite word was "oh crap". Since I was raised that this is NOT a good word, I knew my mom would kill me if she ever heard Claire say that. So we learned from that day that we could no longer say that word, and we retrained her to say things that were much less offensive, and just plain cute! You really have to hear her say those 2 phrases to understand the cuteness of it!

The stubborn tired girl

2009-07-01T09:33:00.003-06:00

It's not shocking with a dad like Michael, that Claire is not the biggest fan of sleeping. When she is tired, it takes her a long time to give into the fatigue (unless she's in the car or the chariot on a bike ride). There have been many occasions where we try forever to put her down without success, so we just carry on about the day, and this is what ends up happening...

The other night, after about 1.5 hours of trying to get her to go to sleep, we finally let her out of her crib to run off some energy. About 5 minutes later, we notice that it's really quiet. Michael goes into her room to find her laying on her floor. As soon as she sees him, she starts talking to him like she's not tired at all. So he puts her back into her bed and she's standing up along the rail and then puts her head on the rail and closes her eyes. As soon as Michael sees that, he lays her down again, where she starts talking again about iggle piggle and upsy daisy. So, he takes her out and lets her go and again about 5 minutes later, it's really quiet, so I go into her room and find this...

Finally, she was done!

Book

2009-07-01T09:11:00.003-06:00

Claire absolutely loves to read books. She is constantly bringing them to us and saying "book" so we will pull her onto our laps and read to her. It's so adorable! She would sit and read for hours with you if you would let her. That's how she learned to say "again" actually. So the other day, she brings me this little book that has 3 words that start with the letter F. This is how is went...
Me:"Fish"
Claire: "Gg gg gg goggies"
Me:"Flower"
Claire: "Gg goggies"
Me: "Foot"
Claire: "GOGGIES"
Everything is a goggie(doggie), to her. It's hilarious. She was getting so mad at me for not saying the right word, so she just corrected me over and over again. Funny little munch!

There is also this one book (the one is the picture below) that is her favorite. There are questions on each page that make you count something. So we read it and I count, and she points, and then after each page, she says "good girl" to herself, and we go on. Hilarious!

A few little stories...

2009-06-27T16:27:00.002-06:00

So, yesterday we were at Walmart picking up a few random things. Michael had gone to get some spray paint for a kub car he's making. When Claire and I were done getting what we needed we went to the paint section. I knew he was there, but not sure what isle he was in, so I told Claire to call for him. I was telling her to call "Daddy, Daddy," and all of a sudden she yells out "Bichael"...that's how she says Michael. It was so funny. It's hilarious that she knows that's his name. A lot of the times around the house, if I call to Michael, she will yell "Bichael" right after me. So cute! Last night we went over to Pratt's house so the guys could work on their cars and we also had a hot dog roast and s'mores (oh my gosh I could eat roasted marshmallows until I die!) anyway, they have a trampoline there. The ones with the netting all the way around. So, we put Claire in there and did up all of the zippers, and she was just running around like crazy in there. She LOVED it! She ran into the netting a few times. She would run as fast as she could around it, and fall all over the place, and she was so happy. Her hair was also super staticy and sticking straight up all over her head. I was sad I had no camera with me. Gotta learn to take it with me where ever I go I guess.

What's wrong with me?

2009-06-25T16:36:00.005-06:00

So I've figured out that I'm really bad at updating my blog. I'm sure you all figured that out way before I did though. I think it's the pressure to post pictures along with my ramblings. I have decided however, that it's more important for my family history to write something often, even if I have no pictures. So, to catch up on what my little family has been doing, I'll write a little today. Since the beginning of May, life has been going to fast it seems. Claire had swimming lessons, which she LOVED. We got a few pictures on the iphone, but not the best quality. At least it's proof that she was there though. She loved the water, and learned to really slash in it. She goes all the way under without hesitation, and loved to go down the slide. I would have to wait until the lesson was over to take her on it because if we went during free time, she would squirm to get out of my arms for the rest of the time. She loved to sit on the edge of the pool too, and wasn't afraid to step off the edge either. I had to be really careful to be right there, or she would just get in the water by herself. She's hilarious.

As much as we can, we have been taking family bike rides. It's so nice to be out in the warmth, and we try to take advantage of it because it seems like the countdown is on for fall already. Summer passes so quickly. Claire loves her chariot, and falls asleep more often than not while we're riding. She hated it at first, but now there are no complaints when we put her in it.

We had a big garage sale a few weeks ago. It was the first one I've ever participated in, and I don't know if it was even worth it. It's so much effort, and then to sell things, you practically have to give them away. I'm glad it's done, and I'm glad we now have room in the garage for our bikes.

I got called back into YW's, and I'm actually going to go to girls camp this year. I'm a little nervous to leave Claire. It will be the first time I've ever been away from her. She'll be fine, but I'm not sure about myself. Michael will be keeping her, and she loves him so much she won't even notice I'm gone. I'm the most nervous about the camp site though. I'm not a huge camper, but if you put me somewhere with flush toilets, and showers, I'm alright. Our camp site has 1 outhouse for everyone!! Sick. There are no showers, but there's a creek? I'm not too happy about it, but I know there will be lots of years I won't be able to go at all, so I'm sucking it up and going. Brutal!

We have a few trips coming up for the summer. We're going to Kalispell, and Sand Point. I know we'll go to Invermere in there too, and I'm really excited for all of it!

Lastly, Claire has become the best little talker. Her vocabulary now includes
strawberry
egg
cheese
drink
shoes
home
Heather,Gannon,Brett,Jacey,Canny (her name for Jaclyn),Manny (Madison),Papa, Nana, Mimi
thank you
good girl
you ok?
poopoo
Michael (she calls his name whenever she hears me do it)
book (she brings us books constantly, and would read all day long)
again
night night
She will also count to 3

Basically, she's like a little parrot. She repeats a lot of the things you say, and is always talking. She has a favorite show on tv called In the Night Garden. I don't know if all of you know this show, but it's basically like a teletubbies kind of show. She LOVES this show. We watch it all day long it seems. She know all of the characters, and the first thing she does when she wakes up is say "iggle piggle" (which is the name of the main character). She also knows Upsy Daisy, Makka Pakka who she calls Pakka Pakka, Tombliboos who she calls boos, and everything else on the show. She's afraid of some of the characters though, and she will come running out of her room saying their names. So sad, but so cute! In fact, one night we went on a bike ride and she fell asleep as usual. When we got home, she was out cold. As a test, we turned on one of her iggle piggle toys, and those noises he makes woke her up instantly. She was super excited to see him and in her little tired voice, she just kept repeating his name. I need to take some pictures of her with her toys. She loves them!

Well I think that's all for now. My new goal it to write once a week for my family history, regardless if I have pictures to post! We'll see how that goes!

So since I've taken about 10 pictures in total in the past 2 months, I'm adding these that Heather took. We're very grateful to Heather for documenting our lives way better than we do it! This was Claire's first time in a swing. She wasn't too sure at first, but once we put my coat in behind her and she felt more secure, she LOVED it!! As you can see!

Catch up

2009-05-05T13:42:00.003-06:00

So, it's been forever and so much has happened. We went to Utah for Luke's wedding, and the trip was super quick. I hate that! We didn't get to see everyone we wanted, or do all that we wanted. It just made us feel like we needed a vacation. It was nice to be there for the wedding though! Claire is a little girl now, not so much a baby anymore. Sad. She talks a ton! She's 14 months now, and she runs everywhere. She loves to be outside, but HATES the grass. She freaks out when you put her on it, even if she's in shoes. Weird. She started swimming lessons with Jaclyn, and she loves the water. She's been pretty sick the past few days, and is just starting to get better. It's so sad to watch her. We have our 10 High School reunion this Saturday, and I can't even believe that it's been that long. It's crazy how fast the time goes. I'm excited for it! We got bikes, although mine won't be here for a few more days. Michael got his and we got a chariot for Claire who hasn't ridden in it successfully yet!! She freaks out because she wants to be running around outside, and not strapped in. We're working on it, and looking forward to riding around together. Here's my bike! I LOVE it! It's just what I wanted and I'm so excited to get it!

Invermere

2009-05-05T13:31:00.004-06:00

We made our first trip out to the condo a few weeks ago with Heather and Gannon. I always forget just how much I love it out there. It was so nice to do nothing all day long, and then eat good food at the end! Heather took some more pictures for us out there, and they were so cute I couldn't decide what to leave out, so I didn't really leave any! Claire loved the pool, and strolling along main street. Can't wait for more trips out there!

Just because

2009-03-27T13:03:00.005-06:00

I just thought this one was funny. She's always trying to put things on her head, so I helped her out this time!

1 Year Photo Shoot!!

2009-03-27T09:46:00.006-06:00

So, again, we were lucky enough to have Heather do a photo shoot for Claire's 1 year pictures. I can't even express in words how amazing they turned out! I couldn't be happier with them. We also had a grand idea to get some helium balloons, but we lost them before 1 picture could even be taken...nice. So, enjoy!

She's 1!!!

2009-03-27T09:36:00.006-06:00

So, I'm a month behind on that post, and I have no idea how that happened. On Claire's birthday, we had a big family party at my parent's house. All of the Calgary family was there, minus Kandice and Brett, and we had such a fun time. Claire was a little under the weather to start with, but after we got some motrin into her, she started to perk right up. We had a ballerina birthday cake (we wanted a bunny, but Costco didn't make them), and since it was Sommer's birthday too, she chose tuxedo cake. Claire got so many wonderful presents, and started playing with them right away. She got some new clothes and beautiful new dresses as well. She was spoiled big time! She also had 2 big bruises on her forehead from falling. She's a constant bruise! I tried to take a bunch of pictures, but part way my flash died. I got some fine ones, but for most of them she looks like she doesn't feel well. I'll post them as soon as I can edit a few. I'll have to add to this post later. Here are some of the things Claire was doing at 1

-Of course, she walks EVERYWHERE
-She says quite a few words "Mommy" "Daddy" "Baby" "Ball" "baba" "Mimi" "Papa" "Nana" "Hi" I know there's more but I don't remember right now.
-She sleeps horribly. Yay for me!
-She loves to be around kids
-She weighs 19.3 pounds(25th%), and I don't remember height, but she's in the 50th for that

13 months-
-she is like a little parrot. She tries to repeat everything you say. She has now added to her list of words
-hello, love you, thank you, peekaboo, wow, boo
-she's trying to run, and falling still
-she's a very picky eater. She likes a few foods a lot, but won't branch out too much. She loves eggs, toast, yogurt, strawberries, blackberries, zucchini soup, mac and cheese, cheese, and that's it pretty much, but we're working on it.
-She just learned how to do peekaboo, and it's the cutest thing in the entire world!
-She's become a daddy's girl. She loves to be with him, and she will stand outside the bedroom door banging on it and crying for him when he's asleep.
-She wants to be doing anything you're doing.

I just can't believe how fast the time has gone and how much she's grown. It makes me so sad to realize that I don't have a tiny baby anymore! It's a good thing she still keeps things fun!

Just so I remember

2009-02-19T12:43:00.002-07:00

This post isn't all that fun. I have no pictures of anything, but I just wanted to document our lives for the past little while. This past weekend, we got out of town for a few days...to Edmonton. Not the most exciting of destinations, but it was nice to get out of the normal routine for a little while. We went for Brett's basketball tournament...which they won. It was really fun to watch the games, and Claire LOVED it too. She would dance when they would play music, clap anytime someone else did. Which meant, she would cheer for the other team too, we need to work on that. She walked all around the floor during half time, and LOVED it. She also charmed all of the fans around her. It was really so cute to watch. She loves people! We've had a pretty slow week since we've been home. We fed the missionaries for the first time on Tuesday. That's sad to say it's our first time, but at least we did it this time right? Claire's sleep is brutal, and the night before last (17th), she was up at least once every single hour of the whole stinkin' night. It was tough for me. It's especially hard since Michael's at work, and I do it all alone. The next morning though, we found the culprits. She got her 2 front teeth. We were hoping that they would finally arrive since they've been on the verge forever. So I was thinking that last night's sleep would be awesome since the teeth were here. But, alas, I was up every hour until 3:30 when I realized why. Claire got the stomach flu. AWESOME!! I called Michael to get him home, and got her and my bedding squared away. It was nice he could just come home to us. He let me sleep in this morning, and right now Claire is still asleep in her swing. Going on 3 hours. Poor girl. She was brave, and somehow that makes it harder to watch because she's just looking at you confused, but not sad. So, we're PRAYING that we don't get it too! I'm just hoping that tonight, I will actually get a few consecutive hours of sleep...at least 2 would be nice!

Michael and Claire

2009-02-11T10:19:00.005-07:00

It's no secret that Michael and Claire are bonded. Anyone who is around them, knows just how much this little girl loves her daddy. I guess a few days ago, Michael was at his parents house, and she decided to start showing everyone, and luckily Heather was there to capture it! I am so grateful! I am so in love with these pictures. It's so nice to have others be able to see a little of what I see every day. Heather posted these pictures on a site she uses all of the time, and one of the comments someone left, almost had me in tears. They were just talking about how emotional everyone will be when we see these pictures on her wedding day! (If Michael actually lets any man marry her!!)

One of the biggest things Claire does right now is give kisses. She will pucker her little lips, and give kisses to everyone on demand. It's so adorable! Usually when she kisses someone, she has to kiss everyone around her. When it's just us 3 at home, Michael and I usually get 2 or 3 kisses at a time. She goes back and forth between us, and if I'm out of the room when she kisses Michael, then have to come find me so she can kiss me too!! It's heartbreaking! How did we ever live without her?

This is the pucker face. How could you ever turn a kiss down when this face is coming at you?

That is love! And I could never want anything more in the world than that right there!
Thanks again Heather...as always!!

Cute pics by Heather

2009-01-27T21:55:00.002-07:00

All I have to say is, it's AWESOME to have Heather home!!! Thanks again for the cute pictures! LOVE THEM!

More of Heather's awesome pictures

2009-01-27T21:38:00.004-07:00

This is Claire's Christmas dress. My goal was to get a family picture with all of us dressed up, but Michael was away on the Sunday before Christmas, and then we never got around to doing it. I was thrilled though that Heather got this one for me. She looked so cute in her dress!

These are some adorable pictures that Heather took too. Thanks again Heath!!

11 Months Old

2009-01-27T21:18:00.006-07:00

I can't even believe we're one month away from Clarie turning 1. This is the faster year of my life by far. I tried to get some cute pictures of her today, but she wasn't into smiling much. I still got a few in her darling baby jailbird outfit. I love this outfit! She's so cute in it! Anyway, here's the update for 11 months.

-She's saying a few more words now. "Ba-ba", "daddy", "hi", "bye", but nothing even close to "mama". It's so not fair. She also jabbers all the time like she's really talking to you. She uses different sounds, and different inflections in her voice to really get her point across.
-She's taken 7 steps...that's her record.
-She's stopped eating baby food, and is now super hard to feed. She doesn't seem to like a ton of things so it can be tricky. If she likes it, she says "mmmmm", and if she doesn't like it, or is donw with it, she spits it right back out. Some of the things she does like are nutrigrain bars, pancakes, egg yolks, rice krispies, peas and green beans (not the baby food kind...the real deal) and if there are peas and carrots together, she will pick out the peas and leave the carrots.
-She is dancing more and more, and it's so cute to see her shake her little body.
-She melts our hearts every day, and we can't even believe we're so lucky to have her.

I know this post is sort of boring, but I wanted to remember all of these things, so you get to know them too!!

I'm getting old...

2009-01-23T12:42:00.003-07:00

It's true...I'm getting old. I just had my birthday and I can't even believe I'm as old as I am. I still feel like I'm 19. But, I'm NOT. Oh well. I tried my hardest to drag the celebrating out as long as possible. I went out to lunch twice, out to dinner once, had a family cake party, and a family dinner, went shoe shopping with Michael and shopping with my mom. It was awesome and so much fun. I'm now just sad I have to wait a whole year to do it all again.

Banff

2009-01-23T12:38:00.003-07:00

So I really dropped the ball on documenting our fabulously fun trip to Banff. Again, Heather took a few for more, but I don't have them. So, I'll just post this one to remember that we actually went, and because it's so cute. We were walking all over the hotel looking for somewhere to eat, and Claire just pooped out. It was so cute. She NEVER does that anymore, and Kandice was lucky enough to be the temporary bed.

New Years Eve

2009-01-23T12:32:00.003-07:00

So for New Years Eve we went to Blaine and Linda Palmer's for a crab feast. It was pretty much my first time eating crab, and I have to admit...I liked it. It was fun to get together with the whole Palmer clan for a while. We ended the evening at Kevin and Cyndi's with just our fam...minus Kandice and Brett who still get to go out for the evening. I did document all that were there, but for fear of what they will do to me if I post their pictures without their approval, I have just posted these! Hahaha...love you guys!

Just because I LOVE the outfit!

2009-01-23T12:30:00.000-07:00

10 months old

2009-01-23T12:18:00.003-07:00

Like always, here's Claire on her 10 months birthday. I figured I should put them up since next week is her 11 month birthday. I can't even believe how fast it's going. It makes me super sad to see her getting so big. Here are some highlights of what she's doing though. Between then and now she's...
Clapping when you say "Yay"

Saying "hi" and "daddy" on demand, or if you walk into a room to get her.

Starting to take steps. The record is 3 so far.

Getting into everything and if you call her name when she's doing something she shouldn't (like putting fake moss from the silk plant in her mouth) she turns and yells at you.

She's sleeping horribly at night. Boo.

She's decided she's done with baby food and will take 1 bite and then shake her head no if you try to offer her more. But, she loves anything we eat!

She's started dancing to music and it's totally adorable!

I know there's more but I have to save something for the 11 month update!

This was a fit because we wouldn't let her get the camera. She's gotten an attitude!!

Melchin Christmas

2009-01-23T11:39:00.005-07:00

After we finished at the Palmer's, we headed to my parents house to have Christmas with those of us who were in still in the country. We had a great time seeing everyone. I tried to get some pictures to document, and they are all pretty true to what everyone was doing most of the day.
Matt with his new guitar!
Scott documenting with their new video camera...which is so sweet by the way!
The cute Wolff girls being so cute!
Mom opening her gifts. This has always been the BEST part of Christmas for me!
Dad opening his speakers.
Claire playing with the remote control cars.
Erin working on the puzzle...
Grandma and Grandpa opening their gifts.
And, I HAD to post this one. This is what Erin was REALLY doing. Trying to fix Grace's gift and not too happy about it!

Baby's first Christmas

2009-01-23T11:22:00.004-07:00

Christmas morning was so fun for us! Since we could see downstairs and all of the goodies that Santa had brought from upstairs, we gathered all of the children on the railing to torture them until everyone was ready to head downstairs. Claire was the last one up, but she was excited to be sitting with the kids. It was so adorable!

I just loved Nixon's face in this one so much that I had to post it too! He's just so excited!
And...so is Claire...but she has no idea why she's excited!
Her first baby doll from Santa. She loved it!
The first gift she got to open. She had some helpers to assist in unwrapping it.
Just to prove I was there!
Standing on the rest of the presents.

Christmas Eve

2009-01-23T11:14:00.003-07:00

Since it was the Palmer Christmas this year, we spent most of our night at their house. We did start off the night at my parents for our annual 12 Days of Christmas feast, but we had to leave the festivities early to get to the Palmers. It was such a fun night, and I'm so mad at myself for not taking a ton more pictures. Heather was kind enough to at least get one of our family in front of the Christmas tree, but I haven't gotten it from her yet. These 2 were from the nativity that was put on downstairs. Michael was the narrator, and since Claire's not reverent yet, she was just a spectator with me. We have high hopes for her roll next year though. We had yummy food and great show, and we slept over in Kandice's room so we could be there bright and early Christmas morning.

Claire after the show.
Congratulating Dad on his good narrating!

First visit to Santa

2009-01-23T10:56:00.004-07:00

We were so excited to take Claire to see Santa for the first time. We got her all dressed up in the cutest coat from Nana, and took her to the mall. Well these pictures are before seeing him, and when she actually got to his lap, it was a different story. We didn't buy the pictures they took because she was totally crying. I should have bought them looking back though because that's how she reacted the first time and I wish I had documented it. We did get it all on video, but no pictures. She looked cute though. We'll try again next year!!

First Snow Day

2009-01-22T15:53:00.006-07:00

After our first big snowfall, we decided to take Claire out in her snow suit for her first taste of the snow. She was pretty tired so there wasn't a ton of smiles to capture, but she didn't seem to mind being laid in the snow. She looked so cute in her suit!!

Getting ready to go out.

Baby snow angel. So cute!

New Claire Pics

2009-01-11T16:18:00.000-07:00

I'm a horrible blogger (we all already knew this), but Heather took some new pics of the bunny yesterday. Check 'em out here. I do have a bunch of Christmas pics to post too...those will come!

Captured the hand

2008-12-01T10:02:00.003-07:00

I was very excited to actually capture her greeting on camera. It took some effort, and both of us to get her to do it on camera, but we really wanted a picture of it, and we're glad to have it! Honeslty, this is what she does to EVERYONE now. Just yesterday in church, she was doing it to the people behind us. They kept holding her hands, and she would do it over and over again. And...just an update...she CRAWLED yesterday! We were at my parents house, and she just did it! We have hardwood at our house, so I wonder if she has been able to do it for a while, she just kept sliding!! Who knows. Anyway, it was wonderful! And, she pulls herself up onto her knees a ton too. She'll just sit there balancing, and get very mad if she starts to fall over. Right now as I type, she pulling herself up onto the couch!

Train a girl...

2008-12-01T09:59:00.001-07:00

So now that Claire can get anywhere she wants, she LOVES to play in the DVD's. She was doing just that the other day, and I noticed that I've passed my love of Friends onto her!! Just kidding, but it was cute!

9 Months Old

2008-11-28T17:39:00.004-07:00

Well, it's true. It's been 9 months and 1 day since that tiny little girl entered out lives. I can't believe how fast it's gone, and I'm so glad that we have her in our lives. I took some pictures of her today, and I couldn't narrow them down, so there are a ton. Sorry. Some of the things Claire is up to right now are...

-She's army crawling all over the place. She can get onto her hands and knees, but she's not so good at acutally moving around on them.
-She loves to eat! She makes a really loud "mmmm" sound (actually she sort of yells it) with most of the bites she takes.
-She gets into EVERYTHING. Our dvds are all over the place all of the time.
-She fake coughs still. It's hilarious.
-She copies your noises, and jabbers all the time.
-When she sees you after a while, she tilts her head, smiles, and extends her arm out to you, sort of like she's allowing you to kiss her hand. We have yet to get a picture of this, but it melts anyone who sees her and it totally adorable!
-She gives you hugs when you get her out of bed. She pulls you in really tight and I am willing to give her anything she wants at that point.
-She's starting balance herself only on her knees.
-She is such a fun girl, and we are excited but nervous for her to get more independent.

This is where she goes most of the time when she's on the floor. She's always by her dad while he's on the computer.
After she's done crawling, she can sit herself back up on her bum. It's made her a lot less irritated...nice for me!
On her hands and knees teasing us, but not actually moving.

As I was trying to get these pictures, she would stop whatever she was doing and frantically pull herself over to the camera...hence...the extreme closeup.
Losing her balance...don't worry, she didn't get hurt. I thought it was funny though.

She can stand some of the time. Usually if you stand her up, she just tries to jump, so this is a rare picture. She is leaning on the ottoman, but Michael isn't holding her up!
Playing with her most beloved toy. When I bought it, I tried to take it from her so the lady could scan it, and she held on with all her might, and yelled at me when I got it out of her hands. Too funny!

So tired

2008-11-28T17:34:00.002-07:00

I was putting Claire to be the other night, but she wasn't totally ready to settle down. So, I put her down on the floor to play, and she played for a while, and slowly started to move less and less. Then, I looked down at her and found this. She had put herself to sleep. It was so adorable. I just wish she would do this every night!

New project

2008-11-16T21:40:00.004-07:00

So this was my latest home project. We've been doing vinyl for quite a while, but I'd never done anything in my own house. So here is my new picture wall. It's missing one picture as you can tell...I still have to get it printed.

The bunny is a bunny for Halloween!

2008-11-16T17:19:00.009-07:00

Well as you can see, we dressed Claire up as a very cute bunny. She was initially supposed to be a tootsie roll. I had the costume all picked out, and then when I went to buy it, I saw this costume. When I showed Michael, it was all over, and I'm glad. She looked adorable!! She wasn't the hugest fan of the hat, but that's not shocking. Here's a "figure out the lighting" picture before I totally got her dressed. But I couldn't resist trying on the hat!

Here's three pictures which summed up our photoshoot perfectly. She wasn't happy with me by the end of it, but I couldn't help myself!!
Happy, and cooperative...
Annoyed and bored...
Totally done taking pictures!
We went to Kevin and Cyndi's for the traditional Halloween soups (always AMAZING), and then we went out trick-or-treating with Jacey and Madi! Claire and Jaclyn tagged along too, but after the very first house, Claire fell asleep so I carried her the whole way. It was the warmest night I can remember for Halloween. I didn't even wear a coat outside. Claire just had her costume on, and she was roasting by the time we got home. It was so nice, and shocking!
This was the best picture I could get of the kids. Madi was there too, but she was scared of Jacey in his costume and wouldn't get anywhere near the kids.
After all of that, we went over to Freibergs to see everyone. The kids were already done trick-or-treating, but Claire was still a hit in her costume. We ended up playing MarioCart on Wii...oh man do I stink at that. I came in last EVERY single time. It was embarrassing, but very fun! It was a great first Halloween!! I can't wait for next year when she can officially get candy for me!

Two toothed kid

2008-11-16T17:12:00.006-07:00

She now has 2 teeth! They're so cute! She had a wicked fever with the first one, but the second was a lot easier on all of us. I'm getting a little nervous for the top ones though. Those can wait in my opinion. These are the best pictures I could get. She has the teeht, but she doesn't really like the show them off.

8 Months Old

2008-11-15T22:27:00.006-07:00

It happened again, Claire turned 8 months old. I can't believe how fast my baby is growing up. This is her first set of pictures where she could sit up on her own. Crazy. She sits very well, and is army crawling all over the place. She gets onto her hands and knees and rocks, but doesn't move that way, but she can motor doing the army crawl. It's really adorable. But, it means a whole new danger to all of our possessions. She's now found the DVD stack...lovely. She eats baby food like crazy and she's into all of our food too! She likes the veggies way more than the fruits, and we've still had no more success with peas. Go figure. She's almost grown out of her carseat now, and with her winter coat on, it's a tight squeeze. She's also started to get a little attitude. She throws a fit if you put her down when she doesn't want you too, and yells at us when she doesn't get what she wants. That doesn't bode well for the future I don't think. But, she is so much fun, and she gets me laughing all the time. She mimicks your sounds, and will do it on command...except for ma-ma...that's the only one she won't even attempt. She also fake laughs when you laugh. It's so cute.

Anyway, sorry this might be a boring post, but it's stuff I want to remember!!

Kalispell

2008-11-15T22:23:00.006-07:00

So I'm back...again...after not blogging forever. I don't know what's wrong with me really. It just seems like there's never enough time for it, but I know there is, I just don't know how to get it in there more often. Anyway, so for Thanksgiving, we went to Kalispell with the Freibergs. We had a great time...did way too much shopping, eating, and lounging. All that good stuff. We got to take our first road trip in our new car. Did I mention we got a new car? I don't think I did. Anyway, we got a Mazda 5 and I couldn't be happier with it. I'm in love with our car! It served us very well on the trip. We really didn't take many pictures on the trip...which was dumb, but we did stop in Sparwood to get some pictures by the largest truck in the world. It really is pretty big hey? We also drove through Frank Slide which was sort of eerie. It's the remains of a massive rock slide that buried a town and most of the people in it in the middle of the night. So, it's like this huge tomb. They even carved the highway in the middle of it, so on both sides of you are these huge boulders. It was sort of cool though...sad, but cool.

Oh, and one more thing!

2008-10-07T11:32:00.002-06:00

We had some more AMAZING family pictures taken...as soon as I get them, I'll post a bunch. Check some of them out here.

We're home!

2008-10-07T11:20:00.003-06:00

So, it's been an alarming amount of time since I posted last...I know...I stink. But there's been a ton going on I guess. Well we moved back home the first of September, and while it was sad to leave my parents, it's been really nice to be a real family for the first time! We love having a room for Claire, and so much more space to spread out in. We also got a new car FINALLY! We got a Mazda 5, and I couldn't be any happier! It's just perfect for our little family. We always seem to need to haul stuff around, and this makes it totally possible!

I got released from Young Women's, and I was so sad. It stinks, but what are you going to do? Michael was released from Young Men's too, and is now a Sunday School teacher. I got a new calling, but haven't been sustained yet.

Our trip to Europe has been postponed until we don't know when, so we're enjoying our little house even more now knowing we don't have to move again right away. The trip is still going to happen I'm told, but we just don't know when. So for me, that means, it's not going to happen! We'll see though I guess.

We're heading down to Kalispell this weekend with Lara and Sean. We're pretty excited to go! It should be fun, and a great opportunity to gain some more weight...I'm always looking for good ways to do that! Ha. With such cheap ice cream, how can you not? Anyway, I have posted a ton today, and I'm hoping that now my life has settled down, I can continue to post more often.

The girls

2008-10-07T11:12:00.003-06:00

We have so many matching clothes for these girls, we're dumb to not have way more pictures of it. Anyway, we took advantage of the matching and got some pictures! Jeffrey and Emily got way more cute ones, but I still loved these 2.

The snuggle position, and the break!

2008-10-07T10:51:00.003-06:00

So Michael has this snuggle position that he does with Claire. It puts her to sleep faster than anything! He just has to hold her like this for a few minutes and she's out.

She also loves to play with mouths, so I was thrilled to get this picture. Now we can always remember this!

Claire is a little daredevil. She loves to be tossed around. This was funny just because she was making this face like she was so unimpressed...normally she is totally laughing! She's so funny.

For those of you who don't know...Michael broke his leg. He was leaving work one night, and walking down the stairs. He stepped onto the landing, and there was soapy water or something on it, and he slipped. He was all alone in the middle of the night. He had to pull himself up at least 2 flights of stairs to make it back to his office. When he got up there, he laid down on the couch, and called his dad (since at the time we didn't have a home phone). As he waited for his dad to answer, he passed out, so all his dad heard was heavy breathing. Thinking it was a prank, he hung up. When Michael woke up, he called back, and thankfully, his parents went and got him. They took him to the hospital, and now he's walking around in this. They weren't really able to tell exactly what's wrong with it, so we're waiting to get him into a specialist so we can know for sure! Poor guy! The funny part is, he called Jeffrey and Emily to tell them to let me know. So, Emily came up the stairs and as calming as possible, (so I wouldn't freak out) she told me the news. It's a good thing I live in the same house as them that's for sure!

New food

2008-10-07T10:26:00.004-06:00

Well she LOVES rice cereal, and when we first brought in Arrowroot cookies, it was no suprise that she would love those too! I mean, I love them! When we introduced vegetables for the first time however, the response was NOT so good.

Here Claire is trying to get a job advertising for these cookies. I love how she's holding it just so you can see the name of the cookie!

And here is her first taste of peas!

Not such a fan.

This one is the best because you can actually SEE the peas flying out of her mouth! It was hilarious. She doesn't like peas or green beans, but everything else, she's good with now!
This is the face she makes when she's NOT going to let ANYTHING else in there. So funny!

Jolly Jumper

2008-10-07T10:22:00.003-06:00

This is Claire's favorite place to be (other than the exersaucer we just got her). She will jump her little heart out the whole time I make dinner. It's so nice. She gets some pretty good air too! It's hilarious to watch her. She does this big huge jumps and then this little tiny super fast ones. It's classic! What a girl.

Seven Months Old

2008-10-07T10:17:00.003-06:00

I can't even believe it's been 7 months already. The day I took these pictures, Claire was NOT a happy girl. She cut her first tooth the day after her 7 month birthday, and she spent the night before that in our bed with a huge fever. It was so sad. I have a ton more of these pictures, but she looks totally unimpressed in all of them. Poor girl! But, she has her first tooth now. She never lets you see it, and she fights your finger if you try to feel it! She's got a strong will already! It's a good thing I think she's so cute!

A few days at the condo...ahhhhhh

2008-08-17T14:45:00.002-06:00

Well we just got back from the condo last night. We thought we had missed so much summer that we packed up and drove out there for a few days. It's so much harder to do last minute now with all of the gear we have to drag along, but it was so worth it. We had some fun at the pool and the lake. Michael got in his fair share of seadooing, and he was happy. They even went quading and came back very dirty. Kevin, Cyndi, Brett and Hillary were there with us. It was such nice weather. Claire was so snoopy there. She couldn't stop looking all around, and she even had a hard time sleeping because of it. She didn't want to miss anything. Cyndi made us amazing food, and we had gelato, so I was as happy as a clam. We headed back late last night so we could be back for Stake Conference with Elder Holland. It was so nice to hear him speak. I'm always so amazed to be with any of the brethren in a more intimate setting. He was so funny! He seemed so much more at ease than he seems in General Conference. I even got to shake his hand at the end. I was standing at the back of the chapel looking for Michael, and he happened to come out that door. He stopped to talk to my sister Erin before and luckily, she introduced herself, and then pointed to me, or he might not have shaken my hand too. It was a good day. We're now off to family dinner. Here are some pictures from the weekend!

She finally gave in for a nap on the beach.

Oh, she's started to spit all of the time. It's hilarious, but so annoying as you're trying to feed her rice cereal. It shoots EVERYWHERE!
She also enjoyed some gelato. She is so into food, and she LOVES to drink water from a water bottle...not so much from a real baby bottle. We're working on that.

Water babies

2008-08-17T14:37:00.003-06:00

Every since before I was pregnant, I knew that any kid of Michael's was going to have to love the water. Well Claire certainly fits in with her dad in that category. She spent some time swimming with dad and LOVED it! She didn't fuss at all, and just cuddled him as they sat in the lake and the hot tub. It was so adorable. Sadly, I forgot my camera when he took her in the lake. I was so mad. I'll just have to remember forever.

Posing nicely...
Claire stealing the spotlight!

We're moving!

2008-08-13T12:49:00.002-06:00

I know it seems like I've said this a lot lately. Really, it's not anything special. We're moving back home. I'm so excited. I keep thinking about all of my things, and Claire having her own room, and having our life get back to normal. I can't wait to go back. We were going to move back into our condo, but it worked out for us to go home and rent our condo out again. We're redoing the flooring in there and it's going to look so much better. I'm excited for the renters. We were doing it for us to move in there, but we decided since it was something we wanted to do before selling it anyway, we went ahead and did it. We're hoping to head to the condo for a few days so Michael can actually get a vacation this summer. I can't believe how fast the summer has gone. It makes me sad. The only thing I look forward to is seeing Claire in fall clothes...strange. I just think she'll be so cute all bundled up. Funny how things change hey? Anyway, enjoy the plethora of pictures. There are tons. And, thanks to Heather for helping me learn how to photoshop, even though I REALLY have NO idea what I'm doing. I need further instruction!

Some I missed

2008-08-13T12:42:00.003-06:00

I just really liked these and I forgot to add them at the right time.

Her first lipstick. Too bad it's not in the right spot!

Claire's first rice cereal

2008-08-13T12:07:00.002-06:00

Well we fed Claire her first rice cereal yesterday. She's been totally interested in food for a long time and recently hasn't been sleeping as long, so we thought we'd give it a try. She loved it! She really loves anything so I wasn't surprised. She slept as usual last night so I was happy. She needed a full belly. It's so cute to watch her eat it. I can't believe she has it figured out already. She was trying to eat the bowl. We figured out after this round that we needed to get her in a better chair. We need a high chair now. I can't believe how old she's getting

Sitting up

2008-08-13T12:05:00.002-06:00

We were at Michael's parents last week and we sat her up on the table, and to our suprise when we let go, she sat there. It was adorable. We have to be careful when we do it because if it's too soon after she eats, well let's just say she has to eat again.

She got a little too confident here. Luckily we weren't far behind to catch her. She's a daredevil.

Matching Girls

2008-08-13T12:04:00.001-06:00

I realized that Claire and I had the same color shirt, so for fun we took some pictures. We had Michael in them too, but those were blurry. Don't worry, I'm not one of those moms who will dress to match her child, but this time I thought it was cute.

Just because

2008-08-13T12:02:00.002-06:00

I just thought she looked so cute. Also, we got a flash for our camera, and I can't believe the difference it makes in the pictures you can take.

I LOVE her eyes in this one. I can't believe that she has such blue eyes. Thank you Cyndi!

5 months old

2008-08-13T12:00:00.001-06:00

So far I have pictures of her on her monthly birthdays. It's something I hope I can remember to continue. It's so cute to see how she's changed. Anyway, this is her on her 5 month birthday. Such a cute girl, but she wasn't so into smiling this day. She was practicing for a passport picture.

This is my favorite picture of her so far I think. I just can't get over those lips. I love them.

Bow Falls

2008-08-13T11:55:00.001-06:00

We visited the falls, and again...I'm used to seeing them in the winter all frozen over. They are so beautiful.

Lake Louise

2008-08-13T11:52:00.003-06:00

The beautiful group in front of the beautiful lake. I swear I felt like I was in the middle of a painting. No wind at all. The lake was so calm. Just gorgeous
Judy doing the hand signal for Lake Louis '08. Might not make sense, but we get it!

Lake Louise '08

2008-08-13T11:39:00.003-06:00

It's so much nicer to have this picture in the summer than in the winter. So much prettier. The whole clan right before leaving.
I love this picture of Claire and Judy. Awwww.
My girl

In our hotel room right before leaving for dinner at the Chateau.

Well this summer, we started a new tradition. Just like we go to Banff at Christmas, we decided to go to Lake Louise in the summer. Judy and Aunt Joanne came to visit and Mom, Lara, Erin, Claire and I went to spend the night there. It was so beautiful, and so much nicer to be out and about in the beautiful summer than it is in the freezing winter. We spent the night at the Lake Louise Inn, and went to eat dinner at a restaurant in the Chateau Lake Louise. We ate at this steak house there. They bring you these "dips" essentially with nan bread as an appetizer, and this comes with every meal. They were interesting and fun, but I'm glad we didn't technically pay for them (although they're included in the cost of the meal) or I would have been disappointed. But, when them seem free, they were fun. Weird how that works. We then toured around the hotel for a while. It was so beautiful. The lake was gorgeous, and it was so calm there that night that it felt like we were in the middle of a beautiful painting. After dinner we went back to the hotel for some Haagen Daz and So You Think You Can Dance. The next morning we got ready and ate the rest of our ice cream for breakfast (we couldn't let it go to waste) and then we headed to Banff. We walked around and at at Earls (Erin and I got a horrible soup), and then went to the fudgery. I love that place. Although all I got was a caramel apple and some rundle rock. I held back. We drove home singing ABBA the whole time (like we did on the way there too). It was wonderful. Claire was an angel and didn't disturb anyone in the night. She knew she had to be on her best behaviour or she wouldn't be invited to BS'08. Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I took...I wish I had taken more.

So tired

2008-07-17T21:20:00.002-06:00

So, I know it's been forever since I've blogged. I've had no internet at home. Shocking...I know. Nothing super new. We still don't know anything more about Europe. I'm starting to doubt that we're really going. We're still at my parent's house, but that might be changing soon...I'll keep you posted. We've just been enjoying the summer. So far, we've been to the condo, I've been to Kalispell, and we've had a Palmer reunion. It's been so nice to have good weather. Coming up, we've got my family coming, and I'm sure more trips to the condo...hopefully. Claire is growing like crazy and making me so sad. I wish I could just bottle her up and make her stay this way forever. I miss my tiny baby already. She's getting so strong, and LOVES to stand. She's always trying to stand and when she's sitting, she pushed her self up to stand. So cute. She's also moved out of the bassinet, and into a playpen. That was a sad day to me. I don't want time to go this fast. She's going to be 5 months old next weekend. Ahhh. I don't like it. Anyway, here's a ton of photos of her. I know that's what you all really care about anyway!!!

I snapped this one today. They were both so tired. I just love these people.

Daddy Daughter

2008-07-17T21:19:00.001-06:00

Here's some pictures of Michael and Claire in Banff last weekend. It was so beautiful out there. We went for the Palmer reunion. When we put her feet in the pool at the condo, she cried so hard, but here (with WAY colder water) she didn't make a sound. Nice of us to try again after she cried the first time hey?

They are so cute. We love her hat!

The bunny and her bunny

2008-07-17T21:17:00.001-06:00

I got this bunny for her a while ago, and she just LOVES it. She holds onto it all of the time, and sucks on it whenever she can.

Bath

2008-07-17T21:15:00.001-06:00

I just have to say I LOVE this towel. Heather, that's a hint for you! I need you to show me how you made it!

She just LOVES her baths. I can't believe how much she loves them. She's so cute in there all fat and rolly.

First time to the Condo

2008-07-17T21:11:00.002-06:00

For her first time there, she LOVED it! Well, sort of. I don't think she realized she was anywhere different. We kept the babies all cute in the shade, so she really didn't do anything. We dipped her in the pool, and she hated it, but the hot tub, she LOVED that! Jeffrey got the cutest picture of it.

Finally some new pictures

2008-07-17T21:08:00.003-06:00

She's recently started to get curious about food. EVERYTHING goes to the mouth.
This is 4 months old.
This is an outfit that Nana got her. I just LOVE this bandana. Jaclyn has the same outfit and we need to get a picture of them together. Claire is almost out of the outfit already.

This is especially for you Kandice, even though you'll be home so fast.

I LOVE THIS!

2008-07-15T19:39:00.002-06:00

So I know I'm the worst blogger EVER. I have TONS of pictures of Claire that I need to post. I just don't have internet right now and every time we leave to use the internet, I don't bring the pictures with me (sorry Kandice!). I'm really bad, but I want to do better so bear with me. Claire is now 4 1/2 months old, and so wonderful. She's so chubby and it's adorable. Anyway, I'm stealing this tag because it's just so fun. So do this one for me and then for yourselves!

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew/know me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Perfectly captured

2008-05-28T23:30:00.000-06:00

Well I finally got the rest of Heather's pictures, and I'm so excited about them. I lOVE them, and I'm thrilled to share them. I know I've said it before, but Heather is so talented. We are very lucky. Since my last post, we haven't had a ton going on. Just the usual day to day tasks. Claire is growing like a weed, and talking like crazy. The weather is getting better, and I'm finally feeling like I'm getting used to my new motherhood routine. It's nice to get more sleep, and it's even more wonderful to watch our baby girl grow. I want to press pause on her right now so she never grows up past now. I'd be great with that. I have also found a new hobby I think. I was looking for a new binkie holder for Claire since my yellow ribbon one just isn't so cute...handy, but not so cute. So, I was remembering that Heidi used to make them, and I LOVED them so I thought...I should try to make them. So I did! They're not as cute as Heidi's were, but they're SO much better than the yellow one. Anyway I bought a bunch of beads, and I've made 3 so far. She could have one to match all outfits if I don't get a grip, but it's fun, and I'm alone at night, so what are you going to do?

Heather Ward Photography

2008-05-28T23:23:00.000-06:00

She was upset here so we were letting her suck on her binky, and just before Heather would snap the picture, I'd yank out the binky...hence the wonderful pucker!!!

Note the double chin and the neck roll. I LOVE my girl!

More Heather Ward pics

2008-05-28T23:21:00.000-06:00

This is another one where we were just a little bit better coordinated. I LOVE it! You're so good Heather!

Need I say anything?

Our Bunny

2008-05-28T23:20:00.000-06:00

We were lucky to get this sleeper at her shower, and it's perfect because it has her nickname right on it. We have taken to calling her bunny all of the time. The name was formed because she has this little twitch in her foot when she thumps it very fast so I started calling her thumper. Then it changes to bunny. I don't know why, but she's rarely called her real name by us. Hopefully she doesn't start thinking bunny is her real name.

Just another cute one.

This is her complain face. She's started to talk so much more and she'll get into these moods where she talks, but it's not happy talk. This is the classic face she makes. Just tonight she yelled at me for a minute straight. It's not a cry, but seriously a yell. SO ADORABLE. We have the talking on tape, and we need to post it so you can understand our love!

Claire...again

2008-05-28T23:16:00.000-06:00

These are her ballet shoes. Yes, she wore a dress with them, but it had already been taken off, and we still wanted to document the shoes. They are courtesy of Judy, and she wears them every Sunday!

This girl is seriously in love with her daddy, and I have to say, he's seriously in love with her!!

Sleeping angel

First Offical Family Photos!!!

2008-05-25T20:34:00.002-06:00

Well I can't believe how bad I am at blogging. I need to be better after I saw the book that Heather had made of all of her posts. It is such a great way of journalling our life. First, the photos. We went to Portland a few weeks ago to see Heather and Gannon, and we had a blast. We ate a ton, went to the coast, did a little shopping, a little sight seeing, and did a lot of talking and laughing. It was Claire's first plane ride, and she was such an angel. She slept most of the way there, and the entire way home. We even had 1 connection in Seattle that she slept through. She's so good, and we know we're totally spoiled, and should not expect this much with future children. While we were there, Heather was kind enough to take some family pictures for us. I didn't plan the outfits very well, but we were still thrilled with the results. We need her to do another session next time we see her!! She's so talented.

Other than our trip, we've just been enjoying our little one, or our "bunny" as she's much more commonly known by us. She has been totally growing up, and I hate it. It's happening much to fast. She has had her first laugh. It was in her sleep. She was sleeping in her bed, and it was a full out laugh. We were so happy, we tried to capture it on video, but it was just a one time thing. The other week in church, she tried to sing the opening song. She was laying on my shoulder, and looking at Michael while she cooed, and smiled, and sang. It was so adorble, we were both in tears from laughing so hard. She then talked through the whole opening prayer. It was so cute it hurt. She really knows her mom and dad, and gets so happy to see us. Waking up to her smiling is so cute. I could go on forever, and I know there are more things I wanted to say, but I forget them now. As for our trip to Europe, it's now been moved to the end of the summer. We were happy with this news because it means we can be around for the best time of year in the city, and we can take some trips with our families.

There are more pictures of Claire to come, so stay tuned!

My sweet Claire

2008-05-25T20:23:00.002-06:00

While we were in Portland, Heather was kind enough to take some pictures of our sweet girl. Heather is so talented, and I'm so sad she's so far away. I would like to have a weekly shoot I think!! We were in love with the pictures she took, and can't wait to get our hands on some of the other ones she was still editing for us. If anyone needs an AMAZING photographer, Heather is moving home in the fall...serioulsy, she's amazing!!

This is the picture that perfectly captures her forehead fat, and her Jeffrey R. Holland cheeks (as Michael likes to call them). We sure don't have a skinny little girl anymore.

Pciture update

2008-04-22T17:05:00.000-06:00

Well not a whole lot changes in our daily lives except this little girl. We watched her little video Michael made right when she was born, and I can't even believe how she's grown. She was so tiny. I miss that little girl already. She's so much bigger. Last time she was at the doctor, she'd made it to 9 pounds. I'm sure she's getting closer to 10 now. She's starting to realize who I am, and I can't even believe how great it is. I just love it when she's upset and gets to me and calms right down instantly. It's so flattering. She's sleeping between 5-7 hours in the night, and it's been so wonderful to get a few more consecutive hours sleep. It makes such a difference in how I feel all day. I'm very blessed. She likes to sleep near us too. She always goes in her bed right after the first night time feed, and then she never makes it to the second one alone. As soon as it's a little bit light out, she wakes up and wants to be near us. So, we let her snuggle and she goes back to sleep right away. Yesterday, she was in bed with us in the morning, and she started to get really fussy and sad. As soon as we sat up to look at her, it's like she realized we were there, and started smiling like crazy. It's almost like she thought she was alone, and as soon as she saw us, it was all ok again. Ahhh, I LOVE her!

Her eyes are getting more and more blue. Nana Palmer is the only one with blue eyes in both of our families (other than some neices and nephews), and I'm hoping they stay that way.

I'm trying to get the perfect picture of her feet for the feet wall at the Palmer's house. I'm still not totally satisfied though.

I LOVE this little smile!

Other than Claire, we're still waiting to find out exactly when and where we're going with Michael's company. Things have been up in the air, and are still a little up in the air right now. All we know is we're going for sure, and most likely to Lugano, Italy now. I'm up for whatever, but it would be nice to have a few more details. I'm also not happy to stick around here for as long as it takes them to figure it out. I'm so glad we've been delayed. We'll keep you posted though.

The swing

2008-04-22T16:54:00.000-06:00

Heather and Gannon are letting us borrow their swing while they are in Portland. We hadn't used it that much because she was so small, and didn't fit in it very well, but this week we got new batteries, and she LOVES it. This is her the first time we turned the little animals on. Now every time she gets in it, she stares up at them until she falls asleep. I need to get it on video. She loves it.

Smiling at her little friends.

Claire and her daddy

2008-04-22T16:49:00.001-06:00

I didn't even remember that we took this picture until I was going through them to post today. It's so cute. When she's really serious about her binky, she'll grab your hand to hold her binky in tighter. I'm so glad that we got this picture. I love her little quirks.

This is my favorite of them to date. This picture captures perfectly just how much Michael loves his little girl. This is pretty much the face he has on any time he's near her. She knows her daddy too. At church on Sunday, she was sitting with Cindy Pratt right in front of us, and she put her over her shoulder. As soon as Claire saw Michael she gave the HUGEST smile, and didn't stop smiling at him. It was adorable.

She loves him

Claire and her mama

2008-04-22T16:46:00.000-06:00

Claire is starting to realize that I'm her mom, and it's the best thing ever. Lately, she'll fuss until she gets back to me. I can't even express how this melts my heart.

Proud parents

2008-04-22T16:44:00.000-06:00

Some pictures of the proud parents. It's going to be so fun to have girls so close in age. I can't wait for them to realize the other exists!

The girls

2008-04-22T16:42:00.000-06:00

Well here are some of the really cute pictures we got of the girls the first time they met. We need to take more pictures now. They have so many of the same outfits (courtesy of Nana Palmer), and we need to document them. They are both showing off their dancing moves in this picture. I LOVE it!

Congrats to Jeffrey and Emily

2008-04-07T15:22:00.003-06:00

Just wanted to mention how excited we are that Jaclyn has entered the world. She is beautiful, and still bigger than Claire I might add. They couldn't be more different in their coloring. That always amazes me when half of the genes have come from the same family. We got in a good photo session with the two of them yesterday, but I'll wait for Jeffrey and Emily to post some pictures of their own before I post what we got, but here's one that doesn't give too much away.

Just to show their coloring. Claire has serious hair envy!

And a few more

2008-04-07T15:11:00.004-06:00

After her bath, which she pooped in. This is right after bathing her again, and right before she pooped in the towel. She's not very lady like in that department.

Getting all powdered up. What a wonderful smell!

She's really started to look at us. She'll follow us around the room, for as long as her little neck will allow.

A little smile. She smiles all the time, but that's the HARDEST thing to capture. This is the best I have so far.

The new camera!

2008-04-07T15:11:00.002-06:00

So we did it! We finally got ourselves a wonderful new camera. I'm still a camera retard so I know there's so much more I need to learn, and invest in...starting with a good flash, but oh my goodness...what a difference in picture quality! I'm in love with it! So here's a little preview of what we've taken so far of our girl!

She's getting so strong, and we just discovered that she LOVES tummy time...(mostly because she toots the entire time).

My new favorite I think. It's always so hard to really capture what they look like in a picture, but this does a pretty good job!

Her little feet, and they've grown so much already.

And her little profile. So tiny.

Update on the Palmers

2008-04-03T14:02:00.002-06:00

Well it's been a little while since I've posted anything. Things up here have been going pretty well. Claire is a little angel, and I'm learning how to function on little to no sleep (not an easy task for a girl who really likes her sleep). We had her blessing this past Sunday, and Michael did such a beautiful job. I was so proud of him. We then had everyone over to my mom and dad's house for a dinner which was really fun. It was our first day really getting out of the house and into the public. I can't even believe how long it took us to get out the door. It was insane. Cyndi made the blessing dress, and I couldn't have been happier with it. And Judy made the blessing blanket. We were so thankful! Claire looked beautiful, and I only hope that more of my girls will be able to wear the dress, though it's not likely they'll be as small as Claire.

Other than that main event, I've been trying to recover. For anyone who doesn't know, I've had mastitis 3 times since Claire was born, and I've been trying to get myself together so that we can function normally. We aren't able to go out as much now because of my care routine, and that's driving us all insane I think. Oh well, what are you going to do? It could be worse.

As for the picture at the top of the page, that's courtesy of Jeffrey. Isn't it beautiful? I just love it, and can't wait to see more of the ones he's taken. I can't wait to get a better camera. Mine just doesn't seem to cut it anymore. Well I'm sure there's more going on, but I can't think of what it is.

Claire's Blessing Day

2008-04-03T14:01:00.000-06:00

Claire's first real bath

2008-04-03T14:00:00.000-06:00

Here's some more pictures of our girl

2008-04-03T13:59:00.000-06:00

Tired people

2008-03-15T19:35:00.002-06:00

Well I'm back...sort of. I've got better access to the internet, but getting downstairs to it, is still a challenge I am trying to overcome. I figured though, since I'm my best to fatten Claire up, that I should post some more pictures as evidence. She's growing (at least it seems that way to me) like crazy. I don't want her to grow up, but I am looking forward to the day of a little more sleep. She is serious about getting her food, so she's a very good alarm clock. I used to think that 6 hours of consecutive sleep wasn't that much, but oh how I would LOVE that now. Oh well, one day! I wouldn't trade it though. I love seeing how she calms right down when she knows I'm about to feed her. She'll be patient for me, but not so much for anyone else. She knows her mom and that is the GREATEST feeling in the entire world I think. I just love her so much already. Anyway, I've overstayed my visit to the computer, and now it's time for her to eat, so I'll just leave you with some more pictures. That's all that really matters anyway!

Here are my 2 favorites!
We're all pretty tired
I just LOVE it when she sleeps like this, it's just like her dad, and she wiggles her little arms out of her blanket just so she can do it!