Claire...again

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!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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.