10 Months

Uh oh, this one is a late entry!! Our pretty peanut is now 10 months old!! Amazing things have happened over the last month. Now instead of just babbling syllables things are becoming more distinct, mama and dada seem to be words instead of just run-ons. Her favorite thing to do now is to feed herself. Cheerios, in particular, are her absolute favorite but she will also eat baby puffs and crackers as well as kiwis. She also loves to gnaw on apple cores after we have eaten an apple. She uses a sippy when she feels like it; the skill is there but the novelty is intermittent. She crawls fast! Holy moly, you can't hardly blink and she is off. She also pulls to stand on everything. Her personality is also starting to shine. When she sees her favorite toys and books she squeals with glee and if she doesn't want something she huffs and puffs with pursed lips. She just gets more fun every day!

The Pumpkin Patch

Last Saturday we decided to take Claire to the pumpkin patch. Daddy being the Halloween fanatic that he is, already had purchased our carving pumpkins but we wanted Claire to have the full experience and Burger Farm has a puppet show, Pumpkin Land, hay rides, and farm animals. We thought we would take advantage of having the whole weekend off and also show One and Marine what Halloween is all about. Unfortunately, Claire skipped her morning nap and just got a twenty minute snooze on the way to the patch. We couldn't get her to smile for anything. She seemed so apathetic with the puppet show, animals, and pumpkins. On the return trip on the hayride she officially fell asleep. Poor thing! You can tell how tired she is in most of the pictures; I am just glad she looked up for a couple of them.

She was much perkier after a two hour nap. We took turns playing with her while we all ate dinner and carved some pretty fancy pumpkins. I think we are getting better at it, though the pumpkins Marine and One carved look really awesome, too.

Zoo Brew

This past Thursday I actually got to go out for an adult evening!! The female faculty and fellows try to have a ladies night on occassion and this time picked the Cincinnati Zoo Brew. It is a really cool event because your ticket price goes toward research to save endangered animals and then food and in the case Samuel Adams provide food and beer. The animals are also on display with a number of them in the crowd to pet and then some that have special evening shows. For the zoo brew they fed the polar bears frozen watermelons and the manatees played "football." They also have three similar wine tasting events in the summer. The weather was not ideal (cold and a little drizzly) but that didn't stop us from having a great time! Most of the beers were good... NOT the blackberry, though... and the best part of the food was a belgian waffle. A waffle? Yep, it was sweet and savory and delicious without any syrup. I will definitely be taking the family to Findley Market so we can all enjoy them. All in all the company was what made the evening.

Claire's First Tutu

So here is the streaming thought process I had this afternoon.... What should I do? Clean up the kitchen? No. Clean up Claire's toys? Na. Laundry? Definitely not. Put Claire in her first tutu? Bingo!!

Doesn't our little girl look so grown up in her tutu? She really loves it! Now all she needs is a matching hair bow. I know you are shocked that she doesn't have one but none of her bows are the right pink or dramatic enough for this outfit. Keep checking back, you only get two pictures for now because Kodak Gallery doesn't want to share my album right this second.

Finally in a High Chair!!

Since Claire was so small when we started feeding her solid (okay, semi-solid) food, we just fed her in her Bumbo chair. What people did before the Bumbo, I have no idea. She tolerated that just fine until about a month ago when she became a squirmy worm and spends most of her time trying to get out of the Bumbo and grab a toy. So now we often feed her in her high chair, which she enjoys. It is also nice because we can put finger foods on the tray for her (the Bumbo tray just does not hold up to her 9 month-old strength) and give her a sippy cup to practice with. Last week, however, I boldly asked for a high chair at a restaurant so she could sit up at the table with us. She loved it!! She ate great and really seemed to enjoy the vantage point. Where did my little baby go? She seems to have been replaced by an almost toddler!!

Fall is Here!

After a week of rain, we woke up today to some beautiful fall weather. I can't complain with a partly sunny day at about 65 degrees! Of course, I mainly enjoyed it on the way to work. I did, however, sneak home for lunch and found Ari and Claire just finishing a walk and starting a photo shoot. Daddy certainly does like to take pictures of our little cutie. He even dressed her in some adorable warm clothes. If you click on the title of the blog you will be linked to quite a few pictures... I didn't want to edit any of them out!!

Recharged with Hope

This last weekend was the Cincinnati Children's Medical Center's Cancer Survivor Picnic. It was held at the zoo, which was a great venue. I cannot stress enough how perfect the timing was. Recently, quite a few (and isn't one alone too many?) of our patients have lost their battles with cancer or after bone marrow transplantation. My heart has literally been hurting for weeks and poor Ari and Claire have witnessed many tears. So on an absolutely beautiful Saturday afternoon, we all went to the zoo to be reminded why we fight this battle every day. I saw some of my patients that are already finished with the therapy running around and acting like kids; no signs of their surgeries or previous chemotherapy. It was so awesome. Claire and Ari of course had a good time... they always do when they are together!

9 Months!

Time flies when you are having fun... also, as it turns out, when you work 80 hours a week but lets talk about happier things. Claire is officially nine months-old. Our little angel has blessed our lives for 3/4 of a year already! This month she has really changed. She finally babbles, not just nonsense but repetitive syllables. She has never been all that vocal and Ari and I have worried our fair share that our little preemie might be behind; have no fear, she is not! Her favorite things to say are "da da da da da" and "ya ya ya ya." "Mama" does come out when she is tired or upset; I can certainly handle that. Certainly she does not associate her ramblings with objects just yet but it is a major step forward. She also has developed a pincer grasp (she can pick things up using her pointer finger and thumb). She still is not a big fan of being on her tummy and moves mostly in circles and backwards. She does, however, pull herself up to stand on anything she can. I am thinking she may just skip crawling and be the shortest baby to ever walk. Ha! She continues to be a performer; just tonight she was banging away on her toy piano and looking up to wait for her applause. We are so blessed to have her and so many other things to applaud for.

Bienvenue a la Maison!

That is French for "welcome to our home." (Right, Marine?) We were so happy to welcome Marine's mom, step-dad, and sister to Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago. They had never been to the United States so Marine took them to New York and then they spent time with her in Cincinnati... an unfortunate representation of the U.S. We were lucky enough to spend the day with them, Tiffany, Jeff, Jake and Max (Marine's host family) at the Reds game and then at Joe's Crabshack for dinner. It was a beautiful day for baseball and the Reds were their usual subpar selves. The company, however, made up for the lack of offense. Dinner was good, but we were eating outside and it got chilly as the sun went down.

We invited what we affectionately call our French family to our house the next day for wine and cheese. We again enjoyed the company, but could really use some French lessons. Just knowing how to say "delicious" and "disgusting" did not get me far. We look forward to going to France and seeing our friends in their home!

A Day in the Park

I know you are going to find this hard to believe, but last weekend Ari and I were both off! The weather was beautiful so we decided to picnic in Ault Park. When I say picnic, I actually mean pick up sandwhiches from Potbelly and bring Claire's food. The lack of effort on my part didn't spoil our day. We ate, enjoyed the sun and each other. We also got a few great pictures of our little bear.

Another Leak!

Another leak?! Yep, that's right. We replaced 80% of our plumbing in Milwaukee due to frozen pipes then started with leak after leak in this house. It is enough to make us swear off buying old houses... maybe. Though our 112 year-old beauty is a true gem, the leaking is really getting us down. This time is even worse because the cracked drain pipe is ruining our beautiful built-in. It looks like we'll be replacing about a twenty foot section of pipe. Until that happens, though, two of our bathrooms and our washer/drier are out of commission. So check out the pics below of Claire and daddy helping fold laundry at the laudromat. We can make lemonade out of these lemons!!

8 months

I can't believe another month has zipped right by. Could Ari and I possibly be parents to an eight month-old? The answer is fortunately yes as we continue to enjoy Claire more with each passing day. She clearly is getting physically bigger. I think the biggest change has been that people no longer look at me quizically when I tell them how old she is. They used to say, "Really? But she is so small." Then I would have to explain that she was 9 1/2 weeks early. Now that just tell me how cute she is, which as her mom I already know! Her personality is becoming more and more apparent and I am glad to report that she seems to be laid back and fun loving just like her daddy; no hints of mommy's type A personality traits yet. Developmentally, she sits without us worrying about support anymore. She is making efforts to crawl but usually just scoots backwards or turns 360 degrees. Her dexterity is much improved and she is starting to learn "tricks." When I say "spirit fingers" she will reach to touch my wiggling fingers and laugh. She will also give Ari "five" most of the time. She will take little steps when you hold her hands and can sit up from nearly lying on her back. She is also starting to be a performer. She will do something she knows excites you and look at you waiting for applause; that is a riot! All and all I would say I am certainly blessed to be her mom!

A Whole House Full

The first weekend in August we had a big Wesleyan reunion at our house. We are so fortunate that all of Ari's college friends have remained a tight group and to encourage this to continue we invited everyone, their spouses, and children to spend the weekend at our house. Let me tell you when I say spend the weekend at our house I literally mean that there were 19 people staying with us from Friday night to Sunday afternoon. Now I know why we have such a big house; it was perfect!! Friday night was pretty low key with everyone arriving and we all sat around catching up and eating pizza. Saturday, I made a big breakfast and then we all went outside to play. We had badmitton and volleyball set up. Then there was the first annual cornhole tournament. The couples were all split up and we had a double elimination tournament. I am proud to report that Ari and Sarah Beth took the title with Nate and I coming in second. All the while kids were running around and having a great time. Then we grilled out for dinner. Soon it was time to put the kids to bed and each little family took up one room in our house and were all cozy on air mattresses. The adults stayed up drinking beer and catching up but didn't make it long; we certainly aren't as young as we used to be. Sunday morning I made a big brunch; we took a group photo and then one by one the families left. It was an awesome experience and we are looking forward to making it an annual event. A big thank you to Sara, Tom, Conner, Dan, Amber, Jason, Jen, Jakob, Josh, Addison, Beth, Andi, Alex, Evan, Amanda, Nate, Preston, Jenny, and Karen for making the trip to Cincinnati!

Our Little Carnivore

Grandma and Grandpa Leib, please skip this entry!! One of the exciting things that has happened in the last month is that Claire has become a true carnivore. We introduced her to both chicken and turkey and she loves them! Thank goodness because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! Ari and I had decided even before we were married that our kids would eat meat until they chose not to. I am proud of him for keeping his promise and not crying when our little bear ate meat just like bears do!!

Teaser

The good news is our computer is up and running... seems we had a nasty Thai virus... the bad news is that it is already way past my bedtime and I just can't stay up any longer for more updates. I did want to put a quick pic up, though, to show you how big Claire is getting and to tell you that we will catch you up on the month's events soon!

Sorry!

Sorry for the lack of updates... our lives have been crazy and our home computer is down... more soon!

Rollin' Around

The other day when Claire and I were playing in her room, I decided to take a few pictures. She was rollin' all over the place to get to her favorite toys. I think the funniest pictures of her are those in her defeated pose: head down into the rug because she just can't get to what she wants. The best part is this only lasts a minute and then she is up playing again.

7 Months Old!

I am absolutely amazed to say that our little bear is 7 months-old! Just the other day I was starting to put together a photo album of her photos and I couldn't even remember what it felt like to hold her when she was brand new and only 3 pounds. Now the only evidence of her preemie days is that she is smaller than other babies her age. She has made amazing strides in the last month. She now sits independently; don't get me wrong, toppling over still happens. She is able to reach for toys, though and come back to a sitting position. She transfers objects between her hands regularly and uses her hands together to manage to lift more complicated toys. She babbles and makes the most adorable expressions when she talks to you. But her laugh is really my favorite. What is even better, is that when I laugh she starts to laugh as if she knows that if I am laughing something must really be funny and she doesn't want to be left out. She is really into making noise and banging her toys on surfaces. She also still seems to be a lefty. Crawling doesn't seem that far away either... she gets on her hands and knees and seems to really want to be able to move but for now we are limited to rolling. We have plenty of drool but no teeth yet... hopefully soon! Regardless, she is a complete delight and we just can't wait to see what she will do tomorrow.

Father's Day

Amazingly enough, Ari and I were both off of work for father's day. Claire and I couldn't wait to give daddy his gift: a super cool jogging stroller. Daddy was just a bit disappointed when it all came together and Claire was a bit too petite to be secured properly. I am sure that in a month or so she'll be ready to jog! In the afternoon Katie, Ryan, an Ian came over for a cookout and a swim. Ian really loves the water. We just couldn't believe he had the audacity to wear a Cubs hat to our house... I guess no one is perfect. After lots of time in the pool, we did a purely vegetarian grill out because I was out numbered by vegetarians! All and all it was a pretty fun day. What do you think of Claire's new hat?

Smiles

It has been a bit tough to catch Claire smiling on camera recently. She is such a joyful little thing that when she smiles she is usually giggling and throwing her head back or wriggling with glee. I have MANY blurry photos of Claire smiling; I am guessing you may not be interested in seeing those. Anyway, here are a few I captured that aren't blurry.