First Steps!

Claire took her first steps yesterday (Sunday, July 27) - hooray! I was in the living room with Claire and after spending SIX hours in the car she was so happy to get some floor time in. She pulled herself up on a dining room chair and then did a little two-step in place and then ventured forward with the other foot. I scrambled to find Dan so he could see, but the show was over. Fast forward to this afternoon when I was sitting on the ground and Claire WALKED from my ankles, three steps and then fell into my arms with a huge smile on her face (total distance traveled was maybe 2 feet).

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to capture Claire's first steps (contrary to popular belief, I don't always have the camera trained on her) but here are a few new snaps of her standing outside last night. In the first picture where she's showing off her crouching skills, I think she was after a bug In the second picture I gave her a nasturtium to hold...which she promptly ate. I guess the spiciness doesn't bother her! So much for my prop though <sigh>.

Milestones

I forgot to post that our little munchkin is finally saying "Mom" and "Dad." It sounds like a "muhmuhmamama" when she wants me and Dan is known as "duh-dy (spoken quickly and repeated at least three times). Claire looks right at us when she says our names (oh God, we're Mommy & Daddy to someone).

Here are the upright pictures I promised earlier today. What a big girl!

Our hydrangeas are in full bloom so of course I had to use one as a prop. I just wish I could get Claire to smile while examining the flowers. After trying all kinds of noises and frantic arm waving motions (which I'm sure cracked up my neighbors), I gave up and settled on a serious faced portrait instead. Oh well. I did manage to get ONE outside where she smiling. As always, I took waaay more photos than can fit in one blog entry. You can find the others here in my online album, or watch the slide show below.

Look Out World!

Claire doesn't seem to need much help standing anymore. She's now doing "wall pushups" on every flat surface in the house, although she seems to prefer the dishwasher - that strange mirrored baby in there makes her smile. The butt-out pose has been perfected and Claire's dimpled bottom has been cushioning her landings (none of which are graceful yet).

Our little daredevil has even tried letting go of her standing aids...the longest I've seen her wobble is about 3 seconds...I wonder how long it will be until she can stand completely unassisted?!

Claire cruised today for the first time. She made a little circuit around the perimeter of the bed and across the couch. This new skill combined with her speed crawling should keep me busy, phew!

8 Months Old!

What - a new banner doesn't count as an update?!

The internet has been down a few days so I've been busying myself with Apple's iMovie.
I promise it's worth the wait! This video showcases some of Claire's newest accomplishments - crawling, solids and being cute while playing :-)

There's also a little montage at the end for father's day. The video itself doesn't have sound so I put some music in. I'm hoping it's not too large for web viewing, most everyone is on broadband, right?

Dan and I were marveling at just how BIG Claire has gotten last night. I bet you'll think so too after watching the ending of this video. I hope ya'll enjoy it!

Grassy Green Eyes

This close up of Claire is straight out of the camera - no touch ups or color adjustments. You've got to love that early morning sun, look how green her eyes are turning!

I went out this morning with the intention of capturing Claire at her newest trick - pulling up to a stand. It's not a great photo of her, but it gets the point across, she's standing! Claire has been pulling up consistently for about a week, I've been trying to catch a shot of her doing it, but it's getting hard to chase her around with the camera, she's so fast!