What a Happy Baby!

Claire has started smiling which is soooo exciting. She's always had those gas smiles (I like the Dr. Sear's explanation that they are expressions of inner contentment, see below for the quote) but these social smiles are something totally different. She makes eye contact, grins and then sticks her tongue out while wiggling her head back and forth, it's too cute.

The eye contact seems to be the most important step in the process which has made photographing her grins rather difficult. I tried to hold the camera in one hand and look suitably goofy for the baby while tickling her with the other hand.

Here are some of the results. I rather like the yawn sequence..."hey, can we take a break now?"

Joan Grealis mentioned how much she enjoys reading the blog and being reminded of the day to day life with a baby. Here's a memory you might want to repress. Claire seems to be holding out on us. We change her diaper because she's fussy and wet. And then a few minutes later - and once while being changed - she lets loose. And let us just say the result is not just a "wet" diaper. Perhaps one day I'll shock you all and post a picture of what our little sweetheart can produce!

This weekend we're heading down to spend Thanksgiving the grand's house and we'll be sure to post pictures of Claire's Thanksgiving outfit. I learned a lesson from my last trip down - pack early and give yourself at least a 2 hour window to make it to the car. Between making sure we have enough clothes, diapers, and booties (what if her diaper leaks? better pack another onesie!) and figuring out how to fit the swing, co-sleeper and our own clothes into the car - I have a long morning ahead of me!



“Inside smiles occurring in the first few weeks, are a beautiful reflection of an inner feeling of rightness. Some are sleep grins; some are only a happy twitch in the corner of the mouth. Relief smiles occur only after being rescued from a colicky period, after a satisfying feeding, or after being picked up and rocked….Baby’s early smiles convey an ‘I feel good inside’ message and leave you feeling good inside. Be prepared to wait until next month for the true outside (or social) smiles, which you can initiate,” Dr. Sears

Baby's First Snow!

Yay! And this one really counts! We received about 5" and local schools were closed. Dan worked from home today and we decided to trek outside and try for a family "snow day" picture. As you can see in this cropped version Claire was just thrilled about
it. Heehee, poor kid she couldn't even move her arms!

Weekend at the Grands!

While Dan was off hunting for the weekend (no deer!) Claire and I headed down to sleepover Grandbob and his wife's house. (Ceil has yet to pick out a name, suggestions welcomed). Claire was her usual happy self and managed to fall asleep in a cute position again courtesy of the boppy. We were having some "tummy time" and I guess all the new muscles used to grin at us wore little Claire out, she feel asleep right in the middle of our game.

I saw these things called babylegs on the internet and thought they would be a cute alternative to tights for the winter. G-Mom Cherill whipped out the sewing machine and we made a few pairs of our own after finding a tutorial online.

Showing the baby off this weekend was great, not to mention the food, yum!




The favorite activity of all the adults this weekend seemed to be "baby-watching." Every time Claire napped, twitched, burped or smiled she had an excited audience to witness it all.

And we're off!

We're off like a "herd of turtles" as Kelly would say, but getting out with baby Claire is getting easier and easier. Her carseat doesn't seem to torture her quite as much and we got tons of shopping done yesterday.

Her 6 week check up is Tuesday (has that much time really passed?) and we're taking bets on her weight. Leave a comment and I'll let you know who was closest! She was a little over 9 lbs at her last visit. Maybe I'll even put a little poll up, look for it on the right hand side. I noticed that nifty little feature yesterday!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Brrr! The cold weather seems to have really hit and sources tell us that our "snowstorm" Friday night into Saturday beat out the Maine crowd for first flakes! I was dying to get Claire outside in her little snowsuit and take a "Baby's First Snow" picture, but our dusting melted too quickly.

I came across this photo I took after feeding Claire on Friday. I thought there is no way I can just pick her up on the boppy so I can stand and stretch - but I did and she stayed sleeping like this for almost half an hour while I worked on the PC next to her. Notice how Jack is watching over her!

60th Anniversary

We took the baby on her first long car trip as we headed to New York to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Claire's great-grandparents. Dinner out with baby went really well, thankfully she slept through most of it and I doubt the diners nearby even noticed there was a newborn nearby!


Nan and Pop enjoyed seeing "Princess Claire" again and spent some time snuggling with her in their home before we left for dinner. "Dress that baby in a hat!" was the mantra for the night.











Here's Joanne singing to the baby. With four grandchildren (triplets!), she's had plenty of practice!

Hello? Anybody there?

We're noticing Claire making a whole bunch of new sounds. She seems to be discovering her vocal cords. She squeaks, squeals and squawks throughout the day. It's too funny. Here she is showing off for Grandma Carol.

I See You!

4 Weeks Old!

My how time flies! Claire is four weeks old today and I was fortunate enough to grab this photo yesterday while she was hanging out in the bay window - look at that dimple! It would be nice if her face was in better focus, but she is so squirmy sometimes. I think she might be bird watching...or leaf peeping...but whichever, she is so happy looking at the window! I suppose the sunlight coming through the leaves must look interesting with her newborn eyesight.

Nan & Pop Come to Town

The great-grandparents were in town to meet baby Claire. In addition to posting how sweet they thought she was (very) and how much they enjoyed their time with her ("she's so precious!") I thought it would be fun to post some of the rather interesting songs Nan sang to her.



See-saw, rockity door
Who's there?
Claire
What do you want?
A glass of beer!

Your guess is as good as mine as to what "rockity door" is. As for the glass of beer...who knows? Claire enjoyed Nan's singing and I suppose that is what counts most.




This picture of Pop holding the baby should impress all those who know him.

This man did not hold his own daughter until she was able to walk and his granddaughters until they were about 9 months old. It took some cajoling to get him to hold his wobbly-headed great-grandbaby but it was worth the effort. She LOVED his hat and quieted whenever he came by to peek at her.


This is Claire shaking Pop's hand - too cute! Another favorite song was:

How do you do my partner?
How do you do today?
We will dance in a circle,
I will show you the way!
Boom Boom!





The "boom boom" at the end has to be reinforced with a tickling poke to baby's tummy of course!

Here's Claire about to enjoy her first dessert...well not really but it was fun to pretend seeing as how the cake was nearly as big as she was.

Sunny Sleeper

Claire was napping in her cradle swing this morning (hip hip hooray!) and the sun was hitting her so nicely I had to snap a photo. How pretty! Notice the "touchdown" position of her arms.

Look at me sleeping, how cute am I? The great-grandparents are coming to visit this afternoon...we'll post photos later of Nan & Pop meeting their great-grandbaby.

It's So Hard To Be A Baby

Claire was a rare cranky kid yesterday. Here's a comic in her honor.

And at the request of Aunt Laurie here's the original cranky picture. She actually wasn't cranky in the picture, just waking up and giving that funny baby "what are you lookin' at" expression.


In fact, seconds earlier...she made this adorable face: