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!

Crawling Camera Attack

I'm trying a direct upload - comment so I know it works. Otherwise I'm off to YouTube and I'll try it that way!

Photos From Day One In California

After a great flight with Claire (much to the relief of the passengers around us) we arrived at the Catamaran Resort right on Mission Beach in San Diego. It was a GREAT place to stay and we even got a suite upgrade through travelocity. When we arrived we found 2 double beds, not the king we were expecting so they moved us up to the seventh floor to gorgeous suite with ocean views. WOW! You've got to love that "roaming gnome." Did I mention we had two balconies overlooking the ocean?

The next morning Claire got to sit in a restaurant high chair for the first time (she made eyes at all the other diners and surfer boys). Dan and I had the best french toast EVER. I had to photograph it...yum yum yum.

We spent the day lounging about the pool and exploring the hotel which had gorgeous grounds and a bunch of parrots around to entertain the guests. They were very chatty and we could hear the one parrot saying, "here kitty, kitty" from our balcony. Claire seemed to enjoy the birds, not nearly as much as her own pets.

Laurie and Alison came by to visit and swim with Claire who very much enjoyed each of her pool adventures. Swim diapers are the best inventions ever...we didn't get to truly test them out because Claire had saved that up for the plane (haha) but looking at how much her regular diaper swelled up I can't imagine it actually containing anything.

Dan cooked dinner with the groceries Claire and I picked up (her first grocery cart ride too!) and then we finally got to see National Treasure II on the gigantic flat screen TV in the master bedroom.

So that's day one of CA...I know, a WEEK later. I'll post pictures of the wedding tomorrow and the zoo on Sunday. I'm having some issues with the image uploader so I have to do it all manually. With Claire crawling (eeek!) there's not nearly enough time in the day anymore.

All Fours, And Fifths

Eeek! Claire has SPOTS. Tons of them...all over her body. They appear and then seem to vanish, I think I'm going crazy.

It turns out she caught fifth's disease which aside from producing a nice rash, doesn't add up to much else. Phew! Grandbob got it first and was a bit miserable, but other than "glowing" Claire hasn't had any side effects. At least we got this one out of the way early! The rash didn't seem to bother Claire at all, but it sure freaked out Mom & Dad. I took pictures to bring to the doctor's office because the rash kept coming and going - a common occurrence I'm told, but I was about to lose my mind.

To address the other part of this entry's title - Claire is up on all fours! She's rocking like crazy while on her hands and knees and we're expecting her to get the knack of things any day now.


Grandceil and I noticed her knees going forward yesterday but the arm part of this equation is still missing, hence many, many faceplants (which is why Claire is in her "piggy pen" as we call it).