Seven Months

Wowza! My baby is 7 months old. If I didn't know how to use a calendar and count myself, I wouldn't believe it. We are so much closer to a year than we are to when she was born.

At seven months, Claire:

Look at those two, tiny, sharp teeth!

::has two teeth! She has her two bottom, middle teeth. They are adorable, and super sharp!

::sits up for long periods of time. She is getting stronger and stronger. If we put her on her bum in sitting position she will stay there for a long time. When she is laying down she will try SO hard to sit up by herself. It won't be long before she can sit herself up whenever she wants.

(This was a couple of days before she turned 7 months. Look how far she is from her blanket!)

::rolls all over the place. She will try rolling to something. When she gets on her back, she arches her back to try to see where she wanted to roll. She will roll and maneuver her way to toys and things. Brent will put her on a blanket when she is playing on the floor, but she is quickly rolling herself off the blanket.

::turns when she is on her tummy. She also kicks and tries to move herself forward. She wants to crawl so badly but can't figure it out.

::is an eating champ. Her favorite foods are squash, peas, carrots, green beans, and her bottle. She is a huge fan of veggies but not so much of fruit. I'm surprised since the fruit is so sweet. She is a cute eater and can't get enough of using the spoon.

::talking more gibberish and making lots of different sounds. I'm trying to teach her to say mom so it's her first word, but I haven't had much luck yet. :)

Claire loves to stick her tongue out.

::sometimes reaches for us when we go to pick her up. I really think she reached for me very first, but maybe I'm just trying to pretend like she did. I love when she reaches for me though.

::transfers things from hand to hand. It is so fun to watch her motor skills improving day by day.

::bounces super high. She still loves the bouncer toy.

::is so much fun! She is constantly laughing and smiling. She is a gem. Claire is pretty ticklish under her armpits and it is hilarious. She will laugh and laugh when we tickle her and then all of the sudden she will stop laughing and look at us like we are crazy. I love it! I wonder when people stop enjoying tickles?

Dear Claire,
I love you. I had to go back to work this week and I have missed you terribly. I had a wonderful summer playing with my baby. I do love it when you greet me at the door when I come home from work. You always give me a huge smile. It makes my whole day happier. Stay my little baby just a bit longer. Please?
Love, Momma

Summer Adventures 2012 Part 11

We went to the Kennecott Copper Mine while Heather and Hilary were here.  We had never been before and thought it would be a fun (and cheap) activity for all of us to do.  It only cost $5 per car to get in, so not bad at $1 a person.  After we drove in, we traveled up a long windy road around the mountain to the visitors' center.  From there we could see just how big this giant hole in the ground really was.

It's hard to tell just how big this thing is from the picture, but if you look at the little black dots along the road on the far side of the mine, those are the giant dump trucks they use to haul the rocks out.

To give you a better idea of how big those trucks are, here's a regular sized school bus taking some workers down into the mine alongside the dump trucks.

 They had a truck tire out in front of the visitors' center.  There are six of these on each truck--each back wheel has two tires.

 This aerial shot displayed in the visitors' center shows the whole operation.  It's massive.

We had a great time marveling at how huge the mine is.  It's a pretty unique attraction, and it's impressive that men have been able to literally move a mountain.

Summer Adventures 2012 Part 10

We went berry picking! We went to McBride Briar Patch in Mapleton and had a wonderful time! The kind man that helped us was wonderful. I wanted to adopt him as my grandpa. He told us to taste as many as we wanted while we were picking and to have a great time. We ended up picking for quite awhile and got a lot of blackberries and raspberries. My freezer still has berries. YUM. Hilary made us waffles the next morning with berries and cool whip. I'm so glad we went! We had a great time!

 Brent and Heather out picking some berries.

 Hilary had the brilliant idea to go berry picking.

 Brent was like a kid in a candy store. He was searching for the very best berries.

 All the berry picking tuckerd out Claire. (Actually, she was like this when we first got there. She woke up and had a wonderful time. Promise!)

 Mmmm. Ice cream and fresh picked berries.

 The yummy waffles Hil made us. She even added colorful designs with food coloring.

Hil and her waffle

Summer Adventures 2012 Part 9

Auntie Heather and Auntie Hilary came to visit us! We had such a fabulous time. Thanks for visiting, Aunties. We can't wait to see you again! We also saw Grandpa Mark and Grandma Kelly when they were on their way home from Vegas. Thanks for stopping by!

 Grandpa & Grandma Hirz

Claire loved having her aunties love on her. She thought she was something else being the center of attention of not only her mom and dad for a week.

Summer Adventures 2012 Part 8

We visited Santa Fe! We were originally planning on riding the train but the station is kind of far from the cool old town that we wanted to visit so we just drove. We were able to see a beautiful cathedral, walk around neat shops, witness some belly dancers in this neat square, and stop for Coldstone after. Hooray for Santa Fe!

The dads ready to start walking around Santa Fe.

Kevin and I, along with Henry, walked around something called the Labyrinth. We followed this pathway around all of these twists and turns to end up in the very center. The sign said it was supposed to symbolize life and all its twists and turns. It was kinda fun.

Brent and Claire in the cathedral. She thought it was pretty. 

This was the baptismal font in the cathedral. It was gorgeous.

I love this picture. I'm so glad Kevin married Stacie. She is one of my best friends. I'm so happy we got to see them for a few days. I already miss Kevin, Stacie, Henry, and Grant SO much.

Summer Adventures 2012 Part 7

When we were in Albuquerque, we went to the zoo! It was an awesome zoo. They even had some lions. Yeah people, I saw lions in real zoo life. It was awesome. We had a great time! Kevin called ahead to see if we would be able to rent a stroller from the zoo so we didn't have to go out and buy one. The super friendly guy said we could rent a one seater or a two seater for $5 or $7. Sounded like a pretty great deal so we were on our way. The stroller turned out to be a hard wagon with a strap. Claire is getting better at holding herself up but this wasn't going to do for her and so we carried her most of the day. Brent was a champ because I have a little bit of a chunker. Henry was kind enough to share his stroller for some of the day too. Thanks, Henry!

Brent showed Claire some big fish.

Kevin, Brent, and their super cute hatted babies. 

We were by a fossil of some sorts!

me and Claire

Claire loved it when Uncle Kevin stuck his tongue out at her. She thought it was funny. 

Kevin and cutie pants Henry

Claire liked borrowing Henry's stroller. So did her tired momma and daddy.

Stacie and Henry, Kevin, Grant, Brent, and Claire

Henry was very interested in the seals that were swimming around in the blue water. 

There are giraffes back there!

Kevin & Henry and Me & Claire

Uncle Kevin and Claire

Summer Adventures 2012 Part 6

We have been dying to meet Mr. Henry and we have been missing Kevin and Stacie like crazy. When we found out that Grant was going to be in Albuquerque in July, we knew we had to drive down to see everyone. We had a wonderful time! We have missed our friends like crazy it was SO good to see all of them, including Handsome Henry! :)

Claire and Henry just checkin each other out.

Henry was very nice to share some toys with Claire.

Claire tried really hard to show Henry how fun tummy time is. I don't think he believed her yet.

Claire Anita fell asleep on her new mommy.

 Claire and Henry were on the Grant Train!

Claire loved to touch Henry. She loves seeing other babies and smiles really big at them.

Henry had some big smiles! He was so tiny and cute. I miss him. When are we going to see you agan, Handsome? Come visit us soon. Please?

Make it two!

Claire has two teeth. They are right next to each other on the bottom. And next week, I'll be posting about her graduating from university. Slow down!

Teeth

Claire has her very first tooth! I told Brent last night that I knew it was coming but he didn't believe me. This morning, sure enough, a little tooth broke through. It's kinda cute. She hasn't been fussy at all though. What a champ! Where oh were has my baby gone?!