Eight Months

Whoa! We are already at 8 months. It won't be very long until my baby is a year old. I can't stand it. She is at such a fun age though. I love how much she can do and how fun she is.

At eight months, Claire:

::plays the piano. We pulled out the toy she used to lay on to play the piano with her feet and now she sits up and plays for us. Usually she plays while we eat dinner. It's pretty cheap dinner entertainment.

::sits for a long, long time. Claire will sit and play with me or Brent on the floor and just giggle. Eventually she will be reaching for something and topple over but then she just starts to roll.

::rolls everywhere but still doesn't crawl. She doesn't really have an interest in crawling because rolling takes her everywhere she needs to go. She is an expert roller and she is super quick.

::is a wiggle worm. The kid won't sit still!

::talks all of the time. She is saying all sorts of things and is constantly making noises. She has most recently started making this gurgle noise a lot. It's like she has spit in her throat and gargles it to make a funny noise. She loves it when I imitate that one.

::no longer sleeps in a swaddle. The transition hasn't been too bad. She loves to sleep on her side and will still (most of the time) sleep through the night. Knock on wood....

::has a sippy cup that she likes to try to drink from. She mostly spills water all down her front but it is fun to watch her try to drink from the sippy. She just keeps trying again and again. She also likes to drink from our cups and is doing better at getting a little in her mouth instead of all down her front.

::loves vegetables, but squash is her favorite. She is a messy eater but she has so much fun eating.

::'s hair is getting super long and fluffy. It is uncontrollable and absolutely adorable.

::pinches super hard. (Brent said, "She will claw your face without remorse." haha) I can't keep up with the rate that her finger nails grow.

::has been teething. She is trying to get a tooth on top. It's allllllllllllmost through. Her sleep was interrupted for a couple of nights due to this tooth. I'm rooting for it to break on through!

::had her first real cold. Poor kid! I brought it home from school to her and I felt awful. Awful. She had a runny nose and had snot dripping down her face all day long. She did great though! Her cold was in addition to teething so it made it that much worse.
::applied to 5 colleges. We are waiting to hear. I have no doubts she will be accepted to all.

::is getting better at playing with toys and with her dexterity. She likes to pick things up and will reach and reach to get her hands on things. She is pretty good at using her thumbs most of the time. She will occasionally forget they are there. ha

::likes books but doesn't sit still for very long. She does love a soft book called I'm going to school today. It has all sorts of fun things to do like buckle the seat belt and button the coat.

Dear Claire,
8 months? Is this a mean trick you are playing on Mom or are you really growing so quickly? I love spending time with you and getting snuggles in. The kids at school adore you and love when you come to visit mommy. They sing to you and they will do silly things to get a smile out of you. (It really isn't hard to get you to smile. You are such a happy baby.) I'm glad there are so many people that love you. I can tell you are going to touch so many peoples lives. I love you. So much.
Love, Mommy

Yes. I am.

Me : Watch me do this problem for you because I'm really smart.
Student : You're not smart, you're arrogant.
Me : What?
Student : Arrogant, you know, not humble.
Me : Yes. I am. But I'm also smart so watch me.

Hahaha. Man, I love my job. These kids always keep me on my toes.

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.