Baby's First Christmas

 
 Despite all of the sadness we have endured during the past couple of weeks (see previous post), there has also been a lot of joy. Claire is such a wonderful distraction from grief because you just cannot be sad while hanging out with her. She is so joyful, curious, inquisitive, and happy. She gets excited about the simplest things...and that makes me excited.

  

Christmas Eve we went to church with Jared's parents, Aunt and Uncle, and Papa. Then we had soup and Claire opened up her presents at her JuJu and Zo's (Jared's parents) house. It was a fun evening spent with family. 

 

We have really only celebrated Christmas with my side of the family. Jared's siblings have not come to town yet, so we are waiting to have Christmas with them once they are all here--although Claire has already opened the presents from Jared's parents.

Christmas morning we got up and had our family Christmas. We opened presents from each other and Santa and we also looked in the stockings. Claire like the jingle bell on her stocking. It was a nice morning with just the three of us and the pets. Then we headed to my parent's house.

We spent most of the morning/early afternoon with my family at my parent's house. Claire really didn't get into the unwrapping of the presents like I thought she would. She tore a few bows off and ripped some paper, but it was mostly off of other people's presents rather than her own. She did love seeing all of the colorful paper and has played with most of her new toys. However, she really enjoyed having all the people around. She loves being the center of attention and having people interact with her. She made laps from person to person and showed them her new things. It was a really fun morning. I love Christmas with my family. It is my favorite time of year -- probably because we are all together.

 I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and is looking forward to the new year.

A Road Trip and a Funeral

I didn't post last week...I had a lot to post about, but very little time to actually write anything down. I guess I should start with our road trip to Benton. My Grandmother's sister (Peggy) lives in a nursing home in Cabot and my Aunt and Uncle live in Benton. Peggy is over 90 years old and her health is definitely declining. They even asked her if she wanted to go on Hospice, but she told the doctors that she wasn't ready for that step yet. I still think she is a little spitfire - considering her age and deteriorating health - she is doing pretty well.

We decided that Aunt Peggy needed to meet Claire sooner rather than later, so we took a little trip down to central Arkansas. We drove down Friday night and stayed with my Aunt and Uncle. They loved Claire and it was really good to see them - it had been too long. Then on Saturday we drove to Cabot and visited with Aunt Peggy. I love watching my Grandmother and her sister. They are hysterical together. They just laugh and talk. Peggy loved little Claire too. Claire sat on her lap and grabbed her cheeks. It was precious. It was a really good trip and I am so glad that we decided to go.

Our adventure to visit the relatives was less than two weeks ago, but it seems like a lot longer.

Jared's grandmother (Verna Beatrice Dixon Edwards) passed away the Saturday before Christmas (the same night we got back in town). Everything was a whirlwind after that. Sunday we went to the funeral home with the family to be there for support while they made arrangements. Tuesday was the visitation and Wednesday was when they held the funeral.Verna B. was a lovely lady and wonderful grandmother. The funeral was really nice, but also really hard. She will be missed. Here is a story in memory of Grandma:

Jared always used to do yard work for his grandparents and they would pay him good money for it. One day he went over and his grandmother told him that the hedges needed trimming. He had already trimmed one set of hedges a few weeks prior, so he went outside and looked around for the other hedges that needed trimming. He found some that looked grown out and trimmed away. His grandmother came out later to check the progress and realized he had trimmed her Crepe Myrtle. Jared said that she didn't even get mad and still paid him anyway.

 

During the tumultuous week before Christmas I used all of the spare time I had to get all of my last minute Christmas shopping and wrapping finished. Claire had her first Christmas this year and I'll post about that in the near future.

Birthday with a Baby

I had my first birthday post baby this past Sunday. The hubby had his first birthday when Claire was under a month old, so I sort of new what to expect, or at least I thought I did.

All Jared got for his birthday last year (and by all I mean mostly) was clothes for the baby. In fact, Claire wore one of her "daddy's" birthday presents to my birthday dinner. I did get a few baby related items (a safety gate), but I also got some grown-up presents too. One thing that is definitely different about birthdays when a baby is around is the shift of attention. I am not the first person everyone says hello to on my birthday with Claire around...they all ooh'd and aahh'd over her first. I didn't mind that too much. I am not a big fan of being the center of attention.

I had a really great weekend celebrating with family and it was an extra special birthday because I got to share it with Claire. She really does make every event/occurrence more exciting and enjoyable. I love that little monkey.

I stole these pictures from my mother-in-law, but they are the only ones I could find of the festivities.

Little Food Monster

So Claire has ventured into the world of self-feeding. It has been difficult to get her to eat anything from a spoon. This is both good and bad. I no longer have to steam, puree, freeze, thaw, serve everything she eats, but it has been challenging to find things that are soft enough for her to chew, but that she can also pick up with her fingers.

Slowly, but surely I am expanding our repertoire of finger foods. She loves beans and they are easy to cook and serve. She has had and loves ground turkey, ground beef, tiny bits of chicken, and ham. We tried carrots, but I don't think I got them soft enough and she had a lot of trouble chewing them. I will have to try again this week sometime. She still eats peas (but isn't very fond of them) and she loves green beans which are pretty easy to cut into small chunks.

I think it is the fruit I am struggling with. Anything soft enough for Claire is so slick and mushy that she really has trouble picking it up and getting it to her mouth. I have been experimenting though and we have had some success getting her to take some cooked pears and apples by spoon and a couple of the chunks she successfully fed to herself. Learning how to feed a baby - soon to be toddler - has been an adventure. We have had trials and successes every step of the way and each stage has been a fun adventure.

What is not so much fun is trying to eat my lunch anywhere near the baby. She is constantly trying to get a hold of my plate and anything she can on it. It doesn't matter if she has just had an eight course meal of her own food. When I try to eat she wants some of it. So I try to make lunches that have at least one food item that Claire can eat. I share with her and eat, or I eat while she is napping, or I hide in a corner and eat while she is playing in baby jail.

What you do as a mother to take care of your self and a baby is pretty hilarious sometimes. So Claire is now officially my little food monster. If she sees you eating it, it must be good, so she wants it. Watch your plates!

Christmas prep and no more excuses...

Christmas is just a little over two weeks away. Usually I would be in full shopping, wrapping, and preparing mode. However, having a curious ten-month old changes everything. It is hard to get the usual stuff (cleaning, straightening, cooking, etc.) done--let alone adding Christmas shopping and wrapping. I have mostly been gathering things during the week and then dealing with them on the weekends when the mister is home to help baby wrangle.

We attempted a Christmas craft with Claire yesterday (alliteration anyone?) and let's just say it did not go as well as mommy had hoped it would. I am rethinking our "homemade" gifts from Claire. I am sure they will turn out fine, but I am so disappointed that they did not work out the way I had hoped. I know I am being vague, but the craft is supposed to be part of the family Christmas presents this year, so I have to keep them under wraps until after December 25th.

I have also decided that I am not going think about starting to get back in shape--I am going to do it. I woke up this morning at 6:00 to go for a run. I just happened to pick a time when we got to bed late (midnight) and it was freezing outside (literally--the temperature was below freezing)--awesome. The mister asked me if I was sure I wanted to go as I was getting ready this morning. I was thinking, of course I don't want to go, but there will always be an excuse not to and I am done with excuses. I think I will try running 2 - 3 mornings a week and Pilates or yoga the other 2 - 3 mornings (I will take a break on Sundays). So wish me luck on my road to fitness.

This post is kind of all over the place, but that is how I am feeling today...probably due to my lack of sleep (I am used to nine hours a night). : )