Good times

How fun is this? Claire and James certainly love each other. He is always smiling at her and grabbing at her face and hair. She smothers him with kisses and tolerates the hair pulling. When he finally rolled over, she was more excited than anyone. She jumped and cheered for a very long time! (And he loved it.)

Claire's eye view

It's always fun to see what pictures are on the camera. Claire likes to take her turn. She finally has figured out that what she sees on the screen is what the picture will look like. These are some good ones - most others have a thumb or finger in the way and many others are extreme close ups, usually of her eye.

Claire's dress ups

Claire has really been into her dress ups lately. It's been kind of fun. She likes to pretend she is Cinderella and is going to the ball. James, of course, is Prince Charming. She has a pioneer apron that I made for her and she always takes this to the ball for when she sleeps over at the castle. She calls it her "best calico." I love it. That is from the book called "Fanny's Dream." It is about a farm girl who thinks she wants the glitz and glam of going to the "ball" but finds out she really likes her life with her husband and kids better. The batman shirt is not a dress up. This picture was taken on her first day of school. She needed to wear the hat to keep the sun out of her face while we walked to preschool. She loves school!

This picture with the red crown really captures the essence of Claire. I am so glad we got a trampoline. She would be out on it 12 hours a day if she could. So full of life!

Three

I don't have much to say about this one, but it is a sweet picture. The next one after this I won't publish, though. They all have different expressions and they all have to do with me taking too long to find the right shot. (I didn't get one better than this .)

Las Vegas

We were able to go to Las Vegas to visit. It seems we always end up there in the hottest months. We were glad to be able to spend time with Jared's family and it was really fun to have the two babies there together. For some reason I didn't get any pictures of Ethan and James together. Please go to Lacey's blog to see some cute pictures (the link is on my sidebar). Of course we couldn't go to Las Vegas without taking time to go to Circus Circus. Claire really likes it there. We all had fun. I think Claire rode on the airplane ride six (or more) times in a row.

I have to say that the strength game was rigged. Jared is a pretty strong guy and he kept getting 98 or 99 out of 100 to win. It's a good way to make money because most guys will keep trying until they make it just to show that they are strong. You know what I mean? Ego? It was a good time.

Growing

Here are the pictures from James' 3 and 4 month "birthdays" - and some in between. He is growing so fast! At his 4 month visit with Dr. Stokes, she said he was a very even baby. His head circumference, height, and weight are all about in the 65 percentile of babies his same age. I really thought he would have been a higher percent the way he is going through clothes! By the way, his cardiologist saw him in July and he had an EKG done. His murmur is still there, but she thinks the defect will close up on its own. He just has to go in for annual visits until it does. Pretty easy.

more bear and thumb

Again with the bear and thumb.

Thumb and Bear

As much as I have tried to prevent it, James is a thumb sucker. I would much rather give him a binky that can be thrown away than a thumb that must be cut off. Just kidding, I wouldn't really cut it off. He really likes it, though. His other comfort is his little bear. He loves to snuggle it when he goes to sleep. Pretty sweet!

Claire

Claire! What can I say, she is one in a million. The tongue rolling was a big thing in April and May. First because she figured out how to do it and second because I can't do it and she thinks that I should be able to.

In Claire's closet is a whole bunch of hats - all different kinds. Here is a white baker's hat. The pink hat took awhile to pick out. She was looking for the perfect hat for the outing we were going on. I think she found it!

James smiling

Here is the smile. He is so cute! Sometimes he laughs in his sleep. It's funny, but it always gets me because it kind of sounds like choking. The puppy shirt is a gift from the Morrell's. It is 6-12 month size, so I had put it away for later in the summer. I am glad I got it out because it is not going to fit for long. It's kind of tight through the stomach area. I am glad he is gaining so much weight. It makes me less worried about his heart health. What a sweet boy!

Big Sister

Claire is enjoying being a big sister. She loves James so much and gives him hugs and kisses all of the time. I have been glad for her willingness to help me out. If I leave the room when they are both there, Claire reassures me that she will "watch over Baby James." I'll be happy when he can play more with her. I know she will love that!

James

Here are some pictures of James - finally. I didn't include his first couple of pictures because they are too sad to look at with his blue face. To look at him now you would never guess he had a rough start. He is huge and looks very healthy. I included a newborn picture, his one month, and his two month picture as well. I just love those little toes. He is very serious in these pictures, but he likes to smile and coo. I'll post some pictures later of his smile.

Snow White

Here is Snow White with her goats. They are such good friends. They come right to the fence when Claire is nearby. In exchange for their faithful friendship, Claire scratches their horns and feeds them green grass.

Easter

I am back from maternity leave! Here are our pictures from Easter. We went to the Tooele Easter Egg Hunt. It said to be there at 10:00 sharp - and now I know why. Insanity! Everything was gone in 90 seconds, if that. Claire got two things. There were kids (and moms) who had baskets full of toys and candy. I guess they were the seasoned Easter egg hunters. We took Claire to Jared's cousin Jennifer's house afterwards and they had a much more successful egg hunt there and a really good time to boot.

March

These pictures are just for fun. One is of Claire gearing up for St. Patrick's Day. She really wanted her picture taken with Blue the dog. The other is of Claire the pirate. Doesn't she have a good pirate look on her face?!

discovery gateway

The day after our birthdays, Jared took the day off and we headed to Salt Lake City to go visit Discovery Gateway. It is a children's museum that is a lot of fun. Here are just a couple of pictures from that experience. Claire is shopping at the grocery store, making dinner in the playhouse, and getting a ride in the search and rescue helicopter (it does not really fly). We had a lot of fun and really enjoyed being together.

more birthday

Claire told us she wasn't 3 until she blew out the candles. She had to wait until Jared was home, but then she was able to be 3. We opened presents, too. She was kind of disappointed after opening her presents because there were just clothes and books. She asked us if that was all. It was kind of sad that she was so bummed. Luckily, we really had one more present for her and it was the one she had been talking about since Christmas. She was so excited. I think she had a good birthday, but she is already counting down to turning 4.

birthday party

Claire had a birthday party with her playgroup friends. They played stick the #1 on Thomas and musical chairs. Musical chairs was a lot of fun until the music stopped. I had been playing a CD with the song "Celebrate" on it - Claire's favorite. She was so upset that the song had to be stopped. The other kids enjoyed playing, though. She was okay once the game was over and they all could just dance to the whole song without stopping.

feeding time

Claire set this up and I thought it was pretty cute. She had her "friends" all lined up and was feeding them like they were in a highchair. The menu consisted of a cheeseburger and corn on the cob.