Da-da-da-da

Claire continues to amaze mom & dad every week with new sounds and other developments. The last few days she has begun saying da-da-da-da (mostly when getting her diaper changed so we assume this isn't actually associated with her dad) and ga-ga-ga. No ma-ma yet but mom is working on those 'm' sounds. 

She has also started to grab onto and move her bottle to her mouth. She will hold onto it for a while but seems to get bored with it and wants to do something else with her hands. She now eats some fruits (apricots and apples, pears and some banana) but still prefers her veggies and just plain cereal. 

We're going to start ramping up her solids and start giving her foods twice a day to help stretch out her milk and introduce her to more flavors. 

New Pictures!

Claire gets ready to eat dinner. Grabbed her fork and said "I'm ready!!"

Claire taking a stroll in her walker.

Storing some food in her cheeks.

Racing across the carpet in her walker.

Spending some time with her puppy dog from big sister Jordan.

8 months

Claire hit the big 8 month mark on Valentine's day. She celebrated by spending the day with Grandma Jackie (thanks Grandma!). 

Claire continues to grow and pack on weight. She is getting some serious arm folds around her wrists. Unfortunately, she recently decided that she no longer liked bath time and has been very adamant about her lack of desire for this event. She nearly flipped herself over in the tub. This makes getting into those folds a wee bit more difficult. Needless to say by the time bath is over she is wiped out from all of her crying and screaming. Oh what fun! 

She loves to grab everything she can get her hands on and mom and dad are prepping the house for when she becomes mobile. 

Mom and dad have learned that Claire lacks a sweet tooth. We have tried to feed her bananas, pears and apples but she will have none of it and reacts like she did to the peas. She still loves her carrots, sweet potatoes and cereal. Mom and dad have secretly snuck in some pear into her cereal the last couple of nights, hoping  'ease' her into fruits. So far she hasn't caught onto the plan.

More images to come - blogger doesn't seem to want to upload images this morning! 

Sitting pretty

Claire models her one-of-a-kind onesie from Auntie Kim D.
Claire 'reads' her baby book.
Chubby toes.


Claire continues to master the art of sitting on her own. She can go for what mom & dad consider to be fairly long stretches (20 minutes) as long as someone is in front of her for entertainment purposes.

Claire and mom had a girls weekend while dad was off playing in the snow. Trips to Coffee Club, a visit with cousins Alex and Ryan and brunch got Claire and mom out of the house. Sunday afternoon Claire began to exhibit some not so typical behavior and mom and dad are trying to determine if she may be experiencing the first signs of cutting teeth. We haven't seen anything that looks like a tooth (or inflamed gums) but we know that the pain can start much earlier than any visual indication.

The milk supply is slowly dwindling and we have started to introduce formula. We still had formula that we paid for (read insurance paid for!) the hospital gave us when we left the NICU and hope that the milk supply will make it for another 10 days or so. The formula we are using is the preemie stuff which is loaded with additional calorie building ingredients so Claire is packing on the weight. Seriously.