My Beautiful Walrus Bulldog

Lord, can you please slow time down?

Almost 9 months! I’m so amazed how many changes happen so fast! In the past couple weeks Clara has learned to sit up from a laying or crawling position and has started pulling up on us and other things. It was so weird the first time I walked in her room and saw her sitting up in her crib. Jason had to lower the mattress since she’s trying to pull up on the sides of the crib. Don’t want baby going overboard! It seems she needs a little more muscle to completely pull all the way up, but I’m sure she’ll figure it out. It’s funny how one day they just figure things out on their own.

Clara now has 5 teeth with a 6th one about to bust through. I’m convinced she’s gonna have a full set of teeth by the time she’s 1 and will be eating steak. Haha. I have given her the nicknames “Walrus” and “Bulldog.” Walrus because her top two teeth are so far apart and Bulldog because she will grind her bottom and top teeth together giving herself an under bite. She gets told how beautiful she is all the time so I promise I’m not giving her self-image issues!We also discovered she has a little “beauty mark” on her left cheek (see picture below). She continues to be a master at picking things up. She will literally find the tiniest crumb in the carpet, pick it up with her fingers and just play with it!

We finally got our pictures back and we love them. I can’t wait to use this lady again. Possibly for Clara’s 1 year birthday and maybe again if we have another little baby one day! Speaking of pictures Jason and I got an awesome new camera as our anniversary gift to each other. I have been telling him since she was born that I wanted a really good camera since I take so many pictures (some of the pics below were taken with it). To see the professional pics:
1. Go here http://www.studiobloomphoto.com/index2.php
2. Click on “clients”
3. Password is red213

Jason found out he is going to Canada AGAIN! He will be leaving mid-may for several days. The only reason I like him going is so he can bring back some ice wine. Mmmmm. I’m getting really excited for my triathlon . It’s only 5 weeks away! I’ve been able to get to the gym more to swim and cycle but I don’t think the entire container of Hummus and pound of chocolate cake I ate this weekend is going to help me much. Ooops! But tomorrow’s another day, right?

The monthly pictures are getting harder to take (this picture is a few weeks old)

Beauty mark

Loves feeding herself

I don't know if it's the humidity or what but her hair has been super fuzzy lately. It's so cute.

Cutest thing ever. So she crawled under this thing and played for a few minutes. Crawled out of it, grabbed these two toys and immediately crawled back under holding them and started playing with them. She was totally playing house!

youth ministry picnic...

Take a guess of what she's looking at....it's one of her favorite things to watch :)

Yelling contest...

For those of you who say you've never seen Clara cranky. Here's a glimpse, it DOES happen...

Beach Baby

Wow so much to update on! Clara is 8 months now and the fact that she will be 1 year old in less than four months blows me away. I feel like Clara has changed so much over the past few weeks. She now crawls anywhere she wants (still on her belly), can eat finger foods all by herself (picks up food between thumb and finger), drinks from a sippy cup in a reclined position, is talking more, and has FOUR, count them, FOUR teeth! Yikes!

Some of the big events that we’ve had in the past month are...

• Clara falling off our bed. Yes, I know, I deserve the “Mom of the Year” award. I felt sooooo HORRIBLE and definitely learned my lesson. She is one tough baby. One of my ongoing prayers is “Lord, please protect Clara from me!"
• FINALLY getting some pictures done. We did them with this awesome photographer an old friend recommended. We will get the rest of them this week! http://www.studiobloomphoto.com/blog/?p=730
• Jason and I celebrated 4 years on April Fool's Day!
• The Campbell/Crews family Galveston Vacation. We stayed in an awesome, HUGE, 6 room beach house with 18 people. It was very relaxing and Clara got to see the beach for the first time!
• My best friend Amber is pregnant and they found out it's a girl!!!! The weird thing is that I was born in July and my friend Amber was born 14 months later in September. Well....Clara was born in July and Amber's baby girl is due 14 months later in September! They will be undeniably best friends. ;)
• Jason went skiing with some of his senior guys in New Mexico and then traveled to Canada the next week for work.
• The past month my shop has been EXTREMELY busy with orders. It crazy how each month my sales continue to grow and grow! I have had orders to New Zealand, Australia and Singapore!
  

April is going to be a busy month with baby and wedding showers, Jason's sailing trip reunion, family visiting from Ohio and trying VERY hard to be consistent with "training" for my triathlon. Once May comes things will settle down! As one of Clara's highly annoying toys sings, "busy busy busy busy there's so much to do...."

"Aunt" Christy and Clara at the gardens in League City. I love this picture!

Melly babysitting Clara

Jason offering Clara up to the seagulls

First moments on the beach

The House


I've never seen Clara think someone was as funny as Uncle Eric. Even when he wasn't happy she still laughed at him!

Two Beauties

Ready for the sun

Nasty Jellyfish!!!

Clara's 1st Easter basket. We spoil our child.

A couple of my onesie creations..