Ask and ye shall receive.

I used to pray that God would give me the desire to be a better housekeeper. Ever since Kevin and I got married I have felt like I failed him as a wife when it comes to keeping a tidy home. Honestly, I was able to keep up on the kitchen, washing bath towels and sheets, etc., but I would never deep clean often enough. The oven, the shower, the fridge drawers, the carpets were all seriously lacking. I wanted my home to look like those Crate & Barrel catalogs, all shiny and clean. So, I decided to pray about it. They say to bring the desires of your heart before the Lord. Well, I asked and I sure did receive but not in the way I expected! Boy, does He have a sense of humor. Instead of waking up one day with Martha Stewart's overwhelming desire to deep clean, I was given a baby that has an overwhelming desire to put everything in her mouth and an over active barf reflex. I wouldn't say I necessarily want to vaccuum or do baby laundry all the time, but I sure do have to. And the best part? Claire loves the vacuum. She would follow that thing around all day! God is too funny. The jokes on me, I guess!

Milestones are hard.

When Claire learned how to hold her own bottle, I was thankful for the extra time it allowed me while she fed herself. When she learned how to sit up, I was so excited for her because you could tell she was happy with her new perspective. When she started to use her high chair, feeding her became more fun and less of an obligation. When she outgrew her baby bathtub and started to bathe in the regular tub, I found myself looking forward to bath time more because she had more fun that just washing the necessary parts and drying off. When she learned to stand, I was happy but always a bit nervous about her unstable balance. When she learned to crawl, I was a little more shocked than anything. How could she be crawling already? Where did my little baby go? As a new mother, I want to be proud of all her milestones, but I want to keep her little more. It's hard to explain, this weird bittersweet state between being so proud yet so sad that she's growing up so quickly. Ever since the three days in a row of learning to feed herself crackers, stand up in her crib, and crawl, I feel like the milestones are being checked off the list nearly every day. All the sudden, she has two teeth. She can wave bye-bye. She knows how to shake her head "no-no" and thinks it's funny. Two days ago I witnessed her standing up and balancing on her own. Last night, she was dancing to the music playing from the buttons she was pushing on her activity table. See? It's just one thing after another. So, on the rare occasion that she wakes in the night and wants to nuzzle with her head into my chest, I soak in those moments a little deeper. I snuggle her in my arms longer. I kiss her more often and sing lullabies more than just once. Because, I know one day soon she will be past this phase and I will miss it more than she will ever know.

Labor Day Weekend 2012

We spent our Labor Day weekend showing Grandma Karen a little bit about what makes Oregon such a great place to live. Claire got to spend much-needed quality time with her grandma, including many early morning snuggle sessions, while Kevin and I got a relive our past a bit by sleeping in a little later than normal. 8:30? I'll take it!

While Kevin was working, the three of us ladies spent our Saturday afternoon perusing the Lake Oswego Farmer's Market. What treasures we found there! Organic fruits and vegetables of all kind. Killer homemade Pineapple Salsa. We even topped it off by enjoying some frozen yogurt in the Oregon sunshine. The greater part of the evening was spent chopping, steaming, and pureeing Claire a plethora of fresh, healthy baby food. Can we say spoiled? :) We topped the night off with a wonderful dinner, complete with a creep-ville waiter, at Oswego Grill.

We spent our beautiful Sunday at the Swan Island Dahlia Festival in Canby. Just like every year before, it was a sight to see! Rows and rows of all varieties of dahlias. Would have been a perfect photo op for the little miss but, in her typical manner, she slept right through it. Maybe next year. Of course, we didn't get away without trying some de-lish food cart treats and walking away with two gigantic bunches of fresh cut dahlias. As if the day wasn't good enough, Karen treated Kevin and I to a little date night. I had purchased tickets to the Tyrone Wells concert at the Albert Rose Theatre in NE Portland. Originally, Karen was going to be my date but she insisted Kevin take his wife out for a night on the town. Thank you very much! She said she'd hold down the fort with little Claire Bear and we were off. We had fabulous thai food out on the patio, enjoyed every second of the show and even stopped at Salt-n-Straw afterwards for the world's best gourmet ice cream. It was a great night.

Monday started out with a couple of errands then quickly turned into a brunch and park excursion with Grandma K, the husband and Claire. The park wasn't quite what we envisioned, as our motive for going was to put Claire in a baby swing for the first time, but the park didn't have any baby swings. So, Kevin and I took turns holding her on the big kid swing. She sure loved it, grinning from ear to ear, followed by some crawling around in the grass, trying to eat leaves and a little bit of slide action. She sure is the center of everything that is good. My cousin babysat Clairey Berry for a few hours that evening so we could take Karen out for a night on the town. We sat on the outdoor rooftop patio of Departure on the 15th floor of The Nines Hotel in downtown Portland under a beautiful Oregon blue sky, sipping fancy cocktails, talking about the future, and eating some of the best food I've ever had. Boy, Departure did not disappoint. I already can't wait to go back! Great atmosphere, great conversation, great company.

Tuesday came way too quickly, as usual. Kevin was already off at work by the time we dropped Grandma K off at the airport. Goodbyes are always so hard, but it was better knowing we had already planned our next get together and that one day (hopefully soon!) Grandma Karen will be a fellow Oregonian. Buy a strong umbrella, Grandma K!

A Day in the Life of Claire

Because I don't know if Claire will be my one and only baby, I have been making a conscious effort to document her life. What the day to day was like, special events and moments, etc. So, I give you, a day in the life of Claire:

7.45am

Wake up, bottle, snuggle in bed with mama, playtime

9.30am

Breakfast, bath, help mama do chores, playtime

11am

Bottle, naptime

1pm

Wake up, lunch, help mama run errands, playtime, walk

4pm

Bottle, 2nd naptime

5pm

Wake up, playtime

6pm

Dinner, Papa gets home!, help mama empty dishwasher

7.30pm

Bath (sometimes), playtime, bottle, rocking/lullaby/story time

(2 baths per day? Yep, she's one clean baby!)

8pm

Bedtime

Now, days that I work are completely different as she is in the care of my mother or Kevin. But most of my days look just like that. And I love it! Wish I could do it every day (except with more sleep!).