So perfectly Claire.

At 13 months, she's playing in the drapes on the sliding glass door. Sometimes, all I see is the fabric rustling or little toes peeking out from underneath.

Grunting and pointing at the toothbrush on the window sill in the kitchen. Every time it is noticed, teeth must be brushed. Mama brushes, she brushes. Papa brushes, she brushes.

Pushing as many music-making buttons at once that those little arms can reach then dancing her little heart out. Clasping hands at the waist and swinging her arms from side to side. Booty-shaking left-to-right and bumping it up-and-down. Our dance parties, while short lived, are always fun.

Feeling little eyes on me when I shower and listening to the clanking of the shower curtain rings as she whips the curtain around. If I don't let her play in the water while I shower, she is not happy. And my Claire, my darling daughter, make yourself heard.

Having learned to open the bath tub drain, letting all the water out every chance she gets. I always tell her to stop, explaining that the water will go bye-bye, and she just looks at me like "What? It wasn't me!"

Grabbing the binky from her mouth with my mouth and hearing her crack up with laughter as soon as she snatches it back from me. She either inhales it back into her own mouth with her teeth then waves it in front of my face (silently daring me to do it again) or she jams it in the general vicinity of my mouth as hard as she can. Laugh, repeat, laugh, repeat, laugh. The bink game is always amusing. I will miss it more than she knows.

Tearing all the toilet paper off the roll. I don't know how it's possible that we never notice her doing it until just the cardboard roll is spinning around the holder! Little mischievous one, that Claire.

Squatting Ethiopian-style (usually in a corner somewhere) doing her business. Complete with a red face and grunting.

These will serve as some of my favorite memories of my sweet girl. Things I never want to forget. Her transition from babyhood into toddler life has happened in the blink of an eye. I love my independent, bright-eyed, sassy girl but I miss my baby. Life is so bittersweet sometimes.

New Year's Eve {parent-style}

New Year's Eve used to be about dressing to the nines, going to the city or our favorite local dive bar, celebrating with friends, coordinating a DD, toasting to the new year with bubbly drinks in hand. We lived it up, especially that year in Vegas. Now, with a miniature that comes with a strict 8pm bedtime, we don't have the stay-out-all-night-and-get-tipsy-on-drinks-we-can't-really-afford luxury.

Rewind to 2011: In our role as new parents, we rang in 2012 with a brand new baby. We traded in our fancy get-ups for that distant I'm-an-exhausted-parent-of-a-newborn look in our eyes. Knowing how hard those first days were, I probably cried the whole night. That year, we were up round the clock due to screaming newborn so there was no way we were going to stay up until midnight purposefully! Sleep when the baby sleeps, they say. New Years, we'll catch you next year.

Fast-forward to 2012: After just having got the baby down, I rushed off to take a relaxing bubble bath about 8.30pm and kindly reminded Kevin (mid-Xbox game) that if he wanted to watch the ball drop he better keep an eye on the clock. We both knew I wasn't referring to midnight. Oh no, no. East coast time, baby. But, it didn't even matter - he just looked at me and said Oh, I didn't even realize it's New Year's Eve. 

Yep, that's what happens. Babies change everything. Welcome to 2013.Publish 1/1/13