not YET a year old...

We are savoring the last week before Clara turns one! What an incredibly fast and fun year we have had. Getting to know our little girl and learning to be parents together has been the best adventure God could bless us with! Every day, despite the challenges, is so amazingly fun!

Daddy & Clara watching Husky basketball together! She loves her new UW sippy cup (thanks Michele!!)

Clara loves her Little People house! She rings the doorbell, makes the phone ring and flushes the toilet in it many, many times a day!

Scout makes a new pal!

Can you believe Clara is 11 1/2 months old already! We sure are having a hard time believing it. About this time last year was when Mommy started be decide she was really ready. In fact, I remember eating most of the left over chocolate trifle I made for Kevin's birthday in a sitting. No wonder little Clara was 10 pounds at birth. Now she weights 22 pounds and is such an active kid.

We started having her friend Davis come a couple times a week for a few hours. The two tykes, who are just two days apart, get along famously and are teaching one another lots of new tricks. Hopefully he'll encourage her to walk soon.

"Happy Birthday to Daddy"



Kevin celebrated his 30th birthday this past week and we celebrated at home together as a family. Clara even "talked" Daddy into a taste of his birthday dessert!

Over the weekend we traveled to the small town of Moro, OR to celebrate the life of our special Great Aunt Edna. It was nice ceremony and a wonderful opportunity to see special family members. In the photo, Clara enjoys time with Grandma Elaine and Auntie Dianne.

Passing back through Chehalis, we spent some time with Taylor at Grandma & Grandpa Stevens house. The weather was beautiful, so we bundled up and played outside in the wagon.

Clara - feeling better, having fun & meeting developmental milestones

Our sweetheart

The talent of making a mess

Clara is finally feeling better after having a cold last week, which lead to her first, albeit minor, ear infection. Poor thing! Her schedule has been thrown off, but she has been a good sport and is still managing to have fun and entertain us.

While being fairly hesitant about walking, Clara is doing some brief unassisted standing! She is pretty proud of it too! We have begun to introduce a spoon for self feeding and boy can that be a mess!! But she LOVES it! She seems very content "practicing" with her bowl and spoon for stretches at a time.

Clara also finally said "Ma Ma" in a meaningful way, which almost brought us both to tears. Then the next day, she said "Bye Bye" as she waved to the kids leaving play group. We have started giving her directions to see what type of commands she will follow. It is clear that she understands what "no" means as she has broken out in tears by simply being told "no" when she attempts something mischievous. It doesn't stop her for long though!

Having a blast with Michele


Such a cutie, posing with her bunny!

Happy New Year!!

WOW! What a fast year 2008 was! While 2009 is here, the memories we made last year as a family will be treasured forever. Clara's first Christmas ended up being a little different than planned due to the crazy weather the Puget Sound area received. Christmas Eve with the Stevens family was canceled due to over a foot of snow in Chehalis. We were still able to make it to Quincy for Christmas Day and then met up with Erin's family after Christmas. The Smilebox above contains some of the photos from our holiday celebrations. Clara is now 11 months old. She likes climbing on things (especially Daddy & Mommy), singing songs and doing the corresponding hand motions, walking around while holding on to furniture, and playing with all of her new Christmas gifts. Clara communicates well with nonverbals and distinct sounds which we have come to understand, but she really isn't doing much true talking. We are still waiting on the correct use of Ma Ma since she refers to us both with Da Da!

Make a Smilebox slideshow