It's a beautiful life

"Dad!!! What are you thinking not posting in such a long time? You are going to lose your fan base and people will forget about me!!! I offer an apology on behalf of my silly father. I will make sure he gets back to the camera and back to the blog. I love you all." Claire

"Okay dad. It's cool. I'll forgive you this time, but only if you forgive me for eating everything that I can get my hands on. I love you." Claire

I have been wanting to post recently but we just haven't had the chance to take some good pictures. I feel like my blogging fans deserve good pictures. Right now, Hill is sewing pillows and I am updating the blog. We have an exciting life. We actually do have a very exciting month ahead of us so look forward to some good things. We go to the Outer Banks, NC next week and back to SLC for Seth and Leeah's wedding in just over 3 weeks. We couldn't be more excited for both.

Claire continues to develop such a sweet personality. I have to share a funny story. Moms will laugh. Last Saturday I dropped Hillory and April at the Stake Center for Enrichment and took Claire to Wal-Mart for a grocery shopping trip. Since we were near the Super Wal, we decided to buy groceries for the month - since the cost of everything seems to continue to climb. The first ten minutes went well, but after that, not so well. Claire has recently found her scream. She doesn't scream because she's mad or sad - she just screams. So I am just walking the aisles with this little girl screaming. Of course I can't get her to stop, so I pick her up. But then I can't drive the cart because it is completely full. At that moment I decide to just wrap up the trip and finish later when I have Hill's help. So we check out and make our way to the car where my plan is to feed Claire in her carseat while we wait for mom to finish. Claire the starts spitting out her food all over the car and she is still screaming. Dad then had a brilliant idea. I brought the shopping cart back over and plopped Claire down in the seat. I then proceeded to feed the little stinker in the Wal-Mart parking lot. It actually went pretty well. We picked up mom, went to dinner, and finished our shopping. Dad looks forward to further shopping trips with his little girl.

In fact, every evening Dad and Claire go on a dog hunt. We walk around our apartment complex and look for dogs. On a good night we see 2-3 dogs and if we are lucky we can get one to stop so we can pet it. Claire is actually kinda scared of touch new things, so getting her to touch the dog of her own accord is difficult (of note Claire has really struggled with the new shag rug we just purchased - she hates to touch it with her little hands). Dad looks forward to many dog hunts with his little girl.

Hill has so many fun moments with our little girl. This morning Hill woke up to Claire's crying. She went into get her and found her slumped in the corner of the crib, with grown-up tears streaming down her face and all 3, yes 3, of her binkies on the floor. Only a mama could console such a sad face.

Hill loves sea gulls. She wants to frame this picture for our room. Kinda strange.

I can't think of an excuse

I wanted to come up with a good idea why I haven't posted in a couple weeks. I came up with a few. 1- Yesterday was tax day 2- I'm working in the Pediatric ICU 3- Claire has been really boring these last couple weeks... 4- Hill is always on the computer 5- Life is just busy

I settled upon #5 but then I realized that I owe it to my blog readers to fight through the mundane things in life and post. It is to my loyal readers that I dedicate this post.

Reason #3 above is obviously not tru as Claire has been the exact opposite of boring in the last couple weeks. In fact, about a week ago she started crawling FORWARD!!! At first it was a couple of small steps, but now she is getting around everywhere. For months now we have talked about childproofing the house. Well, it's too late, she is everywhere. She could not be more cute these days. She laughs all the time. She smiles at the simplest of things. She clicks her tongue. She has associated dada with me and mama with Hill. She is a great sleeper (11-12 hours at night and 2 2hr naps in the day). She is a great eater. She has the coolest hair. She smiles and waves at strangers. She finally will let dad put her to bed without screaming her head off. She is much better in the car than she used to be. She is so much fun to hug!

Here is Claire in Action! She is still working on picking up speed.

"Listen dad, if you aren't going to ride this thing, I am."

That whole child-proofing thing has been tough as 1000 sq feet of apartment space does not provide spacious amounts of storage and recreation rooms. I set my bike up a couple weeks ago on the trainer to promote my exercise goals. Not only has it not done that, but it has provided Claire with a very dangerous toy to play with. It is being taken down tonight for those of you who are worried.

Claire's mobility has increased the number of "Claire Bear go Bonkers." You probably can't see the bruise above her right eye from when she decided to go head-first into the door hinge. Believe me, it's there. Our goal is to not to have Claire require as many CT scans as her mom. Wish us luck. And just look and her hair!! It reminds me of a character from a Dr. Suess book. Can't wait to see how it will keep growing.

Claire cruised for the first time today (yes this is breaking news - we just finished a piece with cnn to be aired next week). She moved from the chair to the table to the other chair - maybe a total of 2 feet. She is really good on her feet. We are already preparing for her to walk. Also of note Claire is really beginning to appreciate books. She sits still in our laps for all kinds of stories.

For those only interested in Claire (I think there are a few out there), you can stop reading now. In an effort to improve my photography skills, I offered to take some engagement pictures. I made no guarantees, but I think things turned out pretty well. I thought you might like to see some of my work.

Nice job guys!! Hill and I had alot of fun.

More pictures

We just wanted to let you all know that our good friend Mandy Carroll took some more pictures of Claire. She let dad tag along to learn some secrets of the trade. We had a great time and we really appreciate her taking the time to take the pictures and teach dad a thing or two. Check out her new pictures at:

mandycarroll.blogspot.com

Enjoy!!!!