Happy First Birthday to Claire!

On May 2, Claire turned ONE YEAR OLD. Can you believe it? I can't. Ever since Claire has arrived time seems to have gone into warp speed. I swear we just found out that I was pregnant with her!! But it has been the most exciting and rewarding year of my life. It was really fun all day to think about what we were doing exactly one year ago. (Let's just say I'm glad that was one year ago.) ;)

Claire is just getting to be so much fun. She's so interactive and curious about everything. It's amazing what she picks up. She's a little sponge. Here are a few tidbits, all about Claire:

• Claire talks NON-STOP. Most of the time she's just an excellent babbler, especially "da, da, da". "Dada" was her first word. She also says, "mama", "uh-oh", “look-a-look-a”, “na, na” (means hungry), “shhhh” and many other things that don’t make any sense to us.
• She's great at signing...she can do: all done (her favorite), banana, dad, doggie, swimming, hat, more, cracker, touchdown (Nate's favorite).
• Claire is pretty much the best sleeper ever. She started sleeping through the night at 2 months and hasn't stopped since. She still takes three naps a day, with her afternoon nap usually lasting about 3 hours.
• She eats anything we give to her. Before her birthday I would have said her favorite was bananas...but now I would have to go with cake or anything with sugar. Uggg...
• Bath time = Claire's favorite time ever.
• She has nine teeth: four on top, four on bottom and one molar.
• Claire loves to mimic. She makes kissing noises, growls, smacks her lips, scrunches her nose. Basically any noise you can make, she’s tries to imitate.
• She knows and will point to these body parts: ears, eyes, nose, mouth, cheeks, belly, hair, and feet.
• My little girl is still as busy as ever...she doesn't hold still for two seconds. I really wanted a cuddler, but that did NOT happen. :)
• Claire loves to play with her cousins, Drew and Corgan.
• She wants you to walk with her everywhere. I spend a good part of my day just walking around holding her hand.
• She doesn’t like to be alone, but entertains herself well. As long as I’m in the room (or anyone else for that matter) she’s very content.
• She loves to be read to. Her favorite books right now are: “Open the Barn Door”, “Old Hat, New Hat” and “Green Eggs and Ham”.
• Best of all, she always has a smile on her face. She’s the happiest little thing. Even when she's sad or crying, she'll smile through her tears.

Thanks for allowing me that little Mom bragging time. :)

She had a great first birthday that lasted all weekend. On Friday, we did a fun little photo shoot with her attacking her cake. Check my photography blog in a few days for more pics from that.

Then we went to the park, had dinner and just played. Here's a little self-family portrait.

Claire and me.

Her first time on a playground swing. I don't think she liked it.

She was all tuckered out by the time we left.

Then on Saturday we had her big par-tay. Here is the invitation I made for it:

Here are the kids just playing around...

Claire opening her presents. Of course, she loved the boxes and wrapping paper the best!

Drew was quite fascinated with all of Claire's presents, he kept trying to help. They especially loved all the books she got!

The closest thing I got to a group shot...sad. Next time we're getting one with everyone!

Aunt E'Shell, Uncle Brad and Corgan gave her a bubble machine. It was the hit of the night! Here are the kids playing with the bubbles:

And finally, she got a second chance at her birthday cake. We made her her own special butterfly cake.

Yeah. She tore into it.

Then Drew and Corgan wanted to get in on the action.

What a great birthday! Thanks to everyone for the phone calls and emails! It was a special day. And big thanks to our families for always being there for us.

Nate and I are so grateful we get to be parents to Claire. There has been nothing more fulfilling to us. We sure love you little Claire bug! Happy birthday!