By the way...

Claire was 22 pounds and 30 1/2 inches tall at her check-up today.

Party time!

Claire had a GREAT party on Saturday. We were extremely lucky to have so many family members and friends in attendance. Claire had a blast and so did her mommy & daddy.



We've spent the last few months remodeling our garage. It's a good thing we did because we spent a lot of time in there thanks to monsoon season here in Illinois.

Claire got lots of super cool toys. This scooter toy was a custom crafted by Cooter just for Claire!

One of Claire's favorite toys, and definately the loudest toy she got, was the train from Gammy & Papa.

Claire got a Going to Grandma's house bag fool of goodies from Grandma & Grandpa B. Including her very own cell phone!

We did get all of the gifts unwrapped but Claire wasn't overly intersted. There were kids to play with and rain to dance in!

Finally it was time for cake. Great Grandma Builta made Claire a very special lamb cake. It's a cake just like her mommy had for her first birthday.

She was a little timid about the diving in to the cake, but with a little help to Aunt Kyla she got good and messy! After a quick bath and a wardrobe change Claire was back to her tom boy antics.

She didn't need any encouragement, but she had plenty!

Too bad she didn't open her present from Kara until after she sat down in the puddle. The pictures of Claire in her super cute rubber boots didn't want to load to the blog.

Thank you to everyone who made her 1st birthday so much fun! I know she won't remember it, but we will!

Our baby girl is 1!

She wanted to sleep in, but mean ol' mommy woke her up with a camera flash. And daddy was singing "Happy Birthday Claire, this is your special day".

Slowly but surely we got a smile out of her!

She wasn't quite sure what to think about the fire on her rolls.

Then she opened up her present from mommy & daddy! A pretty charm bracelet with her name on it!

And we got a quick picture with the shrinking bear!

Claire is spending her birthday with Daddy, Gammy & Cousin Maddison at a cattle show in Bloomington. After a couple quick shopping stops they'll be home to help put the finishing touches on everything for the big party tomorrow.

*You may notice the large, red bump on her head! Let's just say that Claire hasn't mastered the stairs yet. She's a tough girl though!

Claire videos

Here are a couple of videos that show some of Claire's newest tricks. They aren't as great as the real thing, but they'll have to do!

Life at 11 months

Claire is an active, independent, 11 month old. So, what does a day in the life of 11 month old Claire look like?

6:20 a.m. Mommy & Daddy force her out of bed so we can eat scrambled eggs together.
6:45 a.m. Time to hop up on the bed and get dressed for the day
7:00 a.m. Daddy takes Claire to Miss Mary's house.
7:05 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Sh has TONS of fun at Miss Mary's house and aparently takes too many naps.
4:45 p.m. Mommy picks Claire up (unless mommy is working late dealing with crabby farmers and then daddy picks her up)
5:00 p.m. Claire helps daddy do chores (aka sits in her stroller) or helps mommy make dinner
5:30 p.m. Claire gets locked in her baby jail (aka a pack and play) with her bottle while mommy and daddy work in the garage.
6:00 p..m Claire has a meltdown because her bottle is gone and she's still locked in baby jail.
6:05 p.m. Mommy gets tired of listening to her scream so she takes Claire inside to finish dinner.
6:45 p.m. Claire "helps" mommy fill the dishwasher and plays while daddy goes back outside to work.
7:30 p.m. BATH TIME!
8:00 p.m. Play time until
9:00 p.m. Bed time

In between all of this excitement, Claire enjoys....


Eating sticks, rocks, mulch, dirt, etc.

Playing with Rally, giving him open mouthed kisses, and feeding him mulch, rocks, sticks, dirt, etc.
She LOVES her dadadadadadadadada....I do believe that is the ONLY word she knows.
Playing Tarzan....beating her chest, or anyone elses, like she's Tarzan.

And growing up and becoming more independent every day.

The last few weeks

I've been slacking on the blogging lately. And I've also been slacking on the picture taking. Claire has been keeping us busy. She does not slow down! That means that everything we do involves an extra set of hands.

A couple of weeks ago Trever brought home my birthday/mothers day present/fathers day present. Claire helped him put it together, when she wasn't eating rocks.

A couple of weeks ago, Claire and I roadtripped with Angie and Addison to Jacksonville, IL for a very special baby shower. Dani and I have been friends since our pig showin' days, we're sorority sisters, and now she's Claire's "Crazy Aunt Dani". We're excited that in about a month there will be another little girl for Claire to play with. The picture below is one of the better pictures of all of the girls and the one boy of the group.

In the picture below, Claire & I are behind Darcy & Delaney, then there is Becky & Hayley, Dani & baby W, JorjAnn & Zachary, Angie, Addison & Baby Eggenberger #2.

Last weekend we got to hang out with two of our favorite, and growing, families! Jeremiah was having a good time playing with Mr. Potatohead. He wasn't so sure about sharing it with Claire though.

We wanted to get a picture of Claire with her boyfriends. Of course we didn't plan very well and they were all thinking about bed when we finally did it. None of the pictuers had all 3 kids facing the camera, but I thought this was a cute picture. It looks like Jeremiah is teaching Claire a thing or two. And poor Andrew was just thrown in there!
This week has been a busy work week for us but our evenings have been spent working around the farm. Grandma Marge came yesterday and spent the afternoon with Claire while Grandpa went to a pig sale. Tomorrow night we are both heading to get our littles and who knows what the weekend will bring.

10 months

Claire had a pretty low key 10 month birthday yesterday. She was super happy when she woke up and even cuddled for a little while. She ate pancakes, took a nap, went to church, ate some lunch, helped remodel the garage, played with Gammy and Papa, took a LONG nap and then posed for pictures before bathtime, playtime and bedtime.

Getting pictures with the bear continues to become more difficult. We've also learned that Claire is not a big fan of the grass when it touches her bare legs as you can see in the last picture!

Enjoy!