My baby is 1!

I think most parents naturally get a bit sad when their "baby" turns 1. Well, I am no exception. Claire had her 1st birthday (pictures coming soon) on June 11. I cannot believe how fast this past year has gone, and I am so happy for the joy that she brings to our little family each day. She has been such a good baby so far, and I hope that pattern continues into her toddler years! Here are a few things to know about Claire at 1:

* 20 lbs exactly
* 29 inches
* 10 teeth (2-3 more cutting through soon)
* She started walking on her birthday!!!
* She babbles a lot, but loves saying "da da" "hi" "weee" "dog dog" and her version of "Dallin"
* Sleeps through the night consistently now (this just happened last week since I stopped nursing)
* Loves almost any food
* Drinks only whole milk in a bottle and water, doesn't really like any other liquid
* She is a MONKEY... climbs onto anything she can, chairs, beds, stools and stairs
* She loves putting things where they go, like lids on pans or cup, straws in the lids, electrical plugs in their proper outlet etc.
* She is the biggest Mama's Girl around!
* She is our tan girl, with huge dark dark eyes
* She has the happiest disposition, is hardly ever sad
* She talks herself to sleep for about 15 minutes every time
* Bath time is pure heaven
* Bows are basically non existant in our lives, she REFUSES to keep one in
* She is very giving, anytime she finds something on the floor she brings it right over to me. Or, when she is eating she takes pieces out of her mouth to "Share"
* She has given me more than one heart attack, one ER visit, one surgery, and multiple doctor visits! Second Child Syndrome I guess.
* She is very smart, I can tell
* She is brave, but cautious and very aware of her surroundings
* She is my sweet angel and I am so blessed to have her as my daughter

Love you baby Claire!

First ER trip

You got it, we had our first EVER ER trip. It happened Sunday when little miss Claire decided to give us a small heart attack. You see, she has started walking but is still a bit unsteady on her feet. She was trying to step out onto my in-law's deck so I grabbed her hand to help her down. She stepped out onto the deck but sort of "spun" as she brought her leg around. I lost my grip and she fell totally sideways as if her legs got swiped out from under her and landed right on the side of her head. I thought, ouch that had to hurt, but didn't think much of it. She started crying and I picked her up to comfort her. She was sooooooo mad, and did that thing that babies do... how they cry out for a long time and then you are waiting for them to breath.. well I waited and then suddenly she went totally limp and her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she was totally unresponsive. I freaked and yelled down to my family "she just went unconcious". She snapped back into it after just a few seconds and seemed alright, she was just really upset. I was so scared and all I knew was that I wanted to take her to the hospital. At work I see so many head injuries and I didn't want to be that mother who waits days to bring their child in and they end up having a brain bleed or a skull fracture. I called up to the hospital and talked to one of the Radiologists I work with, and he told me it sounded like Claire had a post concussive seizure and that I better bring her up. So, around 7:45 we headed up to Primary's (by the way for you parents out there, seriously dont ever take your child anywhere else, this hospital is the best!) Once there, the doctors checked Claire out. She didn't have any huge goose eggs or anything, so they didnt seem too worried. They just wanted to monitor her for a few hours to make sure she didn't show signs of a brain injury. We stayed in the ER until 11:00 or so, which was sure fun with a 1 year old who's bedtime is around 7:45. She actually did pretty well, I kept her busy and we walked the halls and visited some of my co-workers. She would NOT let Andy even touch her, she was still scared, and just wanted her Mama. So it was a long 3 hours but everything checked out okay so we were discharged and we headed home (Claire lasted to about the exit of the parking lot before falling asleep, poor thing).

So we went to a follow up with her pediatrician yesterday and Claire is doing fine! After telling the Doctor the history, she thinks she had what they call a "Breath Holding Spell". I had never heard of this.

A breath-holding spell is an episode in which the child stops breathing and loses consciousness for a short period immediately after a frightening or emotionally upsetting event or a painful experience.

It is heredetary and she says it's likely that Claire will do it again, maybe multiple times. Some kids even do it while throwing tantrums. She said it's nothing to be worried about, and that it's good we figured it out so if it happens again we dont need to be alarmed. Wow!

So, we aren't 100% sure what happened. Was it a seizure, was it just a loss of conciousness or was it a breath holding spell? I guess it doesn't really matter, as long as Claire is okay the rest is irrelevant!

My sweet little Claire is sure giving us a run for our money these days!

Ensign Peak

We took a little hike on Memorial day to Ensign Peak! We had a great time, Dallin did well and Claire LOVED being in the backpack carrier. I am excited I invested in this carrier, I think we will get good use out of it this summer!

My silly kids

Dallin is all about being goofy and wanting me to take his picture.. these about sum it up.



Claire is my meticulous child, always trying to put things where they go, and I often find her wearing my scarves, headbands, etc. Little smarty pants.



Claire is all about climbing thigs lately. She discovered how to climb into this cute little chair, and now she spends lots of her time over there just climbing on, then getting down, and climbing on... you get the idea.

Megan's Wedding

One of my girlfriends from high school, Megan, got married last week! Most of us girls have been friend since middle school, and although lots of us have gone our own ways we still get together often and laugh at old times! Love you girls!

Claire's 1 year pictures

Check out Claire's adorable 1 year pictures

Visit this website:
www.cliquephoto.webs.com

click on portfolio and find her name

Enjoy!

FREEDOM

I have officially weaned Claire. I am not really emotional about it, she could really care less, which is a bonus. I still give her a few bottles of formula a day, until she is 1 in a few weeks when I can really start the "whole milk" fiasco. Not too excited about that, so far the times I have tried giving it to her she just lets it run right out of her mouth and stares at me like, "what the he*% is this mom?" Oh well, I guess we will figure it out eventually. All I can say is, I wont be sad to throw this sucker right in the G A R B A G E

Yeah, I pumped for a whole year with this manual pump. I know it was only 2-3 times a week but I think I developed arthritis in my hand as a result. We were too poor at the time to invest in a nice double electric pump (wish I would have looking back) so I settled for the manual. Oh well, it served it's purpose and now I am free!

Overall, I loved nursing. I wasn't able to with Dallin, so it was a nice experience! I had no problems what so ever, and it was sure a good way to save some $$$! I am not a huge "pro nurser" because I know it is not for everyone, but I will say it was amazing and I am glad it worked out for me and my little Claire!