++Nine Months++

The stats are in. 18lbs. 15 oz. 27". Still able to wear 6-9mos clothes at 9 months. Throwing off my buy-on-sale-in-advance shopping strategy by being normal, not supersized like her big brother. We are child-proofing as fast as we can get it done around this place. I must say there were some advantages to being in a house half this size, spread over three floors, when it came to keeping tabs on an on-the-go toddler. Is she a toddler now? Maybe that phase doesn't officially start until they walk. She thinks she's a toddler though. In fact, I think she thinks she is sixteen.

She pulls up on everything, licks everything, eats everything. I found a chunk of nerf football in her diaper the other day. In case you are wondering, nerf is not digestible.Mom and Dad are great but her true love is her lovey. Yes, I now have two lovey obsessed kids. And since Claire isn't into the pacifier or thumb--she chews the lovey. Ooooweee do those things get ripe smelling quickly. She giggles when she spots it and darts across the floor to get it. When she finds it she hugs it and rolls with it. Every night we find her in her bed with her head laying on it. As a fellow lovey lover, Wyatt is very sympathetic to her needs and is quick to offer her her lovey when she is upset.

You often see this site around the house these days. Claire stands at the couch and begs to Wyatt like a dog. I've started to hear "Mo-oooom, make her go away". Only about fifteen more years of that ahead.

We have this same photo from Wyatt. Not sure what it is about the coffee table that screams "passageway" to the wee ones.

She loves this little fridge farm. She pushes on it and then bops her head and dances. Thankfully big brother is happy to help her put the animals in to get another song.

It's fun to see how Claire and Wyatt do the same things--we often say "I remember when Wyatt was in that stage." But, it's actually even more fun to see Claire grow into a totally different baby than Wyatt. She does things that I don't recall him ever doing (and he did things that she doesn't). Something that is uniquely Claire: "lilypadding" I'll call it this for the lack of a more official term. If there is anything flat lying around, Claire likes to put her body right in the middle of it and just sit. Need proof? See below.

She's starting to show stranger anxiety so sometimes only we get to see the true Claire. She goes to childcare at MOPS every other week and they call her "the princess" because she never cries. She just loves the noise and activity of the other kids. She still only has the four teeth but they are all grown in. Mark started to call her "The Beav" until I intervened. Not going to let that one stick.

++Life these days++

I often find myself looking at something in our house and just laughing and thinking about how it totally sums up what our life is like these days. So when the spirit moves me (or when I think to pick up my camera and take some pictures) I thought it would be fun to document just those things. Installment #1:This is what nearly every doorstop in our house looks like. Yes, Claire has tracked down all of them and pulled the rubber stopper part off and we have had to rescue it from her. That girl is relentless when it comes to finding treasures. Relentless.

++Ten on Tuesday++

1. We're finally official residents of Washington and have the drivers license and license plates to prove it. Don't tell anyone it took this long to get them.
2. We bought a treadmill from one of Mark's co-workers and we are loving it. We have it in the garage until we do our remodeling project and make room for it upstairs. It has a little TV in it and I have been watching Mad Men while running during nap time. I'm 5 weeks into my couch to 5k program.
3. I attempted to wear a necklace yesterday. It lasted for two hours. The stay-at-home mom life is so glamorous.
4. We finally got library cards (see #1). Wyatt has been listening to stories on CD for his nap time. He's been staying in his room though!
5. The rainy season has arrived in Seattle. I can't decide if hot Memphis summers are better or worse than this. Either one makes you want to stay inside. I'll take a cold (but sunny) Minnesota day any day...sigh...
6. I opened up the cabinet yesterday and directed Wyatt to take his whining out of his mouth and throw it in the trash. He complied. He then proceeded to take the whining out of his dad's mouth and put it in his. Does this kid miss a beat?
7. I am totally loving Etsy these days. I want to buy all my holiday decorations from there. I just got a Halloween "trick or treat" banner on sale--way cuter than anything I have seen in stores. I also ordered a handmade advent calendar that's better than the Pottery Barn Kids one I've been salivating over for the past couple of years--and it's half the price!
8. Claire eats more than Wyatt most nights at dinner. Except for the other night when we went out to eat. Wyatt ordered Fish and Chips from the adult menu and ate it all. No joke. He then proceeded to fast for a couple of days. I think he may be a snake.
9. Is it really almost Thanksgiving?
10. I'm going to do my best not to let Christmas card season sneak up on me again this year. It usually took about three attempts to get a photo of Wyatt, and now we have two kids we're dealing with. I know better than to attempt to get a shot of the whole family.

++Boo?++

Holidays really do take on a whole new meaning when seen through the eyes of your children. Halloween was actually really fun this year. Some of you may recall the disaster that was Halloween last year. I think we may have turned a corner on this, Wyatt's FOURTH Halloween (crazy...)

We started with pumpkin carving. This year dad had two helpers. Wyatt picked the super hard monster picture from the front of the carving kit. Mom didn't disappoint (photos later).

Claire thought that she would take carving her pumpkin into her own hands. Or should I say teeth?
This year Wyatt decided to be a Wiggle. For those of you who haven't had an under-fiver in your house recently they are a New Zealand-based singing and dancing show of four grown men (one of a few shows of grown dancing men that Wyatt is drawn to). Wyatt chose the yellow wiggle "Greg" (who later morphed into "Sam" when Greg got some illness---which I found out from Wikipedia--I do my research!)

There was no buying a yellow Wiggle outfit so through collaboration and help from both grandmas we came up with this (the dance moves are 100% Wyatt though):

Claire was a lobster. For those of you who don't know they typically look like this:

But our cute version looked like this. Couldn't you just dip her in butter and eat her up?
The crew was a happier bunch this year. Thank goodness.
We decided to so some trick-or-treating at a little area of shops by our house in full daylight. We weren't sure how well Wyatt would fare in the dark and the hills of our neighborhood. Our neighbors go ALL OUT with decorations and scary music and all that jazz. Not necessarily preschool friendly.You didn't think I would ruin a pair of pants that actually fit, did you?

The kids weren't the only one who had fun. My mom and I picked up this great look for Mark (as previously modeled by Grandpa).

I got myself a nice spider adorned witch hat. I've decided that green isn't really my color. If you look close you can see my pumpkins in the background.

Happy Halloween!