Simply take the bottle

Clair hasn't wanted anything to do with a bottle for the past 2.5 days. She has had an intestinal bug and has been drinking water for the past couple days. At first I didn't mind it, but after about 24 hours I started kt feel guilty and like something was missing not feeding her bottles. She is still really young. I tried soy milk, water, pedialite and mixes, but nothing was acceptable. The doctor told me I had to keep her off her formula for 48 hours. So tonight I settled into her room into out chair, we snuggled up and I offered her a regular bottle. At first she tried to push it away, but once I managed to get enough into her mouth that she realized it was her normal, she took right to it with pleasure. We enjoyed a lovely snuggle and leisure bottle. It felt so comforting after the past few days. I had missed those moments and I think she did too. 

Feeding a baby their bottle is one of theost relaxing and fulfilling things. I've always loves doing it. I can't even explain why, but I have. Add onto that witnessing the recovery of my little girl from feeling horrible and it made that bottle the most magical since the first feedings. 

I'm hopeful for a good night sleep and that she keeps it down. 

Prince and princess

Ellie and Max have been pretending to be  each other's prince and princess for the past month or so. It's really cute. Max nearly believes it I think. 

Today we were waiting for Ellie to get in the bus. Max was in the car and we were waving bye. Max yells, "bye princess!" He was so serious, not even a smile. 

I just smiled and I enjoyed his belief and love in his relationship with his sister. True love!

I asked Ellie about it after school. She smiled and said it was a little embarrassing. I told her not to be. 

Sibling school

Ever since I got the baby toys out of storage for Claire, Max has started a bad habit of sneaking up and taking things away from her that she is playing with. It's a shame really, and I try to stop in when I see it. 

Right he did it with the silly little helicopter. I was trying to snap a picture because they were sitting there playing nearly nicely, and he just couldn't take it. The picture and it up snapping was the one below showing the puzzled look on Claire's face is her brother stole the toy she was so quietly and calmly playing with. My next understood that soon enough Claire will be big enough to take things away from him. She is learning from watching him. It is clear by the look on her face that she is wondering if this is the way one should behave.

Sibling rivalry brewing at an early age.

Valentines date

David and I got to go out for Valentines date this year for the first time in a very long time. Thanks to Hazel being here and being willing to keep the kids, we got to go to dinner and Frederick. Next really did not like the idea of us going out alone. Which is odd, because he's usually the easiest one about me going out the door. I think it shows it's been a long time since we were going out on dates. We need to find a new regular babysitter.

David and I went into Frederick and had dinner at the type place. It was nice. We enjoyed sitting by the front window watching the traffic. It was nice to have a long relaxing dinner that was just us. You didn't stay out very long, we were home before 930. But it was still relaxing and nice to be alone. This was our 11th Valentine's Day together.

Determination at an early age

Clair is getting around a lot everyday. She wants to get her hands on everything, especially the stuff that isn't for her. This evening I gave in and let her play with the magna tiles for about ten minutes. She sat there seriously trying to work out how to separate a pile stuck together. After about a minute of them not behaving as she hoped, she was frustrated and there them down. But, she picked up another set and tried again. The concentration on her face was amazing, especially for being nine months old!

Parting is such sweet sorrow

A few months ago David helped Ellie trace and color herself. This was a very prideful art project. It has lived on the bathroom door for a long time. Today Clair decided it had been there long enough and pulled it down.  Before moving it to the trash bin, I took a photo of her and her tracing of herself. Coloring this was a lot of work!

First teeth

Clair's first tooth came in on her nine month birthday. I'm finally starring to get a daily glimpse now two weeks later. She has both her front teeth making their way in and she's an eater! 

I love this photo I got during bath time tonight. 

A quiet night with just Clair

Tonight the big kids went to a school dance with daddy and granny. I stayed home with Clair. We had macaroni cheese and tomato for dinner. We then played a bit. Clair had a nice bath and I put her to bed for an early sleep because she was exhausted from the day.

So many things to do with my extra quiet time. It is rare for me to get to put my focus into chest clear without guilt taking away from the time with the other children. Tonight I had no guilt, and it was so relaxing. Instead of rushing her into her crib so I could spend the last few waking moment with Max and Ellie, I held her for a good 40 minutes after she fell asleep. I love the extra guilt free cuddles.

The hardest thing about being the mother of three is feeling like I am gypping one child when I spend extra time with the other. I hope I find a way to get over that, because one-on-one time is fantastic with the children!!!!

Artist

Ellie is quite good at art, and she knows it. It comes naturally and she really enjoys it! She loves to be called an artist. Her and Grannie have a lot of fun encouraging art and discussing it while she's in town. Today Grannie revealed a box of tempera paints that has 12 different colors. This is like heaven to Ellie! As a result, she has spent time creating two life sized paintings - one of herself and the second of me, her Mommy. I may be biased, but I think they are really good!

She tells us she's going to make one of Daddy, Max and Clair too!

I have no place to put all this art, but I love that she has fun with it!

Maximilian is sneaky, especially at bedtime

The past couple mornings I have noticed an extra animal in bed with Max. He likes his cuddly toys, but the Doctor suggested he shouldn't really have them around his be or in it to help stop the cold and cough he's had for a while. It worked too! So I have asked him to limit to the 3 (that is a limit for Max.)

So, each morning he tells me something along the lines of, "Someone put Elephant in my bed Mommy." I brushed it off the first and second time. By the third I told him he better stop doing that.

Two nights ago David and I ran up to a crying Max around 10:30 pm to see what was wrong. David tried to settle him and help him get into bed. I came in because he was crying for a while and I wanted to help too. As I get up into his bed to snuggle him back to sleep, I run into a pile of stuffed animals, a HUGE pile of them. I handed the pile, or so I thought, to David and mumbles something to Max about not getting out of bed and bring his animals into it. I proceeded to try to get closer to him, only to be stopped in my tracks by another handful and knee full of stuffed animals. I stop and look closely around his bed and notice that there must be at least 25 extra stuffed toys of all shapes and sizes shoved all around him in his bed. I was not happy. I was also quite humored by it all.

So, in between holding back my laughs and handing David a good 4 or 5 armfuls of animals, I told Max I wasn't pleased with him and it better never happen again. He looked at me sheepishly. He knew he was caught, and caught big time at that. There was no denying 25 animals like there was one lonely little Elephant.

I still laugh about this finding. David and I can picture Max quietly sneaking up and down the ladder into his loft bed with one animal after the next until his little legs were so exhausted he couldn't retrieve another. He did all this while Ellie slept 10 feet away. All the while he knew he would be in trouble when he was caught, but he just couldn't help himself! Hilarious! Naughty! That's my boy!

Nine Months

Clair turned 9 months old on Jan 23rd. My has a lot changed in one month. This is one busy girl who's always on the go, unless she's fast asleep. She has a mean army crawl and is already pulling herself up on things. She has developed a habit of clearing the second story book shelf, and then playing in a big pile of books!

My girl started saying Mama, Maaammmaah, Mama just before her 9 month birthday. It is music to my ears! David says she can finally put to words what she's been thinking and wanting since she was born! My girl still dives into my arms from almost any situation with a big smile on her face. She is a Mommy's girl and that is just fine by me. Let's see how long we can keep it that way!

She's also learning to play peek a boo! She will hold something over her head and then move it down after I say, "peek a boo, where's Clair." She thinks she's so funny; and so do I!

She's a big eater. She eats a lot of finger food. She will pretty much try anything. But she still loves when we spoon feed her and shovel it in!

Clair got her first tooth last week - right on her 9 month's birthday. She has her second little one also on the bottom this week. Teething isn't quite as easy for her as the others. She has had a little pain and bother from it, but nothing too bad.

Tonight she road around Frederick in her stroller looking out at the world instead of back at Mommy. It's another big girl move. She is ready!

She has nearly out grown her infant car seat. It's pretty hard squishing her in there, but I do because it's been so freezing cold this year. As soon as it warms up it's off to the big girl car seat for her!

She loves her brother and sister move then ever. She will play with them, laugh with them, smile with them and follow them anywhere. They really love her too! She's just perfect that little Clair bear!