Wait, I'm supposed to SLEEP here?

A study in self-portraits.

If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck and quacks like a duck

Flashback!

Ham is not people.

Oh yes, my child, it is.

And this one is tired.

This one is hungry.

Apparently we don't feed our kids enough.

These are the days.

So's first day of pre-school.

Month 8

Dear Claire,

Today you are eight months old. And boy, does time fly when you're having fun. We are approaching the end of summer, and last month you experienced your first earthquake (heck, mine too!) and your first hurricane. After a hot, dry summer that was absolutely relentless on the plants & garden, suddenly it won't stop raining.
Speaking of rain, the stupid mosquitos won't leave you alone. Today I counted five bites on you, one on your face. Poor baby.

But back to you! You've started eating Puffs and Crunchies, and all kinds of baby food. You also love bread and rice and pretty much anything you can grab when nobody's paying attention. I swear, you eat and eat until we stop giving you food. Yesterday you stole your sister's bacon. Today you cried when I took away a French fry. This is probably why you are now wearing 12 month size, and those are getting small. You're my little chunky monkey.

You say 'Mama', but that's kind of your thing, and I don't think that it means anything in particular yet. But I still like it.
You still laugh on the inhale, so it sounds like an excited gasp, and is really funny in itself. You're a very smiley baby, and interact with absolutely everyone. Until they get too close to you, then the game's over. You don't let most people hold you, although the Mama Fever is kind of easing up. Maybe. A little. Okay, not really.

You have a slight problem with the biting. Really, you need to cut it out. I have little bite marks all over my shoulders, and it hurts! Some people think they can get away with anything just cause they're cute.

And yeah, you're really cute.

Happy 8 month-day, my baby bear.

Love,
Mama

The State of Aquaria, August 2011 edition.

Looks much different from a year ago.

We still have the peppermint shrimp. The tiger brittle star had an accident about a month ago, and we had to re-home the coral reef shrimp as he developed a taste for expensive fish. Current inhabitants are: 2 percula clowns, a coral beauty, a yellow tang and a scooter blenny. We've got lots of inverts, including a plethora of snails & hermits and an emerald crab. The foray into corals include button polyps, 2 mushroom corals, green star polyps, a hammer coral, a galaxia and a Captain America brain coral.
The freshwater cichlid tank is also doing very well, I'll post a picture of it sometime. We also have 2 geckos and a fire-bellied toad that we've had for over 10 years, and a female betta keeping me company in the kitchen.

Doesn't have time to be bothered by your nonsense.

3 is the new 13.

The first rule of food fight club is that you do not talk about food fight club.

Hatching a plan of escape.

Life's just a blur sometimes.

Playing games.

This is probably the first time a balloon has topped a video game controller in this house.

FISHIES!!!!!

We love the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Month 7

Dear Claire,

Today you are seven months old. It's been a really busy month. This month you really started taking off with the crawling. You still army crawl, not picking your tummy up off of the floor, but you're super quick.

You are eating like a champ. You still aren't too sure about the Puffs, but you think that the purees are awesome. For some odd reason, prunes are your favorite. And you've had the blow-outs to prove it.

You've still got those crazy blue eyes, and you are so chubby that everyone wants to eat you. Nom nom nom on the baby thighs.

You have seven teeth now, two on the bottom and four on the top. After your canines came in, the two middle teeth came in pretty quickly. So you weren't a vampire for long.
guess it's time to move you out of the bassinet. Since you can stand up in it and all. This month we started putting you to sleep in your own bed. Which is actually a pack and play in the office, because I really don't want you and your sister to wake each other up in the middle of the night.

Thank you for being part of my life. I love you so very much, sometimes it's painful. You smile all the time (unless someone else is holding you, you've got Mama Fever pretty bad) and you have this huge smile where you open your entire mouth and show everyone your tonsils.

Love,

Mama

Puff the magic dragon lives by the sea

Claire's not so sure about the Gerber Puffs.

The G-rated version of the last post.

A few things.

Notice we have 2 mobiles. We apparently couldn't decide.
Notice all of the toys in this bed. No, she has never slept here.
Also, the 2 of Clubs? Um.... 3 and under poker night?

The waving was actually a plea for help.
Probably to alert someone that there are glowbugs in her bed.
Or maybe that she already knows that topless photos always end up on the internet.