Claire Withdrawals

I've been going a little too bonkers the last several weeks to blog. I started a job 3 weeks ago. So far I love it! But it's been quite an adjustment going back to the whole 40 hour work week thing. Not to mention I miss my little Clairey like crazy!

I'm working as an Administrative/Accounting Assistant at the accounting office for several assisted living facilities. It is quite the busy place. I have so many different responsibilities that my day just zooms by. It's an all female office and they have all been so friendly, patient and helpful as I'm learning the ropes. The office is about 5 min from our house and it's been so nice to be able to come home on lunch and get some snuggles, if by luck Claire is awake.

I don't know what we would have done the last several weeks without wonderful in-laws and some fantastic friends that were able to watch Claire, big thank you to them! Levi is going to focus on school for a while so between that and Claire, he is definitely going to have his hands full.

I think the hardest part about this is me giving up control. Realizing that I have to relinquish control over what she eats, when she sleeps and how much TV she is allowed to watch. I ask how their day was and while Levi's telling me I start having these critical thoughts but I have to remember that I didn't always do things perfectly and sometimes even if you try, Claire has different things in mind. It's also been tough just not being around her as much. My (mostly) sweet little girl has been my companion, my buddy, my little shadow, for the last 16 months with very little time spent apart. I so miss all the hours spent playing on the floor, the random moments she would say "Hi" and run up and give me a hug/kiss and the way I missed her and wished she would wake up from her naps. I'm so grateful that I was able to stay home with her as long as I did, I know a lot of woman don't have that luxury. Of course I spend as much time with her as possible when I'm home, but my now 3-4 hours of Claire-time is a huge difference from the 10-12 or so I was spending with her. I'm having Claire withdrawals.

So far our little role reversal has been going quite well. I think it is giving us both a greater appreciation for each other. We realize that neither working full-time or staying home is easy, they both have their challenges and rewards. Although I do have to admit that I really love doing less dishes and housework.

I just got some exciting news today... Eric (my little bro) is coming home to visit Easter weekend! We haven't seen him in nearly 6 months now. We're SO EXCITED! I'm sure he'll just want to spend the whole weekend with his new wifey but hopefully they can squeeze in a little time for us.

Here are some recent pics of you-know-who:

I feel a mumu and blue eye shadow coming on...

Claire is talking up a storm these days! It seems like everyday she says something new. So the following is a list of her words and the translations if needed:

"Dada"
"Uppy", "Huppy" & "Puppy" = Puppy and all other animals
"Hi"
"I see, I see" while pointing at object = she wants it
"Baba" = Bottle
"Baba" while waving = Bye bye
"Dough, dough" = No no
"Whoa, whoa, whoa" = Woof, woof, woof
"E-sus" = Jesus

For many months now I have also been "dada" and have been getting a little irritated that I spend more time with her and yet she will not say "mama", "mommy" or just plain old "mom". She even said Jesus and we only see pictures of him once a week at church. I couldn't have been more happy the other day when she finally gave me a name, I'm "mimi"! It's so cute to hear her say it.



I love this stage so much, she is picking things up so quickly. It is so much fun teaching her. She has really started to love books just within the last couple weeks. And today I asked her to fold her arms before our prayer and she did! It's really incredible watching her learn and grow, I love this little girl and I'm so glad that I get to be her "mimi"!



Claire was so proud of herself for climbing up there in 10 seconds and reorganizing my beauty products :)

Poop: Episode 2

We overslept Sunday morning and awoke to Claire's extremely high-pitch screams. We ran into her room and this is what we found:




That's right, Claire was totally butt-naked! She had mostly emptied her dirty clothes basket (by reaching through the slats in her crib) and then she somehow managed to get out of her footie pajamas and out of her poopy diaper and threw both of those onto the pile of clothes. Lucky for us she didn't smear it around like last time. She was sooooo proud of herself; she was smiling, giggling and dancing all over her crib. It was hilarious minus the poop. So Levi got Claire in the bath and I cleaned up the mess. I'm beginning to wonder what this girls fascination is with poop. And we were only 45 minutes late to church, oops!