First Christmas!

Today was Clara's first Christmas!

I think she had a blast!

Grace is in love with Thomas the Train right now.  She received an amazing toy train from her Aunt Sam and Uncle Brian!

She really enjoyed all her presents though, and I think we have hours of entertainment ahead!

The girls enjoyed some rough housing!  I love how they are playing with each other more and more.

Clara adores her big sister and I think the feeling is mutual!

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope you all had a relaxing and fun day like we did!

Sweet Sisters

Sometimes it is really hard, but I live for moments like these!

Holiday Photos

Sweet Angel!

Or is it...

a devious ornament thief?!!

I think she is both!  She is DEFINITELY the latter.  We leave ONE in reach that isn't breakable so that my head doesn't explode telling her repeatedly to stop climbing the tree to get the ornaments.

These pictures look deliciously vintage to me.  Maybe it is because...

This dress is another wearable artifact from my past!  In this picture, I'm three years old, and this dress was worn in a wedding.  I think Gracie looks pretty adorable in it, which is why I decided it would be her holiday dress this year.  I was bound and determined to take a holiday photo with both of them in their dresses.  Sounds easy, right?  You people saying yes are probably not parents.

Jason says my expectations are just too high.  I thought a picture in front of the tree would be nice, and I was going to crop out the mess of toys in the background.  I didn't count how many pictures I took in this pose, but I can tell you that I got them all dressed up on three separate occasions trying to get ONE that met my requirement:  both girls smiling flatteringly at the camera.  This one is kind of cute, but it didn't make the cut.  Clara looks very sweet and joyful, but Grace is holding her toe for no reason and half smiling, half grimacing.

If one looks good, then the other did something weird.  Here, Clara is lunging forward trying to escape probably.  This one was a strong contender for a while actually.

Clara is pretty distracting.

It was mostly her clothes and accessories that were distracting.  Grace loves to pull her socks off, unzip sweaters, etc., so this headband was not long on Clara's head.

Clara just loves the attention from big sister, even if she ends up disrobed.

Then things got a little strange

and a little fierce.

  Oh, and I'm NOT going to show you the winning photo, but I will tell you that it is NOT in front of the Christmas tree, because I gave up!

More Wiggles

Clara is trying to move!

Her third tooth broke through a couple days ago, and she has been having a bit of a rough time with it.  Today I caught her at a good moment!

6 Months Old!

Clara turned 6 months old 2 days ago!

This is Clara's holiday dress.  We've been trying to take a picture of the both of them in their dresses.  It is beyond difficult trying to get two little girls to both smile at the camera at the same time!  Clara is pretty easy on her own though, because she can't get away!

She is FINALLY sleeping through the night!  That means 6 or 6:30 pm until 6 or 6:30 am.  

She is such a sweetie!  Sometimes she likes to rest her head on my chest and just snuggle a bit.  She also really loves it when you sing to her!  She is grabbing at everything in her path and seems to be very curious.  She is also very wiggly and ready to be moving on her own!  So far she can scoot backward and spin in circles.  Crawling is not far off!

I feel like we're half way through the hardest part!  That probably isn't true but it feels good anyway!  I'm half way through pumping at work and I'm VERY glad about that.  It isn't a big deal but it is a pain.