Happy Birthday to the Love of our Life!

Dearest Baby Clara Beara,

You have given your mama and dada the best year of their lives. You are the silliest, sweetest, smartest, little sucker we could have ever imagined. You have had such a great birthday so far and the fun just continues. This weekend, for your birthday, Aunt Ana, Aunt Theresa, Addi, Grandpa Tiger, Grandma Alice, Aunt Rebecca, Sharon, and neighbor Nancy and family were a big part of your weekend. Ana, Theresa and Addi came Thursday and drove until 2am to be with you all day Friday which was Addi's 8th birthday. You had a GREAT day with them and even took seven steps. Saturday us girls went to Winter's Aquarium in Clearwater and then met Grandpa, Alice, Terry, and Mary-Jane out for lunch at Jd's. We had a big dinner at the house Saturday night, Uncle Steven came over and there was even a euchre tournament! You're all off schedule with sleep and naps but the happiest camper ever. You are such a happy baby, making everyone around you laugh. You talk up a storm, giggle all the time, and love playing with your family, cousins and toys.

Today you were up and ready to go before 6am. We brought you into bed with us and you kicked, honked noses, talked up a storm, and we finally all watched your Spanish video. Everyone was still fast asleep in the house so I took you to Publix so I could get some breakfast viddles for everyone. You were so very tired when we got home you finally went to sleep again. Mama made breakfast sandwiches and we all had full bellies. You woke and played, and played, and played. We tried to get you to sleep, but you didn't until about 4pm. You play so well in your crib, you're the happiest baby, we are so lucky. Aunt Tiffy, Uncle Steven and your cousins stopped by to play and give you presents. They got you a really neat drum set with funny looking instruments that are so cool and Uncle Steven picked out the cutest fall clothes for you. Sharon gave you really neat books: animal book that makes noises, Frozen book, a Search for the dog book. You love books! Aunt Brandi, Uncle Nick and Elsa got you a book about YOU! Your name is in it, and it's all about your first birthday, how amazing! Daddy and I got you a doodle pad, for travel for Colombia! Nancy, Bob and Anna got you a cute outfit for the fall, a cool CD that has your name in the songs, and Nancy made you your 1st birthday (cup)cake. You'll be allowed to dive into that after dinner. Ana, Theresa, Addi, and Eli got you PERFECT walking shoes and the coolest Bubble Guppies microphone. You adored your time with them and gave Aunt Ana so many slobbery kisses. Aunt Linny, Uncle Zimmer and Trinkle sent you the CUTEST glow in the dark Halloween Pj's and a monogrammed trick-or-treat bag, with your first dollar bill that will go straight to your piggy bank! Aunt Barb sent you a sweet card with a crisp dollar bill that will not go in your piggy bank, maybe your baby book! You played all day and finally, right now, are taking your second nap, I'm so glad. The more you sleep, the more you sleep. We'll have a steak dinner with Grandpa and Grandma and let you dive into your cake. I really don't want to go to work tomorrow, I want to stay home and play with all your new toys with you.

Your BIG birthday bash will be on November 2nd while Uncle Nick, Aunt Brandi and Elsa are here to visit. I should have written "no gifts" on the invitation, we have enough!! You're such a fun little girl it'll be lots of fun!

I'm going to wait to add pictures until the day is over, hopefully tomorrow night. I'll also add all the details about you and your new stats with growth after we go to your doctor's appointment on the 24th. (obviously this didn't happen since it's Nov 15 but pictures will come soon!)

All about you:

Hair length:
Body length: 31 in - 97th %tile
Head: 45cm - average
Weight: 20lb 12oz - average
The doctor forgot to give me the other two percentages but I remember she said they were average, she told me your percentage for length since it's really long! ;)

Sizes: 12 month tops still fit. You're into 18 month pants, sometimes 24 and 24 mo. pj's for sure. You've got some legs on ya! Mommy needs to get you some new socks, you tend to take them off and play with them anyway, but your feet are WAY bigger than average by the sounds of it. When we took you to get new shoes, everyone assumed you would be a 3 since apparently most 1 year olds are, you are a 5. Seems you've got mama's boats! You're growing too fast, you're so long and your hair makes you look older than you really are, I think.

Eating habits: You are such a great eater. You love table food most now, getting you to eat a pouch happens maybe once a day. You want to eat whatever I'm eating, so I can fool you sometimes. The pouches have so much good food/nutrients I have such a hard time not trying to coax you into your pouches, I never feel I provide that level of variety and nutrition when I give you table food. You still have a bottle in the am when you arise 3oz, one before your nap 4oz, and one before bed 6-7 oz. I need to break you of those by 15 months. You're just now (since Julia is) drinking from a sippy cup. You usually have no interest. Putting milk in it helps, but once you saw Julia doing it, of course you had to too! Thanks Julia! (Who by the way is crawling, standing, pulling up, and before we know it walking...slow down baby girl!) So now you drink about a half a cup of milk throughout the day.

Sleeping: YOU ARE SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God, I never thought this day would come. Typically from 7pm until 6, sometimes 5, but then you drink your formula and go back to sleep. Sometimes you arise later. If it's 6ish you may go back to sleep, you may stay up. I can't tell you how amazing it is not having to get up. The good news is, it has nothing to do with your pacifier. I always wondered if I took it away, would you self soothe better? But, you do just fine with it, or if you lose it. You started sleeping through the night just after your first birthday. (I'm posting this on your bday date, but it's almost taken me a month to get this post up so I'm thinking back.) Most nights I still wake up and check on  you, hopefully I learn your habit soon, sleeping through the night would do my body good!!  Now that it's cooler out, and getting chilly some nights, I worry you're cold since you don't leave blankets on. So I have to go cover you throughout the night so I can sleep. You usually take one nap a day. Anywhere from 1.5 hours to 2.5 hours. There is no rhyme or reason as to how long. If it's less than an hour and a half I try to get you to take another nap, sometimes it works and sometimes not. You're so easy to put to sleep. Lately, you've been laying right down and going right to sleep at night. For a nap, you'll usually play for a little bit then lay down. No crying!! Sometimes you even wake up and play instead of cry for us, I always go get you right away since I miss you but you'd be so good about playing in your crib if I needed you to!

Talking: You talk all day long. You are so very silly, with such a big personality! You favorite words are "Ca!" for cat, you used to say "cat" but lately you've left the "t" off and you say it in a really high pitch. "Beegup" is another, which may be your version of bubble guppies. Not sure, maybe just a favorite nonsense word. You repeat it over and over. You still say mama and dada of course, but you're not calling us by our names yet. You repeat many words we say to you, but they're not a part of your daily vocabulary. You understand what I am saying when I talk to you. It's so neat!!!!! I'll tell you to kiss or hug your dolly and you do. I can ask you questions like, "Where is it?" and you look around until you find what I'm asking you for. I know you understand way more than I even think, it's just so much fun talking with you. You sign: please, more, and all done on a regular basis. You like to use your pink "walker" for fun to go across the living room and when you get to one side and can't turn it around you let out a squeal of annoyance to tell us you need help, this is new, I'm getting you to sign "please" instead of the squeal, sometimes you do, sometimes you refuse. You're a stubborn little cookie.

Moving: You took 7 steps when Aunt Ana was watching you the Friday before your birthday. Now (11/14) you're walking all over and stay on your feet. Over the last few weeks you've practiced a bunch. You started really good on your birthday weekend since you were moving slow and you would go 5 - 10 steps well. Then you got confident and started to go too fast and about a week after your birthday you would only go one or two steps before falling. The carpet is a hard place for you to learn since it's quite plush and you tip easy. You did really well learning on harder surfaces. Our tile is quite uneven since it's the Spanish tile, but you've adjusted to all surfaces at this point and walk all over the place. When you're struggling you'll go to your knees and walk on those. You learned to climb aunt Tiffy's couch, I think it's slightly lower than ours. The day you did that you came home and managed to get up on ours. You put one foot up and hike your body up, it shocks me that your upper body is strong enough, and scares me. You know how to go down feet first, but I still get so nervous I never leave you over there alone.

Temperament: You are the biggest lover. You will nuzzle and snuggle with us now! Usually when you're tired and definitely when you're not feeling well. It's never for long periods of time, but I can't tell you how good it feels when I come pick you up to have you walk over to me and wrap your arms around me and kiss me with a big open mouth kiss, over and over. There is nothing in the world I love more than those moments. You are silly and LOVE playing games, and being chased. When you get tired you can become quite impatient and mad sometimes. Once in a while when you're really frustrated you'll throw your body around or push my face away if I'm carrying you. Tantrums already! Thankfully they're few and far between, you're easy to distract. You still have your pacifier, you usually only have it when you sleep, but sometimes when you don't want to get in your car seat I'll cave, or if I think you're teething and I can tell it soothes you. Thanksgiving break mama has to take that away, I really hope it doesn't ruin the sleeping through the night thing we have going on. We were teaching you to share when Elsa was here. Aunt Tiffy said you were very interested in Julia's things and she didn't really care if you took them. Although I know Tiffy would put her foot down if need be, I really don't want you to learn to take things from others. So while Elsa was here I wouldn't let you take her toys, sometimes you got mad, but most of the time you'd move on. The next week Tiffy said you shared better and when Julia was crying you took toys over to her. Tyler always, ALWAYS brings you toys, so hopefully you learn from him too. He is so sweet to you. You're learning!!  If I had to pick one word to describe you it would be silly...you're always fake laughing, or really laughing, wanting to play and fool around, you're such a fun baby. You're perfect in every way!

Your likes:
-walking all over the house, exploring, finding new things to get into, pressing buttons when you find them, opening cupboards - thankfully you close them instead of taking everything out!
-chasing the cat and saying "Ca!" with the "a" sounding like an "o" in "got"
-climbing up the couch and getting down
-rocking your baby dolls and giving them kisses
-dancing - to any music, the TV, daddy singing, your songs we play. When kneeling you twist your upper body side to side, when standing you have a cute little bounce where your booty goes up and down, you have the cutest little buns!
-being passed back between dada and mama, you never know who to choose. You used to favor me a tad but I wasn't feeling good the other weekend and dada really helped me out and took care of you and by the end of the weekend you wanted nothing to do with me. Dada was your guy! He is such a great daddy to you, always making you laugh, I think that's why you're so funny all the time, he rubbed off on you. Yay!
-playing with your toys, puzzles, books, balls
-watching bubble guppies - YOU LOVE this show, you clap your hands when it starts and no one better get in the way of the TV! We limit you to when we really need the TV to babysit, like when daddy gets ready for work or when mama must get something done around the house or for school.
-bath time
-playing with your cousins, it's very obvious when you're around Tyler especially that you love to be around other kids, we're SO so so fortunate to have Aunt Tiffy take care of you two days a week not just because she loves you so much but you get to grow up with your cousins!

There are so many more, I'll keep adding as I think of them!

Dislikes:
-being changed - still -  but babysitters say you're fine for them, so it's just mama/dada you give a hard time - stinker.
-face wiped after eating
-hair rinsed in the bath, but you're getting better about it

You have five main care takers:
Monday - Aunt Tiffy
Tuesday - Taylor - found through a mom of a student of mine who uses her as a nanny
Wednesday - Doe - a friend I work with's mom
Thursday - Daddy
Friday - Aunt Tiffy

You've been SO good about having so many new people care for you. You don't get upset when we leave, even if it's your first day with someone, we're so lucky. Thankfully Doe and Taylor come to our house, so you have that comfort, but I know you'd be fine either way. We do miss Elisabeth of course, but it's nice having you at home. My heart would break if you struggled with separating, you're such a happy girl and always so excited to play with someone new.

Mommy is with you every moment in between. There aren't enough of those moments. I can't get enough of you. There is not a moment since you've been born I have the urge to be away, every moment I'm not with you is a wasted moment where I'm wishing I was there, watching you learn and grow, taking care of you and your needs, teaching you things, kissing your face. I may be excessive, but I don't care. You are my sweet pea, I love you with all I have...daddy too of course!

Happy birthday to the sweetest little girl we know. We love you so much!