Trying to catch up...

On so many levels it feels like I am trying to catch up... to Clementine's speed, to my work, to our house chores...  I haven't even been taking as many pictures now that Clementine is mobile - she's fast and curious and determined (and teething - yikes, 3 molars at once right now)!  She keeps us on our toes and we're trying to capture her rapid changes as best as we can.  Check out our picture site for all of her adventures (pictures and video!).  Let's see if I can provide some quick recaps to bring everyone up to speed:

How silly is this girl?  She has lots of fun with Miss Lisa!

After Easter we went to visit Wade's family in PA - which was great since C finally got to meet her Uncle Seth, Aunt Tracy, and cousins (Sydney, Zane, and Cole) and the rest of the extended family.  It was absolutely freezing when we were there, but we bundled her up and she enjoyed herself quite a bit.  She had lots of fun with her cousins, taking wagon rides with Grammie, and playing with Grampie in her Dada's old toys.  She also added a few words to her newly developing vocabulary: "flower" and "buh-buh" for butterfly.  We also tied the trip into a work trip for me, so it was nice to see an old friend and her family while we were in Philly for my meeting.

Practicing her walking skills with Dada and Grammie - she was so close but not quite ready to let go.

Towards the end of April a dear friend from college, Sarah, came to visit with her toddler, Elliott, who's about 6 months older than Clementine.  We had a lot of fun being moms together and watching the kids play and get to know each other.  They got along really great and it was clear Clementine was trying to pick up walking tips from Elliott!

Just shy of turning 13 months Clementine finally started walking.  It was clear by her 1st birthday she could have walked if she wanted to (her standing and squatting balance was good) but she apparently was in no hurry to walk.  Our sitter Lisa was able to get her to take her first steps and get it on video and not to long after that she was officially walking like a drunken sailor.  We were sad to see her fast-crawl go - it looked like she was trying to run and practically bounced off the floor with excitement when she did it!  She made for one adorable crawling baby.

For Mother's Day we hosted brunch for my Mom, then Poppi treated us all to a trip to the art museum to see a special Impressionist collection which was really nice and fun to see which paintings C reacted to (she's a fan of Picasso!).  For Father's Day we went to the aquarium (Dads got in free!) since Wade loves how much C enjoys the aquarium.  It was a fun morning followed by playing in the sprinkler in the yard for the afternoon.

For Memorial Day we spent the traditional weekend on the beach with Granzie and Poppi.  We had a lot of fun and C really got into playing in the sand this time, rather than just wandering.  She also started her conversion to a once a day nap schedule kind of by accident.  The first day we were there our friend Michelle and her son Gus came to visit.  We played in the pool and had so much fun we lost track of time. After some hurried snacks we tried to get Clementine down for a very late morning nap - and it was the easiest she's ever fallen asleep.  lol  It was unprecedented (normally she would have had a complete meltdown when she's that tired and demand to be nursed to sleep).  So for the rest of the weekend we kept pushing her naptime back with lots of fun in the sun at the beach and the pool which kept her awake and distracted (also teething) until we could get her down for a nice solid midday nap.  It was a really nice weekend and the change to a nap nap system was life changing.

This girl loves the beach and the water!

Ever since C's birthday I've been working quite a bit which has been nice, but also stressful.  With all of her developmental changes and teething, she was an extremely unpredictable sleeper so I was not getting work done at night and not sleeping much either.  Finally she got back on schedule towards early June and I spent most afternoons working then again late into the night once she went to bed.  It's made for long days, but it's been a relief to have some money coming in and I was able to finish up all my projects just before we took a little summer vacation.

The rest of June largely passed in a blur as I spent mornings trying to keep C busy and distracted (we started parent & baby swim lessons) to keep her awake and not focused on her teething during the days, while working nights and prepping for our visit to see Poppi and Granzie.  I managed to finish all my work just in time for us to tend to a sick C just before packing up to leave for NC.

We spent 10 days in NC having a lovely visit with Poppi and Granzie, as well as Aunt Janis, Uncle Miles, and her cousins, Sammy, Noah, and Jamie.  They were able to stay the night for the Fourth of July weekend so we were able to enjoy lots of playtime, fireworks, and homemade pancakes.  We were going to go camping with them but the rain didn't cooperate and we had to go with plan B which was one night at Cataloochee Campground in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  It was a lot of fun and so wonderful to C how much of a trooper C was - she loved it despite the rain.  I've dying to go camping for the past few years we've visited but the rain foiled us both times, so I'm so happy we pushed through to take C camping for the first time.  She loved splashing in the puddles, looking up at the "huuuuge" trees, playing in the tent, and reminding us that the fire was hot.  I'm so excited we'll get to take her camping with us now that we know she likes it.  Now we just need to save up for a family size tent and mattress because our little backpacking tent and single sleep pads won't cut it! lol  We've already decided to revive my birthday tradition of camping (hooray!) and found something close to home we're excited about - Ft. Desoto where Aunt Jen and Uncle Bob stayed this past spring and we enjoyed visiting them at their site.

These past few months have also seen an explosion in C's communication skills - she can't always say a whole word, but it's very clear she's trying and knows what she's trying to say.  In fact, she is game to try just about every word you throw at her and her picture books in particular have been great for this (she also likes pointing at things in the books if you ask her where something is).  It's also a challenge grocery shopping with her now that she wants to tell you everything she recognizes. I should have started a list sooner, but here are some of her favorite words off the top of my head: avocado, broccoli, cat/kitty, dog, Dada, Mama, Poppi, Granzie, Sammy, Noah, baby, sloth, butterfly, flower, water, more, food, please, hot, cold, huge, heavy, peas, crackers, cheese, sauerkraut, hummus, beans, berries, banana, ball, tree, bird, chicken, almost all of her body parts, shoes, happy, sad, up, down, sit, diaper, poop, pee, potty, done, drink, bottle, thank you, nap, bee, dragonfly, fish, no, yes, boob, fuzz, yuck/icky, everywhere, swim, pool, bubble, turtle, mermaid, help, whaaaat?.... and I'm sure I'm missing some.  Some of these words she uses signs with too (more, please, thank you, drink, food, all done), and some she uses hand gestures that just make us laugh (everywhere, huge, whaaaa?).  She also clearly understands waaaaay more than she can tell us which keeps things interesting. :)

Hopefully now that I've caught up on the backlog I can get back to regular updates!!  My laptop just told me I've filled up my harddrive with pictures and video - oops!  So I need to get back to the project I've been putting off of printing some photo books to ensure C's first year doesn't get lost in the digital world.