Claire Bear at 5 months!

Can we possibly have had this little darling in our home for almost a half year?! Everything about this child is joyful - she is like dessert after a long day, her kisses are like candy, her smell is delicious, her little body is edible! We can't get enough. Fortunate for me, she may be the easiest child on earth. She is pleasant and calm and requires so very little! Tyler and I feel like she just gives and gives with her sweet spirit. New this month...
- She's rolling over! Front to back, and becoming much more curious about reaching things in the world around her.
- She's begun sucking her fingers in bed after she's lost her binki! Oh, no... binki habits are so much easier to break than finger habits! ... but what can we do. It it will be interested to see how this develops in the weeks to come.
- Her hair is coming in! She's definitey red, about the same color Ash was as a baby (bright), but Ash had much more at this age and it was already a little bit curly. I see no signs of curls on Claire yet, but she's still just fuzzy. Again, it was be fun to watch it grow in over the next several months.
- She continues to eat baby food, but once in a while. The trip to Hawaii wiped out some of my resolve to feed her more solids and she does seem to be doing okay. I feed her whenever it sounds fun. And then I nurse all the time. She's probably had 5 bottles in her lifetime and does okay with them, just not her favorite.

- She contines to be a binki lover. And a swaddler sleeper. Doesn't have a blankie yet, but I'm thinking of starting her on the thin recieving blankets since the HEAT is around the corner here. She likes her swing more now, and can grab at, hold and bring toys to her mouth.
- She likes to "sing" to us when she's happy and often while she's nursing but not that hungry. It's adorable.
- She sleeps in her own bed and room every night for about 10 hours with one feeding somewhere in there and naps roughly 3 times a day on no consistent schedule. She loves walks, riding in the bike trailer (in her carseat), showers and baths and being played with. She squeals with delights when we tickle her tummy with our faces.

I'm often asked how many children I have and if we're going to have more. When I was pregnant this last time I couldn't imagine anything being worth doing it again (how horrible does that sound). Of course now we can't even begin to imagine our lives without Claire and I've already forgotten what was really so bad about being pregnant (it's SO worth it)! Raising a large family is never easy, especially in today's world, but the most difficult things in life are usually those with the greatest rewards. I know that to be true. Family is what life's all about.

P.S. Thanks Jilly for taking pics of us together!