Claire's First Christmas

Such a fun year with a newborn in the house to celebrate Christmas! She was spoiled rotten, and doesn't even know it yet! These pictures are totally out of order and random, but I don't want to take the time to rearrange them :) We took video of Claire "opening" her presents, but I failed to take any pictures of it - I'll have to be better about that!

Wouldn't be a complete Christmas without putting Claire in the stocking my mom made for her


Mommy's Favorite Gift is right!
Once we put Claire in her stocking, Cooper wanted to see if he could fit :)

Claire meeting Santa for the second time at a Christmas Fiesta with Scotty's family/friends. She didn't even cry - tough girl!
Don't let this these awesome shots fool you, it was taken by yours truly - MICHELLE - not Scotty, and I must say I'm pretty proud of it :)



I'm such a sucker for clothing that has anything on the bum!
How can you not love that face?!?


Claire has the right idea already - sticking out her tongue and looking adorable while doing it



I had to throw this one in there - you can tell we have a baby that spits up A LOT because we have burp cloths all over the house and apparently one made it into my Christmas present that I unwrapped from Scotty. He didn't even know that it had been wrapped up! I was so appreciative of the new burp cloth I got for Christmas ;)

Claire's Christmas Outfit

I just cannot resist buying clothes for this cute little girl and when I saw this dress, I wanted to buy it, but it was too expensive at the time - well thank goodness it was on clearance the next time I went! This was Claire's Christmas outfit that she wore to church and promptly spit on and drooled all over, which is par for the course for a 4 month old, but I didn't care. Don't worry, she wore a long sleeved cardigan over the dress and had on an adorable dress coat too.

We had a little photo shoot a few days after Christmas to showcase her dress. I just can't get enough of her and her sweet smile!

3 months old

Yes, I know my child will be 4 months old tomorrow, but I never posted her 3 month pictures we have. I just love these pictures of her, and I know that the one of her legs is blurry, but I just had to show how chubby her little legs are (why aren't mine cute?!?).

Things Claire has started doing in her 3rd month:

- rolling from back to tummy

- smiling A LOT

- giggling out loud

- tracking anything that gets in her way

- growling (she kept doing this during sacrament today!)

- sitting up if you hold onto her little fingers and help a bit

- sleeping better and better through the night, around 6 - 7 hours straight

- LOVES being on her changing table - whenever she is crying, if we put her on there, so will calm down almost immediately and start laughing and cooing at us

- went to her first movie on New Year's Eve and did pretty well

- LOVES to watch TV - she clearly takes after me in more than just looks :)

We love our little girl so much and cannot imagine our lives being complete without her. I love when her little body shakes with excitement and when you can tell her little mind is trying so hard to figure things out. She has been eating like a horse the past few weeks and I can hardly keep up with milk for her (nursing did not go so well with Claire - she wasn't able to actually get any milk out - so I just pump and give her bottles all the time - which means Daddy can get up for late night feedings too :) ). Please try to not grow up too fast my little Claire-bean.

My little Claire-Bean

I always think about blogging, but then I run out of energy :). I went back to work 2 months ago, and it has been hard figuring out how to survive on little sleep with a newborn. I am grateful though for Scotty's sister, Kendra, who watches Claire for us while we are at work. There is something easy about being away from her when I know she is being cared for and loved by family (sometimes, maybe a little too loved by her 2 year old cousin!). Most days I have no energy by the time I get home, and I just want to curl up and sleep - but then I have a little one to take care of - who is of course cranky at night. But then she smiles or laughs out loud and I get a little bit of energy from it -- it really melts my heart! And this little girl loves to growl - it is so funny! We tease that she learned to growl from Princess :). She started rolling over the week of Christmas (3 1/2 months) and will only go from her back to her tummy - we try to teach her to roll onto her back, but she wants nothing to do with it and cries until we pick her up and roll her over again - then she will roll right over and hang out for 5 mintues or so, and then cry again. We had such a great Christmas having a little one in the house, really made us grateful for all of the blessings we have in our lives. We woke up on Christmas morning, went to church with Scotty's parents at 9 a.m., had brunch, Skype'd with his sister Courtney on her mission in the Netherlands, came back to our house to open up Claire's presents from us and Santa (while Daddy fed her a bottle) and then my family came up for dinner and presents and games. We had so much fun! Scotty hasn't uploaded the Christmas pictures yet, so I'll post those later, but for Christmas Claire got a bumbo seat and Scotty took these great pictures the other day of her hanging out in it!

Happy 5th Anniversary

Holy cow - it's been 5 years already. I can't believe we've been married this long -yet it seems as though we've always been together.

We celebrated by leaving Claire home with her Grandma Kicki (the first time I actually have left her besides going to work) - we shopped at Tai Pan and went to dinner at Olive Garden. It was so nice to get out just the two of us and celebrate how far we've come in 5 years (but I admit that I kept looking for Claire in the cart at Tai Pan!).

I never thought 5 years would come and go so fast - we've been through so much and accomplished even more together. If anyone would have asked me on our wedding day where I thought we would be in 5 years, I would never have been able to imagine our lives and how great they truly are. We've had our ups and downs and everything in between, but I wouldn't trade anything (except maybe 2 blown engines on Scott's cars :) ).

And on another positive note - Scotty has new employment as an intern architect for a small firm in Ogden!!!! I knew this day would come, but I was beginning to think it wouldn't happen for a long time since it seemed as though no one was hiring - but this day is here! He can now start working towards his license and take the grueling tests that are yet to come. Wow - I wonder where we will be in another 5 years. I love you babe!
Now for your viewing pleasures - then and now:

It's hard to believe we actually looked younger than we do now!

10 weeks - where does the time go?!?

Claire Jeanne Moses, born 9/9/11 @ 8:33 pm. 7 lbs 8 oz, 20.5 inches

Yummy eclaires!!

Grandma Kicki (michelle's mom), Nana and Papa (scotty's parents). My dad was there, but failed to be in any pictures

1 month old - Scotty already posted a lot of these pictures, so I'll just add one of my favorites

6 weeks old - our first family photo shoot - courtesy of Kendra

Claire's blessing day - 11/6/11

2 months old. Her stats as of this appointment were 10 lbs 8 oz (39%ile), 22 inches (33%ile) and 15 1/2 inches for her head (66%ile)

Wow, our little Claire is already 10 weeks old, I cannot believe it! This has been the best/hardest/most rewarding/confusing 10 weeks of my life. I had no idea being a mom would be so hard, but at the same time so rewarding. I cannot believe how much love I feel for this little person who can frustrate me so much at the same time. I think we are starting to figure each other out, and really for the most part, she is a really happy baby, especially when her daddy is holding her. I know I have not posted much of anything about our little one, so I thought I would share from her birth until now in pictures. We love our little girl so much, and cannot imagine our lives without her here. Even Princess seems to like her - even if she feels she has been replaced by Claire.

claire at 1 month

We can't believe it, but our little Claire is a month old! Where did that month go?!? We've been so wrapped up in trying to figure her out and get used to being parents that I've spaced taking very many photos of her since she was born. So, despite being sick this weekend, I took the chance to shoot some photos of her while she was reasonably docile. My favorite is the first shot, when I caught her mid-sneeze! She's had me wrapped around her finger from before she was born. Claire, just a warning - I'll always think of you as this tiny little girl, even when you have your own kids. Can't say I didn't warn you. I love you, Clairebear.

(scotty)