the weekender/easter

Claire's mouth closed.  

Claire's mouth full of candy.  

Claire kind of smiling but Darrell is only halfway there....

Claire not having it at all....

GOOD ENOUGH.  

The Easter bunny got creative.  Hiding eggs on the treadmill?  SURE!  Haha we had a little apartment bound egg hunt that was a great success.  Although once Claire found out there was chocolate in the eggs she completely abandoned the hunt until she had eaten ALL that she had already found!  

To me the most comical part of any Easter weekend is the inevitable attempt to get a good family photo.  Last year on Easter Claire was a total grump - I think she was teething or something - I didn't even do a dedicated post, but there are a few photos of her crying in her dress in this old post !  This year she was an absolute angel, with a smile for everyone, but no child looooooves posing for photos as many times as I tried to make her!  So I'm thrilled with the ones that we got.  

Hope you all had a fabulous Easter weekend!  

around here lately

 

 It's been WAY too long since I've cleaned out my iPhone of the million photos I take of my daughter each day, so here goes!  Spring is happening people, and it is the absolute best.  We had the greatest (long!) Easter weekend, thanks to my having Good Friday off - but not Darrell, sadly - nevertheless we made the best of the extra free day to hang out and play.  

We live in the nursery now, because Claire is just too wiggly to be in the adult space, tearing things down and attempting to disconnect the internet and anything else that looks dangerous or annoying!  So we like to confine ourselves to the only room in the house where she can literally do anything she wants.  Thankfully, it's a very pretty room.  

 

What baby falls asleep like this?  I came home to Claire knocked out on the ottoman while her sitter sat watching her in case she happened to roll off.  She slept like this for a solid couple of hours! 

 

Oh hey, baby DJ!  (No baby ears were harmed in the making of this photo.)  We're testing out some Beats headphones for Verizon Wireless - isn't blogging the weirdest? - nevertheless, they're so comfy that I keep falling asleep on them.  

 

Lately I've been transferring Claire from the sling to our nursery armchair for her naps.  It works really well, except that she likes to roll to the very edge of the chair and be a sleeping daredevil.   This nap in particular, she literally rolled off the end of the chair (onto the fluffy footrest we had placed right below her) but the look on her face was priceless and I sincerely wish I had a photo of it. 

 

 And now, an excessive number of photos from our Easter Sunday: 

Claire's got about 3 tricks - she can wave, high five, and clap.  She likes to wear them each out really well each day.  I'm attempting to teach her to give kisses, but having little success with that so far.  

The absolute closest I got to a cute photo of her in her Easter outfit - it is amazing how the happiest baby on the planet suddenly decides that once she has a fancy outfit on, there will be nooooooo smiles. 

An actual picture of the three of us!  I mean, no one is looking at the camera but beggars cannot be choosers.  

I mean, that bonnet.  Stella & Wilbur, take all my $$$.  

I honestly can't remember what she was crying about in this photo (probably just wanted to be picked up?) but it was too funny not to include.  

Alright, Claire says "bye!"  and if you made it this hard I declare you reader of the year. 

the weekender/easter egg-citement at eckert's farms

As a parent, you get told a lot (especially when you have a baby) "enjoy these moments!  These days go by so fast!"  And sometimes, it's hard to take that advice to heart - like when you're grocery shopping and the cart is filled in the checkout line and suddenly you realize your baby's diaper has leaked in the carrier (yes, that happened to me last week) and really you have nothing else to do but let the checkout worker finish up and wait until you get out to the car to change the baby.  Bonus, you're covered in poo, the whole drive home.  

Moments like those I sometimes want to smack the well-meaning older ladies who say "enjoy this time!  Don't blink!"  

But then, THEN there are magical days like yesterday where I remember their advice and I truly get it.  Yesterday we woke up early to get dressed in some springy clothes, head out into the sunshine and drive to Eckert's Farm not far outside the city for Easter Egg-citement, and it was one of those days I know I'll be siphoning happiness from for a long time.  When Claire is 12 and sassing me I'll be thinking of yesterday, these memories, and how good that day was.  I must have taken 500 photos in an attempt to capture everything, every sweet smile, but I'll refrain (reluctantly) from posting ALL of them here.  These are a few of my favorites!  

 

 This is how excited Claire was when I told her we were going to Eckert's!  Actually, she just learned how to clap and so EVERYTHING gets a standing ovation from Claire!  She's our biggest (tiny) fan!