dance dance dance

Clementine hasn't increased her vocabulary in quite a while but just recently she's pulled out a few words that seem to be way more difficult than the normal first words kids start with. Here she is saying dance as she dances in her car seat. She also says books and shoes. She has been referred to as "a little ball of sunshine" which I totally agree with.

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the good witch

I bought this hat at the witchfest. My friend got a black one so now we can pretend we're in Wicked.

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Cute little disaster

Clementine was banging on the computer key board last night and all of a sudden the screen was rotated 90 degrees...and we can't figure out how to fix it. Anyone have any ideas?

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Phobias

Clemmie at Henry's soccer game

Butterfly release

Clementine is my first child who is legitimately afraid of certain things.  I knew her Birthday candle scared her, but she is deathly afraid of campfires and wants to sit on my lap at all times, plus I found out that she is extremely afraid of bugs.  Bea got a butterfly farm for her Birthday from friend Ella and I was so excited to let the kids put them on their fingers and watch them fly away, so each of them got a turn to do it and when I put a butterfly on Clementine's finger she screamed in horror with the most terrified look on her face.  This is not normal in our family.  Both sides are serious insect lovers so it might be a gene mutation.  I didn't get a photo of Clementine screaming, so here's Bea holding a butterfly and loving every minute of it.

It's a hard knock life

Bee sting lip

Poor, poor Clemmie

If you see Clementine right now you would probably think she was a neglected little orphan fending for herself on the streets.  She fell down the stairs twice in the course of 1 hour(first times ever), making her upper lip bleed the first time and giving her a big scab under her lip the second time, then she got a super snotty cold and of course I'm wiping it all day long her face is all red and raw. Then yesterday during a BYU game party at my sister-in-law's which is infested with yellow jacket hornets, Clementine was doing such a great job at eating a piece of corn on the cob, just minding her own business in her booster seat when all of a sudden she started screaming bloody murder and I saw a drunken looking hornet flying away from her direction.  Obviously one had landed on her corn and she bit down on it without noticing and it zapped her.  Her poor little lip swelled up so huge, more than any time she ever had a fat lip from falling on it,  which compelled Justin to get some Benadryl for her and her lip was still really fat until today during church when it seemed like it went down a lot.  I almost cried because she was in so much pain and I knew she was still so hungry but was to distraught to eat anything.  It still looks a little swollen but only I could really tell at this point.  My poor little orphan baby:(

*Update* Since I didn't publish this right away she had another noteworthy tumble on our hike around Silver Lake.  She got off balance somehow and fell backwards over the railroad ties that kept the path from sloping and did a complete head over heels into the dirt.  Luckily she didn't get hurt or even cry which impressed the twenty or so people who saw her.  She is a tough girl!

Purple blankie wrapped around her head as usual

 Here at Oktoberfest Klementine slept much of the time and when she woke up she was feeling a little shy so she wrapped her blankie around her head so she could hide from all the people who usually gawk and want to talk to her and refused to go anywhere without it.

I love her chubby happy expression and her little hand on the side.  Heinrich and Klementine:)

The joys and difficulties of only one baby

The past couple days Henry and Bea have been on a road trip with my mom and I have been here alone with Clementine.  Justin is also out of town, so it's really just the two of us and I am forced to revisit the time when it was just Henry and I at home with no other kids yet.  In many ways I love it.  Since I don't have to be constantly wiping noses, finding blankies, answering questions, cooking and cleaning up dishes constantly I have been able to just enjoy my little baby like I used to.  We have wrestled, snuggled, laughed as I chased her around the house, made growling noises, copied each other, and I actually had time to just look into her eyes and see her darling smile on her face and let it soak in.  She's the only child I really don't have one on one time with every day so this has been such a blessing.

On the other hand, I remember how hard it is to be your one child's only entertainment.  Clementine is usually occupied by Henry and Bea, but these past couple of days when I have had to get things done around the house and there's no one to play with, she has found ways to entertain herself that she's never thought of before.  She has learned how to turn the lights on and off, she has pulled every dish towel out of the bottom drawer of the kitchen, she has attempted to crawl up the bookshelf, which is so scary.  I haven't ever had a climber and constantly climbs on the chairs to get on top of the table.  She is way more needy and wants me to hold her all the time.  I can see why some parents decide not to have more than one child because they think every child will be like the first.  Not so.  More than one is always better!  I'm so glad I have a little brood of children who play with each other, even if they run each other over with strollers and someone is always crying at all points of the day. I am so blessed to have my darling kids!

Clementine's crazy adventure out west

If you want to read the whole story HERE it is on Henry's blog

Clementine HATED this life jacket in the water.  Plus, it said HO Sports and that's just not appropriate for a virtuous young lady

My Dad torturing children as usual -- bringing Clemmie super close to the waterfall...

...and thinking it is the funniest thing in the world.  My dad used to do things like this to me, specifically when he would force me to dive through waves in California when I was really little.  The waves looked monstrous to me back then and I always got salt water up my nose and cried, but now it's one of my favorite things to do and I'm so grateful he forced me to do adventurous things...so I let him torture my children.  It's for their own good.

Grandma Teri keeping Clementine from falling off a cliff.  Thanks!

Here comes the little drunken sailor...

Chillin' in the boat..as stiff as a board in her strait..er..life jacket

Thanks heaven for chips.  She loved having her own bag.  She's the first of my children to actually be able to keep food in a little bag at such a young age.  Usually my kids just dump out the contents of the bag, but she knows the value of food and keeps it safe from the dirty floor.  She even cleans up if her food falls.

Clementine and Mommy in the boat.  Thanks to whoever got this shot for covering up my pregnancy belly. 

I'm sorry about the nudity, but this shot is significant because she stayed in this chair for at least a half an hour, unstrapped, eating hot dogs and other treats because our beach was covered in prickly thorns and she knew it was safer on the bench than wandering around, which she usually prefers to do

 Clementine is a joy to have around and she's growing up so fast! I'm glad because there's another baby on the way and I need her to grow up fast!  Love you little chubster.

Bryce Canyon hike

My parents ran a half marathon in Bryce Canyon so we drove down to watch and did a short hike with the kids afterward. The views were spectacular and the kids loved playing on the rocks and in the water. Here is Clementine with the grandparents. So cute!

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Clementine's first word

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Summer fun

Clementine at the Liberty park water feature.  I don't know what Bea is doing in the background there.

There isn't much difference between summer and winter in our family because we're always getting out and finding things to do.  With my kids getting older and also living in a new city, it's been extra fun finding activities to do in our new environment.  I have the advantage to have friends and family who already know a lot of the fun spots to take kids, and since Clementine is more mobile she's been able to enjoy exciting new adventures, most of which include being in the water.  There is a water feature at Liberty Park in downtown SLC that is a pint size representation of all the rivers and canyons that flow down through the mountains here for the kids to play in.  It's basically a tiny man made river system starting with fun waterfalls and fountains and converging to create a pond.  I think it's the most creative thing I have ever seen and the kids had a blast playing in the streams.

Getting better at walking every day! Although she has a bloody toe from being at the pool sans shoes.  I try to keep shoes on whenever possible.

She loves her swimming class with Mommy.  It's fun bonding time together, even when the pool is freezing.  Brrrr.

 

 

You might be wondering what she's wearing and it's a new Cost Guard approved flotation device for little kids.  Granted she's just a little bit too little for it, but she'll grow into it soon enough.  It can replace a life jacket which kids find so annoying.  I have all three of my kids in these when I'm alone at the crowded pool and they don't mind wearing them at all.  The fountains at our pool turn off and on when a button is pushed and is on a timer, so Clementine's favorite little fountains will come and go and when they stop, she crawls away, but soon the come back on again and she speedily returns.  It's like watching a game of cat and mouse as she comes and goes.  Also, there's this huge bucket that fills up and spills out over the whole fountain area every 15 minutes or so, which sends her running, but never reaches where she's playing.  It's a great pool and is really close!

Clementine in her fountains

not minding the splashes

She loved the Merry-go-Round at Liberty Park. 

Father's Day Gift

I had to go to Costco on Saturday because I had to pick up photos for this cute photo thing I made for Justin for Father's Day. It was basically DAD spelled out in those paper block letters that they sell at craft stores painted yellow with each kid holding one letter.  So Henry had one D and Clementine held the A and Bea the last D.  The photos weren't so fabulous because it was the middle of the day and there were some shadows, but the mountains behind us were really nice and I think it was fine for a last minute thing.  I put them in an IKEA triple frame and then sent a photo of it to Justin.  Well, I was standing in line to check out after having eaten a super spicy piece of peppered Jerkey and my mouth was on fire, so I walked briskly to fill my water bottle up with some more water and as I was walking in my cheap China Town slippers, I totally slipped and fell right in front of a billion people!!!! Luckily I'm a pro at falling down since I'm accident prone and didn't even get hurt one ounce but it was really embarrassing.  The weirdest thing is that no one came over to help me up.  They all just stared at me with open mouths and probably didn't want to lose their place in the snack bar line. haha. 

Thank you Alissa Packer for sharing your letters with me!! You're the best neighbor!

I just can't get enough

I don't think she could be cuter or happier.  I love nuzzling my chin into her neck to kiss and tickle her.  She's so squishy!

She loves to climb up on stuff and always smiles and waves at everyone. I love it when my kids are friendly. 

Walking, Signing and Talking

Memorial Day was for Clementine "learn to walk" day.  She did nothing but try to walk, fall and get back up again until she was walking across entire rooms.  She was so cute and dedicated to it.  I just love kneeling down to her level with my arms outstretched to embrace her as she reaches me with a huge smile.

She's also become a lot more snuggly lately with me.  She will kind of embrace me and squeeze me sometimes and even puts her head on my shoulder.  She loves being kissed all over her face, which usually prompts her to hug and snuggle me.  I'm so happy!


Clemmie also is talking a lot of baby jibberish just like Henry did at this age.  She repeats a lot of words like "daddo", "aye-lo"(maybe hello), "Bea" and "wooh". It's so cute to see that she's trying to communicate with us.  She has officially started to sign as well and does "all done" and "drink" very regularly.  I'm trying to get her to sign "food" and "more" now and with those four I think I will be happy if she doesn't learn any more, even though I will try many others.  Those are the core signs, I believe, every baby should know in order to keeping crying to a minimum.

Baby, it's your Birthday

My Dearest Clementine,

You were born on May 24th, 2010 after an hour and a half of labor and delivery and flew out before my OB even entered the room.  You weighed an ounce shy of 9 lbs and were my largest baby by far.  As a newborn you were my most cranky baby, but grew out of your crankiness by about 14 weeks and became an easy going and happy little girl.  You remind me in so many ways of Henry when he was little: you don't like to snuggle, you love to sit up straight, you sleep all the time, you say a lot of sounds, you look most like Henry to me, won't ever stop wiggling, and are completely independent.  You were so sleepy as a baby that some days you would sleep for 22 hours per day and the two hours you were awake consisted of nursing or screaming to go back to sleep.  When you were just 6 weeks old you took your first flight out to Utah and then a month later we went to California.  Little did you know, but your mom, dad and aunt Lucy conjured up a 5 week long travel schedule when you were just four months old and you ended up traveling to Puerto Rico, Lake Tahoe, Boston, CT, and Block Island with various road trips to DC, NYC and amish country and two more flights to Utah to top off your travel season.  I thought Henry and Bea were world travelers, but you exceeded their first year's travel schedule before you were 6 months old. I think the grand total comes out to about 25 flights if you count layovers.

Your favorite things are your fuzzy purple blanket that auntie Trixie made for you, fluffy dogs that you can nuzzle your face into, stealing your sister's blankie, swinging, being chased as you crawl up stairs, doing patty-cake and being tossed up in the air.  Your favorite foods are strawberries, grapes, and anything that has a lot of flavor like Chinese food and roasted vegetables.  You love babies and are quick to find other rogue babies crawling around the chapel during church to join up with and then start pushing the organ pedals during Stake Conference.  You also love your siblings even though they're both so obsessed with you that you always end up either being tackled or getting everything you touch ripped away from you.  You have started to learn to fend for yourself and protect your treasures.  You almost constantly have a smile on your face and have two teeth just emerging on top and three teeth on the bottom (don't know where the fourth bottom one is).  You also love taking baths and put up with a lot more abuse in the tub just so you can stay in the bath longer with your brother and sister. Unless you're hungry or tired, you will let anyone hold you, especially if they have a beard or glasses or something else you can grab.  You are a super grabby baby and can snatch anything off the supermarket shelves or glasses off your face in a millisecond if I'm not careful.  You also like putting sunglasses on your face and think it's really funny.  Every day you wear your hair up in one pony tail right in the front of your forehead so your new hair can be included with your very long baby hair to make one nice little tail and then I usually put a rather large bow on top that melts everyone's heart.  Your hair is a nice golden blond but I'm sure it will turn lighter this summer just like the rest of the kids.

Terrified of her Birthday Cake

Things you don't like include spiky grass, the flame from your Birthday smash cake(which made you scream bloody murder) and getting your fingers messy with frosting.  You were afraid of both baby smash cakes I made you!  You also can't stand Bea's really hard hugs and being sat on and any other torture dished out by Bea. Generally though, you like most everything. 

Second Birthday in Utah.  Thanks Jessie for the adorable outfit!

The person who adores you the most is probably your brother, Henry, who says he wants to marry you someday. I told him to wait a couple years and see how he feels then. lol.  He's always very gentle and kind and always tries to include you in everything he's doing.  He defends you from Bea(BK) and is always thoughtful and helps you when you cry.  Every time you speak baby talk, Henry decides that you actually say something real like, "mommy, she said car!" or "she said Amelia! Clemmie is a genius baby!" He is very proud of you and so is Bea now that you have started walking, even though you prefer to crawl still.  You started walking about a week ago but are pretty timid about it.  I can't wait until you're walking for real so I can put you in all the cute dresses I have for this summer.  Whenever I do put you in a dress, you do the funny crawl with your bum up in the air since it's hard to crawl on your knees in a dress.

Just starting to walk

You haven't slowed down your growth from when you were born and are now in the 99th percentile in height, 75th percentile in weight, and 75th in head size(Bea and Henry were under 40th at this stage) so you are still my largest baby.  I had to buy a double stroller just because you were too heavy to hold.  I usually like to carry my babies until they can walk, but you're the "Giantess" and mommy's arms are tired.

Can you hear me now?

You are about to welcome another baby girl into the family sometime in mid October, which I'm so excited about.  I know you will be a loving big sister(right?) and will love having so many sisters surrounding you.  I just pray that you will all get along and love and treasure each other all your life and in the eternities.

A rare photo with Daddy

The things I love most about you is your willingness to smile and reluctance to cry.  I think if Bea didn't bug you all day long, you would never, ever cry.  You are so excited when I get you up from your naps and in the morning.  Even if I leave you in your crib for an hour after you wake up, you just roll around, cooing and playing until I come to get you and then you greet me with a huge smile and giggles.  I love your giant chubby body, especially your legs and I love to tickle you to hear your sweet little laugh.  I love your short golden hair in the back and how it looks like a stylish little short haircut. I always love seeing the world through your eyes as you discover new things and find delights in the simple things in life.  You have been such a blessing in my life and I am so blessed to have you as my daughter.  I enjoy every moment being your mother and I hope you will always know how much love I have in my heart for you.  You are my sweet, darlin' Clementine.  Happy Birthday my little girl.

Love,
Mommy

Growing up is hard to do

If you look closely you can see the pearly whites at the bottom and the dimple.  Can't I just keep her like this forever?

Clementine officially stood up today and took four step without any support or aid.  She just up and walked! Part of me is so happy because I know it's frustrating her that she can't walk yet but part of me sees of vision of her toddling along and then Bea comes up from behind and slams her to the ground.  It wasn't as far to the ground when she was crawling, but from a standing position she's liable to get some serious battle wounds. 

She also has three new teeth coming in.  Two on top and another one on the bottom. Yea for teeth! She desperately needs teeth for all the eating and smiling she does, although I will miss the solitary two teeth at the bottom.  That just melts my heart when i see it with her dimples. 

Faces of the past

These are some really cute photos that I forgot to post or couldn't because our computer wouldn't let us access the internet for a month or so...

Eating some new food on Chinese New Year

Clemmie and Grandpa Tingey just before the Boston Marathon

Group hug!

Clemmie and Grandpa Hohl

on the swing with Bea

Clementine's first Easter!

Clementine, Bea and Henry on our playfort in their Easter outfits

It's wild to think that Clementine hasn't had an Easter yet because she's getting so old, but she was born 11 months ago and just barely missed it.  She was an angel all day long and was so incredibly darling in her Easter dress.  It's the one I made for Bea two years ago and it fit even better than it fit Bea back then.  Bea wasn't even crawling or standing at that point so Clemmie modeled it very well.  She was adored by everyone at church and was even my best smiler for the Easter photo shoot. 

Clemmie peaking through the rails

I have to say sorry to everyone who was distracted during sacrament meeting, Sunday school or Relief Society because her personality always comes out and she's so active.  Today she was extra vibrant in her dress and so distraction was her middle name today.  Clemmie ate a ton of Easter dinner and played with the kids without crying for hours.  She's such a happy and pleasant little girl.  Thanks for all the smiles darling daughter!

Clemmie outside on the blustery Easter egg hunt

No Comment

Well, I was hoping that people would comment on my last post but I guess I'm the only one who gets a kick out of the extremely gross(after the fact).  I also got a shout out from my cousin who applauded me on posting good and bad things that happen in my kids' lives saying that she rarely sees blogs where kids are portrayed as anything but happy and perfect looking all the time so thank you for supporting me in my attempt to accurately document my children's lives without leaving any of the details out (except for that one detail of our huge trip last fall.  I'll get to that eventually!) 

Here are some more bad phone photos of her with her buddy, Luke playing together. I caught them playing piano together and inspecting the pantry.  They had a blast and the funny thing is that I know they really weren't consciously playing together but they just naturally crawled to the same spots because why wouldn't you follow someone else who was crawling and when one stopped to look at something why wouldn't you naturally stop to check it out too?  I was in love with these two playing together in their own spheres.  I'm babysitting all these cute kids tomorrow so hopefully I'll get some more better photos with my real camera.

Eating her own vomit

This morning I thought she might be better after two days and nights of the flu so I let Clemmie eat some pieces of plain pancake and water for breakfast and she was pounding them down and crying for water as her weak little hands shook every time she reached for a bite. Three seconds later she threw it all up without even flinching or crying(so used to it by now) but she was still so hungry that she started eating what she had just thrown up and I almost threw up watching her eat her own vomit.  I had to get Justin to clean it up and when we took her tray away from her she cried so hard with such big tears that I almost started crying with her because I knew she was starved to death.  I ended up letting her eat more, but only gave her tiny pieces with rests in between and she kept it all down.  I really miss my smiley baby girl.

Clemmie du

That's my favorite nickname for her.  I seriously can't believe how much she looks like Henry to me when I'm carrying her in my arms.  She has the exact same expressions and she thinks it's so funny when I look at her from my vantage point.  So she's actually standing up for long periods of time, but only when she isn't thinking about it.  Any time I try to get her to stand up while she's thinking about it, she gets that deathly afraid look on her face and fal ls to the ground, so I don't think she's the risk taking type.  I have seen her stand for at least 20 seconds before so I know she can do it.  Also, my carpet is constantly covered with dirt since she loves to dig in the plants.  I dumped a ton of fertilizer in my lime tree a while ago and I know there are still some chunks in there and I just hope she hasn't eaten any of them.  I think she's more after the dead leaves we throw back in the soil.  She likes to eat the fallen baby limes to, which will probably kill her -- perfect choking size. One thing is for sure though is that she really does not like the grass.  I guess she's hardly been on grass since I never put her directly on our hard, dirt clod of a yard when she was a newborn and then it was fall and winter so she really has never experienced sitting in the grass until just recently when it's been nice outside, but she does not like it at all and cries a lot after she feels around the ground at what she's sitting in and refuses to crawl in it.  Haha! She has the same reaction to those multi-color ball pits at game places.  Maybe she thinks it's just not stable ground.  I do really love that girl though.  She's just all smiles and goodness.  I can't even walk anywhere in public before every elderly person and single woman comes over to talk baby talk with her.  In the airport last weekend a huge black man asked me about my baby wrap and he wanted to see how it worked.  At first I was doubtful, but he said he was a product developer and gave me his card and we were in the airport which is pretty much the safest place in the world now, so I showed him how it worked while he held Clemmie and she was enthralled by his giant lips.  She started grabbing his lips and he was saying, "yes those are my huge black lips" and everyone in the store was bending over in hysterics.  It was truly hilarious.  

The Giantess Stands

First of all, Clemmie is starting to be known as the giantess because she's a super big and heavy baby who eats adult sized bowls of steel cut oats and blueberries every day and sometimes eats until she throws up.  She really doesn't know when to stop.  Anyway, even though I don't have a photo yet I have to document that today during church while I was hanging out in the nursery chatting with Franklin and Stefanie, Clementine stood up for about 15 seconds by herself.  Previously it had been only a few seconds so she's come so far during the weekend we were out of town! Justin and I went on our first real trip without the kids ever (unless you count less than 24 hours trip for the Indian wedding with Lucy with us) from Thursday night until early Sunday morning and I wish I could say it was heavenly!  Our flights were delayed on the way out there and had to stay overnight in Las Vegas, got no sleep, messed up the other nights with naps and took a red eye home.  We were interviewing for a job in Logan, UT and it went really well but I didn't get that night of sleep I'd been dreaming of for the past 5 years.  So while we were gone Clemmie started standing on her own and I'm so proud of her! She really loves standing up and especially when you make unstable noises like "woh, wooooh, wooh" as you hold your arms around her.  She laughs her head off.  She's officially 9 3/4 months old.  She's also just about the happiest and most independent baby around and rarely wants me to hold her just to be held.  She'd rather crawl around and explore alone and play with toys.  When I miss her, I run over and wrestle with her for a minute, blow on her tummy or chase her and that's enough to keep her happy. She has even started seeking out Henry and Bea because she knows they'll try to make her laugh(right before Bea makes her cry) and she really enjoys laughing.  If Bea is in one of her rampages, then I have to rescue her, but things are starting to get better so I hope it keeps up!

a day on the life of Clemmie

This is what Clementine goes through pretty much every day. I usually step in quicker but it's important to document Bea torturing her and then trying to console her and then pushing her again for no reason while she's in distress. Her pattern is torture, nurture, torture, nurture, etc.

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Angel face

A little slobbery but when do I ever get a photo without a wet shirt or slobbery face? I just want to eat her up!