Our cup runneth over...

It's hard to believe our Claire-bear turned 1 on March 4th. What a beautiful, bitter-sweet day. I sometimes still tear up thinking about the last year, many ups and downs but all blessings. Kevin and I beam with pride when we look at our little girl:) We are so lucky to have her in our lives and so truly blessed to have our family happy and healthy.
It's true what people say, as they get older they get more fun...so true! Claire is our little comedy show right here in our living room! I am pretty confident she'll keep the laughs coming as she grows. We have predicted that we have the "class clown/book worm" in the class. And did I mention she is tall? Man...she has some long legs! At her 1 year check up she weighed 19.6lbs and was 29.5 inches long.

Some things she is up to right now; loving to kiss and hug all her toys and babies, even pictures of babies. She loves books and we read all day long, she even has favorite pages in each book. The books with animals seem to be a favorite, she makes animal noises, the sheep is her specialty..."baaa". She also says "This" and "That" all day long. It is so fun seeing her excitement for all the things she sees and discovers, even if it's the same thing she saw the day before. She loves to go "vroom" and get in her pink car and wave to all the puppies in the neighborhood. She is already into music, loves to dance and sing. She takes the remote from us and pretends to turn on music and starts dancing. We just love her to bits and can't wait to see her grow and become her own little person(but hopefully not too fast!)
Happy Birthday to our sweet Princess Claire-Bear, we love you!

Trapped!

Ho hum....I believe this is the fifth time I sprained my ankle and each time it seems more annoying. I am pretty sure both are comprised of bubble gum at this point. The ice on my drive way got the better of me on Monday. A simple recycle bin mission has lead me to be completely immobile. I thought I could 'walk it off'...not so much. Kevin took me to the Doctor and yes, it is a sprain, two sprains actually. It's the kind that goes all the way around the foot. I can't flex, bend, twist, put any pressure at all... now, I am trapped (day 2)in my bedroom, doing RICE (Rest, Ice, Compression, Elevation). Yes, I have my laptop and cell phone but no one waiting on me hand and foot :) Seriously, I am going stir crazy, I can't do anything, barely dressed myself today and my house is a wreck...twitching just thinking about it. This is probably a good diet plan actually because I can't dream of eating in my bed, I've tried and it's a mess. I've considered asking our nanny to be my nurse but can't do it, she has enough on her hands with my very upset, teething girl, bad week for both of us. Which leads me to why this truly is the pitts, I cannot play, hold or tend to my baby as a good mom should. It is breaking my heart! She is wanting her mom but I am literally leg up with ice in the bed so it is somewhat difficult, especially because she wants to wiggle all around and I can't chase after her when she tries to jump off the bed.
All and all I know this will pass and I will be up and around soon, although not soon enough! I guess I should try to enjoy the lounging, who knew it would be so hard to do that? I am going to try to not take the simple things like walking and holding my baby for granted anymore!

Goodbye 2009....

Hello 2010! Well, this was an eventful year to say the least! Looking back on the last 12 months(10 months with Claire in our lives), I wonder where the time went? I remember holding my little baby and she was just a peanut snuggled up to my chest. Now, she is a tall, wiggling, chatty girl. Oh, it's been a fun year! I truly feel blessed and lucky to be in the life I am in.
We had a fab Christmas in Ohio, 8 days full of food, family and more food. Since we stay with Kevin's family for 3/4 days first and my family the next 3/4 days, it is a week long party and a full week of eating and drinking! Oh, and this year lots of presents for a miss Claire-bear, she is one lucky girl! The only down fall of our Christmas break was the 'stranger anxiety' Claire had...(Oh, and the 12 hour drive home..it was way to LONG!) Claire loved everyone from a far, but didn't want anyone getting too close. She did let her g'mas hold her here and there, hopefully next visit she will be more about all the love.
She is all about mom for now, I know this won't last long. She'll be off and running...which will be any day now! She is a crawling fool and already standing up, with the help of my pant leg and/or a foot stool. She is exploring her world, and who could blame her? I just love how everything is new to her and she wants to know what everything is. She looks at something and says "That", so we tell her what "that" is. When we tell her "no", she laughs and squeals...it's funny for now but soon there could be trouble. She is a very curious, energetic girl we'll have our hands full soon enough.
We are excited for the spring/summer, we have a few trips planned with our families and we are looking forward to showing Claire the swimming pool! Can't believe she'll be one in just a few months?! We are eating up every second!
Barga family Christmas!

Pic before Church. Claire was hilarious in church, laughing, singing...it was somewhat innapropriate, but a great memory :)

Claire got her very first baby doll from MaMa, a Bitty Baby from American girl. So cute!

My first set of Christmas PJ's


The snow was fun! We went sledding with Kevin's sled from his childhood


Claire and her second cousin Leah, these two were too cute together!