The sleeping situation solved...

For many months, longer than we can remember or are willing to admit, we have been battling with Claire about bedtime. She did not want to go to bed when the boys did and she definitely would not go in her crib. We found our options were to either rock her to sleep for hours on end, which she still sometimes woke up from, or just let her "hang out" until we were ready to go to bed. In most cases, by then she was ready to crash. As you can imagine, we created a bedtime monster...and then to make matters worse, she started going to bed with us instead of her own bed because we were more desperate for sleep than she was!

After our spring break vacation week, we decided it was time to re-train the bedtime monster. After several failed attempts at SuperNanny solutions and stuck body parts in the gate at her door, we stumbled into an alternative solution.

Night 1: Brady upset by Claire being upset led to Daddy laying down with both of them in Brady's bed. They both went to sleep shortly after.

Day 2: Chris and I remembered that we did not have these bedtime battles with the boys when they transitioned to the big kid bed. Perhaps, the bottom bunk bed is magical!!

Night 2: Musical bed game began!! We asked Brady to go sleep in our bed, so that we could give Claire his bed temporarily. Claire only required a parent to lay down with her for about 10-15 minutes. After a couple hours, the music started back up for the kids to be moved to their proper bed.

Night 3-8: Musical beds is a nightly game with great success! Chris and I gained our evenings back!!

Night 9 forward: The game has changed. Brady has now decided that he will sleep on the top bunk with his brother and Claire can use his bed. For 3 nights now, they are all going to bed in the same bedroom at the same time and sleeping through the entire night.

Chris and I love the new sleeping situation! I have also officially concluded that Brady's bed is indeed a magic bed! As an added note, I find it quite interesting that here we are motivated to find a 4 bedroom home so that they each have their own bedroom and they have all piled in one room together! It's really sweet now, but I am sure it will change as they get older!

Claire's School Picture

When it comes to school pictures, I always purchase the smallest package because you never know what you are going to get.  School pictures usually fall in the category of driver's license and work ID pictures.  That has not been the case for Claire...another cute picture taken during school picture time!  I love it!!

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes

Claire loves shoes...she will be found on a regular basis raiding the mudroom or someone's closet for the latest shoes to meet her fancy! She has tried out a pair of shoes from each family member with mommy's heels or Brady's boots being her favorite. It is so cute watching her march through the house with a "look at me" attitude!

Decisions, decisions

I can do this mommy without your help!

Runway model!

And we frequently find Brady like this...sporting one sock!  Why...we don't know!!

Claire's Adventure Outdoors

What a beautiful Sunday morning! This was the first time that Claire has been let loose outside now that she is walking and we aren't in the midst of snow or flood seasons. It was fun watching her react to the grass and hang out with her brothers! Connor was the very protective big brother walking her around and redirecting her. Brady also had fun giving Claire a push in the baby swing.

Happy 1st Birthday Claire!

The Saturday after Claire's birthday, we had a birthday celebration with our family and close friends! It was an organized chaos as usual where the kids all run around playing from one end of the house to the other, the adults visit, and we all watch the guest of honor enjoy their day. At the beginning, a handful of the kids participated in an animal parade..they marched through the house showing off their animal of choice and making the animal sounds for Claire!

After the kids played for awhile, it was time for cake. Claire wasn't sure what to think about everyone surrounding her and singing Happy Birthday to her. However, she had no problems digging into her special cupcake! After devouring her cupcake, it was time for a quick bath and wardrobe change. That's normal, right!

After cake and clean up, it was time for presents! Claire received lots of help from her cousins and friends opening presents...towards the end, she was finally getting the hang of what it meant when you ripped the paper off. Yes, there is a toy behind there! Thank you everyone for sharing our special day with Claire...Happy 1st Birthday Sweetie!

Oh Yeah...Claire is walking!!!

I can't believe I forgot to say that Claire is walking in my 12 month update...I guess because she has went to an occasional walker to a full-fledged, crawling is for babies, walker!! She took a couple steps when she was 9 1/2 months old and we thought she was going to beat her brothers' records (Brady walked at 10 months and Connor at 10 1/2 months). Instead she opted for a slow progression...

• She took a few more steps at 10 months old and the occasional couple steps from one person to the next.
• At 11 months and 8 days old...she was officially walking. 
• A week later she was already squatting and standing back up. 
• A week after that she was doing a downward dog move to stand up. 
• At one year old, her transition to walking is automatic and she wants to walk as fast as she can.  She has the occasional stumble...then gets right back up to keep on going.

She has been having a great time "perfecting" her walk as she chases after her brothers and comes running around corners looking for us.  She is just so darn cute...

Look who is One Year Old!!

Our baby Claire turned one year on April 13th...I can't believe she is already one year old!!! Here are some things Claire can do at 12 months:

•  She had her last bottle on her birthday and is now only drinking out of sippy cups (she is not very happy about this, but we recently realized that warmed milk seems to help)
• Says mama, dada, uh-oh (all the time), and has occasionaly said other phrases that we are still waiting for the repeats like Papa, Boys, and Nana (for Connor we believe)
• Has the cutest little giggle and smile...especially when her brothers are talking to her 
• Has a strong personality...she will let you know when she does not appreciate having something being taken away from her or being told no
•  She is VERY, VERY curious....she has explored every cabinet and drawer in our house that she can reach...she loves to rearrange the entire contents of most as well
• Waves bye-bye underhanded and gives the occasional open-mouthed kiss
• Has a great appetite and understands the baby sign for “more” and "all done" (important things to know)
• Makes yummy noises when she eats or when you ask her if something tastes good
• Has 6 teeth, 4 on top and 2 on bottom (since she was 7 months old)
• Loves to be picked up and held...especially if it is mommy or daddy!
• Sleeps from 8:30 – 6:30...takes naps at daycare regularly, but at home is a challenge just like the boys (so afraid she is going to miss something)
• Wears size 12 or 18 mos clothes and size 3-4 diapers
• Weighs 22 lbs, 10 ozs. and is in the 95% for height and 75% in weight...she has been at that weight since about 6 months old with the occasional ups and downs

She is such a joy to our family...and such a great baby! We have been so blessed having her in our lives and to see the impact on our family dynamics. We can only imagine what the coming years hold!!  Enjoy the slideshow of her one year pictures below....

Spring has arrived...

What a beautiful day today! While the original forecast predicted a skip and a hop past spring right into summer, it ended up being a great day of sunshine and perfect temps. After spending the afternoon at the Fun Fair, we had our first cookout of the season. Our friends, the Johnsons, came over for a visit. The kids all played on the playset and chased each other around and the adults even had the rare occasion to visit amongst themselves.

This was a great opportunity to introduce Claire to her swing...which she absolutely loved! She giggled and laughed! She was having so much fun...you know, she is one of the big kids now with her first birthday fast approaching!


Enjoy the picture and the video below...

Claire's First Haircut

With the scheduled picture appointment coming up, I decided to have Claire join me at my hair appointment for a quick trim. She doesn't have much hair, but she had some bangs that were starting to fall in her eyes so I had my hair dresser do a quick little trim. The back of her hair was off limits as it is starting to curl up into cute little curls. Claire sat there like a perfect angel....below is a picture of her getting her first hair cut!!

Holiday Pics of the Seaton Kiddos

Fall School Pictures

I love the kids' school pictures....they look so great! They are growing up so fast!

Claire - 6 months old!

Mommy and Claire

We didn't plan this...if I remember correctly, Chris dressed Claire while I was getting dressed. We coordinate so nicely!

Baby Food - does she like it?

It's official....Claire is moving on to solids! In the last week, we have introduced 1st baby foods to Claire's diet. She now enjoys joining us for dinner where we feed her spoonfuls during our dinner. She likes to make the feeding as messy as possible by trying to suck her thumb or fist and then wiping her eyes, ears, and hair. She does best when you allow her to slurp the food from the spoon.

Claire's New Bath

Claire is not so little anymore and was ready to move to a bigger tub since she has outgrown the sink. I remembered using an inflatable tub with Connor to make the bathtub safer, so I went on the hunt for one for Claire. I think we skipped that step with Brady since he took baths with Connor.

I couldn't wait to try it out since Claire is sitting on her own really good these days. She loved it and just splashes away...it's like her own little swimming pool.

Look who's 5 months now!

Claire turned 5 months old this week! She is getting to be a lot of fun these days with her constant smiles, giggles, and screams. She loves hanging out with her brothers and she has started hanging out on the floor more. She will sit or lay on her tummy playing with toys these days and the boys are right there to help her out if needed. I suspect that she will be crawling in no time based on the excitement she gets when the boys go running down the hallway. She gets those arms a pumping, those legs pulled up, and she can get some movement when she tries hard enough. If she sees a toy, she will figure out how to reach it. I love watching the expressions on their face as they problem solve and learn new things.

I can get that toy if I really want to...

Got it...now I need to take a thumb break!

Claire Health Update

As mentioned in an earlier post, Claire ended up with a high fever that was due to a UTI and a kidney infection. The antibiotics did the trick, but did require further testing to be sure that those types of infections would not be recurring. Our baby girl has went for doctor appts, testing, or nurse appts 8 times in the last month. She is such a trooper though! She has been the perfect patient at every one and wouldn't know there was any cause for concern! (I also applaud the doctor's offices for finally having the check-in procedures finally streamlined.)

Claire has been given a great report from her heart doctor that the heart valve is functioning as it should and they don't need to see her again until her 1st birthday. Yay! She had several tests performed on her bladder and kidneys. She will not need to repeat those tests until her 1st birthday also. As a precaution due to some weakness identified in her bladder, she will be taking a 3 month daily antibiotic. While that has it's own side-effects and concerns for when she goes off the antibiotic, the good news is that she should be able to ward off infections for the fall season.

Cousins - Oldest & Youngest

On my side of the family, the oldest grandchild is my sister's son who will be 14 later this year. The youngest grandchild is my Claire at almost 5 months. They look like they could be siblings!

Princess has a new ride!

Check out Claire's new ride...she loves it! I couldn't resist going after a girly car seat!

Plans Cancelled for the Boys..Sister Sick

The boys' school ends the daycare program and closes for two days before the new school year to allow the teachers to prepare the rooms (and for the kids to take a break). The first day was to be spent with daddy and they had plans to do something fun for the day (even had me leave all the "activity" coupons for them). Boy did those plans change...

The night before, Claire spiked a fever in the night. Luckily, the morning was supposed to start out with a visit to the pediatrician. Brady was to get a chicken pox shot as a result of the new immunization rules and Claire had her 4 month check-up. When the doctor arrived, Claire's fever had taken a major spike to 105 degrees. A very concerned daddy and two very protective boys spent the rest of the afternoon running Claire around for lab tests. It turned out Claire had an infection (UTI that was also in the kidneys) for which they gave her an antibiotic shot and Rx. Unfortunately, the boys did not get to have any fun outings, but I don't think they wanted to part with their sister either. On a good note, Claire had gained a decent amount of weight to 17 lbs 8 ounces. She is officially off the charts at that weight.