Letter to my Little Lily: 4 Months

Lily-belle,

Here you are clocking in at 4 months. It's been a wonderful 4 months with you! You are still our peaceful, joyful, content, SMILEY girl. Everyone else says those things about you, too. I truly believe that you are rewarding me for a hard pregnancy with your exceptional behavior. And I THANK YOU for that. 

This month you started laughing! You laughed for the first time on July 19. Claire was talking to you and "tickling" you, and you giggled at her. It was the sweetest moment. You've giggled at all of us a few more times since then, plus you belly laughed for a good 10 minutes while we were in Alabama. We absolutely love it! You can keep doing it as much as you want! You found your toes a couple weeks ago and do toe touches all day long. I once caught you chewing on your toe like it was no big deal. You also rolled over for the first time on August 9...but no one saw it! We put you down- SWADDLED- for a nap, and when I came in to check on you, you were on your stomach and apparently confused as to what had happened to you. I'm glad you're fully capable of age-appropriate behavior, but you can slow it down and I won't be upset at all.

You really are the smiliest ever. You never fail to greet us with huge, toothless smiles, and it is the sweetest. I'm so thankful for your happy heart and cheerful disposition. It brings a happy moment into everyone's day. It also prevents you from keeping your paci in your mouth; you'll be sucking on your paci, then start smiling and just can't keep it in. Bless.

You also discovered your tongue this month. It's hilarious to watch you poke it out and move it around. Claire really enjoys making tongue-out faces back and forth with you, although I'm not sure that you realize that's what's happening.

Claire is still such a source of entertainment for you. You watch her so intently and love it when she interacts with you. She loves to talk to you; she's checks in, saying things like, "Hi, Lily, hi! Hi, baby. Did you sleep well?" I pray that you girls grow up loving to spend time together (and if it doesn't always go that way while you live in the same house, I have high hopes that you'll be besties as adults).

A few funny things that you do:
1. You like to move and wiggle in your bed, often turning yourself 90 and sometimes 180 degrees in your crib. 
2. Until I trimmed it, you had the craziest tuft of hair on the back of your head that was about the size of a dime in diameter and grew a full 2 inches longer than all of the other hairs. It was a little unbelievable. 
3. You like to talk right before bedtime. This is always after Claire has been in bed and you have Daddy and me all to yourself. Daddy thinks it's the result of having absorbed all of what Claire has been saying and doing during the day. I think it's because it's your only opportunity to speak uninterrupted. Either way, it's a fun part of the day.
4. You really love ceiling fans. If we need to distract you for some reason, we find a ceiling fan for you to watch and say, "Look, Lily! A fan!" Almost always works.

You are just the best little baby I ever could have imagined. Sometimes, I find myself thinking, "I can't believe that- of all the babies we could have gotten- we got Lily." I really, genuinely feel that way. Thank you for that.

We love you, Lils!

Week 14

Week 15

Week 16: Progression of Confusion

Week 17

4 Months

Snippets and Stories: Claire Summer Shenanigans

I know that I do a monthly post of Claire quotes, but I also have a collection of short little stories about her that I thought I'd document, as well. Life is just so interesting with Claire around...

A couple months ago, Brad put out some plants in our backyard. This is the second summer that we're trying our hands at growing a few plants, and we're hoping for the best. As he was putting the plants out and starting to water them, Claire discovered that she loves the hose. And she really wanted to use it on the plants. Unfortunately, Brad wasn't finished getting everything in place. He told her that it would be about 15 minutes. Apparently, in Claire's mind, counting down the 15 minutes meant singing the ABC's (sometimes, when I need her to wait on something, I give her a song to sing). When she finished it, Brad told her that she would actually need to sing it about 12 more times. She paused for second and then started singing "12, 12, 12, 12" to the tune of the ABC's. She's a problem-solver, y'all.

Some of our dear friends who moved away this summer (#summerofheartbreak) had a going-away party at the beginning of the summer. Colum's parents hosted it at their house in Raleigh. I should take this moment to mention that Colum's dad is a federal judge. You might be able to imagine the kind of house they have. To say I was a bit nervous about my 3-year-old in such a nice house would be an understatement. However, Claire behaved beautifully and did not break or stain a single thing. She did, however, keep wandering away from us once the dessert table was laid. I lost count of how many time Brad, Colum, our friend Michael, or I found her sneaky self hanging at the dessert table (and this is while keeping pretty close tabs on her; she's good, y'all). The last time I found her at the table, I walked up on her explaining the different desserts to a fellow partygoer, describing which she thought would be best...and making puppy eyes, perhaps hoping for a dropped morsel. And y'all, I'm pretty sure she would have been given something had I not walked up in that moment. The lady she was talking to looked at my guiltily; I'm confident she was thiiiiis close to giving Claire pound cake.

On the way home from the Devers' going-away party, Lily lost her paci in her car seat and was crying. I couldn't reach her and tried to comfort her with soothing words (didn't work, shockingly). Simultaneously, Claire had been feeling some fear of the dark around us, and we had been talking about how God is always with us and watching over us. We even spent some time praying that God would give Claire peace. After a few minutes of Lily crying, Claire piped up with her own thoughts for Lily. "It's ok, Wiwwy, God is protecting you. I'm going to pray for you. Dear God, please give Baby Sister some peace. In Jesus' name, amen. Baby Sister, there's not a dinosaur, so it's ok, Baby Sister." And don't you know- Lily stopped crying.

Back in June, we had what Brad dubbed "The Day of Near Misses." Until we unpacked the actual meaning behind two of Claire's comments, we were very nervous that Claire was beginning to express feelings of angst toward Lily. 
Comment 1: I want to take Lily back to the hospital, Mommy.
Comment 2: Don't worry, Wiwwy. I will find you a loving home.
I was so concerned. Wouldn't you be?? I worked on cracking the meanings behind the comments and finally got it worked out. 
Regarding comment 1
Erin: Claire, why do you want to take Lily back to the hospital?
Claire: So I can ride the alligator! (elevator)
Erin: Well golly, there's an elevator at church. What if we rode that one?
Claire: Yes! I want to!
Erin: Can we keep Lily?
Claire: Yes!
Regarding comment 2
Erin: Claire, why do you need to find Lily a loving home?
Claire: It's from the episode George!
Erin: (smacks forehead) The one where the lady thinks Hundley doesn't have an owner and takes him to the animal shelter?
Claire: Yeah! I will help Lily.
Erin: Ok. But, we'll keep her in our loving home, ok?
Claire: Ok!

Claire often watches episodes of Superbook (Bible story episodes), and one of the main characters is named Joy. Apparently, Claire really connects with Joy because anytime she is pretending, one of her pretend characters is "Joy." Now, when I say "pretending," I mean she takes random objects and uses them the way some children would use dolls. And when I say "random objects," I mean things like salad dressing bottles, a can of dry shampoo, a turkey baster, a spatula, her shampoo bottle, and the like. Practically anything can be Joy. I know this because many times, I have been tidying up and have been informed- very dramatically- that I was putting away Joy! Side note: when we were desperately trying to choose a name for Lily, I suggested we just name her Joy, since it was such a popular name around our house anyway. 

Here we have Joy (the Italian dressing) and Joy's Mommy (the Ranch).

In conjunction with the random-objects-named-Joy habit, we were eating lunch one day when Claire took her fork and stuck it in the straw of her water bottle and said, "Ta-da!" When we asked what she was doing with her fork, she said that it was Mr. Colum (one of our friends) doing a trick! Well, yes Claire, that WOULD be a trick!

Apparently, that is Colum doing some impressive gymnastic moves.

Claire is an excellent nighttime sleeper. And as such, in an attempt to continue progress with overnight potty training (daytime has been under control from over a year), we get her up at 10:00 or 10:30 every night as we're going to bed and take her to the bathroom. She almost never fully wakes up for this process, as in we have to stabilize her as she sits there so that she doesn't fall off or in. After she's finished and is heading back to her room, we've noticed that- even in her sleep- once she crosses the threshold of her room, she prance-runs all the way back to her bed. Every single time.

Claire has a very tender heart, which we love about her. She's very sensitive to others' feelings and always wants to help when she sees someone in distress. A few weeks ago, Brad took Claire to the museum for a morning date. While they were playing in the treehouse exhibit (yes, there is a treehouse exhibit, and it's awesome), there was a little girl who was slightly older than Claire who was crying. Claire asked Brad what was wrong with the little girl. Brad, obviously, did not know. Claire took it upon herself to go introduce herself to the little girl and ask her what was wrong. I don't think the little girl chose to make Claire her confidant, but at least she knew someone saw her and cared about her distress. I really hope that we're able to encourage this compulsion to kindness as Claire grows. What a gift that would be to others.

Back in May, my aunt and uncle came to stay with me for a few days while Brad was out of town. It was a huge help and blessing, as Lily was only 6 weeks old. My uncle sleeps with an oxygen machine, and apparently, he set it up after Claire went to bed the first night, causing her to be very confused by its presence the next morning. She was a little scared of the noises it made, so we had to find a way for her to think of it as a friendly addition, Thus, the oxygen machine became Uncle Paul's droid. Like on Star Wars. Claire said "Good morning" and "Good night" to the droid every day and was quite sad when it left to return to Alabama.

The droid.

I'm keeping a running list of stories and snippets like this to post about, primarily because I don't want to forget. These are little glimpses of Claire's life that I love and want to remember, but they're also so small comparatively that I'm afraid I won't be able to remember them. They're much funnier in real life when we can include facial expressions, so if you read any of these little snippets and want to see a reenactment, ask us about it in person sometime. (Note: my retellings are much more dramatic than Brad's, so keep that in mind)

Around here lately: July 2016 edition

More Claire shenanigans and antics. They never end.

Look, Mommy! It's a balloon hanging onto a boat! (referring to some folks parasailing at the beach)

Oh! There are such beautiful sprinkles in the sky! (fireworks)

Just finding out about a date with Daddy.

to the ticket agent at the airport: My name is Claire. (puts hand on heart and bows head solemnly)

Would you help me how to do that one day? (fixing my hair)

I'm going to slide down to the beach on my Rapunzel hair.

Watching Tangled with her crown and her Pascal.

I want to swim in the little puddle, not the beach puddle. (pool rather than ocean, obviously)

I'm sure that's a lot of _____! (fill in the blank with whatever there is a lot of)

What's wrong, Wiwwy? Tell me, tell me!

I'm sorry I can't give you your paci, Wiwwy, but I'm in my seat. (car seat problems)

Oh Wiwwy, you're so cuuuuuute!

Acing her Potions O.W.L.'s or learning about cloud formation? Who's to say?

Claire: This bear is so beautiful! (no it's not. It's janky and tattered.)
Erin: It was Poppy's.
Claire: And now it's mine! no it's not. It's mine now.)

It's a little down... (the volume of the tv)

I'm eating my smooooov. (smoothie)

You will break my house! (she meant heart)

We never seem to have enough pictures of us together.

"...in the presence of my ems..." ("in the presence of my enemies" Ps. 23)

Mommy, you wook bee-you-uh-full!

Mmm, I like squish cheese! (Swiss cheese)

I like your wittle piggies, Wiwwy. (piggies = toes)

Either playing Goldilocks or learning about ratios. You can decide.

"Say goodbyeeeee to the paint on the past" ("say goodbye to the pain of the past," lyrics from a song in Frozen)

Queendom (her word for kingdom)

Today? Now? (asked immediately after being told that something- anything- is going to happen)

Erin: Did you like your spaghetti?
Claire: Well, I like it a little bit. But not too much.

Holy Hinges! (a quote from an episode of Curious George, but I it took me for-ev-er to figure that out. I was very concerned about this development until I figured it out.)

Morning snuggles.

I don't want to weave without Wiwwy. (on her way out the door to spend a week at Brad's parents. She decided she didn't want to leave Lily behind. My heart melted a little bit.)

Mommy, I'm going to miss you in Tennessee, and I'm going to come back to you! (again, on her way out the door to the Boswells')

I snapped this while she was eating pizza and watching Singin' In The Rain for the first time.

I was trying to push the tree into the creek, but it wouldn't cooperate. (she tried her hand at rolling a dead, fallen tree into the creek in the Boswells' backyard, and when she relayed this story to other family members later, this was her summary.)

Look, Mommy! You got married! I want to get married like you. (upon seeing a wedding picture of Brad and me)

Boswell girls.

Hm. Let me think about that. (her response to suggestions that she doesn't really like. She's trying to be a diplomat.)

Look, it's a spider. (Claire does this thing where, in a moment in which she'd like to divert attention from something she did/didn't do/shouldn't have done, she holds her hand up like a bear claw and calls it a spider. She is the master of this move, although Brad and I have used it with each other on occasion.)

Mommy, will you say, "Where's that Claire Bear mole?" (this is a daily request. We have a book about several different animals, which includes a mole. Until reading this book, she had no idea what a mole was and was, apparently, quite taken with the mole. So, when she hides under her covers or behind the shower curtain, she'll ask me to ask this kind of odd question. Bless it.)

My very favorites.

Regina's Pizzeria: A Boston Favorite

I'm still a little behind on blogging in real time, so here's another one that I wrote a while ago.

I don't care if they have short-order stores in random malls, making people scoff at their legitimacy; the original Regina's is my favorite pizza in Boston. Truly. It's hand-tossed and wood-fired and fabulous. If you visited us for any amount of time, there's a really good chance we took you there. It's in a much-too-small corner building in the North End, and if you don't go early for lunch or dinner (or you accidentally plan to go on a night that the Bruins or Celtics have a home game...TD Gardens is just a few blocks away), you will wait in a long line that wraps around the building. Because people love it. Rain or shine. Heat or freezing. (We've done both, by the way.) All of the servers are so Boston. The accents, the mannerisms, everything (which means that they might say something in a way that offends a good Southerner, but let it roll off your back; it's just the Boston coming out of them. It's not personal. Oh, and they love babies.). I absolutely love it. It was a priority stop during both of our 2015 visits, even with all of the things we had on our agendas. We've tried a lot of different pizzas at Regina's, but the margherita is my all-time favorite. If you like cheese and basil, you will never be sorry that you ordered it. 

In case you're ever in Boston and want to eat Regina's, take the green line to North Station (or the orange line to Haymarket, although the walk is a little farther), walk a few blocks (like, two) over to Thacher Street, and then follow the pizza smells. Also, you should know that the women's bathroom is ridiculously small. Just a tip from me to you. When you finish eating, walk a few more blocks over to Hanover Street and swing by Mike's Pastry for cannoli. Be sure to take cash to Mike's; it's all they accept. Bless. I recommend the Florentine cannoli. Be still my heart. After you get your cannoli, continue walking down Hanover Street to the left and a) you'll burn off some of the calories ingested and b) you'll come to the Old North Church and Paul Revere monument. Tours run regularly at the church, and there's an adorable little gift shop to peruse if you get there when it's not tour time. From there, you can follow the Freedom Trail path over to Paul Revere's house. You have to pay to go in and tour, but if you're cheap...I mean, frugal...there's a quaint seating area right outside the house where you can eat your cannoli, people watch, and enjoy the architecture. There. I just mapped out a fantastic little mini-tour of the North End for you.

If you go left out of Mike's, you can follow the crowds (and traffic) back toward downtown, which will take you to Quincy Market, Faneuil Hall, and the Old State building. It's a bit more walking than if you head to the Old North Church, but there's still plenty of great things to see.

You're welcome for the tips. :)

Oh, Regina's. You have my heart.

On our very first visit in 2012 with Karl and Karen. Karl was interning with the Romney campaign, and Karen had come for a visit. 

Us across the table from K and K. After dinner, we went to TD Gardens to watch the Celtics play. (Thus, I was wearing green. Go, Celts!)

We took family MANY times. Many.

Claire loved it, and they loved her, too!

Sights you see when you head back toward downtown. The customs building (the clocktower) is one of my favorites in Boston.

And a few blocks (well, a few more than a few) further past the above shot, is the Old State House. This was also the site of the Boston Massacre. And the State Street T stop from the blue and orange lines.

Look how happy we are eating our Regina's!

Being the West Wing fans that we are, we were pumped that Rob Lowe had eaten there and loved it, too.

The outside of Paul Revere's house. Probably 5 or 6 (city) blocks from Regina's.

If you're in Boston, give Regina's a try. I recommend getting there at 11 for lunch. Or being willing to eat at the bar (pizza by the slice). All the other activities I mentioned are just icing on the pizza (forgive the mixed metaphor).

Midsummer trip to Alabama

My Grammy passed away in June. It was unexpected, as she wasn’t really sick or ailing. We had already been planning to make a trip to Alabama for a quick beach trip with my family over 4^th of July, but we ended up heading down about a week earlier than we anticipated so we could be there for Grammy’s funeral. It was very sad for me, especially knowing that Grammy was my last grandparent and that she never got to meet Lily. Lily’s middle name is Catherine, which was also Grammy’s middle name, and she was so excited about her little namesake. We also learned how difficult it is to explain death to a 3-year-old. Goodness. We’re actually still talking about it on a fairly regular basis.

I’m very glad that Claire remembers Grammy a little bit and that we can talk about her. She was a truly lovely and loving person, and I’m happy that I can share that with Claire and Lily. It's a wonderful legacy to pass on to them- the really beautiful and graceful way my Grammy lived her life.

One really positive feature of a trip home was being able to introduce Lily to some good friends! One of Amiee’s lifelong friends is a teacher in Ethiopia but is home for the summer. We pray for her regularly, so it was very fun for Claire to spend time with her in person. We also saw lots and lots of friends from church/folks I’ve known for most of my life. At the visitation, Lily was literally passed around the entire time by friends and family. Honestly, I think there’s something kind of nice and comforting about having a baby and a 3-year-old at a funeral; Lily was pure sweetness, and Claire was happy happy joy. Claire put on a bit of a show for everyone who was waiting in line. Bless.

I’m grateful that we could be there for the funeral, and I’m also really glad that we already had a beach trip planned. It was nice to be able to go spend time together at the beach after a very busy and hard week.

My family pretty much always beaches in Orange Beach, AL, and this time was no different. The element of this trip that was different, though, was that we went over July 4^th, which meant CrAzY crowded beaches. And restaurants. And outlet mall. People everywhere. Despite that, we had a really nice trip. Claire is quite the beach baby and LOVES a good beach trip. There was an added element of fun on this trip: a pool. The beach house we’ve stayed at in Topsail on Boswell trips, while fabulous in every other way, does not have access to a pool, so Claire was very excited about the condo pool. She called it “the puddle.”

We were only there for a few days, so we don’t have quite as many pictures this time around, but we do have a few!

Family tradition to get peach ice cream at the Peach Park in Clanton!

Brad and I aren't usually great at remembering to take pictures together, but he did a good job of snapping some on this trip.

And then Claire needed to get in the shot.

Sweet visit with grandparents.

There's a carousel at the outlet mall in Foley, and Claire just about could not contain herself with the excitement of a ride. When Brad took her over for her ride, she chose, of all things, the bench. Who would have thunk? But just look how happy she is.

Snuggles.

The first time she was "buried" in the sand, and she was thrilled.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy beach baby

Watching fireworks from the front balcony.

A rare Claire-and-Mommy shot.

Breakfast at Tacky Jack's before heading back home.

Brad making sure we have pictures. Well done, sir. And look how patriotic we are!

An additional attempt at a grandparent-grandchildren shot, hoping for Claire to cooperate. She *sort of* did.

Lily Lou!

Amiee snapped this shot, and it's a favorite!

Lily on the beach!

Laid back and looking around.

Dropping Amiee off at the airport to head back to Tennessee.

Claire loves her Bo!

It was a long week with lots of ups and downs, but it was great to end the week spending time together at the beach. Going home was a little less fun, but it's a long way from the Gulf Coast of Alabama back to North Carolina. The girls were quite good, given the duration of the trip and the captivity of car seats. We had an incredibly unfortunate Claire bathroom situation occur at 11:30 pm in middle-of-NOWHERE North Carolina where NOTHING with a bathroom is open that late. I'm still a little scarred from the experience. *shivers* But, we made it home and were able to salvage all articles of clothing + the car seat. Victory is ours!

Many thanks to Mom and Dad/Nana and Poppy for the lovely trip to the Gulf. We had a marvelous time!