we celebrated claire’s second birthday saturday morning with an extra special brunch for our extra special girl. we were lucky enough to have our close friend, mike, capture the day for us (he is amazing!!). i think claire enjoyed the party, she really loves being around people. however, i made the mistake of adjusting her special diet a few days prior, which always makes her sleepy as she adjusts. needless to say, she wasn’t as active as usual that day. but it was still a beautiful celebration of her. she also collected about $300 to donate to blood:water mission at her lemon:aid stand. i think she would be so happy that her day was used to help others. so many people have prayed, served, loved on and aided us since claire was born. it is only fitting that we do what little we can to forward that love on and honor our daughter’s life in the process.

below is the brunch buffet table. it included mini quiche, lemon whoopie pies, pineapple bars, banana bread pops and fruit cups. the banners are from the fabulous tomkat studio.

we also set up a lemon:aid area with information on blood:water mission and lemonade favors for the guests. (and a hunky guy is posing by it for you.)

here’s the birthday girl.

and her beautiful hands.

here’s our other little baby enjoying the party.

here’s some pictures featuring my pom madness. believe me, this is only half of it.

we also made little jingle bells to ring after we sang the happy birthday song. if you know claire, she LOVES bells!

and just a couple more pictures our claire bear.

we love her so.

claire, today your daddy and i celebrate the day God brought you into our world. two years ago, you were the tiny four pound baby that was placed in our arms and changed our lives forever. now, you are a beautiful little girl who has already taught us more than we could imagine and amazed us with your bravery, your spirit and your love. we are very proud of all you have accomplished this year and we will never stop fighting for you. we may never understand why so much was taken from you, and in some way we will always mourn that, but we want you to know that you are loved exactly as you are. you were fearfully and wonderfully made. and we are beyond thankful to call you ours.

claire at two:

about 32 inches, 22 lbs 4 ounces.

this year claire has learned to roll over front and back, multiple rolls. she pushes herself up on her arms during tummy time and is trying to scoot herself around. she has learned to put her hands and arms in her mouth, grasp objects with a prompt, kicks and pushes with her legs like crazy and loves to rock herself. she loves watching yo gabba gabba on tv. she loves music, bells, clickers, maracas and lights. her favorite places to go are liberty market, IKEA and anywhere outside. she also likes car rides. claire has learned to love the water and likes swimming. she loves to smile, laugh and babble. she loves when people clap and cheer for her. she is very affectionate and loves being snuggled and kissed. last but certainly not least, claire adores her pacifier.

we are asking our family and friends to donate in honor of claire (and in lieu of birthday gifts) to a charity we support, blood:water mission. they are an amazing organization that builds wells in africa. you can read more about them on their website and also donate by clicking on the donate link on the site.

we’ll have lots of pictures to share soon of claire’s lemon:aid party! and lastly, thank you for supporting our family and for loving our little girl.

little miss claire is sick with her first big virus. crazy that she made it almost two years with nothing more than a day of minor sniffles! but this week has been full of sneezing, mucous and finally learning how to cough. in some ways, i think this respiratory infection is a blessing, claire is becoming more comfortable with her gag reflex because of it and understanding that coughing isn’t such a scary thing. way to go claire! even while being under the weather, she is still her charming little self.

claire may not be able to talk or see like a typical little kid but she sure has a lot to say. i love observing her facial expressions in photos, i feel like i can tell exactly what she is thinking at that moment. she sure has a ton of cute, silly and sassy looks. (in case you are wondering, she was getting ready for naptime by the end of these photos which is why she didn’t want to open her eyes as wide. also morning was fading into a hot desert day, hence the rosy cheeks.)

(claire has recently learned to suck on her hands. she loves it.)

(she also loves to stick her tongue out. but just a little bit. she is a lady after all.)

(she is snuggling me here. or trying to tell me i am squeezing her too much. i’m not sure.)

(i love this picture. she is drooling down my arm, enjoying it and i am like “eek!” haha!)

(she thinks her dad is so funny!)

(i think right here she is telling us how hot it is getting and she wants to leave.)

this is claire during feeding time.

seems innocent enough right?

wrong.

she’s become a little sassy pants.

and only wants to play. not eat.

if you were here, you would hear her little laughs right now.

she’s thinks this is all a joke.

and she is so cute and silly it is hard to be mad.

i gave up. and now she is saying “what? who? me? i am an angel. i promise.”

little stinker.

if you haven’t heard yet, our good friend, mike, has uncovered one of his natural talents just in the last year. it seems like it was only yesterday he was coveting our mutual friend’s camera (on our labor day weekend trip to san diego) and now he is selling his prints to the masses and getting tons of requests for photo shoots. he is THAT crazy good! isn’t it so neat to think that as a 30-something adult you could have this genius ability that even you aren’t aware of until it is discovered? i love that. so check out mike’s work, order prints and contact him for your own photo shoot!

and here are some photos mike took spontaneously of claire recently:

i love everyday pictures like this. just capturing a moment of fun while out with friends. i’ll treasure these shots forever, mikey.

when i slow down and take it all in, it’s the everyday things that mean the most. like afternoon coffee runs with my favorite little person. she babbles and entertains me in the backseat. and i can’t help but smile at those polka dot tights.

a little peek into claire’s world… she absolutely loves trying to sit on her own. i use her boppy pillow as a trainer and added support. but she is pulling herself forward and waving those arms around and most of all enjoying it! she is getting very good at it and i hope someday soon she will be steady all on her own. here’s some photos of her play time:

oh and please forgive the messy hair. claire is a chronic offender of bed head. detangler is her best friend.

i’ve been slacking again. honestly i really haven’t felt like writing in some time and taking pictures hasn’t been a priority lately. sorry.

things have been up and down around our house. claire is still on the diet, still having seizures. don’t get me wrong, we have seen major improvements. there are many times she wakes up and doesn’t have them, but sometimes she still does and they can be pretty strong ones. she also has stopped tremoring periodically in her right arm and doing little “jolts” like she used to. she learned how to babble about 2 weeks ago and talks to us every day morning and night! she is also trying to sit on her own, she likes to try and i am very confident that someday she will get the hang of it. she has been super smiley especially in the mornings, which of course makes my day. overall, we are happy with the small changes we have seen and plan to stick to the diet. the doctor reccomended increasing her medicine to see if the combo of it with the idet will work better. so we increased in a few days ago and are hoping we see more improvements.

here’s something else claire has learned to do:

she likes to tell us when she is sleepy. so sweet.

and get ready here are LOTS of pics of just being cute. to catch you all up on the last month.

she likes making funny faces.

the following are pics adrian snapped of us having a girl talk.

she loves bath time.

until her paci falls out.

family pic at schnepf farms festival.

what a cute smirk!

my silly girl.

halloween night. she was a claire bear.

and wanted none of it.

she was not happy with us. and did not get to trick or treat. because she screamed instead. bummer.

at least one vender girl enjoyed her costume.

that’s it for now! congratulations on making it through this looong post! i’ll try to add the pictures to flickr soon so they link up and you can print them if you want!

seriously people. she is the best ever. do you read her blog? if you don’t then i am so mad at you right now. it is eye candy yumminess every day. her pictures make me smile, make me get teary, make me think, make me appreciate the beauty in this world. go! go right now and devour every post!

awhile ago, we received the final pictures that she took at claire’s first birthday party. i have been bugging adrian to help me embed them here but he is so busy, so instead you’ll just have to follow this link to see the slideshow. they’re amazing, huh? i can’t wait to get big prints and hang them all over my house (if you want any, there is a shopping cart icon on the bottom right). and i can’t wait to do a family session with misty in the future. especially now that claire is off the sleepy medicine and so much more awake.

hope you enjoy the pictures and misty’s blog!