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Well, apparently Claire is ready to go...she started crawling last night. She's been up on her hands & knees rocking back & forth for a couple weeks. She was even inching forward, but now...she crawls. I guess we should start babyproofing again!

This is only a moment, not the rest of your life. Enjoy all of it, even the stressful things, because you'll never have this time with them again.

Claire started daycare last Monday & was coughing & sick when she woke up Friday morning. Now that she's better, it seems she's gotten Casey sick. He started coughing yesterday & they both got to see Dr. Sue earlier today. Perhaps I should go buy some lottery tickets because both kids fell asleep at the same time.

Claire now rolls around like its her job.

Casey has drinks, shiny Lightning McQueen, Mack, red Mustang, and blue Mustang somewhere in the Sponge Bob couch.

Claire survived her first day at prison

Claire seems to find the beach relaxing...we got here & she fell asleep. Casey is busy frolicking at the edge of the ocean, digging, & looking for treasures. I would post pics but matt has hisphone in some strange case and I can't get it out.

Claire went for her 4 month checkup today. She's doing fabulously & is already over 16 lbs. She's trying to sit up on her own already & has been getting into the "I'm ready to crawl but will just rock back & forth" position for a couple weeks already. She can't crawl yet, but she somehow manages to inch forward & can scoot across a room pretty quickly. She's grabbing at everything & anything, including food, and she's particularly fond of ripping the glasses off my face.

Casey & Matt got haircuts today. Then we hung out with Brady & family at the boardwalk. Casey said his favorite part of today was his hot dog at Costco...and riding the train with Brady.

Someone is exhausted from digging & beachcombing

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Happy Fourth

We got to spend the weekend at the beach. Casey insisted that he be
buried, repeatedly, in the sand.

Happy Fourth

Claire enjoyed her first visit, though she didn't like the wind so much.

We went to see a real live race car at Home Depot on Saturday. Casey was less excited than expected, & Claire was not excited at all. She slept through most of the event until the band of motorcyclists road past, which startled her so much that had she not been strapped in, she mayhave fallen out of the stroller. We were also treated to a demonstration by the fire department--they were taking apart a car to show how they would remove a dashboard to rescue a trapped passenger. I felt ill & did not enjoy that part of the visit. Then he played in his slide pool and inspected the ground for bugs.

Yesterday we ran some errands. I had Casey, Matt had Claire. When we heard a baby crying, Casey was very concerned & said, "Mom, I think that's my baby. We have to find Claire." Then Casey & Matt helped Papa do some work to get ready for his new shed. Casey dug with a little shovel while wearing his Sponge Bob gardening gloves (he likes to help me garden & I finally found kid sized gardening gloves).

I took Casey to school this morning. He had no interest at all in staying home with us today , and barely said goodbye to me when he got into his classroom. He did kiss Claire goodbye though. Then Claire & I went to see Dr. Sue. The girl got her first shots & is doing fabulously.

When she was born she weighed 7lbs 15 oz. Last month she was 10 lbs 5oz. Any guesses how much she weighed today?

We're sans pictures of the event, but we attended the Murphy BBQ today. Casey got licked by some dogs. He also enjoyed the pool--first sitting on the steps & splashing some other attendees (all were friendly & even encouraged him), then stripping naked to give the other party goers a show, and finally in the pool in his "bathing suit" underwear. He was worn out & almost asleep in the car on the 5 minute trip home, and then fell asleep for the night sitting up. Claire also enjoyed the BBQ, but she was much quieter & remained clothed the whole time.

Casey wanted to hold Claire on his shoulder & opted for Aunt Cristen's lap as his seat.

On the train

Checking out army ants

Ready for bed

I was going to go for a quick walk after dinner. Casey wanted to come, but needed to scoot instead of walk. He was very distressed that Claire was sleeping & asked about 5000 times why she didn't want to come with us. We ended up taking a very slow but fun-filled walk, as we stopped to inspect ant hills & at all the red lights Casey insisted there were. There were a few spurts of "rully fast driving" of the scooter. According to Matt, as Casey drifted off to sleep last night, he was saying "aye aye, captain."

Happy Mudder's Day

I awoke this morning to Casey's smiling face less than 2 inches from my face, announcing HAPPY MUDDERS DAY!!! I got a hug, a big kiss, a snuggle, and then he told me I wanted donuts for breakfast.

Where did my baby go?????? I knew he was getting bigger, but he strolled out of the house this morning & I got a glimpse of what he'll be like 15 years from now going to high school.

After eating breakfast with us this morning, Casey wanted to go play, so he said "Can you excuse me, please?". Then he waited for us to say it was ok to get up.

This afternoon we went to Sierra's baptism party. Casey wore his light up snow boots and he was very well behaved. Claire slept most of the time. We really need to start taking more pictures so people get to see the new kid.