Best Friends

"Happiness is a warm puppy." - Charlie Brown

Baby Girl Shopping

One of the many things I like about having a baby girl is baby girl clothes shopping. It's no secret, my daughter has a great wardrobe. (At least I think so.) So many people think I spend a fortune on her clothes. Wrong. 80% of Claudia's clothes are bought on sale or clearance. (Don't ask about the other 20%. I can't show restraint all the time.) I once went to a resale shop and found some name brand clothes I had just purchased on clearance and they were more expensive at the resale shop and they were used. Obviously, that's not always the case but here's an example of my shopping skills just from this week.

Monday: Skirt I bought on clearance one year ago for $1.99. The shirt and leggings were also sale items.

Thursday: This year's Valentine's Day shirt was purchased one year ago, after Valentine's Day, on clearance for $1.99. (Pants were a gift.) 

Tuesday: Hanna Andersson play dress & leggings. Play dress was $15 and leggings were $12. Yes, it's a $27 outfit but this same Hanna dress is currently listed on their website for $39 and leggings are usually $20. (I bought it on a flash sale.) Also, Hanna clothes are sized to last longer so you get much more wear out of them.

Wednesday: Shirt and pants each bought one year ago on clearance at Old Navy for $4 or $5 a piece. 

My clearance haul from Gap on Monday. Everything is in the next size with a couple things being 2T. The cheapest items were $4 and the most expensive was $12 (shirt, overalls, jeans, leggings, pants and 2 pairs of pajamas.) The denim overalls I had been eyeing for weeks. They retailed for $37 and I got them for $12. 

Baby Brunch

Earlier this week, we met our friends for brunch. We love our mommy and baby friends.

Christmas

A few pictures from Claudia's second Christmas. Last year at Christmas, she was only a couple weeks old and Joe and I were home alone with a newborn. I was sick and we were both tired and still not sure what we were doing. This seemed more like a first Christmas.

Christmas Eve at grandma's house with cousins and Aunt Cathy. 

Brylea and Claudia on Christmas. 

Aunt Cathy and Claudia. 

Grandma Dixie

Christmas was bittersweet at best and not want anyone in my family had envisioned. My sweet grandma passed away on Christmas Eve day. She had been in the hospital for 10 days and would have been 94 on January 8. I am so grateful that I got to to the hospital in time to see her and talk to her before she passed.

One of my very favorite pictures of my grandma meeting Claudia for the first time back in May. I am so happy that she was able to meet Claudia a few times and see me become a mom. 

Twelve Months Old

Today is Claudia's birthday. It's so hard to believe that her first year has come to a close. It's gone by too quickly.

Winter ONE-derland

Claudia's birthday is in a few days and we celebrated her first birthday on Saturday with a Winter ONE-derland themed brunch.

Mommy and baby before the party

Claudia with Grandma Kelley

Daddy, mommy and Claudia

The cake! 

One of the guests' tables

Claudia's seat

Party hat and smash cupcake

Claudia with some of her friends

Claudia with her grandparents

Gift table

All guests got decorated sugar cookies - either a "1" or a snowflake

Claudia eyeing her first cupcake

With mom and dad

After a couple bites of cake. Overall, not a fan of it. 

Sign outside the banquet room 

All the baby friends received a gift bag with either a polar bear or penguin inside

Lights!

One year ago today, we wanted to check out the Arboretum's new holiday interactive light display. I was very pregnant and my doctor had just put me on a trial bed rest for the week of Thanksgiving to see if I could get my blood pressure to come down. I was off work that week and mostly taking it easy but decided a little holiday lights would be okay. We did not purchase tickets in advance and when we got there the wait was two hours long. Needless to say, we left and went home never seeing the lights.

What a difference a year makes. Tonight, exactly one year later, we headed out to see the light display with an 11 1/2 month old baby. Fortunately, the weather was in the high 40s, and Miss C was bundled up and warm.

Next year we will try to remember and take a better camera. iPhone photos do not do the beautiful lights justice.

Father and daughter.

Chandeliers hanging from the trees. 

The lights were accompanied by music from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 

First Thanksgiving

Claudia had her first Thanksgiving yesterday and her last "first" holiday. We stayed home most of the day and had dinner with some friends. It was quieter than usual but that's because we have grandmas and grandpas coming for a big birthday bash next weekend.

First order of business on Thanksgiving is to get dressed and go to Starbucks. 

Second order of business on Thanksgiving is to put on holiday-appropriate attire. 

First Party!

Last weekend Claudia was invited to attend her first-ever party. Her friend, Ellie turned one!

Ellie getting her pumpkin cupcake. 

The babies in attendance. Claudia is such a social gal. 

Celebration!

It's a little late but I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Joe celebrated his birthday on Saturday. Originally we had planned to go out for a fancy dinner but after checking with five (!) different people to babysit and not finding a sitter, we just went out for a nice lunch as a family. And, actually, that ended up probably being the very best option.

Play Date

We had a play date with our friend, Laila earlier this week. I love how Claudia is actually starting to interact with her friends.

Eleven Months Old

Claudia turned 11 months old yesterday. She has 9 teeth, is very social, loves to be tickled, is standing without holding on to anything and is a very happy baby. We cannot believe she is almost a year old.

First Halloween

Today was Claudia's first Halloween and we had a very fun day.

We had lunch and played at Rose's house. 

We went to visit (in costume) daddy's office. 

And now this skeleton baby is in bed for the night! 

Halloween Party

Today was the Halloween party at the mom's group I attend on Tuesdays.

Look at all these cuties! 

And how clever is this costume? Scuba diver complete with flippers, goggles, oxygen tank and everything!