Bragging

I put Clara in our church nursery each weekend for two services, once while I attend church, and once while I volunteer in the kids ministry.  In the nursery there are several adults and also some younger, pre-teen helpers.  The father of one of these young helpers stopped me in the church lobby several weeks ago to meet Clara, informing me that Clara is famous in their house because his young daughter talks about her through out the week "Clara, Clara, Clara" he quoted.

This weekend I was walking out of church when another young girl was laughing with her mom.  They happened to notice me behind them and said, "Well here's Clara now!"  Apparently they had just been talking about her.  This young girl also really enjoys having Clara in the nursery.  Her mom went on to tell me that her daughter had been disappointed at the onset of the evening because she thought Clara wouldn't be the nursery.  They were serving at a different service than normal.  I happened to switch as well, so it worked out for her to be there after all.

I think it's cute that these young girls are enamored with Clara.  After all, our nursery is loaded with babies.  I don't think there are many girls though, which gives her an advantage with young female nursery workers.  But still, Clara IS super cute AND extra smiley.  And she has a pretty good nursery track record.

At Clara's 6 month doctor's visit, the nurse made several comments about how good-looking Clara is as she was weighed and checked in.  When she came back to give her shots, she said, "I just can't stop looking at her.  She is just beautiful, isn't she?"  I figure that holds some weight because a pediatric nurse sees a lot of babies. :)

People frequently comment on Clara's blond hair and beautiful blue eyes.  She smiles at almost anyone new who pays attention to her, which is very charming.

Here We Go A-Visiting

Mitch had gone out of town for a three day work-related conference last week.  So Clara and I decided to have some fun of our own.  We planned a short visit-loop, spending one night in Columbia visiting Uncle Ryan and Aunt Crystal and Amanda, Rachel, and Erica, and then continuing on to spend one night in Eldon visiting Grandpa and Grandma.

Unfortunately, Clara had her 6 month shots immediately prior to embarking upon this journey.  That proved to be something of a disaster for our trip.

Miss Cranky and I arrived in Columbia a few hours early.  We had opted to travel during Clara's afternoon nap.  Rather than trying to entertain her at Ryan and Crystal's all afternoon, we went to beautiful Stephen's Lake Park.  The only smiles I got out of her were when we tried a big-kid swing for the first time.  It was a hit!  

We did a variety of things at the park, strolling, swinging, carrying baby around, etc. in an attempt to keep this fusser distracted.  This also included Clara's first opportunity to play in the leaves.  It turned into more of a game where Clara's objective was to find a leaf eat it, and I mine was to prevent this.  I won. ...I think...

Eventually we moved on to Ryan and Crystal's for the evening.  I was so stressed out by the time Ryan and Crystal got home, that Crystal took Clara and Ryan took me for a bike ride.  That was actually perfect.  Thanks Ryan. :)

The next day we ventured over to Erica's for the majority of the day.  It was fun passing a leisurely day with my close friend.  We went for a walk in the morning.  Lucas is getting so big!  He "pushed" Zane, the boy Erica babysits, in his stroller.

Clara and Erica, stopping for a picture.  Clara borrowed Lucas's stroller.  Ours got all wet in the bed of our  truck.

The kiddos playing together.  It was nice to have some distraction for Clara. 

We then proceeded to Kaldi's to spend coffee house time with Amanda and Rachel T. (and Zoe of course).  It's funny how things change (Clara cried and fussed the majority of the time & I was very stressed out by her again at this point), but it's so wonderful to relive such special college memories as Kaldi's+Amanda+Rachel.  I'm sad that I forgot to take a picture. :(  Guess we'll just have to do it again soon!  We even got to add Crystal to the mix before the coffee date was over.

Afterwards Clara and I continued on to Eldon for some great time with my parents.  Again, I forgot to document.  Sad.

 At this point, Mitch and I talked over the phone, and made a snap decision to meet back in Columbia the next day for Mizzou's Homecoming.  We were taking a chance because we didn't have tickets for this sold out game.

It was SO NICE to be back together.  You know what they say about distance and the heart.  :)

We stayed with Ryan and Crystal again and joined them for the Homecoming Parade the next morning.  Clara looked so cute in her little cheerleader outfit (thanks Jessica!), that Crystal and I quickly lost interest in the parade in favor of taking pictures with Clara.  These were my favorites.  I love her expressions.

However, my favorite picture was taken by Mitch.  Me with two of my favorite people.

We also snapped a quick family photo.  Go Mizzou!

Grandpa and Grandma gracious agreed to give up their day to drive up and babysit Clara during the game.  This was greatly appreciated!  She would not have been easy to entertain.  This also included driving Clara up to the stadium in the middle of the game, picking me up outside the gates, driving to a parking lot so I could nurse her, and then dropping me back off.  Oh the challenges of a no-bottles-accepted baby!

Meanwhile, Mitch and I attempted to scalp tickets.  Ryan made us a sign and it worked!  We got great tickets for about half of their face value from a older man who wanted to help out a young couple.

It was a fun experience.  Clara improved a lot by the weekend.  And I gained a lot of empathy for single moms and moms of fussy babies!

Clara At 6 Months

Weight: 19 lbs. 1 oz. (94th percentile)

Length: 27.5" (96th percentile)  This is the height of an average one year old.  Upon telling me this, Clara's pediatrician said, "Now, I forget, how tall is Clara's father again?" That's a loaded question, because not only is Mitch six and a half feet tall, he's from an all-around tall family.  ...looks like Clara's inherited the Bennett height!  Although this likely means she'll be "runway model" material, I'm hoping to steer her in another direction. ;)  Mitch is thinking golf.  He believes being tall will give her a better drive.  I'm pretty sure this is an excuse for him to go golfing more...

Perhaps you can tell which two of us married into the family?  This picture is a bit outdated.  There are now two more baby Bennetts than there were a year and a half ago.

What she can do:  Clara can sit with support, eat baby food, stand for short periods of time with help, do impressive baby crunches, get herself out of lots of positions she doesn't like by arching her back, babble (her first and only babble sound is ga-ga-ga-ga-ga), and grab and hold things with increasing proficiency, laugh, be funny, play.

What she likes: Playing peek-a-boo, being upright, the pony ride song, my cell phone, cups, pulling my hair, grabbing Mitch's glasses, going for walks, looking at books (especially the book about monsters with noses that actually squeak), putting everything in her mouth, swinging on our porch swing, being OUTSIDE in general (this is huge for her... she instantly calms down when taken outside), her bath, children's music CD's played in the car, and being carried around on a hip.

She doesn't tolerate being ignored very well, and is disenchanted with her swing, play mat, and jumperoo (all of which don't involve direct socialization), which makes it much more difficult for me to get anything accomplished throughout the day besides taking care of this baby.  It's alright though, we have fun.

Sleep: Inconsistent.  She is growing? teething? congested? who knows for sure, but she's still sleeping a span of 12 hours during which she wakes up 2 to 4 times demanding attention.

Other information: She finds it funny when another baby cries.  Even hearing a home video of herself crying really entertains her.  She is only able to consistently roll one direction, onto her stomach.  From there she gets stuck and gets really mad until someone comes and "rescues" her.  This is regrettable because it produces additional waking up at night and untimely endings to naps.

Clara celebrating her 1/2 birthday.

"Whoa mom, you look so tall from down here."

Excited to be jumping.  That doesn't last long these days.

This face means "I'm done with this eating thing.  Get me out of here!"

Future gymnast?

Animated Baby

Clara got to spend some time with her Nana (Mitch's mom, Jan) last week, who flew in from Texas for a visit.  It was fun to spend time together and to watch Jan's reactions to Clara.  Everything Clara does seems "standard baby" to me because I'm not used to any other babies.  Jan, however, has other young grandchildren, so she had a better eye to notice Clara's unique attributes.

Enjoying dessert at P.F. Chang's

She was amazed be Clara's ability to do a 'baby crunch' for extended periods of time.  Clara does not like to lay flat! Apparently she would do great in Pilates.

Clara has some crazy-looking hair days with a big curl right in front (see video below).  This is similar to her Nana as a baby.

She really enjoys her spit and lips.  She's hung on to these behaviors for a relatively long period of time.  

Clara's smile is an excited smile.  Her eyes widen and she wiggles her body while grinning enthusiastically and making eye contact.  Her cousin Ethan, for example, has more of a delighted smile, explains Jan.

Clara has a surprising (& funny) ability to switch quickly from crying to laughing, from happiness to crankiness.

Clara frequently laughs a "fake" laugh.  She likes to get a reaction from her audience, so she laughs, whether it's a true belly-laugh or a let's-get-the-silliness-started laugh.  It's pretty much hilarious though, so it's working for her.

Overall Jan declared that Clara is an animated baby.  I would have to agree with that statement.  We spent the majority of the week laughing.  Babies are so entertaining!  And we both happen to be particular fans of this one. :)

And this video illustrates it all:

Simple Delight

Amanda and I have been friends for 17 years now.  We met on the playground in 2nd grade, and later learned that we'd actually "met" in the hospital nursery many years prior.  You may recall this story from a previous blog post.  We were born one day apart at St. Mary's Hospiral.  Our mothers were roommates during their hospital stay.  We grew to be best friends during elementary school and again in high school.  We went to the same college, became roommates, grew a lot in our walks with God together, were involved in the same campus ministry and church, had many of the same friends, spent hours together in coffee houses or the Plex, and were in each others' weddings. 

Most recently, we had baby girls within six weeks of one another.  It is SUCH a pleasure to walk through all these life experiences with her.

We have maintained our relationship over the years, even as we've moved to different places, and we still make time to visit each other frequently.

On a sidenote, Clayton, Amanda's husband, recently built our website for us.  Check it out at www.mitchellbennettphotography.com.  If anyone is looking for a web designer, keep him in mind.  Here is his website.

Amanda, Clayton, and Zoe visited us this weekend.  We spent part of this beautiful, fall Saturday walking around Historic Downtown Webster Groves. 

I can think of few things more delightful than nursing babies alongside my longtime friend on possibly the most gorgeous day of the year.

This is Clara's new face.  It gets her a lot of attention.  She adds a fishy-type motion to her pucker.  It takes all her concentration.  Her limbs sort of twitch while she's doing it.

I love good friends.  And fall.