Introducing....

Josiah Jett Whitehead
October 16th, 2007


Better late than never, right?

What has Claire been up to?

Well.............
Claire's vocabulary has been growing. Her words consist of the following: hi, yeah, Da-ee (daddy), zshoozshu (shoes), all done, Isty (isty bitsy spider), diaper, outside, up, down, awe-bu (uh-oh or kaboom), and mama.

Her signs are: eat, all done, hi, bye, more, yes & no.. She also does the signs for the song Isty Bitsy Spider!

Some of her favorite things are:
Dancing, she will dance any chance she gets!
Singing, she sings her own songs all the time, probably so she has something to dance to. She will crawl up on the piano chair & play while singing & dancing to her own song. It so cute!
Shoes! Claire loves shoes. She especially likes to bring us our shoes as a way to ask if we will take her outside. Which leads us to another favorite. She loves to be outside, mostly in the backyard, but getting the mail is fun too!
Couch diving. She climbs up on the arm of th couch & will dive down onto the cushions. Sometimes she will linger on the arm & do a little dance. I'm convinced she does this just to create anxiety in me. But she sure thinks its funny!

Claire's First Birthday

Claire turned one year old on June 13th. So we had family & some friends over to celebrate on Saturday, the 16th. It was a blast! It was a luau theme with lots of water play for the kiddos. Claire was soaking wet almost the whole time because we couldn't keep her out of the water! She even found a way to enjoy the waterslide, which we thought would be just for the older kids. The cake was a hit with her too. She ate up a good quarter of the hibiscus shaped, carrot cake that had been made just for her. A good time was had by all!

It's Been A While

Sorry I've been quiet for so long. I guess I should say "I'm pregnant!". 4 months along now and almost no symptoms, well, except for the 7lbs I've gained. My due date is October 22nd. We will hopefully find out the gender of Baby next week. I will post the results. I promise.

Claire started walking this week on Tuesday, May 15th. She just stood up in the middle of the room with no help, she had never done that before. Then took 5 steps, wobble free, so I hear :( I missed it. I work from home most of the week and work in the office just 4 hours. Claire goes to Gina's house to play (close friend with a daughter about Claire's age). And it just so happens that in those 4 hours, she took those first steps. I was sad for a while but I am over it now. She didn't do it again 'til Wednesday night while both Aaron & I were there to cheer her on. That was great!

I'm going to bombard you with super cute pictures now!

I'm Crawling!

Claire is mobile! She began crawling on February 1st and has it down to a science now. She does it every which way: hands & knees, the army crawl, and my favorite crawling with one knee & one foot on the ground. She's also cruising around the furniture & has made it up the stairs on her own a few times too (mommy or poppy right behind her). I know everyone says this but she really is doing something new everyday!

What's new with Claire........

Well, Claire is 7 months old now. Her second tooth coming in (the first started popping up the week before Christmas). She weighs 18 1/2 lbs and is around 27 inches tall. She loves music of all kinds and will stop whatever she is doing when she hears it. She wants to know where its coming from, watch it being made if possible, and better yet, make it herself. When Aaron is at the piano she listens intently and loves to take her turn at the keys whenever she can! Her other love is to walk around the house, with assistance of course. She will pull herself up to standing any chance she gets, and then off she goes! Crawling is not something she is very interested in, but I'm sure once she realizes she could get around all by herself, she will be very into it! Her favorite foods are oatmeal, rice, squash & sweet potatoes. She eats twice a day aside from her bottles. We tried out a sippy cup today and she really liked it. She is growing up so fast! I love being her Mommy!

Christmas Fun!

Christmas has always had great meaning for our family, in that it is the celebration of our Lord's birth, but I have to say, having Claire with us to share in the celebration brought great enjoyment this year!

We started the festivities Christmas Eve. Aaron participated in the leading of worship at Flipside in the morning. Claire and I were in attendance. Then Aaron lead worship at Cross & Crown in the evening with Claire & I in attendance. When we returned home Grandpa Joe, Grandma Debbie, and Aunt Amy came over for the traditional opening of one gift containing pj's. Aaron went to play for the candlelight service at Flipside while we hung new oramnets and enjoyed eachothers company for while before Claire had to retire for the night.

Christmas morning we spent at Grandpa Joe & Grandma Debbie's home where we enjoyed yummy breakfast and exchanging of gifts. Aunt Melissa made it down in hill in record time so we all could be together Christmas morning! Aaron made his masterpiece french toast for everyone to enjoy. Claire had a lot of fun revealing her stocking's contents but was too tuckered to open her presents. She napped while the rest of us visited and exchanged gifts.

We then went over to Grandpa Mark & Grandma Cathy's home for Aunt Nicci's Birthday party and Christmas fun! Grandpa Mark had prepared a game for the family to play. The goal being to discover 3 things about the Christmas gift we were to receive. 1)the location where it is hiding 2) the material it is made from and 3) the store where it had been purchased. The basis for game was "Clue" but the cards & board was remade by Mark specifically for us. It was a lot of fun!
Again Claire was tuckered out and fell asleep on her Poppy's chest, which is uncharacteristic of her. She usually falls asleep in her crib by herself. So it was a nice treat for Aaron & I. We had dinner and then the traditional Gift Exchange which I have recently heard called a Yankee Swap. There were about 35 people playing this year, although there was far less swapping than years past.

We then went back over to Grandpa Joe & Grandma Debbie's home to have second dinner & dessert. Claire got to open the presents she had slept through earlier & enjoy the company of her Aunts who both did a bit of traveling to be there. Claire was so cute with her presents. She liked to hit at them and chew on the wrapping more than anything else.

It was a full day.....full of family, love and fun. We were very happy that we could share this day with so many of the people we care so much about and who care so much for us!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Claire-Bear's Fan Club

Claire had many visitors in those first few weeks. Many thanX to all of you who brought super yummy meals to help out the new mommy & poppy! Here are a few of the visitors we were able to get a shot of. Now I know there are many more of you who I was unable to locate a photo of, but if you happen to have one, please send it my way and I will be sure to update the posting!

Aunt Melissa, Grandpa Joe & Grandma Debbie


Grandma Cathy & Grandpa Mark


Great Grandpa Joe & Great Grandma Brenda


Great Grandma Jenkins & Aunt Amy


Aunt Kelly & Aunt Lisa


The following are honorary titles: Uncle Don & Aunt Gina


Uncle Todd & Jett


Uncle Sean & Aunt Amy

Claire's 1st month

Two week old feet. Oh so cute!












Aaron's first Fathers Day came quickly. Just 3 days after Claire was born.







4th of July at Uncle Matt & Aunt Kelly's house. This was the first holiday celebrated since Claire was born. She slept most of the time :)






Claire took her first dip in a swimming pool when she was 4 weeks old. It was a very warm day and the water was nice. She didn't hate it, but I wouldn't say she loved it either. That night she had her first "real" bath and she loved it!

Jan to Jun 2006 in a nutshell

I, or should I say Claire, began to grow!
Here I am at 4 months and then at 8 months.












Claire's baby shower was on the same weekend that escrow was to close on our homes. We sold our home on Cortland Street and purchased our home on Armstrong Place. We are very happy here.















In May "the girls" took a mini vacation to Lake Arrowhead. We had a lot of fun doing "girly" stuff :)




Amy graduated from SFSU at the end of May and I couldn't miss the ceremony, so even though my due date was only 2 weeks away, Aaron & I hopped on a plane to San Francisco. We had a lot of fun celebrating Amy's accomplishment!



And then the day finally came....

Claire was born! June 13, 2006. What an amazing experience. We are parents now and we are happy and blessed! Claire is truely the best thing that has ever happened to us! We love her more than we could have ever imagined!