Discovering a whole new world!

Dear Friends and Family,

Columbus may have discovered the Americas in 1492, but this week Claire discovered increased mobility, drinking from a straw cup, fun times with grandparents, and the fact that Mommy is an essential part of bedtime.

Beginning with the last of these discoveries, I had my bible study meeting on Monday night and Chris is great about playing with Claire and then putting her to bed not long after I leave the house.  Unfortunately, Chris discovered that separation anxiety is setting in at bedtime.  Claire feels fine playing with Daddy and even just playing by herself, but when it becomes apparent that Mom is not around to put her to bed, she has a complete meltdown!  Poor Daddy!  Chris told me that he wanted to see if he could put her to bed with me home.  Unfortunately, that was also "not ok" for Claire.  In the end, we both put to bed a very upset baby. 

The good news is that Claire goes happily and quickly to bed when I do bedtime, so I've decided that I'll just be late to my meetings for a while and put Claire to bed myself before I leave. All of the books say this is normal and that babies will grow out of this dependency, but I have to say, deep down I love the fact that my daughter feels like she needs me so much! 

On to Claire's next discovery, mobility!  Claire still hasn't perfected the crawl, but she is rolling and scooting her way around the floor.  As you can see from the photo notes below, she certainly covers some distance! 

Where's Waldo?  Playing peek-a-boo behind the couch!

This week I also had a fun MOPS (Mom's group) Ladies' Night In, learning how to make hair barrettes!  Here's a picture of Claire modeling one! 

It's amazing what you can do with some ribbon, scrapbook embelishments, plain hair clips, and a glue gun.
This is my kind of craft!

I love your smile, Claire!

Aren't these cute!?! 

Now for some of the big excitement we had this weekend!  Chris' parents came to visit and we had a wonderful time.  No visit to Maryland is complete without a trip for crab or crab cakes, so we decided to do an early dinner on Friday at Cantler's Riverside Inn!



Claire had fun learning how to pick crab! She really liked using the mallet!

Yum, small but heavy crabs!  These guys had some delicious meat inside!

Mom cracks open a claw and eases out a nice big chuck of crab meat!

The carnage!
2 Dozen Crabs later...

While we were devouring all of that crab, I also worked to keep Claire entertained and fed her dinner.  As a result, Chris and my mother-in-law showed me some true love by digging out some of the delicious back fin meat for me! 

After eating all of that crab we decided that a sunset walk around the island was in order when we got home. 

I may be wearing my excited face - but this is still a GREAT picture!

Pretty sunsets on Turkey Point Island!

Claire snuggles with Grammie!

 One of my favorite of Claire's recent discoveries is drinking from a cup!  As my nursing days start to wind down, I was worried about getting Claire into a new mode of drinking.  I'm so glad she is doing so well with the straw sipee cup!

Playing with PopBob!

I love you Papa!

Day lilies from Grammie will make our house look gorgeous this spring!
We planted them in the beds on either side of the front door and Mom also gave the hydrangea bushes a nice pruning!

Mom and Dad's visit wasn't all play, these visitors are also amazing workers!  My sweet Grammie Brockdorff sent Mom and Dad down with 21 day lilies from her garden in Rochester!  The best part is that some of them are day lilies that were originally in her garden when she used to live in Maryland!  So these plants have come full circle!  I can't wait to see them bloom this spring!

Chris and Dad dug out a big rose bush and did the majority of the edge digging!
Mom and Dad also helped plant the flower beds!
Don't they look amazing?  Look at all those day lilies!

PopBob and Grammie also brought Claire some new toys from her cousins Kate and Cara Simplicio!  Thanks, Simplicio family, for the great hand-me-downs!  Claire is having so much fun with the toys already!


Special Delivery! 
Claire reaching in her new mailbox to get the mail!

Such a cool house! Claire really digs that mailbox! 
I sneak things in for her to discover! 
Sometimes it's my face on the otherside and that always makes her giggle!

Grammie and PopBob left on Sunday morning. We miss them so much already!
A farewell kiss for Claire!

Such a fun visit!  Thanks for making the trip, Mom & Dad! Next weekend my Dad and Sister come for a visit.  We can't wait to see them soon!

I hope everyone is having a great week!
Love,
Bethie