Show me your belly

Claudia has discovered that her body parts have names and she's learned nose, head, ears, and of course her belly! If we ask "where is your belly?" she lifts up her shirt and shows us. She also likes to pat, pinch, and rub our bellies. In fact, she does a lot of hitting and pinching lately, which gets a little old. It's amazing how much she is understanding these days. She is not as verbal as some other 15 month olds, but she can definitely comprehend a lot. It's really fun to see the wheels turning when we ask her a question or give her instructions on what to do.

A week ago Claudia had ear tubes put in for chronic ear infections. We did it at Virginia Mason hospital and even though it was a surgery, it was fairly simple and quick and she didn't have to have an IV because they were able to give her the anesthesia in a face mask. The tubes will stay in for 6-18 months (they just fall out on their own) and they will hopefully keep her infection free. She did great and by that afternoon she was running around like nothing had happened. The ear surgery coincided with her becoming a "wild woman" though. Gone are the days when my little baby can occupy herself quietly with stacking cups. Now she wants to climb and run and her attention span for any one activity is only a couple minutes. It's a bit exhausting for Glen & I to keep up with her. Her agility is fairly good for her age, so she can climb in and out of a chair and maneuver on the playground well. Her favorite is the slide. She continues to be somewhat conservative on what she will try or how far she will stray from her caretaker when she's out of familiar territory.

July is always a busy month. We celebrated 4th of July with my parents, grandparents, Gina & Jeremy, and the Martinkas. Then the next week I turned 33 and Glen turned 35. We tried our best to celebrate, but I ended up having some health issues at the same time, so that put a damper on things. We don't really need to celebrate how old we are anyway. :-) I'm still recovering from a minor surgical procedure and some issues with my ulcerative colitis. Last week was tough, but I'm on the mend.

Auntie Gina got us a table & chairs for our birthdays, which turned out to be just Claudia's size. How did that happen? Haha.


Go Sounders!


Silly girl in the bathtub.


My sleeping baby is one of the sweetest things ever.


Running around Grandma's big living room.

Boo!

Claudia now likes to say "dat" and "boo" constantly. She's always pointing at things and saying "dat" and she loves to play the boo game. It started with us pretending to scare her by saying boo and now she does it back. Sometimes, she greets Glen when he gets home from work with a boo. It's really cute. She is incredibility snugly lately. After daycare, she just wants to snuggle with me on the bed or couch before dinnertime. It's supposed to be summer now, but the weather is still so-so. On the days it's actually sunny, we will go for a stroller walk around the neighborhood. I think Claudia is so exhausted from all the commotion during the day that she just needs to wind down with cuddles or a ride in the stroller. We went through a tough month when she insisted on walking up at 5:30am, but now she's back on her 7am schedule, thank goodness! I think she's happier when she gets more sleep and Glen & I are certainly happy to sleep in a bit.

Claudia's personality is really starting to develop. One, she does not like to be messy or dirty. She likes to pick lint off the carpet and hand it to the closest adult. She enjoys, in fact insists, on getting cleaned up well with a washcloth after eating. She has started coloring with crayons and when she tries to eat a bit of the crayon, she gets upset by the "yucky" crayon in her mouth. And second, she is not one to run off and explore. Other parents tell me stories of chasing after their kids, but not Claudia. She is always in arm's reach, especially in public when she will rarely leave our arms. Even at home she mostly likes to crawl around on top of Glen & I or engage us in a game.

Claudia and daddy have been watching the World Cup Soccer.


She loves to play with any kind of cup, putting things in and out.




Claudia loved playing in her kiddie pool on the deck of grandpa and grandma's Alta Lake house.

14 months old and First Word

Claudia is now 14 months old and she said her first word! And the word is... BALL. Of course she has been saying "da da" since she was 6 months old and "ma ma" and "ba ba" for awhile too, but she uses those sounds for a lot of things. A few days ago while playing with her pink ball, Glen taught her the word ball and she repeated: baaahl. And just yesterday, she picked up the ball and said baaahl again, so she definitely knows what it is. She continues to work on a couple signs and now does "please" (making a circular motion on her chest with her palm), although it tends to mean "more" too, as in "more food please." She is still a great eater and her favorite is blueberries. She goes through an 18 oz (510g) container every week. I've been giving her pita bread and bagels so she can work on using her teeth to chew pieces off. She still has 6 full teeth in, but the 1 year molars on the top and bottom are starting to poke through too. At this point, they don't seem to be bothering her much. We've started brushing her teeth at night.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been able to catch up with a lot of my friends, which has been great. Amanda, Ellie, and I and our daughters went to the Children's Museum in Everett. Claudia was a little young developmentally so she mostly watched, but the other girls loved it. Carey & I went for a swim in our condo's pool and Claus tried to teach Claudia how to say "boo-berry". He's quite the talker and he's only 16 months old. And, two old friends of mine got together for a long overdue catch up. We've all grown and changed a lot since we worked together 8 years ago (really, has it been that long?) so it was cool to share and hear about all our different experiences.

Glen was able to do his annual boys' weekend to Alta Lake. In addition to Alta, they also golfed Desert Canyon, which was apparently a beautiful course, and it sounds like everyone had fun. While Glen was away, Claudia & I spent a lot of time with Grandpa & Grandma so that she could show off her walking skills.

Claudia, me, Angie, and Martha at the zoo.


At the Children's Museum. She had that unsure look on her face most of the time, but she livened up when we went on the toddler slide.


Grandma brought Claudia back a pretty dress from her Maui vacation.


"Pick me up!"


I was trying to get a photo of her Miss America shirt, but kitty got in the way.

She's a toddler now

I think we can officially call Claudia a toddler now that she's toddling. She's really good at getting herself up and down and walks best if she has a wide open space. She loves to back her bum into my lap, but then usually crawls right back out. It's hard to get her to sit still these days. Sometimes she's a wild woman, throwing toys and hitting or head butting us, or throwing food and her sippy cup off the table, which gets really annoying. We've been trying to say "no" to teach her not to do it, but she just laughs at us. Hopefully this phase will pass soon!

She now really likes toys that sing songs and make noise. One of her favorites is her jute box that sings nursery rhymes. When it plays Itsy Bitsy Spider, she makes the motions with her fingers of the spider crawling. Glen & I both hate spiders, so it's weird that this is the song she likes the most. Auntie Neely came over one night and Claudia crawled all over the living room showing off all her toys. Although it was chaotic to see her press every button and pick up every toy, it was also really cute to see how proud she was of all her possessions.

She had her first dentist appointment and she did well. The dentist quickly looked at her teeth and showed us how to brush them. She has two bottom ones and three top ones (2 on the right, 1 on the left). Ideally babies should have good spacing between their teeth, but hers are pretty close together, so she will probably have a little crowding with her adult teeth.

They're learning sign language at daycare: all done, more, and please. Claudia has been doing the signs randomly, but just today she did "more" when I said the word, so soon she should be doing them all appropriately. She has a book called Moo, Baa, La La La and she can copy the "la la la" sound, although it sounds a bit like "ra ra ra." This is about the only book she has the patience to sit through at this point.

Claudia sharing my lap with Pepper Face (my parents' cat).


This is a typical weeknight dinner with Claudia. It can get wild.






razzing...


Here's a cute video of Claudia playing peek-a-boo.

First Steps and Now Walking

Yes, Claudia is walking! On Sunday May 16th, at almost exactly 13 months old, Claudia took her first steps. She was practicing standing on her own and all of a sudden she just took a couple steps into my arms. Glen & I were so excited that we spent the next hour getting her to walk between us and she took up to 4 steps at a time. Now, a week later she's doing even better. I counted 10 steps in a row yesterday. She is quite steady, but she gets so excited that she starts trying to run and then falls, or she breaks her walk by leaping into our arms. The look on her face is precious.



At daycare, Claudia has been in the toddler room for 2 weeks now. Her first week was a little rough, but she's doing great now. I actually think she's napping better in her new room because the whole classroom goes down for a nap at the same time, so she sometimes goes for 2-1/2 hours. They have a great outdoor space for the toddlers that has a rubber floor and lots of tunnels and other toys for climbing on. She has become more adventurous lately and is a wild woman in the evenings playing with toy after toy. We are seeing an emerging preference for her right hand. She eats and throws a ball right-handed. She also loves to shake her head "no" and knows what "all done" means.

Glen was out of town last week at a gene therapy conference in Washington D.C. and he also took the train to Baltimore one day to do a seminar. Claudia & I fared well except the first night he was gone when we had an incident involving diarrhea, the bathtub, and several soiled items. Not the best time for our washing machine to be broken. The rest of the week was better, but we were both very happy to have Glen back in town.

Over the weekend Claudia & I went up to Bellingham to visit my friends the Hindermans and their new baby Jada who is two months old. Jada is a very sweet good natured baby and I enjoyed cuddling with her. Normally Claudia would be very jealous of this, but Auntie Gina came over (remember she lives in Bellingham too), so Claudia tolerated it because she had her Auntie. Unlike when she was a little baby, she does not let anyone hold her except us, her favorite teachers, grandpa and grandma, and her aunties. While this is normal, not all kids have such a strong "stranger danger".

The pool at our condo complex opened for the season, so Claudia & I went for a swim. She wanted me to hold her the whole time, but she did good and we bobbed around for about 30 minutes. I couldn't get a photo while in the pool, but this is her swimsuit before we went out.


Asleep in the carseat. I just thought this was cute.


I love all the snuggles I get.


Claudia & I had waffles and strawberries one night for dinner when Glen was out of town and for a treat I let her nibble on one while playing.


Me and "my" girls Jada and Claudia.

Leaps and Bounds

Claudia is into everything these days. She can completely bomb a room in a few minutes by pulling out every toy she owns. She is always on the move and is getting more brave to try new things. She had her first big tumble when she fell trying to climb up the kitchen drawers and got a bloody lip. She is cruising furniture like a pro and letting go for a second or two to practice her balance. She has 5 teeth and really likes to use them. She likes to bite crackers and cereal, and unfortunately sometimes people. Although she was afraid of hats when she was a little baby, she now really likes them. She especially likes to play the on/off game, but will keep it on if we're in bright sun. She is getting less fussy with me touching her hair and will sometimes let me put a headband on her head or a rubber band in her hair.

She started a new classroom at daycare called Pandas, which is Toddler 1. There are eleven kids in the room and she she has two new teachers, but luckily her favorite teacher from Infants can still come over a bit some afternoons to make the transition easier. Claudia had hip dysplasia as an infant, so she had an X-ray for her 1 year follow-up. She was a champ and held still for the nurse and didn't even cry. The X-ray showed normal development of her hips and she's in the clear for another two years and then will be checked again.

Glen went out of town for the first time since Claudia was born. He had a 5-day muscle conference in Ottawa, Canada. He was very busy and didn't get a lot of sleep, but it was a successful conference and he even won a poster prize for his work on muscular dystrophy. Claudia and I managed better than expected on our own, but we still missed him a lot. He's back in town for a week and then has to leave again for another 5-day conference, this time for gene therapy and being held in Washington D.C.

And last but not least, I celebrated my 2nd Mother's Day. I was still pretty dazed and confused last year, so this year I was more rested and had time to reflect on how much fun this year has been and how much joy Claudia has brought to our lives. We had a really cool weekend too. It was sunny and beautiful in Seattle, so Neely & I took the baby to the zoo on Saturday before we went to pick Glen up at the airport. Then on Sunday, the women in my family participated in the Breast Cancer Network of Strength Walk that Neely organizes for her company. We start at the Seattle Center and then wind down through the market, down to the waterfront, and then back. It was an absolutely perfect day for it and we were supporting a great cause. That afternoon, my dad made dinner for everyone and we had a relaxing time socializing.

I get lots of comments on Claudia's pretty blue eyes and blond hair. She sure is beautiful.


She's likes to play the on/off game with this headband.


She can really speed across the room with her baby walker.


She has finally mastered the Piggy Bank and can put the coins in the top all on her own.


We went over to Alta Lake a couple weeks ago and my parents and I took a nature walk while Glen was golfing with the boys.

Claudia has a new cousin

First off, we have exciting news! We have a new niece. Glen's brother Adrian and our sister-in-law Jo are now proud parents of Alannah Banks, born on April 26th. She is adorable and we can't wait to meet her next autumn when we visit Australia. This is Claudia's fourth cousin, but the only one close in age. She has three other cousins (Joseph, Eloise, and Tyrone) but they are 15-23 year older than her.

We had a great time last weekend. Grandma & Grandpa babysat while Glen & I went to the Crohn's & Colitis benefit concert at the Showbox. Sweet Water opened for Flight to Mars and both bands rocked! It's an annual tradition for us to attend this concert. Before the concert we met up with friends at the new Seattle Hard Rock Cafe, which was great too. The next day Glen was able to go golfing and I meant to do errands, but instead I just bummed around and relaxed. That's something you take for granted before children, so I sure appreciated it! While we were doing this, Grandpa & Grandma took Claudia to a NWPT party (my mom's work) and she had fun playing with all the toys and other children. She especially liked playing with Malia, who is due to become a big sister soon. On Sunday, Claudia went on her first hike. We tried to do the Four Ice Caves, but when we got there, slushy snow was still on the ground, so we did Lake 22 instead. We didn't make it to the lake, but we were able to go several miles up the trail and see lots of waterfalls. Hopefully in about a month when all the snow is gone, we can go back! The mountains in Washington are so beautiful. We are so lucky to live near the mountains, ocean, and a vibrant city.

Speaking of the Crohn's and Colitis benefit reminded me to post an update on my health. I had a flare of my ulcerative colitis this summer and had to go on prednisone (in addition to my other medications) to control it. It never got too bad, but it's dangerous to be on prednisone long term so I started Remicade infusions. I'm proud to say I'm off prednisone now, but I'm still doing Remicade infusions every 8 weeks. The only side effect I have is easy bruising, so sadly I've had to stop playing contact sports because the risk of being injured is too high. It is a bit strange to be on this medication because I have to go to the hospital for 5 hours to get it and they mark my IV bag "chemotherapy" and put on a protective jacket to administer it, although the nurses joke about the jacket being silly and unnecessary. Also, the medication is about $40,000 a year (paid by insurance), so it makes me nervous to be on such a costly medication in a country where health coverage is always temporary. But, it's seems to be working for me and I'm healthy, so I shouldn't complain too much.

Look at those smiles ready to head out on the hike.


It's hard to make out in this photo, but there were several small streams to cross and lots of steps because there was 1500 feet of elevation change in 3 miles.


This is on the way down when Claudia got pooped out, but Glen was still doing well.


Claudia & Malia playing together at the kids party.


Here are some photos from Claudia's birthday party a couple weeks ago. The theme was fairies. Notice the pink "fairy dust" on top of the cake.

Claudia's birthday cake -- thanks Auntie Gina & Grandma.


Eating her cake.


Kisses from Auntie Neely.