Clara Twelve Months

Photoshoots with this girl are tough so we did an impromptu one at the park too today. I spent the night before Clara's birthday looking back at picture from the year and wondering how my little baby has become such a little adventure sausage! She climbs on furniture, loves throwing things while saying 'blahhhh', says dada when the phone rings and is always running after her sister. 

Clara started walking very soon after she turned eleven months. Just after a few weeks now and she's almost running or trying to, but still stumbling here and there. Right after she started walking, she never looked back to crawling and seriously just wants to keep up with her sister. Her talking has also been progressing quite well too. Mama, dada, up, down, hi, bye and lamby (her new cuddle toys) are the main words, but she understands so much more and gets so excited when I suggest the right thing like when I ask her if she wants her water. I'll ask her to find lamby and she'll bring him back to me plus she's getting better at putting toys into containers. She loves brushing her teeth and going on the slide (and climbing up it). She's learned how to climb onto the sofa and try to jump off the side. Also, she found a red marker one day and totally stained my pretty beige footstool (throw blanket is now permanently living on top of it). 

She's still eating really well and has been loving salmon, cauliflower, raspberries, banana, peas and of course pasta. Her breastfeeding schedule is still just morning and evening and though it will be nice to be able to get away for a night kid-less, I'm just going to go with it naturally and she how long she wants a feed and soon drop probably the morning feed then the evening one. 

Clara has been a great sleeper (knock on wood!) this past month. She's asleep by 7:30ish and wakes up usually by 6:30 though she did sleep in to almost 8 the other day! Napping is starting to evolve to just one a day though she usually still has a short nap in the morning and a longer one in the afternoon. Her top four teeth are starting to come through and I'm happy to say this hasn't been affecting her sleep too much just general grumpiness throughout the day. 

Happy happy one year Clara! 

^^always searching for snacks - i.e. getting a hold of the Cheerios

^^banana oat waffle smash cake with whipped cream, peaches and blueberries!

and for some sisterly love...

^^ending with this gem. 

Clara's First Birthday Brunch

It was so hard to capture a picture of Clara smiling at her birthday brunch last weekend! I think she was a bit overwhelmed by it all, especially when we sang happy birthday. Originally, I wanted to host a party with our family and friends at our place for her first birthday, but because of space and a majority of the guests living in London, it only made sense to do it there. I decided on Granger & Co. because their breakfast looked amazing, especially their scrambled eggs and the vibe was clean/simple. 

We choose from a set menu and had fresh juices, smoothies, tea or coffee. Everything was so good even down to the birthday cake I requested for Clara. It was a simple vanilla cake with freshly whipped cream and tons of strawberries. The restaurant were great with coordinating every detail with me and accommodating all of our requests. I made little favors of pink himalayan salt for the guests which also acted as place cards and also included pretty party hats too. A few arrangements of pretty white flowers and that's it! We couldn't do a smash cake there, but we did do one on her actual birthday the other day made up of waffles, peaches, blueberries and cream. There are still a few balloons lying around the house, but I would say this was a successful week of celebrating my baby turning one. 

                                  

    

    

    

     

 

and the menu: