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:

Clara Eleven Months

Those fingers, always in her mouth! My baby Clara is 11 months now. Seriously, how is she one in a few weeks? She's starting to walk, talk and understand more each day. She can show me where her head is, say 'uh oh' when she falls down or drops something and says 'up' when she wants to get out of her highchair. She mainly cruises around furniture, but these past few days she's been taking 10 or more steps in a row on her own!

Her new nickname is adventure sausage because she's also looking for the next best thing to discover. She's all over the place, climbing on things, getting into where she's not supposed to go and for some reason loves going under chairs and tables. She ordered Fifty Shades Darker on the Fire Stick Remote by accident and has a new love for Teletubbies, especially the opening scene. 

We just got back from Greece last week where there was a two hour time difference we're still adjusting to getting back on track. She's been waking up 4am, but I can usually get her back down until at least 6am. Other than that, she's been a champ at sleeping through the night. 

I'm happy to report that Clara is still eating very well. Her favorites lately are homemade applesauce with greek yogurt, mozzarella, pasta, green beans and clementines. She's not loving avocado as much recently, but still loves her blueberries, strawberries and pears. I've dropped breastfeeds down to one in the morning and right before bed. She doesn't seem to mind having a snack rather milk in the afternoon plus it gives me the chance to have a few kid free hours once in a while. 

I've been just finalizing her first birthday at the end of the month. We're doing a small breakfast in London which should be easy and fun. Can't wait for this nugget to grow up some more! 

 ^^When I try to make them smile unsuccessfully

 ^^See what I mean about being an adventure sausage? 

Clara Ten Months

This little nugget turned ten months old last Saturday. She's made some big developments over this past month like giving kisses, waving and touching her head when I ask where it is! It amazes me how much she understands and I swear she answers me with a little baby sound when I ask her simple questions like if she wants water or more food. She's starting to shake her head no and copies her big sis when she makes silly noises. Since her first tooth popped through a couple of weeks back, she's been much happier since then although still very clingy to me at certain times.

Clara's still a great eater, but when she doesn't want anymore food, she'll purposely drop leftovers on the floor while looking at me or just swipe them all over the place. This cause and effect phase is cute, but oh so messy. Her current favorites are avocado (she can eat an entire one by herself), scrambled eggs, blueberries and broccoli. Sweet potato, chicken and oatmeal are no longer favorites, but we'll keep trying.

I've dropped the late morning breastfeed and replaced it with a snack (usually something easy like a banana, rice cakes or mini breadsticks since we are usually out and about). Amélie will give one rice cake to Clara and then take one herself - it's such a cute moment of sharing, which oddly enough happens only with snacks and not toys. Clara still has a feed right when she wakes up, the late afternoon and then right before bed. I don't think fully weaning her off breastfeeding will be a problem by the time she turns one. She doesn't seem to mind as long as it's replaced by a snack.

Clara's been sleeping through the night lately, which is great for the moment, but not so great hat she wakes up by 5:40 every morning. What's also not great is that she usually wakes up Amélie as well so the day for us starts early. They are usually both  asleep by 7:30/8:00ish with Amélie waking up once or twice for the bathroom or cuddles. Clara's still napping two or three times a day. She's usually not a long napper - not more than an hour and it's usually on the go in the stroller or in the car.

We've been trying to spend more time outside whenever it is sunny and warm. She's a huge fan of touching and putting everything into her mouth - sand, grass, you name it. I have to keep a close eye on her, but she has so much fun playing outside and loves going on the swings at the playground (particularly when big sis pushes her!). Also, Clara is standing on her own now - usually just for a few seconds before she falls. Plus she's becoming really good at taking steps using her walker an cruising around. I have a feeling I'll have a walker in a month or so. Stop growing up so fast!

Clara Nine Months

Sweet baby Clara is nine months old! She's going through a particularly tough stage right now (actually, both girls are) and hasn't been herself the past few days. I see her bottom left tooth just starting to poke through her gums and she is not happy about it. The poor baby has been grumpy needing cuddles constantly and I can't even think about leaving the room without her in my arms (i.e. taking a minute to go to the bathroom is a struggle).

Clara moved out of our room and into her shared room with Amelie a couple of weeks ago. We had a couple of tough nights getting her adjusted, but it wasn't too bad. She then started sleeping through the night until the teething started and now usually wakes up once or twice. I've stopped breastfeeding her during the night as well, which seemed like such a big deal with Amelie, but Clara doesn't seem to mind. Side note - Amelie is also sleeping in her big girl bed and most nights wakes up a couple of times as well. We're back to getting very intermittent sleep followed by wake ups between 5-6am which makes for a very tired household. Nap times are either one long morning and afternoon naps or three short half an hour naps.

Food wise, Clara continues to enjoy mostly all foods I give her. She was a fan of oatmeal with almond butter, but won't really open her mouth for it anymore. She loves strawberries, blueberries and bananas. Scrambled eggs, meatballs and roasted chicken are her favorite proteins. Fusilli pasta is her favorite grain. She loves greek yogurt for dessert. She mainly feeds herself with exception of the more messy stuff. Also, she's graduated fully from stick shapes to cubes too as her pincer grip is on point.

I'm still breastfeeding Clara four times a day and plan to gradually decrease this to just a morning and bedtime feed by the time she's about 11 months. When she's about one, I'm planning to stop breastfeeding to finally gain some freedom back and give her cow's milk as a drink. Speaking of drinks, she's really into drinking water too and gets so excited when I show her her cup.

This weekend, Clara learned how to clap and just the day after, she did it when I asked without showing her what to do! I can't wait for more of these moments as she is learning and growing into a cute little girl.

^middle pic: see what I mean about going to the bathroom? 

Clara Eight Months

My baby Clara or chicken nugget as we call her turned 8 months old this week. I always get comments on how she's so petite and though she is just under the 50th percentile in weight now, she's a strong little baby. She started crawling at 7.5 months and is constantly pulling herself up on anything she can find. I'm pretty sure she'll start walking before she turns one. The problem with crawling is that she now wants to destroy all of Amelie's toys that she lays out nicely. Amelie is always playing with her kitchen, baking birthday cakes with icing and rainbow sprinkles or making strawberry lemonade. When she sets all her plates down, Clara just goes for them (no matter how many toys she has for herself) and destroys it. This has turned into a constant battle between the two. Since one major meltdown one day from both of them, it's become much better, but still, it's a struggle for everyone. 

During the day I breastfeed Clara right when she wakes up, an hour before lunch, the late afternoon plus right before bed around 7ish. I plan to breastfeed until she turns one, but the sessions are getting shorter and shorter now as she's much more interested in playing. 

Clara loves food though I am starting to see a hint of picky-ness shining through. Her favorites are mango, strawberries, baked sweet potato fries, broccoli, fusilli pasta, and meatballs. She's starting to master picking up Cheerios and blueberries too. I started spoon feeding her a little bit more these days since a lot of her food ends up on the floor with baby-led weaning. She especially likes oatmeal with almond butter, turkey chili, or a good soup. After I spoon feed her, I always give her pieces of her own food to eat. 

I had a blissful 2 weeks+ of Clara sleeping through the night from 7pm-7am though in the past week or so she's been waking up once or twice a night. I'll shush her if it's early on then only give her one feed during the night. She's still in the bedside cot though I know she's pretty much outgrown it. We are going to start the transition (for both girls) out of our room to their own rooms after Easter. I'm excited, scared and nervous for this and not looking forward to the many middle of the night wakeups (probably due to Amelie more than Clara). I've loved having Amelie co-sleep with us so far, but it's time for her to move to her own bed! 

The weather has been sunny and warmer lately so we've been taking lots of trips to the playgrounds in our neighborhood. Clara loves to go on the swings and giggles so much when I push her. I can't wait for warmer weather so we can go to the beach, make popsicles and have picnics.