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 Seven Months

This girl and her serious face, it's too cute. She's such a little nugget now at seven months. She weighs 7.16 kilos (just a bit under when Amelie was seven months old) and is right below the 50th percentile for weight. Speaking of weight, baby led weaning is Clara's thing. She pretty much eats anything I give her and doesn't really like when I try to spoon feed her. Her favorites now are broccoli, sweet potato fries, slow cooked chicken thighs, avocado, mango and pears. I give her mainly what we are eating - just without adding salt or sugar. Baby led weaning is great since I don't have to spend 100% of my time focusing on feeding her. Everything was cut into finger size shapes until recently Clara has been perfecting her pincer grip and can even pick up blueberries now. 

Breastfeeding is still going strong with Clara. I feed her when she wakes up, once before lunch, the late afternoon, then right before bed. Lately she's been waking up once around 2 or 3am for a quick feed then she's back to sleep. I'm still planning to breastfeed her until she's a year just like Amelie and I can foresee that dropping feeds with her and substituting them with food won't be a problem. 

Sleeping and napping has been a bit more consistent these days. She's down in her snuzpod by 7 and wakes up around 7. Naps are around 9am and then one long afternoon nap or 2 small ones. We're planning to transition her to her big crib in her own room in the next month or so as she'll grow out of her snuzpod soon. I'll definitely miss her sleeping right next to me, but it's also time to move Amelie into her own bed too. 

For the past few weeks, Clara looks like she's getting to crawl at any moment. She knows how to go backwards and will try to grab anything and everything. She gets so frustrated when she wants to go forwards, but only ends up backwards usually underneath our footstool. She just recently learned how to sit up by herself from being on her tummy too. She's definitely not far off from being on the move. 

Here are a few more pics from the month - happy seven months Clara!