4 Month Photo Video

Here's a video composite of Claire's 4 month photos.

4 months & Mother's Day

This past weekend the Howards had lots to celebrate. On Friday the 9th Claire turned 4 months old. Check out her monthly photo! She's so smiley and expressive now. She's really on the move in her crib now too... never where we left her at night. She's also starting to get more coordinated with her hands as you can see from her holding her bottle. That makes for free mommy hands during the feedings! She's doing better with her rice cereal, but still doesn't like it very much.

On Saturday we had a hectic day that included another professional photo shoot. Christi was of course late getting dressed, Jon was shaving in the car on the way, and we were more than 20 minutes late for our appointment. Once we got there Claire did a great job hamming it up for the camera and we got some great pics. DJ Jazzy Jon will be mixin up some photos for another slideshow, so stay tuned to the blog! We also visited Granny for a Mother's Day preview. Claire and Granny had lots of fun bonding. She was mesmerized by Granny's floral print chairs!

On Sunday we had a wonderful Mother's Day. Jon gave Christi the best gift ever..sleep! He took the 6:30am feeding and later made a blueberry pancake breakfast (with mimosas!) We also celebrated with Grandma and Papa for dinner at a yummy French restaurant in McLean. Christi also got some beautiful pink roses. It really was a special first Mother's Day!

March/April Happenings

I know, I know. It's been *eons* since we last blogged. I guess we can blame it on Christi going back to work and finding very little spare time these days! Well a lot has happened this past month...

• This past weekend we went to Glen Echo park in MD and Claire got to enjoy her first carousel ride!
  
  
  
• Claire ate her first real food! (If you consider the shredded cardboard they call "rice cereal" real food) Daddy heard the doctor give the go ahead and couldn't wait to try it. He bought her pears not knowing that's after she gets rice cereal and the veggies first. So we also pressed our luck and gave her some carrots too. She seemed to do okay for her first tasting, but as to be expected she spit more out than she actually took in.

• Claire met the Easter Bunny for the first time. Pictures didn't turn out that great and the bunny seemed a little creepy, but oh well!
  
  
• Claire wore her first pair of shoes. In preparation for starting daycare we got Claire used to foot coverings and she didn't seem to mind at all.
  
  
  


• We all went down to DC to see the Cherry Blossoms. Rather than fight the weekend rush we went down at 4pm on a Wednesday. The tidal basin was close to peak bloom and gorgeous. We took so many pictures that Claire was soooo over it. :) We also took some pictures of her in front of the cherry tree in our backyard.

• Christi started back to work on 3/31 and it was like she never left. Total insanity is the Orbital way!

• Claire started daycare and loves it. Her British teacher miss Louisa is awesome and does so many projects with them. She's planted grass seed, made Earth Day granola bars, painted, made dinosaur fossils..you name it! She loves looking at all the other kids. She's still the champion sleeper, but when she's awake she's having fun.

• Claire rolled over on 4/7!!! It was like she knew that she was almost three months old and did it right on cue. Mommy put her on the playmat, turned around to grab something, and voila she was on her tummy! Unfortunately she still doesn't like being on her tummy and doesn't always know how to roll back over, so most of the time she screams until we rescue her. As a result of her newfound mobility she has decided that she prefers to sleep on her left side. No more "back to sleep" for miss Claire, it's straight to her side. Now she has worn a bald spot on the side of her head to match the huge one in the back.
  
  

  
  



• Claire turned 3 months old. Besides her worn bald spots, she's losing more of her hair. Hopefully it comes back soon! She's also getting very good at grabbing things and can bring her hands together. We bought her a jumperoo this month and she loves to bounce around in it. She's still a little small in it, but she's learning to spin around in the seat and play with the toys.
  

• Claire went to her first picnic. Jon's pals the Hurley's and their friends Vicki and Danny all joined us for a lovely afternoon cookout at Algonkian park.
  


• We visited Gunpowder Falls State Park near Baltimore. Not much to see there so we stopped at Fort McHenry and the Inner Harbour on our way back so the trip wasn't a total bust. Nothing like being a speed tourist!

• Claire got her first pair of sunglasses. In preparation for our family Carribean cruise with Grandma, Papa, and the Billings in early July, Grandma bought her the cutest sunglasses. She is so cool in them!

• Claire had her 4 month doctor visit at just the right time. She got her first cold and eye infection last week. Poor thing has bad sniffles and we keep torturing her with that big blue bulb! She's starting to feel a little better, but she gave mommy her cold. Otherwise the doctor said she is doing great and meeting all her milestones. She weighed in at 14lbs 6oz and 24 3/4 inches long. She's around 75th percentile in her all her stats. She also got her round of 4 month shots this trip..ouch! The doctor also told us to start introducing solids in the next couple months. Which leads to the next event...
  

• Lordy Lordy Jon turned 40! On March 19th we did a simple celebration of just the two of us and dinner at Bennihana. At least that's all he can remember since he over the hill and senile. Just kidding! To keep him young Christi gave him the steering wheel console for his XBox360!

• So that's what's up with the Howards. We're looking forward to our first Mother's Day next weekend. Here's a happy Mother's Day wish to all our new and soon-to-be mommy friends!