At long last....

Do you ever lie awake at night wondering how Clem went from this itty bitty orange tinted critter:



to this chubby cheeked beauty queen?



All your questions will be answered here...in the 12 month Clementine Montage. I've been preparing this blog post for a very long time.

1 month
At this point we were lucky to get a picture with Clementine's eyes open. She slept ALL THE TIME!

Two months
The first hints of her beautiful smile
Three months
That is one happy 3 month old
4 months
Feeling contemplative
5 months
We moved on Clem's 5 month birthday--it was exhausting for all of us!
6 months
Still contemplating life
7 months
Happy girl

8 months
A time of serious teething and subsequent lip biting
9 months
The end of still portraits forever. Clementine learned to sit up on her own and *refuses* to lie still for a picture ever since! 10 months
Beautiful blue eyed baby

11 months
Held captiveAnd now...
our one year old girl--exhausted after her birthday bash. She is snoozing in her hat and birthday outfit on my bed!


Each month I am convinced that Clementine has gotten cuter, sweeter, smarter and funnier. She has made the last year the very happiest time of our lives.

Prepare yourselves

A twelve month photo montage is imminent.

Farm livin' is the life for me

I'm pretty sure I found the life I want to lead today. We drove out to the country to visit Stoneyridge Farms. They have a pumpkin patch and tree farm. I'm pretty sure I could farm these things, too, but Cam said "No thank you." Something about the early mornings and lots of visitors I guess!

Clementine was sound asleep when we got there. Look at her chubby little cheeks! We were nearly done with the farm animals when she finally decided to join us! Needless to say, we started at the beginning and went through again. She LOVED the animals! She chattered at each donkey, goat, rabbit, cow and chicken.



Then we went for a hayride behind the tractor. I want to drive a tractor around my own pumpkin/tree farm!



The farm had a huge pumpkin patch and corn maze. The cornmaze was incredibly muddy and slick though, so we didn't get too far!


Clem found the perfect pumpkin. This picture makes my uterus twitch. I want dozens of little Clementines running around my future pumpkin/tree farm. We'll have a pumpkin/tree/baby farm.



Then we "picked" some apples. We didn't really pick anything but Clem liked reaching out and grasping the apples then moving on to the next cluster.


Back to this picture. Can you stand it? She's cuter than cute. This much cuteness maybe illegal in less liberal states.

11 Months

I can't believe this little girl is 11 months old already! She is trying so hard to walk on her own but she must understand that standing has to be mastered first! She is generally very happy but when she's not--LOOK OUT! She's conquered throwing tantrums already and we don't know if she isn't feeling well or if she is just in a funk sometimes. It could really be any number of things. Anyway, she is very sweet and loves to cuddle but also loves to do her own thing. She's very independent like her mama. She has learned to say "HI!" and wave which she now does to everyone and everything. She also has said "Kitty" to the correct animal a number of times and today she said "Da End" when we finished reading our pumpkin book! This little girl is so smart!

I tried getting her to hold still to get 11 month "portraits" done in preparation for our montage here in a couple of weeks. I had to block her escape with my legs! She is very used to getting tickled and has started tickling us too!

Sunday at the Park

This is our 100th post! WoW! I'll make it a good one!

Today we went back to Whatcom Falls park to re-walk in the foliage and check out the Tot Lot. We are mostly all better now (knock on wood) so we took our sweet time walking about, taking LOTS of photos and playing on the toys. Just a warning, I am saving the best, "Awww," inducing picture for last. I took it and it is GOOD! You probably want to sit down for it though.

Here is our girl playing on the swings. I wish everyone could hear the squeals of glee that come out of this girl. She loves swinging almost as much as she loves eating.
Whatcom Falls has lots of Falls. They are everywhere but in general, all the trails are peaceful and quiet and full of beautiful sights. It was a very nice walk we took. We had to stop every 100 yards or so to get some portraits taken. We just can't help ourselves!


Are you ready???


Here it is!!!


If no sounds of admiration just came out of you, you may need to enlarge the picture. I'll explain what's happening here: unprompted, Cam turned to look at the waterfall and Clementine snuggled into him for a hug. I took a picture and Viola! Can you stand it???


Ok, now for a very cute story: Last week, I took Clementine to my school (after hours) just to pick something up really quickly. Behind the school is a little farm w/ horses, chickens, etc. We were facing the farm where the horses were near us and I pointed "Look, Clementine!" and she got very excited in my arms, straightened up, clapped and said "KITTY!" It was adorable and very sweet at the same time.

Here Fishy Fishy

Over the weekend we went to beautiful Whatcom Falls park to walk in the fall foliage, swing in the swings and check out the little fish in the hatchery. We are all sick (again) with colds so we kept this visit short.


Clementine has figured out what to do when she sees the camera pointed at her. she has become very good at smiling for me!

**A little story to report about my genius baby. On Friday she was waving and waving at Jack who was ignoring her completely. I told her "Say 'HI JACK' Clementine!" and she smiled, waved and said "HI DACK!" I laughed and said "What did you say?!" and she smiled, waved and said "HI DACK!" again! Is this girl a genius or what?