Mama's Little Helper

Clementine LOVES to *help* me with my chores. I figure this is going to really pay off in like two years! I'm grooming her.
Anyway, she has started mimicking me and it's hilarious.

While I fold laundry, she always sits with me and *helps* with the socks. She picks them up one by one, shakes the sock then sets it down to pick up another. Sometimes I like to stick the socks on her hands and watch to see how she gets out of that situation; that's SUPER hilarious!

On this day I tried to catch her folding her stack of socks so I kept the camera on my lap.

Shaking out the sock

Wait a minute....
She certainly didn't get this from ME! (That's clean by the way!)



She continued folding her stack of socks with this CLEAN one in her mouth. I couldn't get a still picture though because I was laughing so hard.

And yes, she does wear that onesie at least three days a week. It's my favorite.

8 Months!

Holy cow, this baby is already 8 months old! She is suddenly doing EVERYTHING all at once! Today she was sitting in the window when our neighbor walked by and Clementine waved to her! Twice!
Her new favorite thing is climbing me--she starts at my legs when we're playing on the floor--then she uses my clothes to pull herself closer and closer to my face. Today, I thought that's what she was going to do but she pulled on my leg and stood herself up!! When did she learn to do that??

This week she's learned to go from sitting to crawling and crawling to sitting, turn the aquarium in her crib on and off (and laugh and laugh at this), slap the water in the bath to make a big mess and she's been very into hair--she loves to play with mine or pull on Cam's goatee.

If we continue at this rate she'll be walking by Tuesday and driving by Friday!

The drawback to all this new interest in things is that she NEVER holds still now and is into EVERYTHING! I used to be able to hold Clementine on my lap while I blogged or check emails; NO MORE! She grabs things off the desk and throws them to the floor! What a trip this kid is!

I tried getting some 8 month pictures of her this week. She had a lot to say during our portrait session and was very squirmy so I only got a few good ones. Here are the favs:

What a Year

This is a picture of Clementine a year ago.


How is it I can remember the details from this day with such clarity but I forget my own phone number and whether or not I had a shower this morning??
On this particular day a year ago, I drove to the hospital to meet Cameron for the BIG REVEAL. I was feeling so excited knowing I was going to find out who had been kicking me for the last few weeks and so nervous that the technician might find something scary in there. I listened to 10,000 Maniacs on my way to the hospital and drank a huge bottle of Dr. Pepper because I read that the only way to be sure the baby stays awake is to get them all hopped up. I did not want to chance a sleeping baby with her legs crossed! We HAD to know.

I remember seeing this gorgeous face in grainy black and white and going "That is Cameron's nose and chin!" and I was right!

Then and now...

Whenever Clementine sleeps through the night I want to sing this good news from the rafters. Since I am tone deaf and we don't have any rafters I instead take my joy out in the kitchen.

This morning (at 6am) I made homemade rolls for dinner tonight. These things are such an indulgence. I cannot resist them.

Here is some more good news: I am finishing my Master's Degree this week (for real this time). About two months ago I posted the good news that I was ALREADY done with my degree. That same day I received an email from my school saying there had been a mix-up and I still had one last class to go. Now, eight weeks later, I have completed said class and my entire degree. I'm trying to sort of reign in my joy and elation *just in case* I receive another email. But for now I am planning on catching up on all my scrapbooking that I haven't gotten to do much of in the last 18 months!

These are my new all time favorite pictures of our little Love Bug. We took these in our backyard on Monday while the sun was shining brightly. I started blowing bubbles for Clementine, which she loved, but she quickly lost interest and played with her sunglasses instead.



There is just something about that hat that gets to me! I love it!

Deep Thoughts with Clementine

Sometimes it seems as though I can read Clementine's thoughts. We are very in tune with one another that way. She can probably read my thoughts as well, though most of my thoughts these days are "Clementine, please go to sleep."

Here I will narrate for you Clementine's thought process as Cameron feeds her:


"Wait a second here...YOU are going to feed me? I'm not so sure about this...."



"So far so good. But I have to say, Daddy, your hair is pretty messy. I think you need a haircut (Mommy told me to say that)."
"Excuse me, I'm waiting...."
"Keep this train a-movin', pops. Here, I'll help you."

"You like SEE FOOD Daddy?"
Aren't these two so funny together? I wish I had a camera pointing over Clementine's shoulder back at Cameron because he's the goofiest dad ever. He does the silliest voices, makes the goofiest faces and can just crack this girl of ours up! He hams it up for her and she does it right back. Cam and Clem are two peas in a pod.

P.S. Clementine *MIRACULOUSLY* slept though the night last night! Hallelujah!

Grandma and Grandpa Visit

Dear Loyal Readers,
Sometimes I lose my camera. I have been losing many, many things lately but when I lose the camera, the blog suffers. Inevitably, once I find the camera the battery is dead which just takes even more away from my faithful postings. Such is the case in the last week or so. I am playing catchup so prepare for blog postings 60-98 today.



Last weekend, Grandma Cathy and Grandpa Jim came to visit all the way from Alaska. We took a tour of Bellingham, went to see Cam at work, visited the farmers' market, went out to dinner, put together the new dresser and visited bunches.
Cathy and Clementine took a walk in our backyard one sunny afternoon.