rough day

it was inevitable...thalia has her first cold. poor girl is completely stuffed up. she has only been in day care for a week!! although, lately a bunch of 1 year olds have been in the infant room when i drop thalia off in the morning and the other day they totally surrounded her in her carseat and i think all of them were snotty. gross. so now thalia has given me her cold. so my nose is running, my head hurts, and i am freezing!
on top of that, she has been sleeping terribly. part of it was probably the trip to michigan and having to sleep in a "crib" (read: pack n play) at the hotel. the "experts" say that babies thalia's age don't really need to wake up to eat in the middle of the night. and to feed them only a little bit so they "realize" they don't get much for waking up. yeah flippin' right. feeding thalia a little bit only gets me a screaming baby at 1-1/2 hour intervals. she doesn't eat that frequently during the day! this is getting totally ridiculous. forget the experts. she is just going to get to eat as much as she wants because i am tired of getting one hour of sleep at a time. it hasn't been this bad in months! and of course it is just me down here so i don't get to rest ever. last night she went to sleep early but then i had to catch up on all the stuff i had put off from being gone last week - like laundry, unpacking (still not done), paying bills. i still didn't get to bed until i usually do.
okay, i think that is all the venting i have for today. to end on a funny note, we had to get a medical form filled out for thalia for daycare and at 6-1/2 months, thalia is in the 82nd percentile for height and 28th percentile for weight! what a lil' peanut!!

much love and no sleep,
c and t

home!

so thalia and i made it home from north carolina safe and sound. i really need to find a direct flight home though. we had a three hour layover in charlotte! but i have to pay out of my pocket right now so we had to go cheap. in october things should be better. thalia did wonderfully on the plane...just not so wonderfully going back to sleep when we got home. who could blame her really? she got a three hour nap and daddy to play with! must be nice.
so grandma and grandpa got to play with her yesterday because i had a meeting all day and chris had to teach. aunt steph and i went shopping for a while, though steph did better than i did. but i was glad to get to spend some one on one time with her. and grandma has thalia again today so i could get some work done from home. i have a big responsibility that i have to have done tomorrow so i am a little nervous, but really happy to have a project to work on.
and tomorrow YIAYIA AND PAPOU COME!!! (sorry grandma and grandpa...we see you a lot so you don't get caps) AND AUNT DR. NIKKI AND UNCLE TOBY, too!!! i cannot wait to see my dad - i haven't seen him since nikki's wedding. and he hasn't seen thalia since then! what a big change! i am excited to see toby too because i haven't gotten to see him in a long time either. plus i need to kick his butt for surfing so much!
speaking of thalia changing...just since we have been home she has started pulling herself to standing all over the place!! just before we left, she would climb on me but never stand. and it is super funny watching her crawl on the hardwood floor. she is used to carpet so her little knees were slipping because she had pants on! totally cute. and the little rhino has been blabbin' up a storm. if you set her down in the family room all you hear is "blah blah blah". it is amazing to hear her little voice! it is so much different from her "ah-goo" days. truly incredible.
so tonight chris and i get to go on our first date in....a long time! :o) nothing fancy...just some food, a drink, and some time to chat. i am looking forward to it. then hopefully a good night's rest because tomorrow it is off to great-gram and great-gramps' house before my family gets in to town. then the weekend starts!! and its weddings and showers and visiting!!
lots of running around but lots of important people to be running around to. i am looking forward to getting to seeing my extended family and having them see how much thalia has changed in person.
wish us luck!!
much love and some more sleep (thalia slept from 930 until 345 straight last night!! yay!)
c, c, and t

lots of pics

is that not the cutest picture of thalia? i have some more for you too.

first, some people were asking what my apartment looks like... so here you go:
not the ritz, not the motel 6 either :o)
so on to more thalia...

this is what happens when you forget that your baby can crawl and you walk away for a second:

this is my daughter living up to her namesake of being an inspiration of comedy:

this is chris' daughter acting like a rhinoceros:

the poor girl doesn't understand physics yet (who does?) so when she crawls and something gets in her way (like a couch) she tries to push through it. she doesn't rock back and forth or anything. she just tries to bulldoze through it. it is the funniest thing.

and for the grand finale...here are some of thalia's six month pictures

WE GET TO GO HOME TOMORROW!!! wish us luck flying home!

much love and hopefully more sleep,

c and t

what a week!

as if surviving our first week in north carolina wasn't feat enough, we have had quite a few adventures this week! well, i already told you that thalia is doing well at school and she had tried some chicken. we also got to try carrots this week. i mixed some up in her cereal. she was still a little hungry when her cereal was gone so i gave her some out of the jar and that was a little intense for her. but she still did pretty well.

now that i have teased you for a little bit, here comes the big news...thalia is crawling!! she had kind of been scooting around but then all of a sudden she just crawled to me! it was really awesome. i am going to try to put the video on here but the computer i brought with me down to nc has nothing on it. so i don't know if it will load properly. but i think it should...i just won't be able to see it.

thalia also somehow got herself under her exersaucer! check this out...i thought it was too funny.

now that thalia is crawling, and i think since being at school, and of course because she is a little diva, she really likes looking at herself in her puppy mirror. so i tried to get a picture of her face through the mirror. i don't think it came out too bad for my first try.

today we went and played with elizabeth and sophie again. and elizabeth's husband dusten was there too so it was fun getting to spend time with him. he is really cute with sophie.

oh and before we went to see thalia's cousins, we went to sears to get her six month pics taken. i will try to put one or two up here in the next day or two. they are amazing. and of course all the photographers were just falling all over thalia! i ordered a bunch of prints so be sure to let me know if you want one.

and if all that weren't enough, we are going to try out a church that chris found for me online. and wouldn't you know it...the church is just 4 miles away from the fair grounds. and what is at the fair grounds this weekend? that would be the greek festival!!! loukomathes, here i come!!

wish us luck on another adventurous day!

much love and little sleep...yes, we are still struggling with getting thalia to sleep better...

c, c, and t

i forgot...

i forgot to tell you about our food adventures as of late...

well i finally had the chance to try my hand at making my own baby food. sunday i made pears and froze them. thalia is trying them today for the first time so we will see what the report is when i pick her up from "school". then last night i really dove in and tried making chicken. i basically poached a few chicken tenders and then put them in my food processor. it kinda looked like canned chicken. about the time i had finished chopping it all up, thalia was getting hungry so i figured she may as well try some. she had a hard time swallowing the chicken at first because it wasn't totally pureed but she got the hang of it and loved it! she didn't even spit any out! now i have to stop by the grocery store because i don't have anything else to puree. i am thinking peas and green beans next. i am pretty excited because we hadn't gotten to try many things before we left michigan. now i feel like i am a bit of a better mom for giving her different foods.

i'll keep you posted on what comes next!

love you!

First Days

so i am sure you are all dying to hear about thalia's and my first days at work and day care ("school"). truthfully, it has gone better than i had expected. before we left, thalia had been having some minor separation issues so i was really hoping things would go smoothly on monday. i want to say that it was tough to leave her but i am a terrible mom and was so concerned about making it to work on time that we gave her kisses, she found a toy to put in her mouth and chris and i were off to gsk! i think it was good though because i didn't really have time to dwell on it. plus i have been leaving her at home to go to work for months. so it wasn't that bad. and she has been doing really well at school too. the teachers love her. and she is one of the first babies there in the morning so she gets good one-on-one attention for a little while. on monday, she did her first art project! the teacher, miss alice (which is totally misleading because miss alice is about 50 years old!), painted the babies' feet and did footprint art. i think the school is going to send out the pictures. which is super cool - the school will email me pictures of stuff they do during the day. i will be sure to post some of those when i get them.

monday night we got to have dinner with chris' cousin elizabeth and her daughter sophia who just turned one. she is super cute and has these teeney little teeth! the girls had fun throwing everything on the floor, while we had fun catching up and having dessert!

my first few days at work (not that you care as much, but you have to hear about it anyway!) have been great. i am getting to know a lot of people and beginning to get familiar with some of the reports we use. i got to sit in on my first meeting yesterday and actually got to contribute to the discussion, which felt awesome! and the guy that i am going to be working with the most, Ted, was really impressed and is excited to have me sit in on other meetings and give him my thoughts. he said he is happy to have a field person's input because a lot of the people in the commercial analysis department have never been in the field. so i am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks to really get going. everyone has been really super nice. my desk is on everyone's way to our break area so a lot of people have been stopping by and introducing themselves.

other than that, thalia is beginning to adjust to our new place. we had a rough weekend with naps and sleeping but the past two nights have been better. here are some great pictures of her chillin' on our couch and getting a bath in the sink. we have a "garden tub" which is nice if you want to take a bath yourself, but not so nice to try to give your child a bath. so for now, she is in the sink. i may try the kitchen sink next time...it's a little bigger.

i think that is all for now. we really miss you guys. chris left yesterday so make sure you give him a call or get together with him so he has someone to play with. it was hard last night but i think we will be okay. and i get to come home tuesday and stay home for 5 days so that will be really nice.

back to work! much love and a little more sleep,

c, c, and t

we made it!

just wanted to let everyone know that all three of us made it down to north carolina safe and sound. my drive got a little harrowing last night when i was driving down a highway with a 5% grade (read: very steep) and many curves when fog and rain came in and made visibility about 5 feet. AND there was construction so there were no lane lines. talk about scary!!! chris meanwhile had uneventful flights with the baby in tow.
my new apartment is great! it's really nice walking in and most of the moving is down for you! my new address is:
2314 summitt ridge loop
morrisville, nc 27560
yes there are two "t"s in summitt. we aren't sure why but if you try to mapquest it without the second "t" it comes back with a "cannot find exact location" message.
we also signed thalia up at a childtime down here. her "teacher" is a really nice older lady. we met some of the other infants and teachers. we were really pleased with them and we are saving about $400 a month but getting nearly the same ciriculum and care and attention.
that's about it for now. much more to come though!

much love and hopefully more sleep,
c,c and t

as promised

well, i made it home from my meeting and i think i am all packed. and as promised, before i leave, i wanted to give you some new pics. isn't the hippo one adorable?! i will put it in this post too so you can make it bigger.

go blue!

six months already!

thalia got her hand in her cereal and then wiped her face

chewing on her new favorite toy

thalia's first impression of peas

she was holding on to her crib rail in her sleep! isn't that precious?!

more to come once we get down there. love you all!!

much love and no sleep,

c, c, and t

quick update

hey all,
just wanted to give you a couple quick hit updates. first, thalia had her six month checkup on tuesday and she is "perfect"! :o) i forgot to ask chris how big she is now but the doctor said she is doing great and to keep trying new foods. so far she has had peas, pears, bananas, and ice cream and mashed potatoes courtesy of her grandparents! so for the record, ironically, if thalia is addicted to ice cream it is not my fault!!
in terms of milestones, she is trying really hard to crawl. she is getting up on all fours easier and more frequently but can't quite get her legs and arms to move at the same time. then she gets mad and throws her arms behind her like a beached whale which really doesn't help the situation. she is getting even better at sitting up. now she can turn and look over her shoulder without tipping over. she still does tip over from time to time and she gets a funny look on her face when she does. i try not to laugh but sometimes she cracks me up!

second, i am leaving tomorrow for north carolina. i will arrive and friday and finally solidified an apartment that is close to ron and martha and close to a daycare. not only that, but it is on the first floor (the other option was on the third floor!) and i can move in on friday (the other first floor option wasn't available until late next week). so while i am sad to leave my family and friends and colleagues, i am excited about the opportunity and to get down there and have an impact.

so continue to keep us in your prayers as we prepare for this move. i am still in traverse city for a meeting and haven't packed for my trip tomorrow. and pray for chris that he does well flying with thalia by himself. i know he will do great. i will keep you posted on our progress and promise to put up some new pics (including thalia's six month hippo pic) before i leave tomorrow.

thanks for your love, support, and prayers. we really feel like we have the best extended family!

much love and less sleep,
claire

big news

many of you already know this but for those of you that don't, i have some big news to share. i have accepted a year long rotation in the marketing department for one of the medicines i sell. unfortunately, the marketing department is in raleigh, north carolina. the plan is for me and thalia to move down to raleigh and for chris to follow sometime later this year. yes, i know that is shocking to some...but he has a lot in the air with the band right now. so he is going to focus on his music and trying to get the band's cd signed to a record label. he should know by christmas what is going to happen with it. then he will either be a rock star :o) or move down to nc with thalia and me. we think it is a win-win situation. i get to pursue my dream of being involved in marketing and he gets to pursue his dream of becoming a rock star. yes it is going to be hard for everyone to be apart but the company does provide two airline tickets a month that either i can use to fly back to michigan or chris can use to fly down to raleigh.

so the plan is for me to leave thursday morning and drive my car down, and for chris to fly down with thalia on friday. the company provides a furnished apartment for us to live in so hopefully we can move into it friday. i may have to wait until later the next week depending on availability. i am trying to work that out today. i also still have to find a day care for thalia since chris is going to stay in ypsi for a while and the one that i looked at that was "on campus" cost more than my house payment. (yikes!) so next week is going to be crazy...just like this week actually. but it is a fantastic opportunity for me...i am the only person in the country who will be doing this particular rotation.

please keep up in your prayers over this next week as we get ready to move thalia and me down to north carolina. we do have some family down there which will be very helpful and comforting. but it is definitely going to be a big adjustment. thanks for all your love and support!

much love and little sleep,

c, c, and t

here is a funny picture of thalia chewing on her hat strap to make you smile :o) have a great weekend!

labor day at hubbard lake

hello everyone! i hope you all enjoyed a long weekend. we spent the weekend up at hubbard lake and while this was thalia's second trip up to our cottage, it was her first time actually getting in the water or going out on the boat. here are some quick favorites from the trip...more to come! love you all!

much love and little sleep (again...grr!), c, c, and t