Notes for the Baby book...

Clare turned 9 months old on February 23rd. She currently has her 2 bottom teeth and one top tooth. The second top tooth is just begging to break through. She loves to eat finger foods and isn't a fan of applesauce. I can eat dairy now, but we haven't tried her eating it yet. Her favorite foods are bread, sweet potatoes and squash.

She only takes one nap in the daytime which is different from Bernadette at this age. Starting in February, I began letting the girls sleep in until 9, nap from 2 - 4 and then they go to bed around 9. It has really been working out well for our family. Sometimes if she's sick or didn't sleep well the night before, she'll take a 15 - 30 minute nap around 11.

She is starting to babble a bunch. For awhile, the only babbling she did was clicking her tongue. Every time we'd try to get her to say something, she'd look at us with a big smile and "click, click, click" is all we'd hear. We had succumbed to the fact that she was speaking her own language of clicks and we would have to learn to interpret. Much to our relief, the sound of this week is "la la la la la." Last night, she actually said her first word! With prompting, she said "Papa" and it was the sweetest thing. After she said it, she looked right at my husband and pointed at him.

She also loves to wave, give hugs (with pats), and kisses. She sleeps with a number of dolls and her favorites are Ted (a teddy bear) and her camel that Jeremy gave her for Valentines day. When we check on her at night, she is often laying on top of or with her around one of these two.

Her personality has really started to blossom this last month. She loves to laugh. She knows where her toes are and is working on her tummy. She tries to play peek-a-boo, but at least one of her hands usually ends up on the side of her head instead of over her eyes.

She also loves to play with anything her sister DOESN'T want her to play with. She crawls all over the house and stands up on everything. She'll walk if you hold her hands or if she's pushing something (like a chair). She occasionally lets go and stands for a few seconds.

She is a completely different person from her sister even though they look so much alike. I look forward to the many years of getting to know them ahead of me and pray that I can raise them to be ladies worthy of Heaven.