It's Naked Baby Time!

Here is Claire playing naked in her Pack 'n' Play. I learned from her Cosmic Great-Aunt Hazel that this helps diaper rash. Claire loved playing naked and shrieked and squealed with delight for a whole hour!

Sleepy Head

This is Claire sleeping in our bed. She fell asleep while I was holding her and reading, so I just let her stay there with her little blanket. She slept for almost three hours! Look at her new eyebrows. Aren't they pretty?

New Pack 'n' Play

Claire has a new Pack 'n' Play! It is dark pink and light pink, and it is the best baby invention ever! Here is Claire playing in it with her favorite toys - her feet!

Four-Month Doctor's Appointment

Claire went to see her pediatrician, Dr. Gleason, on Wednesday. Claire loves Dr. Gleason and flirts with him at every appointment. She is four months and one week old and weighs 12 pounds 13 ounces (25th percentile) and is 24 inches long (50th percentile). And here I thought she was such a chunk! Claire had one oral vaccine and four shots. Poor baby! We had a good, fast nurse, though, so it was over quickly. She had a low fever that night, but it went right down with a little Tylenol.

Storytime

About three weeks ago, Claire started to really like to be read to. I bought her a copy of The Very Hungry Caterpiller and read it to her at the beginning of September, while we were in Nashville visiting Aunt Libber. Check out this video Libber's friend, Ruthie, taped!

Emmy Lou and First Laugh

Claire and I went to Nashville to visit Aunt Libber last weekend. We met her fantastic friends, Ruthie and Rachel. Ruthie has a sweet, gentle little dog named Emmy Lou. Emmy Lou likes to bathe Claire. Don't worry. I washed off the doggie kisses!

While we were visiting, Libber decided to take us to the Park restaurant on a Sunday. After getting there, getting out of the car, and putting Claire into her stroller, we discovered they were closed for a private party. While talking about where to eat dinner instead, I made a suggestion of a restaurant Libber didn't like, and she made a fake "throwing up" sound, kind of like "HUOOOahhh". It was really loud. All of a sudden, we heard this noise and looked down at Claire, who had startled and who was now laughing hysterically for the first time. It sounded like "huh huhhuhhuhhuh!" It was so funny that Libber and I kept on making fake throw-up sounds to keep her laughing. All of a sudden, we realized we probably shouldn't be doing that over and over in the parking lot of a really nice restaurant! Since then, I have found that tickling Claire's feet sometimes makes her chuckle, but I have not been able to get her to belly laugh like her Aunt Libber did!

Feeding Herself?!

Babies are not supposed to be able to feed themselves until they are six months old, and even then, it is messy. Claire has decided to start feeding herself at three and a half months. She tries to take the bottle from me when I am feeding her, and likes to practice taking it out of her mouth and putting it back in. While not the most efficient way to get milk into her tummy, she has a lot of fun. I never leave her unattended with the bottle, and I never prop the bottle. She is still pretty uncoordinated, but she probably won't be for long!