A Lovely Day

My beautiful sister on her wedding day.
We love you Callie and Alex Kurtz!

First Christmas

Celebrating at the Graybeal's


Sweet reindeer cousins



Sorry it's sideways, I just like Claire's expression here.

At Granny and Poppa's Christmas day

With Grandy and Mimi. Claire was so wonderful all day until the end.

Granny and Poppa

She looks so small with Grandfather.

In Pennsylvania.

Pretty Aunt Crystal

We surprised Grandmama with a visit to Rhode Island

Propped up like a little princess

Snow in RI!

Crazy Times

December 18 2009:

The day the madness began. Moving from our lovely home in Asheville, temporarily to Greenville with the hopes of making our more permanent move to Winston-Salem in February.

Claire and I left Asheville for our move to Greenville at 7:45 am hoping to dodge a snowstorm. Living in WNC we had grown accustomed to threatening winter weather forecasts that never quite seemed to hit the mark, little did we know that we would miss out on the biggest snowstorm in Asheville since '93 (don't worry, though we missed it we were not forgotten.) On the way to Greenville the snow was beautiful and persistent. Once we got on highway 25 the snow was completely covering the roads. I guess my little Pontiac Vibe sensed an opportunity for adventure (I guess our monster drive way in Aville wasn't enough for her.) She decided she wanted to go off the road, down a hill stopping just short of a ditch. I was stuck in the snow with my sweet 5 1/2 month old baby in the back and a car packed to the brim. After tearful phone calls to Jon and my father-in-law a good samaritan stopped to help and eventually towed us out.


We finally made it to Greenville safely. We settled in and celebrated Christmas with the Graybeals.



After our Christmas festivities Jon and I were off to the Hyatt to spend the night to enjoy our 4 year anniversary. An hour before leaving we received a phone call from the potential buyers of our house (on which we were supposed to close in four days, December 22.) They were informing us that a tree had fallen on our home. A few hours before I had been pouting because we missed the only big snow since we had been in Asheville now we were so grateful that we were not there. Needless to say, we could not close on the 22 (we are hoping for Jan 23) and there was a lot of damage, more water damage from the big hole in the roof. Repairs are currently in progress.

We were still able to have a wonderful anniversary, our first night together away from Claire. The buyers are still committed to the house and all is (sort of) well. We are hanging in there.

After the tree had been removed from the house. Funny thing... after seeing ice on the trees in Gville the night before, I joked about a tree falling on our house.

At least the snow was pretty.

More November Goodness

Well, I believe my mom was right (they almost always are, true?) She told me at the very beginning, " as soon as you think you have them figured out, they change." Just last week I was feeling so proud that after 4 months I finally had a grip on Claire's schedule and things seemed to be going so so well. This week she decided to change her schedule, or lack thereof. Her 45 minute morning naps have turned into 30 minutes or less (she is in her crib making noise right now while I'm hoping she falls back asleep.) Her eating schedule seems thrown off and it has us both frustrated and confused. I know now though to just take it day by day, sometimes hour by hour and to not expect the same things, good or bad, to happen every day.

She is so strong now. She can support herself so well on her stomach and she is remembering that she can roll back to her back after some time fussing on her stomach. She is doing a great job holding onto toys. It's crazy to think that just a few weeks ago she didn't even know that she could hold things on purpose. Her skinny little bottom even fits into size 2 diapers now. She still loves to kick like crazy. This morning her sleeper was completely undone on the bottom half and both of her legs were freed. The morning before I went in to get her up and both her sleeper and sleep sack were on backwards, with all limbs in the proper slots. I am perplexed by this. I almost wonder if Jon or I did it on our sleep.


As Claire is growing and changing we love her more each day, I can only imagine what this love will look like in time. Some days she is easier to love than others, but I guess that is how it goes with all of us.

We have had a lot going on with the holidays starting and Lauren's wedding. It has all been wonderful so far. We are here in Asheville for only a few more weeks until our move to Greenville then to Winston Salem. I have so many mixed feelings about all of it. It breaks my heart to think our home and life here will soon only be a memory to us.


Claire was finally able to meet my Aunt Merle and cousin Andrew!



Five month beauty





Family portrait at Thanksgiving. We were thankful for the sun in our faces.
ps: like Jon's shirt???



My dear and beautiful (inside and out!) friend Lauren on her wedding day.



Love the eyes here.

Cousins at Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving in Greenville with GramE, Gramps, Aunt Carol, Crystal, James, Jake and Bradley. We ate a lot and laughed a lot. Claire seemed to enjoy watching her cousins play around her. It won't be long until she can join them! Gramps and Uncle James worked hard building an awesome tree house for the grand kids to play in!


Bradley prefers leaves over turkey



Claire admiring Bradley's ability to crawl







It was impossible to get them to smile at the same time.



Bradley is thinking about giving Claire a new hairdo

Lots of Pictures

We put a bow in her hair and laughed a lot.



She loves to explore faces!



Twins!


Playtime on the floor


She is doing a great job rolling to her stomach.
If only she would do as good of a job rolling back over.





Meeting her new friend James!


She likes her babydoll!



With friends Jacq and Benjamin



Sweet squishy face


Good morning!