12 Months = 1 Year

I'll start this post more focused on Clara's twelfth month and then turn the focus to her first birthday. I tried to take a lot of photos this month, as you will see. 

Clara is getting bigger and I'm starting to let her do more things. I realized I can't keep her out of the sandbox forever so have given up and am working with her to keep the sand out of her mouth and eyes. Of course, her favorite thing is to start throwing the sand out of the box but she's getting much calmer about it now that she gets more playtime. It's the same with the stairs. After falling off the first one I figured I better teach her the proper way to go up and down. She picked it up right away and starting cruising up and down. We have to stay right behind her but the more we let her practice the less excited she is about the stairs. 

Clara has been getting better about taking a few steps at a time and standing around. We went to buy new shoes as the time has come to wear more than socks around town. She loves the new independence. 



Cedric and Clara are still getting along well but we've already reached the "Mom, she's wrecking my life" (he said line but it didn't sound that way) stage. Clara likes to do whatever Cedric does, is imitating him and wants to play with whatever he has. We are working on "trades" and I'm trying to get him to understand that all this just means that she wants to play with him. But he just wants to play with Mommy. It can lead to some frustration on his part. 

Cedric gets as excited as I do when Clara can do something new. He is very excited for her walking. He is very helpful and wants to encourage her. I suggested she sit in the front car with him one day at the store and he was very happy to share his space. 

For their birthdays my parents gave the kids their own playset. Clara loved it right away and has really enjoyed swinging and sliding every day. 

Bob's parents got the kids a personal bouncy house, which I also wonder if Clara enjoys more sometimes. She could sit in that thing with me forever and loves to try the slide down the front. 

Basically, Clara is a very busy girl. She wants to be at the center of the action!

She loves water and bath time!

Clara is also a great eater. Now she doesn't eat everything but she eats most anything, which is a far step above her brother's eating habits. She loves to feed herself - the messier the better. 

She also has a great talent for finding food. She learned to pull on the tablecloth, so that had to go. She also loves to go to the cupboard to find her foods and pull them out. 

Clara loves a good snack! She also is open to new foods and thinks anything that looks small could be tasty. We really have to watch what she puts in her mouth!

And then it was Clara's birthday. 

One Year Stats:
Height - 
Length - 
Head - 



I couldn't tell if Clara liked her special glitter shirt or not. She kept grabbing at it all day and looking at it. I generally don't put her in many sparkles as anything that could be picked off and eaten would be.

Cedric suggested that we eat lunch at Freddy's so Clara could have her birthday ice cream, just like he did. Such a nice brother!

Then it was time to try birthday smash cake, take two.

It did not go well. 

So I cut off a little piece and gave her a fork. She loved eating it on her own, the one time she didn't want to get messy!

And there you have it. One year old Clara. Little girl Clara. She's been a joy this past year and we can't wait to see how she grows this next year! Happy Birthday!

Clara's First Birthday Party

On August 21st we threw Clara her first birthday party. The theme was colors :) - just like Cedric's first birthday. 

We had the grandparents and my brother over for a BBQ dinner, cake and presents. The cake was a carrot/zucchini cake with cool whip icing as I was sure Clara would eat the whole thing. Turns out the fire scared her (or we did when she tried to touch the candle) and she was in no mood to smash and eat. She did have some bites from a fork, similar to her brother's first cake experience. 

Cedric always has had a special birthday shirt so I wanted the same for our Clara. We went with a gold glitter heart onsie from Etsy. 

Clara did get a few presents, though she really doesn't need anything. Her brother has plenty of toys to pass down to her. 

Clara was a little interested in opening the gifts but Cedric did most of the opening. Overall it was a nice little party and a good day for our Clara!

Cedric's First game at the K

The Sunday after Cedric's birthday my dad, brother, Bob, Cedric and I headed to the K for Cedric's first Royals game in KC. We started the afternoon with a trip to the kids area. There were lots of games and we may have over-estimated Cedric's enthusiasm. It was hot and the lines were long before the game started. 

We did get Cedric to the seats in the first inning to eat some popcorn and learn a little about baseball with Grandpa. 

Next we headed over back to the kids area for a little batting practice. Cedric was sad that he didn't hit the ball and moped around the bases. 



Cedric was getting a little hot and tired but that was nothing a little cotton candy and more popcorn couldn't fix. 

 We all had to take off at the sixth to head back to Lawrence for Clara's birthday dinner. It was a fun trip to the K - we hope to head back next season!

Happy 4th Birthday Cedric!

Here he is, our big four year old Cedric. 

The stats finally came in, though the height was a bit off thanks to a funny angled posture. I think he's really a little taller ;)

Height 41.5 in -74%

Weight 38 lbs, 8 oz - 70% 

Cedric is growing and learning so much every day. He has a great memory and is very good with numbers. He's coming along learning the alphabet, he is just starting to get an interest in reading/writing himself. 

Last Sunday we threw a little dinosaur party for a few of Cedric's friends. Having a summer birthday is hard, people are out of town and school friends are a little sparse. We decided to just have a big play date with cake and enjoy Cedric (and Clara's) big birthday presents. They were given a bounce house from Bob's parents and a play set from mine. Both have been big fun this past week and made for a fun party. I held the party in the afternoon so I wouldn't have to plan for a dinner but that would have helped give the parents something to do. Next year I may have to plan more. We will see.

I made a cake for my friend Alanna's birthday (still need to post about that visit) and Cedric liked it so much he wanted me to make his cake too. I let him make all the decisions and it turned out a little special. It may have been a little better if I had made more frosting and not let Cedric start sprinkling before I had decorated. Anyway, I title this cake "When you watch too much Great British Baking Show". PS Can you please release all the old seasons of the Bake-Off to the US? 

Cedric had 8 friends at the party, though one had to leave early after throwing up on my carpet. Thanks to the Podany's for dealing with that clean up and letting me tend to the party. Other then that, everything went smoothly and we had a great time! 

Today was Cedric's actual birthday and we opened presents and sang before Bob went to work, just in case he couldn't get home for dinner. Cedric was excited and even came in my room to wake me up for the third time in our new house (the other time I'm pretty sure he was sleepwalking and he only ever did it a few other times in Boston). The present of the day was a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Duplo set. He rarely sees the show but was happy to play this game all day. 

We sang Happy Birthday with a cinnamon roll and 4 monster candles - we may need candles at every meal now :). 

We played, went to the library and then to Freddy's for a birthday lunch with custard - his choice, of course. Cedric is wearing the special birthday shirt that didn't arrive in time for his party. Cedric LOVED his 3rd birthday "3" shirt so I knew it would be a good investment for the year. It has a T-Rex with a 4 inside and says "Cedricasauras Rex". It's cool, like his mother. 

In the afternoon we played with water and his new water gun out back. Clara loves the water so she was happy to participate!

 Cedric was a little sad, or maybe just tired, at the end of the day. Clara has been waking up early and Cedric is still a very light sleeper. He did say he was sad that he wasn't 3 anymore and I was a little sad too. Another year, an older boy and next an older girl. August will always be bittersweet for us - so much change in one month!