38 weeks

Claire will be nine months old next Monday, making her 38 weeks old as of today.

38 weeks pregnant, last June 22. This was also the last weekly photo I took because I was apparently over it? Alas, she would not arrive for three more weeks.

And here she is now:

Breakfast at Marie's, eating a Mum Mum and staring at everyone as they walked by.

At 38 weeks old, Claire is a gem. Brian and I have both remarked on fun she is at this age. Not that we haven't LOVED EVERY MOMENT (um...), but babyhood is a lot more challenging when all your baby does is eat, sleep, poop, and cry. She still does all of those things, but she's so much more interactive. She picks up Cheerios off her highchair tray, she laughs, she rolls around while we try to get her dressed. This week, she's started giving kisses, and just this morning she raised her hands in the air when we asked her how big she is ("so big!").

Right now we seem to be in the magical sweet spot in which she is really great when we go out, largely because she is content to sit and watch the world. This also works at home. While she's not crawling yet, she's mastered the directional roll. Even still, she'll sit and play with her toys for a long while without trying to get into anything. Mostly. The other day we did discover her playing in the cats' water dishes, so we apparently need to actually, you know, WATCH her now. In any case, we'll take it as long as it lasts, as I know soon she'll be much more interested in running all over the place.