Hook 'Em

Times have changed. There was a time when we tailgated starting at 9 AM for a 6 PM game and went out after the game until all hours. Nowadays, a little Pay Per View Horns game on the TV, a nice homecooked meal, maybe a beer or a glass of wine mixed with snuggles and fun with Claire is a little more our style. Daren got Claire the cutest little Horns outfit so we got her all dressed up and ready to cheer on the Horns. The shirt was a little snug, but we think she still looked pretty cute. We had fun watching the game, and Claire definitely saw a side of Daddy that was a little more rambunctious than what she is used to.

When Daddy got too loud, she did a lot of sweet snuggling with Mommy. We had a good night and GO HORNS!!!!!!!

Gifts from Claire bear

I had a rough day at work. It was a tough day and I felt overwhelmed by it. I couldn't wait to come home and see Claire. I knew it would all disappear, at least for the evening. And, it was just as I thought. I came home, hugged and snuggled with my baby girl, and realized that it doesn't matter. Even though she is a snot-nosed, fever-filled little girl at the moment, she is the sweetest little baby girl in the world. I was putting her to bed tonight. We were rocking in her chair and I was singing her favorite bedtime song. She looked up at me and smacked her lips to give me a kiss and then pasted one big wet one on me. I melted inside.

Claire shows me the power of just letting go. She gives me strength. She makes me want to be better, to love deeper, and to breathe. Deep breath... sigh... relief...and just breathe. I will do my best to leave the stresses of work at work and love my family first.

Daddy/Daughter Day

I had to go to work today to finish all the last minute details before the children arrive tomorrow. Yes, I had to work on a Sunday...boo hoo!! So, I spent the morning with Claire and took off for school around noon. Daddy was very excited to have a day alone for a fun date with Claire bear!

I came home at 4 this afternoon to a sleeping Daddy and a napping baby. I could see remnants of their day- puzzle pieces strewn on the floor, shoes scattered about, a new doll, a few balls lying around, etc... Daddy and Claire had the cutest day together ever! They went to lunch at California Pizza Kitchen, shopped at the mall where Daddy bought Claire a new doll, went to the PetCo and looked at the rabbits, ferrets, mice, puppies, etc..., made a mini-trip to the grocery store and just had a lot of fun together! Claire was so excited and in such a great mood. We ate dinner as a family, gave Claire a bath and she went to bed. It's the little things...yes, it's the little things. I am ready for school tomorrow. Claire had a special day with her Daddy, and Daddy had a lot of fun with his girl.

Mommy misses her baby girl

So, I started work again this week and I have been so depressed. I miss my baby girl so much! We had so much fun this summer playing together- swimming, playing outside, making trips to the museum, shopping together, taking vacations and doing lots of snuggling. Claire seems to be doing just fine going back to day care full-time. In fact, she practically runs to her classroom. I can't lie; it hurts my feelings a bit. Don't get me wrong, though. I am SOO thankful and grateful that she likes her school, her teachers, and her friends there. I wouldn't want it any other way, but it does sting a bit for her to run to her classroom and say "Bye bye Momma."

So I was missing my girl today and left work a bit early to spend some quality time with her. We played outside on her swingset, we laughed and wrestled around on the bed, and we read lots of books. I could tell, though, that Claire was missing Mommy a bit too. Every so often, Claire would look up at me, give me a huge hug, bury her face in my arms, kiss me and say "Momma." Every time, tears would well up in my eyes and I realize how lucky I am. I have so many blessings in my life. One of the biggest ones is my sweet baby girl.

What is she talking about? Bubbles even when she is alone...

Claire has some of the funniest conversations with herself as she falls asleep. It seems like she runs through her day, giggles about it and then repeats the process when she is winding down for bed. I love to eavesdrop. So here is the conversation Claire was having as she went down for her nap today:

"Bay-bee. (Her doll is in the crib with her)
Ni-Ni. Bubbles?! MaMa. Bubbles?!
Ma-Maw. (code for Grandma who came over to play for a little while today)
Bubbles?! (She pauses to laugh hysterically)
Day-see. (code for Daisy)
Es-So, Es-So (Let's Go, Let's Go)
Cheese. DaDa. Bubbles?! (She pauses to laugh again)
MaMa. Bay-bee. Bubbles?! (Then I hear a little rumbling and the thumb goes in the mouth.)
Bubbles?!"

And she is still sleeping... Wonder if she dreams of bubbles too?

Day Care Funnies

Claire's day care completes report cards every day that detail how many times she has peed and pooped, what she ate, what she drank, and any other information that her teachers feel we need to know. Sometimes the additional information describes the nature of her poop BUT the best ones are those that tell funny stories from things she did while we were at work. Here are a couple of the funnies from Claire's daycare report cards:

1. "Claire had a lot of fun at the petting zoo today. She loves the bunnies!! She even made bunny faces at them. Claire wouldn't get anywhere near the goats or the pigs." (Now if you know Claire well, you know that the bunny face is a great talent of Miss Claire bear's.) Check out a picture of Claire making the bunny face...
2. "Claire has been teaching all of the other students the parts of the face. She walked up to Graham today and showed him his nose." (In other words, Claire poked another boy in the face.)
3. "Claire made me sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider with her today probably 100 times. She loves it!"
4. "Claire loves Splash Day but we can't get her to get in the sprinklers. She sits in the puddles in the dirt."
5. Mommy's personal favorite- "Claire had bright green poop today. We are pretty sure she ate a crayon."

Ring Around the Rosy

Grandma knows every children's song you can ever imagine. With Claire, Chris and Charlie, Grandma is like the Pied Piper. They are entranced with her when she is singing. The world could explode around them when Grandma is singing and they wouldn't notice. Seriously... Yesterday, Pops and Grandma taught Claire "Ring Around the Rosy" and she laughed and had the best time while they sang and danced. I bet Grandma and Pops are sore from "they all fall down" because they did it so many times. They seriously sang "Ring Around the Rosy" over and over again. When I finally thought to video them dancing and singing, I think they had performed "Ring Around the Rosy" a good 20 times. Claire laughed and had the biggest smile every single time as if it were the first. Enjoy! You will see her love for music. Watch out dance floor, Claire's coming!

Still very obsessed with bubbles

Claire really loves bubbles. I don't think there has been anything so far in her short life that she loves quite as much as the bubbles. She talks about bubbles even when they aren't around. Claire also loves to say "No No." She says "no no" the most frequently to Sadie, our Lab, who is constantly knocking her down, whacking her in the head with her tail, and begging for table scraps. Claire enjoys making herself laugh too. Watch and see...

Bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles

Miss Claire bear loves bubbles. Bubbles is her new favorite word. She loves to pop bubbles. She wants bubbles when she is outside, when she is eating, when she is playing, when she is swimming, when she is riding in the car...everywhere we go, we WANT bubbles. Mommy bought bubbles and all kinds of bubble toys. Claire is obsessed. Papa even blew a bubble big enough to cover Mommy's whole face. Check it out!

The Name Game

Lately, Claire walks around and randomly says the name of someone that she loves or words that she is learning. Tonight, her word of choice was "Pops." She has done this before but it seems that every time I ask her to say it in front of Pops, she clams up. Trust me, she knows how to work it. Since 'someone' is stubborn, I decided to record her and play the name game. The coolest part is that I got her to say all of her grandparents' names.

Warning: PaPa, wait and watch the whole video...I swear she gets to your name. It was Mommy's fault. I was calling you the wrong name, thus proving that Miss Claire bear has a mind of her own. You are her PaPa, NOT her Grandpa. So, grandparents...if you are watching, enjoy!

Fun times at the Austin Children's Museum!

The boys had sleepover with Claire bear over the course of the last 2 weeks. We had Chris first and then we kept Charlie. We had a blast!! Claire learns so much from spending time with them. At our house, Chris taught Claire how to ride her Elmo bus while Charlie taught Claire more about her puzzles and her new book. Both boys spent a lot of time chasing Daisy around. Both boys are so sweet to Claire and we look forward to many years of friendship and fun for them.

Chris melts our hearts singing all of his songs and telling Claire to "walk away" any time she approaches something that she shouldn't be. He loves to take care of Claire; he is very protective of her. He loves to say "Camille, come get me" when he wants a hug. Charlie melts our hearts by calling us "My D" and "My Camille." He loves to tell us about his bulldozers and he gives great hugs and sweet kisses! He is a great helper and will help Claire and us with anything and everything. They are both the sweetest boys in the world.

At the museum, Chris and Claire climbed through the tunnel probably 50 times! They loved it!



They also spent a lot of time cooking in the little restaurant. They made me a burger and a salad?! Where they came up with that...I don't know. Funny!


With Charlie, Singalong time with the bubbles and the parachute was big fun! Claire and Charlie danced like rock stars. They danced a lot! Unfortunately, I didn't get a good photo of them dancing together but they did! It's not easy trying to enjoy the kids, take photos, and make sure they aren't on top of something they shouldn't be climbing. Ha!Ha!


Charlie and Claire climbed around on the bridge for a long time. Charlie would climb the bridge to play in the frog pond while Claire climbed the bridge to slide.


Overall, this was one of my favorite experiences with each boy. I loved watching the kids just let loose and have fun! It was interesting to see what the different personalities would be interested in doing. Each kid liked different activities and Daren and I had a lot of fun watching!

Photography Treasures from Grammie

Claire's Grammie takes amazing photos. She takes lots of pictures and there are always some really beautiful ones in the bunch that become photos that I know we will treasure forever. A few days ago, Grammie sent us 2 CDs worth of pictures she has taken. We wanted to share one that Daren and I love. So, thanks Grammie for the fabulous pictures! This was one of the pictures in the bunch that has become one of our "all-time" favorites.

Claire's cousins-

Claire's cousins have discovered their talents in singing. We love to listen to them sing. The first clip is Charlie singing his ABCs.


The second clip is Chris singing "Baby Bumblebee."

Our big girl

Claire bear is growing up quickly, it seems. Everytime we turn around, she is doing something new or saying new words. I know this is a blessing, for we want her to develop but it also means "baby days" are close to over. Here are some of the new things that Claire is doing:

1. Singing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" complete with the hand motions. She says "Spi" to indicate she is ready to sing. Check out the picture of Claire singing "Itsy Bitsy."

2. New words- Spi for spider, Mamaw (Grandma), Poss (Pops), Mammie (Grammie), PaPa (Grandpa), LaLa (Lashelle), Nana (banana), Cheese, Sasa (Sausage), Agua
3. Chris taught Claire to love Elmo in San Diego so now she says "Mo" every time she sees her Elmo.
4. She loves to climb stairs, play around the water (notice I didn't say 'in the water'), dance to music, play fetch with Daisy, play anything she can outside because she wants to be outside even if it is 150 degrees!, and she loves to ride in her hot pink car.

San Diego Highlights

The entire Cox family made our way to San Diego to visit the Cat. The boys had their first plane flight and they did so well! We made lots of trips up and down the glass elevator at our hotel, fed the fish in the pond at the hotel, visited the San Diego zoo and made a venture to the beach.

I have to say that my personal favorite thing about the whole trip was watching how sweet the boys are to Claire and how much they all love to play with each other. They held her hand when we walked places, they showed her all the animals, they sang songs to her, and they really started to all become friends...that is priceless!

The kids all loved the zoo. Claire imitated the animals and Chris and Charlie talked to them a lot.



We took a limo to the beach. Pops decided it would be fun to all get to ride together. It was hysterical! There was lots of singing, holding hands and being silly. It was a great idea!

The beach was fun. Charlie loved to dig his trucks in the sand but wasn't too in to the water. Chris was just the opposite. He loved the water but didn't love the sand. Miss Claire bear didn't love much of either. She was loving napping with her Grandma. She spent most of her beach time asleep in her Grandma's arms which is a pretty special spot to be. Maybe next time...??




Overall, we had a great time. San Diego is a great place to visit and Cat is a great tour guide.