{ EYE PATCH or HEADBAND? }

Since Claire has been born I have started making her headbands. I have had so much fun doing it. Not only is it fun for me, but it makes it much easier for people to determine if Claire is indeed a boy or a girl. I feel like I'm doing all those strangers out there a small favor. Though my husband agrees that they are cute, more than anything he sees them as a torture device. All because OCCASIONALLY (ok maybe multiple times a day) This happens........
It usually takes us a few minutes to realize. Poor thing. So now we call them eye patches. Brian can't wait for the day when Claire has enough hair that we don't have to put headbands and bows on her to make sure that people are aware of her gender. Little does he know I have every intention of putting cute headband and bows on my little girl as long as she lets me. Thats what moms do right?
<3 Lu

{ YOU MAKE MY HEART AFLUTTER }

This Valentine's was glorious. We started out the day with a Valentine Photo shoot of Claire. Since I didn't ever get around to sending out actual valentines, these pictures made up for that. Then Mr. B sent me a beautiful bouquet of tulips. They are among my favorite flowers. For this my husband is lucky because he hates the smell of flowers ( bizarre right? ), and tulips are without much of a scent at all. Anyway, I loved them. Later that night he surprised me with a babysitter and a delightful dinner at Flemings in Salt Lake. It was just so perfect. After we got home we indulged in some much desired Hagen dazs, rocky road ice cream. And just when things couldn't get better, I surprised Brian with couples massages the next day. And of course this indeed included another evening with a babysitter. Don't think that we don't love being with Claire, because we absolutely do. It's just so wonderful to actually be able to focus on one another for more than a few seconds and not be interrupted by our little peanut. However I'm pretty sure 90% of our conversation was aabout Claire. Anyway it was indeed a day/week of love in the Phelps house hold. Yay for L O V E.

<3 Lu

{ I WANT A SUNDAY KIND OF LOVE }

Today was Claire's fourth week in a row of going to church. It just so happened that today was a beautiful sunday here in Utah. It was a small reminder of the nice weather we left months ago. I couldn't help but crave the California weather just a little bit. Why oh why cant Utah just be a little bit warmer?? I just want the ability to take my daughter to church in cute clothes that don't cover every square inch of her body. Because if I were to do that between the months of october and april, I would for sure get a few dirty looks from the other mothers. Though those dirty looks might be well deserved considering how cold it gets here. But today for once i didn't have to completely bundled her up, and shield her from the bitter cold. It was actually the opposite. She was a sweaty little thing. So I anxiously pulled out the little short sleeved dress that I have been craving to put her in and dressed my little Claire Bear. And wouldn't you know, she was cuter than I imagined. So today was a beautiful day. We loved today.

<3 Lu

{ VALENTINE'S GOODNESS }

With little Claire in the picture, it makes it a little hard to find time to craft. However when I saw this wreath on another blog I just had to take a shot at it. It only took me about two weeks to finally get it finished. I’m actually more impressed with the fact that I got it done then I am with how it turned out. I love this little bit of Valentine festiveness that hangs on my door.
<3 Lu

{ OUR SWEETEST PEA }

These have to have been the longest yet the fastest two weeks of my life. I'm not sure how that works but thats how it feels. It really has been so fun watching how much she grows. It makes me sad to think of her growing up but it doesn't make me sad to think of getting sleep again. Oh I just can't wait. Just as long as there aren't any more surprises in the next couple years, I am hopeful that one day I will be able to sleep through the night. Oh i dream of sleep. Oh well, she is well worth it so in the mean time I will have to accept sleeplessness.

So in the last two months Claire has turned over once but has yet to do it again, she loves to smile especially right when she wakes up, she loves talking to us in her own sweet way, she sweats like no other (it's a LeFevre thing), she has a massive head (I didn't think so until she went to the doctor and they said she is in the 96th percentile!) I call her fat head, She got her shots :( and I made dad take her :), and she sticks her tongue out a lot. Over all she is just great. We are in love.

<3>

{ CLAIRE LILY }

Our little one is finally here. The last couple weeks of my pregnancy, it seemed as though she couldn't come soon enough. Because my due date was Thanksgiving, all my family and Brian's family came out in hopes of meeting this little one. I tried everything under the moon to try and get labor going. I went on the treadmill multiple times, I took Caster oil TWICE! (bad bad idea),had my membranes stripped (another awful idea), ate spicy food, and did my thing on the Wii fit. Well even after doing ALL those silly things, nothing happened and everyone but my mom and sister had to head back home. Finally on December 3rd they went ahead and induced me. I went into the hospital at 11am and by 6 pm and a half hour of pushing, we had our little Claire. And let me tell you she is absolutely perfect. She is such a calm and happy baby. A week after she was born our friend Heather offered to come over and take some pictures of Claire as a gift to us. I was so excited. They turned out so cute. So here she is, our little Claire Bear. We feel so blessed.

Love, Lulu

{ SHOWERED }

A couple weeks ago my oh so lovely friends Oakley and Ashley threw me an amazing shower. Though I wasn't surprised because they only ever throw the best parties. Not only did I have so many amazing friends there to shower me with love, but my mom, mother in law, and sister in law flew in to be there for the fun. I felt so beyond loved. So thank you to everyone who was apart of my shower. I can't wait to put Claire in all the cute new outfits!

Love, Lu