Finally...some recent pics

I've just simply not had the energy or time to sit down and post some new pictures and an update since the election. But I find myself with some time now - so here goes.

Life with Clare at 15 months has very few dull moments. Maybe when she's asleep. Speaking of sleep, it's been really interesting trying to get her to sleep. She's sleeping alone in her big girl bed through the night, but since we got back from Minnesota it seems like there's always been an extenuating circumstance that makes it so that we have to baby her a bit. The month of November she's been teething (molars -- ouch!) and getting over a cough/cold. Both have made it hard for her to go to sleep, so we've been pampering her by cuddling with her until she falls asleep. Long story short, it's been a challenge getting her to sleep on her own.

She's talking more and more, and her vocabulary has expanded to include "Papa" (my dad), "Mammy" (my mom), banananana (banana), "bye-da" (help me), Anna (Tom's sister is the first auntie whose name Clare can say), "dow" (down), "tee" (teeth - she loves getting her teeth brushed), and she says "Da-da" after every time you give her anything (means "Thank You" - she says it with the correct intonation and everything).

I'll just post a few pictures and put captions to give a short update on the life and times of the Herring family.

Clare took a tumble down the stairs at church. She was not a happy camper. On the upside, she's VERY cautious with steps now and never goes down without holding a hand.



Clare and Dominick on our road trip to visit our friends in Spokane



Reading with Grandpa ("Papa") after a bath. She loves reading and will hand a book to any person who looks like enough of a sucker to read her the same book 18 times.



Our little Halloween princess waiting for her aunties to come home from trick-or-treating and fill up her buckets with candy.



Clare likes cheese.



If for any reason we can't find Clare at the Herrings' house, it's likely that she's made her way in to this room and has climbed up on the piano bench. She'll sit there all by herself and play.



Clare's first experience feeding ducks at Tumwater Falls Park over Thanksgiving weekend at Grammy's. She was really interested in the ducks until they started coming closer, then she shinnied up the closest person's legs to get away. I would tear off pieces of the bread for the ducks and Clare would eat it. I ended up feeding the ducks while my mom held her.



Clare chasing down Grandpa & Daddy while we were looking for our Christmas tree this weekend.



"Hurry up, Aunt Shannon!"



Hanging out with Aunt Kristy. I'm trying to teach her to say, "Kiki," much to Kristy's chagrin. :) You're going to have a hard time being the cool aunt when you're being called "Kiki."



After the annual Christmas tree hunt, we got everyone outside to put up the Christmas lights. Tom could actually reach the peak of our house just by standing on the ladder.



So that's where I'll leave you so that I can follow our little one and go to bed. Thanks for all of your support and prayers the last week. Gibby's funeral is tomorrow, so we'll be counting on them for a bit longer.