Claire...

I am so thankful to have a little girl. Not many people have heard me say this before, but I asked God for a girl not long after Collin was born.

He was not quite 2 months old yet. I was sleeping on the floor in his room. (Scotty and I took turns doing this when the other person needed a good night's rest. That's why Claire has a twin bed in her room.)I'm pretty sure Collin had just woken up, taken a bottle and gone back to sleep. As I tried to get back to sleep myself, I began to think that I just couldn't be "done" having children. I knew that I was going to have to do "the baby thing" one more time, and at that moment, I asked God that it be a girl. I loved my boys, but I wanted to experience both.

When I found out that Claire was a girl, I sighed in relief thinking of all the moments I would not be experiencing again. Collin's second year and a half were BUSY to put it nicely. Surely a girl would be calmer, milder and not into EVERYTHING.

Today, I felt like I was chasing 18 month old Collin around the house.

She found a pack of gum, opened every piece and ended up with about 8 of the pieces in her mouth. She actually did a pretty good job of chewing it. I'll probably find bits and pieces of it for weeks.


She drew all over the refrigerator door -- thankfully with a pencil.

She's also drawn on the couch and ottoman -- NOT with a pencil.

She hates the word "no" so much that she will throw herself into a fit on the floor at the sound of it -- okay, that's a little more like Caleb.

And, she scares me to death in the bathtub -- flipping and twisting and jumping like it's a swimming pool.




So, not only does Claire LOOK exactly like the boys wearing a bow, she acts just like them too. They've trained her well.