Claire Turns 1 year

Claire sitting at her usual spot. I can't believe my baby is 1. This was the fastest year of my life. She is a divine 1 year old and I am looking forward to the next year too. She is saying new words everyday. And still pretty mellow. She hadn't walked yet at 1. She could and took a couple steps once and then refused to try it again. At her doctors appointment she weighed in at 19.4 pounds and 29 inches, both in the 25th percentile. Her head was at 75%.

We think she is starting to change her looks and becoming more like she is going to be big. And even growing a little bit of wispy curly hair.

Claire loves almost every kind of food I put in front of her. And while my other kids were carb junkies she is a fruit junky. She will pick diced peaches over crackers every time. Our only problem is that she has no teeth. Not one!

One of our favorite things Claire does is a fake laugh. She will hear us all laughing about something and then do a light fake laugh to join in.  Some words she says all the time are; Eah (for Leah and Eva), mama, doggie, cat, thank you, uhoh, binki, and she gives the best kisses.

At her 1 year appointment she was 19.4 pounds in the 25th percentile for weight and height and 75% in her head. Like a true Ratchford with their huge heads.

Love this beautiful shot of her profile.  

And in true 1 year old fashion we have some fits happening. She arches her back in protest every time I put her in her crib for a nap.

A Little Snowplay

We haven't had very much snow at our house this year. But when we had two snow days in a row we had to make the best of it. There is a great snow hill not to far from our house. As you will see the kids had a great time. 

Leah has been asking all winter to pull Claire around in her sled. I was surprised at how much she loved it. Giggling the whole time.

Happy 5th Birthday Ronan

We are in love with the older more mature Ronan we have gotten these last few months. Skiing has been great for him. He just needed to get some extra energy used up. He went from not knowing how to ski to a level 7 out of 8. His asset is that he really has no fear. He loves doing jumps and really wants to snowboard next year. Davy took him to meet one of the top snowboarders in the world. Ronan told him that he had conquered skiing and now he was going to conquer snowboarding.

Ronan has grown a ton and nearly all his clothes aren't fitting. We got to go to a kindergarten orientation this month. I can't believe that my boy is old enough for school in just a few short months. I am going to really miss having him around when he is gone. He is such a funny kid always me telling jokes. Ronan is also very social and quick to make friends.

Nana's Visit

We were lucky enough to have my mom come visit over ski/skate week. That is pretty much an extra spring break here in California. With a whole week off I was happy to have something to break up the extra vacation.  During her stay we drove around Lake Tahoe, took a drive up by Donner Lake, I took the big girls skiing, and of course Dave and I went out. 

  We hiked down to the Vikingsholm Castle. Which I wouldn't recommend in the winter. I am sure it would be much more enjoyable in the summer time.

My kids are fascinated with the little island behind us. Sometime it would be fun to take a boat out there and explore.

The view spot down looking down to Donner Lake. We took this quick drive and then let the kids play at the park on the beach.

Here is a view from the top of the hike down to Vikingsholm.  We drove around all of Lake Tahoe that day. Not my kids favorite outing.  Sorry to those of you yet to visit it was my last for awhile. You are welcome to borrow my car and take off for the 3 hour tour. Just pick me back up on the beach on your way home.

Claire all bundled up for our hike. She loves being in her stroller as long as we are moving. 

Happy St. Paddy's Day

Our beautiful Irish gals all dressed for school. Dave went in as Shamus the Leprechaun to their classes. Then later on I went and did the informative Ireland presentation. We made traps for our Shamus that comes from Ireland. Then again did not catch him.

Happy 7th to Eva

My beautiful Eva turned 7 this month. We stopped by the lake on our way to church for a quick photo shoot. Our girl has been such a joy to raise. Always sailing through life. She has adjusted to the move really well and has made tons of friends. The boys all thing she is cool and the girls think she is nice.

Love this one.  We love Eva at home for how easy going she is, most of the time. She is so sweet to Claire like a third mommy. This year she has learned to read really well. She is also playing the piano. And learning to ski. 

It was a family birthday this year. We did do a play date with a group of her friends and made cupcakes. 

Davy and I got her a new bike. Ronan picked out a remote control car and Leah got her a very life like cat. It is the closest she is going to get to a cat while she lives at our house since Davy is allergic. 

Claire 11 months

My baby is growing up. I squeeze her everyday trying to get her to slow down. I sit and rock her when she is perfectly happy just to have her sit on my lap. Dress her up cute when we have no where to go. Ignore everything else going on in the house just to sit and watch her play. Hoping on this baby I will get it right and cherish all the moments. Even the ones that are hard. I love my babies. Why do they have to get big. 

Click on this to enlarge it and see how much she has grown.

The big kids always have to get in on the photo shoot. They are so good to Claire. Leah cuddled her to sleep tonight. It was so sweet. The girls are always willing to watch her when I need help. 

We do a lot of cruising around on the walker these days. She goes from one end of the house to the other over and over again. I can't get over the quick straight legged walk. It is too cute. She is cruising around holding on to stuff.

Claire has lots of new words this month. My personal favorite is uh - oh and sis for the girls. She also says; treat, cheese, eah (could be Leah or Eva), inki (binki), this, that, hello (every time I am on the phone). There are a lot of other sounds I can't quite decipher yet.

Loving the swing at Donner Lake. It was a little cold but she didn't seem to mind. 

Ratchford Kids Skiing

We always get asked why we moved up here.  Beyond Davy having a great job, we also wanted the chance to spend more time together as a family. Well, one of the perks of Davy's job at Northstar is that the kids ski each week.  Here is a video of them cruising about.  They are all skiing Black Diamonds now and Ronan has picked it up the quickest.  He ski's 2 days a week and his coach's all say the same thing..."he has no fear".  He is built for action sports.  Here he is leading his older sisters through a game of follow the leader.  He hits jumps as often as possible.  Come visit us...

Claire 10 months

Oh this sweet baby is getting busy. We are surprised everyday with the new things she can do and say. I asked her the other day if she wanted some crackers and she said, "yah." She also said her cousin's name, "Jake." She loves doing the stairs. Luckily I put up the baby gate. Now if I can just get the kids to keep it closed. She figured out that she can't go down the stairs without falling. So she will sit at the top of them and yell til someone comes to get her. Her other favorite naughty thing to do is to climb up the stairs to our big bathtub and turn on the water. Guess she likes her baths. She has turned into the human vacuum eating anything and everything she finds on the floor. We had a close call with a handful of money in her mouth the other day. One of her favorite games is when I point to where her nose is and then she grabs mine. She giggles and giggles. We are starting into the fit stage and I am sure it is too early for that. But if Ms. Claire doesn't get what she wants she cries and arches her back. Mostly this involves being able to crawl around the floor at restaurants and Walmart. Luckily it seems like we are close to walking. She can cruise around on her walker and balance for a few seconds before sitting down.  Cant imagine all the changes we will have by next month. I am excited and nervous to see.  This is going way to fast for me. 

Karla's Visit

I was lucky enough to get Karla and her 2 kids for 3 weeks this month. What a way to get through January right. I was so fun to have someone to talk to all the time. Someone to make grocery lists with and split the chores. That being said I do know now that I won't ever have 6 kids. It can get a little crazy at times even with 2 moms around. We were able to have a lot of fun all things considered.  Dave and I even got out on a date. Karla and I each skied twice. Then Dave volunteered to babysit so we could have a shopping trip one Saturday. 

First day I broke my nose. Day 2 was then full of doctors appointments. Ronan was taking Claire down the slide and going a little fast. I leaned down to pick Claire up when Ronan's head cracked my nose. I head a loud noise and was bleeding. Stunned I walked to the car. That was the end of our day at the park. We still proceeded with the days plans because it really didn't hurt that bad. Luckily it is a straight break, nothing needed to be done.

Because we didn't have any snow yet I was able to drive Karla around the lake. Here we are at the lookout point above Emerald Bay.

The little kids had a great day that the Children's Museum in Reno. Well actually Karla and the kids while I did some grocery shopping. Another benefit of two adults being around.

Truckee has a great children's museum called the kid zone. We went here 2 different times. It is close and the kids always have a blast.

Here they are. No Karla trip is ever complete without some sort of photo shoot. Darling Jake and Sienna and my gorgeous sis.

The babies in their matching jammie's. Sienna was not a big fan of Claire and most often was caught trying to poke Claire in the eye. Someday they will be friends. Just not this year.

Most the kids... Ronan was asleep I think.  

Karla took a couple great photos of Claire I'll put in another post. But here is Claire, Sienna, and Jake.