Feeling better!

Claire is still a little stuffy, but is kicking her cold in the behind! Bathtime seems to help her nose and lift her spirits.

I'm counting down the days until Christmas break! After this week is over, only two full weeks! I have no idea if I'm going to get through all the stuff I need to with my lesson plans, but I'm gonna try!

First-Time Mom Syndrome

Today when I took Claire to the doctor, she was diagnosed with a little cold, I diagnosed myself with First-Time Mom Syndrome.

I didn't think I was going to be one of those moms who rushed her daughter to the doctor for the smallest sniffle, but it appears I am. I would read some letter to an advice columnist in a Parenting magazine like this: "I've taken my daughter to the doctor twice, only to find out she's just teething. How do I tell the difference between regular teething pains and a legitimate sickness?" and scoff secretly at those moms. How silly! Do these moms have nothing better to do? Then I see what it feels like to have a suffering child who can't tell you what hurts or how bad it hurts or why she's waking up three or four times in the night. I stayed home from work today, scheduled Claire a doctor's appointment, only to find out this afternoon that she has a little cold. I've become one of those moms!

Yesterday evening, she became very congested, and when I used the aspirator bulb, I got lots of thick, yellowish-green snot. Then her eyes started running. Baby book says that's a reason to go the doctor. Turns out she's going to be fine, no prescription drugs needed! We're very thankful it's not an infection or the flu, but a tiny part of me wishes my worries had been justified: I guess I wanted to hear that it was good I brought her in, diagnosing it early will make for an easy treatment to stave off the illness. Instead, I feel like a worrywart and a hookey-player, and Claire is still stuffy and fussy. Oh well, six and a half months with no sickness is a pretty good record! Thank you, Lord!

Mauck Thanksgiving baby fun

We made it home last night from two days of family fun in Kansas. There were five babies born in 2007: Drew in February, Lauren in March (2 months early), Claire in May, Kerrigan in June, and Katelyn two weeks ago! The second picture is the closest I came to capturing all of them at once. We wanted to get a shot of all of them lined up on a couch or something, but we never could get all five awake and/or not eati ng at once! The Maucks are such a great family; I'm so proud to be a part of it. We have a couple world-traveling businessmen, an army wife and mom who's also a full-time ER nurse, farmers, teachers, stay-at-home moms, and of course, tons of cute kids! Including the babies, I counted ten kids under the age of five, and then our niece and nephew Zach and Abby, who are the big kids now, at 9 and 12.

The top pic is of Claire and Drew, the son of Tracy and Kourt, Jay's cousins who were so kind as to host us for a couple nights. His big brother Dylan was very good at entertaining Claire, and got her laughing really hard more than once. The third pic is of Jay and his cousin Matt, who along with Kim Mauck #1, had the fourth Mauck baby girl this year, Katelyn. The last pic is of Claire and cousin Kerrigan. It's becoming increasingly difficult to get a focused picture of Claire, as she's usually in motion.

Claire acquired a new skill while we were up there; she can now wave at people! She's been quite interested in twisting her hand at the wrist for the past couple weeks, but on Thursday, she started making this motion at people, and would smile and continue when they waved back. It's so neat so see her become so socially interactive!

Last year, we got to play some Nertz, but this year, with all the babies, we were all retiring by 9! We'll have to make up for it next year!

We still got to enjoy some Black Friday shopping, something experienced for the first time last year, as the Pannell family Thanksgiving has always been held on Friday. We're not a part of the hard-core bunch who leave at 6 a.m., but we did get out of the house by eight and hit up Target and a few other stores before coming back for lunch.

Claire handled the driving okay, considering she usually fusses after being in her seat for five minutes. With me and either Jay or Maw-Maw (Diane) sitting beside her, she seemed much more content. I kept a steady stream of toys and songs and games of peek-a-boo coming. Five hours was about her limit though; even after one stop, the last hour was a struggle both times. I think she was refusing to resign herself to what she probably thought was her life imprisonment.

Wedding done!

Well, I left my camera at Mom's house, so I have no pics from the weekend with me! I really don't think I took many anyway; it was so crazy! I felt like we were kind of making up what we were doing as we went along, as I've never been to or helped plan a wedding in a home before! It's a different ballgame! When does everyone sit down? How do you get everyone to realize that it's now reception time, and cake and appetizers should be eaten? But it all turned out well, I think.

Tyler opened the ceremony by reading a little poem I wrote about his perspective on Grant joining the family. He did an excellent job, pausing at all the right moments, and smiling at the funny parts while the audience chuckled. Uncle Mike always does a great job with weddings, and this was no exception. Mom was so nervous, she could barely look up, but no one but the few of sitting in the room to the side of the ceremony knew that. My cousins Holly, Jenny, Mattie, and my their mom, my aunt Michelle, did a beautiful job singing "Listen to Our Hearts." And Claire only made a couple peeps! It was a beautiful, mild fall day, so we took pictures outside on the front porch, courtesy of cousin Cristy. Then we partook in wedding cake, courtesy Wendy Coley of Calera, who also did my wedding cake, German chocolate cake, courtesy Grant's mom Nita, cran-apple cinnamon punch, courtesy yours truly, and de-lish appetizers, courtesy Aunt Neila!

After Mom and Grant headed for their cabin in eastern Oklahoma, all us Pannells squatted at Mom's house to eat a yummy brisket dinner and watch the disappointing OU game. I ended up bailing to watch Ella Enchanted with the little girls, I'm sorry to say.

Today, I got Claire's 6-month pictures made at Sears, and they're so good! All readers should receive at least a wallet-sized pic next time we see ya! She wore a cute little red sweatshirt jacket and jeans with embroidered hearts, and also her fancy Christmas dress. Her outfit-making accessory was one of Audrey's adorable red Mini-Bling hairbows. You've got to check out her store, Lady Jane Bowtique. Any bow that will stick in Claire's hair is amazing, and they're also cute and affordable! Claire actually models in a few pics on the site!

Milestones and sad news

In the past week, Claire has started a scooty-crawl, can push herself up to sitting, and can pull herself up to standing! She's well on her way to mobility, folks!

Last night and today, she got to play with cousins Carson and Kerrigan! Carson really enjoyed her, and Kerrigan liked watching her!

I'm so excited for Thanksgiving Break, which begins tomorrow night at 9 p.m.! I've got Parent-Teacher Conference until then! Yuck! Then it's a whirl of wedding planning Friday and wedding fun Saturday.

We were so sorry to hear about the death of a longtime Mauck family friend, Ray Crook today, of Mineral Wells, Texas. He was "Wild Man"'s dad, and we're so sad to think of how much Steve will miss his daddy.

Happy Halloween (even though it's almost Thanksgiving!)

Okay, this has been a crazy week, so I'm sorry to all. I got Claire a bunny costume for Halloween, but she didn't really wear it anywhere except on her quilt in the living room. Oh well. She'll really enjoy it next year, I'm sure.

We're trying to introduce foods to Claire, but most days, she's not a big fan. The last pic, she was actually pretty into her bananas, and seemed to like grabbing on to the spoon herself and putting it into her mouth. She didn't even care which end she ended up chewing on!

I think most of my readers know that my mom is getting married next weekend. We're so happy for Mom and Grant, and whirling around trying to get things sorted out for the ceremony and reception. We're so glad to have Aunt Neila helping us out, though!