Little Miss Sunshine

Claire is a lot of things. Wild. Busy. Curious. Funny. Bratty. Stubborn. Playful. Spunky. It is hard to describe her briefly. She is a complex little being. But she gets you to the core. When she smiles, when she laughs, when she cries it affects my soul.

Now my little monkey is 3, and not so little anymore (she outweighs Cora by a good 5 pounds). We had a last second, spur of the moment because all of the family was in town focused on a pretty important wedding type of party. Claire didn't know the difference. She just knew she was important. She knew it was her special day. It was perfect.And really, all you need is a pinata and...
one of these bad boys to make any party a hit!
(FYI: I put my mother in charge of taking pictures. It took her the 1st 20 years of my life to stop chopping heads/limbs/people out of pictures. Sadly times have changed, and while she was perfecting her photo cropping abilities cameras were evolving. Now at Claire's party she was a diligent photographer. She snapped picture after picture after picture. About 50% were snapped in video mode. So instead of a picture, we have a 2 second video of my mom saying, "Say cheese," or "Everyone look at the camera." It is a work in progress.)
She is still talking about her party. She loved everything about it.

I am still blown away by the fact that Claire joined our family 3 years ago. She has done plenty of damage in those 3 years (my favorite Claire-related posts coming tomorrow!), but has also filled our home with so much joy. But going back to her trouble maker ways, I should have known from the very beginning she would be a handful. This picture was taken the day before she was born. It was taken at my chin looking straight down towards the floor (where my feet once would have been visible!). This was her preferred position in the womb. To ensure maximum discomfort, she would ball up on one side and crush ribs, my bladder and anything else that got in her way.
But all of that was forgotten when this beautiful pink bundle was handed to me:
My how she has grown.
Looks a bit like her favorite person on earth don't you think?
And of course on her first day of preschool she is sporting a nice scrapped up face from a tumble down the stairs. Pretty accurate portrayal of who Claire is though: a little rough on the outside, but perhaps the most loving little thing you will ever meet. Happy Birthday Claire Bear! And yes, you are my big girl now.