I can’t believe it’s already been a year with our Clare Bear! Well, a year and a month and change because life moves too fast these days and I’m only now taking a moment to sit down and reflect on what a year it has been with our little sissy girl.

Life is so much more fun with her in it. She has the sweetest smile and the best little laugh. Even when she is mad, it’s pretty funny. She is definitely more of a trouble-maker than her sister was – getting into things and silently making it halfway up the stairs before anyone catches her – but it’s probably because she realizes that we have a lot going on and that she can get away with it!

Her and Chloe are very sweet together and Clare loves to get in bed with Chloe in the morning to “wake her up” – which usually just involves Clare hitting Chloe’s head and laughing. Chloe loves to give her sissy kisses and hugs and will do just about anything to make her laugh. I love watching their little relationship blossom and I can’t wait to see it grow as Clare becomes even more of a person.

Clare is ALMOST ready to walk. She stands all by herself and will take a couple of steps, but then usually topples down. She likes to body slam into me, which she gets a huge kick out of! But hopefully chasing her sister around will eventually be enough motivation for her to stay on two feet.

The cutest thing I recently taught Clare to do was to do kisses. I’ll say, “Clare, go ‘muah!’” and then make a kissy face, and then she will do the kissy face and make the ‘muah!’ sound. It’s probably the most precious thing I’ve ever seen!

And Chloe is doing great as well! We just found out that she got into pre-school, which is HUGE! She is already talking about going on the big school bus next year. I love that she is so fearless and adapts to change so well. It’s just who she is as a person, so we can take zero credit for it, but it’s really an impressive thing to watch, especially for someone her age. She just approaches everything with confidence and is like, “I got this!”

My favorite thing that Chloe has been doing recently is when we leave school, she will see someone she knows and say, “I’m gonna give you a big hug first thing in the morning!” or, “I’m gonna say hello to you first thing in the morning!” It’s the “first thing in the morning” that cracks me up, but I also just love how warm and friendly she is with every person. She is the first to go and make a friend and she seems to go out of her way to be kind to others. I hope that’s something that we can claim credit for, but again, I do think that’s just who she is!

We have a fun vacation coming up to Mexico with Granny, PopPop, Chris and Chelsea. I’m really excited to have some time with the family where we can all relax, the girls can play and hopefully we can all have a great time. Hasta luego!