Dear Friends and Family,
Today is Clara's 12 week birthday! It's hard to believe that 12 weeks have already gone by. Clara is such a sweet little baby and is changing all of the time. She is very talkative now although her words mainly consist of "Goo" and "Ah-Goo". When she wants milk she cries "lait" (sounds like "lay"), which strangely enough means "Milk" in French. Coincidence? Most likely! Clara is also becoming very strong physically and enjoys sitting up (with help) and taking in the sights and sounds around her. My parents and I recently took her to a Sushi restaurant and she loved watching the chef making sushi behind the counter. Clara also seems to enjoy music (surprise, surprise!). Today she watched videos of violinist Hilary Hahn performing a Mozart Sonata followed by pianist Olga Kern performing one of the Rachmaninoff Piano Concertos. Other than the major diaper explosion during the 1st movement of the concerto she seemed to enjoy it. Clara and I are both very much looking forward to Joey's return a week from Friday. Joey has been buying dresses for Clara in all of the different cities in which he is performing, so she will be very well dressed when he gets home. My parents will go back to Minnesota on July 26th. They have been a huge help to me, and I am so grateful that they could spend 7 weeks with Clara and me. We are hoping that both Joey's parents and my parents will be able to come visit us at our new home sometime in the fall. I have been trying to get back into shape both physically and on the violin. I am able to practice while my parents watch Clara, and I have also been working out at the YMCA as much as possible. Joey and I have been asked to perform a 30 minute recital program at Joey's new church on August 9th. It will be thrown together pretty quickly since Joey doesn't come home until July 22nd, but it should be a lot of fun. Well, that's the news for now. Enjoy the rest of July! Erin, Clara and Joey