Dear Family and Friends,
Spring has come to Connecticut these last several weeks. Flowers are blooming, the sun is out and the birds are singing. The weather at night has been cool, but we have reached temperatures in the 50's and 60's during the day. Joey, Clara and I have been taking advantage of the beautiful weather by trying to get out of the house as much as possible. We discovered the borough playground down by the docks. It's a sweet little playground and is home to an infant swing which has been a thrill for Clara. Just the other day we took a trip to Providence, RI to check out the zoo and ended up spending time on the wonderful carousel located on the park grounds. It's been fun exploring and trying new things with Clara.
Our Clara is growing a mile a minute. She has such a cute little personality. She loves to smile and laugh. Clara has had a few major milestones in the past weeks. She is now able to stand up from the floor without holding on to anything, and even more exciting, she took 10 steps all by herself one evening. It hasn't really happened since, but I think it peaked her curiosity, and I wouldn't be surprise if one of these days she decides crawling is old news. Clara is also starting to understand the meaning of a number of words such as "dancing", "kitty", "moon" and "milk". She loves cats, and when she sees one she tries to say "kitty". Clara turns one year old on April 20th. We have a small birthday party planned at the end of this week. My brother and his wife and children are coming to visit us from Wisconsin. It will be their first trip to the East Coast and also their first time meeting Clara. We are so excited for their visit and glad that they can be here to celebrate her birthday.
Holy week was certainly a busy week for Joey. His services went well, and we had a wonderful first Easter Sunday in our new church home. After church Clara blessed us by taking a three-hour nap which allowed us to rest and recover from a busy week. That evening we enjoyed spending time with some close friends who were kind enough to invite us to their home for Easter dinner. Clara got to wear her Easter dress, a gift from my mom and dad. She looked so sweet in it, and she had fun taking eggs out of her Easter basket and throwing them all over our living room floor. So much has changed since last year. Little Clara was only four days old last Easter Sunday! (See photo)
(Clara, Easter 2011)
We hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Easter weekend. The next few weeks will be busy with visits from family and celebrating Clara's birthday. I promise to include a post all about it. Happy Spring! Let's hope it's here to stay.
Joey, Erin and Clara
