Clara is 7 months old!!!

Dear Family and Friends,

Today marks Clara's 7 month birthday. It's amazing how much she has grown and changed. At her 6 month check-up, she was in the 90-95th percentile for height and weighed in at 17 pounds. She is full of energy these days and requires constant stimulation. She is very social and loves going out and being around other people. She is extremely attached to mommy and daddy right now and will sometimes cry if one of us tries to leave the room. She does not appreciate having a toy taken from her while she is playing with it and will let you know her unhappiness right away. She is much more aware of things in general than she used to be. Overall she is very happy and loves to laugh and sing. In fact, she sings more than she talks. She hears a lot of singing in our house though, so I guess I'm not surprised. One of her favorite things to do is to "fly" in the air with daddy. See picture below! Daddy's "Flying" game never fails to generate a huge grin. Clara also really enjoys looking at books. (She also enjoys trying to eat them).

Joey is in Minnesota this weekend. He was invited to perform a recital on the concert series at Augustana Lutheran Church in Saint Paul, MN. In fact, as I write this he is performing. He left Friday and will be back tomorrow afternoon. He always enjoys going back to Minnesota to perform because he gets to see many of his friends and family members. Fortunately for me, my dad was able to fly out for the weekend and help me take care of Clara. He and Clara have been having a lot of fun together hanging out and reading books on the couch. Clara is pretty crazy about her Grandad. My dad is returning to Minnesota on Tuesday and will celebrate Thanksgiving with my two brothers and their families, which will include seven grandchildren. He is really getting to enjoy being Grandad this month!

Joey, Clara and I recently spent a day in Newport, RI. We really enjoy going to Newport to shop and look at the grand mansions and ocean views. Last fall, when I was 3 months pregnant, we took a "baby moon" to Newport and spent one night in a beautiful B&B. At the time we did not know whether we would be having a girl or a boy. We had, however, chosen our baby names and we knew that we were going to name a baby girl Clara after the Nutcracker ballet. When we opened the door to our room at our B&B, the radio was turned on and music from the Nutcracker Ballet was playing. Looking back, I think it must have been a sign. During that same trip we checked out a Christmas store and purchased an ornament of a girl dancing with her nutcracker and the name "Clara" written at the bottom. It was fun to return to Newport with Clara. She enjoyed looking at things in the various shops. We are thinking about going back in December to see some of the decorated mansions and perhaps make a visit to Santa Claus.

Hanging out in Newport, RI

We are looking forward to Thanksgiving next week. We will be spending the day at home and Joey will cook his usual yummy Thanksgiving feast. When we don't have company, we always try to limit the amount of food we make, but inevitably we end up making a meal which could feed a small village. Oh well, it's fun and we enjoy the leftovers. We hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday. Joey and I have so many things to be thankful for this year, especially our little Clara.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday,

Joey, Erin and Clara

Clara's first Halloween

Dear Family and Friends,

Our Halloween weekend started off with a snow storm. Yes, a snow storm. Winter Storm Alfred made an appearance Saturday night into Sunday. Those of us who live on the coast were lucky. Apart from some strong wind and a light dusting of snow we didn't get much from the storm. Other parts of Connecticut, however, received upwards of 20 inches of snow, and many people are still without power. We have to laugh at the choice of storm names around here. First it was hurricane Irene (Clara's middle name) and now Winter Storm Alfred (Our rector's name). Anyway, last night we were bombarded with hordes of trick-or-treaters, many of whom may have come to the borough in order to avoid downed power lines and snow drifts. Clara definitely enjoyed her first Halloween experience. We dressed her up as a sweet little pumpkin and held her at the door every time children came by. Joey decorated the front of our house with spooky lights and carved an amazing cat pumpkin. The pumpkin was a huge hit. A grown man even walked by our house and stopped to take a picture of it on his phone. We bought 10 bags of candy thinking we would have left overs to take to the church office today, but as it turns out we ran out of candy around 7:30 and had to turn off all of our spooky decorations and close the blinds. Oh well, we managed to give out plenty of candy, and it was getting to be Clara's bedtime so it worked out. After Clara went to bed, Joey and I watched the original Halloween with Jamie Lee Curtis on TV. Joey had never seen it. I'm not really one for horror movies and neither is Joey. I think we would have had more fun watching Charlie Brown's Halloween.

Clara sure is a lot of fun these days. She has two incredibly cute little teeth on her bottom gum now. She has also started to laugh and giggle a lot. She thinks silly facial expressions are hilarious and also loves to be tickled. Occasionally she will give Joey little kisses on his cheek. I am extremely jealous because so far I have yet to be kissed! On the other hand, Clara sometimes gives me such amazing little love eyes, and all sense of jealousy quickly fades.

Joey and I have both been keeping extremely busy. Apart from taking care of my little girl while Joey is at work, I have been teaching and gigging. I also had a violin lesson with Katie Lansdale, professor of violin at the Hartt School of Music last week. I studied with her last year before I had Clara, and I hope to start having semi-regular lessons with her again in order to keep growing as a violinist. I don't think one should ever stop studying one's instrument, even after graduating from music school. I can always learn more, and not only does it strengthen my playing ability, but it also helps me to be a better violin teacher. Last week Joey gave three recitals, one at St. Mary the Virgin in New York City, one at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford, CT and one here in Stonington at our own Calvary Church. All three recitals went very well. The recital at Calvary was a lot of fun. There was a wine reception prior to the recital, during which Joey spoke about the music he was going to perform. Since the organ at Joey's church is in the back balcony, Joey set up a video camera with a screen at the front of the church so that the audience members could watch him play. The screen was a big hit, and something he will probably do again in the future. Joey also had a lesson last week. We drove to Wellesley, MA to meet up with his former organ teacher from Oberlin, James David Christie. It was a great lesson, and we were so happy that JDC (as he is called by his students) was able to finally meet Clara. Apart from his church position, Joey has also taken on two very part-time jobs, one as organ accompanist for a choral group called the Anglican Singers, and another as organist for Evensong services at Christ Church Cathedral in Hartford. As if the three recitals and the organ lesson were not enough, Joey rehearsed and performed Evensong with the Anglican singers while fulfilling his duties at Calvary!

(Joey, Clara and JDC)

Well, I guess it's time to take down the Halloween decorations and look forward to Thanksgiving. We hope you had a great October and wish you a joyous November. We don't really have Thanksgiving plans at this point. We will probably spend the holiday at home, just the three of us. Joey doesn't have enough time off for us to travel, and since Clara is so little, a relaxed Thanksgiving at home sounds fine to me. Till next post....Erin, Joey and Clara

Baptisms and Birthdays!

Dear Family and Friends,

This past weekend was very special for us as a family. Clara was baptized on October 16th at Calvary Church (Episcopal). My parents were in attendance as well as my Aunt Gay and Uncle Harry (Clara's Godparents) from Virginia. The baptism was beautiful, and Clara slept through the whole christening like a little angel. Everyone thought it was pretty amazing that she didn't wake up when the water was poured over her head. The baptismal dress that Clara wore was first worn by my cousin Adam when he was baptized in the Episcopal church 28 years ago. My aunt and uncle kept the dress and had his name and the date of his baptism sewn into the skirt. When they heard that Clara was going to be baptized, they offered us the use of the dress for Clara. They are going to have her name and christening date inscribed into the dress as well. My aunt and uncle will keep the dress and have it for any future children in the family who may be baptized. Below are a couple of photos from the baptism, as well as a picture of my cousin Adam when he was baptized in the family gown in 1983. Isn't he cute! Calvary Church has become such a special place for us. We have already met so many wonderful members of the congregation and we were honored to have Father Alfred Tisdale perform the baptism.

In other news...Clara and I both celebrated Birthdays this week! I turned 28 yesterday and today is Clara's 6 month birthday. Yesterday Joey and Clara took me to a lovely restaurant in Mystic for lunch to celebrate. We had a window table overlooking the water and the Mystic draw bridge. It was a lot of fun and Clara enjoyed watching the bridge go up and down. Today I dressed Clara up and took some 6 month photos of her. She is such a sweet baby. She has a little bear named "Buddy Bear" that she loves to cuddle, but her favorite new discovery is our cat Lucy. Every time Clara sees Lucy she starts laughing, smiling and kicking. She has managed to touch Lucy a couple of times, and for the most part Lucy is fine with it unless Clara manages to get a grip on her tail. Anyway, it's pretty cute to watch. I really can't believe that half a year has gone by already. I thank God everyday for my precious Clara. I feel so honored to be her mommy.