The big five-monther.

Yep, as of yesterday, it's been five months since this little chub-a-lub burst onto the scene. What a joyous five months it's been!

Clara's name means "light and clear," and it's beyond fitting for her bubbly, excited personality. She is always smiling, babbling and cooing at us like we're the best thing since sliced bread. She's a bright ray of sunshine!

Clara figured out how to roll over from back to tummy earlier this month, and now it's her favorite way to be. She holds her head up really well and it's so dang cute. See?

I mean, really. I could stare at this adorable face all day. I pretty much do, come to think of it! I kiss it a whole lot, too.

Clara hasn't officially started on solid foods yet. But the other night, she was teething and fussy, so I held a cold apple slice to her mouth so she could suck on it. And boy, did she go to town on that thing!  She cried when I took it away. Haha! Still no teeth, though she's been drooling, sucking and biting (yowch!) for nearly two months now. Come on teefers, pop out already!

In other news, we highly suspect Clara is allergic to cow's milk. As I said before, I went off dairy pretty much right away because it seemed to upset her stomach whenever I ate it. I started to reintroduce it to my diet in small amounts (aka bowls of ice cream -- no judging) last month and she didn't seem to mind. I still don't eat a whole lot of dairy products, but I'm not worried if I eat a bit here and there because it doesn't affect her disposition.

A few weeks ago, I went to the temple for a friend's endowment. I was gone for four hours and Clara of course had to eat some formula. She's had it a handful of times previously, so I wasn't worried at all about how she'd do. A few hours later, though, she started vomiting like crazy. It was pitiful! I had her on a towel on the floor and was just laying by her, rubbing her back and crying because tiny babies should never have to throw up. It went on for about 2 1/2 hours and then it was over. At first, I thought it must be a stomach bug, but she never had any diarrhea and the rest of us were just fine. She also has other symptoms of milk allergy, like runny stools, frequent spit-up and eczema. I'm going to have her tested for allergies soon to confirm it.

I can't believe Clara's coming up on half a year of life. Next month, her chair picture will be extra special because she'll be wearing her Halloween costume, which I am beyond excited about. You'll just have to wait and see!

Lumps, car crashes, staples and more.

So, life lately. What can I say? A lot, actually. Let's go in chronological order.

In July, I found a large-ish lump on my rib cage. Lumps are kind of a big deal, so I had an ultrasound. The doctor says it's PROBABLY a lymph node but maybe not, so we're watching it for now and possibly doing a biopsy next month if it doesn't go away. It's still hanging around like it's my sidekick, so that biopsy is looking more definite with each passing day. Maybe I should give the lump a name. Trudy? Morticia? I'm open to suggestions.

In August, I accidentally crashed the front of my car into the shelving unit in the garage and it nearly pulled the whole right fender off. I promise, I'm not a total moron. It's REALLY tricky to park our crossover vehicle in a two-car garage with a very short driveway and no room to swing out due to poor planning on the developer of our community -- seriously, who puts grass and trees RIGHT behind someone's house when their garage is in the back?

Three body shop quotes later, the whole ordeal is going to cost $700. I definitely cried over that one.

Then, last Thursday, I was rocking out choral-style with MCO when all the sudden, I got a text from Dill. Dill, the man who never texts me, ever. It said, "Call me now!" So I did. And it turned out Carson had hit his head on something while rough-housing and "probably needed stitches," which turned into definitely needing staples. Bless Dill's squeamish heart, he took him to the ER that night because babies gotta eat and I have the monopoly on milk-making around these parts.

Three hours later, the two returned home, Carson with a fresh set of staples in the back of his head. Surprisingly, I'm actually not too mad about it because I honestly thought it would've happened sooner.

This is the part where you blur your eyes and scroll fast if you don't like blood and guts. Behold, staples:

THEN on Sunday, I'm sitting in church when Carson walks up to me with pink eyes and yellow goop in his eyelashes. In other words, CONJUNCTIVITIS!!! Without hesitation, I ordered Dill to take him to the nearest urgent care and get that crap taken care of because pink eye is the worst. Not because it actually hurts or anything, but because putting eye drops in a child's eye is more difficult than tying up a greased hog on a rainy day, and you have to do it not once, not twice, but THREE TIMES DAILY.

By the way, Dill didn't believe it was pink eye, but guess what? It was totally pink eye and guess what else? Dill had it, too! Oh boy. They probably picked it up from their emergency room visit. So all of us got it except baby Clara (so far). Which is why I'll be sporting glasses for the next week or so.

Any-hoo, in all that excitement, I'd nearly forgotten I was guest-posting on my friend Jen's blog, "Nothing Can Come of Nothing" for her Marriage Month series! I'm glad I remembered today. You should go check it out. I talk all mushy about how Dill and I met, discuss some less-than-fun aspects of marriage and also give a little marital advice. And Jen's blog is great, anyway. I really like her. You will, too.

Reminiscing on our cute little courtship helped me momentarily forget about all this junk I'm dealing with. So thank you, Jen, for the opportunity to remember the important things in life. I may have a lump on my ribs, a wonky right fender, a kid who looks like Frankenstein's monster and a family ridden with pink eye, but I also have the best husband and kids a gal could ask for.

In the meantime, if you have any tricks to getting a 4-year-old to cooperate for antibiotic eye drops, let me have 'em. Because really, it's getting ridiculous.