This poor sweet girl is, at the moment, trying to sleep upstairs...well maybe not. I can hear her shaking her crib rails back and forth in eager protest. We'll give it a few minutes. She woke up with a fever last night and was quite restless for several hours until the motrin worked its wonders. A trip to the doctor's office is inevitable today. Aside from her current state, Mary Clare is the most contented and happy of children (for the exception of being left in nursery on Sundays). I'm hearing some real tears now...gotta run.

Five hours later, we've been to the doctor and thankfully she doesn't have an ear infection as I suspected - perhaps a virus or all of this is related to teething (EVERYTHING can be related to teething) - so much of motherhood is such a guessing game - thank goodness my doctor understands that, as a mother of little ones herself. Well, I really wanted to just post an up-date about Mary Clare as it has been a while and her aunties and uncles have been asking for recent photos.

In short, Mary Clare is amazing and she never ceases to fill my days with joy. She is super curious (puddles and mud are made for jumping in, right?) , very independent ("thanks for helping with the spoon, mom, but I'll just feed myself the yogurt with my hands"), tender (kisses her dolls and 'little people' each morning), fast (why walk when you could run?), pious (she loves the book of common prayer), sweet and thoughtful (she'll share a handful of food with anyone), dramatic (boy can this girl make the fake tears flow if needed!), a reader (doesn't matter if it's "Baby Plays Peek-a-boo" or "The Lives of the Desert Fathers" - this girl digs books), and all in all tons of fun. What a gift. Enjoy some recent photos of the many expressions of Mary Clare!