Arboretum Round 2

We ventured out for the last of the "Dollar Days" at the Dallas Arboretum today with Catherine, Thomas and Tyler. It was a beautiful day (high of only 88) and the kids loved checking out all the playhouses. The Arboretum has an exhibit throughout the whole park with playhouses designed around some 15 classic children's stories. It's really very neat, although we couldn't understand why they all had signs saying "Do not climb on the display." They are for kids! We had a picnic lunch and then headed home for a marathon nap - I had to wake Kaitlin up at 5:40 after 2.5 hours! Claire of course slept through it all except for her one meal. Here are some pics.

And once we get our furniture for the office, expect an onslaught of posts. The only time I can post pics now is when someone sends them to me (so thanks Cat for these), but once the computer is up and running I will post all the fun stuff we have been doing for the past few months with pics. I've still got K's birthday party post, Fossil Rim and many more!

Happy 2nd Birthday Kaitlin!

Two years ago today we were so happy to welcome you to the world! I am so thankful to have such a sweet, happy little girl as my daughter. These past few weeks I've noticed that whenever you aren't talking to me (or anyone else who will listen), you are singing a song to yourself. You are such a joy to be around. You always have a hug and kiss for everyone who comes over, whether they want it or not. You delight in showing everyone things that make you happy - your big girl bed, your new kitchen, your favorite stuffed animal. You tell me all the time that you love your baby sister, and you shower her with affection. She is so lucky to have you as a big sister. You have a temper which has shown itself more and more these days, but I'm thankful for that too because it means you know what you want, and that is a gift. You love to dance and run and skip, and you are always trying to get everyone to join you. You live to help Mommy, whether it be unloading the dishwasher or trying to make dinner, and you don't have any doubts that you can do anything Mommy can do! I'm thankful that you are so confident. You have become more mischievous with your new found independence (ie. times I am nursing Claire and cannot follow you). Today I found you covered in diaper cream because "It helps my cough Mommy." You confused it with the Vapor Rub Daddy had been using last week. You are like a little sponge, learning more in a day than I do in a month. You constantly astound me with your observations, whether it be noticing immediately that I have a new toothbrush or that I didn't put enough sour cream in your beans. I can't pull one over on you. You aren't really a girly-girl, but you do love "pretty dresses" and love to twirl when you have one on. You love it when Mommy wears pretty dresses too. You are a special girl with a huge heart. No matter what, you make us smile and for that I will be forever grateful to God for bringing you into our lives.

Happy 1 Month Birthday Claire Bear!

I can't believe Claire is already a month old! I thought time was flying while I was pregnant - it seems to have only gone faster since she's been here. We had a wonderful 3 weeks together as a family while Scott was on paternity leave and this last week I've been going it alone, which hasn't been so bad. I think it's funny what a little perspective does, because I catch myself repeatedly saying to myself "Why did I think it was so hard with just Kaitlin?" I have a theory that second children are easier because the parents are more relaxed, thereby making the babies more relaxed, and this is certainly true for Claire. I just remember a lot more crying and a lot more walking around in the wee hours soothing an upset baby. I basically wear Claire all day in the Baby Bjorn and she's as content as she can be in there. At night I feed her and she goes right back to sleep on her own, something I never remember happening with Kaitlin. Maybe it's still early yet? I forget the timeline so I'm sure as soon as I post this she will turn the corner and start up with some fiery antics like her sister. But either way, we've had a great first month getting to know each other. Some things I wanted to note:

• She loves her bath. Loves to have the water pour over her and loves to have her hair washed.
• My mom discovered that she loves to have her feet rubbed. She just looks at you and immediately relaxes if she is starting to get fussy. In fact tonight I did it and she fell asleep in less than a minute.
• She loves to watch Kaitlin. She does NOT love to have her diaper changed, so while she is fussing about that I will ask K to come in and entertain her, and it never fails that she calms down and turns towards her.
• She seems to have a bit more sensitive tummy than Kaitlin did. She doesn't spit up alot, but there is definitely a lot of times that milk comes back up and she just swallows it back down, and it upsets her. It seems to be better when I feed her in a more upright manner though, so we're working on doing that. Stinks for middle of the night feedings b/c I can't just lay down with her and go back to sleep like I did with K, gotta sit up. I guess that's the tradeoff for her going right back down after I feed her though.
• She takes a pacifier! And a bottle! Halleiuiah!
• I haven't been successful at putting her down during the day, hence the Baby Bjorn. She just wants to be close to the action I guess, because I have maybe 10 minutes max if I put her down (even swaddled). I don't mind it except for the fact that it sometimes impedes play with Kaitlin, and again I'll take this with the sweet nighttime routine we have at the moment.
  

Overall I really just feel like she is a laid back, content baby. Maybe I'm just remembering the hard parts about Kaitlin and comparing them with the easy parts of Claire, who knows. I think the biggest difference is that for some reason with Kaitlin, it never struck me to back up and look and see that "This too shall pass." I felt like it was my full-time job to make sure she never cried, and that every obstacle was the end-all. Like if she didn't sleep well one night that "Oh my gosh, she's not going to sleep well ever again and she's going to be so cranky from now on and I might as well just get used to getting up every hour." Now I know that both the good times and bad will come and go, so don't get caught up in it. Babies cry and they do survive. So Claire, I'm sorry, you're probably going to have to endure a bit more crying than your sister did, but know that we love you just the same.

Phrases of the moment

I want to document some of the phrases that are high in the rotation these days. I wish I could record her saying them all because the best part is usually her inflection. I've tried to convey that with capitalization and notes below.

• "Cover my up" - said when we are tucking her in and she wants to be covered up with her 5 blankets of the night. She has a blanket obsession.

• "That's MINES" - heard a lot these days, as she is snatching something away from you. We're working on this.

• "I'm a big sister"
  

• "I'm almost there" - said when we're almost home (she somehow knows), or if she's carrying something heavy (said in a grunting sort of way)
  

• "It's hard for me!!" - said when trying to do something by herself but she can't. DO NOT make the mistake of attempting to help, this is simply a commentary and not an invitation.

• "No Mommy do it" - used in conjunction with last phrase as I'm trying to help.
  

• "Look, I did it all by myself!" - hopefully follows the previous phrase (after alot of unnecessary effort)
  

• "Whacha doin' Mommy?" (or Baby Claire, or whoever might be in the room)

• "That's PERFECT" - this is after you've probably spent a lot of time rearranging something that seems insignificant to you (the arrangement of her various food items on her tray for instance), but it is of the utmost importance to Miss K. Everything must be just so. Sometimes used in conjunction with pointing out a boo-boo though. For example, she will show you her hand that has a boo-boo on it, telling you how it happened, and then will show you the other hand and say "This one is PERFECT."

• "Baby Claire want to come?" - if we ever suggest going somewhere, she is very concerned that the whole family comes with. She runs through everyone to make sure we are all in fact going to go.

• "Take my (blank) wit us?" - For example, "take my drink wit us?" She can't get the "th" sound of "with" and she just says it so cutely with her eyes wide and with such innocence it always makes me laugh. Sometimes it is completely unreasonable though, like "take my stroller wit us?" when we are going swimming.
  

• "Want to DANCE Mommy" - one of her favorite activities these days. We spend a good portion of our morning having a dance party in the dining room. This phrase is often followed by "Baby Claire come wit us?"

• "Mommy no get me" - said during dance party, when we are running around and I'm not allowed to tickle her or pick her up or in any way "get" her.

• "Come on guys!" - said when we are ready to go somewhere and she's excited about it. Usually accompanied by a hand motion waving us with her and a little hop.
  

I know there are so many more that I'm missing, I really wish I could just videotape her all day to remember. It's just so fun to watch her turning into this little person with all her quirks and sayings.

Big Girl Bed

This weekend was the big weekend - we moved Kaitlin into her big girl bed. She has been demanding to climb INTO her crib for a couple weeks now and it had gotten to the point where she wanted to do it "all by myself" and was making for a huge headache at nap and bedtime. I always reminded her she was not to ever try to crawl out by herself, but a couple times when I was in there she would attempt it so it was making me nervous. I also want to start potty training soon, so I figured she needed to be able to get out of her bed so thought we'd do this switch first and let it sink in for a bit. She has done really well with it so far, actually she's slept better than she had been for a few weeks prior. Today was the first day she actually ventured out of the bed after I had tucked her and left the room. I didn't see her do it, but she had a stack of about 6 books on her bed that were not there when I had left her. She obviously made it back in and was comfortable enough to fall asleep without a tuck-in though, so that is promising. I've posted some pics here. Please don't hate on the sheets - it was our guest room mattress so I still have those sheets on there. I haven't officially decided on a theme for her big girl room. As Scott will tell you, it is going to take about 10 trips to 5 different stores (and probably 2 purchases that are later returned) before I can commit to a comforter set.

I cannot believe my baby will be 2 next week and that she is in such a big bed! I will tell you that I am LOVING the ability to be able to climb in there with her. She's never been much of a snuggler, but when we are in her bed she is a huge cuddle bug. She loves to curl up next to me and read her stories before nap and bedtime, and I am just eating it up. She asks me every night "Mommy sleep in my big girl bed?" and it's killing me because I'd love to but I don't want to start a bad habit. She also loves to show it off to everyone that comes over to the house. Next up is her big Fun Bus party this weekend! She's also telling everyone about that too. Favorite phrases are:

"My birthday is in AUGUST."
"My birthday coming up."
"Turning 2 (sometimes says dos) in August."
"Get to eat CAKE."

And then sometimes she just sings the birthday song to herself. Needless to say, she is excited.

Claire's 2 week checkup

We had Claire's 2 week appointment last Tuesday. She is doing great, growing fine and overall an easy baby so far. I fear she might have a bit of reflux since she seems to get upset after some feedings and spits up more often than I remember with K, but we're just going to watch and see if it continues. I don't remember all the stats, just the weight which was 9lbs 4oz, which puts her in the 75% bracket. I looked back and Kaitlin was 9lbs 8oz at her 2 week, which was in the over 97%, so I'm guessing there isn't a whole lot of room between the brackets. All her other measurements put her in the 75% range too, so she's very consistent! Kaitlin went with us to the appointment and now she will put a blanket (or a ribbon or scarf) around her neck and tell me she's a doctor (Dr. Meyer always has her stethoscope with Goofy on it around her neck, so I'm guessing that's what she picked up on?)

Big Sister notes

I know we have tons of posts about our "sweet girl" and believe me, there are times when she is not so sweet, but I want to document some more things that Kaitlin has been doing with her new baby sister.

• Sings "Kaitlin's Song" to Claire whenever she is awake. "Kaitlin's Song" is actually Barney's "I love you, you love me song" that she loves so much that it is now deemed her song.
• Wants me to sing "Claire's Song" to her every night before bed while we rockabit. This came about because I always sing her a song before bed and last week I asked what she wanted me to sing. It's usually always "Sunshine" or one of her bible songs, but last week she asked for "Claire's Song." I said "Oh, how does it go?" and she just kind of smiled at me, so that was my clue to make it up. So I did and it's very simple and cheesy, a verse of 'Welcome to the world Baby Claire" followed by a verse of "We're so happy that you're here Baby Claire." She now sings along as I sing it every night, and gets the hugest smile on her face.
• Whenever Claire cries she comes running from wherever she is saying "It's OK Baby Claire" over and over again.
• Constantly wants to blow her besitos and hugs.
• Today when her and Daddy went outside to play, Claire and I were hanging out on the bed. As she left she turned around and goes "Sweet dreams Mommy. Sweet dreams Claire."
• Is genuinely thrilled whenever Claire is awake and exclaims "She's awake!! She's looking at you!!" It's just too cute how excited she gets.
• The other day we went to Fossil Rim which is about a 2 hour trip south. About 20 minutes from home (on the way back thankfully, she was fine the rest of the trip), Claire was less than thrilled to still be in her carseat, and she let us know about it. She would cry REALLY hard for about 2 min, then fall asleep from the exertion of the crying for about 2 min, then repeat. Every time Kaitlin would say "She's crying Mommy. Shh, shh, shh, shh, it's ok Baby Claire." Then when Claire would stop she would say "Look Mommy, she's not crying. I made her happy!!" This happened EVERY SINGLE round for about 20 minutes. It was quite comical.
  

She really is a great big sister and a big help to us around the house. There have been a few regressions. For instance, if I've been holding Claire for a while she will ask me to put Claire down (no matter if we are out on a walk or what) so I can hold her. She also has wanted me to "burp her" like I do to Claire when I'm feeding her. I've indulged her on this a couple times, but mostly I try and tell her she is a big girl and doesn't need to be burped like a baby. We really are blessed to have such a great sibling for Claire.

Newborn Pics

We had Claire's newborn pics at our house last Sunday. I am really pleased with how they turned out! We got some of the whole family too, now we just have to decide which ones to use on the announcement!

Click here to see a preview.

P.S. If you have some more time, here is the slideshow. Great with sound.

Sweet girl

So, last night around 12:15 I heard Kaitlin crying in her room. When I went in there, she was standing up holding both of her blankies and crying. It took me about 15 minutes to figure out that she wanted me to wrap "mommy's pillow" up with both of her blankets so she could sleep on that vs. her traditional pillow. Note that "mommy's pillow" is a small decorative pillow that came with her bedding. After I finally got her calmed down and her bed set up the way she wanted it, she finally agreed to be placed into her crib. I covered her up with "mommy's blanket" (again, a decorative quilt that matches the bedding), she looked up at me and said, "Thank you daddy for rock-a-bit, Kaitlin was crying" and the quietly turned her head to the side and went to sleep. Note that "rock-a-bit" is what she calls it when we sit and rock in her chair until she gets sleepy. Talk about a heart melter in the middle of the night!

Claire's Story

Here's a long post for posterity. Since I was showing no signs of going into labor anytime soon, I decided to try all the tricks I could think of on Friday the 24th. Cindi had offered to watch Kaitlin for me, so I took the opportunity to get a pedicure and get my haircut. I told both places that I was overdue and so they should rub my head/feet in whatever way they could to put me into labor. The pedicurist did not listen, I swear she was barely tickling my feet - probably a language barrier there. My hairstylist did a great job though and gave me a 10 min scalp massage which was wonderful. I felt great after an afternoon of pampering. My parents arrived to spend the weekend with Kaitlin that afternoon and that night we tried the Johnny Carino's trick again, this time I got the red wine though. When I tried it last week I didn't get the wine - I felt a little guilty out with my toddler and being hugely prego ordering it, especially since we were there at the family dining hour of 5:30 and there were randomly tons of people there who I thought would disapprove. Friday night Claire was extremely active in the belly before bed, but I ended up sleeping the best I had in weeks.

I woke up Saturday morning around 6am with some cramping. I didn't think much of it though and just went back to sleep. I started having light contractions around 9am, but again, I didn't think much of it. I must preface this with the fact I was convinced I would have a long labor like I did with Kaitlin, and I didn't want to get up to the hospital too early and be stuck in that bed watching Gatorade commercials for 20 hours like last time. So I didn't even mention anything to Scott or my parents because I didn't want them all up in my business asking every 5 minutes if I was ok. I went for a walk around 10:30 a couple times around the block, just to make sure things were moving along, and sure enough my contractions were getting stronger, but still very far apart and sporadic. Scott and I went to the store around noon to pick stuff up to grill for lunch, at which point I told him "Well, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor." He was like "What? How do you know?" and I filled him in. We got back and grilled burgers and ate lunch and I told my mom that I was in labor, who in turn told me NOT to tell my dad. Ended up being a moot point because Scott told him as soon as they got in the car to go run some errands after lunch. I put Kaitlin down for her nap and went to try and lay down myself. I think I laid there from about 2 to 3pm, never really sleeping because the contractions were pretty strong at that point. I never got out a watch and timed them, and for some reason I had it in my head that they needed to be 2-3 min apart before we left for the hospital, and mine were still about 4-5 min apart. So at 3:30 I got in the shower and told Scott we should head to the hospital soon, as they were pretty freaking painful and coming on a lot more regularly.

We left for the hospital at exactly 4pm. I was kind of sad that I didn't get to say goodbye to Kaitlin, but I thought I might not be there when I was putting her down for her nap so I made sure to read her some extra stories and cuddle her just a bit more. We got to the hospital at 4:30 and (this might be TMI for some of you) I felt like I needed to go to the bathroom one more time before I laid down. I went in there and almost sat down and then thought, "No, this doesn't feel right." Cut to 2 min later when I'm on the bed and the nurse is checking me and says "WHOA, her head is RIGHT THERE." Ok, glad I'm not on TLC having my baby in the toilet. When she checked me I said "Please just tell me I'm more than a 2" and she goes "Ok, don't freak out, but you're more like an 8." YIKES! At this point I'm flashing back to what Christine had just told me Jen said about her birth with Ava - that she should've gotten the epidural. It's not so much the getting to 10 cm I was concerned with since I was already almost there, it was really the after part that I did NOT want to feel. Moms you know what I'm talking about - the 30 minute stitch up part. Sick. So I said "Yes, if we have time let's do the epidural" and then it was a mad rush to get everyone in there in time.

In the meantime, Dr. Ryder came in and broke my water and we found out Claire had pooped already. Her heartbeat was good and strong though and Dr. Ryder did a great job making me feel comfortable that it wasn't going to be a problem. They did have to call in the NICU team to be there to suction her in case she had breathed any of it in, so that was a bit worrisome.

Then the anesthesiologist arrived and man, are all anesthesiologists weirdos or what? He was a foreigner and just overall a strange duck. It took him about 20 min to get the damn thing in, all the while I'm pretty much yelling at him because I was going through transition at this point and being bent over is not what I wanted to be doing. Keep in mind I don't think I had said 5 words since we had left the house, I was doing much better with the pain by being quiet and just focusing. At one point I reached back to hit him because all his poking was hurting so bad. He just could not find the right spot, and went into some story about how "Sometimes with larger women, it is hard to find the right spot," and I'm thinking "What the heck, is he calling me fat right now?" and then one of the nurses goes "But he's not talking about you of course." Scott said when that happened one of them looked at him and mouthed "Wow." Finally I said "Should we just stop and let me push?" because I felt like I needed to and the nurse went into some schpiel about how "I can't make that decision for you" all the while the anesthesiologist is frantically muttering about trying one more time. Not a very pleasant experience. He finally got it in and I got to lay back for a few minutes before it was time to push, although the medicine didn't really kick in until then anyways. That was better than it was with Kaitlin though, where I felt like I got way too much medicine and I got so sick afterwards.

Anyways, judging by the time on the texts Scott was sending out, I pushed for less than 20 minutes and then our Claire Bear was here! Dr. Ryder had to cut the cord because they needed to get her quickly over to the NICU team, but Scott got to look and tell me "It's a girl!" which was very exciting. We were both thrilled and I think a little relieved, seeing as how we still hadn't decided on a boy name! They cleaned her up a bit and suctioned her, but it was all clear so she was free to come over and see me. It was nice to get to nurse right away and have some time just holding her, since with K I was so sick they took her away and I honestly don't really remember much of the time after she was born. This time I felt like a million bucks! I think the key for me was to do as much of it at home so I wasn't stuck in the bed not progressing.

Everyone got to come into the L&D room and meet Claire before we got moved up to our room upstairs. I got to announce the name which was fun. Kaitlin was very excited and crawled right up in the bed next to me and looked down at Claire like she'd known her forever. She even told me "That's baby Claire," as though I didn't know. She gave her tons of "besitos" and hugs and was just the sweetest little girl in the world. She freaked out when it was time to leave though, which broke my heart. She wanted me to come with them and was just crying so hard. I think it scared her to see me in the bed with the tubes everywhere and not being able to get up. She did a lot better when she came to visit later, and told me "Mommy has to stay at the doctor." Sweet girl, she tries so hard to understand.

Overall, this birth was much easier and more pleasant than Kaitlin's - probably something to do with the fact that Claire was a pound less and was actually facing the right direction. I'm so glad I decided against the induction and let Claire come on her own, exactly 23 months after her sister. It was a very special day.