Claire is 5 months old!

Claire at 5 months:

• Eats about 6 times a day. Her bottle during the day contains 4 ounces.
• Sleeps pretty well. She goes to bed about 8PM and gets up once or twice because she's upset that she's on her tummy and I have to flip her to her right side, give her the nuk, and keep my hand on her side (this is new) until she falls back asleep. She also gets up once to eat- anywhere between 2-5:30AM. This morning she ate at 2:15AM and 5:40AM.
• Wants to put her pacifier in her mouth by herself. She's already little Miss Independent and she's only 5 months old. I wonder where she gets this from??? (Certainly not her mama who traveled halfway across the world to Ukraine when she was 16 years old by herself).
• Rolls over like it's her job. She can roll across a room in just minutes! It really is amazing to see. She prefers to roll to the right, but she just keeps on going until an obstacle stops her!
• Starting to seem like she recognizes her name. I can't quite tell if it's a coincidence or if she really is starting to react to it.
• Is pretty quiet. She continues to be a good listener like her daddy, rather than a talker like her mommy.
• Still far prefers feeding with her mommy but takes the bottle well on most occasions.
• Doesn't like to nap. It can be quite a chore to get her to sleep for naps. When she does nap, it's often for 30 minutes or so.
• Pulls her little legs up underneath her when she's on her tummy and lurches forward. I tell her she better not even think about crawling anytime soon because mama wants her to be a little baby for awhile longer!
• Gets scared of people-- sometimes it's strangers and sometimes it's family members that she knows.
• Is just starting to wear 3-6 and 6 month clothes.
• Looooooooves Sydney. She thinks Sydney is hilarious and reaches out to grab her. Sydney on the other hand is not very enamored by the little creature we call Claire.
• Loves to stare at her mommy. The last two times we were at church she just wanted to stare at me, no matter who was holding her.
• Lights up when she sees her daddy.
• Has a brand new thing where she throws her head back and arches her back backwards.
• Is beyond adorable and loveable!!!
  

Claire meets Everleigh

We brought Ami and Scott dinner and met baby Everleigh on Saturday night. Even though it was only four short months ago, it is hard to believe Claire was ever that small! She is soooo beautiful and such a well-behaved baby! I was in awe at how Everleigh could be awake and not crying! When Claire was that age (2 weeks), when she was awake she was either crying or eating! I am so glad Ami has a good baby after how hard her pregnancy was. Claire and Everleigh will have so much fun together when they're older!


Josh already wants #2. He just doesn't admit it.
I gotta say, she looks pretty comfy in my arms!

Claire wins the most mobile award

You never know what kind of photo opportunity you're going to have when you pull out the camera. This afternoon while Daddy napped, I organized Claire's clothes in her nursery. I laid her on her tummy on her Boppy and gave her a toy. She played for a few minutes and then I laid on the floor a couple feet in front of her. I snapped several shots of her in action. The following 9 pictures prove that I have the MOST MOBILE 4 MONTH OLD EVER! Amazingly, she never lets go of the toy in her hand! She's so smart. :) And cute. And loveable. And adorable. And funny. Okay, I'm smitten.

(also note her Vikings outfit that Auntie Bethanie gave her today!)

Step 1: Look at the Mommy and flash my million dollar smile.

Step 2: Place toy near mouth and lean forward.

Step 3: Shove bum in air.

Step 4: Lean to the right.

Step 5: Lean to the left.

Step 6: Roll over and off the Boppy!

Step 7: Roll from back to tummy! All while holding on to my toy.

Step 8: Smile because I am so proud of myself!

You can see where she started and where she ended up! Note her leg is stuck under the crib. I had to help her with that one- she's only 4 months, she can't do everything herself!

The purpose of life from a grieving father's perspective

There's a blog I follow from a woman that I 'met' on a message board for infertility. She got pregnant with triplets via in-vitro fertilization and delivered them at 25 weeks and 5 days . They were all doing incredibly well until one of the triplets, Annaleigh, passed away last week at 2 months of age from a sudden stomach disease. Her sister Lily and brother Charlie are thriving. The Daddy wrote a eulogy that he delivered at Annaleigh's funeral. He also posted it on the blog. One part of the eulogy has been on my mind for a few days now. He wrote:

Eight weeks of life is just too short. It makes me think about what the point of life is at all. That’s a hard question to think about when you’re of clear and sound mind, but to think about it at a time like this is just unfair. But I think I’ve come up with an answer to that question anyway.

The way I see it, there are three points to life:
1. To love and be loved.
2. To prove you can make it on your own.
3. To have babies of your own.

It's interesting to me that a couple that struggled with infertility and had to do in-vitro to get pregnant would think that one of the three points of life is to have a baby of your own, but that's not my point. What strikes me about his observation is the brevity of it. You see, this man does not believe in God nor eternal life. To me, the only thing worse than losing your newborn baby is to not be able to reach out in desperation to your Lord and Savior for his neverending peace and comfort and to not trust that your precious baby is with Jesus in Heaven and will be reunited with you very soon. Can you imagine? I am so sad for this family. I am so sad that they lost their beautiful two month old daughter. I am even more sad that they don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. I simply cannot imagine surviving that tragic loss without Him.
http://threecheersforbabies.blogspot.com/

Claire at 4 months

Claire at 4 months:

• Reaches for items in front of her
• Interacts a lot. She tries to copy your facial expressions. The other night she and Josh took turns making funny noises ("farty sounds") with their mouths.
• Rolls over from back to tummy constantly. She doesn't stop!
• 11 lbs 7 oz and 23.5 inches long
• Laughs a lot! Something that is hilarious one day may produce a blank stare the next.
• Drools like crazy. We put a bib on her a lot to soak up the drool.
• Puts her fist or fingers in her mouth.
• Grabs her toes.
• Is sometimes scared of strangers, especially men. "Strangers" have included Grandpa Jeff and Uncle Chris.
• Notices Sydney more.
• Is better at taking the bottle but still far prefers her Mommy.
• Can cry /fuss herself to sleep occasionally (I don't let it go more than 3-5 minutes).
• Enjoys being outside.
• Doesn't sleep as well as she used to (but still good). She sleeps about 12 hours at night, with getting up once to eat. May get up another one or two times and need the pacifer reinserted.
• Pulls her legs up under her while on her tummy. I told her she better not even think about crawling anytime soon!!
• Still wears 0-3 month size clothing.
• Makes my heart ache for her when I'm not with her!
• Has a hammer arm. She pumps her right arm up and down, up and down. This is a brand new development.
• Has a magnetic field in front of her mouth. She wants to put everything in her mouth. If anything is within a foot, she'll open her mouth and try to put it in.
• Had her first cold already when she was about 3 1/2 months old. So sad!

French Fries

A Dad took his little girl to McDonalds. He bought her a small french fry, which contained 20 french fries. After they sat down, the Dad asked his daughter if he could have 2 french fries.

She hesitated because she knew deep down that she wanted all of her french fries herself.

She finally told her Dad that she didn't want to share any of her french fries. Sadly, she didn't realize two things:

• Her Dad had the ability to give her many, many more french fries. More french fries than she could ever dream of or want.
• Her Dad could easily take some or all of the french fries from her.

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I've been thinking and praying a lot about our french fries lately. I so badly want to give away 2 of our 20 french fries but there's a little part of me that says I "need" all 19 or 20.

August 11th

We found out I was pregnant with Claire one year ago today! What an incredible day that was!