Proof: Rolling over video

Certain people (like my father) have voiced their doubt when told that Claire can roll over from her front to her back. Now I have conclusive video evidence of her achievement. I would like to direct your attention to Parent's Exhibit A.

Click HERE to see video of Claire rolling over

I rest my case.

On the charge of "being too cute for words", we find the accused, Claire Suzanne, to be guilty on multiple counts. She is hereby sentenced to be hugged and kissed without mercy for the rest of her natural life.

Photo update and more

Claire continues to grow and amaze us every day. This week she has demonstrated the ability to roll over from her stomach to her back. The first time was at about 3 PM on Friday July 24th, but she has done it twice more since then. I put her down for some tummy time and after a while she got so agitated and worked up that she lifted her head up high, arched her back, kicked out her leg and over she went. Since then Claire has rolled over every time we do tummy time, and I will try to get video of her next roll. Very exciting, and fortunately both Leia and I were there to see the very first time. Grandma Thomas is here this weekend and has also witnessed this great feat of baby strength.

I have finally sorted through the mountain of pictures that we have from the first three weeks and have created a web album with captions on the photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/timothywthomas/ClaireFirst3Weeks#

This album has pictures from 4 different cameras: ours, the Tucker grandparent's, the Thomas grandparent's and my sister Carrie. Claire is certainly a very well documented baby.

Having my mom here this weekend has been a great help. We have been eating some great food, enjoying each others company and of course spending lots of time with baby Claire. Claire has been sleeping pretty well at night and that means we are all feeling better. I'm going to borrow Rick's video camera again this week, and hopefully I will have some video clips online soon. No promises though, it took me forever just to organize and comment 80 photos, so who knows how long it will take to edit the video...

Claire at 3 Weeks

Our little girl is growing up! This week she has found her voice. She is more vocal and cries a bit louder. She's a good baby, though, and doesn't cry too much but she does definitely have her fussy times. She is also more alert and loves to hold her head up and look around. She is very strong and we have just started tummy time with her. In fact, she managed to roll over earlier! She is focusing on objects more and reacting to loud noises like the telephone. She started experiencing her three week growth spurt Wednesday afternoon. Stating in the late afternoon she wants to eat every hour to two hours as opposed to her usual three hour intervals. This has made our evenings even more unpredictable. We have also both become better at nursing. We had a rocky start but I started eliminating the pumping last week and we have now hit our stride.

Well, Grandma Thomas should be here soon so I better run. I have so much more I want to share. Hopefully, I'll have time soon to bring everyone up to date.

2 weeks and a day

Claire is 2 weeks and one day old today, and she got another thumbs up from her doctor. We all went to the pediatrician this morning for the standard 2-week checkup which Claire passed with flying colors.


(I just took this picture 5 minutes ago, so this is about as current as you can get.)

According to the nurse, Claire is already back above her birth weight and is now a whopping 8 pounds and 10 ounces. She has also grown quite a bit in length and is 22 and 1/4 inches long. (Although after watching this get measured, I don't think it is nearly as precise as the weight.) It was great to get official confirmation of her growth, but Leia and I weren't really worried about it because we have been watching her grow right before our eyes. Already she looks very different from the little girl I met 2 weeks ago.

The only thing we did point out to the doctor was that Claire seems to produce a lot of "eye boogers" (for lack of a proper term). We have been constantly cleaning her eyes but there has been a steady supply of yellow stuff for the past few days. The doctor said it was probably just a very minor infection and prescribed some antibiotic ointment. Leia put some of that on Claire right after we got home this morning and already her eyes seem to be producing a lot less "stuff". The doctor said this kind of thing is very common and nothing to worry about. We do not have to go back to the pediatrician until the standard visit on August 13th. (There will be shots at that visit, which I don't think any of us are looking forward to. Claire is blissfully unaware of what lies in store. I wish I could say the same for her mother and I.)

I can't believe that I haven't posted to the blog since we were in the hospital, but everything moves so fast, and every time I think I will have some time to post an update, either I fall asleep, or the baby wakes up, or I need to eat, or the baby needs a diaper change or somebody calls on the phone to see how we are doing because we haven't posted an update to the blog. :) It is all good though and I wouldn't trade a minute of it, not even the tired bits at 3 AM.

Speaking of 3 AM... The baby girl who we brought home from the hospital and was sleeping so well at night was abducted from my house and replaced with a clone that is fully alert and rather fussy from 9 PM until 2 AM. This happened sometime on Saturday. If you see another baby that looks just like the one pictured above, and that sleeps well after dark, please give me a call so we can arrange an exchange.

I'm going to go back in time now and do a series of chronological blog posts detailing the events of Claire's birth. We have a lot of great photos and those first days were packed with visits from lots of family, so stay tuned for the full story.

Baby and Mom Update

Well, I finally feel like I am coming out the other side and I'm feeling more like myself. It took just ten days to feel recovered from the c-section. Healing isn't complete but we're close enough. Those ten days weren't easy but they were much easier than I anticipated. Despite the fact that I was doped up on pain medication, that my hormones were out of wack so I was crying at the drop of a hat about nothing and that Claire and I are incompatible nursing partners so we spent many painful moments together as a family before discovering the pump, these last two weeks have been the best. Tim and I feel like we have just been handed the most beautiful gift. I have gotten to see a side of my husband that I didn't know existed (and I feel like I know him pretty well). He became super dad while I recovered. The hospital staff was very impressed with him. Claire and I are two very lucky ladies!

Tim and I are also very fortunate to have such fantastic families. Our parents came in on Monday night and accompanied us to the hospital early Tuesday morning. They helped ease us into parenthood by providing us with not only with their comforting presence but also with food and restful breaks. They also whipped our yard back into shape. Our yard has never looked better!

Claire has been an absolute joy and is growing like a weed! I have made a list of the things I love about her:

• She has beautiful cornsilk hair that shines in the light.
• The way she uses her hands. They have to be kept free so she can have them up near her face or in her mouth. She'll also lace her fingers together as if she is contemplating some deep thought.
• She has the sweetest little smile. Her daddy started talking to her about multiverses and string theory and as she nodded off she gave him the biggest smile.
• More than anything, I love how happy she has made our families and even more important, how happy she has made her daddy.

We'll report more soon and post more pictures. Thank you to everyone for your well wishes and support!

Lots of baby pictures!

I haven't had a chance to do any editing, or post captions or weed out bad photos, but here is a link to our current online photo album with pictures of the past two days. I'll write more when we get home, but for now I will let the pictures do the talking.

http://picasaweb.google.com/timothywthomas/BabyClaireFirst2Days

Enjoy!