In Sickness and in Health...

I've been reflecting a lot on our wedding vows this week as we approach our 9 year anniversary tomorrow. Yes, 9 years! My dear husband has really lived his vows and I still feel very honored that he chose me. This week we got to live the "In Sickness" part as I had to have a cyst removed from my gums that was also embedded in the bone. It had been there for two years but the surgeon didn't feel the need to remove it when I saw him a year and a half ago but he saw where it was embedded in the bone at my last visit and determined that it needed to be removed. In times like this, Tim is exactly what I need him to be without any special instructions from me. He took great care of me and our sweet little daughter. It was almost worth it to go through the procedure to watch him and Claire enjoy each other yesterday. I am doing well but the surgeon did say that my worst day will be tomorrow, on our anniversary. I hope it isn't too bad as Claire has her first play date tomorrow and I would hate to cancel it. I also have a lot of baking that I would like to do. Well, I better get back to the laundry. Take care!

Poor Baby!

The Teething Monster can be quite vicious! Claire woke up last night at around 11:30 screaming like I've never heard her scream. I have always prided myself on how I deal with tough situations. My brothers were always getting into scrapes that would send us to the emergency room and I think that was good training for some of the tough situations I have faced but there is something about listening to your daughter scream herself hoarse that will just undo you. I fell apart! Thankfully, Tim heard us and got up and brought me back down. During times like this, I am so thankful that I have been able to nurse and that Tim talked me out of quitting in those hard early days. I coaxed her into nursing since that always seems to calm her down and she fell asleep after about ten minutes.

She had a pretty good morning but then the pain returned a couple of hours ago but not with the same intensity as last night. She is sleeping in her swing now and has been for over an hour which means that she is definitely not feeling well. Being a baby is hard business!

She did it!

Tonight, Claire rolled over from her back to her tummy! Our girl just keeps getting stronger!

Claire - 4 Months - Week 2

As you may know from previous posts, we have been working on our naps. This has been an incredibly frustrating process. At the end of this week, I decided to just give in to it. If sleeping in her swing makes her happy and less miserable, so be it because it'll make us all happy and less miserable so for some of her naps she'll be in her swing. Claire has missed a lot of play opportunities chasing these naps around and I just don't think that is fair. Here is a synopsis of her nap "issues:" They only last through one sleep cycle so 40 minutes. She may or may not be able to start the second half of her nap right after the first. Sometimes we have a 30-60 minute nap intermission where we change her diaper and play. Sometimes that second half of the nap is very hard to get no matter how much she wants it. She opens her eyes if I scratch my head or she hears any minor noises. In this situation, laying her down in her crib is next to impossible because she immediately wakes up and I can not get her back to sleep unless I rock her. I may make three or four attempts to lay her down in her crib before we just give up. At that point, we have spent probably an hour or more to get settled. Laying her in her swing is easier during these times because the swing will soothe her back to sleep. I am too much of a marshmallow to let her cry it out. Besides, this to me is just a developmental issue and I think it'll work itself out over time.

Enough about naps! Here are some more fun developments:

• Claire has developed some very cute mannerisms while eating. If she is eating and her left hand is free, she likes to rub or scratch her head. I have to hold it down, though, because she has cradle cap and the scratching makes her head bleed. If her right hand is loose, she tries to suck her thumb while eating. What a talent!

• Claire has also gotten very adept at taking her pacifier out of her mouth and she's been able to get it back in on a few occasions.

• We have always sung silly songs with her but lately I've been trying to have song time several times a day. I sing songs while moving her arms and legs around and she loves it and starts to laugh. Too much fun!

• She really loves her jumperoo now. She'll stay in it for 20 minutes or more.

• Tim and I read that we should start letting her smell different things so I decided to let her smell my banana the other day. This was one hour before she was due to eat. After letting her smell the banana, she got fussy and demanded to be fed. I guess she'll enjoy bananas when it is time for solids!

On the teething front, Claire stopped experiencing teething problems after we got back from our trip to Fairhope. She had been less clingy and happier but the teething monster came back this weekend. Poor baby!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Ready to go get her picture taken!

Worn out!

Loving the jumperoo!

She played so hard so kicked her leg out of her pj's.

Tim and I actually got to eat a meal at the same time and at the table this week while Claire slept in her swing. On another day, we also got to watch an entire movie uninterrupted since she went to bed early.

More pictures

We picked out a total of 5 different pictures from our photo session last weekend. Only one family photo made the cut (who wants to see Leia and I more than once anyway), but there were more shots of Claire that we had to keep. I finally got around to scanning them this morning.

This first one is similar to the one we posted last week, but it is a wider shot that shows how big Claire has gotten and that she is sitting up by herself like a big girl.


I love this one of her lying on the floor on the quilt that her Great Aunt Mary Jane made. They took several of these, but in most of them she is eating her hands. In this shot it looks like she is resting her chin on her fist, but believe me, half a second after this picture was taken that hand was crammed in her mouth. Her favorite food right now is by far the knuckle sandwich.


And this is just a great closeup of her wonderful smile. I usually get one of these when I come home from work and it makes the whole day worth it.


A couple of days ago we got a birth announcement in the mail for Claire's cousin in California, Amelie Paige Burke. She is about 2 and 1/2 months old now. Leia and I were both struck by how much she and Claire resemble each other. Lots of people have said that Claire looks like me, but I also thought she looked very much like a Burke (Leia's mom's family). I think this picture of Amelie proves that to be true.



Speaking of family resemblance, check out these two pictures. The first is of Leia and her father, the second is of me and my dad. How many similarities can you spot between them?



Photo comparison checklist:
-- Awesome moustache ... Check
-- Blue jeans ... Check
-- T-shirt ... Check
-- Hands on baby's sides with elbows splayed out ... Check
-- Hideous furniture ... Check
-- Wood paneling ... Check
-- Skinny Dad who could benefit from a sandwich ... Check

It's almost scary...

Shhhhh....Claire is napping

Why am I sharing this? Because for weeks Claire has only been taking 45 minute naps. She has now been asleep for over an hour. I don't care that it is too early for a nap or that the reason she may be sleeping so well is the torrential down pour we are experiencing. This gives me hope. It has been a difficult few weeks trying to get her to take longer naps and a lot of rocking when she wakes up and needs more sleep but can't get it. We have spent countless hours chasing naps and I am hoping we are nearing the end of this phase because not only has it been difficult on me (and Tim when he gets home and we are all grumpy) but it has been hard on Claire as well. Wish us well!

Picture Day

We finally bit the bullet and took Claire to have her picture made. They turned out pretty good. Here's a sampling:

She is wearing a dress my mom gave her and is sitting on the quilt our Aunt Mary Jane made for her. Isn't that a great smile?!

We were lucky to get this picture. Claire was growing quite tired. She is wearing a jumper that our friends, Rick and Courtney, had made for her with her initials embroidered on it.

Four Month Check-up

Claire had her check-up on Wednesday and she did very well. She is now 14lb and 5.5oz and 25.25 inches long. She is in the 70th percentile for weight and the 90th percentile for height. This explains why she is growing out of her clothes so fast: she is just long! The doctor was impressed with how strong she is and how she is progressing developmentally so we were happy parents in the end. She took her shots like a champ, too. We talked to the doctor about starting her on solids and he didn't seem to think she needed it and recommended we wait until she is six months old. He said that however I've been feeding her seems to be working and that I didn't need to change anything so I was relieved.

Claire - 4 Months - Week 1

This was a week of milestones: Claire turned four months old last Friday, her first trip to Mimi and Grandaddy's in Fairhope, her first Halloween, and Monday was the one year anniversary of finding out that Claire was on her way. On Friday, we set out for Fairhope and Claire did pretty well in the car. After we arrived, I handed Claire off to her Grandaddy while Tim and I unpacked the car. When we got in the house, Claire was smiling but that quickly turned into a wail. I had noticed that Claire was becoming more sensitive. I should have done a better job at introducing her to the new surroundings. She has become much more aware of her environment recently and knows when something is different. Between that and the teething, she was out of sorts all weekend but we had a great time. We got to go see where Mimi works and got to meet her co-worker Molly. I forgot to take the camera so we didn't get a picture of her with Molly. Saturday, we went to visit Aunt Jessica where she works, Tuskers Furniture in Mobile. The store was really nice and Tim and I wanted to shop for some furniture but Claire had a bad episode with her teething while we were there so once again, no picture and no furniture. We laid low the rest of Saturday and spent our time at Mimi's and Grandaddy's. They had a lot of trick-or-treaters so it was fun to see them all parade in and out in their costumes. Sunday, we dropped in to see Mimi at the end of church so Claire could meet Mimi's choir-mates but we got there a bit late and Clarie was once again having problems with her teething. We had a really nice dinner that evening with Stephen and Jessica and Patrick. Chase was in Houston training for his new job. Monday we came home and today we are going to see the doctor for her four month check-up. Here are the pictures from her week:

Hanging out with Uncle Pat

War eagle!

Being silly with Mimi!

Visiting with Uncle Stephen

Our neighbors, Debbie and Jessica

Thank you Carrie and Ellen for the adorable clown costume!

Waiting for trick-or-treaters

Claire is wearing the dress Mimi bought her the day we found out we were expecting a girl.

Spending time with Aunt Jessica while sitting on Noah's head! I imagine that will be a common occurence once he arrives.

Uncle Beau was so concerned about her crying this weekend. He was also a bit upset that he was no longer the baby and the center of attention. Poor puppy!

Back at home on a Tuesday night, reading a story with Dad.