Claire at 6 W eeks

We have had quite a busy week -- well, busy for us. Our good friend Laurel came by and spent the afternoon with us on Tuesday. On Wednesday, my cousin, Courtney and uncle, Buddy, came by as well. Then on Thursday we had a visit to the pediatrician's office for our two month check-up where Claire weighed in at 9lb 14oz and 22.5 inches long. She received one oral immunization and four shots. This week we've been introducing her toys to her and she has really started to enjoy them. She is still smiling a lot and is now sleeping 4-5 hour stretches at night. I have tried to take more pictures this week and I think we captured some great moments. Here they are:

Cousin Courtney

Uncle Buddy

She is so gosh darn cute!

Sleep smile

I had to buy her something nice after she received 4 shots so
I bought her the most adorable swimsuit for next year.

Look at those ruffles! Too much fun!

It wasn't a fluke!

I almost posted an entry this week entitled "The Missed Opportunity of a Neurotic First Time Mother" but I thought the title was too long. Claire has slept for long stretches two nights this week! Monday night she ate around 8:30 and was asleep in her crib by 10:30 (yes, the getting to sleep part takes a while). I went to bed thinking she would wake me up soon to eat since she usually doesn't go more than three and a half hours without eating even at night. Well, I woke up at 12:30 and was a bit concerned since I hadn't heard from her. I went in and checked on her and she was sleeping soundly so I went back to bed expecting her to wake up soon. I woke again with a start at a quarter til two when I realized she was still fast asleep. I decided to wake her up to eat. I researched this later and learned that babies who are at least four weeks old and gaining weight can sleep as long as they want without eating. I thought I had really missed a fantastic opportunity to catch up on some sleep. But Claire did it again last night!! She ate at 9:30 and went to bed at 10:30. I didn't hear from her again until4:00! And not only that -- she was diapered, fed and back in bed in twenty minutes! I could get used to this!

What a great idea!

I came across this blog the other day and they had a great idea for meal planning. I've been trying to figure out an easy way to plan our meals and my grocery trips especially now that Claire is here. The blog post suggests coming up with a list of 30 meals to rotate through. This seems like a lot of variety so I suppose you can make your list as long as you want. Here's the blog post: http://littlenannygoat.blogspot.com/2009/04/30-meals-step1.html

So I thought I'd ask, what are your go to meals? Here are some of mine:

spaghetti, tacos, quesadillas, pita pizzas,shrimp n' grits, chicken or tuna casserole, red beans n' rice, meatloaf, sesame coated chicken, pecan coated chicken, chicken parmesan, lasagna, hamburgers, grilled chicken, fish n' chips, beef or pork roast, quiche, breakfast, buffalo chicken, lamb stew, baked fish, ravioli

Well, now I'm hungry. I better go fix dinner. Tonight we are making pizzas: buffalo chicken and barbecue. Yum!

Well Worth It!

If you've read my previous posts from this week, you know it has been an interesting one and sometimes an exhausting one. It was all well worth it when this morning our baby girl started smiling at her dad and I. Here's the proof (mind you, I'm holding the baby with one hand while trying to snap the picture with the other but you get the idea - she's smiling!)


We've also noticed that she's starting to use her left hand. She has been spotted swatting at her mobile in her pack n' play and bringing it to her mouth to chew on. What a week!

Growth Spurt - 5 Weeks

I finally realized what's been going on with Claire this week, another growth spurt. This explains the long sleep the other night (something about a hormone needed to help with the growth) and all the fussiness. I thought something was up when she wanted to nurse every 2 hours Wednesday night before going to bed for the night. Then last night she wanted to nurse every hour before finally going to bed at 11:30. I read that babies also go through developmental spurts and I've noticed that too this week. She sat with me on the floor yesterday afternoon for half an hour just looking around the room. She would spend a few minutes looking around in one position and then she would either arch her back or twist in order to get me to move her so she could look in another direction. She did this again this morning but for only about fifteen minutes. I felt so privileged to be able to witness the development of this tiny person's brain. You could almost feel the connections being made as she was looking around. So sweet!

I've got Claire actually napping right now so I've been able to upload our pictures from the past couple of weeks. Here's what our girl looks like:

Claire at Three Weeks

Grandma Thomas came to visit for the weekend.

Blissful sleep!

Tummy time!

Claire at 4 Weeks

My parents were here for the evening so that Mom could catch a flight in the morning.

Falling asleep looking for Mommy. Doesn't that just melt your heart?!

Claire at 5 Weeks

I attempted to get a picture of Claire scanning the room.
It was difficult to do with her squirming.

Claire squirms a lot in her sleep and this week she's been ending up on her side.

She wore Mommy out this week!

Oh, What A Night!

Our little girl slept from 9:30 to 3:30 last night! I awoke with quite a start when I looked at the clock after hearing her whimpering. Then I got up fed her, changed her and put her back to bed in just 30 minutes. What a great night!

A New Development

I started noticing yesterday that Claire really prefers for me to put her down when she is sleepy. I was holding her yesterday afternoon and I knew she was tired but she just wouldn't settle down so I decided to put her down on the floor where she could stretch out and she immediately calmed down and eventually fell asleep. I decided to try this last night to see if she could soothe herself to sleep and she did it, all night! I'm hoping she'll keep this up. I'm also hoping that maybe she'll get quieter while she's going to sleep because she grunts a lot until she is in a deep sleep. This makes it hard for me to fall back to sleep because I'm worried that she's going to wake up at any minute and start crying. Never the less, this is a huge improvement and I'm very proud of my little girl. It seems like she does something new everyday.

It truly is amazing how quickly babies grow and change. We had to get out the next size diapers for her yesterday after changing her outfit three times in 15 minutes. Her newborn onesies don't fit over these very well, either. They were starting to get a bit tight any way but they are so cute and I hate to see them go. We weighed Claire over the weekend and she is now about ten and a half pounds so all of this is just a sign that our sweet girl is healthy and well.