Love Me

Claire is SO easy to love! :-) She is also so smiley lately. - Even when she wakes up in the middle of the night, (like she did again last night), she smiles SO big when I get her from the crib. And when she's exhausted, (she was up last night from 7:30-10:30pm), she still smiles so big if you make eye contact with her. She's so sweet!

Mom Skills

I've had the chance to test my mom skills while Jordan has been gone to Miami visiting his brother and his family.


I'm happy to report that Claire and I are both still doing great! I actually feel like I'm getting the hang of being a mom more. I think it's that Claire is getting more into a schedule, and I know what it is.

For a while there, as soon as she had a schedule and I figured it out, her schedule would change. For instance, she used to go to sleep between 10-11pm, and then she'd wake up between 5-6am and go right back to sleep until 9-10am, (maybe even 10:30!) That was nice. But then her schedule changed. She no longer wanted to go back to sleep immediately after her 5-6am feeding. (But I still wanted to!) So once I figured out that her "normal" had changed, I no longer tried to get her to go back to sleep immediately after she ate. (Trying to get Claire to go to sleep when she doesn't want to works only as long as you're holding her. When I would put her down, she would immediately be wide awake, and there was no getting her back to sleep without picking her up again. But the cycle would continue when I put her back down). So I realized that wasn't working!

After that, Claire was a super sleeper! She would consistently sleep anywhere from 6-11.5 hours! (She only slept 11.5 hours once, but I certainly enjoyed it!!!) And her average was around 7-8 hours. I can handle that! She did that for a few weeks without ever waking up in the night. -- And I LOVED it!!! :-)

Last week, she broke her pattern of not waking up in the night with a few 4am feedings. But I think that's because of her tooth coming in. Last night was better; she slept for 7 hours again.

I'm glad I know Claire's normal schedule for the daytime, too. She is a happy girl for about one hour and 15 minutes from the time that she wakes up. Then she needs a nap! So I wrap her up and put her in her swing, where she sleeps peacefully for a while. It's easier to accomplish tasks I want/need to accomplish because I can anticipate what Claire will do. That, I feel, is where my mom skills are coming into play!

Also, when we were with my cousin Emily and her daughter about a month ago, I realized that I know the sound of Claire's cry. Yes, I hear babies cry at church and other places, but when I hear other babies cry, I usually have Claire in my arms or right next to me, so I know she's not crying. But when we were with Emily, we were at my grandmother's house, and there were plenty of family members who were tending to all of the kiddos there. I remember being in the kitchen, and I heard a cry from another room. I immediately knew it was not Claire's cry. I was happy I could distinguish her cry from other cries. (I'm sure any mom can relate; that's just when I realized I knew the sound of her cry).

I love learning about Claire and watching her grow and learn! I'm so grateful I get to be her mom!

Five Years

Five years ago today, Jordan and I got married. That was the best day of our lives!!!!

Here's a brief summary of the past five years:

• I've taught choir at two different high schools.
  
• Jordan finished the pre-reqs for nursing school and completed nursing school.
• Jordan worked (nights) on CVICU for almost two years at the Methodist Hospital.
• Jordan got a new job (working only weekdays!!!) at Kelsey-Seybold.
• We moved around Katy a few times.
• We enjoyed some awesome vacations!!
• We have spent wonderful time with family and friends.
• We have planned for the next few years: moving to Baton Rouge for Jordan to go to CRNA school.
  
• And we had our beautiful baby girl!!!!! We are so glad Claire is with us in our lives!! (The day she was born was the 2nd best day of our lives!! - And it's a VERY close 2nd!)

We went to the Brasilian Cafe tonight for dinner, but Jordan started feeling badly while we were there. And since then he's gotten sick. I'm sorry he feels badly. (So we didn't take pictures when we got home!)

I love you, Bando! Here's to the next five years!

Three Months Old!

Claire is now three months old! I feel like I say this a lot, but I can't believe three months have already gone by! She continues to be such a joy to us. She smiles more and more, and she recognizes our voices and our faces. We really do have a great time with her! This week she has gone back to "talking" more to us. I love hearing her sounds!


She is generally a very happy baby girl, (and I'm so thankful for that!!) But this week she has seemed a little bit off. She has been a bit more fussy and has needed a bit more help getting to sleep for naps during the day. After a couple days of her being just a bit "off," I decided to see if she's teething. - And she is! She's getting a tooth!

I texted Jordan yesterday and told him about my discovery, and he didn't believe me. He came home completely expecting to find nothing sprouting in Claire's mouth. But when he looked in her mouth, he couldn't deny the tooth that's coming up on the bottom right!

Three Outfit Day

... so far!

This morning I dressed Claire in her camo outfit, (the pink and green variety), which she hasn't worn before. But before I could get a picture of her in it, she spit up all over it.

So then I dressed her in this sweet red and white polka dot onesie! When Jordan and I found out that Claire was a girl, we bought this outfit. I really like it! (No, I wasn't thinking clearly enough to choose something with long sleeves for a time of the year when she would actually NEED long sleeves. I think it was November when we found out, so long sleeves made perfect sense then. But I just found something I thought was cute, and we bought it!)


But if you look closely at the picture above, you might notice some poop on her leg. I was holding Claire when the "assault" happened, and pretty soon it was on my shirt, my pants, her outfit, and her legs!

So she went with just a diaper until we could both make it upstairs to change clothes - again!!! This time, I didn't choose anything overly cute. (And she'll probably stay in it the rest of the day!)

McAlister's

I hear McAlister's has really good bread bowls.

Four Generations

A few weeks ago Grandma Polly came to visit. We had four generations here!

It was so nice to see Grandma Polly and to spend time with her. I really appreciate all of her help with Claire! She did so much. Claire loved "talking" with her great grandmother, and, since Grandma Polly left, Claire hasn't "talked" nearly as much. Look at how captivated Claire is!







We're glad you could come, Grandma!

Put Your Feet Up!

When I think of putting my feet up, I think of sitting down, propping my feet up on the couch or an ottoman, and enjoying myself. Maybe I'll watch a movie, read a book, do a blog post, or enjoy a glass of freshly squeezed lemonade. Maybe I'll even take a nap!! (Now that's FUN!)

But for Claire, she literally puts her feet up!


And it looks like she enjoys it, too!

Belated Father's Day

Happy Belated Father's Day! I hope Jordan had a good day yesterday. (I'm pretty sure he did!) - After all, Claire and I got back in town on Saturday night, so Jordan was actually with his daughter on Father's Day! (Sorry, Dad, that I didn't stay in Dallas to be with you on Father's Day. I thought it was pretty important to get home to Jordan for his first Father's Day!) I'm so grateful that Jordan is Claire's dad. He is so good with her, and he helps us both so much!


Isn't it just so obvious that she loves her dad?!!

Jordan wanted a day without having to cook, so I made him some homemade pizza, with some help from Chris.


They both enjoyed it!

Also, it was Chris's birthday!!! Happy Birthday, Chris!

He enjoyed the cookies, too!

And to my dad, I'm so glad you're my dad! Thanks for everything - from the math talks to the fishing trips, and everything in between!

12 Weeks Old

Claire is 12 weeks old today!! And she really has been growing! - I measured her length today, and she's 24 and 3/4 inches long. She's more than 2 feet tall!

I'm still working on getting her to smile for the camera. Even with other people helping, she sometimes just glues her eyes to the big black thing that produces a flash, (the camera), and she just stares at it with a blank face.

Here, Aunt Rebecca is helping her stretch!

She really does love to stick out her tongue!
I love it when she smiles and sticks her tongue out at the same time. (This picture doesn't do it justice, but trust me; it's cute!)
Last night she was so adorable while she slept.
But I had to wake her up, so she stretched and stretched (without any help, this time).
And here she is today. I did take this one "all by myself," and I'd say it's pretty good! She's so sweet!

Home, Sometime Soon

Last weekend we went to Baton Rouge to look for a place to live. We saw a wide range of places - from a junky, college-type apartment, (where we had to bypass a beer bottle in the middle of the road to leave the street), to a 3 bedroom home with TONS of space, (more than we need, really), and a beautiful yard. We decided to go for the middle-of-the-road, 2 bed, 2 bath condo. It's actually more like a duplex, but it calls itself a condo. I'm so excited about it!

It is in a nice area that has a neighborhood feel to it.
The living room (-Claire was so good while we looked at places!!)
The master bedroom
The master bathroom
The 2nd bathroom
Claire's room
The kitchen - I love how big and open it is!!
And I love the color on the walls. I have lived in an apartment for 10 years, and the walls have basically all been white or almost white. So this green kitchen is awesome to me!
I love the detail of the woodwork.

The patio area
And our two-car garage!!!
After our time with the realtor, we picked up some lunch and made it back to the hotel in time to watch US tie England in the World Cup game. (What a goal, huh?!!) That night we went to a recommended seafood restaurant that was really good, and then we drove down to find the stake center and the temple. They are only 10 minutes from our home!! And Jordan's school is only 5 minutes from home. He is so excited to be able to stop his 40 minute commute that he has right now.

I am so excited that we have a place to live once we get to Baton Rouge. It was fun driving around and trying to learn the area. Jordan can download Google Maps to his brain, and he can already get around Baton Rouge pretty well. I still have a dial-up connection, so it will take me a bit longer to get to know Baton Rouge, but I'll get it eventually!

Waking Up

Claire usually takes some good naps during the day. She loves to be swaddled for nap time and for bed time. Dad is definitely the better swaddler, but I do alright, most of the time.

Yesterday Jordan swaddled Claire up for a nap.


And she slept peacefully in her swing, which is still her favorite place to nap.

I was armed with the camera when she woke up. I just love her stretches and her funny faces as she wakes up.

Trying...

I am working to improve my ability to capture Claire's smiles while I'm the only one here to get her to smile and take the pictures. I'm definitely still a neophyte, but here is evidence of my attempts today.



I'd say I did alright in the ones above. And I like the one below just because it's funny.


Hopefully my ability will improve so that you can see her beautiful smiles and her happy faces!