Dad Skills

Bando has lots and lots and lots of Dad Skills, (and I'm so grateful for all of them! He's sooooo good with Claire!) But the Dad Skills I'd like to focus on today are his medical assessment skills. As he told Claire last night, he is constantly assessing her. (I can attest to that with myself because he also constantly assesses me! For example, if we're sitting on the couch, and my feet are up on the couch, he might have his hand resting on my foot. Sooner or later, he'll take my pedal pulse. That's not pedal like a bicycle pedal; that's pedal, pronounced with a long ee sound. It refers to the foot. He takes my pulse in my foot. He CONSTANTLY assesses!) :-)


So of course he is going to assess Claire constantly, too! He usually assesses her without any extra equipment, but this time he decided to get serious! Her heart and her bowels are all working fine!


Claire demonstrated her ability to grasp, thanks to Bando's finger being in the right place at the right time.

She also responds to sounds, attention, and love!

Here is a demonstration of Jordan assessing Claire's patellar reflex. It's the one where, when the knee is tapped in the correct spot, the lower leg responds. (It's kind of hard to see Claire's leg moving a ton from this angle, but you can see it the best in the last one).


I think Jordan's favorite reflex is the Moro reflex. Sometimes while Claire is lying down, she'll suddenly throw both arms out to the sides with her palms up and her hands open, and she'll bring her arms towards each other. That's the Moro reflex. Babies do that, I am told, when they feel like they're falling, even though they aren't falling. Jordan likes to test this reflex sometimes by saying, "BOO!" to Claire. I guess it startles her, and so she responds with this reflex. I don't have any pictures of this one, but you can certainly ask Jordan for a demonstration whenever he and Claire are around!

A Night Out

Tonight Jordan and I were able to go on a date! This was our first date without Claire since she was born. Thanks, Stevo, Lou, and Grandma Polly, for watching her while we were out. We had dinner, went to Bed, Bath, & Beyond and Best Buy, and then we went to The Chocolate Bar for dessert. YUMMM!!!!!

The family before Bando and I went out.

I thought this outfit was appropriate for Claire today, since I think she's been growing this week. Today she looked longer to me than she has before!

Growing

I think Claire is going through a growth spurt. I say this because she used to sleep through the night pretty well, but lately she's been waking up every four hours at night. (That's not really very fun, especially when she used to sleep 6-8 hours!) But, as I always tell her, I'll always feed her if she's hungry.


She has outgrown her newborn diapers. We have just a few more that we are using up, but I've already switched to using size 1 diapers at night and for long car rides, (like on our way home from Dallas last Friday).

She has also grown into her 0-3 month clothes. Up until this week, she wore only newborn clothes. But they were getting pretty snug on her, especially in the length, so she has graduated to the next size. It's fun to get to choose her clothes from a completely new wardrobe! Doesn't she look adorable today?!!!


Claire is 10 weeks old today! She is completely full of smiles in the mornings and afternoons. It is so sweet to walk into her room in the morning and see her smiling face looking up at me. (It's hard to get her to smile when I'm behind the camera; I haven't mastered that one yet). Yesterday and today she has begun to make some laughing sounds. - This reminds me of when she started smiling. I saw a few "pre-game" smiles that I thought were smiles. - And yesterday and today she has made some sounds that I believe are "pre-game" laughs. She has also made some other new sounds this week, including "oo" and a razzing or rasping sound. Claire will also bear some weight on her legs when we hold her up.

The changes that have occurred during the past 10 weeks are just amazing to me!

Here she is the day she was born:

And here she is when she was almost a month old:

And just look at her now!

Meeting Uncle Stephen

Uncle Stephen came in town this weekend. We are so glad he could come for Claire's blessing! Even though Stephen got in town on Friday, he didn't really meet Claire until Saturday because she was sleeping when he arrived. But on Saturday, what better way to win her over on their first meeting than to feed her right when she woke up? Thanks, Uncle Stephen! She really appreciates it!

Claire's Blessing Day

Today was a special day for our family because Claire was blessed at church today. Claire was so good, too. She didn't cry at all; in fact, she was actually smiling.

It was so wonderful to have so many of our family members here for it, too. I know that many of them sacrificed to come, and we are so appreciative of that. Here's the whole Hervey Clan. It was nice to see all of my siblings, their families, my parents, and my grandmother.


Four Generations!
And here's the Cooper Clan. We know that those not pictured wanted to be here, and we appreciate that, too.

Brothers



Thanks, everyone, for making this a special day for us.