4 Months Old!

Well, this will be a short and sweet post.  I have recently updated Claire's Sharesite with her 4 month "photoshoot." A lot of me wants to take her to a professional photographer, but we will wait until at least the 6 month mile-marker for that! 

Before I share some of my favorite pictures with you, I must say how blessed I am.  Seriously.  The past month has really been more challenging than I can really express.  I have been physically, emotionally, and mentally at the end of my rope.  I am not sure I have experienced that type of exhaustion on all levels before.  So much so that I felt incompetent to be anything, including a parent, employee, or even a wife. Everything in me wanted to shutdown and essentially not exist any more.

But...

Praise God for friends and family.  Words cannot express how incredibly blessed I am.  There's nothing quite like going through the thick of the storm and having your friends literally run to your rescue.  I must admit, I was very leery about having kids in Chicago.  We are at minimum 4 hours away from any grandparent and both sets of grandparents are very busy!  Our friends' lives are hectic as well, but it's really amazing to see how God used each of them in a special way to help us through the difficult time.

Now I will leave you with Claire's 4 month progression!!!  I chose a few different pics from the bunch...

Newborn

 

One Month

Two Months

Three Months

Four Months

Daily life

Let me just start by saying that we are blessed with the best friends anyone could request! The past month has been filled with challenge, sickness, and everyday difficulties. Claire has spent quality time with anyone who will take her this month! After the stomach flu, colds, coughs, and emotional breakdowns...I think we are slowly on our way to recovery.

My little peanut is just getting over a bad cold and the hubbs is currently walking through it. We've tried to make sure to wash our hands as much as possible, but nothing seems to keep us from kissing her cute face.

Today is my brother's, Matt, birthday! It's the last year of his 20s!! I can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday Brian and I were meeting some friends for tapas to celebrate my 30th. Ha! How time flies, right?

Well, I will leave you with some daily recent pictures of the cutest baby ever.

Trying on hats at Baby Gap!

She's always soooo happy when she stinks!

Ahhaaahhhaaaaaaaa.... Aaaaaaaeeeeeaaaah.... These words are really I love you so much in 'baby-code'

Pretty sure she's already embarrassed by us.

Shy about eating nowadays....

 

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It's been a while! Trip to MI!

HELLO!!!  It's been so long since I've had a chance to update everyone!  So much has happened, but before I go into all of it I must post about our (long past) trip to Michigan over Labor Day. 

Claire got to see her new cousin, Ayden, and she met the Tuckeys for the first time.  While we were out visiting the whole family got together and we had a couple professional photographers come and take pictures.  It was so much fun.  Barb and Les have such a great property that we didn't even have to leave the comfort of their own home.  

 Liz is getting so grown up!  I just can't believe it - stop looking so much older!

 The barn made a great backdrop for the pictures...here's grandma and grandpa and the kiddos.

 Here's "the peanut gallery" ha - always have something to say...and we were working hard to make Nate smile.

 Here's the kids getting set up for the next picture.

 HA - Brian is always a character.

Brian juggling for Kate and Viv.

 YESSSSS!!!!  More grill stuff!!!

 Happy Birthday Barb and Brian!

Claire and Ayden side by side - I can't believe how tiny he is!!  Was Claire ever really that small?!

Mandy made a wonderful cake with lemon curd in it...it rivaled her dreamsickle cake for sure!  We had a wonderful time celebrating and spending time with the family.  The weekend was over all too quickly.  Can't wait until the next time! (CHRISTMAS!!!!)

Family Visits - Part 1

We've had such a busy 2 weeks!  The weekend before Labor Day Claire took her first flight ever!  We went to Omaha and got to hang out with my family!  We also had dinner at my good friend's, Shannon, house, but I NEVER take pictures there!!! DUH!
 Anyway, it was a great trip!  Claire slept on the plane (and ate). We made it through both there and back without any crying! YAY! First stop in Omaha was Grandma Linda and Grandpa Don's.  We stayed there and had BLT's with Uncle Matt - then Aunt Jess came out later in the evening to say hi.  

The next day we went to Uncle Jeff's house and hung out with Kyle, Danielle, and Jeffrey - oh and Madison stopped by really quick to say hello.  Missy also stopped by on her lunch break.  Brian was so happy to hang with his buddy Kyle. 

Claire was ALL SMILES for Uncle Jeff...except when he was trying to take a good photograph in his studio.  Brian and I took are traditional "bunny ears" pics with Kyle.  Love HIM!

In the evening we went to have dinner at the "grill-master" Jude's house. (Jude has generously opened his home to Shannon and Luke) haha. I really wish I got a picture of Claire and Jude - he's roughly a year older than Claire - such a cutie!  NEXT time we get together - we must take a picture

Claire managed to take a nap on Grandma and Grandpa's KING size bed!!  She was very comfy!

The last day we were there we were in Omaha we went to see Great Grandpa Overton.  In the picture above Claire was very hungry and wiggly!  I believe she did get Grandpa Vic to crack a smile though, and that was good to see.  He said he wasn't feeling so good, so hopefully Claire was a good "pick-me-up" that day.  Before we knew it - it was time to head for the airport to fly home! 

Next weekend...MICHIGAN!

Back to work - short week

My sweet daughter sent me flowers for my 1st day back!

Going back to work on a Wednesday was a smart decision. I'm not sure if some one suggested it to me or if I came up with it, but either way I would highly recommend it to anyone coming back after an extended time away from work.

Claire was so good to me Tuesday night! She slept until 5:30 on the nose! I got up, fed her, put her in the bouncy seat in the bathroom while I took a shower, the talked with (at) her while getting ready for work. I was ready with enough time to spare to make sure all her daycare stuff was set to go and to dress her and still make it to the train station with enough time to buy a ticket for next week. Thursday morning was very similar only I had enough time to give her a bath! It was great! Friday she got me! Up at 4am!! Yikes! Up this morning at 3:30am! Thank God it's Saturday!

Overall I would say we both had a good week. By Friday I was aching to just hold her and have her smile at me. I nearly welled up when I picked her up from daycare that evening. She was pretty grumpy when I arrived, but when I got her home and laid her down to change her we discovered something new!!! Her LAUGH! I tickled her neck and she was giggling! It was soooo awesome! I'm trying to get a video of it now, but she's pretty stingy with her laughs right now! Brian I had some renewed energy after hearing that little giggle. How rewarding after my 1st week back.

This coming week will be a long one. It's normal for most other people, but I have something to look forward to at the end of it! We're going to Omaha on Sunday! We get to see great grandpa Vic, and grandma Linda and grandpa Don. Uncle Matt and and Jess...she gets to meet Jude - who sent her a gift before she was even born! Uncle Jeff and aunt Danielle Annnnd Uncle Kyle and aunt Madison....she's got a busy weekend coming! I hope we're all up for it.

10 weeks old today!

Overall it was a pretty good week. I love my boss and manager, love most the people I work with, and have a good job that has the potential to provide a good living for our family. I really can't complain one bit. It is difficult being so far from Claire during the day, but I really need to focus on how God has blessed me with everything else and not focus on what I don't have right now. Maybe some day I will be able to work part time or even stay home all the time, but for now I'm responsible for being grateful for my current blessings and challenges.

Here she is trying not to fall asleep

 

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It Begins.

Ready to go!

 There she is!  My little baby all strapped in ready to go to daycare.  Her "first day of school" - I called it all morning.  Despite having her shots yesterday she seemed to be in a really good mood this morning. 

I did have to wake up at 3:30am to feed her, but she really ate nothing yesterday, so that's fine - this chunker needs her milk!!

The morning went pretty smoothly.  As we all know (if you know me) Brian HATES mornings so this will be quite a transition for him.  He will not only need to get himself up and ready for work, but he will need to make sure she's fed and up and ready to go to daycare AND then take her there and some how get himself to work on time.  Hectic times are ahead!!

It's now 1pm and I'm dying to go pick her up.  They said I could call and check on her anytime, but I'm afraid to call because what if she's not doing well and screaming all day?  I don't want to know that!!  I'm meeting a friend to get some gelato in a few minutes then making a quick trip to Banana Republic to return a couple items...then darting over to the center!!  I can't help but wonder how today went?  There were SO many other kiddos when I dropped her off - I didn't think there were that many workers there either, so I just wonder how they take care of them all.  There were a few infants, but about 4 kids were walking. 

I find it interesting they don't have any swings or bouncy chairs!  Claire loves the bouncy chair - she will sit in it for 30 minutes perfectly happy...well...if you're talking to her and make sure you're not ignoring her.  She's a very social baby - likes to be talked to.

Anyway, first day of daycare is nearly over with - and I'm glad.  Tomorrow is my first day back to work!

Walking in!

Little Needle, BIG DRAMA!

The dreaded shot!  Ugh - who likes shots?!  NO ONE!  Now days there's even MORE drama surrounding the blasted needle!  "you're shooting your baby up", "you're protecting them from bad things", "you're making a mistake", "it's for her own good"

I could go on and on and on.

The controversy and passion inoculations bring up is right up there with politics and religion.

I decided to go ahead and vaccinate my kiddo.  Doing this for a number of reasons and I know some out there disagree with me and that's okay.  Just like in the realm of discipline and what our children eat...we all have to make some kind of decision that's right for us.  And since this isn't really an argument for one or the other - time to move on!

Claire and I showed up to the doc just like any other time...only THIS time Daddy wasn't with us!  That darn carseat gets SO HEAVY with her laying in it.  I seriously just want to cart the stroller everywhere so I don't have to lug that thing around in my arms.  I need to start lifting weights so I can keep up with my growing child!!

We usually get the purple room - this time was no different.  Come in - take her clothes off, take her temp, weigh her - 11lbs 5oz - measure her head, measure her length etc...  The doctor came in and told me what to expect in the next month and from the shots.  Then the nurses came in armed and ready!  1-2-3 - - 2 shots into the legs and before Claire gets her second bellow out - the 3rd one goes in!  And before we know it - both nurses are on their way out!  That is NOT a job I ever want!  How awful to have a count of how many perfectly happy adorable babies they made cry that day!!!  I hope there are better aspects of their job!

After just a couple minutes she calmed down and we got her dressed and then into the car.  Since then she's been pretty tired.  She's spent most the afternoon sleeping beside me while I'm on the computer - waking only to eat.  Hopefully she sleeps tonight!!

Tomorrow is the daycare dress rehearsal!  I'm off work, but Brian is getting up and taking her to daycare!  I will be up observing and then will drive separate to daycare to fill out any last minute paperwork and learn how to label everything and various other logistics. 

At 10:00am - I'm going for my massage!  :)  Mommy gets a day off!

Here she is patiently waiting for the doctor

Listening to her little heart...we might have a little murmur, keeping an "ear" on it is what the doctor says - check again next month, so far nothing to worry about!

Here's my little sugar bear a couple minutes after her shots.  Calm again - phew!