Claire's Big Girl Bedding

I have always planned on transitioning Claire into a big girl bed sooner rather than later. I think these days most parents wait to long to transition simply because they don't want to deal with the initial frustration of the transition i.e. possibly having to put them back in bed. With the new baby coming its given me added motivation to transition Claire. I am not buying a second crib when I already have one and I already have a bed for Claire. So in April or May we will transition Claire into her new queen sized big girl bed. I think naps will be harder than actually going to bed. For all sleep times she goes to sleep usually within 5 minutes but I think she will be more tempted to get out of bed and play at nap times. But i'm up for the challenge. I think it will be the perfect time, this way she is settled into her new  bed well before her baby sister arrives.

So I have been on the hunt for the perfect big girl bedding. I want to stick with my grey, yellow and white color scheme. I actually love Claire's crib bedding so I wanted something similar. Also just like when I was looking for her crib bedding I don't want anything to baby-ish. I want something she can grow with. I looked at Pottery Barn Kids, Bed Bath & Beyond, Target....ect. Found nothing that I loved. Finally I found the perfect bedding at Land of Nod! I has the color scheme I was looking for, would allow her to grow with it but wasn't to adult. What do you think?

Land of Nod Bedding

The quilt is on back order until mid march but thats perfect timing for when I plan to start Claire's transition. I can't wait to get it and get her room put together. Plus I get her room rearranged with her big girl bed, I can start on the new nursery for the baby. 

Minnie Mouse Birthday Bash

Claire's birthday party was on Saturday and it was a hit. Almost everyone we invited showed up and she had the most amazing time. It was wonderful to see how many people she is blessed to have in her life. The day was a happy and emotional one for me just thinking about what she was doing last year.

This time last year I was spending my days in the NICU day in and day out and this year I was watching my baby girl crawl around chasing her friends and laughing away. Not to mention last year she was getting liquid fat by IV in the NICU and this year eating her birthday cake. I hope you enjoy the pictures of her special day. The smile on her face made it all worth it. I love her so much!

Minnie Mouse Birthday Bash

Claire's Corner

Some of the details

Backyard

From birth to 12 months

Highlights from opening gifts.

Cake Time

Candid of our 1 year old!

Happy 1st Birthday Claire Lucille

Hard to believe that one year ago she surprised us all when she came into this world early! She has been through a lot in one year and continues to amaze us everyday. She has brought us pure love and joy! She is our world and we love her more than she will ever know! Happy 1st Birthday Claire Lucille!

At birth she was 4lbs 4oz and 17in long and now at 1 year she is 16lbs 10oz and 28in long. She has quadrupled her weight which is amazing even though she isn't on the growth chart yet. She loves to eat, lately her favorites are cottage cheese and pineapples, quesadillas, mixed veggies and toast. She is now on whole milk (fortified for extra calories though) and loves it. Some of her favorite things is going to the park to swing and go down the slides, her sit to stand walker, Minnie Mouse and Elmo.

Her Minnie Mouse Birthday Bash is tomorrow and I am so excited. I made all her decorations, there will be lots of yummy food, friends, family, presents (of course) and I can't wait to see her smash into her cake. A lot of pictures to come from today and her party so stay tuned!

Prematurity Awareness Month

Did you know 1 in 8 babies in the US are born premature? Claire is 1 in 8, weighing barely 4lbs when she was born. She has struggled to overcome some of the issues resulting from her prematurity but with the help of modern medicine, an exceptional NICU and a team of amazing doctors she is happy and healthy.

November is Premature Awareness month. I am thankful for organizations like the March of Dimes that work to help mothers have full term babies and research the problems the threaten babies lives.

Claire's New Ride!

The last few months especially as Claire has gotten increasingly more advanced with her developmental milestones I noticed she wasn't as happy in her infant car seat (Chicco Keyfit 30). We love her infant seat, it fit her when she was a tiny 4lb peanut and has grown with her as she has grown. But even though she is nowhere near the weight limit of her seat and had a couple of inches left height wise, she just didn't like being at such a recline anymore and didn't like not being able to look around and see out. Plus it would be much easier to get her in and out in a convertible seat.

I began my research on convertible car seats. There are so many out there on the market it can be quiet overwhelming. I made a list of requirements that I wanted in a convertible car seat; safe (of course), compact especially front to back space (I drive a Volvo S40 and Christian has a 135i), easy to install with premium LATCH connectors and good height and weight limits.

On my short list for seats to look at once I eliminated what didn't meet my criteria was the Diono Radian RXT, Graco MySize 70/Size4Me 70, First Years True Fit and Britax Roundabout 55. The Radian is a fantastic seat it has very high height and weight limits, has a steel frame and its very compact but because of the high height range the seat is very tall and it is not a user friendly install. I felt it would be to big of a seat for Claire since she is so small so I crossed it off my list. I was really leaning toward the Graco MySize 70 for awhile it also has a very high height and weight limits and it's very easy to install, but the buckle can be a bit tricky and it had big head wings. This seat also seemed like it would swallow Claire. The True Fit was a nice seat but I didn't like that it didn't have much of a base to it, it has such a recline to it I felt it wouldn't be much of a difference when rear facing than Claires infant seat. Finally the Roundabout 55 I was really surprised at just how compact this seat was, installed rear facing I was able to put my front seat back all the way. Its steel reinforced, has great side impact protection without having massive head wings, the quality of the material is amazing, very easy to install, the height and weight limits are good especially with Claire being so small, made in the USA and one of the added perks to this seat is you can buy replacement covers (with Claire's reflux this is a great feature).

After comparing all the pros and cons of each of  these seats we decided on the Britax Roundabout 55 and couldn't be happier with our decision. Oh and Claire loves it too! She looks at herself in her car mirror and chats away and I see her looking out the window all the time.

11 Months Old...Where did time go?

Happy 11 Months Claire Lucille!!! I can't believe she's been in our lives for 11 months already. Its been such an amazing 11 months. It amazes me how much love I have for her. She has been such a blessing in our lives. Her newest achievement is pulling up! She pulled up for the first time about 2 weeks ago. Every since then she tries to pull up on everything! She is started to learn to transfer her weight and walk with the help of us and her activity walker. Its amazing to see what she learns every day.

She likes Mexican food (the whole family stuffed her full of it while we were home), pulling up, her activity walker and Minnie Mouse.

She dislikes teething, bumps and bruises from learning to pull up and walk and her reflux.

Claire Bear is 10 Months Old

I tried but still didn't manage to make this post on the 16th...maybe next time. But another joyous month of my little miracle has passed. She amazes me everyday. She babbles so much now. I hear "bababababa" and "dadadadada" all day long. She's even starting to add "lalalala" to the mix. She gets quicker at her army crawl everyday. She gets everywhere if she's not baby gated in the living room. Her newest mobility trick is pulling herself up on the fireplace. Can't wait to see what she does over the next month.

She likes chasing the cats and petting them, her My Pal Violet, breaking loose into other rooms that don't have baby gates yet and chicken.

She dislikes the cats jumping over the baby gate when she chases them, when mom leaves the room, her reflux and pasta.

Claire's 1st Birthday is Approaching

Its hard to believe that Claire's first birthday is quickly approaching. For now i'm excited that she has overcome so much in her first year of life, however I know the closer it gets to her birthday the more emotional i'm going to get.  In the meantime its time to start planning her birthday party. I have been torn on what theme I wanted to go with, I was thinking a fall theme since she has a November birthday but was also thinking a giraffe theme would be great since she has everything giraffe. But I finally decided on a Minnie Mouse theme.

I want her decorations to be personalized and made just for her. I have found a lot of decorating ideas on good ol' pinterest. A lot I could actually just buy off of etsy, but why do that when I am actually very crafty and I can save money doing it myself.  It will take some time to make since I have to work around Claire and things I need to get done at home. The plan is to start working on it now as I have time that way I won't be in a last minute panic the week before her party. Here are some of my inspiration pieces. Now to make a list of supplies I need and get started. Stay tuned to see my final products.

Here are the invitations I am going with. I will actually order these.

This is the inspiration for the banner I am going to create for Claire

Inspiration for Claire's high chair banner.

And Minnie Mouse ribbon topiary inspiration.

Teething Trial & Errors

The last six weeks poor Claire has been battling with the dreaded milestone of teething. Preemies tend to be delayed teething, which was the case for her. I have to admit it was one milestone I didn't mind her being delayed with, I mean teething isn't fun for baby, mom or anyone really. One day around 7 1/2 months my happy baby became inconsolable. Low and behold I look and she has four teeth coming in. As a result I have spent the last six weeks finding what works best for her with controlling the discomfort of teething. Here is what worked for Claire.

Teething rings and lots of them. Rotate them out as they warm up. I prefer the water filled teething rings since they stay colder for much longer than the cold gel kind. But that's a personal preference.

These mesh feeders are great. I sliced up some of Claires favorite fruit like Mango then froze them in a ziplock bag. Once they're frozen you just pull a piece out and put it in a mesh feeder and give it to baby to gnaw on.

Sophie the giraffe. Claire has everything giraffes. I had heard a lot of wonderful things about Sophie but hadn't gotten her one yet. Luckily my sister sent Claire one and she loves it. Aside from being a great toy to chew on she loves when it squeaks which is great for entertainment purposes.

To control discomfort and swelling I used Tylenol. A few friends recommended teething tablets, but they were hit or miss for Claire although several of my friends swear by them for their children. Lastly, which we actually haven't tried yet but a few recommended was an amber teething bracelet or necklace. If you try one out let me know how it works for you and where you bought it. 

9 Months Old

Wow the last month just flew by! Good thing to, because I'm so over summer and ready for the fall and it's cooler weather. It's hard to believe but Claire turned 9 months on the 16th (I swear eventually I'll actually remember to write about it on the actual 16th one of these months). She has started doing a lot of things over the last month. Milestones are always exciting for a parent but when your the parent of a preemie each milestone has so much meaning. The big things Claire is now doing is holding her own bottle, which is great because I can put her in her hoppy with her bottle and get an extra 15-20 minutes to myself (if your a new mom you'll see just what an exciting thing it is to get time to yourself ). She also picks up her sippy cup and drinks from it herself (thank you Tommee Tippee for yet another great product). We now have an army crawler and she is getting quick fast. And she is starting to eat small pieces of soft thing like Strawberries. Oh and she now has two teeth.  I can't wait to see what she does over the next month!


She likes broccoli & cauliflower, strawberries, taking baths in the "big" tub, crawling after my phone, the laptop, iPad, Xbox controller and the remotes.

She dislikes her reflux, mommy leaving the room (good ol separation anxiety), teething and not being able to reach things that she wants.

Holy Cow Claire's 8 Months!

I know its a little late but the in laws were here for a few weeks. Where has time gone? Claire turned 8 months old on the 16th. It seems like just yesterday she was born and we were spending our days in the NICU. Claire is now 12lbs and 26in tall.

The big news to report is she has her first batch of teeth coming in and her hair is finally growing back. If only you could actually see her hair, but its better than being bald. Currently Claire loves carrots, teething rings, her activity center, our cats and going swimming. She hates teething, watermelon, putting on sunblock and her reflux. We'll see how her likes and dislikes change when she is 9 months.