We Are So Picky!

Names, names, names....picking one is so hard and we are so picky. With Claire we talked names throughout my entire pregnancy we never had more than a short list. Then when I unexpectedly went into labor early we had to decide on a name. Which was about 20 minutes before she born. So here we are again trying to find the right now, and its proving to be just as difficult.

We love the name Elle but are struggling to find a middle name that works. Any suggestions? We also like Genevieve and Hannah. Thinking we like Hannah Elizabeth and not sure on a middle name for Genevieve. And finally we love Eva Charlotte. Though we would use the German/Swiss pronunciation of Eh-Va not Eee-Va. So which do you like? Any suggestions?

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. 

It's a.....

This past Sunday I had a 3D/4D ultrasound done. I was lucky that a friends mom needed to do some training with some of her sonogram tech's. Which means I was lucky enough to find out the sex of Baby #2 early at 16 weeks and for free! Baby was really low, breech and facing my spine which is just like its big sister like to be. In fact Claire was breech and facing my spine when she decided to make her entrance into the world. After a little work to get the baby to show the goods we found out we are having another GIRL! We are so excited!

Now the fun part has begun. I hate all baby girl bedding out there right now as it looks like pink threw up all over it and I can't stand that. So I have decided on custom bedding. We are going with a orange, teal and grey theme. Not sure what I want mobile wise so i'm on the hunt for inspiration for that. I also need to decide on a double stroller that isn't the size of an SUV (I hate big strollers). I'm thinking either a Britax B-Ready with double kit or a Joovy Caboose Too. Those are the big things I am working on. Luckily I have saved everything of Claires and since she has gained weight so slowly she has multiple seasons clothing in every size so I won't need much clothes wise. I really need to make a list of everything I need to get and do. I can't afford to wait to long, we learned that lesson when Claire came before we had done her nursery and Christian ended up painting it while I was in the hospital and I finished it before she was discharged from the NICU.

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Oh we also need to work on a name considering Claire didn't have one until 20 minutes before she was born. We are so picky!

This, That & Some Change

The plague of sickness seems to have finally passed. I ended up getting two different colds. It was a rough couple of weeks. Luckily I have a wonderful husband who really helped out with Claire so I could rest up and get better. Its hard being pregnant and sick and not being able to take anything really. Poor Claire also cut three new teeth while she had her cold. She is back to her super happy self now that they are all through. All is well in our household again!

I have been feeling I needed to change it up with my hair for awhile. Its grows so quickly normally and when i'm pregnant it grows like a weed. I decided to chop it off and go with something fun for a bit. I spent the afternoon at the salon yesterday and it turned out great! Slightly shorter than I wanted but in a few weeks it will be perfect.

This week is going to be a good one. Claire has a play date with some friends from our MOPS group, I have a baby appointment on Friday and of course its Valentines Day. Claire has a couple Valentines outfits so i'm looking forward to dressing her up in those. We don't go crazy with Valentines Day but I will do a little something for Christian and will definitely make something special for dinner. Oh and I will be 16 weeks tomorrow. We should find out very soon if Baby #2 is a boy or girl. I can't wait!

The Plauge of Sickness

The last two weeks our house has been struck by the Plauge of sickness. First Claire caught a cold. She had a runny nose that turned into a cough. We elevated one side of her crib, cranked up her humidifier and gave her Zarbee's all natural cough syrup and within a few days she was back to normal again. However a day or so into her cold I caught it. It's horrible being sick, pregnant and chasing after a toddler. Just as I was getting over my cold Christian caught some kind of cold.

Now yesterday Claire wasn't feeling to well and had a fever and today as well. Looks like she is just cutting another tooth. But now I'm sick again! Which means Christian had something different from us. I feel miserable. Hopefully I get to feeling better soon. I have another baby appointment tomorrow and I don't want to feel like crap for it.

There you have it, ours last two weeks....ugh!

I'm Back...

Sorry for the long delay in my updates. Things with Christmas got so chaotic. We flew home for Christmas and spent two weeks with our families. It was wonderful holiday season with them. The most wonderful part was we were able to announce to our family in person that Claire is going to be a big sister. Baby #2 is due July 30th. We are so excited. I had my first appointment right after we got home. I have already been referred to high risk maternal fetal medicine. I will see them in a few weeks. I am praying this baby will make it to full term.

Christmas Town

Every year at Christmastime Busch Gardens transforms their park into Christmas Town. We wanted to go last year but ended up going into labor prematurely. So this year we were able to go and take Claire with us. It was so much fun. The whole park was covered in real Christmas trees covered in lights. The walkways smelled of fresh pine. Hot chocolate was sold at every snack cart. There were Christmas shows in every food hall. If you are ever in the Williamsburg VA area at Christmas time I highly recommend it.

There were two things I wanted to make sure we got to do with Claire. Go see the Clydesdales and the Sesame Street Christmas show. We started the night eating dinner in Octoberfest while watching the Deck the Halls Christmas show. After that we walked through the park looking at all the lights while sipping our hot chocolate. Next we went to the Clydesdales barn where Claire was able to pet one up close. She absolutely loved it. We ended our night at the Sesame Street show. Claire loves Sesame Street especially Elmo so I knew she would just light up with excitement once the show started. Which she did along with dancing and clapping to all the music. It made the whole night for us. Here are a few pictures from the night. Enjoy!

Outside of Octoberfest there is a childrens choir singing Christmas carols on the balcony.

Santa's Workshop

The North Pole

This was part of France. (The park is set up as different countries)

One of the many walkways covered in real Christmas trees and lights. Claire loved these sections.

The polar pathway

Waiting for the Sesame Street Show to start.

Sesame Street Christmas Show

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

Last week was the big decorating week around our house. It took me two days to get my tree up this year thanks to Claire. It was easier to work on it during her naps than it was to try and keep her entertain and not going after everything for the tree. But its up and beautiful and so relaxing to just look at every day. This year I didn't put any ornaments hanging off the bottom of the tree and the ornaments I did put on are not breakable ones. So far so good our tree is still standing. Though Claire and I haven't gone in the family room to play since we put it up. I guess you could say we are avoiding temptation...haha.  Hope you enjoy a little glance into our winter wonderland. Outside christmas light picture still to come (I keep forgetting to take it).

Family room...I love Claire's little table and chairs her grandparents got her for Christmas.

Close up of our tree. Red and Silver with poinsettias and icicles.

Living room

A few small details: Front door, coffee table and dining room.

Santa....I Know Him!

We took Claire to see Santa last weekend. The Yankee Candle Factory has a year round full time Santa. In the summer time he wears a hawaiian shirt and shorts and hangs out in the Christmas Village of the factory (Christmas year round...I love it). At Christmastime he has a nice set up in the center of the factory and is even joined by Mrs. Clause.

I figured she would do well as Claire absolutely loves people and other children but I got a little nervous since pretty much ever kid before her broke out in tears. But when it was her turn she went right to Santa. She loved the white fur on the sleeves of his coat. He talked to her, they read a book and took so many cute pictures together. It was a great day! The family is definitely getting a Santa picture along with their gifts this year. We will be going back again next year for sure.

Santa!

I was a good girl this year!

What do you want for Christmas?

I love this book!

Reindeer Games...

I was tagged in this Christmas blogger game going around by the lovely Katie Ridings from "My Blossoming Bud".  The game is intended to help bloggers get to know each other, and what better way than a pass it along Christmas questionnaire. These are the five questions that I was tagged with by Katie. Once you answer the questions on your own post, tag five other bloggers that you follow. Let's spread the Christmas cheer and get to know each other a little better. Merry Christmas!

1. What makes Christmas such a special holiday for you & your family?
From as early as I could remember every Christmas my whole family (parents, sister, cousins, aunts, great aunts, grandparents and great grandparents) would start our Christmas eve at my great grandmothers tiny two bedroom house. We would enjoy dinner and pies before we all opened presents that my great grandma worked all year saving up for. She had such a big heart. She didn't have much money but everyone got a gift albeit usually a sweatshirt and underwear it was the meaning behind it that mattered. After we finished there my more immediate family would caravan to each others houses opening gifts. Then when Christmas morning arrived we opened our Santa presents and stockings before joining my immediate family at my grand parents house to spend Christmas day together.

2. Were you told the truth about Santa Claus by your parents or did you find out another way? & do you plan on lying to your kids (if you plan on having kids) :)?
I don't remember my parents ever telling me Santa wasn't real. I was raised to know the biblical meaning behind Christmas but also was raised with Santa being part of our Christmas Spirit. I think as I grew older is was one of those things I just figured out on my own. To this day we still get "Santa" presents. We plan on carrying this same tradition on with Claire so she can experience the wonder of the Christmas season.

3. Real tree or fake tree?
Artificial tree, though I love the smell of a real tree they are so messy and don't last as long as I would like. One of my favorite Christmas traditions is decorating the Christmas tree. I love to be able to enjoy it as long as possible. There is something magical about seeing my lit up Christmas tree through my living rooms picture window as I pull into my driveway in the evening. 

4. Do you open presents on Christmas morning, Christmas Eve, or both?
Both: My family opens on Christmas eve but opens Santa presents and stockings on Christmas day. Christian's family opens gifts on Christmas day. 

5. What is your favorite Christmas movie to watch, & favorite Christmas song to listen to?
I have so many Christmas movies I love. I live for the 25 days of Christmas on ABC Family. But some of my must haves that I own and must watch every year are Home Alone, White Christmas, Christmas Vacation, Elf, Surviving Christmas, A Christmas Story and The Family Stone.

Now time to pick five bloggers to repost & share the Christmas fun.

1.Cindy-Life with my Celiac Sweetie
2. Tanya- The Little Pogue

3. Stephanie- Crafty Auntie
4. Meg-Henning Love
5. Megan Brink- A Brink Adventure

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was so much fun this year! I have to admit, last year I was having some baby blues. Claire was born the week before quiet early and she was in the NICU. There is nothing harder than having to be discharged from the hospital and leaving without your baby. But having to spend her first holiday with her in the hospital was an extra sting to the heart. So this year Thanksgiving was a much happier day for me. I feel like it was her "first" Thanksgiving since she was actually home, even if it wasn't.

 We had a nice small Thanksgiving at home this year. Which was nice, no pressure just family and we all enjoyed it. In the morning we watched the parade and after that was over my sister and I went to work in the kitchen and my husband and brother in law went to work on the turkey in the back yard. On our menu was fried turkey, ham, stuffing, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry sauce, rolls, rum cake and pumpkin pie. Everything turned out perfect!Only one snafu with a broken thermometer but nothing major. We all enjoy our delicious feast (including Claire). Then spent the evening watching movies.

Our little turkey!

Watching the parade.

Watching daddy and uncle cook the turkey (don't mind the milk face)

Enjoying her feast!

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.

Sneak Peek

Here's a sneak peek of some of the decorations I've made for Claire's birthday party this coming Saturday. A lot more pictures to come, so be on the look out!

Typical Day

Oh how my days have changed since I was a working mom. Before my days were non stop and exhausting, I didn't usually sit down until around 9:30/10:00 at night. I really don't miss those days. My job yes but not the scrambling to get everything done and ready for the next day. By the time the weekend arrived my husband and I were so exhausted from the week we didn't want to do anything. 

Now that I stay home with Claire and run everything in our home my days are filled with order, flexibility and Claire's doctors appointments (no kidding she has one almost once at week). It was a hard transition at first but after a month or so I settled into my new role. Myself and our family is so much more stress free now and we can actually enjoy our evenings and weekends together. I've also actually been able to go on extra trips home to California for family events, which before I always missed out on because of work. 

Thought i'd share a typical day for Claire. It's always interesting to see other babies schedules especially if your trying to work out a schedule for your own. Of course it's subject to change depending on her appointments and other events we have going on like MOPS. But this will give you a basic idea of how  we spend our days now. 

Claire's Typical Schedule

8:45/9:00: Wake up

9:00: Morning sippy cup (6oz) and breakfast 

9:20-10:30: Play time (toys, books, sit n' stand walker and her jumper)

10:30-12:00: Morning Nap

12:00-1:00: Snack time and table top toys or activity center

1:00: Midday sippy cup (6oz) and lunch

1:30-3:00: Errands or walk to the park and playtime

3:00-4:30/5:00: Afternoon Nap

5:00: Evening sippy cup (6oz) and a snack

5:30-6:30: Play time

6:30: Bath time

7:15-8:30: Play time

8:30: Night bottle (6oz)

8:45/9:00: Bedtime

*She drinks water and snacks at will throughout the day*

Fall Has Arrived....

Fall has arrived, which as much as I love fall, the cold weather and the change of colors it also means all the acorns and leaves start falling in our trees. The last few weeks the acorns have been falling. We will be in our living room and just hear them one right after another drop onto the house, roll down the roof and then drop to the ground.

Christian and I had been talking about raking them up over the weekend before the leaves start to fall, when he mentioned that he wished there was something we could do with all of them besides bagging them up to throw out. That got me thinking, surely I could do something with them.  I quickly did a quick search on Pinterest and then made a trip to the craft store and whipped up this wreath! Overall i'm pretty happy with how it turned out. I'm thinking I could do something similar for a Christmas wreath too. We'll see if I feel up to it once I finish all of the projects I have going on for Claire's birthday this month.

Claire's First Halloween

Yesterday was Claire's first Halloween. Its actually also her last "first" holiday though I don't know if I count Thanksgiving since she spent that in the NICU. Anyway as usual I like to go all out! I can't help it, I love any and all holidays! Unfortunately my poor Claire Bear was sick. She has been fighting a horrible cold all week so we didn't take her out trick or treating especially since at this age it would really just be for us anyway. We spent the evening watching Halloween movies and we dressed her up in her costume to help us pass out candy to all the kids trick or treating, she loved that! All in all it was a great Halloween. I cant wait till next year since she will be walking and talking and can truly enjoy this fun holiday.

Happy Halloween from Minnie Mouse

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.