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's Nursery

When we found out we were having a girl I was at a loss for what I wanted to do with her nursery,since about 90% of baby girls bedding sets are pink and I hate pink or at least baby pink. I don't understand why baby girl bedding sets have to be pink? I can do a little pink or even a dark pink but why does it have to look like pink threw up all over a baby girls nursery?!?! 

So I searched all over the internet to find just the right color combination. My first thought was my mom or sister could make it, but that is time consuming and if I could find one to order that would be easier on everyone. Finally after several weeks of searching I found the perfect set on Amazon (my favorite website of course). Once the bedding set was selected I started planning all the details. Unfortunately I had just got her nursery cleaned and the furniture set up when my water broke and I went into preterm labor, leaving my husband to finish the nursery for me which included picking the paint color. I have to say I think he did a great job and I love it!

The wall color is called Moonshade and we went with cherry furniture to match her cherry wood blinds. 

Her bedding is Migi Sweet Sunshine

In the beginning we did a lot of feeding here in the middle of the night. Now we love to rock and read in this cozy corner.

This is a custom canvas piece my friend made for Claire. I love it and it looks perfect in my glider corner.

Dresser and changing area. We selected a long dresser and added the changing pad. It looks great and we won't have to buy her another dresser when she doesn't need a changing table anymore.

Wooden Rocking Giraffe the sits underneath the other window. 

Her toy basket. Sits between the door to her room and her closet door. 

Claire's hair bows/flowers and head band hanger.  We hung this on her closet door. My sister made it for her. 

Please Stay Tuned...

I apologize for my recent absence. I had been trying to get a blog post done on Claire's nursery, in fact I even took the pictures already. Unfortunately about the time I was going to sit down to make the post we found out we had a death in the family and had to make an emergency trip home to California. We just got back and I promise I will get the post up this week. I hope its worth the wait and I appreciate your patience.

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.

Pack N' Play Ball Pit

Since the day Claire came home from the hospital she has slept in her own room and in her crib. We set the tone from the beginning that her room and her crib was for sleeping. However since we have a big 2 story house we thought it would be good to have a pack n' play for downstairs for her to take naps. We tried putting her down for naps in it but when she did nap there it wasn't for long since she associates her room and her crib with sleep not her pack n' play. So we decided to just have her nap in her room instead no big deal really since we have a video monitor. Which was exactly what she needed, she immediately began taking nice long naps. However this left us with a really nice unused pack n' play (except for when we travel). One Sunday an idea came to me. Why not repurpose it into a ball pit. I put Claire in the car and one trip to Target and a $14.99 bag of plastic balls later we had ourselves a ball pit. It was cheap, she enjoys it, and as she gets older I can add more balls to it for more fun.

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.

Claire's Story

I realized I hadn't yet shared the story of Claire's arrival yet. I guess I should start at my first appointment and I was 11 weeks along. My midwife noticed I had something abnormal with my uterus, it was separated into two sections. The doctor referred to it as a septated uterus. I was then sent to the high risk area of the hospital that I would be delivering at for them to look at my anatomy and the baby closer to make sure everything was okay. Luckily, the baby was in the larger side of my uterus and looked good. The doctor went over the possible risks that could arise from my anatomy, one of which was that the baby could come early since it may run out of room earlier than 40 weeks.

The doctors felt comfortable with me continuing to see my midwife for my regular appointments, but would have me come every 4 to 6 weeks for a growth scan to check on the babys growth. I felt great and the baby was good and we even found out we were having a girl. Sometime around 27 weeks or so (I don't remember when exactly) I stopped feeling her kick as much. I tried everything to get her to move so I could feel her kick and get my kick count for the day. But one day I didn't, so I went into labor and delivery to get checked out as I was sure she was fine but I needed a peace of mind. Sure enough she was, but we did learn I had an anterior placenta which was acting as a shock absorber between myself and the baby which explained why I wasn't feeling her as much. The doctors said I should still get my kick count in and if I didn't I should come in. A few days later I went the whole day at work without feeling her, so I decided to drive to the hospital after just to get checked again to be sure everything was okay. As usual she was fine but this time my blood pressure was high. They admitted me to the hospital to be tested for preeclampsia. After the 24 hour test was done my results came back okay so they diagnosed me with gestational hypertension and kept me for observation for 3 days. When I was discharged I was told to take my blood pressure multiple times a day and e-mail them daily to my doctor along with weekly check ups and a non stress test for the baby. They told me they wouldn't let me go to 40 weeks but depending on how things went I would be induced between 37-39 weeks. Christian and I both took it in and felt okay about it since I was being monitored so closely and we knew the doctors knew best.

That weekend I panicked as we hadn't done anything for the nursery and only had a crib, dresser and a other non essential things from my baby shower. So we made a list of what we needed and spent the weekend picking up what we needed. On Monday I went to work as usual and felt like things were back to normal. Then on Thursday night around 1:30am, I was asleep when I felt and heard a snap, and sure enough my water had broken. I was 34 weeks to the day as we headed to the hospital to have our baby girl. She still had no name, her nursery wasn't even painted and I knew it was too early. After we arrived at the hospital around 2:30am I was taken to triage to do an ultrasound. She was still breech, as she had been for weeks so they began prepping me for a c-section. About 20 minutes before I went back for surgery we decided on her first, Claire. On November 16, 2011 at 4:44 am Claire arrived weighing 4lbs 4oz. After being cleaned up and standard tests done, they brought her to me to briefly see her before she was taken away to the NICU and I was taken to recovery.

While in recovery trying to move my feet as quick as possible so I could be moved to a room and hopefully see my precious baby girl we decided on her middle name, Lucille. Finally after about an hour I was moved into a postpartum room only to find out it would be 8 hours before I could see Claire in the NICU. But finally I was taken by wheelchair into the NICU where I would finally get to hold her for the first time. She was so tiny and had so many wires on her but she was perfect and holding her that first time was the best moment of my life.

Claire spent the next 22 days in the NICU fighting to be well enough to come home. She battled with bradycardia and couldn't make the 5 day count of being brady free. When she reached what would have been 37 weeks gestation they discharged her on an Apnea/Bradyicardia monitor so we could bring her home. On December 8, 2011 Claire Lucille was finally home.