Dad is hysterical

Claire thinks Niels is the funniest thing alive. Don't mind her post nap crazy hair and runny nose.

Camera Shy

It is crazy how much Claire has changed in six months. As much as I would like to have her pictures taken every month, we settled on getting them done for her first year at newborn, 6 months and one year.

Basically I provided the cute baby and my friends from high school provided all the talent. She is an amazing photographer, and she makes the adorable headbands.

Ya, we still kind of like her. Lots.

Dear Claire

Dear Claire,

You're 6 months old today. 6. Months. Old. When I heard you babbling to yourself this morning in your crib, I silently stood at the top so you couldn’t see me, and I got a little misty eyed looking at your chubby little bagel legs and thought about how you were just a little pixie not too long ago. You’re still my pixie, and always will be, but you have certainly become one healthy baby. Pixie chubbs or my sweet meats is what I like to call you these days. I know it is so cliché but I cannot comprehend how fast this journey called parenthood has all gone and I finally understand what everyone meant when they told me that soon I wouldn’t remember what life was like without you. You are so much a part of me. I have developed a deeper and stronger level of love then I could have ever imagined. It’s like this … I love your dad very much, but I realllllllly love you. It’s totally different. And I always kind of hated when people told me that I wouldn’t understand something until I had my own kids… but I am telling you now, my sweet daughter, that you won’t understand how much I love you until you hold your own first baby in your arms.

I don't really know where to start with this or what to tell you. But I wanted to to say some sweet things now, so I can recall them on the days when you are naughty and I feel like selling you to the gypsies.

The first month of your life was pure bliss for me and your dad. Your Grandma Julie put it best I think when she said she had never seen any parents so goo-goo-ga-ga over their child. Yep, we were smitten. It was the strangest thing. We just stared at you for hours and examined, and often re-examined all your beautiful, petite and feminine features. I may be a bit biased, but you were a beautiful newborn. Because you are our first child, we didn’t have any concept of what “the norm” was for newborns. But after several nurses and moms saw you, most if not all of them commented on how incredibly alert you were for a newborn. I don’t know, I guess I just figured all babies were as bright eyed as you. Your Aunt Jen still can’t get over this picture taken of you just minutes after birth:

She explained that most babies come out with their eyes sealed shut, squinty and swollen. But not you, apparently. I quickly realized that you were indeed very alert and curious about the world. Your beautiful, big brown eyes have continued to take everything in ever since.

I loved how attentive you were as a newborn but I didn’t necessarily love how you were the exception to every book I had read that said newborns typically napped 16-18 hours a day. You opted for the cat-nap thing instead. After about three weeks, the absence of sleep, the constant giving of myself and all the new emotions that were introduced the moment I first held you had all caught up with me. I felt like a walking zombie cow that had to be milked every 2 hours. I thought I would never function in society again and that I was doing everything wrong already. A few times I cried to Dad and a few other friends that I was already a terrible mother. Sleep deprivation makes you do crazy things. Everyone claimed it was simple … just nap when you did. Like, duh. But seeing how you rarely napped, I rarely napped. Now that's simple. Everyone also said to just suck it up and stick it out for 8 weeks. And on that note, they were all right. Once you hit 10 lbs. you were like a new baby that enjoyed sleep. The heavens opened.

Maternity leave was pretty much the best legal right ever established. I couldn’t believe that I was getting paid to stay home in my pajamas and love on you. But, like most good things it ended what seemed way too soon and 10 weeks later I had to go back to the grind. I thought for sure I would be ready for a break and for some adult conversation by then. But alas, I only lasted for a month. It went something like this. I was pumping in a dark, cold closet outfitted with servers and wires. What can I say, I worked at a male dominated office. Well that is where I decided that I would rather eat Ramen Noodles every day until dad finished school than have to miss out on you. It was kind of a crazy impression because I have always enjoyed working and being busy and never really desired the title and the accompanying stigma of being stay-at-home-mom. But I felt strongly that with you was where I was supposed to be. I really don’t like to say I quit work. I’m not a quitter. I prefer to say I switched jobs. Motherhood is hard work, little lady. But it is the most rewarding work I have ever done and I am happy to be home with you.

You make some awesome noises and expressions and you have the most heart-melting, and yummy smile. Oh dear, I just said yummy. I am such a mom now. Speaking of delicious, you have more rolls then the Lion House and it is beyond adorable. You are borderline Michelin Man and I LOVE it. It makes me so happy when you get really excited and your legs and arms spaz like crazy when I reach to pick you up. The best is when you think something I do is really funny and you get a HUGE grin but you hold back on laughing. You are a tough audience some days. This may not sound like the nicest thing, but I really like to pop out and scare you sometimes because your little surprised face is so dang cute. And if that isn't mean enough, your sad face is cute too so I’ll admit that sometimes I let you cry a little longer when I know you are faking it.

You are already pretty independent. You are… well… opinionated I guess would be a fitting word. You are pretty particular about how you like things and aren’t afraid to vocalize it. You’ve got some pipes, sister. And I think it is just great. My hope as your mother is that you always speak what’s on your mind and stand for what you desire and know is true.

You mostly hate to be rocked or snuggled unless you want your bottle and you must be held facing out looking at everything. It makes me sad sometimes, but I can’t complain about how you like to be in your bed and you put yourself to sleep. It’s a beautiful thing… EXCEPT for on Sundays at church. I have contemplated inactivity a few times, but your dad always helps me see the big picture. He would.


The holy grail of parenthood occurred when you were 5 months and you decided one day that you wanted to sit up and play by yourself. There were no stages with you learning to sit. You didn’t want to do the whole wobbly for a week falling over type thing. You just decided you wanted to do it one day so you did it, and did it well. I can walk away from you for longer than 5 minutes and you are still content with life. Life is good. I hope you continue to have that drive your whole life. You can do and be anything when you put your mind to it. So corny and cliche, but true.

I love your guts, Claire Marie. Please don't grow up too quickly.

Xoxo,

Mom

# 4 Syndrome Part II

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# 4 Syndrome

I am really trying to be cautious about not doing too many things for Claire in the memorabilia department that I know I won't realistically find the time or energy to do for my future posterity. Am I the only one who feels this pressure?

Perhaps this all boils down to the fact that I'm child # 4 in my family. Enough said.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter. I don't blame my mom and dad. I only have one kid and I already have a hard time jotting notes and remembering to keep track of all the crazy milestones we are supposed to keep track of. I can only imagine how hard it will be when/if I have 3 other little ones running around. And for the record, I'm still trying to judge if Claire's first smile was actually a direct result of a satisfying gas bubble. So I have a few potential "first" dates listed in that slot.

Nonetheless, I am not naturally a scrappy or crafty kind of lady. So I decided to throw this digital diddy together really quick on Shutterfly. And by really quick, I mean it only took me 5 months to finish. Easy enough to do for all the rest of em', right?

Blessing Day

Claire's blessing day was a great affair. Over 50 family members and friends joined us from six states, and Germany for the big day. We feel very fortunate to be surrounded by such an amazing circle of support.

Niels did a nice job and we were pretty surprised that by some miraculous measure Claire didn't make a single peep with practically half a football team surrounding her.

Isn't she a dream in white?

Grandma and Grandpa Colton came all the way from Germany!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen

Niels' Grandma Haycock suffered a stroke in December and is living in an assisted care center until she improves enough to move back to her home. We were so touched that the center allowed her to leave for a few hours so she could attend the blessing.

The Thomas Clan

The Vegas Cousins

More Family and Friends

Practically my second family, The Hofheins, made the trip from Utah and helped make it a very special weekend.

A big thanks to all our friends and family for your love and support!

Brianhead

What better way to vacation than with six adults, three babies and a two-bedroom condo in the snow? Okay, I suppose I can think of a few ways. But nonetheless, we combined forces with two great couples from dental school and their babes for a great President's Day getaway at Brianhead. We stayed at Niels' grandparents' condo, which is conveniently located right across from the resort. Not too shabby.

I was a little nervous about how it was all going to work out with all the different schedules, but it worked out surprisingly well and we packed in some amazing food and skiing, and of course a whole lot of baby talk and play. (I wuv baby talk.)

The Mommas and the Poppas:

Niels, Claire, Matt, John, Lincoln, and David


Me, Claire, Mimi, David, Becca, and John

To simplify things a bit we rotated covering meals. The other two couples really brought their A-games and shared some impressive authentic dishes from Korea and Russia, where they served their respective missions. So we enjoyed authentic Korean bulgogi beef lettuce wraps and Russian borsch. Niels served in Argentina and while I fancied the idea of following suit and making empanadas or some sort of amazing beef, I took the Costco route instead and made their take and bake chicken pot pie. Ha! Gotta love Costco. Maybe next year we will be a little more creative. Maybe.

Coupled with the great food, was fantastic skiing. We rotated couples so that 2 couples were watching 3 babies and 1 couple was skiing. Niels is way more skilled than I am but we still had a great time. We were talking about how we don't go skiing often enough to really ever improve. It's almost as if regain our sea-legs the first day and on the second day we do great, but then we don't go again for another year. You'd obviously have to live close to snow to get really good. And on that note, I'm happy with just being okay at it.

Claire was an awesome little traveler. Niels attributes the altitude to her chronic fatigue. She slept in the car both ways as well as the majority of the time we were there. Now there's a reason to move close to snow.

Claire and her two boyfriends, John and David:

It will be a little more crazy next year when all the little ones are walking around, but we are definitely looking forward to it!

Giggles

Baby giggles have to be one the best things ever after baby feet and pudgy leg rolls. Enjoy Claire's first belly laughs. Ironically enough, this was a few hours after she had shots which makes us wonder what was really in the injections since she hasn't done this since. I'm so happy we had the camera close by.

Oh, and I can assure you that we actually do get things done around here sometimes even though she's not dressed and the bed is not made ...

Look Who's Talking

This was taken in December, and she pretty much does this all the time now... she's gonna be a talker.

Forever

Love this. Did I mention he is smitten?

Stimulation

Many people have told us the first 6 weeks of having a baby are the hardest and then it gets a bit easier and fun. So here we are at 6 weeks and are excited to see what's on the horizon.

I can say that I am starting to feel a little more human and less of a zombie lately. No, not becasue she is sleeping through the night like some of the fibbers who claim their babies do at six weeks. Although ... she did hit the 10 lb. mark and it's amazing what a little meat on the bones does. She is now doing two, four hour streches most nights which isn't record setting, but I will take it instead of every one/two hours. Not to say that I don't like getting up to feed her, becasue I secretly kind of love it. I just hate the after effects the next morning.

I feel bad for her sometimes becasue I feel like she must be so bored. I mean, we are a lot of fun and all, but we struggle with knowing what to stimulate her with at this age since she doesn't really smile or make loud squeels of delight yet. So we have just been guessing a bunch and putting her in front of a lot of things. So far I have gathered that she enjoys the following ... I think:

Her Dad. I remember when we used to stare at eachother like this.

Her Swing. I felt guilty at first putting her in it what I felt was too often, but the girl loves it. And let's be honest, mom and dad love it sometimes too.

Bathtime:

Mom's silly home made black & white note cards.

The mobile. Our cousins Matt and Becca let us borrow this beauty that she thinks is pretty neat. Thanks guys!

1 Month

Time is flying by and Claire is already one month old. I have LOVED being home with her all month and am pretty much dreading going back to work in January even if it is only part-time. This is the first time I haven't worked since I was in high-school and I have always kind of thrived on being busy and stressed. Of course motherhood is still insanely busy and stressful but on a different level and I am surprisingly doing a lot better than I thought I would with the new pace of life. I expected to go pretty stir crazy, to be a tad insane and to have a severe bout of cabin fever. But on the contrary, I have found absolute joy in being a homebody and being with this little miss all day long. Don't get me wrong, I have had my hard days and have had a few sleep deprivation/hormonal breakdowns but it is all worth it.

We have enjoyed learning and trying to figure this whole parenting thing out together. Niels is already such a great father and he is completely smitten. Actually, the relationship is very much mutual. She locks eyes with his thick black frames the minute he walks in the door and melts to sleep in his arms. He had never changed a diaper in his whole life until she was born and I would say that he has likely changed more than I have. I am so grateful he loves to help.

Here are a few highlights and notes from month 1:

Birth weight 6 lbs. 11 oz.
Weight at 1 month: 9 lbs, 6oz.

I love how every baby guide book claims that most newborns sleep between 16-18 hours a day. Not our baby, that's for sure. Claire pretty much hates daytime naps and fights sleep as hard as she can. She is super alert and extremely observant and just wants to hang out and look at ceiling fans, blinds and dad's face as much as she can.

We moved her to her room at week 3 because she is a very noisy sleeper. It was like we had a barn in our house. She lasted about a week with us before we moved her about 15 feet outside our door to the loft, only to be moved about 10 more feet into her room a week later. We are a little ridiculous.

She hardly cries, but is very vocal and tells us when she doesn't like something by grunting kind of like a dinosaur or fidgeting until we figure out what the heck she is trying to tell us. We tell her she is "spicy".

She gets bored in about 5 minutes when you put her down anywhere. She just wants to be upright and on the move all the time. Not sure where she gets this from …

She LOVES her hands. We swaddle her as tight as we can at night since that is the only way she will sleep and she always finds a way to break her hands free. It's really quite impressive.

She HATED her first real bath. You would have thought we were dipping her poison. Luckily we bought this highly referred yet kind of funky looking bath contraption and she is starting to dig bath time.

We love our baby girl!

A few thoughts

I know it is so cliche to say she is growing up too fast. But I finally understand first-hand what everyone has meant all these years and completely validate its truthfulness.

I always found it kind of weird when people would say that they could just stare at their newborn baby all day. Ya, I understand this one now too.

I think it is corny when couples claim they are "over the moon" for their baby. But I get it and would say that we share the same sentiment (even though it is still corny for the record).

I find it ironic that Winnie the Pooh is the character of choice on diapers … just saying.

I am confused by the seeds in baby bowel movements. Last time I checked milk did not have seeds in it. Sadly, these are the kind of thoughts that result after days of no sleep.

Sleep when she sleeps ... lofty suggestion.

It's amazing what can be accomplished with one hand.

Nothing in the world feels better than your new baby sleeping on your chest with their feet curled up under them. Nothing.

Nursery

(Click to Enlarge)

Slowly but surely the nursery is just about finished. It still needs a few more things on the walls and some other minor touches, but it is mostly there.

Well I found a way to justify the mini chandelier purchase after all. It's called IKEA makes amazing things for cheap. Thank you, Switzerland. And thank goodness for a great friend that made the pit stop at IKEA in California to seal the deal. I also took the advice left in my comments from my previous nursery post and installed a dimmer light switch. Brilliant.

My friend Stephanie gave me some great dresser knobs from Anthropology for my birthday 5 years ago. I liked them but I thought it was a random gift at the time because I wasn't quite sure what to do with them. I am very much not a hoarder but I have felt the need to hold onto these knobs for all these years because I knew I would use them some day. Nice work, Sonk. They work perfectly and add nice character to the dresser.

My most favorite item in the nursery was the first gift I received about a month after we learned we were expecting. My extremely talented best friend whipped out this beautiful "egg money" quilt in five days. You can't nearly see how amazing it is from the picture, but there are about 300, 1"x1" squares of adorable retro fabric. All of the fabric is from scraps my friend either already had or that she gathered from her fellow quilter friends.

Recently I have been spending more time in this room than in ours, aside from sleeping of course. I really enjoyed nesting my little heart out during my first week of maternity leave. Who knew folding and hanging tiny clothes and sitting in a rocker could be so entertaining?

Baby Flood

This little girl is definitely equipped for arrival thanks to the amazing support of family and friends and to some incredible baby showers … 4 of them! I feel like it might be more fitting to say I was flooded instead of showered. We are still in awe every time we walk in the nursery and see all the itty clothes, blankets, etc., etc..

Unfortunately I didn't snap any pictures at my first shower with all my friends from church since I am a complete amateur at this baby shower thing and was having too much fun taking it all in to take any shots.

My second shower was a double-shower for me and another girl in the office that is due the same week as me but with a boy. It was so great to have someone to check-in with frequently and to compare notes with that was experiencing similar things as me. The shower was our boss' idea and they graciously sponsored the event and turned over the logisitcs to our marketing/PR department to make it happen. They did such a wonderful job with the food, décor, details, etc. etc. There are about 50 people in a pool for a gift card for guessing the closest date/weight/length.

Shower numero three was a great experience. My sister Jen organized it, but many people

pitched in to help her with all the details. There was just something so special to me about being in a room filled with most of my favorite people in the world … people that have essentially helped mold my character and are a huge part of who I am. People that have known me my entire life, childhood friends, high-school gals, college peeps and of course family. I went home that night so thankful for the people in my life. I don't believe in coincidences all that much. I feel pretty strongly that different people are placed in our paths at certain times and throughout different experiences and hardships to help us get along. Looking around the room at this shower reminded me of this very thing.

Shower number 4 was a total surprise. I am pretty hard to surprise most of the time since I am pretty intuitive but these ladies did a great job keeping under wraps. The Young Women and my fellow fabulous leaders were sneaky and planned a little party when I took a mini-sabbatical from mutual last month to take birthing classes on Tuesday nights. They set up a mini sweat shop and made hair bows and flowers. I am pretty excited about them and about the fact that they all met my acceptable head-to-bow-ratio size requirement. They also surprised me with a fantastic quilt they made.





Our little miss made out like a bandit after all of this was said and done, and there were literally only a handful of essentials left to pick-up. She is one lucky gal to have such an amazing fan club before she is even born. We feel incredibly lucky and blessed and are getting really excited for her to get here and play with all her gifts!