Sunday, December 21, 2008

Health update

On thursday I took Clara for a follow up appointment with the surgeon that did her esophagus repair. He was very pleased with how she's doing. She'll go back to see him again in a month, and then in six months, and then once a year for a few years.

Then on Friday we took her for another esophagram, which showed that she did need her esophagus dilated again so they went ahead and did that on Friday as well. She didn't enjoy it too much in the moment, but she seemed to recover from it more quickly this time than last time. The doctor was hopeful that she might only need to have that done one or two more times. We take her back again in three weeks to possibly do it again.

Tomorrow Clara will be eight weeks old already! She currently weighs about 10 pounds and she has grown 1.5 inches since birth. She now smiles at us a lot and she enjoys our company so much that she doesn't want to sleep during the day as much as she used to. Another of her favorite things is sucking on her fingers. We are enjoying watching her grow and change right before our eyes!

Winter baby

Since today's wind chills were forecasted to be as much as 40 below zero we decided it was time to bring out the snowsuit that Clara's grammie bought for her. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to fit that big bundle into the carseat, but eventually we got it. And it definitely kept her toasty warm! Thanks grammie!



Clara's new bed

This is Clara sleeping in the cradle that her Oompa (grandpa) made for her. Unfortunately she has gotten a bit large for the cradle and we kept finding her with her face pressed up against the sides or her hands sticking between the rails, so last weekend we moved her to her crib.



This is her crib with the most awesome bedding that her auntie Angela made for her. I love it! Since we aren't allowed to paint the walls in our apartment, this bedding brings some much-needed color to the room.


Sunday, December 14, 2008

Spa day



Clara desperately needed someone to trim her nails last week so I waited until she was in a good mood and then I took out my nail file.

I quickly learned that you can't file baby nails because they're so thin they just tear, so I switched to a nail clipper after we took these pictures.

Clara must have enjoyed her day at the "spa a la Mommy" because she kept smiling at me while I was working on her nails!

Thursday, December 11, 2008

I've been tagged!

So I've been tagged by my friend Ana. I'm supposed to post the sixth picture in the sixth folder on my computer and then tag other friends to do the same. Here goes...

We currently have pictures saved in three places on our computer (this is very disorganized, I know). So here are my three pictures.

Clara snuggling with daddy...


Me 24 weeks pregnant...

Clara's first diaper change at home...


I guess Clara has been the subject of most of our pictures this year! :)

And now I tag my sisters, Angela and Brook.

Monday, December 8, 2008

Here's a few video clips of Clara being Clara for those who aren't able to see her as often as we would like you to be able to, especially my family way back in Wisconsin. We hope you enjoy it!


Sunday, December 7, 2008

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Clara's First Thanksgiving

We went to my sister's house in Albert Lea for Thanksgiving. Clara enjoyed herself, but I think it wore her out because that night she slept for 8 1/2 hours straight!

She met her great-grandma Joyce for the first time...

Four generations together...


And no one could resist snuggling her...




She had a Thanksgiving feast...
And of course the classic Thanksgiving Day nap...

And she got to watch her cousins put on a show...

And then we put her in mommy's old pajamas for the drive home...


It was definitely a great first Thanksgiving!