Two Months and Growing FAST!

Ana Clare had her 2 month check up on Wednesday. She is growing too fast! She is now 12 lbs. 2.5 oz. and 23 inches long. She's in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and the 90th percentile for head circumference. Her Daddy swears that means she's really smart! She did very well at her appointment. She had 3 shots and one oral vaccination and was a real trooper. She hasn't seemed to have any side effects from any of them. I had to hold her down while the nurse gave them to her - that was no fun!

She's starting to sleep better - instead of little catnaps, she's taking longer ones - right now she's been asleep for 4 hours! She even slept through me putting her in the carseat, driving to an appointment, undressing her, having an ultrasound, redressing her and putting her back in the carseat. We had to go have an ultrasound done of her back because there was some concern about a knot that Brian felt near her spine. It turns out that it is of no concern - possibly an overdeveloped muscle, but the pediatrician is sure that it is nothing.

I'm about to wake her up so she can eat before she's starving.

Picture Perfect

Clare had her first professional portraits done today. She was a real trooper. They took 72 shots and we were subjected to the ultimate sales pitch, but we talked our way down to an acceptable number of prints. We chose 9 of them and now have the CD of all the shots. Here are my and Brian's 2 (uncropped) favorites.

Continuing with the monkey theme...

Our Smiley Girl!

It has been a challenge to get a good shot of Clare's beautiful smile...this is it!!!

How to sooth me...

Brian and I made an incredible discovery this weekend. We were driving home from his cousin's house which is about 25 minutes away. Clare had been toted to the farmer's market and then to Kevin's house and was once again in the car seat, so she was rather unhappy. As she screamed, Brian, his sister and I were doing everything we could think of to calm her. Well, would you believe that she became virtually silent as the three of us began to sing UVA's fight song, "The Good Ol' Song". She has made her Daddy so proud! It wasn't just a one time thing - we've tried it a few more times and it has continued to work. So, of course, Brian is all about rubbing it in to Uncle Carter (a Hokie!).

Clare's First 4th of July

Clare's Aunt Susan and her boyfriend, Aaron came to visit for the holiday weekend. We all went out to eat with Kevin and Ali. Kevin is Brian and Susan's cousin who lives near Charlotte. We watched the fireworks from the parking deck at what we call the "urban" Target. It is in the middle of the city and a perfect viewing spot. They were great. Clare slept through all of them with Mommy covering her ears because she was worried her hearing would be damaged.

Some Great News!

My maternity leave is coming to an end in a few weeks and Brian and I have been talking at length about what to do... We are lucky to live very close to both of our offices, but this poses an issue with daycare. Since we live "on the way" to Uptown Charlotte for most people, there is a higher than normal demand for childcare close to our house. As a result, we have been on waiting lists since October of last year. We barely knew we were expecting and had to start thinking about where our child would spend her days. I think in the back of my mind, I hoped that we wouldn't have to worry about that because I'd be staying home.

We chose two centers - one church based and one inclusion program. We are #13 on the church list. There are 4 available spots and 3 of those are taken by siblings of children who are already enrolled, so we won't get in there. The other is run by Easter Seals/United Cerebral Palsy Center and serves both special needs and "normal" children. We LOVE this program, but they don't have a spot for Clare either.

After much discussion, I finally had the nerve to talk to my boss about the situation. I requested that I be able to work part time from home about a week ago. I went into the office yesterday to talk to him about it further. I was really stressed out about it and was trying to keep my head straight and try not to "show my hand". As it turned out, he had thought about it as much as me and proposed that I work part time from home for the next year! I could not be more pleased. I will be working from home and have a part time nanny to care for Clare. I will be here and not miss a thing and will still have a decent income to allow Brian and I to maintain a reasonable lifestyle.

Curls?

Betsy asked if Clare has curly hair. We think so, but we can't be sure yet. She currently has a bit of a receding hairline - not certain whether it will fall out and start over. She definitely has hair on the back of her head and the hair on top of her head has curls. So, we will see...

Brian got a kick out of this. He said that Clare wanted him to be quiet!

What we're up to...

Clare is six weeks old and growing and changing so much. A typical day starts at between 5:30 and 6:00 AM when she starts to stir in her cradle. She is still sleeping in our room - mostly for convenience and because I can't bear to put her in her crib yet. I feed her in our bed and then lay her down between Brian and I to play. Brian loves to play with her first thing in the morning because she is so alert and usually smiling and kicking. Brian gets ready for work and I take Clare downstairs. Once Brian leaves for work, Clare and I flip through the morning news programs and she falls asleep. If I have a lot to do, I lay her down either back in her cradle or in the pack and play. I can usually get a shower while she takes a short nap. When she wakes up, we go run an errand - usually just one is tolerated. The day involves sleeping, eating and trying to get a few loads of laundry done or clean up the house.

We went to the grocery store today. Clare slept in the Baby Bjorn while I shopped. Luckily, Brian came home for lunch at the same time we got home because Clare was ready to eat. We are trying to give her one bottle of pumped milk each day to get her used to having a bottle. We haven't done this enough. If she is really hungry, she has no issues with it, but once the hunger is gone, she doesn't like the bottle. We're working on this.

The grocery trip was a big one. We bought a second refrigerator/freezer, so I could stock up on a few things that were on sale. I'm working on saving money on groceries by using more coupons and shopping the sales flyers. I've always done this, but not as diligently. Our kitchen fridge is a side by side that has limited useful space.

So, the grocery store was our outing for the day. Tomorrow, we are headed to my office for a visit and then to our friend, Jen's for lunch.

We visited my friend, Lori, and her children last Friday. Clare met Cashion, Soyars and Preston. Preston is a couple of months older than her - she looks so tiny next to him.

Gotta run - a poopy diaper has awakened the princess - something else that she won't tolerate for more than 30 seconds.