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.

One Month Checkup

Clare had her 1 month checkup this morning and is doing great. She is now 9 lbs. 15 oz. (hence the cute little double chin!) and 22 inches long. This puts her in the 75th percentile for both height and weight and is meeting all the milestones she is supposed to at this stage like turning and lifting her head. She has also started smiling at her dad and mom! We haven't caught it on camera but it is too cute and has her dad totally in awe. No shots today - thankfully. I'm dreading that - I think it will be harder on me than her.

We think we've finally figured out how to get her to sleep at night. We had tried to use "swaddle" her when she first came home, but she kept kicking her way out of it. After looking back at a book that I'd been reading, we decided to try again. We used a bigger blanket and this seems to work. Last night, she only woke up once to eat and then we had to wake her up this morning to go to the doctor. She slept in the cradle all night for the first time. She had been sleeping on me or Brian in the nursery chair. Everyone got a decent night's sleep!