First Two Weeks

Babies change so quickly the first few weeks and months, so I will do my best to post updated pictures for our out-of-town relatives and friends.  We had her two week appointment yesterday and everything looked good.  Our little chunker has gained a pound and a half since we left the hospital (50th percentile), and at 21 1/2 inches she's in the 90th percentile for height.  Her breathing can be quite noisy when she eats and sleeps, and our doctor thinks she might have a mild case of laryngomalacia (which Darren had more severely), but her oxygen levels are really good so we're not worried.

A lot of our baby pictures, of course, are of Clara sleeping.  She does a lot of that.  I have to admit that I'm more than a little jealous.

 

 For various reasons that I don't need to get into here, I've been pumping for each feeding and Clara is a bottle-fed baby.  While at times it's inconvenient to have to feed her and then go pump the next feeding, it has been really nice being able to have other people feed her.  I've been able to get out for a Relief Society meeting, I've planned a lunch out with some friends, I'll be able to go to my book club tonight, and I can go back to subbing for my handbell group.  Darren never took a bottle, no matter how hard we tried.  It's nice to be able to leave home for more than an hour and not have to worry as much about a nursing schedule.

 

I'm having fun dressing up this little girl.  I never really got into hair bows, Mary Jane socks, or matching outfits with my other girls (keeping them in onesies or jammies is just so convenient), but I'm fully enjoying having a girl.  Miriam loves helping me pick out her "outfits" each day.

 

I love the expressions this girl has.  She loves to stare at Kendall when he makes funny faces, and I swear that it seems like she's trying to imitate him.  She's got a fabulous "stinker face;" that last picture is probably my all time favorite.  It makes me laugh every time I see it.

 

 

The ever elusive baby smile.  I haven't been able to capture it on camera yet, although not for lack of trying.  We're still getting a lot of "gas smiles," but Clara will sometimes look right at you and smile back.  She has even laughed a few times.  Clara has ticklish feet.  :)

 

 

Hooray for cousins!  Clara's cousin, Kenny, was born three weeks before her.  They weren't too keen on taking a picture together, but I'm hoping that they'll be close when they're older like I was growing up with my boy cousins my age.

 

 

And yes, we do have other children.  I promise that they haven't been too neglected during this transition to having four children.  Grandma has come over often and done fun activities with them (here they are making a fairy castle), and Uncle Ken even came and took them out for frosties over the holiday weekend.  They've all been great helps.

 

 

 

And that's the past two weeks.  We've been fairly housebound with the snow and my extreme fears of RSV, the flu, whooping cough...Some day I will have to fully rejoin the real world, but for now I'm content to stay at home taking pictures of my newborn.