Claire's Baby Blessing

Claire was given a name and a blessing by Douglas tonight in our home (rather than at church.) He talked about her good health and her influence for good on her friends. It was a sacred and beautiful experience.

This morning, I dressed her in her blessing dress made by a good friend of the family (Claire looked so angelic)

After church, we took a nap

And we hung out with Daddy

Then people arrived and we got passed around. Here's beautiful Claire with her great-grandma.

A proud mama

And a proud papa

Then we took family pictures

And ate awesome food

I will forever remember this beautiful day.

Claire's first photo shoot

The day after Claire turned 4 weeks old, I took her to my friend, Katie's house for her first photo shoot. Katie did an awesome job! Here are my favorites:

Happy Birthday, Jared!

Seven years ago, two months before my 18th birthday, I pulled my first all-nighter. I was at the hospital waiting for my new baby brother to be born. About 6 or 7 in the morning, Jared entered the world. It's hard to believe he's 7 already! Today he's celebrating his birthday at Disneyland. (Why, oh why did Disneyland have to have their promotion of letting people get in free on their birthday during the year I was pregnant and then having a newborn? To make it worse, I can't go on my birthday because it's on a Sunday. hjjlrhejklwgbrejklhjferbasdgoq - sorry, had to let my frustration out.)

Uncle Jared with Claire (about 30 minutes old)

Life is funny

Last night, Claire and I went to a baby shower. We played the classic memory game in which you pick 2 cards (out of about 20) on the board and see if they match. If you got it right, you had to pick a candy bar that represented the clue on the memory cards and keep the candy bar. For example, Boys Names would be Mike and Ike and Triplets would be 3 Musketeers. When it came to my turn, I randomly chose 2 cards and got it right. The clue? Mom Postpartum. When prompted to pick a candy bar, I asked if it was Airheads. Sure enough, I was right!

After the shower, I went home to drop off Claire so I could go to Target to pick up a few things.

Then I walked out the door without my keys.

A whole month!

My baby girl is one month old today! I can't believe how much time flies. She never ceases to amaze me. She gets more and more beautiful every day and has more personality now. She makes more cooing noises and has just begun to laugh. I love how she smiles at me and just stares at random objects. She's awake more nowadays, which is so much fun. I love her beautiful eyes! She is such a sweet, content little baby and I feel so blessed to have her. I love being a mom!

She's just content sitting in her swing and wondering why I'm bothering her with a camera in her face

Family Reunion

Today we had our semi-annual family reunion at my Grandma and Grandpa Gray's house. We celebrated the anniversary of the family moving to their house in Valley Center. This one was extra special because Grandma and Grandpa celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary earlier this year and also we have two new babies in the family. My Claire met my cousin Ann's Johnny for the first time. Johnny is 2 months older than Claire, but Claire was twice as big at birth. Out of curiosity, we decided to weigh both babies to see who won the prize. Since there was only an analog scale, it wasn't completely accurate, but we were able to get an idea. It turns out they both weigh 12 pounds. Crazy! We had a lot of fun visiting with family and eating amazing food. We also took some great portraits outside. More pictures to come.

My mom's amazing peanut butter cake


Great-Aunt Dorothy with Claire


Great-Aunt Carol (Johnny's grandma) with Johnny and Great-Aunt Maria with Claire


Dad holding Claire (he's in my grandpa's wheelchair since he's a grandpa now)


Great-Grandma Gray with Claire


Ann and Johnny


Me and Claire

One Month Ago

One month ago today was my due date and I looked like this:


Today I look like this:

Like the lovely background?

One month ago today I was very pregnant and didn't realize how uncomfortable I was until I felt the contrast between then and now. I didn't sleep well because I was so huge and was constantly hungry and in need of midnight snacks. I still don't sleep through the night because of feedings, but I sleep so much better than I did because I'm no longer uncomfortable. I actually feel normal again. I do miss being pregnant sometimes, but I am having so much fun with Claire. And when I get tired of holding her, I can hand her off to someone else. I couldn't do that when I was pregnant. Amazing what a difference a month can make.

The Andrews Brothers

Last night, I took Claire to her first live theatre show at the Welk. It was opening night of the Andrews Brothers. Claire slept through it (just like most of the patrons) until the last few minutes and then she just listened to the music. She didn't fuss at all! Such a good baby. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. It was hilarious! I had Claire in a carrier strapped to me so whenever I would laugh, it would shake her. I tried so hard not to laugh so as not to wake her up, but it was really difficult not to. Then, of course we went to the cast party afterward. Claire was a big hit!

Dancing Claire

I love this video of Claire. I set her down on the bed and she decided to start doing a dance. I just thought it was cute.


Sorry it's sideways. I tried to rotate it, but it cut off half the video.

Poor Eeyore

I must have a sick sense of humor for finding this funny.

This is how Claire's mobile usually looks:


But recently I looked at it and noticed this:

Nobody knows how it happened. Eeyore must have hanged himself. His depression got the best of him. There is no other explanation.

Clothes!

Claire was given lots of hand-me-downs when I was pregnant. I also got tons of new clothes at my showers. I ended up having to give a lot away since I had so many. Since many of her outfits she'll only wear once, I decided to take a picture of her wearing every outfit. She has worn all her onesies, but still has sleepers and other warmer outfits she hasn't worn yet, since it's been hot lately. And some days she'll just wear her birthday suit when the weather is miserable. Enjoy her 3-week long photo shoot!

First outfit when she was less than 24 hours old - not a very practical newborn outfit

Matching onesie and blanket

One of her favorite outfits (her little stump has since fallen off)

When she was 4 days old, we put this on her, but it was too short, so she didn't like it

So, we changed her into this

First sleeper

I love the watermelons

Sleeping on Mommy's lap

I love her facial expressions

Another sleeper

I discovered she doesn't like hats

Because she calmed down immediately when I took it off

When I told Jared I was going to dress her in a bunny outfit, he got all excited because he thought I was going to dress her to look like a bunny

With her hand over her face

Cute!

Another matching onesie and blanket

This sleeper has way too many buttons

Yet another matching onesie and blanket

First church outfit

I really like this one

Probably my favorite sleeper

Stripes!

Again sleeping on Mommy's lap

This one was a nightmare getting on and off

She's almost smiling

She's getting used to the camera

Second church outfit

She has one more onesie that I wanted to catch her in, but it was too small when I tried to put it on her. I guess that's what happens when you give birth to a 3-month old.