4 Weeks

This week Clara turned four weeks on Monday and one month on Thursday. Where has the time gone? It feels like time is starting to fly. The more comfortable I get handling two kids the faster the days go, which is good and bad :). Days like Saturday when Clara is in a growth spurt, eating all day and catnapping, with a cranky Cedric are the worst. Then I'll have a good day, like yesterday, when everyone eats and sleeps and I think, please stop growing up.

Cedric really likes Clara, still wants to hold her and play with her. He makes sure she always gets a hug and kiss from Mommy and Daddy if he gets one and wants her to be included in his daily routine (like meal and bed times). He has been less worried this week and I think I figured out why - sleep. I think he's been waking up really early, which has made him really cranky. I'm the same way (which can create a perfect storm).  When he gets a good night sleep we rarely have problems. It's hard to have two kids at home but I'm figuring it out. Now if I could only find my pump maybe I could get out of the house for a margarita!

Clara is doing well. She's really losing the yellow look now and plumping out to a cute little baby. Here she is in one of the 3 month outfits I thought would fit her by now. Obviously, she's still a little peanut but I can tell she is growing. Personally, I like that she is staying a smaller longer than Cedric did. I'm trying to savor my newborn moments before they are gone! 

 Clara is still a good sleeper (except during a growth spurt) and nurser. She is complaining less at bath time and diaper changes but still doesn't like lotion. I just think she doesn't like to be cold. She is tolerating being set down for a few minutes at a time now. Cedric likes to help me "watch" her. He still wants to play with her and gets sad when she just wants to eat rather than lay on the floor and be poked. She isn't a fan of the carseat or the swaddle, it's like she didn't get the memo that newborns are supposed to enjoy being all bundled up. She loves to burp and toot and is getting a little less poopy in her "old age". 

Here are two sets of photos: Clara on the left and Cedric on the right. I think they are looking very similar right now!

 On Sunday Clara met her Grand- Grandma Damhorst. She turned 96 in August, a good month to be born! 

And here is the photo proof that, though things are going really well, we really don't have it all together all the time. 

Three weeks!

Clara had a doctors appointment on Friday and here are the three week stats:

Height: 20.5 in - 52%
Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz - 55%
Head: 14.25 in - 50%

So she is a fairly average sized little girl. She is between newborn and 3 month clothes and finally fitting in her size one diapers. Clara is finally losing some of the jaundice color, I'm hoping she will be a nice normal color soon! She is gaining head control and loves try to move around. Cedric loves to help her and gets very excited when she is moving. 

Clara is learning how to get what she wants by screaming bloody murder. She loves to be held and so doesn't tolerate being set down for very long. She usually takes all her afternoon/evening naps in my arms or the bjorn. 



Clara also doesn't like the swaddle. We are still trying to use it for sleeping but she fights it. Her night sleep has been great, only waking around 3 times to feed. She doesn't cry when she wakes up but starts grunting and fighting the swaddle. She's pretty good about breaking out of it too. So she also doesn't like the Moby :(. 

 She is small but very strong already! She tries to throw her weight around and gets very frustrated when she realizes she can't move the way she wants to. I have a feeling that she will be early to sit, crawl and walk so she can keep up with her brother. 

On Saturday we had a beautiful, 70 degree football day and so went down to my parents tailgate for the KU vs Memphis game. 

Clara stayed a little over an hour, sleeping most of the time. Cedric has been going to the games with Bob and my parents and stayed until half-time! 

Clara keeps growing and changing, looking forward to the next week. Each day it is getting a little easier to handle two kids. When Cedric has a good day and Bob comes home from work on time it's almost normal around here!

Two Weeks!

Little Clara is two weeks old today, it's amazing how time flies! 

We spent the week with Grammy and Grandpa. They were very happy to meet Clara and play with Cedric. Cedric found an old digital camera and has been helping us take photos! He's not too bad when the flash is on. 

Clara loves being held. It calms her down and helps her sleep when she is getting fussy. She doesn't get fussy often though, she's a fairly calm baby. I shouldn't even say fussy, it's more frustrated :).

Cedric loves holding Clara and gets happy when she is awake enough to "play" with. I think she is looking like a mix of Cedric and baby Christina. A little less Bob than baby Cedric. 

Cedric is being a great big brother. He's doing well understanding that the baby needs help and food from mommy. He worries when she is crying and is working on being quieter when she is sleeping. He asks about her when she isn't in the room and makes sure we are bringing her with us when we leave the house. He is still quick to meltdown though, usually for small reasons or when we have changes in our normal routine (which is all the time). 

Sometimes I get to cuddle the little girl too! Actually, I get the most cuddles but they are rarely photographed. I've bounced back really quickly this time and I'm already forgetting pregnancy. Was it really that bad? Sure the first trimester I had all-day sickness but was it just worse because Bob was working in NYC during the week and we had all those blizzards? The second and third trimesters were pretty easy. No real heart burn, just a few weeks of indigestion. No back or hip pain. Fewer nerves. I even slept better. Now, two weeks later things are almost completely back to normal. Good thing too, with two kids I've needed to be on my feet! 

I bought some clothes for Clara when I found out she was a girl back in the spring. Of course, she is a little smaller than I thought she'd be and the weather is getting a little cooler next week so this week has been a bit of a fashion show. She has been wearing newborn clothes and diapers for two weeks. I just moved her to size one diapers because I didn't want to buy newborns anymore and have put on a few 3 month outfits, so they don't go to waste. They really aren't all that big on her so she must be growing!

Cedric has been enjoying "tummy time" with Clara. We started getting out her toys and mat so she can get some proper play time during the day. This week she's been waking up more and so we've been trying to engage her between naps. Sometimes I worry we are overstimulating her, resulting in poor naps (or no nap) after. 

 She seems to be a "witching hour" baby. She doesn't cry in the evenings but she definitely wants to be held and fed She may or may not nod off for a few cat naps but it seems the whole evening, maybe 5ish to 9 or so it's party time. She's been great about sleeping the rest of the day. Her night time sleep has been about ideal. She usually does one large sleep, close to 4 hours, then will sleep in two hour blocks for the rest of the night. Somedays I'll take a nap at Cedric's nap time but I don't always need it. It's been really nice. So I'm trying not to worry too much about the long period of awake time in the evening. As long as she keeps this night sleeping up, I really can't complain!

We've been getting out of the house a fair amount. She went to the grocery store a few times and to her first Mexican restaurant. 

We've been enjoying our little girl very much, I'm a little sad she has to grow up at all.  The last of the flowers have wilted so it's back to the real world and time to establish our new daily life.  This is going to be our first week just the three of us and I'm happy we can start to establish our new "normal" routine. We can't wait to see what she will be like this next week! 

 Clara: "No more pictures please"

One Week!

Clara has been with us for a week now and we couldn't be happier with our little baby!

Her stats her 5 day appointment:
Weight - 7 lbs 14 oz - 54%
Length - 20.02 cm - 62%
Head - 13.75 cm - 45%

Clara is a little smaller than Cedric, she's still in newborn diapers and actually wearing newborn clothes. I'm not sure how much longer the newborn things will last but I like it. She is such a cute little thing!  

She had her first outing to the doctor on day 2, then went to the library and Panera on day 3 and the grocery store on day 7. It is amazing to me because we struggled to get Cedric out of the house and here we are - toting Clara all over town! She's not a big fan of the carseat, I think she is still a little on the small side to enjoy it. 

Clara isn't much of a crier, so far. She likes to grunt and snort when getting frustrated. When she does cry she sounds like a velociraptor, high pitched and screechy.

Right now she is our little potato. She sleeps most of the day and wakes only to feed. I actually have been waking her to feed occasionally - which is amazing to me. She's not a perfect sleeper but she seems much better than Cedric. I think we are doing a better job of leaving her alone and letting her sleep, not picking her up with every noise or frown. We are only waking up about 3 times a night. I think it helps that my milk came in quickly so she didn't have to be uncomfortable for long.  

We gave Clara her first bath on Sunday. She'd been complaining a lot during diaper changes and so I figured she'd be bothered by the bath. She wasn't happy about being wet but didn't completely flip out. 

Clara has a very expressive face. It's pretty easy to tell when she is getting frustrated, hungry or sleepy. Bob caught a few cute ones, the classic gassy smile and yawn. 

Cedric loves his new sister. He gets very excited when she is awake, wanting to hold her and talk to her. 

His favorite thing to do is touch her cheek. "Can I touch her?" 

Cedric likes to have his photo taken with Clara. We've actually given him control over an old digital camera and he's been taking lots of photos of her (and everything else in the house). 

 I'm anxious to see what kind of personality she will have and what kind of eater/sleeper she will be but I also am a little sad every day that she has to grow up. I love my little newborn girl!