Fashion Flashback

I couldn't believe it when I stumbled upon these BabyLegs (also known as 'legwarmers') on-line. As a child who grew up in the 80's, I just had to have a few pairs for Claire. I think that she looks absolutely adorable. Art hates them...so much that he took her out of them when he got home from work last night. His excuse was that it didn't seem like she was comfortable in them - I'm not buying it. What do you think??

looks pretty content to me

with all that movement, she just might be a dancer

my inspiration for the rainbow pair (me on my 4th birthday)

a blessing, a curse, and then another blessing

At first I was hesitant to use it. Would it interfere with breastfeeding? Would she be one of those kids walking around at 4 years old with it hanging out of her mouth? Did she really need it? Could I soothe her without it?

My hesitation only lasted a few short days. It was our last night in the hospital and we had dropped Claire off at the nursery in hopes of getting a few hours of sleep before we went home the next day. One of the nurses promptly brought her back to our room about 30 minutes after we dropped her off, indicating that they couldn't get her to stop crying. Art & I looked at eachother - are you kidding us? You think we are going to be able to get her to stop?!?! So, we bounced her, we shushed her, we fed her, we swayed her...nothing worked. She was still screaming. We were desperate. I remembered then that I had packed a few pacifiers in one of our bags. We pulled one of them out, inserted it in her screaming mouth, and she stopped. It was like magic. Why didn't we think of it sooner?!?!

I don't think that we would have survived those first 6 weeks without it. Often times it was the only thing that would soothe her enough to fall asleep. But like many good things, it didn't last. During the middle of the night, Claire started to wake up and was unable to put herself back to sleep without it in her mouth. It got to the point where we were getting up 5-6 times/night just to put the pacifier back in her mouth. It was ridiculous and we were exhausted. This was not going to be sustainable long-term.

Fortunately for us, Claire then discovered her fingers...a new soothing device!! Therefore, we eliminated the pacifier for naps and bedtime about a week ago. We now leave one of her hands peeking out of her swaddle, so she can use her fingers as a soothing device. The difference this has made as been AMAZING. Most nights she is able to self-soothe and we only have to get up once to feed her.

Now we just have to worry about her sucking her fingers when she walks off to kindergarten some day! Oh well, if it means more sleep now, that is the risk we are willing to take.

Weekend Update

We had a great weekend with beautiful weather (I know, pretty sad when 35 degrees is beautiful). Saturday afternoon we were able to sneak in a stroller ride before Pete & Emily came over for Broder's take out, delicious wine and great conversation. We can't wait until June when they welcome their new baby and Claire gains a new playmate. Only 15 weeks to go!Sunday we made a trip to the MOA for some stroller pushing and shopping. After wearing $10 shirts from Target for much of my maternity leave, I decided I was in desperate need of a fashion update. After a successful trip, we spent the afternoon relaxing as a family and playing with Claire.

Sunny Day Photo Shoot

A sunny day photo shoot with Claire to show off some of her homemade gifts.

Note the adorable handknit sweater my friend Leanne's mom made - thanks Naomi!

The beautiful homemade quilt is from my friend Katie's mom - thanks Jan!

Fancy Feet

As weird as it may sound, I really enjoy my daughter's feet.

I love the way she smiles when I play "this little piggy" with them.

I love the way her face lights up when I kiss the bottom of them.

I love them with no socks at all, but also love dressing them up with these great socks from Trumpette.

Just wait until they are big enough to fit in shoes!!

A Case of the Mondays

I should have known it was going to be a rough day when I turned on the television this morning and saw that it was 0 degrees outside...are you kidding me??? I thought we were done with the sub-zero temperatures. The morning continued to get worse when Art discovered that he could not locate his keys. After a good 45 minutes of looking with no keys in sight he took my car, leaving me housebound for the day. I was only planning to go to Target, but was so looking forward to it. To top things off, Claire is a major grump today. I thought we were getting somewhere with putting her down for naps. It had gotten to the point where we could put her down and she would go to sleep in a matter of minutes. Sometimes she would resist, but we would still only have to endure a maximum of 5 minutes of crying. Not today...I spent a good 50 minutes trying to get her down this afternoon. It's like she knows it's a Monday, and hates it as much as I do.

So today, the only things getting me by are:

DIET COKE BRAND NEW RUNNING SHOES (I'm up to 4 miles!)

MY BEAUTIFUL CLAIRE

(even when she is a grump, she manages to brighten my day)

.

I am so thankful that tomorrow is Tuesday.

All in the Family

We had a weekend filled with lots of family time.

Saturday night G & G Busse came over for pizza and to play with Claire.

Claire sports hair bow for first time

Cuddle-time with Grandma Sunday afternoon we headed up to G & G Boylan's for lunch. Katie, Steve & Sam were there, as well as Kristine & Meghan.

Claire & Sam (friends already) 3 weeks makes a big difference Sam - look at those eyes! Big Cousin Meghan