Don't sit on Baby Jesus!

Our Christmas festivities began a week ago yesterday with Levi’s Mom’s side of the family’s party. We had a lot of fun. The food was delicious, the gift exchange was very fun and then we played 10 cent bingo. Levi will probably add onto the bottom of this post all about the bingo game he created in excel. I never win bingo and I actually won, not just once but twice! I still haven’t decided what to do with my $2.20. We then spent Christmas eve with Levi’s Dad’s side of the family. The food there was also delicious. We played a game of Apples to Apples; that has got to be my favorite game, so fun! Christmas morning we spent at home with just the 3 of us.

We each took a turn opening a present with Claire (I feel bad that we only got Claire 2 presents for Christmas but at the same time it’s kind of silly to spend a bunch of money on toys she won’t be able to use for a while). She wasn’t very into it lol, but it was fun for us. Claire and I got Levi a pair of slippers, a Wii game and pistachio nuts and they got me a robe, a hot pink duffel bag and the newest Nicholas sparks book. It was a much lighter Christmas this year but we didn’t mind because Claire is the best Christmas present we could have ever asked for. Then we traveled up to my parent’s house and spent the afternoon with my immediate family. More good food, ahh, I’m supposed to be losing weight not gaining it!

Our nephews and niece are so adorable and they constantly make us laugh. Zenna is 18 months and she opened several presents of clothes, she would then try to put them on our dog. We kept telling her that they are her clothes. And the boys were being little Wii hogs. But it was pretty entertaining watching them. Both Claire and Zenna were dead asleep after opening presents. I love spending time with my family; we always have so much fun. I just wish we lived closer and could see them more often.

Christmas evening we stopped by the Borts’. I should have just wired my mouth shut, seriously, there was more good food and I have no self control! Levi was in heaven with their meat pie (I think they called them pasties) and leftover breakfast pizza. Then they made this delicious drink called a Hot Godiva (no alcohol in ours) but they were marshmallow crème, 2% milk and Hershey syrup. I couldn’t drink it fast enough!

The day after Christmas was my Mom’s side of the family’s Christmas party. This year it was moved to my Grandma’s church building because we can’t fit anywhere else! After another delicious meal, Levi took family pictures and then we had our little nativity scene Christmas program. Since Claire is the newest baby she was the baby Jesus. I told her that that was the only time she was allowed to cross dress. Levi didn’t want to be Joseph (this is Levi talking, this has to be the most ridiculous and embarrassing tradition ever, period.), and since Mary can’t be single, my brother Colin was Joseph. Our nephew Rayden sat on my other brother, Eric’s shoulders and was the star, and Kolten (our other nephew) was a shepherd. The rest of the shepherds and angels are all of my cousins’ children, my Mom and Aunt Cheryl narrated and the wise men were my cousin’s husbands; geez there sure are a lot of us these days! Zenna was sitting up there with us; she sat on Baby Jesus and then stole Kolten’s gun and kept pressing the button. I don’t think that’s quite how the story really went but it was pretty darn funny. Our gift exchange was really fun. We ended up leaving with an awesome ice scraper and some chocolate covered pretzels. Levi had gotten some sort of cold but he was such a trooper and still went.

Claire was so good at all of our Christmas parties! I am so grateful for all of our family and friends that have already shown Claire so much love. I think she is just so happy to be in this world and is just soaking it all up. It’s crazy how much harder it is to get out the door to all of these things with her. I’m still not quite sure how we did it all but it was all so wonderful and I wouldn't have it any other way. We hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a very Happy New Year!

Christmas Craziness!

This last week has been absolute craziness! We finally got our tree up on Monday. Our living room is a little more squished than normal but luckily we only have to deal with it for another couple days.

Starting Wednesday I’ve been going into work after Levi gets home. I guess this is the busiest they’ve ever been. That nasty freezing we had a week or two ago has really done some damage to people’s pipes. So I just go in for like 2 hours. It’s kind of nice to get out of the house for a little bit and give Levi and Claire some Daddy-Daughter time. But it’s really hard on days that I haven’t gotten much sleep.

So Thursday I took Claire to the pediatrician. I’ll spare you all of the gory details but she’s still having a hard time going #2. When I called and spoke with the triage nurse the night before she kept asking questions implying that Claire isn’t poohing because she hasn’t gotten enough to eat and that is definitely not the problem. So she was weighed, drum roll please……. 11 lbs 15 ounces! She’s gained 3 lbs in a month! Our doctor was super impressed with her weight gain; she checked her out and said that all was well and that she is just using her food very efficiently. And just so everyone else knows this (because I had no idea) she said that it isn’t uncommon for infants to only go once a week! And she said to be prepared because it’ll be huge; great something to look forward to. ;)

When I got home from work Thursday night Levi had the best surprise ever for me. He had taken Claire to get a picture with Santa. It has got to be the cutest picture ever! I’m still so impressed that he got her all dressed and braved the mall with her. I haven’t even made it to the mall with her yet.

Last night was our little ward Christmas party. It was so wonderful. We go to church with such great people. The talent is amazing; it seems like everybody either plays an instrument or sings beautifully. Well everybody except for Levi and me. Back in the day when I was a teenager, I was dating this guy and we went to his house after our date. His family was very musically inclined and it was around Christmas time. When we got there, his sister was playing the piano and the rest of his family was singing Christmas carols. We joined in and it was really fun. Later, this guy said something along the lines of, “My sister was really impressed that you sang even though your voice isn’t very good.” Ouch, so needless to say I keep my singing to myself now.

Baby Claire loves her little jungle mat (thanks Tia!). I try to put her down on it a couple times a day for some exercise. She is so cute though, she hits the hangy-downy things (I haven’t quite figured out if that’s on accident or if she actually meant to) and then just watches as they swing back and forth. And she’s smiling at us! It is the cutest, toothless smile I have ever seen. It literally just melts my heart!

Well I had better get going, Levi’s family’s Christmas party is in just a couple hours and I’m not even finished getting ready yet.

Baby Blessing

Yesterday was Claire’s baby blessing. For those of you that aren’t LDS (aka Mormon), this is a blessing that is given to a baby usually by the baby’s father, in other religions it’s called a “christening”. The father and other worthy men chosen by the baby’s family stand in a circle around the baby while the blessing is given. Baby boys usually wear an all white suit or romper type thing and girls wear a white dress. My Mother made Claire’s dress and I can’t even believe how wonderfully it turned out; she is so incredibly talented.

So Levi gave the blessing and it was absolutely beautiful. He blessed that she would be obedient and always read her scriptures, say her prayers and attend her church meetings. He also said that he always wanted her to know how much her family loves her and to be a peacemaker and not hold on to grudges, and blessed her that her body might be strong and work the way it’s supposed to. We had so many family members come out for it. They took up 3 and a half of the middle pews at church; it was like 35 people! Then afterwards everyone came over to our home for a light lunch and just to visit. It was a little cramped in our tiny home but it was so nice to get to visit with everyone. We have such wonderful families; we are so grateful for all of them!

-Elizabeth



P.S. I still can't believe we fit this many people in our house, it was like a clown car!

-Levi

Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

After 2 years of Christmas tree shopping in a parking lot, we decided to make it a tradition of going to a u-cut and picking out a perfect tree. Levi knew someone at work whose family owns a Christmas tree farm. We got out of the car, walked to the Douglas firs and decided on the first one we saw. Levi’s coworker was so nice, cut it down and hauled up for us. He even bailed it and threw it on top of our car! So it ended up being more of a u-pick, we-cut. But then on the way home we heard a loud noise. Crap, did our tree just fall off!? Levi was on the phone and there was nowhere to pull over so we were trying to adjust the mirrors but had no luck being able to see the tree. We pulled into the driveway and I held my breath as I opened the door and looked on top of the car. Hallelujah, it’s a Christmas miracle; our tree was still there.

Grabby Gus

Yep, that’s right. Claire has learned how to grab things and she won’t let go. A lot of times when I’m nursing her, she’ll grab onto my shirt. This presents a problem when I go to set her down in her bassinet. Both of my hands are lowering her into her bassinet and her sneaky little hand still has a hold of my shirt. So I have to bend over with her until I have set her down and then very carefully pull her hand off my shirt. Another of her favorite items to grab is Daddy’s headphones. She gets that from me. Sometimes that’s just the only way to get his attention. A couple days ago Levi was holding Claire when all of a sudden I hear Levi scream. I go running thinking the worst, like that our baby isn’t breathing or he dropped her or something. I exclaim, “what’s wrong!?” and Levi said, “Ouch! That really hurt! She just pulled my chest hairs!” And then a minute later he said, “Gross, she has some of my chest hairs in her hand.”

This last Sunday we took Claire to church for the first time. We tried to go last week but she kept me up the night before so then I wasn’t feeling so good. She was so good! She slept right through the first and second hour while Levi held her. But then it was time for Relief Society and just a couple minutes in, Claire started grumbling. So I went and changed her diaper and fed her and then she was a sleep again and it was time to go home. She did however manage to pee on one of her socks while I was changing her diaper. I’ve always known that boys were really bad about peeing when their diapers are off (Thanks to my little brother Eric for peeing on me 3 times when he was a baby) but Claire does it too. And contrary to all laws of gravity, it goes up! And at just the precise moment her little ninja foot wiggled right under the stream. But I should count my blessings that it was a #1 and not a #2.


We're going to the chapel



Today was the nursing support group again. Claire is almost 5 weeks old and weighs 10 lbs 13 oz! It was funny; I was sitting next to a girl I have never seen there before. Her baby girl was 3 months old but she looked super small. I asked her how much she weighed and she said “Oh 10 something” and so I was thinking her baby had to have been a preemie but no, she weighed like 7 and a half pounds at birth. Maybe it’s because Claire is so long but she doesn’t look chubby to me, she just looks healthy.

Something exciting happened tonight. I put Claire on her back on the floor while we were putting away laundry and she rolled onto her side all by herself. She stayed on her side for a couple minutes but never quite made it to her tummy.


Almost on her tummy

I’m really sorry if there are spelling/grammatical errors. I’m usually very concerned with double checking but I’m so sleepy I don’t really care so I am going to bed. Good night!
-Elizabeth

Mmmmm… is this hand shucked?

I can't believe Claire is 4 weeks old today! Where has the time gone?

Tuesday we had our nursing support group again. I really think we’ve gotten the hang of the whole nursing thing but I just keep going to make sure Claire is gaining the appropriate amount of weight. And plus it’s an excuse to get out of the house. Claire weighed in at 10 lbs 2 oz! She gained 12 ounces in a week. The nurses like to see at least an ounce a day so she is doing excellent. The only downside to her weight gain is that she can no longer fit into her newborn clothes. Darn, there were some super cute ones!

Claire does the cutest things while she’s nursing. I would videotape it but that would be slightly pornographic. She makes all sorts of little noises while she’s eating. It reminds me and Levi of What About Bob when Bob is eating dinner with the psychiatrist and his family and while eating corn on the cob he says, “Mmmm… Mmmm… Mrs. M. Mmmmm… is this hand shucked?” She also plays with and grabs her hair which has got to be the most adorable thing ever! And usually her other hand is stroking my side.

She’s really been getting so expressive lately. Everyday her smiles become more and more real and not just the result of gas. We’ve caught her sucking her thumb a couple times. We’re wondering if that is going to become a normal thing or if it was just an accident. We tried giving her a binky but she wasn’t too excited about that idea. She sucked enthusiastically for a minute and then made a stink face and spit it out. We keep trying though because she seems to just want to suck sometimes. I don’t know how I got so lucky with such a great baby. Every couple nights she sleeps for about 6 hours. The other nights are only 3-4 hours at a time but I can’t complain. She also loves her swing. I set her in it when I have to make dinner or do some chores and most of the time she falls asleep but like right now she’s in there just looking around and taking it all in. She especially likes watching the little mobile in her swing. I think this is pretty common with most babies but Claire loves lights. She loves to look at the sunlight coming through the blinds and this little light up toy she has.




It was really cute yesterday I was holding her so she was facing me and Roxcy (our dog) was sitting behind her. I was talking to Claire and Roxcy thought that someone else was here so she barked and Claire jumped and then started to cry, it must have scared her. Roxcy barks a lot though and Claire has never reacted like that. But as soon as I snuggled Claire and told it was ok she stopped crying. I just love that she is starting to respond to us and her environment; it’s so fun to watch her learning about the world around her.

I love being a Mommy. It's seriously the best thing ever! I’m really starting to feel like I’m getting the hang of this whole thing. And I'm finally starting to feel like myself again. It's so much more wonderful than I could have ever expected. Now if only I could get caught up on the housework, but I would just rather stare at my beautiful baby all day!

-Elizabeth

Gobble Gobble

I’ve asked Levi to write the Thanksgiving blog but it’s been a week now so I gave up on him. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We first went to Levi’s Grandma & Grandpa Longs’ and enjoyed a most excellent meal with all the trimming along with his Aunt Rae & Doug. Rae brought brussell sprouts (they were in a delicious cream of some sort), which I have never had before and they were super good. I love his Grandma’s corn and rolls, they’re my fave. And we had some yummy banana cream pie; it was out of this world!

Next it was on to my parents’ house. My Aunt Cheryl, Uncle John, Grandma & Granddad were there in addition to my Mom, Dad & Eric. The highlights of the meal were my Mom’s stuffing (she puts sausage in it; to die for), some yummy artichoke and spinach dips and not to brag but I do make some darn good candied yams. I usually make candied sweet potatoes however the sweet potatoes were like 65 cents a pound and the yams were 27 cents. And really it only would have been a couple dollars difference but it irritated me so I just went with the cheaper yams. Ok so there is a difference for all of you that use the two interchangeably. Yams are orange and funny shaped and the sweet potatoes are more of a potato shape and color and are much sweeter than yams. Anyhow, my Aunt Cheryl made some delicious desserts, pumpkin pie, pecan pie and pumpkin cheesecake. The pumpkin cheesecake was amazing! Two of my favorite desserts combined, it doesn’t get much better than that.

On our way home we stopped off at Dan & Lacey’s. Lacey needed a Baby Claire fix. And we ate some of their apple pie. I don’t know how our bellies hadn’t exploded by then. We always stay too late at their house but it’s always just so wonderful to see them and we always have so much fun. Claire was so good all day. She only cried a couple times when she needed to be fed. Her Grandma Janet bought the adorable bib you see in the pictures.

We are so blessed and have so much to be grateful for this year; most importantly a healthy, adorable baby girl. We’re also so grateful for:
-Such a great pregnancy, labor and delivery
-Each other and a happy marriage
-Our wonderful families, immediate and extended
-Great friends and an amazing ward
-That we are an eternal family and for the knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ
-That we are able to provide for ourselves financially

The list could go on and on but I would like to go to bed. I hope you all also had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Rub a Dub Dub

We were finally able to give little Miss Claire her first real bath on Sunday. It may not look like it in the picture but she absolutely loved it. She was screaming right before, but as soon as we put her in the warm water, she stopped. And then when I was washing her with the wash cloth she grabbed it and wouldn’t let go. She smells so good after having a bath. I especially love her shampoo, it’s Paul Mitchell. She’s so spoiled; I don’t even use Paul Mitchell.

On Monday, Claire and I went and had lunch with Levi at a little Chinese restaurant in Mount Angel. The food was delicious and it was so nice to go out to eat, that was the first time since we’ve been home from the hospital. Claire was so good; she slept right through the whole thing. Levi then showed her off at his work. It was really fun; I just wish his work wasn’t so stinkin far away.

Yesterday we went to the breastfeeding support group again. You are never going to believe this but Claire weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz (no wonder her newborn-sized clothes are getting tight)! That’s almost a whole pound in a week! She has been eating constantly, like every 1.5-2 hours. I hardly have time to eat and shower in between feedings. When we were at the class I saw this adorable baby girl with a very small ace bandage looking thing wrapped around her torso and one of her arms, so her arm couldn’t move. I was thinking to myself that that’s the best idea ever! When I am trying to get Claire “latched on” she gets all excited. Her little arms start going crazy, getting in the way, hitting me, hitting herself and that little contraption would solve our problem. I found out after being there for a little while that the baby’s arm had been broken during delivery and her mom was having a hard time nursing her because of it. That was really sad and I kind of feel bad for originally thinking it was a great idea.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

-Elizabeth

2 Week Appointment

Claire’s 2 week appointment was this morning; I still can’t believe it’s been 2 weeks! She measured 21.5 inches long (she grew a whole inch in a week!) which puts her in the 88th percentile for height and she weighed in at 8 lbs 14.5 oz which is the 70th percentile. Her head measured 35.5 cm, 40th percentile. We were finally able to see her pediatrician, Dr. Ronai, she is so great. She listened to Claire’s heart & lungs and performed a physical exam and said that everything looked great. She said she is growing beautifully and couldn’t find anything wrong with her (I knew she was perfect). The nurse had to do the 2nd set of newborn screening. Claire was so good, she cried for just a minute when her foot was poked.

Then this afternoon I had my 2 week postpartum appointment. I’ve already lost 20 lbs, woo hoo! Most of that was Claire and amniotic fluid, but it was still exciting. They just asked how I’ve been doing with nursing and how I’ve been feeling. And since everything has been going so well, that was the worlds’ shortest appointment.

I was unwrapping Claire to feed her this evening and I discovered that Levi had put her little pants on backwards. It was too cute, I couldn’t stop laughing. A little while later Claire spit up on Levi; that must have been her revenge. I just never knew it would be so much fun having a little baby around. We both just can’t get enough of her and we never knew we could love another person so much!

-Elizabeth

How the heck was I supposed to know the bear goes on the back? Last time I change her clothes!

- Levi.

Back to Life; Back to Reality

Well, Claire and I survived Levi going back to work today, but it was sad. I’m so grateful that he was able to take so much time off. I went and visited (ok more like showed off Baby Claire) ServiceMaster, my employer up until 2 weeks ago. It was so nice to see everyone again, I am going to miss my co-workers so much. I have so many great memories there. We also went to the store after that, I know I really shouldn’t be taking her out in public yet but we really needed some groceries and after being cooped up for 2 weeks it was so nice to get out of the house for a little while.

Levi forgot to mention in the last post that the poo we got last Thursday was induced with a glycerin suppository, that wasn’t fun. Levi had made me a deal that if he gave it to her I had to clean up the aftermath. But Claire finally had a natural poo on Sunday, I have never been more excited to see a dirty diaper. And now she won’t stop. I should have enjoyed her poo-free first 10 days a little more, but I was too worried that she was plugged up.

I took Claire to the Breastfeeding Support group again on Tuesday. And yes it is exactly as you would picture it in your head. It’s really neat though because the lactation consultants weigh Claire, then I feed her and then they weigh her again to find out how much she ate. They were kind of worried last Tuesday because she weighed 7 lbs 10.9 oz (which is a weight loss of almost a pound from her birth weight) so they put us on a 3 Step Breastfeeding Plan. Since Claire had been so sleepy her first several days of life, they didn’t want my milk supply to be affected. So they wanted me to nurse her (trying as hard as possible to keep her awake), then pump and then try to feed her the pumped milk. Never have I felt more like a cow. But I did it and just kept telling myself it was for Claire. She was weighed again on Friday and weighed 8 lbs 2 oz and then yesterday she was 8 lbs 10 oz! I was ecstatic to take that stupid pump back and even happier that my sweet baby has been eating so well! I can’t believe she gained a whole pound in a week!

On Saturday we drove up to Hillsboro for a baby shower and then went and had dinner with Levi’s grandparents, his Grandma is such a great cook! We have had a record number of visitors in the last couple days. Dan & Lacey came down and spent the night on Saturday. It’s always so fun to have them over. Monday, we enjoyed visits with the Kestlers’ and Schwabs’ (both from our ward), as well as my long time friend Kellee, Neal and Jed.

Yesterday Jason, Julie and baby Ella visited. It was so much fun to play with Ella and to see what Claire will be up to in 7 months. Ella was very fascinated by the sweater I was wearing, it was pretty cute. It will be so fun to have our little girls play together as they get older. They brought us some food and loaned us lots of baby stuff to help us get along, we are so excited to use it all!

Then my Grandma Betty (my Dad’s mom) and Uncle Steve (my Dad’s brother) came and visited, I can’t wait till we are up to going to visit them again (they live near Newport, lots of fun stuff to do). Claire is my Grandma’s 13th great grandchild (she’s #14 for my Mom’s parents), we are just a baby making family! Janet, Hayden and Levi’s grandparents visited last night for just a little while so we could give Hayden his birthday present.

Claire has just been such a perfect baby. She sleeps really well. She’s out for about 4-5 hours, I feed her and then she’s asleep for another 2-3 hours. She hardly ever cries, usually just when we’re changing her diaper. She has learned a new trick that she especially likes to play on her Daddy. He opens her diaper and waits a minute to see if she’s going to tinkle. The second he pulls her dirty diaper out from under her she pees, and it ends up all over the changing table and her outfit. That happened about 3 times on Monday alone, I laughed every time he came back with a different outfit on Claire. Yesterday I tried to show him how to position a clean diaper underneath the dirty one so he wouldn’t keep having this problem but he didn’t listen to me. There must be some sort of thrill in it not knowing if he’ll have to clean up a giant pee mess or not.

-Elizabeth

Note on the above paragraph: you must have taught her the pee trick; she does it on purpose and only to me, not you.

Anyway, the top photo is from the photo shoot we tried doing of Baby Claire for her birth announcement. She is so squirmy, we didn't have very good light, the she started to cry, it got blurry- an all out disaster, but before things got too out of hand I got a couple of good ones!

-Levi

First Baby Bath

Today was Claire's first little baby bath since we have been home from the hospital. Pretty much all they do at the hospital is freak you out with tons of little rules with everything- and giving baths is no exception. So, we have just been wiping her down and cleaning her as needed until her first bath today.

Until their umbilical stubby falls off; you're supposed to give her a sponge bath of sorts which is what we did today. She actually didn't mind it near as much as I thought. The only part she wasn't sure about is why daddy kept accidently pouring water in her eyes.

Houston, we have a poop! We finally fixed her problem with having no dirty diapers. I'll spare the details, but once they started coming- now we wish they would stop! Definately made up for the 7 days of having none. Claire's little umbilical stub fell off today, too. I'm surprised it held on as long as it did with as much as she pulled on it. Sorry- no we did not save it. Ewww.

Yesterday was our anniversary. I got Elizabeth a nice sweater that zips in front to make feeding easier, some new black flats, a picture frame with a picture of our new little baby, and some Jelly Bellys. I got the new Wii Sports Resort which is super fun! I like the archery and sword fighting. Anyone who wants to come over and play- you're more than welcome.

Tonight my dad and brothers came down to see the baby, and I went with them to Walmart to pick out a digital camera for Logan to take on his mission. Then, my mom, my Aunt Rae, cousin Emily and cousin Sarah came down to visit the baby. They all loved the baby so much it was great to have them come down! Also they brought some of my mom's world famous pumpkin rolls that I have to learn how to make! I'll let you know when I figure it out- they're to die for.

First Doctor’s Appointment

Note: After the previous post with pictures of Claire, we received many, many emails from some interested 4 and 5 day old boys. Sorry; she is not allowed to date until she is 16 years old.

That being said, Claire has a new little trick. When she is super sleepy, but trying to open her eyes; she opens her eyelids with her eyes rolled all the way back in her head so she looks like a crazed zombie baby. Give daddy a scare why don't you!

We went to the pediatrician today for her first appointment. We didn't get to see her regular pediatrician that visited us in the hospital because she was off today. The doctor came in the room for literally 3-4 minutes; listened to her breathe, and started to get ready to leave. Bah! We came all the way down for that? We have been a little concerned about her feeding; she can't stay awake long enough to eat anything. She weighed in at 7lbs 9.5 ounces. They said to call and let them know tomorrow if she has had a dirty diaper or not. I can imagine how that conversation will go, "Just wanted to let you know my daughter had a dirty diaper today".

She has seemed to be feeding better tonight. Let's all pray for poop.

We have still been taking the split shift; Levi up with the baby until about 3:30am and Elizabeth from about 3:30am until 9:30am. That way we are both getting about six hours of sleep. She was a little fussy last night. We have set up her bassinet; but she has never seen it- we haven't managed to set her down long enough.

Grandma and Grandpa Fergus, Uncle Logan, and Uncle Hayden came down again yesterday; they brought along a very special person- Claire's great great aunt Dorothy. She absolutely adored her, we were so glad she could come down.

Katie Ruhr brought us dinner tonight; BBQ chicken and rice, corn, salad, and brownies! Delicious. We were so glad to not have to cook.

Today Elizabeth's Aunt Cheryl and Uncle John came down to visit; and Elizabeth's mom and dad are coming down to spend the night. It's always nice when they come down- they are so helpful. Maybe if they watch the baby we can get to the laundry and dishes!

Checkout Time

Ever seen Shawshank Redemption? We were equally as anxious to get out of the stinkin' hospital this morning.

Today when we got home; we gave baby Claire a tour of her new home, her new room and all of her new stuff. She was not totally impressed, I think it'll grow on her.

While we were in the hospital, Daniel and Lacey and Elizabeth's mom stayed here and watched after puppy and the house. We were so relieved when we came home, the sink full of dirty dishes we left behind to rush to the hospital was all washed and put away, the groceries we were low on when we left were stocked up and replaced, our bed was made, and even a bottle of sparkling cider for our anniversary next week. Uncle Daniel even bought us a baby monitor that we have already plugged in and started to use (he said he bought it because he wasn't able to sew like his wife and the amazing blanket she made Claire). I can't wait until they start having their kids so we can pay them back for their hospitality!

Our little puppy Roxcy has been very interested and intreagued by the new baby. She came in from outside and immediately ran to the bassinet and stood up on her hind legs to try to see her again, then ran over to the bed so she could get up high enough to see her. I think they will get along famously. We are relieved since we thought she would be upset and sad by the new baby coming, hopefully she understands this is a permanent situation.

Natalie Peton brought us over dinner tonight; some tasty enchiladas, salad, cheesecake, chips and dip- but most importantly a 2 liter of Mt. Dew. It was all so delicious!

Rachel came by for a while to hold the baby. The Fergus' came to stay for a while since Uncle Hayden hadn't got to meed his niece yet because he is under 18. Colin and Jaycine brought over Rayden, Kolten, and Zenna for the same reason.

We have been asked to post more Baby Claire pictures; here are the pictures that Levi took over our stay at the hospital and when we got home. You can see high resolution versions of these pictures at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=39577&id=1069052211&l=9135970315.

Claire's first bath (Daniel actually took this one).

Sucking her fingers.

Nap Time

Finally opened her eyes!

Peaceful

Sometimes she gets a little emotional.

In her own clothes

Not a big fan of the car seat

A little cat nap at home

Visitation Hours Are Not Over

Today we got some time to bond with our brand new little baby as a family. She doesn't open her eyes much yet; but makes up for it by the amount her little tongue is outside of her mouth. She has some sort of 'restless tongue syndrome'; her little tongue works some serious overtime. She loves to make her little chirps, coo's, and squeaks.

She has also had the hiccups quite a bit; which is the most precious and adorable thing anyone has ever seen. Not that we're biased.

See for yourself:

Levi got a chance to head home and take a shower and Elizabeth got a chance to get a little rest and make a few attempts at feeding. Baby Claire makes all of the signs that she is ready to feed- tries for 10 seconds- and immediately falls into a deep sleep.

Evidently womb time is a little different than real world time; by about 12 hours. Time to wake up- 9am? No. 9pm. Sleep all day- eat, fuss, and cry bloody murder all night.

Tonight we had to take her down to get her little foot stabbed and take the blood samples. She didn't take it as bad as we would have thought, although it is really hard with her looking up with the "Why aren't you protecting me?" look in her eyes. She also got reweighed- 8lbs and .5 ounces- 8 ounces less than when she was born which is normal. She tested negative for jaundice.

We took turns getting up through the night and taking care of her. Eventually Claire just fell asleep on my chest until the pediatrician came in the next morning.

Claire is the most popular 1 day old on the whole baby block. We had visitors all day today; we were so glad to have the company.

Grandma Janet, Grandpa Fergie, and Uncle Logan (Thursday Night).

Grandma Debi (Stayed Thursday, Friday, and Saturday)

Grandpa BruceUncle ColinAunt JaycineAunt Lacey (Came Thursday and Friday)Uncle Dan (Came Thursday and Friday)

Great Grandma and Great Grandpa FergusGreat Grandma LarsonGreat Grandad LarsonGreat Grandma and Great Grandpa Long

Great Uncle Doyle and Great Aunt Debbie

Uncle Eric (Came Saturday Morning)

Welcome to the World Claire!

Claire Elizabeth Fergus
Born November 5, 2009 at 10:27pm
8.85 Pounds
20.5 Inches Long

The chaos began as a doubtful series of events. We had planned to go the Glockenspiel in Mt. Angel for dinner. I called Elizabeth at around 11:30am and told her that we should probably go for lunch instead since the prices are much more affordable. She told me not to worry about it because we probably wouldn’t be doing either.

At 12:30pm she called and said she was leaving work early because she was starting to feel what she thought were early labor contractions and also thought her water may have broken because of some extra fluid. I got home around 1:30pm and started rushing around the house throwing things in my bag and doing some last minute cleaning just in case today was the day.

After debating for a while whether or not to go to the hospital; we called the Willamette Valley Midwives for advice at about 2:55pm. They told us if there was a chance her water may have broken, it’s safest to go in to get checked out and by 3:00pm we were in the car and on our way. We left the house halfway- expecting to return shortly after being turned away at the hospital.

We got to the hospital and were all checked in by 3:30pm. We were put in a bed in the triage on the other side of the curtain from a lady who was disappointed to have started labor today because of her now ruined plans to go deer hunting. The triage nurse took a sample and took it to the lab for an amniocentesis. We sat in this holding area for quite some time.

Around 4:30pm Elizabeth started having some hard, painful contractions. At 4:35pm, Elizabeth exclaimed “I can’t do this anymore!”. Ha! That was the easy part!

After all of the research Elizabeth has done, she elected to partake in the full birthing experience and to do what’s best for the baby and go through the process without any pain medication. Many people were very critical of the decision, but she was very brave and stuck to it.

Around 5:00pm, we got back the results from the amniocentesis; it was negative- meaning that the fluid sample was not in fact amniotic fluid. This was discouraging news due to the intensity of the contractions she had been having. The triage nurse then checked her and found that she had dilated to between 5 and 6 centimeters. Within a few minutes we were transferred from the triage a legitimate birthing room. This baby was on its way!

About 5:35pm I went to grab the camera and headed to the café and ate a cheeseburger. Not very noteworthy, although it was delicious. When I returned, Elizabeth was in the Jacuzzi tub powering through contractions and using the buoyancy to take pressure off of her lower back. We had a wonderful nurse named Talitha who took such good care of all of us; all of the nursing staff here have been amazing- what a wonderful experience it’s been. I sent out a text to our families and the Borts’; everybody was so excited they started on their way down as soon as they heard what was going on.

Our original plan was to wait until the baby was born to have everyone down so they weren’t stuck waiting so long- and Elizabeth and I wanted to spend the first hour after birth alone with the baby. Plans change! We were glad everyone came down and were so excited.

At 7:45pm we met Lenny, the midwife that was on call to deliver our baby- ironically enough the only one of the midwives we hadn’t met yet. She checked Elizabeth’s progress and she was 8cm dilated and at 0 station. At 8:45pm Elizabeth hopped back in Jacuzzi tub- until they pulled her out and strapped her back onto the heart rate/contraction monitors. 9:10pm Lenny checked her out and she was 9cm dilated- she popped her bag of waters and things really started to move fast.

By 9:35pm she had dilated to 10cm; Lenny said she’s done- it was time to push. 9:40pm Elizabeth started pushing; and after 19 sets of 4 sets of 2 pushes and 19 sets of 3 pushes- at 10:27pm baby Claire was finally here!

Claire has a full head of dark black hair, very nice skin, and a hyperactive tongue. She loves to make little coo’s and squeaks and absolutely loves to suck on her hands. She is very squirmy; and so far very, very sleepy. Coming into a brand new world must really be exhausting!

Claire has already had some great visitors.

Grandma Debi

Grandma Janet and Grandpa Fergie; Uncle Logan (Hayden had to stay at our house because of H1N1 Swine Flu restrictions).

Aunt Lacey and Uncle Dan.

We are such a happy little family; we are so lucky! We are so lucky Baby Claire was born healthy and happy. We are so lucky Elizabeth is so strong and powered through all of the pain. We are so lucky to have such a great set of friends and family that take care of so much for us. We are so lucky I have a great job and great boss that allows me to take the time off to spend with my wife and little baby.

The baby is very healthy; Elizabeth had a lot of stitches- please keep her in your thoughts a prayers. They said we will be in the hospital until Saturday- wish us luck!

Things Are Coming Right Along...

This had really better be the last doctor’s appointment!

We went in this morning to get everything checked out. For some reason, since we have started going to the midwives they have been telling us that our due date is November 4th. They didn’t tell us they were changing it, or that it had been calculated wrong; it feels more like a clerical error. Since we have been pregnant, for the first 6 ½ months, and confirmed by the ultrasounds- we have been told November 1st. The midwives use this magical little wheel that tells them when the due date is; and when we brought it up they calculated it as the 1st. But, still every time they talk about our due date they use the 4th.

Now, it’s only 3 days right? Well, the problem with that is that if things don’t progress naturally; they will let Elizabeth go until November 18th before they will induce labor. AHHHHHH!!! There is no way we’re going to be able to wait that long.

As of this morning, Elizabeth is 2-3 cm dilated and 70% effaced (a different midwife before had told us last time 90% effaced which gave us some hope- crushed!). They had us make 3 appointments next week; Tuesday morning they are going to do an exam and non-stress test, which I guess is some kind of fetal heart rate monitoring test. Wednesday is going to be an ultrasound. Then Friday will be another non-stress test. Although, Margaret, the midwife said that we probably won’t make it until next Friday- which is great news. When the baby is overdue they have to monitor it carefully to be sure amniotic fluid levels are sufficient, etc.- I say let’s skip the charade and just get that baby on its way out!

We are now in the clear for swine flu, at least Elizabeth and Baby Claire. H1N1 will find no home here.

Elizabeth hasn’t been feeling really any actual contractions yet, still just the Braxton Hicks. She made a full day at work yesterday- which means (cha-ching) jackpot for insurance coverage. Hopefully the two insurances will work together in some magic way so our out of pocket expenses will be minimal. She is just going to do half days from here on out.

We’re Ready for You, Baby Claire!

Well, I think we're finally ready!

Today is our due date. We have been so anxious the last few weeks wondering when we're finally going to meet our little baby. We have been going to the Willamette Valley Midwives for our prenatal appointments; it's been a great experience. There are 5 midwives at the clinic who take turns on rotation at the hospital. So, every appointment, we have tried to meet with a different one so we get to know them all. We have gotten to know all but 1. The midwives will let us go up to 2 weeks past our due date, so any time in the next 2 weeks we could go to the hospital. The wait is excruciating!

But, we have been pretty busy in the mean time:

• February 28th is the day we found out we were pregnant.
• March 5th was our first doctor's appointment. We had an OB/GYN named Mabel Dzata. The office that we were going to were only able to see patients up until the 6 month mark; after that we had to select a new doctor.
• March 21st we told our friends and families about the good news.
• June 9th we found out that we are having a little baby girl.
• July 18th we bought our first 'family car', the Chrysler Pacifica- so we would have a safe car to drive around the baby.
• August 5th we had our 3D ultrasound. These things are incredible, now! It makes it seem so real- almost like an actual picture. These were so amazing.

• August 11th was the first appointment we had with the midwives.
• September 5th we went through and took a tour of the Salem Hospital birthing center. It is very nice, it will be a great place to go; and very close and convenient.
• September 26th we had our first baby shower with Levi's side of the family at Auntie Ileen's house.
• September 27th we had our second baby shower at Lacey Borts' house.
• October 9th-10th we took our birthing and parenting crash course. They taught us about labor, when to go the hospital, how to cope with contractions, to breathe, put on a diaper, etc.
• October 15th was baby shower number 3 at Katie Ruhr's for the ladies from the church.
• October 17th concluded the baby shower tour with number 4 thrown by Jaycine for Elizabeth's family.
• October 26th we took our infant CPR class.

We have such great friends and family. The showers we have had have been so wonderful and so thoughtful, we are so grateful. We have had to buy very little. Our crib we found through a lady Elizabeth works with; her neighbors were trying to sell it for $30 but when we got there they had decided to give it to us for free. There was originally a small problem we were able to fix; it is in great shape. Elizabeth's sister-in-law Jaycine had taken a collection from the family and bought us our beautiful bedding set. We took back the bedding set we had bought, and contributing a few dollars exchanged it for our stroller, car seat, and Pack 'n Play. The changing table we bought we had started to put together and had missing pieces; we took it back and they only had the floor model left. So, they gave us money back and gave us the floor model- great deal since it was already assembled!

We have finally put our finishing touches on the nursery. The walls are pale pink with lavender bedding and decorations. Baby Claire will really like what we've done with the place.

Our plan as of now is to have Elizabeth stay home with the baby. How are we going to afford this? Nobody knows. But; it's really important to us to raise Claire ourselves- so we're going to do our best to make that work. Elizabeth told her work after much anxiety that she wouldn't be returning after the baby was born; so she has been training her replacement for the last few weeks.

We are also lucky that the baby wasn't born today; since Elizabeth's insurance only covers her if she works 1 full day in that month. Both mother and baby are covered under Levi's insurance, but we have been fortunate to have both insurances work together and pay very little out of pocket.

Elizabeth has had a very trouble free pregnancy. She has been having the Braxton Hicks contractions for the last few weeks; but no signs of beginning actual labor. We're keeping our fingers crossed! We have been so lucky.

Future posts won't be this long, promise. But, the first post had to bring everything up to date. Hopefully posts to come soon with newborn pictures and details! ;)