Miss Claire has now been part of our family for 20 days! She is doing great and is, as Mike says, a "professional baby". She's been a great eater and sleeper and only cries if it's time to eat. We have thoroughly enjoyed the newborn snuggles :) At night, she sleeps in the pack and play with the Miracle Blanket. Mike may be the only newborn dad ever who has gotten 3 weeks of great sleep. I have never needed to wake him up at night (except in the hospital) because she has been so easy. She wakes up, I nurse her (and try to wake her up to keep her eating by changing her diaper, etc), and then she puts herself right back to sleep in the pack and play. She's actually established a fairly regular daytime schedule. I wake her to eat for the first feeding of the day around 7:30-8. She eats again around 10:30, then again around 1-1:30, then again around 3:30-4, then again around 6:30-7, then again around 9-9:30 for the night. So, basically, I wake her to eat every 2.5-3 hours during the day and then let her sleep until she wakes up at night. At night, she sleeps for 3-6 hours between feedings. We've all enjoyed her increased wake time between eating and sleeping.
Claire was born at 7 lbs, 4 oz on 10/30 and weighed 7 lbs exactly at her first pediatrician appointment on 11/1. On 11/2, her big brother celebrated her due date with his first ambulance ride (from the urgent care to the pediatric ER). I'll elaborate on that in his 2.5 year post. On 11/6, I weighed myself and was thrilled to find that I had lost all 18 lbs of the baby weight. My tummy is not back to normal yet but most of my jeans fit well :) On 11/8, Claire went back to the doctor for her one week weight check and weighed 7 lbs 10 oz. She's close to outgrowing her newborn clothes and her 0-3 month clothes fit well. She went through her first growth spurt at two weeks old where she wanted to eat every two hours during the day for two days. She's been such a sweet and fun baby!
So far, the transition to 3 has been manageable because we have a very easy baby and we've been blessed with lots of help over the last several weeks. Elise and Jack have both loved their sister and haven't shown any signs of jealousy or changes in behavior. The hardest part of the day is getting everyone fed and out the door on time in the morning (to get to preschool, church, bible study, etc). Hopefully that will get easier as Claire gets faster at nursing and as she and I get longer stretches of sleep at night (and therefore, it will be easier for me to wake up earlier in the morning...). The kids LOVE their grandparents and have had a great month with lots of extra attention. Mimi was here from 10/18 - 11/9, Pop was here from 11/2 - 11/9, then Gram and Grandpa arrived on 11/14. Grandpa had to go back to Texas yesterday but Gram gets to stay until Monday :) The extra hands and adult company have been amazing. It was also great to have many friends bring dinner for us when we were on our own in between visitors.
Now for some pictures! We've had a lot of firsts over the last few weeks...
First bath
First time in the play mat
First nap in the rock and play
First trip to the park - one week old!
First trip to the zoo/first ride in the double stroller
She was obviously very impressed by the zoo
Zoo trip the week before she was born
First time in the crib
Cuddle time with Daddy
Many, many hugs and kisses from big sister
First picture of Mimi and Pop with all 3 grandkids!
First picture of Gram and Grandpa with all 3 grandkids!
I still need to upload all the pictures from my phone! I've been a little busy... :)
