First Couple Weeks

Our Claire is just the sweetest, most cuddly little thing.  Emily and Hannah are enjoying having her home.  When she cries they bring her a rattle or sing her a song.  They don't understand why she doesn't stop crying after they've sung her a song.:)  Before Claire was born I would have told you that I thought Hannah was going to have a harder time adjusting to her new sister, but it's been just the opposite.  Hannah hasn't seemed bothered at all by all the changes around here, but it's taking Emily (4 in April) a little while to adjust.  She's had many more meltdowns than is normal for her and two different times (during a meltdown over something silly) she's told me that she doesn't want two sisters...."Two sisters is too many":)  Haha!  Sweet girl!  She's just adjusting...she's a great big sister and I know that as the days, weeks, months and years go by she'll become more and more thankful for her two sweet siblings!:)  

Claire checking out Uncle Stanley...look at her sweet little hands.  

Daddy watching some TV while holding his baby girl.  He said "it doesn't get much better than this."  

Papa came over for a visit and Claire enjoyed being held by him.  

Mimi stayed with us for the first week after we got home from the hospital and I just can't begin to tell you what a HUGE help she was.  She helped take care of Emily and Hannah during the day, washed clothes, cooked (when a meal wasn't being delivered), cleaned, took middle of the night shifts to hold Claire when she was fussy, ran errands for us...basically kept this place running!  We are so so so thankful!!  I don't know what we would have done without her those first few days.  She knows just when to encourage us, give us advice, or not give us advice.  I'm just so thankful for my sweet Mama!  We love you!  

Claire is a great nurser!  So thankful!  The fact that the feeding is going smoothly has made the first few weeks so much less stressful!  By their two week appointment the doctor likes for the babies to be back up to their birth weight, but Claire was already up to 9lbs, 9oz (her birth weight was 8lbs, 5 oz).  Go Claire!!  

It's so funny how after you have a new baby, the baby of the family before you gave birth just seems huge!  I liked this picture of Hannah and Claire because you can see the difference in their sizes so clearly.  Sweet girls.  

Snuggling with Daddy...

I definitely feel like Claire had her days and nights confused at the beginning (more so than E & H).  She would pretty much stay awake between night time feedings.  For the first week or so Bert and I were only getting about 3 hours of sleep (total) during the night, but she was taking really good naps during the afternoon.  Thankfully, her sleep in-between night time feedings is improving.  We're still having good-sleep nights and bad-sleep nights.  Last night she had her longest stretch of sleep since she's been born...3 hours.  With the way that she's gaining weight we know that she's not going to waste away during the night so we're hoping she keeps lengthening out that night time stretch of sleep! 

The big girls were excited about Claire's first bath!  They wanted to help, but we were trying to bathe her as quickly as possible so that we could get her warm.  We mostly just let them watch (and Em was in charge of taking pictures with her camera).  

This is my favorite part of bath time....when I get to wrap her up in a warm blanket, snuggle her and calm her back down.  

Tummy time.  She actually really likes tummy time so far and often will fall asleep as soon as we lay her down.  

Claire didn't look quite as excited about the photo opp as her big sisters.  All three of these girls will always be my babies.:)  

These first 2 1/2 weeks have been fun, stressful, sweet, tiring, but most definitely wonderful!  We are blessed!