Claire - Thumb Sucker too?

Claire found her thumb this morning. We took too long to feed her and she took matters in her own hands. Wonder if this means I'll have two thumb suckers on my hands?

Lots of updates

Claire woke up at 5:00am to eat, I put her back down at 6 and was getting back in bed at 6:15 but was wide awake knowing I needed to wake up at 7:30 to make sure we all were fed and out the door in time for a 9:30am birthday party.  So, I decided I'd just get out of bed and finish a bunch of long overdue updates on the blog.

To recap the most recent updates...

• Zoo
• Claire - 1 Month
• Bell Pepper Painting
• St. Patricks Day
• Tutu's
• Claire - 6 Weeks
• Claire Holding Her Head Up
• Cason Reads to Claire
• Bluebonnets 2012

Bluebonnets 2012

In Texas Tradition... here are our Bluebonnet pictures for 2012.  I took the kids by myself... it was not the best idea I'm sure but we got the pictures.  I was too worried about Cason running off and into the street while I was taking Claire's pictures so she sort of got the shaft.  I might try to go back out next week when Cason is at school and give her some more personalized attention.

These are my favorites of each...

I can't seem to find that I ever posted Cason's pictures from last year?  Here are two for reference...

And a few more cute ones from this year...

Cason reads to Claire

Claire - Holding her head up

I don't have the good camera right by my side all the time these days... mainly because it's too dangerous with Cason the "I.must.touch.everything.especially.if.it.is.expensive.and.has.buttons" toddler.

So I take lots of pictures on my camera but it's hard to get a good action shot... like these where Claire is holding her head up.

Claire - 6 Weeks!

Every one always tells you "how fast it goes" when you have a newborn. I've been guilty of saying this to other people myself.  You'd think that when it's your second time around, you would be prepared for how fast time really does fly and how fast they get so big...  you've done this before, right? You should know that it feels like just yesterday you were still pregnant and now you have an almost 2 year old.

Well, like so many other things, you forget and boom, all the sudden your little newborn is 6 weeks old.  Sigh.

Claire still looks so much like Cason and they seem to be about the same size.  Every day I think to myself... why is this little boy wearing girl clothes.  It's not that she looks like a boy to the average person, just that she looks so much like Cason.

I weighed her this week and think she's pushing 12 lbs but it's a very non exact process of weighing myself holding her and comparing to weighing myself alone... on our scale that gives you a different reading each time you step on it.

At 6 weeks, Claire is:

• Holding her head up really well
• Sleeping in 6 hour stretches most nights
• Sleeping in her room (we moved her up about a week and a half ago, just after 4 weeks)
• Eating really well -- every 2-3 hours and having a couple of bottles.
• Still very gassy and with a little reflux. We do lots of laundry.
• Starting to be awake and alert a lot more
• Wearing all 0-3 month clothes (no newborn anymore)

Not only is it going so fast (I go back to work in 6 weeks??? Boo) but I definitely don't get to soak it all in.  That said, I'm also loving the extra time I'm spending with Cason since he stays home with us 3 days a week.

Here is the rest of the photo shoot... with big brother of course

Cason loves to hug (and try to pick up) Claire.  I have to keep her out of his reach if I'm not right there.  I turned my back for two seconds the other day and he was trying to take her out of the bouncy seat.  Doesn't help that he's a master at buckling and unbuckling.



Isn't this just the cutest thing?  Love these two so much!

Tutus and Tiaras

When I was first pregnant with Cason, we thought we were having a girl. I'd tease Ryan saying he needed to get ready for the tutus and tiaras, tea parties, ballet, etc.

Well, here we are with our little girl... In her first little tutu.

St Patricks Day

Of all places, I'd think The Woodlands would have had some sort of family friendly St. Patrick's day celebration. All we could find was Green Beer events at some of the local bars and that just didn't feel like the right option for a 5 week old and an almost 2 year old.

Houston has a big parade and maybe we'll go next year. I'm sure it doesn't compare to the Mal's St. Paddy's Day Parade but nothing can.

Fortunately, The Woodlands was in the middle of its March Live at Night on the Waterway so we rounded up a few friends and set up our blankets on the grass.  We ordered pizza to go from Grimaldi's, had some wine/beer and let the kids run around the park and splash in the fountains.

It was a great night though Ryan and I were both exhausted from taking turns chasing Cason around.  He had a blast though!




And for proof that Claire was involved in the Green festivities, some (very late) bedtime pictures.

Cute picture...

Caught in the two seconds before he rolled over on top of her. Guess she'll be a tough little girl.

Bell Pepper Painting

I saw this idea on Pinterest to use a bell pepper to stamp shamrocks. I had a red bell pepper in the fridge so we gave it a try.  It wasn't the perfect shape but Cason had fun.

We started with some stamping

That quickly turned into finger (arm?) painting

And then into painting the bell pepper

And finally into handprints

Our finished products

And only a little paint ended up on Cason's shirt and NONE on the walls or the floor :)