Claire

So we missed the seven week update. We were in Utah visiting friends and family. Claire did really well on the airplane there and back. I was really nervous to take a baby on a plane. I’d hate to be that person with the screaming kid all flight. Fortunately Claire is pretty content to be held and suck on her binky. While in Utah, Claire got to meet Uncle Jordan, Grandma Carol, Aunt Gaye, Aunt Jan, Cousin Kate, Aunt Lindsay Uncle Andy and lots of other important people. We were gone for 11 days! Its been hard to figure out our routine back at home without help from my mom or Jordan. It was a really nice trip; I will post more photos and details soon!

I wanted Claire to look cute for all the introductions, but its hard to keep this kid dressed and dry for more than a few minutes! She is still spitting up quite a lot. Every time I think its getting better she has another massive eruption. Fortunately, she seems to be still gaining weight and growing fast! Hopefully this phase will be over soon!

Yesterday I had to take Claire to the hospital to have her hip ultrasound. I guess this is standard procedure for all breech babies. Everything looked good and Claire was really good during the scan. So glad she doesn’t have hip displasia– that sounds like a pretty rough time.

I think Claire’s little mind is awakening at a rapid pace. She smiles a lot now, especially in the mornings. She makes the cutest little baby sounds, like she is trying to talk. She also turns her head to follow me or Eric as we move around a room. She seems to actually enjoy our company now!

On the sleep front, we had one record-shattering night last week where Claire slept 6 hours straight! Unfortunately that seems to have been a fluke and she is back at 4-5 hour stretches. She doesn’t seem to sleep much during the day. Its like she is trying to observe everything and exercise her little mind and body as much as possible!

Things seem to be gradually getting easier. I am less tired these days, and usually able to take an outing or two a day with Claire. She loves her car seat and usually sleeps when we drive somewhere. Eric is always so cute with her, singing songs to her and making crazy faces. Having a baby has been tough, no doubt, but we are starting to get to some fun stuff now and loving the sweet moments. We are enjoying our little baby bird!

So we have made it to six weeks! It has been a difficult week, I’m not gonna lie. Claire continues to spit up sometimes monumental amounts after every feeding. It seems like her digestive system is in knots. We are still giving her the baby zantac twice a day, and now I am going to try to eliminate dairy from my diet. I love dairy 🙁 But I will give it a try if it might help Claire feel better! I could really use more sleep too. I think her stomach troubles are keeping her from sleeping longer than a few hours.  I need more than a few hours!!

I was planning to take Claire on her first trip to Utah today but decided to postpone it. Claire had a rough night last night and we were both just too tired. Having a baby means being flexible, right? So the family in Utah will have to wait until Wednesday to finally meet Claire. A couple days won’t make much difference, and it will be so much fun!

On the positive side, Claire has started to smile FOR REAL! It still doesn’t happen very often (it only makes sense that Eric and I would have a serious-minded child) but she is definitely smiling at us. It is a great feeling to to think she is happy! It makes all the struggle and all the spit up worth it. Hopefully I can get a photo of her smiling soon, but the moments are still pretty elusive right now.

Claire is five weeks old today. She seems to be growing at a rapid pace! I think this is the last week she will be able to fit in her newborn sized clothes. Today was only the second time she wore this cute kitty pajamas! Her toes are already pushing out the bottom.  It makes me sad that she is already getting bigger. She is up to 8 lbs now and has grown an inch or more in length (we will never really know how long she was at birth). She is in the 15 percentile for weight, the 75th percentile for length, and the 75th percentile for head size. I am calling her my little lollipop kid!

We are still waiting to see a genuine smile from Claire. I thought she smiled at me a couple days ago, but haven’t seen a smile since. She is still spitting up a lot, and we are giving her baby zantac twice a day. Not sure if that is helping much. Everything in our house, the bed, the couch, the chair, my clothes, the rug, etc is covered in spit up. I can’t wait until this phase is over. I am sure Claire will be glad when its over too; she has been more fussy and seems uncomfortable a lot of the time.

We started using the Ergo Baby carrier and Claire seems to like that a lot. Eric is really good about “wearing” Claire around the house.

Nighttime is still a challenge. I can’t figure out how to get Claire to sleep longer than 3 hour stretches (at a max). I’ve got to get some more sleep soon or I might go nuts!! I have been hearing about friends of mine with new babies who are sleeping through the night already… I hate them.