One Year Ago Today...

We were at Children's Hospital on Claire's 4 Month Birthday. We are just so thankful that God pulled us through it.

For those wondering, we have a follow up appointment in April to retest her (a VCUG test) to see if her kidneys are still dilated and if she is still susceptible to infections. Most likely she will continue a preventative antibiotic until she (Hopefully) grows out of it. We haven't decided whether or not to have Lauren tested, but we are pretty sure that we'll be a little more prepared this time. We feel so blessed that a year later, we have this sweet, energetic, girl to brighten our days and bring us such joy. Thank you Jesus!

Lauren- At One Month (Late!)

Better late than never, right?

We don't really have one month stats on L because she doesn't go back to the doctor until she is 2 months old, but I have stepped on the scale with her and around one month she was about 9-10 lbs. Crazy! She is also quite long. I am amazed at the length of her toes and fingers!

At one month, L was already in 0-3 month clothes, and all the newborn clothes were getting pretty tight. As for eating, L was on the "every three hours" schedule and we would get an occasional 4 hour in between feedings to sleep. She is all in all a pretty sweet, calm, baby.

She's pretty gassy, but hey, who isn't. Right? She smiled around one month, too, which was just precious. She had great head control, too!

I can't really tell if she looks as much like Claire when she was born, or if she is started to look more like me... we'll see! Ha!

Happy (Belated) One Month, Sweet Lauren. We love you L-Belle.

Claire Bear... 15 Months!

I started this post over a month ago, and I am just now getting around to finishing it...

Sometimes I wonder where the time has gone. Now that Lauren is here, I look at her and it's like I'm looking at Claire as a newborn. Not just because they look alike, but because it seems like Claire was JUST a newborn herself.

Well, she is getting so big! At 15 months, Claire is really becoming such a fun little lady! Here are some fun facts about our button right now...

WORDS:

Claire is very verbal! Here are her most commonly used words: momma, dada, baaaaaby (baby), bye bye, moo, raarrr (roar- lion), neigh, oooh-ooh ahh ahh (monkey), baaa, blub blub (fish), puhpuh (please), hi, fower (flower), moon, Mote (remote), Wawa (water), pup pup (puppy), Maaaayyy (amen), nana (banana and Nana), Papa, Poppi, Baath, (and just recently) Dora (which is weird because we never watch Dora. She just recognizes her), Noah, Jesus (Jeeee), and hummm (home), and my personal favorite: Awwvvoo. (I love you.)

MEASURING UP:

Claire is a tiny thing. She weighed about 20.8 lbs. at the last appt. and 31 inches long. That would be the 10% in weight and 75% in height. Long and lean! She's pretty much in 12-18 month clothes, although some pants fall off her waist and are too short! Ha! Love it.

WALKING:

Well, starting the week before L was born, C started walking. She is soooo fast! I love it. She kind of hobbles every once in awhile and she still needs our help going up and down steps, but it's quite cute, and there's no stopping her now! I think yesterday, I even saw her run a little bit.

EATING:

She pretty much will eat anything. She loves her veggies, fish, and pasta. She also loves any kind of fruit and lately she's been eating hummus, cucumbers, tomatoes, and red peppers as snacks with mommy. Couldn't ask for a better eater! She also likes to share her food!

DISCOVERY:

Any drawer, cabinet, basket, bin, etc... is of interested to C right now. She likes to take everything out and throw it on the ground. She also is really into categorizing things right now. We'll tell her to go and gather all of her puppies and put them in her chair and push them around and she does it. So cute! She also watches everything we do. In about 2 seconds, she picked up on how to burp a baby (watching me) so now she burps her baby and puts L's pacis in her baby's mouth. Precious. I also taught Claire how to throw away diapers in the trash this week. Score! Although, I am wondering if things that go missing will somehow end up in the trash. Hmmm...

FRUSTRATION:

We are really working on C's frustration or "giving up" when she can't do something. I am really quick to help, but Mark is really good about teaching her not to give up and encouraging her to keep trying. She just gets really irritated! Who does that sound like? Ha!

SLEEPING:

C is sleeping from about 8pm- 8 am (ish) every night and takes about 2 1/2 hours of nap a day on average. Sometimes it's 2 short naps, sometimes 1 long nap. I'll take it! We have just started transitioning her to the toddler bed. We'll see how long that takes!

TEETH:

This precious smile of hers is just precious. Claire currently has 4 top teeth and 4 bottom teeth, and she has been working on getting her molars for what seems like an eternity. Hopefully my next post will be about those pesky molars!

LOVEABLE:

Oh my goodness. That little bear is just so huggable. She will give lots of kisses and hugs to both Mark and myself, as well as her little sister. It's just precious!

It's "Snow" Big Deal...

This year, Dallas got another nasty ice/snow storm at the end of January/ Early February. It was fun to see Claire interact with the snow we had. Last year, she was only about 2-3 months old, so she didn't care too much about it. This year, she just wanted to eat it and try to walk around.

Daddy even taught her how to make (and eat) snow cream. So fun! Lauren stayed inside by the warm, snuggly fire.

Lauren's Arrival into the World

Well, it really is true that the 2nd time around things are different. Not just the labor, but everything: the recovery, the hospital time, the personality of the baby, the way the baby eats, sleeps, getting up in the middle of the night. Everything. Here are the Q's and A's of Lauren's Arrival.

Did you go into labor on your own? Nope. I was induced 4 days early due to my gestational diabetes. She was already measuring bigger than Claire did and my diabetes was worse this time. We checked into the hospital at 8 pm on Thursday night, I was induced at 7:30 in Friday morning (with Pitocin) and the doctor broke my water around 8:30 am. That was an interesting experience. Ha!

How different was this labor than the first? Well, when I had C, I was in labor for 27 hours. I was in labor for 6 hours this time. C's labor seemed to be a slow progression, and I was so exhausted. With L, it was fast and furious. No time to rest or relax until afterwards. The recovery has been MUCH easier and quicker this time.

Did you have an epidural? Almost! I managed to have both of my girls without an epidural, and I am amazed at how the human body allows you to do that. This time, the contractions were so intense that if I wasn't dilated as much as I thought I should be around 10 am, I knew I was going to cave. I just knew when she checked my progress that it was nothing, but I was wrong. The nurse affirmed that the reason I was in so much pain was because of how dilated I was. After they started setting up the delivery station and called my doctor, I knew I was close to being done, so I just stuck it out without the epidural. You can do it ladies!

How did Mark do as a labor coach and with the whole delivery this time? He did great... eventually! Ha! I don't think he was quite expecting my contractions and labor to progress so quickly, so it took him awhile to really get "in tune" with my labor. He was really good about reminding me to breathe (although there was a point where I think he was playing angry birds on his phone, and I almost threw it out of the window!)

Any surprises? I was surprised my doctor made it to the delivery. She had a really small window- 6pm and and lunch time from 12-1pm. I thought for sure I'd deliver around 4 or 5 pm and I'd have the on-call doctor. Instead, Lauren wanted my doctor there, so she made it on her lunch break! I was also surprised at how big L was. 7.11 lbs. Yikes! She was 4 days early! I wonder what she would have been had she been on time.

Who was there? It's funny. With your first one, it seems like everyone is there. The waiting room was full for us when C was born. Full for hours. This time Mark's parents and my mom were at the hospital during the whole process. I'm also assuming that our family members didn't want to wait another possible 20 hours in a cold, stale waiting room. And it was a Friday.) My mom got there before I was induced and saw the labor in full force. Mark's mom was my doula last time, and she was really helpful again this time, but it was so fast that she really didn't have to help as much as last time. It was great having them there when L was born.

What was it like when Lauren was born? Well, I was excited that Mark actually got to cut the cord this time. Lauren screamed the entire time from the moment she arrived, until that evening. I think she was a little angry that we made her join us so early. Ha! When our parents walked in, we were excited to finally share her name, Lauren Suzin. My mom teared up a bit (because it is her name) and everyone was happy to finally meet her. I asked for some pain meds shortly after I delivered, so I was pretty out of it afterwards. I didn't even finish my lunch before I fell asleep, and I barely remember getting to the recovery room. It was nice to rest afterwards for a few hours before visitors came. Our friend, Kathy, who kept Claire at our house brought her to the hospital to see her little sister. It was around nap time, so she wasn't all that interested.

So, how about Baby #3? Oh, dear. I don't know about that. The door isn't closed all the way, maybe just cracked a little, but it will hopefully be shut or cracked for at least a year. I mean, I have been preggo for 2 years, and I know that Mark and I would like a little break. :)

It is surreal to know that we now have 2 girls. It just seems like there is no way time can go that fast. Just no way! We are so blessed.

Just the Four of Us...

So blessed!

The Sisters

We've decided that when we refer to the girls together, we will call them "The Sisters." My friend Tonya (whom I used to work with, and I miss dearly) used to call her twin girls, "The Sisters," and I loved it!

Claire met Lauren the first time at the hospital, but it was crazy, and she didn't really interact much. This video is from the night Claire came home from Grams and Papa's house and she got to interact with Lauren for the first time. She was very sweet. And then she pushed her away.

I can't wait to see the bond that grows between them over the years. There's nothing like having a sister!