Time Moves Fast

Spring

I love warming weather and enjoying going outside in the growing warmth of Spring, and most importantly the bright colors we get to dress up in now! Spring is definitely my favorite season even though it will rain more and that is my least favorite weather, but the flowers make the rain worth it. We have gone out to play in the yard or go for a walk very often this past week and weather was so great for going out. Then of course wearing the cute white with pink outfits for church on Sunday (even though it was the most overcast day this week) makes Spring well worth the wait through the cold of winter.

Claire

It is so nice to have my daughter not be sick anymore and have an appetite back! She got over her being clingy early on in the week and began eating food during meal times again which was the biggest relief. We finished out her antibiotics and now are crossing our fingers that nothing else hits before the sick season is over.We tried out some sidewalk chalk this week and learned that Claire doesn't like to share with mom and dad. Every time we pulled a new color out and tired to draw with it she would say "no" and take it from us, she did this instead of drawing. It was still  a fun thing to try with her and with how much she likes using markers I think they will get used. She likes to hide when she has markers because she likes to draw all over her skin.

Shay

I love the new born cuddles! She is so precious and has the softest hair that I had been missing now that Claire doesn't cuddle very well. Shay is the best to have fall asleep on you and even though its very inconvenient because she only likes to sleep in my arms, it is my favorite thing about her. When Chris is at work, we spend the hours before bed time all cuddling on the couch and watch a movie and its fun to have girl time. We also get hours in he morning together when he catches up on sleep.

What a Week!

Curveball

Here I thought life could start getting back to normal since we didn't have visitors and I was getting back to work, but then we were thrown a curve ball! Claire was feeling hot and had a fever of 103 on Tuesday, and when we took her to the doctor, she tested positive for strep. Apparently strep isn't common for children under 3, but we have been giving her antibiotics and trying to deal with the mood swings that come from being sick. She is clingy and cuddly which is cute and awful all at once when we are trying to get things done or Chris is gone and I'm feeding Shay. Luckily she is feeling better and we just have to ride out this last bit of unpleasantness this week.

Claire

After being on the medicine for a day, she wasn't contagious anymore so Chris could still take her to the gym and give me a break every day. That first day of taking the antibiotics was rough though and she had her first experience throwing up which was all over the couch! What made it worse was that Chris was trying to get sleep after a night shift and I had to wake him up to help me bathe her while I cleaned the couch. Luckily I'm not too squeamish and didn't throw up myself at the awful smell of the curdled milk that was most of what came out of her. I bet you love reading about this! She had her good moments this week when she was happy and curious about taking care of Shay, and she likes to help by throwing away diapers for us still. She 'shares' her blanket with Shay when she's sleeping in the mamaroo we have, and she always stares at me when I'm starting to feed her.

Shay

We have been blessed again to have such a good baby who sleeps so well and is already great at eating, even if she doesn't always keep it all down. I don't really think she has a real problem with anything to do with my milk because she isn't constipated or overly gassy, but she just over eats. Sometimes the milk comes out her nose which can't be fun but she doesn't react like it hurt her and at this stage in life I can't really know for sure what she is feeling. I just have to hope she is doing alright because she had normal newborn poop and sleeps for a good long time sometimes. Everything seems normal, and she is so cute and soft and cuddly that life is very happy despite the whole strep situation with Claire.

Work

I've figured out that I miss being able to stay up late and spend time with Chris even though I am very grateful for the opportunity to work from home with VIPKID. I'm back at teaching and Chris is back to full time shifts this week all being 3pm-3am shifts 3 days in a row...right when Claire was most sick! I feel good about working again even though it takes away from the sleep I could be getting, but I still got at least 6 hours everyday this week so I feel like I can do this. I found that it is still possible to do things and go places with two kids by getting new tires for Chris's car after he left for work on Thursday. It wasn't easy or convenient but now I know its possible when I need to.

Play

I went back to the gym to see how much I could do on Monday and then was sore for the next two days. I did a full body work out, but since I never did squats when pregnant it worked my muscles, but I was still impressed with everything I was able to do overall. On Saturday, Chris and I went to a new park I found while looking at google maps, and we are very impressed! There is a big area that will be open with water for summer and two different play areas, one was for 2-5 year old's and the other was for 5-12 year old's. Claire was hesitant at first but had a lot of fun when we found what she liked and I hope to be able to go more often. It's only a mile away from where we live which would be great except we have to cross over a highway and part of the way didn't have sidewalks.

Busy Week of Guests

Visitors and worries

This week we have had someone visiting every day! My mom was in town and her sisters live close enough that they wanted to come by and see Claire and Shay, then once she went back home we had Chris's friend and family come see us. Life will hopefully get into a routine soon and we will be able to handle the new baby in the house without going crazy. I am a little worried about when Chris has a 12 hour shift during the day when Claire is going to be awake and we have to find things to do! I also worry about bed time without someone to watch Shay while I bathe and get Claire ready for bed, so more problems to worry about. I'm sure I will figure it all out and I plan on using a wrap to hold Shay for some of the day.

Matching!

These matching outfits were what we wore for our first outing to eat with my mom and the colors worked so well that even one of the servers commented on it when they passed. I was trying to get pictures of the girls together and Claire holding Shay but she acted scared when I put Shay between her legs. I look forward to many more matching days, like at church we all wore yellow! Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture because we were all eager for lunch and nap time after getting home.

Claire

Still getting used to having her sister here but seems to be understanding the mamaroo is for Shay and she likes to turn it on when we put her in it. She had a lot of fun with her Nana and Great aunt on Tuesday back at the aquarium, and waking up with Nana every morning was a huge relief for me! It is weird how bringing a tiny human home has changed how I see Claire. She used to be such a small girl, but now I feel like she is growing by the second! Her hands, feet, and everything is so big that I feel like I'm losing time with her!

Shay

She is eating a lot and spitting a lot back up then eats more...but her poops are normal and she is sleeping great. I forget how much newborns sleep! She is still up every 3-4 hours to eat of course and when she is awake and we are hanging out she is so cute. She has some intense burps and farts sometimes that make us laugh, and she is really wiggly when we change her cloths and diapers. We are just so in love with our new baby girl! I got a new double stroller for the girls and once I got it put together Claire enjoyed playing with it in our living room before I got it out in the garage.

Growing Our Family

Family

We are now officially a family of 4 with the girls far out numbering Chris who is enjoying all the wonderful girls he now gets to spoil and love. He is still cooperative with matching when we go to church and is supportive in every other way with taking care of our girls and house. I won't say for sure when the next addition will come, but we are going to spend our time enjoying the two girls we have now and hope for another boy in the family when the time is right. My mom loves granddaughters but has expressed how it would be nice to have a grandson too at some point, and at this rate it's anyone's game who will give them their first grandson!

Best FriendsThe early part of this week started off great with still getting to spend time with my bestie and her baby boy but sadly, she had to go back to Missouri. It was such a great way to spend the last few days of my pregnancy because she likes to spoil me with yummy food, fixing my house, getting my car taken care of, and cleaning my kitchen. Life so far hasn't let us live close to each other but we still feel close now that we get to bond over our adorable babies and having a family.

Claire

She loved having visitors all week first starting with my bestie and now my mom who came to help watch her when we went into the hospital. She's also seen my aunts who have come to see the new baby and gets excited when people come over because she gets so much attention. The handling of a new sister has seemed to be hard on her because mom and dad were gone for two days and now we hold Shay when she wants us to hold her. When she came to visit at the hospital things were good until she started getting bored and has a lot more things to do at home so she isn't as annoyed when we are paying attention to Shay.

Shay Anna May Bell

I get another weekly section! Now that she has vacated the belly and joined our little family I will get to talk about her all the time and she gets her own section in our blog. Her big day was on Friday, March 1st at 3:03pm and she measured 7lbs 13oz and 19.5 inches. Labor went really well and there was no complications or problems (I didn't even rip!) and when she had her checks in the hospital she was perfect. We only stayed there for the 24 hours after she was born so we could get back home to Claire and normalcy (and my own comfy bed).

Chris

My wonderful husband was there for me in the hospital on Friday even though he worked the night before and had to nap for the first hour we were there. It was so comforting to have him beside me for when I was getting the IV and the epidural, and then again when the real labor started and my body was shaking. Since he works downstairs as a tech it was easy to talk to the nurses and techs that helped us out at the hospital. He even had some of his work buddies come up to visit after she was born and we were hanging out in the mom and baby unit.

Recovery

I honestly feel almost back to 100% since it was such an easy delivery I was able to up out of bed as soon as the epidural wore off. I walked out of the hospital with Shay and Chris and went to church today even though I was tired after a night of not great sleep. Shay doesn't like to be moved once she falls asleep in my arms after eating so we have to figure out how to get her to sleep in her own bed next to ours. Hopefully today will go better and I'll catch up with my sleep over the next week, especially since I have my mom and Chris here to help with watching Claire and Shay.