9 Months

Stats:

29 inches (90 percentile)

20 lbs 8.5 oz (75 percentile)

I can't tell you how much we all love this little girl. Cliche cliche cliche...I know. But it's true!! Despite being an absolute grump for the first 4 or 5 months, she is an absolute delight now. She hardly ever cries, loves to be silly right before bedtime, LOVES her brother, and always wants to be a part of what we're doing (especially if we're eating ice cream!).

Clara, like her brother, didn't learn to crawl until she was almost 10 months. This is heavenly for mom! She was so content to just sit and play with toys. Now that she is crawling she's showing us what we need to baby proof. Clara isn't fast yet thankfully! 

Clara knows how to clap, shake her head, strum her lips with her pointer finger, sign "more", wave, sign "please" (kind of), do the popcorn popping hand motion when we sing the song, crawl, sit up on her knees while playing with toys, and (as of this morning) fold her arms for prayer! The folding her arms for prayer is the cutest thing. She's still just babbling. No real words just yet.

Solid

Clara's on solids and so far she loves it. We're working up to 3 meals a day. She loves sucking on these net things.  In thr picture she's sucking the life out of grapes. It's so fun to see her budding personality. She's a smiley little one. And she loves nothing more than her brother. I'm not sure why... :)

Speaking of Henry, man does this kid have a TON of energy.  And now that we're being more and more confined by a schedule I'm not sure how to entertain him. If I don't have a plan for the day neither of us are very happy.

I've been worried lately that David and I expect too much from Henry. We are hard on him. We need to remember he's only 3. He's such a sweet kid.

Clara Rolls

Watch "Clara Rolls.3gp" on YouTube

A month earlier than her brother. A great way to start off her seventh month of life.

Instagram Update

Instagram is taking over my blogging life. Here are a few favorite "instas" from the last few months.

Henry's been enjoying our little coop preschool. He wishes it was everyday all day long. Poor kid. He's a social guy and sometimes life with Mom and Clara can be boring. Especially when Mom keeps telling him to be quiet. Oh how we need a house with two floors and carpet!

It's sad to me that this little man is no longer the center of my world. My time is split (and not evenly, sadly). It's been a hard transition for everyone. Not sure if Henry even realizes it. I love him so much. He's growing up a lot. He's a little kid and I love it. But I miss my baby Henry. 

This little lady hates tummy time. Don't let this picture fool you. She still has a slight head tilt to the right. We're seeing a physical therapist for it. I carry my babes funny in utero. Henry had similar issues.

Henry struggles playing by himself. He doesn't like it and I need him to. On rare occasions Clara will nap in her bed and give us some time to play together.

It snowed for the first time since we've moved to Charlotte. Henry was so happy. 

Clara is growing up quickly. She's getting better at sitting up on her own. It makes her look so old. She'll start solids in a few weeks. It's so nice to have a baby that cries only when she's tired, hungry, or needs a diaper change. A serious improvement for her. We're still figuring out sleeping. She sleeps pretty great at night (generally waking just once to eat). But day time naps are the worst. She'll only sleep for 20 or 30 minutes at a time 4 or 5 times a day. I am craving a better schedule for her. But this girl does not fall asleep gracefully. Lots of rocking and bouncing is involved, usually. Sleep training is going to be happening very soon. It'll make a happier baby and mama. We just need to convince Dad, a.k.a. Mr. Softy :)

Clara's Blessing

Clara was given a name and a blessing on November 11, 2012. David gave her a beautiful blessing. We had both sets of grandparents in town for it. Clara wore a dress that her Grandma Moss made for Andi and Ali. It was so nice of Winona to let us borrow it. Clara looked beautiful and everyone at church ooo'd and aaah'd at the dress.

Miss Clara Helen

I've been wanting to write down Clara's birth story for weeks. I blocked out of my memory how demanding newborns are and on top of that this little thing doesn't like to be put down and would prefer to eat all day long.

38 Weeks & 5 Days

I had been hoping to have Clara on (or even before!) my birthday, September 13. But that day came and went. If she was going to be like her brother, then she'd come on the 18th, 5 days early. On Tuesday the 18th I had an appointment with one of the midwives. Three weeks previous she had checked me and said I was dilated 2 cm and 80% effaced. The next appointment I was 2 cm and 90% effaced. The next week I was 3 cm and 90% effaced. That Tuesday the 18th I was 5 cm and 90% effaced. Ugh this girl was killing me. All this progress with no baby to show for it! The midwife massaged my cervix (a.k.a. stripped my membranes) in hopes it would get things going.

Later that afternoon I was having contractions regularly enough that I started timing them. They were around 5-10 minutes apart. Later that night they started slowing down a bit, but then around 10 pm they picked up and were consistently 5 minutes apart. To the hospital we went!

Our friend Pam from church came over and spent the night with Henry. We love Pam!! She's kind of like our Charlotte Grandma. She's so sweet with Henry and he loves her and the fact that they've kept a lot of the toys her three boys played with.

Backtracking a bit... I wanted to try an unmedicated birth. David and I borrowed a book from a friend and read it together. The author suggested walking as a way to deal with pain in the early stages of labor. Dave was all for walking to the hospital (we only live 3 blocks away). I didn't want to commit (obviously), but when it came down to it, walking sounded great. And it did help with the pain. I may have been a little nervous (what if my water broke?), but my contractions weren't super strong and they were holding steady at 5 minutes apart.

When we arrived at the hospital we settled in and the midwife checked me. I was at 6.5cm. She went ahead, with my permission, and broke my water. This was just after midnight. That's when things really got started! Whoa. My contractions got stronger and painful really fast. I lasted only a few contractions sitting in that bed. It felt much better to stand holding onto the rail on the bed with one hand, David's hand with the other, David putting pressure on my back, and water running down my legs. Okay so the water running down my legs part wasn't great, but frankly I didn't care. All inhibitions are thrown out the window in an L&D unit, at least for me.

I wanted to try laboring in the tub, so the nurse got the bath started. It felt good to get in the bath. During contractions I braced myself against the side of the tub and David would put pressure on my back. They were getting much stronger and getting closer and closer together and man did they hurt! Like the body wrenching kind of hurt. And I'm pretty sure everyone on the labor and delivery unit could tell. I was very vocal. None of this breathing through contractions, going to my "special place" stuff. How in the world are you able to do anything else besides brace yourself and scream it off?

Soon the contractions were right on top of each other. I wasn't getting a break. That was my breaking point. I told David I didn't want to do this, that I could't do it any more. I wanted to cry but didn't have the energy to produce tears. All energy was focused on containing the pain. David reassured me that I was doing great, blah blah blah. All things he was obligated to say. In his mind he was thinking, "Get this woman some meds! I can't take this!"

The next contraction came and I knew I wanted to push this baby out. They quickly got me out of the tub. The midwife checked me and said, "Let's have a baby". She told me to start pushing whenever I wanted. The nurses were still scrambling to get things ready.

Holy cow they are right when they describe crowning as "the ring of fire". It hurt. Again, I was pretty vocal. I looked over at David at one point and he had tears in his eyes. He really is a softy and I love it.

It took me a couple of pushes to get it right and then only a few more until our baby girl came out kicking and screaming!

8 lbs 4 oz

Henry was excited to meet his baby sister. But not as excited as he was about his new Lightning McQueen blanket I gave him at the hospital. That kid kills me.

David teases me that our mail man is Asian. 

Dad and Clara both needed a nap.

Going home outfit.

I was very glad that Clara came quickly. She arrived 45 minutes after they broke my water! I'm sure I wasn't as prepared as I should have been for un-medicated childbirth. Although, I'm not sure you can really prepare for something like that. If you asked me right afterwards if I would do that again I'd say heck no. It was unreal. But my recovery was so much different than with Henry. In a good way. So I'm considering doing it again with the next one.

We are delighted with Clara. Besides eating every two hours (or less) and being mad at the world when she's awake, we adore her! I really shouldn't complain because she lets me sleep at night. Generally she only wakes up once to eat. The other night she slept for 6 hours!

Welcome to the family Clara Helen!

Time Flies

Welp...we're having a girl! I'm excited and a bit nervous for the possible drama she may bring. But I don't care...bring on the pink! I'm more than half way through this pregnancy, which means I need to get sewing! Sewing for a girl is so much fun.

We have had a busy few months. The highlight of March was a visit from Nana and Papa, Jennifer and Felix, and Erin and Matthew. It was a blast! I'm afraid I wasn't a great hostess...I'd like to blame the pregnancy. But we had a good time anyways. Dad was especially excited to golf three days in a row. Us girls just wanted time to chat, eat yummy food, and shop at TJMaxx. Henry was thrilled to have Matthew staying with us. Those boys loved playing together.

Playing at Discovery Place Kids

Bedtime Stories

Both super excited to eat Papa's birthday cake on Lightning McQueen plates.

Can you tell they both LOVE Cars? Aren't they adorable?

More Playing

I loved having my sisters and mom all together. We all agreed though, next time we attempt a girls' weekend, we'll do it sans kids. And I'd like to add that none of us should be in our first trimester...just sayin'.

I love these ladies.

It was especially nice to see Jen. We miss each other. Thank goodness for Skype, gchat, and cell phones. I loved getting to know Felix better. So did Henry.

Felix can really ham it up when he wants to!

April was also a busy month with Easter (and all that candy!!! Henry is now obsessed), a field trip to a ranch/farm where we saw tons of animals, meeting baby sister via ultrasound, 3 doctors visits, 2 high fevers, a trip to the urgent care, followed by a trip to the ER, and a night spent in the hospital. Aye yai yai!

Easter Egg Hunt hosted by our amazing party throwing friends. Thanks, Katie and Chris!

Fish at the Ranch

Kangaroo

Hello Mr. Camel

Henry on the wagon ride, getting ready to see some big animals and feed them.

Trying not to get grossed out by the large tongue and stinky breathe.

That's a bison. There were baby ones too. See Henry cuddling me? That never happens. I figured it was hot. But the next day he had a fever of 103. He was probably starting to feel it. His fever lasted for 3 days. It was a hard 3 days, but I was happy to be his cuddle buddy.

And of course David's cousin Cindi and her daughter Molly happened to be at the ranch the very same day and we ended up on the same wagon ride! I wish someone had told me to take off my sunglasses for this picture.

Zebras!

Giraffe

This is Henry on day 2 of the first fever.

Feeling a little better day 3, but still a grumpy pants.

Then the fever went away and we got our happy boy back for 2 or 3 days. Then Henry got a cough, which aggravated his breathing. Breathing treatments at home weren't doing anything to help, so off to the urgent care we went. Which landed us in the ER and at the hospital for the night. Henry had a high fever at the urgent care, but the x-rays didn't show an infection in his lungs thank goodness. They gave him steroids and albuterol treatments through the night. Once his breathing stabilized he was good to go home. Well...6 hours later. Hospitals are really efficient like that. 

H liked being at the hospital for the most part because he got to drink juice and watch all the TV he wanted. David stayed the night with him so I could go home and sleep. I didn't get home until 1:30 in the morning. It was a long night for all of us. It took us a few days to recuperate. And I'm happy to report that we are all happy and healthy...for now.