You asked for pictures

Since it seems that there are a couple of people out there who are more interested in Claire than the family as a whole, we thought we would try to appease their demands with some more pictures. Hope you enjoy

Nate, Hill, and Claire head out for a walk on the trail to Monticello (Thomas Jefferson's Home). Claire learned about Thomas Jefferson and his love for french architecture. We also discussed with Claire the basics of the Declaration of Independence and how it affected the future of the United States. She expressed a desire to attend UVa.
Claire sports a darling outfit from her aunt Alyson. While she has received many cute outfits from many nice people, and most of them won't be posted here, Al has been particularly persistent in her requests. Thanks Al. Claire loves you.

Claire meets Baby Einstein. She received this gift from some very good friends of ours and she loves it. Thank you so much. It keeps her occupied for at least a couple of minutes.

Claire looks beautiful for her first day at church. Daddy taught the lesson and Claire only objected to one point of doctrine as evidenced by her loud cry. Dad quickly made a course correction and Claire was satisfied. I feel it is best to trust her as she was with our Heavenly Father most recently. She has such a wonderful spirit about her.

Who knew you were supposed to use honey or Karo syrup to put bows in babies hair when they are this little. Dad thought it was absurd and he still feels that way. But, she looks pretty cute (Again Al, please recognize the outfit). She looks so peaceful and she is so perfect.

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Since about the fourth or fifth day after Claire's arrival, I have been counting down the days 'til we could introduce Claire to the bottle so that mom could get some much needed sleep a few extra times during the week. At first we had decided that we would start after 2 weeks, but then decided that that was too early. That's when we decided that 3 weeks would be perfect -not too early and not too late. This past Sunday, I was going to pump a bottle so that Nate could take over the evening feeding. I can't tell you the excitement I felt as I started to count the possible hours of consecutive sleep that were about to be mine...possibly 5, maybe even 6 hours!!! I couldn't wait. I gave Nate careful instructions on what he should do when feeding time came. So I sterilized the bottle and most of the pump accessories. The only thing that needed sterilizing was the pump itself. I boiled some water and Nate put the pump in the pot and we went about activities. I was feeding Claire while we were waiting for the pump to finish the sterilization process when I noticed a "funny smell" -not so funny now, of course. I hollered to Nate to check the pot and make sure that the water hadn't boiled out. He came flying from the computer room and into the kitchen, only to confirm our worst fears: the pump was nothing more than a puddle of plastic. I was speechless; Nate was irate. The pot was dripping in melted plastic. If there's one thing Nate hates, it's ruining something that was perfectly sound and then having to spend more money on something that was once perfect. He's a thrifty guy. Needless to say, Claire and I have continued to spend the wee hours of the morning together sans breast pump. It's a good thing she's so stinkin' cute or Sunday night might have ended in tears for me!!!

A good week

www.mandycarroll.com/slideshows/claire.exe


Hey everyone. I tried to email this link to everyone, but in case you didn't get it.... Our good friend Mandy from our ward took these wonderful pictures that brought a literal tear to Hill's eye and a figurative tear to Nate's. We hope you enjoy looking at them. Mom and Claire are doing great. Hill is feeling better after her mastitis and Claire is settling in nicely. It has been a quick 3 weeks. We love it.

Back to the Hospital!!!!

Since this is a family-friendly website key photos were omitted from publication (Hill has mastitis).

Claire is unsure about mom's request that she sleep through the night tonight. You should have seen her response to mom's request that she change her own diaper. Can you believe how big she is getting?

Claire sure has come a long way since her "good ol' days" in the oven. Look how cute she was back then. She cooked up real nice.

Got Milk? Claire does - about 8-10 times a day. Despite Hill's best efforts, Claire occasionally chooses to take the drinking fountain approach to breastfeeding.

(To start, Nate has asked Hill to no longer post on the blog. The comment about Claire's head was taken out of context and Nate thinks that his little girl is perfect.)

Now that that is out of the way, here is the update. Life with a newborn is tough work. I am sure that all of you who have kids out there have just let out a little chuckle. Claire keeps mom and dad on their toes. To add to the fatigue, Hill was unfortunate enough to develop a breast infection (mastitis) that warranted a trip to the e.r. at 10:00 pm at night on Tuesday. (Looking back we wish we had brought our camera so that our blogging fans could have experienced the trip first hand. We'll be sure never to leave the house again without it regardless of how dull and boring our trip seems.) Due to the efficiency of the UVa Emergency department, we were able to leave the hospital by 3 am the next morning (I hope you all caught the nature of that comment), with a prescription for some antibiotics. Hill has been such a champ and has fought through multiple episodes of fevers and chills and body aches. She had to go back to the doctor today for another prescription and some much needed assistance. We can't even begin to express our gratitude to all the people who have been so helpful during this time. Our friends have just been amazing and we cannot thank them enough. Our families can rest assured that there are so many people out here who love us and care for us. On top of that we must make another mention of Hill's mom Marcie who came out with us for the first two weeks. Behind Hill, she was a close second for mvp. We really miss her and can't wait for more family to come out. Well we are off to bed because we must sleep when Claire does

A little piece of heaven

Some people scoff at the idea of using binkys to soothe a fussy baby, saying that they will develop a dependency on it...I beg to differ. I decided that we had waited long enough (2 weeks to be exact) and opted to use the pacifier this morning after a long night of waking up with Claire. She's been having difficulty with her latching skills these past few days and I'm hoping that practicing her sucking skills with the pacifier will help correct this problem...probably wishful thinking, but it's worth a shot.

Claire has another baby check-up this afternoon and whenever Nate can't make it to any of our appointments he'll write a list of questions for me to ask. Looking over the list he left for me today made me smile. His number one question is, "Do you think her head is to long (horizontally) and that's why she can't seem to sleep without turning her head from one side to the other?" I'm sure you're all on the edge of your seats so I will be sure to let you know what the doctor has to say about that.

Lastly, we wanted to give a shout out to all of the wonderful father figures in our lives and let them know how much we love them!! Nate received a coupon (homemade of course) that entitles him to either a massage or some clothes for the same amount of money, however, the offer is only good until July 5, 2007, after which the monies will be forfeited to Hill's birthday fund!!

Claire's Constellation

Claire's Constellation consists of five little white dots that have been on her face since the time of her birth. Two pediatricians are unsure of what they are, but they assure use they are of no consequence. There is one on her cheek, one on her lower eyelid, one on her upper eyelid, one on her eyebrow, and one on her forehead. They are so cute. Just a little reminder that Claire came down from heaven to be with us here. She is just one more piece of evidence that Heavenly Father has hope for the future of this world.

We are all doing pretty well. We were all sad to hear about Grandpa Dahle's crash on his bike but we are all glad he is doing well. Claire was particularly worried, and maybe that is why she has been a little more fussy these past couple days. But now that she knows grandpa is okay, she is happy again. She is doing great. Yesterday, Claire asked if she could start learning Italian, so, dad started speaking to her in Italian. It has been alot of fun and Dad has alot of remembering to do. Suposedly if you start early they just start speaking as opposed to having to learn it. We'll see how long he will be able to keep it up. Should be fun. We have some friends who do that with their kids in spanish and they inspired us. Thanks Tyler and Rebecca. Claire is still taking applications for favorite uncle, aunt, and cousin. Please mail your resumes to our home here in Virginia. See you next post.

The Growth Spurt...

I figure I can't let Nate do all the updates as his take on things is probably skewed. I'm not sure I should be writing a new posting today as I am heavily sleep deprived and somewhat of a grouch these days:) I think Claire officially hit her first growth spurt last night/this morning. Wowsers....who would have thought a baby could be up so much during the night! Dad we appreciate you letting us borrow mom for these past two weeks, she's been a lifesaver! I told Nate yesterday morning that if Claire wasn't sleeping through the night by two weeks that I was going to throw in the towel...I can hear the chuckles now. Listen, I said it in a moment of weakness and desperation. I'm now giving her three weeks, but not a day more! Other than my growing obsession with sleep, things here have never been better. Claire has brought us more happiness than we could have thought possible. We love having her with us and can't wait for you all to meet her in person -pictures never do anyone justice. Just as a side note, we heard that baby Talmage is doing well and that his surgery went smoothly. Our thoughts and our prayers are with the Walters and we hope that things continue to go well for their sweet family.

Claire starts her first growth spurt

The much awaited picture of the mullett.

Who is this guy?

Claire is excited for her first car ride.

Hey team, at least we know that we have one true fan - Kevin we thank you for the comment and will try to update as often as possible, but doubt it will be every day. Things here are going great. Hill continues to feel better and better and she looks great! Everyone here at home is doing well as the eating, sleeping an other activities continue. We read that kids get their first growth spurt at day of life ten - when they start to eat and sleep more. So look for Claire to get bigger soon. She is such a joy to have around. Nate went back to work on Monday and that is going pretty well. He misses his girls back home and tries to get home as early as possible each day. Especially today as she waited until Dad was changing her and she had a nice blowout. Never has poop been so cute.

Claire Celebrates one week

Wow, this week has gone by quickly! Amazing how life changes. Everyone kept telling us how life was going to change. Makes you appreciate your parents and all the sacrifices they make just a little bit more. Not much has changed since yesterday, except that Claire has become even more precious. She has a special one week birthday meal planned tonight. We are making waffles which Claire will enjoy via the "milk truck." Claire is very clever - waiting to pee when the diaper is off, pretending she is hungry and then falling asleep during mealtime, getting out of the crib and hiding under the bed. It is amazing how much she can do. She loved her bath today and even pooped in the tub - real shock. She loved her new towel that grandma made her. Thanks Grandma!!!! Also, Hill's mom is taking real good care of us these days. Without her, this place would be a bonified disaster area likely to be condemned by the state. Claire keeps kicking along and we love having her with us.

Our first blog post!!

Well, we have joined the internet frenzy and have created a blog so that everyone can keep up with us here in Virginia. As you can tell from the picture, Claire is bored already. However, we are sure that you will all be more interested in our lives now that we have our sweet little baby along for the ride. Claire is so beautiful and so much fun to have around. She pretty much eats and sleeps and pees and poops. We love learning about babies and all that they do. We cannot wait for you all to meet Claire. We will try to update regularly so that you can see Claire grow up even though you aren't here with us.