Patience

I need to work on my patience level. BE MORE PATIENT. I need to write that on my mirror and look at it every morning.

Trying really hard but not sure why

I think Clara is going to be rolling over soon. Her favorite thing to do right now while she is laying on the ground she likes to hold her feet in the air and grab on to them. She then sort of rolls on to her side but then rolls back again. Someday soon she is going to go all the way and surprise herself!

When Clara is tired, she sort of babbles. It is so funny. She gets a little loopy and starts talking like crazy. Rah rah rah rah rah rah. Better on tape!

Cold

I am tired of this cold. It is getting VERY old. I think Clara is getting tired of it too. She threw up, like a real throw up, for the first time tonight when Matt was holding her. I was glad when Matt came home because Clara was a handful today! I think she is still getting over what we did to her over the last week and on top of that she still is having trouble breathing. Booger-baby. She HATES it when I go in there to try and aspirate anything out. She gives me the hardest time.

I cleared out her ears today after her bath and she has her dad's problem with ear wax! Crazy dirty ears!

I put the humidifier in Clara's room today. While I was doing that, I placed Clara on the floor and she started screaming... thinking that I left her there. But I didn't! I was just filling up her hummy so she can breath at night! Hopefully she will sleep better tonight than she did last night. She was up a few times last night, I think because it was really dry. I had trouble sleeping too.

Hopefully she will get better soon. I hope I get enough sleep tonight because I was rather impatient today.

Dirty Baby Doll

Clara is taking a nap right now. She is SO dirty and needs a bath badly. Stinky baby! I just feel bad since she is sick and hates baths so much. I will see if I can put if off another day. Clara is supposed to be napping right now, but it is not going well!

Clara's Progress

Well, blogger.com is down now so I thought that I would write it on word and copy it over later. We just got back from our trip out East. Clara seems to have changed so much in that week. Not only did she get her first cold but I think she grew a lot! We put her in her jumperoo when we got back and she seems to be able to reach the ground much easier than she could before. Babies grow WAY too fast. I just put away her 3-6 clothes and am currently washing her 6-9 clothes for her to wear. She wore her cutie pie outfit today from Old Navy. She looked so cute in it!

She is so handsy now. The second she wakes up, her hands are in action. It is amazing how quickly she has gotten used to having them and using them. When Matt has her on his lap at dinner, she grabs the plate in front of her now. It is very dangerous. The beginning of the octopus phase! Let’s see how long this one lasts.

It is a lot of fun of watching her learn new things and it is sort of hard to remember that she did not know how to do it the day before. Right now, if you put a toy in front of her, she grabs it immediately and puts it in her mouth. She is very good at it, she rarely misses. The whole hands thing started a few weeks ago (right at the beginning of March) with a water bottle. I was sitting on the couch one day and I had an empty bottle of water in my hand. I put it in front of Clara to show it to her and she grabbed it. At first, she did not have the strength to hold on to it. And she would try over and over again to hold it but instead it would hit her in her face or she would squeeze it and it would pop up into the air.

Over the weekend, I put a bottle an empty bottle of water in her hands. She can hold on to it now!

I am sort of having a hard time writing this blog. I am finding that words cannot describe how incredible she is and what she is like. I just don’t have that sort of way with words. I sat next to her in the car today on the way back from Toledo. I love looking at her while she is sleeping. She has the most amazing spirit about her already. I love that when she sleeps, her eyelashes take over her face and are so long. Her cheeks are finally pink again, after going white when she first got her cold. She was asleep with her hands down, palms down. And each finger is separated just so and held up just a little. I had to slip my hand into her tiny fingers just to touch them. You can tell when she is waking up because her hand will start to grab my finger.

She is a very determined baby. When she gets her mind set on something, she tries and tried many times over to accomplish what her task is. Sometimes, I am not sure what she is trying to do! But it is funny to see her get so frustrated. I think she is going to have my problem of never giving up! Well sometimes it is a problem and sometimes it is a positive. We will see what she thinks of it.

She loves to sit now, though she is still not that very good at it. Though she is getting better every day. It won’t be long before she is sitting on her own. She does her tripod thing. And throws her body about to wherever she wants to go. It will be nice when she has more control over it.

We had fun visiting out East. Though it was a lot of work and it was hard for the two of us to be sick at that time. It was sort of frustrating being in Rochester though. I think Matt's mom needs to come to terms with the fact that it is NOT her baby! She made a strange comment about how she is going to raise Clara differently and not make the same mistakes as she did the first time. Very bizarre. It was also frustrating in the fact that now that Clara exists, it is as if I don't exist at all. I had a cold too and not a single person asked me how I was doing at all. Just because Clara is there it does not make me an less significant. It would be nice if there was some effort to acknowledge my existence at least.

Other than that, it was a good visit. It was nice that people were able to spend time with her and get to know what a great baby she is. Pictures, stories and videos can only show so much about what she is like.

We took her to Notre Dame today. I wanted to get her a cheerleading uniform but they did not have one in her size. Instead, she got some cute shirts and Matt got some fun shirts too. We also got some father's day present for Dale as well. We walked around campus. It was SUCH a beautiful day.

Whenever she is asleep, I want to go up there and hold her. But never wake a sleeping baby!

Get in my mouth!

Clara's new thing is to put everything in her mouth. And her tongue has been making unusual appearances as well. She just sticks it out whenever and on WHATever she wants. So far, she has pretty much sucked or bit any finger that has come across her mouth. The other day, she had Grandpa's finger in her mouth and she bit down really hard and it hurt him! She then bit her own finger and cried out after that. It was pretty funny.

I think she might be getting a tooth. I am not sure about that, but I was feeling around in her mouth and felt a little bump. The amount she is drooling and sticking things in her mouth, that is probably about right.

Her cold is not really getting better yet. She is still really stuffed up though. She does not like it when I put the saline in her nose and then suck it out. I guess that makes sense because I would not like that myself!

We are now trying to see if we can get Grandpa out to Chicago. But it does not sound like it is going to work out. Too bad, we needed the help!

Clara's first visit out East

Clara's first visit to New Jersey and New York has been quite eventful so far. The #1 first thing that she has done is she got her first cold :(. She got it from her cousins Nate and Maddie. Very sad. She is dealing with it well, probably better than I am! I think I am sick as well but I am not sure if it is because I have the same cold that Clara has or if it because I might have tooth infection that I know I need to take care of but have not yet. I am weird like that.

So this trip was to get Clara baptized. Cherie had planned it so Maddie and Clara could get baptized together at St. Elizabeth's. While I was at my parents, I was looking at pictures of myself with Father John at my First Communion. It was sort of funny to know that he would be baptizing my daughter. I never thought THAT would ever happen.

We left for NJ on Thursday morning and stopped in Cleveland for the evening. We stayed with Matt's friend Dave Jenkins. They have a son named Anthony and it was fun to see them. Clara was fine in the car on Thursday. We had a stop in Indiana with a client so she at least had a break from the car. The second day on the way to NJ was not as easy. Baby doll just likes to be picked up after she wakes from a nap and you can't do that in the car. So then after I while she starts to cry and gets very unhappy.

On Friday, we arrived in NJ and stopped at Heather's to meet her daughter, Charlotte. I cannot believe how quickly you forget what a newborn is like. Charlotte is so little a new. Clara was like that not too long ago and I already have a hard time remembering. It made me sad.

After that, we arrived at Cherie's. Though a little late because the kids had already gone to bed. It was fun to show off Clara to her, that little baby makes me so proud and she has not done really that much yet except for exist. Cherie seemed to have fun hanging out with Clara.

The next morning, Clara got to meet her cousins Maddie and Nate. She LOVED THEM! They made her giggle and talk and she really interacted with them. It made me sad that they are not closer together because I really like the three of them would thrive together. I will just have to make sure we take a lot of trips to see them so they can be together. We got our selves all ready for the day and went to my parents so the family could see baby doll and hang out. It was a long day of people grabbing her and holding her. People love the Clara doll. It was nice of her to see the family for the first time. My parents seemed in awe of how much she has grown since they saw her last.

We hung out with the family after the Ryghs left so Matt could watch the basketball game with the guys. After that we went back to Cherie's and hung out there a little bit.

The next day was a big day of the baptism. The ceremony itself was nice, sort of thrown together, but nice. It was sort of cool to do it at Saint Elizabeths. After that, we had the reception at the clubhouse. It was sort of a hard day because there were so many people there and it was hard to get her to sleep or take a nap.

On Monday, we went to JC Penneys and had a photo shoot with Clara and Maddie. It was a lot of work because someone had to have their hands on the girls and keep track of Nate's whereabouts. He likes to run away! Clara sort of got tired of the whole thing, and thinking back now, it is probably when she started feeling sick so she was a bit cranky. Though we did get good pictures of the two of them. I am excited to receive them.

Today, our first day in Rochester, Dad took the day off and we hung out with him. I slept in, I really needed it because that night was hard. Clara was really having a hard time breathing and was up a lot. I think she would wake up a little, realize that she could not breath and that woke her up. I was up many times and after about 4 times, I made Matt get up and get her. I felt so bad for her. She was having such a hard time breathing. I ended up sleeping until 10 AM. I really needed it! I was exhausted. Then we took her to meet her great grandmother whom she thought was hilarious! She giggled up a storm for her. Matt certainly has the Cintineo worry because Sadie was so concerned about so many things. She would have given her a pork chop and orange juice if she had been left alone with Clara.

We went to Target to pick up some things, like a nightlight so I would not have to kill myself trying to get to her room at night. After that, we took her to meet Marty and Rosie. They seemed to have a lot of fun with her! I need to remember to add their present to the present list so I can write thank you notes....

OK, Matt is asleep next to me snoring and I know I better get to bed because baby doll gets up early. She has a humidifier tonight so hopefully that will help her sleep. I hope so because I don't think I can take a night like last night again! That was hard work especially since I was sick as well. Though I am beginning to feel much better.

Good night!

Morning Time

Every morning when baby doll wakes up, we bring her into bed with us and Clara loves to play and scream with us in the morning. It is so funny because sometimes I will fall asleep and Matt will hold her, or I will hold her and Matt will fall asleep. Sometimes I fall asleep so hard and I wake up and the bed is empty! Matt will take her downstairs to play in the Jumperoo or strap her into her bouncy seat and he will shower with her in the bathroom.

It is nice, those times in the morning. I will do my best to remember those moments for the rest of my life.

Clara is so funny and determined. When she gets her mind set on doing something, she tries so hard to do it. Sometimes, I am not even sure if she knows what she is trying to do though!!!

Everything goes in her mouth these days and it is play play play when she is awake. She is like me, she really does not have a gentle personality and takes the world by storm. It is so interesting to see me in her sometimes. It will be very neat to see it more and more (or less and less :)).

Charlotte Elisabeth

Heather had her baby last night and it was a little girl named Charlotte Elisabeth. She is gorgeous, looks like Dan. I am so glad that she had a girl. That is so neat that we have little girls together and they are so close in age. Very neat, that worked out really well. I am excited to see her, it is so cool that we will get to see her when she is so little. They change so quickly. I think they go home tomorrow from the hospital.

Anyway, we took Clara for her first trip to IKEA today. She is so funny when she is out and about. She does not nap and tries to stay as awake as she can so she can see what is going on. Just like her daddy! She pretty much crashed when we got home anmd slept for most of the afternoon.

We are almost done packing the kitchen. Finally! And I worked on the dining room as well so we can have Easter brunch together tomorrow. I hope it turns out well. I am making the Welzy strada, crunchy-almond vanilla french toast with blueberry/orange compote, peach bellinis, bacon, and proscuitto wrapped asparagus. Yummy!

We have a serious ant problem. I feel like ants have been crawling all over me all day. They came out yesterday when I made dinner for the first time. I put out four traps under the sink today and they were ALL over. Then all of a sudden they were gone and some dead ones were laying around. Maybe we killed some! Maybe not! :) Either way, we have an exterminator coming on Tuesday. Clara and I have to go to the mall while he is here. Oh well :)

Damn I just realized I have work to do and I better get on it...




Exhausted and my tummy hurts

I am so tired today. These last few weeks have been tiring and I have not been sleeping well since I am up late trying to unpack. I was rather lethargic all day long today. I did get my hair cut yesterday and that felt good. I also took Clarabelle to book club yesterday and she was a hit (of course). She is a baby doll and people just love her! For some reason, she would not nap today in the afternoon so I put her down at around 6:30 and she battled it out. She eventually did fall asleep.

Clara ALMOST turned over today. She pooped all over herself and I took her clothes off to clean them. She was naked on the floor and was kicking herself all over the place. If she would only let go of the blanket behind her, she would do it! Maybe someday soon.

I just ate one of those Cranberry Circles from Trader Joes. So good. Dangerous to have around.

Hair Frustration

I am so frustrated with my hair right now. It is very long and I have been ignoring a little too long. It is all over the place and I am losing a ton of it. I need to cut it NOW!

Sleepy

That is how I feel right now. Clara is taking a nap right now and I thought I would catch up on the last two days. I probably should be working to make up for all the money I have spent lately but I have about no energy right now.

Anyway, Kelly came in yesterday so she could easily catch her EARLY flight to Costa Rica to celebrate Easter with her family.

Clara had her 4 month old doctor's appointment today and she got an A+. She went to a new doctor today, Dr. Dave. The practice seems nice. There were a lot of sick kids there today but luckily they have a sick room so that is nice. Though the power went out when I was leaving. What is that about? I don't think it was their fault because the stoplight was out down the street.

Clara weighs 14 pounds and 12 ounces. Is 24 1/4 inches long and is doing well. I need to get some things for her dry spots. She got two shots. She officially did not like the appointment today because when he was looking into her eyes and ears, she started to cry. She is weird about anyone touching her head and neck area. She just hates it.

After that, I dropped her gown at the cleaners. They said that they would not be able to get the stain out. I think that is OK. You would not even notice it if it is was not pointed out. I hope so at least :).

I went to go find the Stratford Square Mall. Neighbor guy was WRONG! The mall is kind of shitty. UP mall is probably nicer! Maybe they will make some improvements to it in the coming years. At least there is a Marshall Fields. I got a sweater for the baptism. All I have to do is find pants. That is going to be the hard part. And of course cute shoes. The good thing that came out of it is that I found out that there is an Old Navy and Michael's in the area over there. Tomorrow morning I am going to drive over and find them. Pants and decorations for Easter breakfast! I am excited about making that. I have to unpack a lot before that happens though. I could probably get it done on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

I am SO tired today. I don't think I have been sleeping well or enough lately. And I probably should be napping right now but I just have this desire to be doing something, and of course I am not doing much (except for blogging). OK, enough babble. I think I am going to lay on the floor and take a nap. We need a couch...

Welcome to the neighborhood!

On our fourth day in Bartlett, we had our neighbor stop by, Scott and his son Ethan. Apparently we have HUGE shoes to fill. The previous owners were the center of the neighborhood (so Scott says) and they had parties all the time on their patio. He gave us a grill, so that is cool. He was surprised by our lack of furniture :).

My feet are killing me. UGH.

Matt got to experience one of Clara's waking up early from her nap break downs. She gets SO angry. Whoops!

We drove to Schaumburg today. It is close and easy to get to! I am glad because I am going to LOVE it.

Apparently there is another mall named Stratford around. I am going to have to look that one up.

Too tired to write, I have a meeting at Assurance tomorrow. We are bringing baby doll with us to show her off. Should be fun.

My body aches and I found my cat

After yesterday and a long day today of unpacking, my body hurts. But it feels good at the same time. We got a lot done which is definately a great thing. Amanda, Ryan and Evelyn came by today to help. Well Amanda helped a lot, and Ryan helped distract Matt :). Though Matt deserved it after the Smithers fiasco that took up a better part of our afternoon. I went to THE BEST TARGET IN THE WORLD to get some random things we needed including the Jumparoo for Clarabelle. After I got back, Matt came home from screw hunting at ACE with the baby doll. Sometime after that, we lost Smithers and then Ryan and Amanda came over. We were looking for the cats because they were going to deliver the dryer (again!) and we found Monty immediately but Smithers was no where to be find. I would say that Matt and I looked over this whole house at least 6 times between the two of us for over an hour and we were almost thinking that we lost our bean. Matt decided to finally go outside to see if had escaped when all of a sudden Smithers walked right in front of me! Apparently he found a new hiding spot under the hutch in the dining room. He accessed it from the back and you can't see that from the front. We were almost getting quite upset because we had literally looked in EVERY inch of the house including ridiculous spots like the freezer. Anyway, what a pain that little orange cat is! But I am glad we found him because I love my bean.

As for unpacking, we got the stuff that came with the movers in the kitchen done. We just need to unearth the things from the garage that belong in the kitchen. I would say the best part of the day is using the washer and dryer. They are AWESOME! I love it, it is great stuff. I washed all the bedding for our bed and our towels. Our bed looks great. I lucked out and found some shams that matched the quilt for our bed and I was not even looking for them. I got a cheapo bed skirt on sale too so Monty won't scratch on the bed. He woke me up last night doing it twice. It is so weird that he does not have the urge to do that if there is cloth above it. Dumbass.

Clara did well today. She loves her new Jumparoo. It is so funny to watch her. She gets so frustrated when she cannot do something. She was trying to reach part of the toy in the front part but her arms are just a little too short and she could not reach it. She is just a little too small for the whole thing but she does not know it and still tries to do what her body is not ready to do. She is funny like that. I think she is going to be like me in the fact that she does not give up on something when she really wants to do something. I blessing and a curse, that is for sure!!!

She was a little tired today when Ryan and Amanda was here so she was not her usual cheerful self. Hopefully they will come earlier on Easter and they can spend more time with her. She is such a sweetheart. It is so great to know she is comforted by Matt and I when we hold her. It is also neat to realize that she knows that we are her Mom and Dad. Not necessarily in those words to herself, but we are special to her and you can it in the way that she reacts specifically to us. It is really neat.

OK, tomorrow -- no caffeine. My body is tired but my mind is racing. I sort of feel like when I was in college and I used to drink Mountain Dew like it was my job studying late at night at Lafun. I am far from those days now!!!!

Our stuff is in the house!

Finally, we are in. It is so weird to see our stuff in this big giant house! It does not seem to fit and all of a sudden everything feels so small and needs to be replaced. The list of furniture and things that I want to do is so long and is going to cost a lot of money. All I am going to have to do is remind mysef that it takes time and to be patient. I am not always the most patient person!

Clara did well with the move, though I had to hold her the whole time. She did not want me to put her down. So I had to hold her the whole time while I directed the movers. Eventually I put her in the sling and had to walk around carrying her. My back is killing me. Though she finally fell asleep for a little while at least.

I am glad that part is over though. We are on the better end of this whole moving thing, that is for sure. It was also a little nerve-wracking watching the movers with my carefully packed boxes. But being the control freak that I am, I think I did fairly well. I even let someone pack our boxes. Thanks Vicki!

Now that we are in, we have to unpack unpack unpack. We leave for NJ in two weeks to show Clara off and to meet the Ryghs for the first time. I am very excited for that. I am hoping to have a lot of the major packing done by then but the task is rather daunting at this point. Little by little, we will get it done.

Beginning

So I am late in the game on starting a blog but I am at a turning point in my life so let's keep some information on it. Clara is growing so fast that I have already forgotten when she has started to smile and laugh and do all the cute things she does. Possibly this format will allow me to do that... remember the important things that my brain is apparently incapable of storing at this moment in time. And I know for certain that I do want to remember these things.

She is four months today. My big girl. She is a determined and stubborn little one, I wonder where she got that from :)! She tries to sit but can only do it when she does not see something more interesting than the floor. It is funny how much better she can sit when she is tired and not so excited to look around. She is getting better at being on her tummy but has little tolerance for it when she is not in the right mood. She is a good sized girl, growing very well for me. So I have no worries on that there. She is SO happy. I love her smiles and her laughs. It is so great to have a baby that loves people and to see particularly Matt and I. She loves to have her neck kissed. And I am more than happy to provide those kisses!!

Right now, I am sitting in our new house! I am waiting for Matt to come back with the movers and we can finally start living in the house that we have been dreaming of for years. It is not the perfect house, but near darn it considering we don't have all the money in the world. There are a lot of small projects to do, but I am almost glad they are so we can make this place our own. We already had all the rooms painted and it looks so much better. I love being surrounded around colors that I know I love and feel good in.

Clara is napping right now. After screaming for about, oh 10 minutes now. She HATES to sleep just like her daddy. It is so funny that Evelyn is like her dad and LOVES to sleep. Clara is good in the morning but as the day goes on, she resists the nap more and more.

The cats were hilarious last night. When we drove out to the new house at around 2 yesterday, Matt took Clara and I had the cats. Smithers cried the whole time out here and got louder the faster I drove and the more I tried to play music OVER him. When we got here, Smithers walked around the whole houes yelling all day and night. It was getting a little annoying :). For a while, Monty got his crate back open and stayed in there for a while. Then he decided that he wanted OUT and tried to escape through the garage door.

OK now that the baby is asleep. I am going to go pet my new washer which just came in this morning. FYI, I hate commercials. I really want TIVO back in order.