Chattanooga Trip

Last week we took Claire on her first out-of-town trip to Chattanooga. My aunt and grandma came down from NY for a few days to meet Claire and see the rest of the family. Claire was SO good in the car on the way up there, she fussed for maybe 30 seconds but was quiet or sleeping the whole rest of the ride. Thank god for small miracles...


Claire and I got to Chatty Wednesday afternoon and went to dinner at Bones with my mom and dad, and then just hung out with them for the night. Then on Thursday morning dad went to Nashville to pick up Grandma and Cathy, so mom and I took Claire for a walk in the park. She slept through a lot of it, but she does love being outdoors! Then we went shopping for a little while until they returned from Nashville. We sat around and talked to Cathy and Grandma and then had lasagna for dinner. Too bad Aaron missed it! We watched Grey's Thursday night, and then went to bed. Colleen showed up around midnight. Friday morning we all took Claire to the park for a walk again. Colleen brought Dicey too, so she ran around and opened her legs for all the other dogs...her mommy taught her well. We came back to the house and sat around and played with Claire that afternoon, and then had a really good turkey dinner. Aaron got to the house around 9 that night, after FINALLY finding some gas near Calhoun, because Atlanta is pretty much out of gas. On Saturday we just watched football all day and hung out. Becky, Charlie, Robin, and Mike came over for a little while so Mike and Robin could meet Claire, and Charlie could see his beloved. And try to eat her (see picture below). We (I) were very excited that Auburn won, and Aaron was a little (lot) disappointed that UGA lost. On Sunday dad took Cathy and Grandma back to Nashville to go home, Aaron went home, Colleen went home, and Claire and I stuck around so Nana and G-daddy could get some time alone with Claire. Then she and I came home on Monday.


Claire was very well spoiled all week, and got used to being held and played with all the time. We're having a rough time getting back on her schedule, and she's been fussy pretty much nonstop since we got home. But at least she was good while we were in Chatty, so everyone got to see how sweet and cute she is. Hopefully it will just take us another day or two to get her back on her normal schedule, she was up to almost 8 hours of straight sleep a night, so it will be nice to get back to that, last night was rough!

I can't believe that she'll be 7 weeks old tomorrow, she's getting so big so fast, it kills me to think that I have to go back to work in a few more weeks and leave her, at least part of the week. Guess it might be time to start trying to bring that up with work and figure out what I'm going to do in terms of work, and what we're going to be doing about childcare... don't really even want to think about it!


Some pics from this weekend...

So cute in her basinette in her smocked nightie

Charlie trying to eat Claire's shoulder

Riding her pony, Dicey

4 generations of Van Bourgondien mothers and daughters

Claire loves Baby Crack-stien (aka Baby Einstien)

Claire has a new favorite toy.... her Baby Einstien playmat. The thing is her new obsession, she'll lay on it and play and laugh for a good half hour at a time. I love this, because I can finally eat or use the computer without feeling like I'm neglecting her (as I am now, while she fusses in her Boppy seat...)

I love my Baby Crack-stien!!!

Today Claire is 5 weeks and 2 days old, and she's almost broken the 8lb mark...almost. As of today, she's 7lb 14oz, so only 2 oz to go until 8lbs. We can tell she's growing and getting heavier, and so can her Nana and G-daddy, who don't get to see her as often as mommy and daddy do (or as often as they would like to). Nana came down this week to take care of Claire while I had to go to the doctor, and she stayed a few days to get in some baby-time. It was great having her here, especially because I have a cold and it was nice to have someone to help take care of her so I could rest and recuperate!

Claire had a few "firsts" this week. First car accident.... we got rear-ended yesterday when we were taking Nana home. No damage to my car (tank) at all, and Claire didn't even wake up. That made me feel good, that the car is so safe, we barely even felt the hit, but when you looked at the other girl's car, you could tell it was a fairly hard hit.... and she was in a Cavalier, so her front-end drove straight under my car, and into my towing hitch. The hitch destroyed her hood and busted her radiator, but my car was in perfect shape, just a tiny little scratch. She also had her first cold and her first sick-baby visit to the doctor. The doctor said it's just a head cold, so we've just got to keep pumping the saline up her nose and sucking out her snots. She had her temperature taken rectally, and did not enjoy that one, not that I blame her. So we just have to keep an eye on her for the next few days and keep checking her temperature and listening to her cough so she doesn't get RSV. She's been extra fussy with the cold, so it makes nights fun for mommy... until the cold she was sleeping about 6 hours straight every night, which was awesome.

That's about all that's going on for now, we have a fun week coming next week, my Grandma and aunt are coming down from NY to visit and to see the baby, so we're going up to Chattanooga for a few days, it'll be Claire's first out of town trip! Now I just have to figure out what all to pack....

I love looking out the window

Oh dear, looks like we have a receding hairline...

time to start the baby comb-over!

New dress that Mommy made!

So many toys you can't even see the baby!

Claire's life

Claire is 3 1/2 weeks old now, I can hardly believe it! We've been on our own now without Nana's help for a full week, and we're surviving, although the first day was a little rough. We've gotten out of the house just about every day this week, which is good and bad... good that we're getting out and having fun, bad that I'm spending the child's college fund on clothes, since we go shopping most days. But we also went to Aaron's softball game, and out to lunch with Aaron one day and then Kate another day, so we're having lots of fun! On Thursday we had a nice long afternoon of shopping, and Claire got new clothes from Kohls, Gap, Old Navy, Macy's, and Babies R Us. We're building the fall wardrobe... See below for a fashion show!

We've finally slowed down on the different doctor's appointments, so we're not going to different doctors every 3 days, which is nice. Claire is continuing to gain weight, but is still in the 10th percentile according to the baby growth charts. But she's maintaining, so we're not worried. She's a good eater, although her new "favorite" thing to do is spit up all over her mommy. Several times a day. She's a good baby, very happy except when she has gas, then she gets a little cranky until she can rip a fart or two. It's really quite charming, especially to hear man-farts come from a tiny baby girl. Makes her daddy and I laugh, clearly we're not past the age where farts are funny!

Not much else going on, I'll try posting more often, so Nana can get her baby fix!

Baby Fashion Show!

In the Georgia outfit I made for her

In the dress Nana made her

In her sailboat dress from Aunt Joanie

Rockin the popped collar in her Polo outfit

New jammies!

In her H&M dress from Aunt Leslie

11 days old

Baby Claire is 11 days old today, and has been a fantastic baby so far! She's a fantastic sleeper, and it's actually really hard to wake her up to get her to eat some days. And some nights, she's a good night sleeper. She has started to work herself onto a little schedule, we eat, have some playtime, and then a little nap before we start the cycle over again, every 3 hours. It does make life a little easier, knowing what to expect from her every day, but leaving the house does make it a little harder because she sleeps the whole time an then gets fussy later.

Claire's Nana has been down all week helping out with everything and going with us to the doctor/lactation/shopping. She'll be her next week too, and then after that mommy is on her own (until Nana decides she can't stand being away from her grandbaby). She's been working on baby clothes to get her smocked-wardrobe started. So far we have a really cute bonnet and by the end of today should have a dress to match. G-daddy has been down this weekend to visit and has been teaching Claire everything there is to know about golf. He loves playing with her and being baby paparazzi, he's all over the pictures.

We went to the pediatrician this week, and Claire is back up to her birthweight (5lb 14oz) within the first week, so we're happy about that, although it's probably mostly from the supplemental formula she's been getting. She (and I) have been getting better with the nursing thing, she actually nursed twice today without wanting any supplemental milk or formula, so something must be going right! We go back to the pediatrician for her 2-week checkup on Wednesday, so we'll see then how much she's gained. I can't tell any difference, but also couldn't tell a difference when we were in the hospital and she got down to 5lb 5oz, so I'm not a very good judge. It is funny to see her next to other babies, it makes us realize what a tiny little peanut she is, by herself she doesn't look that small, but next to other babies she really is little!

Here are some new pictures!

Bathtime!

Sleeping in my pack 'n play

My bonnet that Nana made

Crazy Baby Hair

Big smile!

Ah, home at last!

We're finally home with baby, so nice to be here and living our normal life with baby. We had visitors today, Becky, Josh, and Charlie came to visit from Alabama, and John, Leslie, Jimmy, Heidi, and Tripp came over too. It's only been a month and a half since we saw Beck, Josh, and Charlie last, but Charlie has gotten so big!! Can't believe he's double Claire's size! We hung out for a few hours and had lunch, it's nice to hang around with other new first-time parents that know exactly what we're going through right now.

In other exciting (for me) news, I weighed myself this morning to see where I was at, and I'm actually 1.5 lbs below my pre-pregnancy weight. I'm very excited, but still have a long way to go in terms of weight I need to lose and toning up the tummy. Guess that will have to wait a little while, c-section is still a little bit sore, and I'm on excercise restriction right now, so my weight loss is all from breastfeeding for the next few weeks. I go back to the doctor this week, so they can give me all the "rules and regulations" for the next few weeks.... it's hard to follow the rule of not lifting anything heavier than baby when baby is only a 5 pounder. We also have to go visit the lactation consultant tomorrow for some breastfeeding advice, and will be going to the pediatrician for the first time on Monday or Tuesday. Hopefully Claire hasn't lost any more weight, we've been supplementing her feedings, and she seems to be eating better, so I'm not very worried, she seems to be doing well. Lots of pee (yep, little things excite me now)

Congratulations are in order...

*Aaron's 30th birthday is today

*Kate and Chris, who got married yesterday, can't wait to see the pictures

*Sarah and Jason who got engaged last week

Some pics from Becky and Josh's visit...

Becky and I with each other's kids

Claire sucking on Charlie's elbow (true love)

Charlie with his arm around Claire (so cute, would have been better if they weren't crying!)

Announcing the arrival of Claire Grayton Parker

Claire Grayton Parker was born via c-section at 8.13.08 at 4:25pm. She's tiny, weighed in at only 5lb 14oz, and 19".... but she arrived on her due date, so she's just petite!! She's absolutely perfect, sooo good, a great eater and not fussy at all, just perfect.

We had tons of visitors come yesterday to see her, mommy was pretty much passed out in bed the whole time in quite a bit of pain, so she was really not very good company, but appreciated everyone coming up here!

Below are a few pictures of our new addition!

Mom at the hospital, just after checking in... MONDAY

Baby Claire at 20 hours old

Claire and Mommy

Our little family

New plan...

So, things haven't been progressing as quickly as they would like, and there was meconium in my fluid, so we're doing a c-section at 4 today.... 24 minutes! Baby Claire will be here soon! I'll try get some pictures on here sometime tonight or tomorrow!