Monthly Archives: April 2012

Clara’s Lullaby

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Eric and I absolutely love singing to Clara (and Abby, too). We’ll sing songs in their original form, but often we change the lyrics to be about them. It’s a silly thing that we do, but it’s special. When Clara is having trouble falling asleep, I like to sing to her. I’m not sure it actually helps, but I enjoy doing it anyway. I started singing “Rockabye Baby” to her last night and realized the lyrics are kind of morbid sounding. So I decided to sing her a song from an album I just downloaded from Scars on 45. The song is called “Heart on Fire.” As I was swaying and walking around the room singing this song to her, one part in particular stuck out at me. It goes like this –

When you’re standing on your own
And you feel you’ve got nobody around you
Yeah you know I’ll be the one who helps you from your knees

When I first heard those lyrics, I thought they were our anthem for Clara. Then, as I sang them to her last night, it hit me that she’s never going to feel like she’s on her own. We won’t let her. The lyrics apply more to Eric and I than they do to Clara. Though sometimes we forget, Eric and I can conquer almost any problem when we’re together. We’ve been through a lot in our seven years, and I have no doubt that we can handle just about anything life throws our way. So take that, world. We’re stronger than you think.

Clara’s First Easter

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Eric got off work early on Good Friday, and we went shopping for a few treats for Clara. We quickly realized that we have way too much fun shopping for her. We found all kinds of cute, educational toys at Barnes and Noble and had to practice self restraint in order to avoid getting all of them. We have our eyes on this adorable wooden block set for when she’s older. Also, I think we have a weakness for Melissa & Doug toys. Most of the ones we saw were for ages three and up, but that didn’t stop us from looking at them for a while. There are wooden ice cream and cupcake toys! Wooden toys = totally adorable.

We started Easter morning by checking out the goodies she got from Easter Bunny. She got three books, a pair of pink sunglasses, two diapers, a Janie & Jack onesie, mini Reese’s Cups and a chocolate Peter Rabbit. She especially enjoyed the Reese’s. 😉 That night, we went to a cookout at our friend Erin’s. Other than needing to eat a few times while we were there, Clara was pretty happy most of the time. We had a fabulous time, too, and the weather was perfect for sitting outside enjoying the company of good people.

At her checkup last week, she weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces – almost two pounds over her birth weight! The girl is definitely good at eating (wonder where she gets that?). She’s smiling even more and making the most adorable little sounds. She is constantly observing the world around her, and I hope that curiosity continues throughout her life.

1 Month

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Clara turned one month old yesterday. It’s hard to believe it’s been four weeks since she was born. Eric and I are still enamored with her, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. She is doing wonderfully. She eats well and is already a pound over her birth weight (as of her last checkup a week ago). Her official one month checkup isn’t until next week, but I have no doubt the pediatrician will tell us she’s right on track. All the doctors we’ve seen and even some strangers have commented on how alert she is. We obviously have nothing to compare her to, but she does seem alert for her age. When she’s awake, she is constantly looking around. She seems to be a very curious girl. She’s started to make little squeaking and cooing sounds, and we’ve even seen some smiles. She’s most alert early in the morning, and I love snuggling with her and talking to her before we come downstairs to start our day.  We’ve had the best time getting to know our little girl. It’s such a strange feeling to be excited for her to grow so we can do more things with her but also to wish time would slow down. It’s been an amazing month, and we’re so glad that we have this extraordinary little person in our family now.