I am inspired by Dorie Greenspan and her work. Mostly, I love the way that her recipes reach out to real people and their real appetites. Her newly posted "risotto" recipe looks most interesting! http://doriegreenspan.com/index.html
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Friday, March 11, 2011
6 Months Old!
Claire will be 6 months old on the 15th and I just can't believe it! She is now in 9 month clothing almost exclusively, is sitting really well both supported and unsupported, eats in the high chair, loves bananas, and weighs over 19 pounds. She is our little darling. The dimple in her chin is still there and seems to be getting more pronounced the larger she gets, which I find to be quite cute. Beginning on March 9th I returned to my "regular" office hours at work, and Claire is now being watched most days by Lisa Ganung, another friend of ours who lives in the Stadium District and quite close to our place. Lisa is a regular volunteer at her son Curtis' Elementary school (Lowell Elementary), and so Claire is already off to school (she's very advanced). The teachers and kids so enjoy having her around, and the kiddos know not to get too close for fear of g-e-r-m-s! But really, it's a wonderful and nurturing environment, and we are so happy that Lisa is able to help us in this way because she loves Claire too!
Claire & Knuffle Bunny
Saturday, January 15, 2011
4 Months Strong
Today is Claire's four month "birthday", and we can't hardly believe it. She had her four month check up on Thursday so I have recent "stats" to report: 16 lbs, 11 oz; 27" in length. She's in the 100th percentile for weight and the 105th percentile for length. You can see why we've already started getting her into some of the nine month old clothing that we have. She's our tall drink of water.
Lately Claire has become quite the chatterbox. She's an orator alright, and man has she got a lot to say. Just earlier this week she delivered a 45 minute long soliloquy in Costco, resulting in some sideways stares from our fellow discount-shopping patrons. It's a funny thing to be conversing with a loud and proud four month old hanging off the front of you in the Bjorn while you are hefting a case of canned black beans in your over-sized cart. Claire must feel at home in the warehouse store, because like the wares they sell, she's got a lot of value packed into her (not so) little package. It was a fun day, and we came home with everything on our list.
Other recent developments are as follows:
Lately Claire has become quite the chatterbox. She's an orator alright, and man has she got a lot to say. Just earlier this week she delivered a 45 minute long soliloquy in Costco, resulting in some sideways stares from our fellow discount-shopping patrons. It's a funny thing to be conversing with a loud and proud four month old hanging off the front of you in the Bjorn while you are hefting a case of canned black beans in your over-sized cart. Claire must feel at home in the warehouse store, because like the wares they sell, she's got a lot of value packed into her (not so) little package. It was a fun day, and we came home with everything on our list.
Other recent developments are as follows:
- Outgrew her little baby sink bathtub, and graduated to the big blow up "ducky bath" intended for children who are already sitting up on their own. Claire is of course NOT sitting up on her own, so this has presented a new and exciting bath-time challenge for Luke and I. Fun and games with a naked and slippery infant with the possibility of a strained back and soap in her eyes...ah parenthood. We live for this.
- Both brings her hands together, and brings them to her mouth, (and usually whatever else she has snatched up in them along the way). She sucks on her hands and fists all the time, and we are working to discourage her from sucking on any one finger, like her thumb, and trying to get her to steer towards her pacifier for comfort sucking. We also think that she's starting to teeth, so most everything that is going into her mouth isn't being sucked on so much as it's being chomped on...which is pretty funny to watch. She is starting to look at her hands (what pediatricians call "regarding her own hands"), but we've yet to have that breakthrough moment when she stares at them fixedly.
- She can roll over. She doesn't like it, but she can do it. It's very exciting when we catch her doing it...kind of like spotting an exotic animal at the zoo!
- She has officially grown out of every single piece of clothing labelled "3 months". And--she's almost out of some of her "6 month" items. It so depends on the brand and label of the particular item.
- She is enjoying her time with her "babysitter" Debbie. We've known Debbie for a little over 3 years now because she is a member at the church and lives very close by. Debbie and Claire enjoy going up and down the stairs SEVERAL times a day (they have three floors), and also looking in all the mirrors in Deb's house (Claire is very vain).
So life is good with little Claire Louise. We know that the next couple of months are going to bring a lot of change, and we can't wait!
Sunday, November 28, 2010
A word on becoming a parent...
You've probably noticed, (if anyone is still following this blog and hasn't completely given up on me), that there hasn't been a post from us in a while. This, in spite of the fact that we've had so much blog-worthiness happening in our lives. Any parent can tell you, that if a new mommy and daddy don't make time to blog during the first 10 weeks of their baby's new life, it's completely excusable. However, I am disappointed, as there has been so much going on and so many funny stories to tell. I fear that few of them will be remembered and accounted for, but I'll do the best I can to catch you up with the "Cliff Notes" version:
1)Last night we put up our first Christmas tree with Claire. She stared at the lights like they were literally blowing her mind. It was delightful and a bit frightful all at once to see how enthralled she was with their glowing beauty. We wrapped an extra strand around the posts of her swing for good measure and in the hopes of keeping her occupied for a bit longer...
2)In preparation for the cold weather that we experienced so unexpectedly last week, (it got down to 15 degrees! That just never happens here!), we tried on Claire's new candycane striped long underwear onesie. She looked at us like, "really-I make ridiculous look cute." It was fantastic, and she stayed toasty warm.
3)In an attempt to get more rest and create a more peaceful middle-of-the-night nursing situation, I've been trying more often lately to nurse Claire in bed while lying down. I think it's working. This morning in the wee hours if you had see us you would have seen me laying there with a "hungry" infant sleeping next to me with her mouth open. I did wake up soon after I dozed off and got us back on track. Maybe it's too peaceful???
4)Claire's bathtime is an adventure. We use a "PUJ" tub, which is a foam mat that folds so that it fits snugly into our little bathroom sink. It works well and keeps her all snuggled up in the warm water. That is, until she hit over 14 pounds recently, and started kicking while we tried to wash her. Now we are pretty much at the PUJ limit I believe, and may be moving into the duckie tub soon. Problem is, that many babies at 15 pounds are starting to be able to sit up a bit, and she is no where near that...as she's only 10 weeks old. Hmm...New bath strategy ahead. Another favorite bathtime experience is the daredevil race into the bathroom from the changing table across the hall in her room. It's like naked baby roulette: someday she'll pee on us, but we never know when that day will come.
5)Car seat: she hates getting in and out of it. We've already had to adjust it. She's big folks, and that's all there is to it. She is a 15 pound baby in the biggest, heaviest car seat on the market: the Britax Chaperone. My physical therapist has actually banned me from doing any car seat carrying other than lifting her in and out of the car. Thank God for the Snap-and-Go stroller.
6)Physical therapy: when Claire was about two weeks old, I started to notice that by the afternoon I had a really sharp pain in my neck. It hurt when I looked down and brought my chin to my chest. I thought it was just stress or soreness and that it would go away, but 8 weeks later and I'm in physical therapy twice a week to cope with the muscle strain of carrying around my "petite" princess, the muscle strain of nursing and the added weight of my breasts. All in all, there's still a lot hanging off the front of me, even though I've delivered a baby and trimmed up splendidly. So, hopefully the PT will help, and I won't have a hunchback by the age of 30.
7)Belly button. The most peculiar thing happened around week 6 1/2...we noticed a little bloody sack protruding slightly out of Claire's belly button. We watched it for a day, and it got a bit bigger, so I called the pediatrician and we went in later in the day for a check up. Well, he'd never seen anything like it. He took pictures on his iPhone to show his pediatrician buddies. He called in the two other peds that were in the clinic, and they hadn't seen anything like it either. That's over 70 years of pediatric experience stumped at 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. No fun. We were hoping it would be a little less special than that. Something to just rub a little ointment on and sleep it off. Oh well. We were instructed to make an appointment with the pediatric surgeon at Mary Bridge Children's Clinic, which we did. About an hour and a half before her appointment with the surgeon, I hurriedly threw together the diaper bag and took her into the changing table for one last change before heading out the door WHEN...I lifted up her onesie, and what do you think happened? It fell off. The little bloody bubble that caused all this fuss just dried up and fell off into my hand. I put the sample in a ziploc and off we went. The surgeon just blinked at me and told me to come back in a couple of weeks. What a fiasco. Kids!
8)At 6 weeks she began to smile. It was so sweet. She had been making eye contact for about a week before the smiles set in, and we waited anxiously for them to appear every day. "Was that a smile? Or was it just gas?" Most of the time, with Claire, the answer to this question was the gas, but as I said, around week 6 she grinned knowingly at our faces and our silly charades, and we knew--with the certainty that we craved--that we were indeed the two most hilarious people on the planet. We should start booking comedy clubs and book a 2011 tour--we are funny, funny people, and you know how I know? Because Claire smiles, and that's all that matters.
9)Life is well and good with a newborn when it comes to diapers. Especially when your baby loves her changing table as much as ours does. And especially when you have a breastmilk-only baby like Claire is (it doesn't even stink!). And especially while your brand new angel is only creating small poops dispersed evenly throughout a 24 hour period.
But then...
You take your daughter to church for the very first time after you return from maternity leave, and you dress her in the cute new outfit from Grandma Cindy (pink courderoy dress, white turtleneck onesie, white tights, pink shoes), and she makes such a mess that you shudder in horror at the fold-down changing table on display in the cramped church nursery bathroom. Fancy onsie? Gone. Pretty pink dress? No match for Claire. White tights? Do I even have to answer here? Thank God we have a loving and gracious church family, and thank GOD that we had an extra change of clothes.
10) Aside from the stinky diaper situation, she smells wonderful, especially right on top of her head. And when she sleeps, she snores, and it's lovely.
More from the Claire Chronicles later...hopefully you won't have to wait as long until next time.
1)Last night we put up our first Christmas tree with Claire. She stared at the lights like they were literally blowing her mind. It was delightful and a bit frightful all at once to see how enthralled she was with their glowing beauty. We wrapped an extra strand around the posts of her swing for good measure and in the hopes of keeping her occupied for a bit longer...
2)In preparation for the cold weather that we experienced so unexpectedly last week, (it got down to 15 degrees! That just never happens here!), we tried on Claire's new candycane striped long underwear onesie. She looked at us like, "really-I make ridiculous look cute." It was fantastic, and she stayed toasty warm.
3)In an attempt to get more rest and create a more peaceful middle-of-the-night nursing situation, I've been trying more often lately to nurse Claire in bed while lying down. I think it's working. This morning in the wee hours if you had see us you would have seen me laying there with a "hungry" infant sleeping next to me with her mouth open. I did wake up soon after I dozed off and got us back on track. Maybe it's too peaceful???
4)Claire's bathtime is an adventure. We use a "PUJ" tub, which is a foam mat that folds so that it fits snugly into our little bathroom sink. It works well and keeps her all snuggled up in the warm water. That is, until she hit over 14 pounds recently, and started kicking while we tried to wash her. Now we are pretty much at the PUJ limit I believe, and may be moving into the duckie tub soon. Problem is, that many babies at 15 pounds are starting to be able to sit up a bit, and she is no where near that...as she's only 10 weeks old. Hmm...New bath strategy ahead. Another favorite bathtime experience is the daredevil race into the bathroom from the changing table across the hall in her room. It's like naked baby roulette: someday she'll pee on us, but we never know when that day will come.
5)Car seat: she hates getting in and out of it. We've already had to adjust it. She's big folks, and that's all there is to it. She is a 15 pound baby in the biggest, heaviest car seat on the market: the Britax Chaperone. My physical therapist has actually banned me from doing any car seat carrying other than lifting her in and out of the car. Thank God for the Snap-and-Go stroller.
6)Physical therapy: when Claire was about two weeks old, I started to notice that by the afternoon I had a really sharp pain in my neck. It hurt when I looked down and brought my chin to my chest. I thought it was just stress or soreness and that it would go away, but 8 weeks later and I'm in physical therapy twice a week to cope with the muscle strain of carrying around my "petite" princess, the muscle strain of nursing and the added weight of my breasts. All in all, there's still a lot hanging off the front of me, even though I've delivered a baby and trimmed up splendidly. So, hopefully the PT will help, and I won't have a hunchback by the age of 30.
7)Belly button. The most peculiar thing happened around week 6 1/2...we noticed a little bloody sack protruding slightly out of Claire's belly button. We watched it for a day, and it got a bit bigger, so I called the pediatrician and we went in later in the day for a check up. Well, he'd never seen anything like it. He took pictures on his iPhone to show his pediatrician buddies. He called in the two other peds that were in the clinic, and they hadn't seen anything like it either. That's over 70 years of pediatric experience stumped at 4 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. No fun. We were hoping it would be a little less special than that. Something to just rub a little ointment on and sleep it off. Oh well. We were instructed to make an appointment with the pediatric surgeon at Mary Bridge Children's Clinic, which we did. About an hour and a half before her appointment with the surgeon, I hurriedly threw together the diaper bag and took her into the changing table for one last change before heading out the door WHEN...I lifted up her onesie, and what do you think happened? It fell off. The little bloody bubble that caused all this fuss just dried up and fell off into my hand. I put the sample in a ziploc and off we went. The surgeon just blinked at me and told me to come back in a couple of weeks. What a fiasco. Kids!
8)At 6 weeks she began to smile. It was so sweet. She had been making eye contact for about a week before the smiles set in, and we waited anxiously for them to appear every day. "Was that a smile? Or was it just gas?" Most of the time, with Claire, the answer to this question was the gas, but as I said, around week 6 she grinned knowingly at our faces and our silly charades, and we knew--with the certainty that we craved--that we were indeed the two most hilarious people on the planet. We should start booking comedy clubs and book a 2011 tour--we are funny, funny people, and you know how I know? Because Claire smiles, and that's all that matters.
9)Life is well and good with a newborn when it comes to diapers. Especially when your baby loves her changing table as much as ours does. And especially when you have a breastmilk-only baby like Claire is (it doesn't even stink!). And especially while your brand new angel is only creating small poops dispersed evenly throughout a 24 hour period.
But then...
You take your daughter to church for the very first time after you return from maternity leave, and you dress her in the cute new outfit from Grandma Cindy (pink courderoy dress, white turtleneck onesie, white tights, pink shoes), and she makes such a mess that you shudder in horror at the fold-down changing table on display in the cramped church nursery bathroom. Fancy onsie? Gone. Pretty pink dress? No match for Claire. White tights? Do I even have to answer here? Thank God we have a loving and gracious church family, and thank GOD that we had an extra change of clothes.
10) Aside from the stinky diaper situation, she smells wonderful, especially right on top of her head. And when she sleeps, she snores, and it's lovely.
More from the Claire Chronicles later...hopefully you won't have to wait as long until next time.
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Claire Louise Thompson
She is here at last. She came on September 15, 2010 at 10:34 a.m, at St. Joseph Medical Center, weighing 10 lbs, 3.8 oz and measuring at 21" long. More on the birth and labor story later. For now I'm happy to report that it's been a bit day in the Thompson household, and a big day for Miss Claire-bear.
We've been getting to know her bit by bit, and today, we learned a very valuable lesson: she does not have to eat once an hour, that's silly. Mostly when she fusses once an hour, she just needs to be bounced, jiggled or rocked, and would prefer to have that accompanied by either a loud crashing train outside, a hairdryer running, static on the radio, or our obnoxiously loud dishwasher running. I've always hated this dishwasher, until today. It's been a rough go of it nursing-wise trying to sooth her by feeding once an hour (you can imagine what happens to my feeding anatomy under that kind of work schedule, so I'll remain decent and not go into detail about it). Now that we've learned some other techniques for soothing (and learned when we need to use them--thanks Mom), we are no longer dealing with both a crying Claire AND a crying mommy (me).
We had our first pediatrician appointment on Saturday morning (two days ago), which went splendidly. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 10 oz, which is a net loss of only 9 oz. She has no jaundice, and they let us go at the end of the appointment with absolutely no concerns for her. We go back on September 29th for Claire's 2 week physical and parenting class. We are really looking forward to the classes offered for free at Union Avenue Pediatrics, and have heard that it's a wonderful way to meet other families with babies the same age as our Claire.
She also had her first day with more quiet, alert wakefulness today. It was so fun to see her awake and calm looking all around and taking in her world. Her big blue eyes were tracking Luke across the kitchen as he put the dishes away, and would turn in my direction each time I spoke.
We also went on our first walk as a family. I'm not technically supposed to be doing any walking until my 2 week postpartum appointment, but it felt so good to get outside in the fresh air. We mainly stuck to the walk-way behind the building and did a loop around the Museum of Glass. We got a couple of great pictures by the glass sculpture, and Claire loved being outside, especially when we came back around the front of our building to head in and a long coal train came cruising by. They even spoiled her by blowing the horn nice and loud (she didn't even flinch!) I did okay with the walk, as my recovery is going well, and luckily, a stroller operates pretty much as a walker would, so I got the little extra support that I needed to make our jaunt enjoyable and pleasant. Still, I was feeling sore and a little winded (gasp!) by the time we were done, and I dream of the future when I'll be back to jogging again. I'd like to walk as a family in the 2010 Pierce County Hunger Walk (it's only a 5K), so I'm hoping that I'll be up to that by October 3rd. Seeing as how that is only a couple of weeks away, it could be a challenge--but it's good to set short-term goals, right? Right.
For now, my short-term goals for the rest of the day include: taking a nap (which will happen in about 3 minutes), eating a full meal tonight, paying the bills and FINALLY finding time to paint my toenails, which I haven't been able to do for myself in a couple of months.
Congratulations to us; here's to Claire Louise who has changed our lives and taught us so much already.
We've been getting to know her bit by bit, and today, we learned a very valuable lesson: she does not have to eat once an hour, that's silly. Mostly when she fusses once an hour, she just needs to be bounced, jiggled or rocked, and would prefer to have that accompanied by either a loud crashing train outside, a hairdryer running, static on the radio, or our obnoxiously loud dishwasher running. I've always hated this dishwasher, until today. It's been a rough go of it nursing-wise trying to sooth her by feeding once an hour (you can imagine what happens to my feeding anatomy under that kind of work schedule, so I'll remain decent and not go into detail about it). Now that we've learned some other techniques for soothing (and learned when we need to use them--thanks Mom), we are no longer dealing with both a crying Claire AND a crying mommy (me).
We had our first pediatrician appointment on Saturday morning (two days ago), which went splendidly. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 10 oz, which is a net loss of only 9 oz. She has no jaundice, and they let us go at the end of the appointment with absolutely no concerns for her. We go back on September 29th for Claire's 2 week physical and parenting class. We are really looking forward to the classes offered for free at Union Avenue Pediatrics, and have heard that it's a wonderful way to meet other families with babies the same age as our Claire.
She also had her first day with more quiet, alert wakefulness today. It was so fun to see her awake and calm looking all around and taking in her world. Her big blue eyes were tracking Luke across the kitchen as he put the dishes away, and would turn in my direction each time I spoke.
We also went on our first walk as a family. I'm not technically supposed to be doing any walking until my 2 week postpartum appointment, but it felt so good to get outside in the fresh air. We mainly stuck to the walk-way behind the building and did a loop around the Museum of Glass. We got a couple of great pictures by the glass sculpture, and Claire loved being outside, especially when we came back around the front of our building to head in and a long coal train came cruising by. They even spoiled her by blowing the horn nice and loud (she didn't even flinch!) I did okay with the walk, as my recovery is going well, and luckily, a stroller operates pretty much as a walker would, so I got the little extra support that I needed to make our jaunt enjoyable and pleasant. Still, I was feeling sore and a little winded (gasp!) by the time we were done, and I dream of the future when I'll be back to jogging again. I'd like to walk as a family in the 2010 Pierce County Hunger Walk (it's only a 5K), so I'm hoping that I'll be up to that by October 3rd. Seeing as how that is only a couple of weeks away, it could be a challenge--but it's good to set short-term goals, right? Right.
For now, my short-term goals for the rest of the day include: taking a nap (which will happen in about 3 minutes), eating a full meal tonight, paying the bills and FINALLY finding time to paint my toenails, which I haven't been able to do for myself in a couple of months.
Congratulations to us; here's to Claire Louise who has changed our lives and taught us so much already.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Labor Day Weekend
This was the most bizarre Labor Day weekend I think we've ever had. The weather was great, and we both had time off from work like usual, but we couldn't make any plans! That might not seem like much, but to Luke and I who don't normally do things "spontaneously" very often, it was kinda fun to just sleep in, wake up, and see what the days brought for us. It turned out to work rally well. We went to the Dwyer wedding on Friday night (planned, but we hadn't been sure if we would make it until the last minute), walked a bunch and watched movies on Saturday, I worked on Sunday morning (boy, are the people at Mount Cross surprised to see me every time I walk through the door!), Saw Ben and Sarah on Monday afternoon followed by my parents in the evening, and yesterday, my mom came down on her day off to hang out and help me pass the time with Waldorf salad and chick flicks. Whew! Needless to say we had an active and fun holiday weekend, but it was just a different feeling to not know what was coming next. I kind of liked it, and I probably should get used to it!
Still, through all of this, no baby came this Labor Day. Oh well. It was nice to have a long weekend for the two of us to share...kind of like a last retreat! The due date is tomorrow, and I really don't feel like I'll be having a baby tomorrow (because I still generally feel pretty good). I certainly don't mind the baby coming a little past-due, and I certainly trust my body to know what it's doing...but I'm a little wary of needing to be induced, so I find myself desiring to send the baby this message:
"Please Baby, if you are listening or reading this blog, I am begging you: come out soon. We'd all like to meet you--you seem like you've got a great personality from what we can tell, and your parents are so brilliant and funny that you must be at least interesting to talk to. I promise that we'll take care of you and we'll even let you scream at us for hours if that's what you'd like. (I'm guessing you will be more interested in eating though...)
Love, Mommy"
Still, through all of this, no baby came this Labor Day. Oh well. It was nice to have a long weekend for the two of us to share...kind of like a last retreat! The due date is tomorrow, and I really don't feel like I'll be having a baby tomorrow (because I still generally feel pretty good). I certainly don't mind the baby coming a little past-due, and I certainly trust my body to know what it's doing...but I'm a little wary of needing to be induced, so I find myself desiring to send the baby this message:
"Please Baby, if you are listening or reading this blog, I am begging you: come out soon. We'd all like to meet you--you seem like you've got a great personality from what we can tell, and your parents are so brilliant and funny that you must be at least interesting to talk to. I promise that we'll take care of you and we'll even let you scream at us for hours if that's what you'd like. (I'm guessing you will be more interested in eating though...)
Love, Mommy"
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The light at the end of the tunnel...
Here I am at 38 weeks. The baby had begun to "drop" by this point, and I was starting to be able to breath and eat again in relatively comfortable fashion. Mom and Dad Boye came down for a visit and we all agreed that I needed to take another profile shot to show off this impressive tummy.We are getting extremely eager to have the baby, and are keeping our spirits up by staying busy mixed with intervals of rest and fun. This weekend (Labor day weekend), we were able to make it to a wedding of some very close family friends that we would have never thought we could make it to. Here's some photos from the photo booth they had set up at the reception. We all agreed that these are the most fun and hilarious photo booth pictures that we'd ever seen!
It was so great to be able to be at Chris and Michelle's wedding, and we had a ton of fun. The buffet at the reception was spicy thai food, and we thought that might do the trick, but alas, no such luck. Maybe if I had eaten, and then gotten onto the dance floor we might have seen some action, but most likely that would have just ended in indigestion. So, I didn't dance at the wedding, but it was a great time, and a great party with amazing people. I'm glad that we went, even though I kind of felt crazy being there at almost 40 weeks pregnant. I was so tired by the time we finished eating, and had to fight it to stay awake during the toasts, but we made it through and then made it safely home. The memories are priceless and it was totally worth it.
At this point I'm starting to think that the baby might never decide to join us. I know it sounds crazy, but you do definitely get to a point where you start thinking that you're just going to be pregnant for the rest of your life. Hopefully that's not going to be the case (we're 99% sure anyways!) All of our friends and family have been so wonderful and supportive-and that is really helping to keep us going. Last week was Luke's first week of school, so it actually did work out well that the baby didn't come last week. Also, several of our friends that we would want to tell right away were out of town this weekend due to the holiday. SO...the point is this (Baby): it is now officially a great time to be born into this world. Every night Luke encourages the baby to "move to the light at the end of the tunnel" and I'm sure that very soon the baby will start to listen to him. (And we all know that that might be the last time the baby listens to us ever again).
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