Half...

On Sunday half of the E8 got together. We met up with the Burch family for lunch in Oregon City at a yummy pizza place (great calzone and salad!) and then headed up to their house to hang out for the afternoon to watch the USA/Canada gold medal hockey game. We hadn't seen Justin and Melissa for months - since the week Claire was born. It was nice to sit and visit with them while the girls played together. It is crazy to think that only 8 months separate Maren and Claire - and a year from now these two will be great friends. Right now Maren seems so grown up and big.

Giving sweet kisses.

Stealing the binky.

Putting it back in.

The babysitters.

Before heading back home we were able to swing by Charles and Sarah's new place. They just bought a house really close to the Burchs (not so close to us), so it worked out well to see their home while we were already out that direction. 

Crazy hair Claire...

If there's ever a way this child will be made fun of (other than her chunky thighs) it is her hair. It is often out of control, and already long enough that her "bangs" are in her face. No, I will not be trimming her bang, but she will require barettes sooner than her big sister did.

These little piggies...

When you have a baby with this much hair, you just have to have fun with it.

I didn't want to leave them in too long - might have hurt her soft little head. This was the aftermath of the piggy tails. What a mess. Her hair will now look like this until we give her a bath again. 

Clipping no longer necessary...

This is a common sight around here these days. In the past few months Grace has become a nail biter. I don't know if it is genetic, but I bit my nails until I was about 26 years old. I can remember people telling me all kinds of things trying to get me to quit. I had one crotchety old babysitter who told me that I was going to die if I swallowed my finger nails... that was a lie. I didn't die. My grandma would promise me a manicure if I could grow out my nails... never happened. I don't think I knew I was doing it, until it was too late. I was a kid that moved constantly, and the minute I sat still I would chew my fingers. In high school I would go into a movie theater and come out with no nails. Some people fidget, I bit my nails. As frustrating as it is for us to remind Grace to keep her hands out of her mouth, I can see that same look in her eye. I don't think she realizes she is doing it. She isn't trying to be naughty or disobedient. It is just a habit. A bad habit that she will probably fight for a long time. Any advice?

First spring zoo trip...

Merrick's phone died this weekend. Ugh. Just one more thing to have to deal with. Of course it was nothing that we could fix remotely, so I hauled two kids into the Verizon store first thing Monday morning and waited in line. Then I was told that they would have to send a new phone that would arrive in four days. Um, no. We don't have a land line and not having a phone for four days is unacceptable... especially since it was a faulty phone (not something we caused). So after an hour of back and forth with the service lady, I finally got a manager to see it my way. He stepped in and within minutes had me on my way with a phone that was being overnighted to us. Not perfect, but better.

After wasting too much of a gorgeous day at Verizon, the girls and I headed to the zoo. Funny enough, Kim had the same idea, so we ended up meeting Baylie and Kaleb there. This was Claire's first non-zoo lights visit to the Oregon zoo. I'd like to say she loved it, but really she snoozed in her stroller while we meandered through exhibits. It was fun to chat with Kim while the girls ran around in the sun and our "babies" were contained in strollers. I'm looking forward to spring and summer filled with outside time with our fun friends.

The mountain goats were out grazing right behind the statue.

Checking out the ducks in the pond.

The three big kids.

Same pose, better expressions.

Getting tired.

The aftermath of a long day at the zoo.

We were at the zoo for almost four hours. The kids did great, but when they started getting sleepy we headed home. As I put Grace in the car the first thing she said was "I wanted to see the penguins." Really? We saw everything but the penguins (okay, not everything, but most things). Next time my dear. Next time.

The Olympics...

We love the Olympics. In fact, when it is on we watch a lot more TV and sleep a lot less. Most nights we are up until well after midnight soaking in as much of the games as possible. Thank goodness for DVR because we are able to record anything that seems interesting and watch it as we have time. Grace has been watching with us some this year, but isn't completely enthralled (yet). She does seem to enjoy the short track skating (Apollo Ono, et al.) but this morning was concerned and said, "what happens if they get a sniper?" I guess she doesn't enjoy the crashes as much as the average person. 

As we have been watching these games - wishing we were there in person - we were thinking back to how many past Olympic cities we have visited. Neither Merrick or I have seen an Olympic event in person, but between the two of us we have traveled to 21 of the 48 past locations. Perhaps our chance to go will be London in 2012 or maybe Rio in 2016...

1. 1896 (summer) Athens, Greece
2. 1900 (summer) Paris, France
3. 1904 (summer) St. Louis, USA
4. 1908 (summer) London, England
5. 1912 (summer) Stockholm, Sweden
6. 1916 (summer) Berlin, Germany
7. 1920 (summer) Antwerp, Belgium
8. 1924 (winter) Chamonix, France
9. 1924 (summer) Paris, France
10. 1928 (winter) St.Moritz, Switzerland
11. 1928 (summer) Amsterdam, Netherlands
12. 1932 (winter) Lake Placid, USA
13. 1932 (summer) Los Angeles, USA
14. 1936 (winter) Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
15. 1936 (summer) Berlin, Germany
16. 1948 (winter) St. Moritz, Switzerland
17. 1948 (summer) London, England
18. 1952 (winter) Oslo, Norway
19. 1952 (summer) Helsinki, Finland
20. 1956 (winter) Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy
21. 1956 (summer) Melbourne, Australia and Stockholm, Sweden
22. 1960 (winter) Squaw Valley, USA
23. 1960 (summer) Rome, Italy
24. 1964 (winter) Innsbruck, Austria
25. 1664 (summer) Tokyo, Japan
26. 1968 (winter) Grenoble, France
27. 1968 (summer) Mexico City, Mexico
28. 1972 (winter) Sapporo, Japan
29. 1972 (summer) Munich, Germany
30. 1976 (winter) Innsbruck, Austria
31. 1976 (summer) Montreal, Canada
32. 1980 (winter) Lake Placid, USA
33. 1980 (summer) Moscow, Soviet Union
34. 1984 (winter) Sarajevo, Yugoslavia
35. 1984 (summer) Los Angeles, USA
36. 1988 (winter) Calgary, Canada
37. 1988 (summer) Seoul, South Korea
38. 1992 (winter) Albertville, France
39. 1992 (summer) Barcelona, Spain
40. 1994 (winter) Lillehammer, Norway
41. 1996 (summer) Atlanta, USA
42. 1998 (winter) Nagano, Japan
43. 2000 (summer) Sydney, Australia
44. 2002 (winter) Salt Lake City, USA
45. 2004 (summer) Athens, Greece
46. 2006 (winter) Torino, Italy
47. 2008 (summer) Beijing, China
48. 2010 (winter) Vancouver, Canada

Ironic...

More than once we've had people comment on the irony of our nicknames for our daughters. I don't know why, but since she was born Merrick called Grace "Big Girl." It never fit her size-wise, but to this day is used. When Claire joined our family she seemed so little so she is called "Tiny Claire," "Tiny One," or simply "Tiny."

Here is another side-by-side comparison of these two girls. Gracie is on the left - six months and 2 days old (taken Christmas Eve 2007). Claire is on the right - three months and 2 days old (taken tonight). They are wearing the same pj's and slippers... which are baggy on Grace and a perfect fit on Claire.

Just one more reminder of how little our first baby was and how quickly our second is growing.

It is still hard for me to look at these pictures and pick other similar features. I tend to see their unique traits and their differences. I know there are similarities though, I can see them when Claire smiles or when I look back at pictures of baby Grace. It will be fun to compare their pictures at 6 months, 12 months and throughout their lives. Will Claire have a mullet? With she keep the dark hair? Which of Merrick's features will be most prominent in his girls? Right now they look like Brownlee girls - what that means remains to be seen.

Three months old...

Claire is three months old.  I can't believe how fast she is growing up and how quickly she is changing. She is a completely different baby than the one we brought home from the hospital.

Here is a side-by-side comparison... 2 months old (on the left) and 3 months old (on the right)

Other than the fact that she is growing like a weed, her personality is really starting to show now too. She is so sweet natured and happy almost all of the time. She is easy going, but has opinions about the way things should be. She rarely cries, but when she decides something is less than ideal she can really scream. She loves to eat and spits up less than Grace did. She is very social and loves people and faces. She smiles most of the time you make eye contact with her. She loves to "talk" and has many good "stories" to tell. She is discovering that she likes to hear herself "talk" and that has resulted an many happy screeching sessions

She is still such an easy baby - great eater and good sleeper. I've had a lot of people ask what we have done to get such a good girl. Well, mainly it is how she is and we can't take credit. She first slept 8 hours straight when she was 8 days old and we haven't looked back. She has nights, however, when she is a "normal" baby and wakes up every hour. I don't know what causes it, but since I know she doesn't need to eat, feeding her isn't an option. We suffer through the one night of constant re-binking, re-swaddling, or whatever else it takes to make her happy. Then, when the clock hits 8am, she gets her first feeding and we start our normal schedule  all over again.

Speaking of schedule, that hasn't changed much since two months. She eats five times a day still (and doesn't seem ready to drop that last one yet). She eats every four hours starting at 8 and then has one last feeding around 10:30. She then sleeps until 8 and we do it all over again. She is taking three naps day - about 5 or 6 hours of sleep time during the day. She is still swaddled when she sleeps at night, and when it is time for bed, it is time for bed. She doesn't want to snuggle and cuddle when she is falling asleep. She very rarely falls asleep nursing. Usually when it is bed time I feed her, we change her diaper, wrap her up and lay her down with her bink. Within minutes she has spit out the binky and is out for good. I love it!

She won't be weighed and measured again until the middle of March at her four month appointment, but we tossed her on the scale on 2/5 when we were at the doctor for Grace and she weight just under 14 pounds. She has kept up the 1/2 pound per week growth to that point so she could be close to 15 pounds by now. I tried to dress her in a 3-6 month Gymboree outfit this morning and it wouldn't button, so I know she is still growing fast. Not only did Grace start out small, but she grew slowly, so I got used to baby clothes fitting for months (not days).

Here are a few other pictures of our "Tiny Claire" right now.

She is sort of a couch potato. Well, not really, but she does end up sitting like this (propped with pillows for safety) while we do things near by. She loves being upright and seeing the world from this position. She also loves television - we won't let her watch, but if she is faced the right way she will stare until we move her. Lately she has been craning her neck to find where the TV is.

Claire loves her big sister and Grace can make her smile most of the time. These two girls are going to be good friends (that's my prayer anyway).

Playing with friends and being such a big girl.



















Happily sleeping.

Pray hands...

Claire loves her hands! She constantly has them up in her face, in the way, trying to grab at things, etc. Sometimes when she is awake she will be moving them around together in a way that makes her look like she is plotting to take over the world. We call those her "diabolical plan hands." When she is sleeping and peaceful, her hands just rest together. We call these her "pray hands."

Three months old... and still as sweet as can be. 
Thanks, Hannah, for these fun pictures. Just another reason I wish you lived closer.

Ear infections...

Last night as we were sitting around watching tv my ear started hurting. I didn't think much of it at first, but eventually it was bad enough that I got up and took a few Advil. I've been a bit sick - just fighting a cold - but it hadn't really felt that bad. It was getting late, so after feeding Claire I crawled in bed and crashed. By 2 am I was awake and rocking in pain. I wanted to rip my ear out of my head. I couldn't lay down, but sitting up didn't really help. It felt plugged and painful. Ugh.

At 8:30 I called my doctor. She couldn't see me until 4:30 and I didn't think I would make it that long. I decided to head in to the urgent care. I canceled our fun plans for the day, but Shannon (who was having another group of high school friends over) invited me to bring the kids over to occupy them while I chilled. It was nice for Grace to have the distractions and it was great for me to lay around while other people held Claire.

Eventually I made my way over to the urgent care clinic and was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they were able to get me in. The doctor took a quick look and diagnosed an ear infection. (Can adults really get those?). He thinks I had a sinus infection that settled in my ear. No fun. I ran to Costco to get my antibiotics and ear drops, hoping the drops were something magical that would take away the unbearable pressure and pain... no such luck. They helped, some, but I remained in pain. Luckily we had no plans for the weekend and I could just kick back and relax with my family. 

That looks like Claire...

On Saturday morning Shannon, Tori, Mandy, Claire and I headed up to Yakima to surprise Hannah for her thirtieth birthday. The drive up seemed quick. We had lots of stuff to talk laugh about. Shannon was bald eagle spotter... we saw eight on the trip up! (We missed our exit because we were looking for bald eagles, but that was my fault, and we quickly got ourselves turned back around.) Claire was such a good baby considering that she was in the car for more than four hours.

Tori & Mandy in the back seat - such troopers even though the seat belts are stupid!

When we got to Yakima we made a quick stop at Walmart to pick up some "supplies." Marisa headed over from Richland and met us for the surprise. Our plan was to head to Brent's mom's house and wait. Carol took Emmett for the afternoon so that Hannah and Brent could see a movie. Hannah thought they were then all going to Red Lobster for dinner. We hung out and got settled in - enjoying being out of the car. It was fun to visit with Carol and to play with Emmett.

I had to post these two pictures - notice Claire's new hair style. No idea how this happened, but this is how her hair dried after her last bath. I was glad to have people who could vouch for me that know her hair doesn't usually look like this. 

At about 5:45 we got the text from Brent saying they were coming. We got our set up all ready - Claire was in her seat in the entry way with two bottles of wine and a 1/2 gallon of Tillamook peanut butter chocolate ice cream sitting next to her. (I won't go into all the details of why that made sense, but Hannah, Shannon, Mandy and I had an online chat about wine and ice cream the night before...check out Facebook if you are curious.) The five of us then hid in the back bedroom and waited...

This is what Hannah walked into the house to find. She didn't even notice the things piled around Claire. 

Hannah and Brent walked in the front door and we heard her say, "Um, this isn't what I ordered." She sounded very confused and was wondering who the baby was and what in the world was happening. A few seconds passed and she said, "that looks like Claire." (Hannah had never met Claire, just seen pictures.) Carol calmly said, "that is Claire... with wine and ice cream." It took another few seconds before we heard Hannah squeal and say, "WHERE ARE THEY!?!?!" We all lost it and were laughing loudly so she came running into the bedroom and saw Shannon first. Then, she screamed again when she turned and saw Mandy, Marisa and Tori. It was perfect. There might have been a few happy tears. There was definitely lots of laughter, smiles and hugs. Then, when she was calm again she wanted to go back and really meet Claire.

We quickly piled around the kitchen table to do what we do best - eat and talk. Carol and Steve picked up pizzas and salads for us (thanks guys!) and supplied us with drinks and snacks. The six of us girls sat around the table and ate a jar of tostitos cheese dip and two huge bowls of chips - before the pizzas were out of the oven.

Steve and Claire - enjoying each other's company.

I love Hannah's expression... a popcorn maker!

Emmett and his grandma loving on Claire

We stayed with the family for a few hours before it was time for Emmett to head to bed. Brent was so sweet and took him (and our ice cream) back to the house so we could go out for a bit before heading home. He was going to take Claire too, but I wasn't sure how long we'd be gone, so I kept her with us. We went to a fun restaurant where we did more talking and laughing before heading home for the ice cream.

I sat on the couch and fed the baby while the other girls stood in the kitchen eating ice cream out of the carton. It is fun to pretend we are still in college from time to time. The rest of our night is a blur of funny conversations. I think we covered every possible topic - some more than once. We laughed into the early morning before finally piling into bed and on couches - drifting of to sleep sometime around 2:30.

We had no plans for Sunday morning, but we knew we would have to head home somewhat early-ish. Claire slept in until 9, and since I'd been up too late, I let her sleep. We had yummy coffee, bacon and French toast while lounging in our pj's. We started packing up around 12:30 and once Claire ate at one, we headed out of town. Hannah said we'd be in Hood River in two hours, but our one-hour detour at the McDonald's in Goldendale threw that off. We made it back to Tori's house by 5:15 and I pulled in to my garage just after six.

I had such a fantastic trip. I don't love leaving my family, and usually come home exhausted, but it is refreshing to have a few hours away with some real, true friends. Thanks girls for making it a fun 20 hours. I can't wait for the next time to come!

That's a funny name for the rice...

We've had another round of Gracie sayings that make us laugh out loud. Of course when it comes time to writing them down I can't remember them all, but here are a few of our favorites...

• The other night I was grilling salmon and made cous-cous to eat with it. Grace was on her stool watching me chopping veggies and getting everything ready. When Merrick walked in he said something about how dinner smelled good and, "and we get cous cous with our fish?" Gracie giggled and said, "Cous cous. That's a funny name for the rice."

• A conversation I overheard between Merrick and Grace (my very un-princess like child):

M: Do you want to be an animal doctor when you get big?

G: (shakes her head, no)

M: What do you want to be when you get big?

G: A princess!
M: (laughs) I don't think that's a very in-demand job right now big girl.

• Merrick invented another new game to play with Grace. She climbs on his back, holds on tight, and then he runs up the stairs on all fours. Her squeals indicate excitement, fear and pure delight. While playing this game Gracie said, "Daddy, I like this beeswax!"

• One of Grace's favorite books is Goodnight Gorilla. It is a very simple, not very wordy picture book. She likes one page in particular and flips straight to it. Merrick asked her which animal was on the page. She thought for a minute and said, "Marshmallow?" Close... it was an armadillo.

• Grace is naked (wears only panties) almost all the time. If we go somewhere she will keep clothes on, but the minute we get back in the door she is undressing. If it is a day she happens to be clothed at home, she insists on taking everything off before nap time. Anyway, the other day I was watching my niece and nephews for a bit. I didn't tell Grace they were coming because it was in the middle of nap time and I didn't think she would see them. Well, by the time I got home and got Grace down for a nap it was much later than I had hoped. Scott and the kids showed up just a few minutes later, and though the kids were great and really quiet, I felt bad leaving Grace upstairs alone while her cousins played downstairs. I went up to get her out of bed and our conversation went like this:

H: There are some special people downstairs. Would you like to get up for a little while to see them?
G: Yes.
H: Okay, let's go.
G: I should put my shirt back on so special people won't see my private boobies.

• Merrick and Grace were reading one of her "magazines" before bed. There was a picture of a seahorse in the magazine. Merrick asked if she knew what it was. Though she has seen them before, she couldn't come up with the name, but got very excited and said, "That guys lives with Nemo!"

• Completely out of the blue Grace announced, "My little sister needs more brothers and sisters." Really? If I didn't know better I'd think Merrick is feeding this into her little ears.

• For a while now whenever Grace trips and falls Merrick and I will say something like "uh-oh, a sniper got you." She thinks it is funny and it usually keeps her from overreacting about the fall. Way back when Merrick was in France Grace and I spent the day with Amy out at Barb's house. She has a fun house with lots of room to run. At one point Grace ran full speed and just crashed in the middle of the floor. I didn't react at all other than to say, "What happened?" She stood up and said (in her funny little Grace voice), "A sniper got me!" Then, just a few weeks ago, she had a really clumsy day. She walked, tripped, got up, took a few steps, tripped again... I said, "big girl, what's going on with you today?" Very matter-of-factly she said, "There's lots of snipers out today."

Comparisons...

People have again been asking, "what was Gracie like at this age?" Some of my friends are convinced that Claire is a smaller, darker-haired version of Grace. They sure aren't twins, but they definitely have some very similar characteristics. Grace was so much littler that it is hard to truly compare. At three months old Gracie was about eight pounds... Claire is now fourteen. (Yep, I said 14!). Claire has outgrown many outfits that Grace wore when she was crawling. It is hard for me not to compare them - and I don't think I'm being negative - just observant. It is fun to have had a tiny baby and a normal to big baby. We're getting to experience both, and our memories of each girl are very unique which makes remembering easier for us. Anyway, on to the pictures...

This is Grace on the left (at 6 months old) and Claire (today at 12 weeks). I just liked that they are wearing the same little jacket on a walk in the stroller.

The rest of these pictures were all taken when the girls were just about three months old...

You might want to click to enlarge these pics. Claire is in color and Grace is in black and white. Their smiles and serious faces are similar in many ways. Claire's eyes seem to squint more when smiling, but the shape of Grace's eyes has changed a lot since this three-month age.

Sitting in the bumbo seat. Grace on the left is swimming in pj's that are too small for her sister already.

The baby Bjorn... Grace on the left again... her little body is totally engulfed in the carrier. Claire, on the other hand, is the perfect size and really likes spending time walking around the house and "helping" daddy with chores.