Blondie's Blabbers

January 2017/Claire 1 month

January was a big blur. We stayed home a lot, but also went to the doctor a lot, too! The bulk of our month was spent with Claire having RSV and thrush, and being diagnosed with acid reflux! Oh my! Lydia was sick, probably with a form of RSV also, at the same time. We were glad when everyone was healthy again!

This pretty much sums up our month with Claire: constant spit up!

We love Claire's little tuft of hair that sticks up like a mohawk!

We did hit birthday parties for three cousins, including one at the Sioux Center swimming pool!

Thankfully, this little cheeseball is in love with her little sister. Lydia loves to give Claire hugs & kisses and comfort her when she is crying...which was a lot this month!

Claire is 1 month old!

After about a week of being home, Claire started getting really fussy/uncomfortable, and would often scream for hours at a time--as in up to three hours of screaming! We took her to our family doctor, and she was diagnosed with acid reflux and put on prevacid. After a week or so, we weren't seeing any improvement, so I went on a completely dairy-free diet. While this seemed to help some, we still had concerns, so I took her to a pediatrician in Sioux Falls. We adjusted some things we had been doing, and he encouraged us to put her on a special, pre-digested formula since she seems to also have a sensitivity to the lactose that is just naturally produced in breast milk, even without dairy in my system.

Two days after the pediatrician's appointment, Claire (& Lydia) came down with nasty colds. Claire went into the ER on a Sunday and was diagnosed with RSV. Thankfully, her oxygen stats always stayed high enough we didn't have to admit her to the hospital. The doctor was pretty amazed at how well she handled the whole ordeal while not even being a month old! 5 days into the RSV mess and Claire came down with thrush, too! So with RSV, thrush, and acid reflux, Claire was vomiting/spitting up ALL THE TIME and she didn't gain much weight that first month! Claire weighed just over 9 pounds at one month.

Claire also loves to be held upright, probably because of the acid reflux. She sleeps in a Rock 'N Play since it has a bit of an incline. She also loves to be swaddled in her Woombie sack.

Winter fun

Some winter fun we've been having:

Shoveling snow

Decorating Christmas cookies

Playing in the snow. It started as a snowman, and ended as a snow castle complete with door and slide!

Lydia is 3!

LYDIA IS 3!!!

-Nicknames: Peanut, Blondie, Lyddie, Lyd
-Height/weight: 36", a little over 29 lbs.
-Clothes: mostly size 3T, but sometimes has a hard time keeping her pants up!

-Favorite foods: spaghetti, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, Pizza Ranch pizza & chicken, cheese, apples/applesauce, yogurt, chicken nugget Happy Meals
-Favorite snacks: pretzels & goldfish
-Favorite songs to sing: any Bible song, ABCs, Away in a Manger, Jesus Loves Me

-Favorite books: any Christmas book we've been opening, Brown Bear, Goodnight Moon, Mouse Paint
-Favorite movies/shows: Frozen, Snow White, Paw Patrol, Curious George, Mickey Mouse
-Favorite things to play: Shopkins, baby dolls, dress up, Little People house, kitchen
-Favorite color: depends on the day!
-Favorite places to go: Daddy's store, grandparents' houses, grocery shopping, library, Kindermusik
-Least favorite things: trying new foods, waking up from nap

-Habits: twirling hair (especially when tired)
-Sayings: "I know," "I getting so big!" "I do it," refers to herself as Lydia Ruth Ten Clay (never just Lydia), "I love you!" "That be so fun!"
-Able to: recognize numbers 1-10, count up to 12 (tries to get to 20 but skips a few yet), count backwards 10-1, recognize all shapes & colors, recognize name & letter L
Other: Potty trained--at nap & night time too; Still naps almost every day--45 minutes to 2 hours;

Christmas 2016

This year's Christmas season was kind of a whirlwind trying to fit in family parties before a baby or with a newborn! We didn't all make it to the various extended family get togethers we had, but that's just the way it was this year! Here a few pictures we managed to get!

Moss Christmas! Lydia's favorite gift here was her Shopkins grocery store!

Christmas at home: Lydia's favorite gift was her big girl princess bike! We can't wait for warmer weather to put some miles on it.

Ten Clay Christmas: Lydia's favorite gift was the princess dress/aprons that Grandma sewed for her!

Claire Elyn -- 12.22.16

Claire Elyn Ten Clay joined us on Thursday, December 22, 2016, at 3:14 pm.

She was 8 pounds, 8 ounces, and 21 inches long!

I went to my 40 week appointment on December 21, and Dr. Greene gave me the option of choosing if and when I would want to be induced. We decided to go for the next day in hopes that we would be home for Christmas. We were so happy to be able to deliver Claire in Rock Valley instead of in Sioux Falls like we had to with Lydia.

On Thursday morning, we dropped Lydia off at Grandpa & Grandma Moss', Mommy shed some tears over Lydia not being the "baby" anymore, and off we went to the hospital in Rock Valley. I was hooked up and had Pitocin started. Around noon, Dr. Greene came and broke my water, and I had an epidural around 1:30. Right before 3:00, the nurses made a quick call to the clinic to tell Dr. Greene to hurry over. After about 10 minutes of pushing, our baby girl was here!