Walk

Since Claire was born when it was getting cold and soon snowy, I felt like I missed out on lots of walks and time outside with her as a really little baby. (more for me than her, of course) We haven't been getting outside quite as much as I anticipated this time either. I think that is due to Lise not liking the sling as much as Claire did, and because Lise was too little for the jogging stroller until a week or so ago. (They recommend babies be a month old before strolling... older for actual running.)

Our time outside might be increasing now, though. Friday was Lise's first walk in the stroller. She slept through every second of it, so I'll just say she enjoyed it. Claire rode her bike. Will and I didn't get to relax and enjoy the scenery because we were focused on not running into the bike or Claire when she would frequently stop short and turn to see "Baby Lise-y!!!!" and also try to push the stroller while riding her bike. Hopefully she'll get bored of her new sister soon.

The girls posing before Lise's first walk in the stroller.

Lise or Claire - Part II

Baby #1

Baby #2

Okay, here's another one. How well do you know Lise and Claire?

Open invitation

Lise's baptism is going to be June 28 (after 10:30am mass, so ~11:45-noon). Anyone who reads this blog is invited.

(Since I'm pretty sure it's just friends and family who read this - unlike other blogs I read like this one that I just got hooked on a few weeks ago, we don't tend to get hundreds or thousands of comments on our posts. [side note: I love the step-by-step photo-illustrated recipes, and the story of how she met her husband is really sweet too!] If there are people out there reading this that aren't friends or family, well, I guess you can come too, if you want!)

We'll have a lunch afterward at our place, so if you are going to come, please email me (or leave a comment if you don't have my email address) so we can plan for lunch and get you directions to the church and our place. No gifts or cards please, we'd just like you to be there helping us welcome Lise into our family!

(Note: we won't be hurt if you can't attend - in fact, if we rarely get to see you, it might be more fun for you to come visit another weekend so we can spend more time with just you! Everyone is certainly welcome the 28th or any time!)

Kate, Will, Claire, and Lise

Mad city visit

Last weekend we had a great time visiting Josie and Andy in Madison. Will ran the 1/2 marathon (25th of 3000+ runners, despite an injury keeping him from really training in the last ~6 weeks), Claire ran a lot in Andy and Josie's yard, Lise enjoyed being held (not that we don't hold her normally), we had Thai food that we can't get here (Mmm!!), and all of us had fun visiting (and/or playing) with "JoDrew." See pictures below.

"Write note!"

Claire's new favorite pastime (yes, maybe even more so than running the past few days) is to "write note!" aka- typing in a Word document. She likes purple or red letters and at least size 14 font. She actually holds her hands in approximately the correct position and uses all her fingers to type. She has mastered the use of the backspace/delete keys, use of return/enter is okay, but using the spacebar could be more frequent. She is experienced with both a PC notebook or a Macbook, and despite the pictures, does prefer a PC. So far her favorite word to type is "POP", her second favorite is something like: ii777777cnnnnnnmmmmmmwelkwww888888.


And a cute picture of the sisters...

The "B" word

This is a really great picture for reasons that aren't very obvious on a blog. Lise is not screaming. She is not crying. She is not complaining. She is drinking mama's milk from a bottle and everything is fine!

Some of you may remember the month-long, painful process of trying to get Claire to drink mama's milk from a bottle in preparation for me going back to grad school. Every day we'd give her a bottle and every day she would scream like we were trying to kill her. (She always has been a stubborn one, I guess - we should have expected her potty training issues.) Claire finally decided bottles were tolerable only a couple days before I had to go back to work.

Lise has had a bottle almost every day for the past week and while she made a little face the first couple of times (she does love me best!) she drinks fine and hasn't screamed once. Even though I don't have to go back to work full-time quite as soon with Lise as I did with Claire, I am still very relieved. Will also is glad that now if I take a quick trip over to my office to pick something up and get caught talking with first my boss and then a student in my class that he'll be able to feed her if needed and not be helpless with a crying baby.

Here are a couple other pictures from today:

New things

When you have a baby just about everything they do is new. So what's new AND noteworthy in the C-H household? Well, since you asked...

Lise took her first ever tub bath a couple days ago. She didn't cry at all and her big sis loved watching... (pictures may follow for round 2 of "Claire or Lise?")



Claire had her first ice cream cone and managed to stay relatively clean, cleaner than Toad did in one of her favorite Frog and Toad books.



Claire may be leaving her "wep bear pow-wow" behind as she has successfully used "mama and dada pow-wow" all by herself several times in the last few days. Now if she didn't need diapers while she slept...

Claire has picked up on the fact that we sometimes call Lise "Sweet Pea." In Claire-ese that comes out as "Pea Pea."

Claire is a non-stop chatterbox these days. There are some sounds that just don't come out as they should. For instance she likes to jump. When she says "jump" it comes out as "mip" for whatever reason. She can say a "j" sound just fine so if Kate or I emphasize the sound by saying "ju-ju-ju-ju-jump" Claire will repeat back "ju-ju-ju-ju-mip." When she says "Claire" it comes out as "Pair" still. Again, if we say "ck-ck-ck-ck-Claire" she will happily repeat "ck-ck-ck-ck-Pair." We can translate pretty well but I've definitely seen some puzzled faces on others as they listen to her.

We have to be especially careful what we say now because Claire repeats so much. Just the other day I said something about her Uncle Greg getting old (he's graduating from college this week) and she said "G get ooolllldddd now." Sorry, bro.

Between Claire and Lise's recent sleep schedules the maximum amount of sleep we could get at night is 6 hours. Subtract from that time spent awake feeding and changing Lise at night and we're definitely running on empty somedays. Naps are wonderful, wonderful things!

That's it for now... it's "Feep Time*" as Claire would say.

(* "Sleep Time" for those struggling to translate.)

Answer

ok, I don't want to be responsible for any arguments on mother's day...

Lise - first picture, in blue
Claire - second picture, in pink

Thanks for playing, expect another edition of "Who's this?" soon (and maybe for years - depending on how much they still will resemble each other as they grow...)

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there!

Little things: Close up

Here are a few up close and personal shots of Lise.

One week down...

Is this Lise? Or Claire?

How 'bout this one? Lise or Claire?

Lise is one week old today. I think I can speak for all of us in saying that it has been one very enjoyable week. Claire has enjoyed having a little sister and having both her parents home. Lise is a pretty contented and easy-going girl, at least so far. If she would sleep a little more at night and a little less during the day she'd be even better. Kate has enjoyed being home and taking naps and I have enjoyed taking care of all my girls.