Poor 'baby' is sick

Well, Laura turns 2 weeks old on Sunday. It hard to believe. Auntie Kim came to visit this past week for 4 days and was a tremendous help, as I have a cold. To remedy the imbalance of photos of Laura v. Claire, we had a friend (Michelle) and professional photographer come over today to photograph Laura. She spent 3.5 hours shooting photos which was amazing. We'll get to see the photos in about 2 weeks. (The picture on the right is of Claire giving Baby Laura a kiss on the head - one of Claire's favorite things to do).

So, as I noted above, I have a cold. This year is the first year I started using that purell stuff, on a regular basis, to clean my hands often. And as luck would have it, this is the first year in 3 years, that I have been sick. The hardest part about being sick is not how crappy you feel, but how little sympathy you now get from your spouse (the mother of a newborn and a 2 year old :) ). Ok, the hardest part is not being able to hold and play with your kids.

There are new photos posted here.

Lastly, if you have a moment, please think about and pray for the people of Chile. I have emailed many friends there (some who live near the epicenter) and have not heard from anyone yet.

It's music to our ears...

It's been awhile and I forgot how soothing the sound of a newborn crying is. Especially when you are trying to sleep. Yes, this morning I went to the hospital to pick up Lynn and Laura and bring them home. When I brought Claire home from the hospital for the first time, I drove 60 mph. This time was a little different - not that I sped, but I didn't have the nervousness as I did the first time. Anyway, here are some new pictures.

and the name is....

Laura Katherine Patterson.

Laura is on the bili-lights to treat high bilirubin levels. We hope to go home tomorrow. Will post more pictures/videos later.

I forgot...

...how great it feels to be sleep deprieved. Here are some photos!

And in this corner in the white trunks...

weighing in at 6 lbs, 12oz. Baby "no name as of yet" Patterson. Claire has a little baby sister and I have another Valentine!!! She is so beautiful and long (19 inches). Mom and baby are doing well. I will post photos in a little bit. So congrats to the 20 of you who voted for "girl".

37 weeks and SNOW!

hi all. lynn here. just an update on our little family. we made it to 37 weeks yesterday and are still hoping to hold off on the little little one's arrival until the first week of march. not that we really have any say in the matter. isn't that just like kids - you think you are in control, but really you aren't. :)

we had a couple of inches of snow yesterday. it was really beautiful. we tried to get claire out in it, but she wouldn't have anything to do with it. kind of like how she is with sand. oh well, hopefully she will grow out of this stage soon. we want to have fun this summer at the beach! i will post the pics we took last night and this morning of her out in the snow in a bit.

claire continues to delight us. she loves to laugh and sing and play and color/paint. she has a few songs in her repertoire now - frere jacques, twinkle twinkle, the alphabet song (as sung by the pig on super why). she loves to play with the electronic keyboard that used to belong to my grandmother. i think her favorite part is to keep pushing the "demo" key and dance around. over and over again!

well, that is all for now. take care and happy valentine's day. reach out and give someone a hug today/tomorrow/every day.

xoxo,

lynn, mark and claire

Dancing Queen

As promised, here is a video from last weekend when we were over at our next door neighbors. The girls were playing Just Dance on the Wii and someone couldn't resist joining the fun. (note: we are having trouble with the viewing the video, but it does seem to work sometimes. just refresh and try again. also, that is baby sam and not baby patterson in the video!).

Uncharted Territory...

Lynn is at 35 weeks, 5 days!!! Claire was born at 35 weeks, 1 day. She has never been this pregnant before. She now has weekly doctor appointments. The doctor is certain we won't make it to March 5 - the due date. Lynn has been confined to chair rest and has to keep standing and walking to a minimum. I still think Claire has no idea what's coming. She knows what a baby is and she does like baby Sam. We can't even spell S-A-M without Claire saying "Sam!" But when Claire realizes that this baby is not leaving at the end of the evening and will be there first thing in the morning, I wonder how she will react. I have no doubt this baby will have the best big sister in the world.

Today we entered uncharted territory for another reason. Claire threw up for the first time! Fortunately it was over all Lynn and not me. I could tell she wasn't herself this morning (very quiet and a little warm), but I had to go to work, leaving her in the capable hands of Mom. Good move on my part. She went to sleep tonight with no fussing. i hope she sleeps for her regular 12 hours.

The next posting will have some funny videos of Claire and will be worth the wait.