Blessings

I have so much to be thankful for! Two beautiful daughters, a husband that loves us, the best family ever, and many really special friends... I am richly blessed!

This weekend was a great reminder of the many blessings in my life. Claire and I made a birthday cake for Daddy on Friday and we spent that evening hanging out with our great friends, Mark and Christine and their two girls... eating pizza, drinking good wine, watching two giggly 2 year olds play, and feeding babies. Our idea of a great Friday night!

On Saturday, we celebrated Tommy's birthday with a "grown up" night out with good friends and more great wine (a real treat!). When our babysitter fell through at the last minute, my parents graciously offered to have both of the girls spend the night at their house. Not only did Claire love this option, but it made our night even more enjoyable knowing that the girls were sleeping safely and hopefully soundly with their Granna and Grandad. It was such a sweet (and brave) gesture and we appreciated it so much! Thanks again, Mom and Dad!

We ended the weekend with an impromtu visit from Aunt Lindsey and Uncle Greg on Sunday evening. They had dinner with us, Aunt Lindsey helped bathe the girls, and Claire & Uncle Greg watched a movie together. I was really glad that they stopped by!

A few pics from our great weekend...

Claire & Kate


Daddy and his girls!

The four of us

Aunt Lindsey & Uncle Greg

Best sister ever!

Super Sleeper!

I have to share my excitement... Kate slept until 6 a.m. this morning!! You don't realize how good almost 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep can feel! For weeks now, she's been going down around 10 p.m. and waking up around 3 a.m. to eat, but last night she just slept on through. Friday night she actually made it until 5 a.m., so hopefully this pattern continues. Not bad for 6 weeks old! Claire has always been my early bird (no more than 10 hours for her), so hopefully Kate will be my super sleeper!

Can't post without at least one picture, so here's one of my sleeper catching a little cat nap!

My Sweet Girls

I've been looking for the right forum to post a few pictures and provide updates on the girls, so I'm trying out the blog thing. I'm definitely a newbie though, so I'll work out the kinks along the way. With that said, here's an update on my "Sweet Girls!"

It's so hard to believe that it's been almost 7 weeks since Kate joined us! In some ways, it seems like we just went to the hospital yesterday... in other ways, it seems like she's been part of the family forever. Either way, our little family is now complete and I couldn't be more proud of my girls!

Claire is a super big sister and obviously loves her "Baby Kate." She can't leave the house or go to bed without Kate getting a big kiss and a hug (which is a bit difficult with a 6 week old!). All in all, Claire is adjusting very well. I have to be honest and admit that we had a couple weeks with daily time-outs and our share of meltdowns, but things seems to be getting back to normal and I have to remind myself that her world has been turned a bit upside down and it's a big adjustment for her as well. She is such a big girl (as she makes sure to tell us every day) and has become my great little helper!

Kate is a sweet baby and pretty much a carbon copy of her big sister... at least physically! Personality is yet to be determined, but hard to imagine her being as high-energy as her sister. Not sure mom has the stamina to handle two just like Claire! Kate's growing like a weed and has gained over 3 lbs. in 6 weeks (she was 9 lbs. 10 oz. at the doctor last week). Our only issue to date is a bit of baby acid reflux, but hopefully it's nothing that Enfamil AR, a little prune juice, and some Zantac can't fix. Can you believe that babies take Zantac these days? She's a beautiful baby girl (and I'm not the least bit partial!) and we're just so thrilled that she is finally here... happy and healthy!

Here are a few recent pictures of the girls...