Pictures

Sleep

We knew sleep would become precious....but last night our little one let us sleep from 10:30ish to 4am. This is the longest we have gone at night without her needing to be fed or cuddled. Hopefully this will become the nightly norm.

Papparazzi

We wanted to put up a more recent photo of Claire, but we didn't really have any, so we tried to take some. I have to say that she just isn't very photogenic right now. She has some really neat expressions, but they are so far elusive from the camera. But, we'll keep trying. Dad's warm belly is an amazing cause for a nap. Her neck is incredibly strong, and she holds her head up to look around quite a bit. Her stamina is growing.

Baby Pictures

As any of you with children know, there are many important things to do in your first child's first week after birth. We figured that it was important to take pictures, but we have been a little slow at sharing. Here are some from the hospital:

Claire, soon after she was born

Claire with her cousin Brooke and Aunt Kristy (Dad's sister)

Claire with her cousin Lily and Uncle Anthony (Mom's brother)

Claire with her Aunt Laura (Dad's other sister)

Claire in one of her favorite spots to be

And finally a better closeup.

She's here!!!!!!!!!!

Claire Ana Hand was born
Sunday, September 5, 2010 at 12:29 AM
7 lb, 13.5 oz
21" long
with a full head of dark hair at least 1" long.

Pictures coming soon....

Outside Views

Finally, some photos of the mostly finished house. We still need to extend a few retaining walls and put in some flower gardens, but hey, how much fun is a completed project anyway? These photos are: view from our driveway at the road, walking towards the main door we use, and the back side.

We hope to have photos to share of a very important person soon, but she hasn't arrived yet to be photographed.

35 weeks....and counting

This morning we had a doctor's appointment. As usual the baby's heartbeat was all over the place. It seems like every time they check for her heartbeat she starts to kick and move around much more than normal. For the first time today my blood pressure was up. I think it was because they actually called be back at my scheduled time and it was the one time Jon was late! They checked again before I left the office and it was back to normal. We will now be starting weekly appointments.

Before I left Ames I stopped by school to see if my student tables and chairs have arrived. They haven't...maybe the janitor is right and the kids will be doing their work picnic style for the first few days of school (the kids come on the 19th and I start workdays on the 16th). The bright side of stopping in was my laminating was done so I was able to grab it to cut out at home.

After school I headed over to the Teske's. Jon had picked them some sweet corn last night. It's funny to see three kids get so excited about corn! When I was there the baby started kicking so I had Gabriella come and feel it. It was fun to see her 2 year old amazement at what she was experiencing, I think that is when she really understood that there was a baby in there. While I was there Lisa also gave me two tubs of clothes for Baby Girl Hand to be and a tub of toys. We also talked about getting the crib and car seat (a job for our husbands). It is wonderful to have such amazing friends!