Claire's Home Photo Shoot

I'd love to do one of Lara, but she won't sit still for pictures anymore. Not even with, "Sit still and I will give you candy! A special treat! Chocolate!"

I didn't have enough light to do any in color.

Okay, so what's been going on here?

Things here are excellent with the girls. Claire (6 weeks) continues to do great, and she is starting to sleep through the night (for a baby, that is, 5-6 hours straight). She sleeps and eats great and understands when it's her bedtime. 10pm on the dot, we swaddle her, whisper goodnight, and within 5 seconds (oh, no, I am not exaggerating), she is sound asleep. I put her right down in the bassinet, and she doesn't stir for another 5 hours (except for last night, when she loaded her diaper). Claire is 12lbs, 1oz, 23 inches long. This is 90th percentile. I just emptied a bag of 3-6mo clothing that she can surely fit into now. Wasn't expecting to do that for another couple of months.

Lara is doing wonderful. She is staying healthy and energetic. She is the absolute best big sister ever. She adores Claire. She helps me with Claire, reads to Claire, and just always wants to sit by her. Lara is never demanding. She understands when I need to spend time taking care of her little sister (nursing, pacing through witching hour, etc.), and she simply entertains herself and behaves very well. I could NOT have asked for her to be any better adjusted.

"Put Claire here, Mommy!" "Next to Lara!"

We're not sure why, but the last couple of nights Lara has been found sleeping next to her door when we go in to check on her. It's mostly strange because she doesn't come out or call for help. I don't know why she does this, and she is too young still to articulate what's going on in her head. Here's a picture Dustin took the first night. He could barely open the door because Lara was just on the other side, completely passed out.

We get a lot of enjoyment out of the little things.

We've started doing "school" with Lara. Lara loves it. She gets out her workbooks and says, "I wanna do school, mommy!" So we sit and do math (basic counting) and work on writing letters. We will also read a book we got at the library-one of our educational books about how clouds are formed, how catepillars transform, etc.

We have our VBS in a month, which means a little time off for me! I wasn't planning on signing Lara up because that would mean a lot of driving. But it turns out that Dustin has some responsibilities so he will be there every night. SO, Lara will be gone every night, and it'll just be me and Claire at home. Funny how "time off" now still includes a child.

Ahh, children are calling.

By the way, I definitely recommend that you pick up a copy of Papa Prayer and read it. It is a great book that will totally redesign the way you pray. It will take your prayer life to a completely different level.