What Claire Has Been Up To

Claire is madly in love with her "baby brudder", she asks to hold him about a hundred times a day, covers him with kisses and rubs his head. She has had a few projects to help with like rebuilding our fence that blew down the night before Jacob was born. She loved using her little shovel and the tape measure. She has had a few play dates with her playgroup and her cousins. It has been so great to have her Mimi close by to give her a play break and me a break from a very active toddler.

Many people have asked how Claire is adjusting and I would have to say that she is adjusting like a typical toddler. She has been beyond great with Jacob and has only had some minor issues with Allan and I (which makes sense, we are the ones who brought this other person into the house and rocked her world). I would say overall this has been a much better transition that I could have hoped for.

Claire continues to make us laugh most of everyday. Some of her newest funny things that she sings and says:

- If you like to talk to tomatoes up and down the quarter will smile (The Veggie Tales Song)

- Jacob is a-dor-a-ble. He is a wild woman!

- She has started calling Jacob and her cousin Asher Little Buddy

There are MANY more funny Claire Bear stories, but this tired mommy brain of mine cannot think of them at the moment.

All in all life is great with my princess and my prince. I am so blessed to have two amazing babies that make me really happy (and exhausted).

Welcome Home- I am Learning

We have been home for just over a week, these are the pictures from our arrival. As always our families celebrated the newest family addition in style. There were balloons and signs everywhere, beautiful flowers, a yummy cake, and of course a lot of love and cuddles.
I was so nervous about bringing home a second kiddo. I didn't always feel too in control when it was just me and Claire hanging out and now I have a whole other person to keep alive and well...how would I accomplish that goal?!?!? We are twelve days in to having our sweet baby boy in our family and I think that we are surviving. We have had a lot of help so far. Allan's mom stayed for the first week and my mom is here this week both of these women have done a fantastic job keeping the house straight and the laundry finished. I have been the primary caretaker of Claire and Jacob and I feel like I will survive (or should I say they will survive). I am learning to nurse a baby with arm and cuddle a toddler with the other. I am learning to function on little to no sleep and do so with a happy heart, patience is something I have started praying for multiple times a day. I am learning to pick the battles that come with an almost three year old, sometimes a girl just needs to have M&Ms even though she has had no fruit or veggies in about three meals and for that matter every meal has been cereal. I am learning to lay my baby boy down for naps and to nap while he does even if it is just for fifteen minutes. I am learning flexibility.

I will soon be completely on my own and although I am still not sure how I will keep my house clean and raise two children that are both VERY needy I know that I will put my children first and that we will thrive as a family. The balancing of housework will come later I am sure. I am thankful for a gracious, patient, and helpful husband.

This is a little rambly I think, but so is my life at the moment. Although it is a good life and I am thankful to God for placing me in this very moment! I am madly in love with both Claire and Jacob and as always my sweet husband.

Well Loved

One thing about it...Jacob Allan is well loved. It has been so fun to share him with family and friends over the last week. Thank you all for loving my little man and celebrating his arrival with us. We are so blessed by all of you and the place you hold in our hearts and lives.

Jacob's Birth Day

We became a family of four on June 11th. It was a great day! The labor was a breeze, thanks to my epidural, and the delivery wasn't too bad either, even though the epidural had been turned way down. All of our prayers were answered and God kept both Jacob and I very safe. It is so nice to have memories of this experience. I don't want to forget them, so I thought that I would document the day here.

When Allan and I were getting ready to head to the hospital Claire decided that she wanted to join us on the trip to the hospital so all three of us loaded up and braved the storm for the induction. I got to the hospital around 7:30am and put on my beautiful gown. Claire and Allan entertained me for a bit while we waited for the action to start and for our Claire help to arrive. At 8:30 they started the pitocin and Dr. F broke my water (I was at a 3) and at 9:00 I received my epidural. The next few hours I had family in and out, updated Facebook, chomped on Sonic Ice, and generally enjoyed myself anxiously anticipating what was inevitably about to happen. They had me laying on my side to try and get Jacob to flip over because he was face up and he obliged just in time. The nurse checked me a little before noon and said I was at a 7 and while she was typing her info into the computer she said I better check you again something just happened in there. Within a few minutes I had progressed to a 9 and I was starting to feel a little bit of pain. By 12:30 it was go time. I ended up pushing for an hour and twenty minutes and was not sure I was going to make it, but Allan encouraged me that I was totally capable of getting this guy out and he was right. At 1:51pm Jacob Allan made his way into the world. I was so thankful to hold him in my arms. He was PERFECT and a chunky little guy!! You saw his stats a few posts ago.

Our first moments with our little buddy, I fell in love immediately.

We are already so proud of our son, he is a perfect fit for our family. We are so blessed!

Definitely Related

I was in shock at how much my kiddos look a like when I put their photos side by side. I think their eye shape and upper lips are a little different, but that is about it. I love that me and my siblings look a like and I am glad that my kiddos are following that pattern (not that it really matters, it is just fun). Anyway, thought I would share.

What Is Your Vote?

Here is the first of a few comparisons I will be doing. The picture on the right was on the day I had Claire and the picture on the left is from Jacob's birthday. I think that it is pretty obvious, but what do you think, was I bigger with C or J?

No wonder I was WAY more uncomfortable the second go around.

The Night Before

(recreation of our family in the closet, there were four other people in there during the tornado)

Where we spent the rest of our night once the electricity was off...it was HOT!! This picture cracks me up, we look so WT.

I am back....kind of. I can't promise how many posts I will get done. I have a few that I want to do, but time and energy are not on my side these days.

First of all I have to say a huge thank you to my sister for getting the first pictures of Jacob out so that you all could see our beautiful boy. We are in love (more on him to come later).

The night before the induction we had big plans. We let Claire take a later nap so that she would have the energy and the good attitude needed to get through a nice cookout at the house, a family walk to the park, and a little craft time to make some welcome signs for her baby brother. I personally still needed to pack for the hospital and get a good night of sleep. We sat down for dinner at about 6:30 when all heck broke loose. The sky turned black, the wind picked up, and tornado sirens went off. We turned on the news to see if was a false alarm and they were saying that a tornado was fixing to hit our town. At that moment the electricity went off and we made mad dash for the closet under the stairs. The vacuum cleaner and suitcases were tossed and we crammed Allan, Claire, both of my in laws, my sister and her daughter, and my very pregnant self into a not so big closet for about fifteen or so minutes. While we were in there we heard a noise that sounded like a nonhuman scream outside and we began praying. That is right folks a true blue tornado bounced off of our neighbors roof, over our house, and came down again just behind our fence. Our home was spared, we just lost a fence and our electricity for many hours.

We had no electricity the rest of our time at home. That means that we were in a dark home with no electricity..remember all those great plans we had for our last night as a family of three? They were shot. I had to pack by candlelight. Everyone ended up in our bedroom because it was the coolest room in the house (the AC was out) and Claire was full of energy so she watched a DVD on the portable player and jumped on our bed for hours. She slept with Allan and I through the rest of the storms and I took my final Ambien to try and sleep through the heat and visitor in our bed. It made for quite the adventure and a fun memory.

**The next few posts will be about the big day and the immediate days that followed.

Baby Jacob Is Here

Jacob Allan

June 11, 2009

8 lbs. 15 oz.

20 inches long

Miraculously Perfect!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Jacob with his Mommy & Daddy ~

~ Big Sister Claire seeing Jacob for the first time ~

~ meeting the new baby ~

~ family of 4 ~

~ Baby Jacob ~

~ father and son ~

--- Day 2 ---

~ sweet baby ~

~ Claire's first time to actually hold her baby brother ~

~ Claire & Jacob ~

~ Jacob in clothes for the first time ~

~ mommy & baby ~

Hi there!  I am Amy, Emily's sister, and I broke into her blog to add some pictures that I took of Sweet Baby Jacob.  Emily has been a little busy the last few days.  :)  I don't know when she is going to be able to update her blog again, but if you want to keep up with Jacob and the K family through the updates that I add to my blog feel free to come over and check it out anytime.  amy-momof3.blogspot.com

Last Weekend (as a family of three)

This was our last weekend as a family of three and we made the most of it. Let me just say that I always hoped that my little family would cherish life's little and big moments. That dream came true when I married Allan and has just gotten better especially as Claire has started the growing up process. I LOVE my life and my family and I am so thankful for every moment I have been given with them. Alright, enough of the mushy stuff for now...onto a snippit of what we did this weekend.

Yesterday morning we decided to head over to a nearby town to go to the 1st annual Chalk Festival. We had a good time even though it was not exactly what we expected. Claire made her very own chalk, got to pet a horse, and have a flower painted on her hand. There were not amazing artists like we thought there would be, but it was still fun.

Claire and Allan getting to know a nice horse named Billy

Getting a pink flower painted on her hand

This morning we headed to the zoo for a final time. We only stayed for about an hour because of my ginormous feet, but still had a great time. The only thing that was super important to Claire was feeding the birds.

Claire picked out her outfit. She insisted on wearing these boots. I have to say I think she looked adorable.

The flamingos put on quite a show. They strutted around and yelled back and forth at each other. I have never seen them so active.

Claire had a good time playing in the bamboo. She was determined to break this branch, but thankfully didn't have too much luck.

38.5 weeks pregnant and at the zoo...not too smart, but really sweet memories were made. That is what really matters right?

One of the many breaks we took. This was Claire's first experience with Dippin' Dots and she gave it two very bouncy thumbs up.

The highlight of her trip, feeding the birds.

When we left the birds Claire pulled out the map and guided us to the elephants.

After lunch at Pizzeria Uno's, a quick nap, and a little bday shopping for the MIL, I put my feet up and Allan and Claire washed the cars and played outside.

Claire had a great time spraying herself, her daddy, her toys, the plants, and of course the car.

My sexy husband did a little touch up rinse to get the spots Claire missed.

This was a great weekend with my husband and daughter. It is crazy that at this exact time next week we will be a family of four hanging out at our house. WOWZERS is all I can say about that amazing little fact!!

A Sweet Moment

Last night we had a family moment that I wish we could have captured on video or at least in a picture.

I have a mini-pano application on my phone that Claire likes to play with. She turned on the piano, pointed to Allan and I saying "hey guys, you want to dance while I play piano?" How could we not take her up on her offer. She played while Allan and I twirled around the living room and ended with a kiss. She loved it and then asked Allan to be her prince and dance with her. She tried to mimic everything we had done even ending the dance with a kiss while I played the piano.

It was such a sweet moment, that I didn't want to forget. I LOVE this stage of her life, and ours.

Happy (late) Birthday

My Mother-in-Law, Gig, had a birthday this week. Unfortunately we missed our opportunity to make her feel special and loved on her actual birthday and both Allan and I REALLY regretted the oversight!! I decided that a birthday post is better late than never right?!?

There are many reasons to love this lady. One of the first things I could tell about Gig when I met her seven years ago is that she loves her family and is one of the most dedicated mothers I have ever known. She truly takes interest in every details of her children's lives. She is someone that I truly admire and strive to be like when it comes to being a mommy myself. Another things I love about Gig is that she is one of the most generous people I have met, not just with material things, but with her attention, time and heart. She can make anyone feel welcome and at ease in an instant. I truly admire that quality, it is something I have to work on. The title that she is probably most proud of and is phenomenal at is being a Mimi to her grandchildren. Seriously, Claire and Jacob are more blessed than they will ever know to have a Godly woman who loves them so unconditionally and truly would do anything for them. I am floored by the love she showers on them (and Jacob is not even here yet).

Gig, anyone who knows you would say that it is a true honor. You are an amazing woman, a true role model for me and your other family members. I hope this a great year for you and I am thrilled to be giving you not just another grandchild, but a grandson. We look forward to making many many more memories over the next many years. Happy birthday Gig, sorry it is a few days late.

One Week

One week from today I will be holding this little guy in my arms. I cannot believe that my Jacob will be here so soon. It will be so great to meet the person that has been growing inside me for the last many months and see how he fits into our family. It is going to be an adjustment no doubt, but it is an adventure I am excited to go on.

Final Gym Class

I think she looks so old in this picture. I love that she is full of pure joy (most of the time). She is seriously one of my favorite people in the World!!!

Hanging like a monkey is one of her favorite things to do, especially with the "ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh" sound effects. She thinks that is hilarious.

Finally mastered airplane arms on the balance beam. Such concentration on the pretty face.

Any kind of donut is friend of Claire- whether it is pink with sprinkles at the donut shop or made of foam and easy to jump into at gym class

She was so proud of the award she received at the end of class- a super star ribbon and a class picture.

This was such a great semester of her mommy and me gym class. I think that I looked forward to it as much as she did every week. It was forty five minutes of one on one super fun interaction. I was amazed at the progress she made over the last six months. She was great at following directions and interacting with the other kiddos in her class. She became so much more independent during the warm up time which was mainly really great to watch, yesterday she did the entire warm up all by herself. If we go back next semester she will be in class all by herself. I can't believe how fast time is flying, she is growing up so fast.

I love you Claire Bear and these memories are ones I will carry with me forever. I LOVE spending time with you, you are very special. I am so proud of you.

Last Appointment

I went to see my OB this morning and although I have not progressed any more he says that he does not need to see me again until the induction on the 11th. He feels sure that my body is ready for action. My heart started racing as we talked about the logistics of D-Day- what time to be at the hospital, what time he plans to break my water, what time of day he thinks I will deliver. It is all so real, but still seems like a dream at the same time. As he finished up our appointment he told me to book my next POSTPARTUM appointment for four weeks down the road. I can't believe I have gotten to this point, he is really coming...WOW!!!

I was just telling Allan last night that I have never felt so torn emotionally as I do at this moment in my life. I am really done with the uncomfortable part of being pregnant and I am looking forward to seeing my baby boy, but at the same time there is a fear of the unknown (and the known), the reality of getting this baby out and then being responsible for raising TWO kiddos at the same time. I am often sad about losing my one on one time with Claire, but so looking forward to the pure joy that having a sibling for her will bring. She is going to be a great big sister and will probably adjust faster than me to this whole two kids in the house thing. I know that as soon as I see my little man for the first time I will be in love and very soon after I will not even remember what life was like before we had a daughter and a son.

The feelings that I am having are not always understood my my practical very male husband and that is ok. I have decided that is why God placed fantastic women in my life that can encourage me that everything I am feeling is totally normal and that I will survive.

I am so blessed to have had a relatively healthy pregnancy and evidently a very healthy baby growing inside me. I do not take that gift lightly, ultimately I am beyond thankful for Jacob and Claire and I am looking forward to what my future looks like as a mommy to more than one kiddo.

**there will probably be one or more posts like this to come over the next week as the reality sinks in more and more everyday. it is just the way i process.