Claire's Newborns

I had good intentions of attempting to take Claire's newborn photos by myself. Greg must have had his doubts, because he convinced me to schedule a session at Fotofly.

So I did.

The results are amazing and I want to spend all day staring at the pictures we got. I love them all!!

Sofi is one proud older sister.

Sofi found this little blue chair and carried it around with her everywhere we went until she could get her picture taken on it. So cute!! She is quite the little ham.

And, just because I can, it's fun to contrast Sofi and Claire. Both of their newborns were taken when they were 10 days old. Here are the results.

First Week Home

Claire LaRee Spjute

We were able to leave the hospital Wednesday, September 27, 2017 and head home with baby Claire. It was fun to dress her for the first time and see how tiny she was in the carseat; it's crazy how tiny newborns are.

When we left the hospital, we realized it was a beautiful day! It was fun to contrast my experience from Sofi with Claire. Sofi was born during a spring snowstorm that lasted for a few days. Claire, on the other hand, was born during a beautiful fall week. The two days couldn't have been any more different. As we were pulling up to our house, we saw my Mom out walking with Sof. She was in the cutest outfit!

Once we were home, Sof wanted either Greg or I to do stuff for her - not more poor Mom. To avoid the whining (which seemed to be constant) my Mom would snuggle Claire instead. There are worse things I guess :).

Yes, my 2 year old still fits into the baby swing, within the weight requirements even.

Greg's talented Aunt Barbara makes these quilts for her nieces and nephews. This one she made Claire is beyond beautiful!

Sof and I have dubbed these two the "darkies."

After work one day, Greg took Sof on a bike ride to this park. They were gone for awhile, but based on these pictures, Sofi had a ball! The poor girl spent a lot of time bored inside while I was trying to adjust to having a newborn again.

Bonding

We ventured out one morning and strapped Claire onto my mom so I could push Sof in the stroller. We didn't go very far (thanks to my swollen body), but it felt so good to be outside!

Protesting her bath

This is what happens when Daddy is left alone with Sofi :).

My little sister Shelby really wanted to see Baby Claire, so she hitched a ride up north with some girls. She was a big help entertaining Sofi. Shelby is really into gel nails right now, so we all had our feet pampered (except Greg).

Sofi has never been a fan of bread - until my Mom miraculously got her to eat a whole slice of toast one morning. She's never looked back since.

Shelby and Claire.

Lucky for us, Claire's first weekend home also happened to be General Conference, so we got to enjoy 'church' in the comforts of our basement.

It doesn't get much better than this :).

Sof has an annoying little van that plays music. This is her final pose after hopping around dancing to the songs. She would say, "and stretch!"

Her face right here says it all! :)

My mom and Shelby left between the Sunday morning and afternoon sessions. It's always hard to see family go, even though we know we'll see them again. My mom was such a big help that week that it makes me wonder what my life would be like if we lived closer. I forget how productive that lady is. She had our whole house officially unpacked and organized by the time I got home from the hospital. She gets more done in a single morning than I do in a week. When I grow up, I hope to be more like her.

Final photo before everyone leaving.

We found out a few days before Claire was born that Greg's firm offers 2 weeks of paid Paternity leave. It pretty much isn't an option - husbands must take the 2 weeks, so it was a nice thought to know I have help for that much longer after my mom left. Greg wasn't thrilled and called it his "two weeks of hell," and I'm sure for the most part he has been bored, but boy has he been helpful!

Other Visitors

It was fun to have my sister, brother-in-law, niece and Mom all come visit me in the hospital, along with mother/father-in-law. I may have been exhausted, but it is always fun to have visitors.

Tiff, Baya & Baby.

My cute mom had cleared her schedule that week to come up and help out with Sofi while I was at the hospital. She stopped by the hospital before going to relieve Greg, and it was fun to have her there. Living 4 hours away from family means I don't get to see them much, so having them come visit in the hospital really meant a lot to me.

Grandma, Baya & Baby.

I hadn't seen Baya since the day she got home from the hospital back in July, so it was crazy to see how big she had gotten. She sure is a cutie!

Meeting Baby Sister

Cute Sof. It's amazing how much I missed that little girl. Greg brought her by the hospital Tuesday morning to meet little sister. She was hesitant at first, but I was oh so happy to see her! I never realized how much I worried about her - even though I was the one having a baby. Absence most definitely makes the heart grow fonder. I had missed my little sidekick.

Sof sure loved the hospital bed. She would push the buttons up and down multiple times. Notice that yes, she took her shoes off. She had no problem making herself right at home.

Bath time!

Fogging the glass! :)

Cute Sof picked the purple bow for baby sister. She sure is one proud girl. 

39.1 Weeks

Monday, September 25, 2017

I'm pretty sure I woke up that morning determined to get the baby out. I had slept horribly, and was overall done being pregnant. So, after breakfast, I loaded Sofi up into the stroller, and went on a brisk walk around our neighborhood for about an hour. By the time we got home, things were starting to hurt (in a good way I guess). We played in the backyard and moved inside to do some laundry, just in case. Things continued to cramp and I started doing laps around the basement while Sofi commenced in folding laundry

After confirming with my sister that I was indeed having labor pains, I called Greg and told him to come home. I then called my midwife who told me to start making my way to the hospital. Luckily we already had bags packed for me and Sofi, so we were ready to go once April arrived to take care of Sofi loaf. 

Once in the car, the contractions seemed to stop. Which wasn't a good thing, but we drove all the way to LDS Hospital anyway. We were committed after all. We parked, and made our way to the 4th floor. The nurses this time around were way better than with Sofi. They were waiting for us. Apparently my midwife had called to tell them we were coming. She is truly the best!

Once I was all changed and situated, we found out I was only dilated to a 4. A 4!! I was an 8 with Sofi, so this was like a sucker punch to the face. The nurse told us to go walk around for 40 min to see if there was any progress. Next check determined that I was a 4+ (whatever that means) so they decided to keep us. Hallelujah! Bad things would've happened if they'd sent me home. 

Greg and I spent the next 4 hours walking around, eventually resulting in 14,300+ steps. We were both exhausted by the end of the day. Apparently we don't walk as much as we should. 

My midwife eventually showed up and broke my water around 6:45 pm. Once that happened, my contractions escalated significantly. They went from painful braxton hicks to full out causing me to whoop and holler. The anesthesiologist was summoned, and I've never been happier to have a needle shoved in my spine. Needless to say, through all the awesome things that happen with childbirth, Baby Girl #2 was born at 7:22 pm. 

8 lbs, 0 oz and 19.5 in long of pure perfection!

The cute nurse who had been there with us all day stayed 30 minutes past the end of her shift just to help with the delivery. This means there were 2 nurses in the room and Greg was relieved from having to hold one of my legs. He couldn't have been happier. I sure have a stoic husband.

Lucky for me, I decided to order dinner before delivering the baby, so I was able to eat beforehand. Neither one of us had much to eat for lunch, so we were starving. Greg was happy to finish off my mac & cheese and sweet potatoes. They tasted better than they sound, I promise. Also, what is it about hospital juice tasting so good? I had downed 4 cups of grape juice and 3 of apple. Turns out I was more dehydrated than I thought. That, and those dang 14,300+ steps. They should've broken my water 4 hours earlier. I guess we'll know for next time, oh, and definitely getting the epidural first. 

Baby Girl #2 was born as mellow as can be - a complete 180 from her very vocal older sister. She was content to lay there and only whimpered when they poked her heel. Greg and I kept looking at each other wondering what was possibly wrong with her, but it turns out she just has a completely different temperament, which has proven to be exactly what we need. She has passed all of her tests with flying colors and has proven to be quite the angel baby. We love her so much!

The New House

I turned 38 weeks pregnant our first official day in "the new house." Sofi was thrilled to finally sleep in her new yellow room, and we were thrilled for her to finally sleep there too. We had quite a bit of help from our new neighbors, and it was fun to be welcomed by so many new people. We are excited to live here.

Our first morning eating breakfast. We were freezing but refused to turn on the heat.

Helping Daddy hook up the dryer (it took him forever!)

A trip to Target wouldn't be complete without her Elsa dress - we were shopping for a Belle dress.

Tuesday was our day we decided to officially turn in our apartment keys to the new managers (Wahoo!). Sofi was so upset to be back at the apartments, that she refused to get out of the car and instead sat in her carseat for 32 minutes while Greg and I did the walk thru. She is as thrilled as we are to be out of that place. In her mind, "Home" means the apartments, so we always have to say "the new house" when we are talking about, well, our new house. She's hilarious!

Playing on her awesome new swingset! While Greg weeds.

"I love adventure in the great wild somewhere!"
We love to go walking by the giant houses behind our neighborhood, and Sof loves walking on this wall.

She let me do her hair for 3 straight days in a row, and she requested piggies "like Belle" each time. This is the result.

Helping Greggy mow our lawn for the first time!

Pregnant running! I'll let you decide who was faster.

She sleeps real good.

It's a good thing Greg is a lot more disciplined than I was at 38 weeks pregnant, because boxes seemed to magically disappear whenever he was home, whereas I was content to walk around them whenever I needed to get somewhere. Moving 38 weeks pregnant was no joke, especially to discover I would end up having the baby 1 day after turning 39 weeks ... :). We moved just in time.