Luke at Two Weeks

Luke is two weeks old! We are settling in to our new "routine" and Luke is doing great. He had a check up today and is up to 8lbs, 9oz. He's a good eater! For a newborn, he's also a pretty good sleeper and tends to give us a decent stretch of sleep at night.

Big sister is in LOVE. She comes home every day and immediately has to find "Uke" and give him a kiss. She is really, really sweet with him and hasn't seemed too bothered by the split attention yet. It helps that we've had lots of extra help these first few weeks, but she really seems to be adjusting well. 

  
We are tired but feeling very blessed!

Welcome Luke!

Welcome Luke Daniel!

February 20, 2013
7 lbs, 12 oz. and 20 inches long. 
We think he is perfect - and looks a lot like his big sister!

 
We feel very blessed to be the parents of a little boy. Now that he's here, I can't imagine anything else. 

Let's just say labor was FAST. I worked until noon and he was born at 3:50. That's a story for another day! We are settling in at home and trying to adjust to parenting two. Turns out it is harder than one! Clara has had a bad cold so we haven't let her get too close yet. She talks about the "bebe" a lot..and has given him some sweet pats on the back. She's definitely interested in what's going on when we are holding or feeding him.

Hopefully more pictures soon! 

Full Term

Babe #2 is 37 weeks today and we are thankful to reach this "full term" milestone. Who knows when we'll get to meet him or her! Clara was born right at 37 weeks, so some days I think I will deliver early and sometimes I think I will be pregnant forever. :)

We are pretty prepared at the Strouse house - at least as prepared as you can be for a newborn! We took advantage of the ice day on Sunday to deep clean a lot of our house and make some meals for the freezer. It feels good to have a few of those things done.

Clara has been helping to make sure our car seat is safe for the new baby - it's her new favorite toy. We spend some time every night putting her baby in the seat, buckling her in and covering her up so she is cozy. Clara also makes sure to take her turn in the seat - too bad she doesn't go so willingly into her actual car seat!!

We can't wait to meet our new little one!

A Year and a Half

For some reason, 18 months seems like a big milestone – Clara is close to 2!  

It’s amazing how often we say to ourselves “she is so much fun right now!” Clara spends her evenings and weekends reading books, dancing to any tune she can find, playing peek-a-boo with the curtains and blankets and running around in the basement with her 30 second attention span. She got a tent for Christmas and she insists we all sit in it together. She loves her tea set and her legos. If you could make a living identifying animals and making animal noises Clara would be set for life! We have a built in check on our phone and computer usage because Clara spots us immediately and demands “up, up, up” like a maniac because she LOVES to look at the photos and videos.

It’s been a big month for Clara. She moved from her nursery to a “big girl room”. Don’t worry – she’s still in her crib. It’s amazing to watch her strategize to get her pacifiers out of her crib (which she “knows” are only for bedtime). She’s generally a really good sleeper which we are still very thankful for. I’m not messing with that! Let’s hope that continues as we re-enter the newborn stage with her little brother or sister in a few weeks! She knows her old room is the baby room and loves to go find the little toys and other baby gear we have in there. We hope that letting her play with those things now will help get it out of her system for when the baby is actually here. 

 

Clara will give lots of hugs and kisses these days. Melts our hearts every time. She also loves to give high-fives and say hi! and bye! with great enthusiasm. She’s talking more every day. Some of her favorite words are “more”, “dad”, “ball”, “up!” and “book”. I’m hearing more and more “mom”. Magically, she still says “yes” more than “no”! It seems to us that she understands almost everything we say to her. It’s fun to watch her learn to communicate. 

Daycare tells us she’s the most active kid they’ve ever seen. We try and take it as a compliment! She is definitely full of energy and opinions, but we are blessed by her cheerful disposition. She almost always has a smile on her face and generally listens to us pretty well. It’s really a fun part of parenting to learn about your kids’ personalities. 

We’re so excited to see Clara as a big sister. She loves other kiddos – let’s hope she loves the one living at her house!

Christmas 2012

We had a great Christmas this year - lots of time with family spread out over the long weekend!  

We started with our own little family Christmas on Sunday morning. Clara was so much fun. We got her just a few things and it was perfect - she loved opening the three gifts she got, but I don't think she would of had the attention span for much more! It was amazing to see her delight in a few new books and some jumbo crayons. I want her to always be like that! We loved the slow morning at home to be together as a family. 

Christmas Eve we spent with Brad's family. We all went to church early in the afternoon so the little kids could take a nap before the evening festivities. We were pretty sad when Clara woke up from her nap with a pretty high fever. We should have known something was up when she sat quietly with us at church. We thought Clara and I were going to have to stay home, but after a dose of Tylenol (magical!) she was running around in a hour and we joined everyone. Clara loved seeing her cousin and they had a blast diving on their new giant pillows!

Christmas morning we woke up to head over to spend time with the Daniels side. We ate lots of good food and had a day of being together. I love when holidays can be a lot of fun but also a day of rest. 

Over New Year's weekend we saw some extended family. Clara came away with the sweetest present of all. What girl doesn't need a John Deere gator? :) 

Christmas always reminds me that we have a lot to be thankful for!

 

Oh Christmas Tree!

Even though Clara is only one, we get excited to start family holiday traditions. One thing I've always done with my family and want to continue to do with our kids is go pick out a Christmas tree. So, this was the year to switch from fake to real!

We headed out on Sunday afternoon to the Christmas tree farm. It was the warmest day of the weekend and we know it probably won't get any nicer. We weren't there for too long, but we found a good tree to bring home. 

Clara had a smile on her face the whole time we were there. The girl loves to be outside, not matter what we are doing. We were just happy she left her hat and mittens on.

After we paid for the tree, we even got to say hi to Santa (who got a high five from a safe distance). 

 So far, Clara is pretty well behaved around the tree. We purposely chose a prickly one :)

 

Clara The Cow

Yes, we dressed our little girl up as a cow for Halloween :) She loves to tell us that a cow says moooo! and we put a bow on it so she'd look a little more girly. Because she's tiny, I think she'll avoid a complex from being called a cow!

We took a few pictures last week when it was still warm out. Tonight we stopped at dad's & mom's work, trick or treated at a few neighbors and went around to visit some family and friends. 

Clara especially liked it when she got to try fruit snacks and Twix bars and stay up past bedtime. That's what Halloween is about right?

For the record, this is what happens when mom tries to take pictures of an active 15 month old cow before dad gets home: