Mother's Day

Mother's Day sort of snuck up on us this year. Justin didn't have any meetings before church, so I got to sleep in a bit and also had his help getting the girls ready. It was a pretty laid back morning. After church we headed to our friend's house for hamburgers. We had a nice time visiting and eating. The best part of Mother's Day for me was probably the day before. Justin had to attend the primary quarterly activity at the church and he took Grace with him. She brought home a couple of sweet gifts for me, a potted plant and a "Happy Mother's Day" button for me to wear to church on Sunday. I love that she's getting old enough for these kinds of things and I look forward to more homemade Mother's Day gifts from her. In nursery the kids made their moms cute little cards. The outside says, "Happy Mother's Day 2010" and the inside says, "Thumbody loves you" with Grace's thumbprints stamped on it. So cute! Someone brought Grace into the Relief Society room when church was over and she was so excited to give me the card she made. I love it!

I hope you all had an equally enjoyable day!

2 Weeks

Claire had her 2 week check-up on May 5 (I know... I'm really slow in posting/updating). She's doing great! She's a great eater and growing like a weed. She's also very strong, and very alert and aware of her surroundings. During the day she'll stay awake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours after some feedings, which I think is a crazy long stretch for such a new baby. I guess that's better than being awake all night! Most nights she only wakes up twice to eat - around 2:00 and around 6:00 - which I'm extremely grateful for. She loves the bouncer and spends most of her day hanging out and napping in it.

Claire's 2 week stats:

6lbs 10oz (7.06%)

19.5 inches (17.75%)

The Timeline: April 21, 2010

8:00am - Headed to my scheduled prenatal appointment. Having some contractions about 10-12 minutes apart.

9:00 - Dr. checked my progress and I was dilated almost 5cm and about 80% effaced. Dr. decided to hook me up to the monitor and see how often I was contracting.

9:15 - I called Justin to let him know what was going on. He decided to get things cleaned up at work and head towards the doctor's office.

9:25 - Dr. checked the monitor. Contractions were every 3-5 minutes. I was told to get to the hospital and order my epidural so I wouldn't miss my opportunity to get it.

10:00 - Met Justin at the hospital. Got checked in and all set up in a labor room. I had to have 2 pints of IV fluid in me before the anesthesiologist would give me an epidural.

12:00 - Got my epidural!

1:00 - Dr. came by to check my progress. I was now at 6cm and she broke my water. The epidural didn't completely work because I could still feel the contractions in my belly, so after a while I got another dose of medicine which I think numbed me a little too much. At least I couldn't feel any pain, right?!

4:45 - Dr. showed up in her "street clothes" to check me again, but didn't need to since Claire was crowning. She ran to change into her scrubs. The nurses rushed to get everything ready.

4:50 - Began pushing

4:56 - Claire arrived healthy and strong!

Grace and I just hanging out waiting for our friends to pick her up for the rest of the day.

Claire getting checked out and cleaned up

Happy parents!

Proud big sister

Daddy's girls

Newest Nessen

Claire Marie Nessen

April 21, 2010

4:56pm

6lbs. 4oz; 19.5 inches

Spring Portraits

We took Grace to get spring portraits this morning. It's been a year since our last attempt at pictures. She's not too fond of the camera, especially when a stranger is trying to snap her picture. It took the entire session and a few marshmallows and jelly beans to get 4 poses worth buying. I'm actually pretty well pleased with how they turned out considering the way she was behaving at the studio.

This one is probably my favorite





Classic "Grace" face with the scrunched up nose




She was having fun twirling with dad who was just out of the camera's view

Look at those eyelashes!